1 Chronicles 27–29

Military Divisions

27And as for the number of the Israelites,^a the heads of families,^b the commanders of thousands and hundreds, and their officials who serve the king in all matters of the working groups that came and went, month by month, throughout all the months of the year, each working group: twenty-four thousand.

²Over the first working group for the first month: Jashobeam the son of Zabdiel. And he was over his working group of twenty-four thousand. ³From the sons of Perez who was the chief of all the commanders of the armies for the first month. ⁴And over the working groups of the second month: Dodai the Ahohite and his working group, and Mikloth the commander. And he was over his working group of twenty-four thousand. ⁵The third commander of the army for the third month was Benaiah son of Jehoiada the chief priest. And he was over his working group of twenty-four thousand. ⁶This was Benaiah who was a mighty warrior of thirty, and over the thirty and his working group was Ammizabad his son. ⁷The fourth, for the fourth month, was Asahel the brother of Joab and his son Zebadiah after him. And he was over his working group of twenty-four thousand. ⁸The fifth, for the fifth month, the commander was Shamhuth the Izrahite. And he was over his working group of twenty-four thousand. ⁹The sixth, for the sixth month, was Ira the son of Ikkesh the Tekoite. And he was over his working group of twenty-four thousand. ¹⁰The seventh, for the seventh month, was Helez the Pelonite, from the sons of Ephraim. And he was over his working group of twenty-four thousand. ¹¹The eighth, for the eighth month, was Sibbecai the Hushathite of the Zerahites. And he was over his working group of twenty-four thousand. ¹²The ninth, for the ninth month, was Abiezer the Anathothite of the Benjamites. And he was over his working group of twenty-four thousand. ¹³The tenth, for the tenth month, was Maharai the Netophathite of the Zerahites. And he was over his working group of twenty-four thousand. ¹⁴The eleventh, for the eleventh month, was Benaiah the Pirathonite from the sons of Ephraim. And he was over his working group of twenty-four thousand. ¹⁵The twelfth, for the twelfth month, was Heldai the Netophathite, of Othniel. And he was over his working group of twenty-four thousand.

Leaders of the Tribes and Other High Ranking Officials

¹⁶And over the tribes of Israel, for the Reubenites: the commander was Eliezer the son of Zikri. For the Simeonites: Shephatiah the son of Maacah. ¹⁷For Levi: Hashabiah the son of Kemuel. For Aaron, Zadok. ¹⁸For Judah: Elihu, from the brothers of David. For Issachar: Omri the son of Michael. ¹⁹For Zebulun: Ishmaiah the son of Obadiah. For Naphtali: Jerimoth the son of Azriel. ²⁰For the Ephraimites: Hoshea the son of Azaziah. For the half-tribe of Manasseh: Joel the son of Pedaiah. ²¹For the half-tribe of Manasseh in Gilead: Iddo the son of Zechariah. For Benjamin: Jaasiel son of Abner. ²²For Dan: Azarel the son of Jeroham. These were the commanders of the tribes of Israel. ²³And David did not take a census of those twenty years old or under^c because Yahweh promised^d to make Israel more numerous than the stars of heaven. ²⁴Joab the son of Zeruiah began to count, but he did not finish. But wrath came upon Israel concerning this, and the number was not included in the chronicles^e of King David.

²⁵And over the treasury rooms of the king was Azmaveth the son of Adiel. And over the treasuries in the country, in the cities, in the unwalled villages, and in the towers was Jonathan the son of Uzziah. ²⁶And over those who did the work in the field to till the soil was Ezri the son of Kelub. ²⁷And over the vineyards was Shemei the Ramathite. And over the produce in the vineyards for the storehouses of the wine was Zabdi the Shiphmite. ²⁸And over the olive trees and the sycamore trees that were in the Shephelah was Baal-Hanan the Gederite. And over the treasury houses of olive oil was Joash. ²⁹And over the cattle pastured in the Sharon was Shitrai the Sharonite. And over the cattle in the valley was Shaphat the son of Adlai. ³⁰And over the camels was Obil the Ishmaelite. And over the female donkeys was Jehdeiah the Meronothite.^f And over the sheep was Jaziz the Hagrite. ³¹All of these were officials of the property of King David.

³²And Jehonathan the uncle of David was an adviser, a man of insight, and he was a scribe. And Jehiel the son of Hachmoni was with the sons of the king. ³³And Ahithophel was an adviser to the king, and Hushai the Arkite was a friend of the king.

³⁴And after Ahithophel came Jehoiada, the son of Benaiah, and Abiathar. And Joab was the commander of the king’s army.

David’s Charge to Israel

28Then David assembled all the commanders of Israel, the commanders of the tribes and the commanders of working groups who served the king, and the commanders of thousands, the commanders of hundreds, and the commanders over all the property of the king and his sons, with the court officials and mighty warriors, and all the mighty warriors of ability, at Jerusalem. ²And King David rose to his feet and said, “Listen to me, my brothers and my people. I myself wanted^a to build a house of rest for the ark of the covenant of Yahweh and the footstool of our God, and I prepared to build. ³But God said to me, ‘You may not build a house for my name because you are a man of war, and you have shed blood.’ ⁴But Yahweh the God of Israel chose me from all of the house of my father to be king over Israel forever, for he chose Judah as leader, and in the house of Judah, the house of my father, and among the sons of my father he took pleasure in me to reign over all Israel. ⁵And from all my sons—for Yahweh has given many sons to me—he has chosen Solomon my son to sit on the throne of the kingdom of Yahweh over Israel. ⁶And he said to me, ‘Solomon your son, he himself shall build my house and my courts, for I have chosen him as a son to myself, and I myself will be as a father to him, ⁷and I will establish his kingdom forever if he firmly performs^b my commandments and my judgments as he has to this day.’ ⁸So now in the sight of all Israel, the assembly of Yahweh, and in the hearing of our God, observe and seek all the commandments of Yahweh your God so that you may take possession of this good land and bestow it as an inheritance to your children after you forever.”

David’s Charge to Solomon

⁹“And you, Solomon my son, know the God of your father and serve him with a whole heart and a willing mind, for Yahweh searches all hearts and understands every plan and all thoughts. If you seek him, he will be found by you, but if you abandon him, he will reject you forever. ¹⁰Look now, for Yahweh has chosen you to build a house for the sanctuary; be strong and do it!”

¹¹Then David gave to Solomon his son the plan of the vestibule and of its houses, its treasuries, its upper rooms, its inner chambers, and of the house of the lid of the ark, ¹²and the plan of all that he had in mind^c for the courtyards of the house of Yahweh and for all the surrounding storage rooms, the treasuries of the house of God, and the treasuries for sanctified objects, ¹³and for the working groups of the priests and the Levites, and for all the work of the service of the house of Yahweh, and for all the vessels for the service of the house of Yahweh, ¹⁴and for the gold, according to the weight of the gold for all the vessels of the service, and the service of all the vessels of silver according to the weight of all the vessels for every kind of service.^{d 15}And the weight of the golden lampstands and the golden lamps, the weight of each lampstand and each lamp,^e and the silver according to the weight of a lampstand and its lamp, according to the use of each lampstand,^{f 16}and the weight of gold for the tables of the arranged bread, each table,^g and silver for the tables of silver, ¹⁷and pure gold for the three-pronged meat forks, and the bowls and the pitchers, and for the golden bowls, by weight for each bowl,^h and for the silver bowls, by weight for each bowl,^{i 18}and for the altar of incense made of refined gold, by weight, and gold for the plan for the chariot—the cherubim with outspread and covering wings over the ark of the covenant of Yahweh. ¹⁹“All this I give you in writing; from the hand of Yahweh he instructed me about all the workings of this plan.”

²⁰Then David said to Solomon his son, “Be strong and courageous, and do this! Do not be afraid and do not be dismayed, for Yahweh God, my God, is with you. He will not fail you and will not forsake you until all the work of the service of the house of Yahweh is finished. ²¹And behold, the working groups of the priests and the Levites for all the service of the house of God; and with you in all the work for all those willing with the skill for every service, and the commanders and all the people for all your commands.”

Offerings for the Temple

29Then David the king said to all the assembly, “God has chosen Solomon my son alone, a young man and inexperienced, and the work is great, for the citadel is not for humankind, but for Yahweh God. ²So I have provided for the house of my God according to all my strength, the gold for the things of gold, the silver for the things of silver, the bronze for the things of bronze, the iron for the things of iron, and the wood for the things of wood, along with an abundance of onyx stones, stones for settings, stones of turquoise, and variegated stones, and all kinds of precious stones and alabaster stones. ³And moreover, with respect to my provisions for the house of my God I have a treasure of gold and silver that I have given to the house of my God above all that I have provided for the holy house: ⁴three thousand talents of gold from the gold of Ophir and seven thousand talents of refined silver to overlay the walls of the houses, ⁵gold for the golden things and silver for the silver things, for all the work by the…