myBibleHistory

Journey of a Passage

2 Samuel 24:24

Fifty shekels of silver, or six hundred of gold?

David buys "the threshing floor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver" from Araunah. In 1 Chronicles 21:25 he gives Ornan "for the place six hundred shekels of gold." Different books, different amounts, different metals, and possibly different things bought.

Same letters, different readings: the consonants agree, but ancient readers vocalized or interpreted them differently

The family tree

Each row is a language or text tradition. Witnesses in the same row may share ancestry, revise one another, or have an uncertain relationship; the line under each box says which. A solid arrow appears only where direct copying or a documented revised edition is established. Order by date never implies copying. Scroll sideways on a phone.

✓ contains it · ✕ does not · ❝ quotes part of it · ⓘ reports on manuscripts · ▢ pages lost · – no copy survives

  • Same line, through lost copies
  • Translation
Hebrew
  1. Original SamuelUnknown (debated)
  2. 1 Chronicles (parallel account)Composed c. 4th century BC
  3. Masoretic Text (Leningrad Codex)AD 1008Descends, through lost copies, from Original Samuel
Greek
  1. Septuagint, 2 Kingdoms (library text: Giguet's French)Translated c. 2nd century BC; revised (kaige) from 11:2Translated from a Hebrew text of the period
Latin
  1. Jerome's Vulgatec. AD 400Translated from Hebrew texts of Jerome's day
English

    Every witness, in order

    1. Unknown (debated)

      Original Samuel

      – No copy survives

      No original survives.

    2. Composed c. 4th century BC

      1 Chronicles (parallel account)

      ✓ Contains this passage

      How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: Westminster Leningrad Codex, a digital transcription of the Leningrad Codex, quoted here in English.

      David gave to Ornan for the place six hundred shekels of gold by weight (1 Chr 21:25)

      A parallel account.

    3. Translated c. 2nd century BC; revised (kaige) from 11:2

      Septuagint, 2 Kingdoms (library text: Giguet's French)

      ✓ Contains this passageTranslated from a Hebrew text of the period

      How the site knows this: Known here only through a translation.

      David acheta l'aire avec les boeufs cinquante sicles d'argent

      One Greek text (Vaticanus type) via Giguet's French; not checked against a critical edition.

    4. c. AD 400

      Jerome's Vulgate

      ✓ Contains this passageTranslated from Hebrew texts of Jerome's day

      How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: Clementine Vulgate (1592 edition).

      Emit ergo David aream, et boves, argenti siclis quinquaginta

      Fifty, silver.

    5. AD 1008

      Masoretic Text (Leningrad Codex)

      ✓ Contains this passageDescends, through lost copies, from Original Samuel

      How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: Westminster Leningrad Codex, a digital transcription of the Leningrad Codex.

      וַיִּקֶן דָּוִד אֶת־הַגֹּרֶן וְאֶת־הַבָּקָר בְּכֶסֶף שְׁקָלִים חֲמִשִּׁים

      and David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver

    What changed, and why

    A traditional harmonization: fifty shekels for the floor and oxen, six hundred for the whole site ("the place"). Others see the Chronicler magnifying the temple site's value (P. C. Beentjes). Both are explanations; neither text says the other.

    What the evidence shows

    Sources

    Related lessons

    • The Census, the Plague and the Threshing Floor →"The anger of the LORD was kindled against Israel, and he moved David" to number the people; in 1 Chronicles 21 it is Satan who incites him. Joab counts 800,000 in Israel and 500,000 in Judah. David's heart smites him. Gad offers three punishments; David chooses plague, and 70,000 die. The angel stops at the threshing floor of Araunah. David buys it for fifty shekels and builds an altar.
    • Investigation: Samuel and Chronicles, When Two Histories Differ →1 Chronicles retells much of 2 Samuel, centuries later, with its own emphases. It leaves out Bathsheba, Amnon and Absalom; it names Satan where Samuel names the LORD; its numbers and names differ. These are differences between two biblical books, not copying errors in one.
    • The Census and Ornan's Threshing Floor →Satan (or "an adversary") incites David to count Israel. Joab objects but obeys, leaving out Levi and Benjamin. God sends a plague; seventy thousand die. The angel stands between earth and heaven with a drawn sword over Jerusalem. David buys Ornan's threshing floor for six hundred shekels of gold, builds an altar, and fire falls from heaven. "This is the house of the LORD God."