1 Chronicles 22:1–24:31

Then David said, “This will be the house of Yahweh God, and this altar of burnt offering for Israel.”

David’s Preparations for Building the Temple

²And David commanded to assemble the resident aliens who were in the land of Israel and appointed stone craftsmen to cut dressed stones to build the house of God. ³And David provided much iron for nails for the doors of the gates and for the seams, and abundant copper that could not be weighed, ⁴and cedar timbers without number, for the Sidonians and Tyrians brought abundant cedars to David. ⁵Then David said, “Solomon my son is a boy and inexperienced, and the house built for Yahweh must be exceedingly great in fame and splendor throughout every land. I will make preparations for him.” So David provided abundant materials before he died.

Solomon Charged with Building the Temple of Yahweh

⁶Then he called to Solomon his son and commanded him to build a house for Yahweh, the God of Israel. ⁷And David said to Solomon his son, “I myself had in my heart to build a house for the name of Yahweh my God, ⁸but it happened that the word of Yahweh came over me, saying, ‘You have shed much blood and have made much war; you shall not build a house for my name because you have shed much blood upon the ground before me. ⁹Behold, a son shall be born to you; he himself will be a man of rest, and I will give rest to him from all his enemies all around, for his name will be Solomon, and peace and quietness I will give to Israel in his days. ¹⁰He himself will build a house for my name, and he himself will be to me a son, and I will be to him as a father, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom over Israel forever.’ ¹¹Now, my son, Yahweh will be with you, that you may succeed and build the house of Yahweh your God as he has spoken concerning you. ¹²Only may Yahweh give to you understanding and insight that he might give you charge over Israel and the keeping of the law of Yahweh your God. ¹³Then you will prosper if you take care to do the statutes and judgments which Yahweh commanded Moses concerning Israel. Be strong and be courageous; fear not and do not be dismayed. ¹⁴Now see, with great effort I have made provision for the house of Yahweh: 100,000 talents of gold, 1,000,000 talents of silver, and bronze and iron that cannot be weighed, for there is an abundance. Also timber and stone I have provided, but to these you should add. ¹⁵And with you there is an abundance of craftsmen: stonecutters, masons, carpenters, and everyone skilled in every kind of craftsmanship ¹⁶with gold, silver, bronze, and iron without number. Arise and work! Yahweh will be with you!”

¹⁷And David commanded all the commanders of Israel to help Solomon his son, saying, ¹⁸“Is not Yahweh your God with you? And has he not given you rest all around? For he has put in my hand the inhabitants of the land, and the land is subdued before Yahweh and before his people. ¹⁹Now set your heart and mind to seek Yahweh your God, and arise and build the sanctuary of Yahweh God, that the ark of the covenant of Yahweh and the holy vessels of God might be brought into the house built for the name of Yahweh.

David Organizes the Levites

23Now David was old and full of days. And he made Solomon his son king over Israel. ²And he assembled all the commanders of Israel and the priests and the Levites. ³And the Levites from thirty years old^a and above were counted, and their number according to their head count for the men was thirty-eight thousand. ⁴Of these, David said, “Twenty-four thousand are to direct the work of the house of Yahweh, along with six thousand judges and officials, ⁵four thousand gatekeepers, and four thousand offering praise to Yahweh with the instruments that I have made for praise.” ⁶And David organized them in divisions according to the sons of Levi: to Gershon, Kohath, and Merari.

⁷For the Gershonites were Ladan and Shimei. ⁸The sons of Ladan: Jehiel the chief and Zetham and Joel, three. ⁹The sons of Shimei: Shelomoth, Haziel, and Haran, three. These were the heads of the families^b of Ladan. ¹⁰And the sons of Shimei: Jahath, Zina, Jeush, and Beriah; these four were the sons of Shimei. ¹¹And Jahath was the chief, and Zizah the second, but Jeush and Beriah did not have many sons. They were enrolled as one for the house of a father.

¹²The sons of Kohath: Amram, Izhar, Hebron, and Uzziel, four. ¹³The sons of Amram: Aaron and Moses. And Aaron was set apart to consecrate the most holy things. He and his sons were to burn offerings forever before Yahweh to serve him and to bless in his name forever. ¹⁴But Moses the man of God and his sons were reckoned among the tribe of Levi. ¹⁵The sons of Moses: Gershom and Eliezer. ¹⁶The sons of Gershom: Shebuel the chief. ¹⁷And the sons of Eliezer were Rehabiah, the head. And Eliezer had no other sons, but the sons of Rehabiah were very many. ¹⁸The sons of Izhar: Shelomith the chief. ¹⁹The sons of Hebron: Jeriah the chief, Amariah the second, Jahaziel the third, and Jekameam the fourth. ²⁰The sons of Uzziel: Micah the chief and Isshiah the second.

²¹The sons of Merari: Mahli and Mushi. The sons of Mahli: Eleazar and Kish. ²²And Eleazar died, and he did not have sons, but only daughters. And the sons of Kish, their relatives, married them. ²³The sons of Mushi: Mahli, Eder, and Jeremoth, three.

²⁴These were the sons of Levi according to the house of their fathers, the heads of the families,^c according to their enrollment, by the number of the names, according to their head count, who were to do the work of the service of the house of Yahweh, from twenty years old^d and above. ²⁵For David said, “Yahweh, the God of Israel, has given rest to his people, and he dwells in Jerusalem forever. ²⁶And also, the Levites do not need to carry the tabernacle and all its vessels for its service.” ²⁷For by the last words of David, they are the number of the sons of Levi, from twenty years old^e and above. ²⁸For their station was to assist^f the sons of Aaron with the service of the house of Yahweh, over the courtyards, over the chambers, and over the cleansing of all the sanctified objects, and with the work of the service of the house of God, ²⁹and with the rows of bread, the flour, the grain offering, the wafers of unleavened bread, the baked offering, the offering mixed with oil, and for all the amounts and measurements. ³⁰And they were to stand every morning,^g thanking and praising Yahweh, and likewise in the evening, ³¹and for every burnt offering offered to Yahweh, on Sabbaths, on new moon festivals, and at the appointed feasts, according to the customary number required of them,^h regularly before Yahweh. ³²And they shall keep the responsibility of the tent of assembly,ⁱ the responsibility of the sanctified objects, and the responsibility of the sons of Aaron, their brothers, to serve the house of Yahweh.

David Organizes the Priests

24And as for the sons of Aaron, these were their divisions. The sons of Aaron were Nadab and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar. ²And Nadab and Abihu died before their father, and they had no sons,^a so Eleazar and Ithamar served as priests. ³And David, with Zadok of the sons of Eleazar and Ahimelech of the sons of Ithamar, divided them according to their appointments for their service. ⁴And more sons of Eleazar were found as heads of the men than the sons of Ithamar, so they divided them to the sons of Eleazar to be sixteen heads over the house of the fathers, and to the sons of Ithamar over the house of the fathers were eight heads. ⁵They divided them by lot all alike,^b for they were commanders of the sanctuary and commanders of God from among the sons of Eleazar and the sons of Ithamar. ⁶And Shemaiah the son of Nethanel, the scribe, from the Levites, recorded them before the king, the princes, Zadok the priest, Ahimelech the son of Abiathar, and the heads of the families^c of the priests and Levites, one father’s house drawn by lot for Eleazar and one drawn by lot for Ithamar. ⁷And the first lot went out to Jehoiarib, the second to Jedaiah, ⁸the third to Harim, the fourth to Seorim, ⁹the fifth to Malkijah, the sixth to Mijamin, ¹⁰the seventh to Hakkoz, the eighth to Abijah, ¹¹the ninth to Jeshua, the tenth to Shekaniah, ¹²the eleventh to Eliashib, the twelfth to Jakim, ¹³the thirteenth to Huppah, the fourteenth to Jeshebeab, ¹⁴the fifteenth to Bilgah, the sixteenth to Immer, ¹⁵the seventeenth to Hezir, the eighteenth to Happizzez, ¹⁶the nineteenth to Pethahiah, the twentieth to Ezekiel, ¹⁷the twenty-first to Jakin, the twenty-second to Gamul, ¹⁸the twenty-third to Delaiah, the twenty-fourth to Maaziah. ¹⁹These were their appointments for their service to come into the house of Yahweh according to their custom by the hand of Aaron their father, as Yahweh the God of Israel had commanded him.

²⁰And as for the remainder of the sons of Levi: of the sons of Amram, Shubael; of the sons of Shubael, Jehdeiah. ²¹Of Rehabiah: of the sons of Rehabiah, Isshiah the chief. ²²Of the Izharites, Shelomoth; of the sons of Shelomoth, Jahath. ²³Of the sons of Jeriah, Amariah the second, Jahaziel the third, Jekameam the fourth. ²⁴The sons of Uzziel, Micah; the sons of Micah, Shamur. ²⁵The brother of Micah, Isshiah; of the sons of Isshiah, Zechariah. ²⁶The sons of Merari: Mahli and Mushi; the sons of Jaaziah, his son.^{d 27}The sons of Merari: of Jaaziah, his son,^e Shoham, Zakkur, and Ibri. ²⁸Of Mahli: Eleazar, who had no sons. ²⁹Of Kish: the sons of Kish, Jerahmeel. ³⁰And the sons of Mushi: Mahli, Eder, and Jerimoth. These were the sons of the Levites according to the house of their fathers. ³¹And lots were also cast for these, just as their brothers, the sons of Aaron, before David the king, Zadok, Ahimelech, and the heads of the families^f for the priests and for the Levites the fathers, on the principle of the chief and younger brother alike.^g