15 And God sent an angel to Jerusalem to destroy it: and as he was destroying, the LORD looked, and relented of the evil, and said to the angel who destroyed, It is enough, stay your hand now. And the angel of the LORD stood by the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite.
16 And David lifted his eyes and saw the angel of the LORD standing between the earth and the heavens, having a drawn sword in his hand stretched out over Jerusalem. Then David and the elders, clothed in sackcloth, fell on their faces.
17 And David said to God, Was it not I who commanded the people to be numbered? It is I who have sinned and done evil indeed; but as for these sheep, what have they done? Let your hand, I pray, O LORD my God, be on me, and on my father's house; but not on your people, that they should be afflicted.
18 Then the angel of the LORD commanded Gad to say to David that David should go up and build an altar to the LORD on the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite.