ARAUNAH

a-ro'-na ('arawnah, 2 Samuel 24:16,20 ff; 'aranyah 2 Samuel 24:18, and 'ornan, 1 Chronicles 21:15 ff; 2 Chronicles 3:1, all from a Hebrew root meaning "to be strong"): A Jebusite from whom David at the request of the prophet Gad bought a threshing-floor located upon Mt. Moriah, as a site for an altar of the Lord at the time of the great plague (2 Samuel 24:15 ff; 1 Chronicles 21:15 ff), upon which Solomon later erected the temple (2 Chronicles 3:1).

From the International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
Edited by James Orr, published in 1939 by Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.