Araunah
Arau'nah (Heb. Aravnah', אֲרִונָה, 2Sa 24:16-24 [ver. 16 אֲוִרנָה, ver. 18 אֲרִניָה, perhaps another form of Ornan; Sept. Ο᾿ρνά) or Or'nan (Heb. Ornan', אָרנָן, nimble; 1Ch 21; 2Ch 3:1; Sept. Ο᾿ρνα), a man of the Jebusite nation, which possessed Jerusalem before it was taken by the Israelites. The angel of pestilence, sent to punish King David for his presumptuous vanity in taking a census of the people, was stayed in the work of death near a plot of ground belonging to this person, used as a threshing-floor, and situated on Mount Moriah; and when he understood it was required for the site of the Temple, he liberally offered the ground to David as a free gift; but the king insisted on paying the full value for it (50 shekels of silver according to 2Sa 24:18, but 600 shekels of gold according to 1Ch 21:18). B.C. cir. 1017. SEE DAVID. Josephus, who calls him Oronna (Ο᾿ρόννα, Ant. 7, 13, 4), adds that he was a wealthy man among the Jebusites, whom David spared in the capture of the city on account of his good-will toward the Hebrews (Ant. 7, 3, 3). SEE MORIAH.
