וַיֹּ֨אמֶר דָּוִ֜יד אֶל־אָרְנָ֗ן תְּנָה־לִּי֙ מְק֣וֹם הַגֹּ֔רֶן וְאֶבְנֶה־בּ֥וֹ מִזְבֵּ֖חַ לַיהוָ֑ה בְּכֶ֤סֶף מָלֵא֙ תְּנֵ֣הוּ לִ֔י וְתֵעָצַ֥ר הַמַּגֵּפָ֖ה מֵעַ֥ל הָעָֽם׃
Then David said to Ornan: ‘Give me the place of this threshing-floor, that I may build thereon an altar unto the LORD; for the full price shalt thou give it me; that the plague may be stayed from the people.’
On the Life of Moses
§ 304. πληγή (in Num. 25:8, 9). Not only is Philo’s mistake in taking this as = “slaughter” very natural, but are we sure that the LXX did not intend it? The word does not seem to be used in the LXX, in the historical books at least, of a pestilence as excluding other forms of divine visitation, except perhaps in 1 Chron. 21:22, and on the other hand is constantly used of a slaughter, e.g. 1 Sam. 4:10. Psalm 106(105):30 speaking of the incident takes it as a plague, but uses the θραῦσις of Num. 16:48, 49. Whether Paul understood it as a plague or a slaughter is not clear (1 Cor. 10:8).