1 Chronicles 22–24

CHAPTER 22

Preparation to Build Yahweh’s House

¹Then David said, “^aThis is the house of Yahweh God, and this is the altar of burnt offering for Israel.”

²So David said to gather ^athe sojourners who were in the land of Israel, and ^bhe ¹appointed ²stonecutters to hew out stones to build the house of God.

³And David ^aprepared large quantities of iron ¹to make the nails for the doors of the gates and for the clamps, and more ^bbronze than could be weighed;

⁴and timbers of cedar logs beyond number, for ^athe Sidonians and Tyrians brought large quantities of cedar timber to David.

⁵And David said, “My son ^aSolomon is young and inexperienced, and the house that is to be built for Yahweh shall be highly exalted, for a name and beauty throughout all lands. Therefore now I will make preparation for it.” So David made ample preparations before his death.

Solomon to Build Yahweh’s House

⁶Then ^ahe called for his son Solomon, and commanded him to build a house for Yahweh, the God of Israel.

⁷And David said to Solomon, “^aMy son, ¹I had it within my heart to build a house to the name of Yahweh my God.

⁸“But the word of Yahweh came to me, saying, ‘^aYou have shed much blood and have ¹waged great wars; you shall not build a house for My name, because you have shed so much blood on the earth before Me.

⁹‘Behold, a son will be born to you, who shall be a man of rest; and ^aI will give him rest from all his enemies on every side; for ^bhis name shall be ¹Solomon, and I will give peace and quiet to Israel in his days.

¹⁰‘^aHe shall build a house for My name, and he shall be a son to Me and I will be a father to him; and I will establish the throne of his kingdom over Israel forever.’

¹¹“Now, my son, ^aYahweh be with you that you may be successful, and build the house of Yahweh your God just as He has spoken concerning you.

¹²“^aOnly Yahweh give you insight and understanding, and give you command over Israel, so that you may ^bkeep the law of Yahweh your God.

¹³“^aThen you will succeed, if you are careful to do the statutes and the judgments which Yahweh commanded Moses concerning Israel. ^bBe strong and courageous, do not fear nor be dismayed.

¹⁴“Now behold, ¹with great pains I have prepared for the house of Yahweh ^a100,000 ²talents of gold and 1,000,000 talents of silver, and ^bbronze and iron beyond weight, for ³they are in great quantity; also timber and stone I have prepared, and you may add to them.

¹⁵“Moreover, there are many of those who do the work with you, hewers of stone and craftsmen of stone and wood, and all men who are ¹wise in every kind of work.

¹⁶“Of the gold, the silver and the bronze and the iron there is no number. Arise and work, and may ^aYahweh be with you.”

^17aDavid also commanded all the officials of Israel to help his son Solomon, saying,

¹⁸“Is not Yahweh your God with you? And ^ahas He not given you rest on every side? For He has given the inhabitants of the land into my hand, and the land is subdued before Yahweh and before His people.

¹⁹“Now ^agive your heart and your soul to seek Yahweh your God; arise, therefore, and build the sanctuary of Yahweh God, ^bso that you may bring the ark of the covenant of Yahweh and the holy vessels of God into the house that is to be built ^cfor the name of Yahweh.”

CHAPTER 23

Solomon Made King over Israel

^1aNow David became old and full of days, ^band he made his son Solomon king over Israel.

²And he gathered together all the leaders of Israel with the priests and the Levites.

The Work of the Levites

^3aAnd the Levites were numbered from thirty years old and upward, and ^btheir number by ¹census of men was 38,000.

⁴Of these, 24,000 were ^ato direct the work of the house of Yahweh; and 6,000 were ^bofficers and judges,

⁵and 4,000 were gatekeepers, and ^a4,000 were praising Yahweh with the instruments which ¹David made for giving praise.

⁶And David divided them into divisions ^aaccording to the sons of Levi: Gershon, Kohath, and Merari.

The Sons of Gershon

⁷Of the Gershonites were ¹Ladan and Shimei.

⁸The sons of Ladan were Jehiel the first and Zetham and Joel, three.

⁹The sons of Shimei were Shelomoth and Haziel and Haran, three. These were the heads of the fathers’ households of Ladan.

¹⁰The sons of Shimei were Jahath, ¹Zina, Jeush, and Beriah. These four were the sons of Shimei.

¹¹Jahath was the first and Zizah the second; but Jeush and Beriah did not have many sons, so they became a father’s household, one ¹unit.

The Sons of Kohath

¹²The sons of Kohath: Amram, Izhar, Hebron, and Uzziel, four.

^13aThe sons of Amram were Aaron and Moses. And ^bAaron was separated in order to sanctify him as most holy, he and his sons forever, ^cto offer offerings up in smoke before Yahweh, to minister to Him and to bless in His name forever.

¹⁴But as for ^aMoses the man of God, his sons were named among the tribe of Levi.

¹⁵The sons of Moses were Gershom and Eliezer.

¹⁶The ¹son of Gershom was ²Shebuel the chief.

¹⁷The ¹son of Eliezer was Rehabiah the chief; and Eliezer had no other sons, but the sons of Rehabiah were very many.

¹⁸The ¹son of Izhar was ²Shelomith the chief.

¹⁹The sons of Hebron were Jeriah the first, Amariah the second, Jahaziel the third and Jekameam the fourth.

²⁰The sons of Uzziel were Micah the first and Isshiah the second.

The Sons of Merari

²¹The sons of Merari were Mahli and Mushi. The sons of Mahli were Eleazar and Kish.

²²And Eleazar died and had no sons, but daughters only, so their brothers, the sons of Kish, took them up as wives.

²³The sons of Mushi: Mahli, Eder, and Jeremoth, three.

The Service of the Levites

^24aThese were the sons of Levi according to their fathers’ households, even the heads of the fathers’ households of those of them who were ¹counted, in the number of names by their ²census, doing the work for the service of the house of Yahweh, ^bfrom twenty years old and upward.

²⁵For David said, “Yahweh, the God of Israel, ^ahas given rest to His people, and He dwells in Jerusalem forever.

²⁶“Also, ^athe Levites will no longer need to carry the tabernacle and all its furnishings for its service.”

²⁷For by the last words of David the sons of Levi were numbered from twenty years old and upward.

²⁸For their station is to be on hand for the sons of Aaron with the service of the house of Yahweh, in the courts and in the chambers and in the cleansing of all holy things, even the work of the service of the house of God,

^29aand with the showbread, and ^bthe fine flour for a grain offering, and unleavened wafers, or ^cwhat is made on the griddle, or ^dwhat is well stirred, and ^eall measures of volume and size.

³⁰And they are to stand every morning to thank and to praise Yahweh, and likewise at evening,

³¹and to offer all burnt offerings to Yahweh, ^aon the sabbaths, the new moons and ^bthe appointed times in the number set by the judgments concerning them, continually before Yahweh.

³²Thus ^athey shall keep responsibility of the tent of meeting, and responsibility of the holy place, and ^bresponsibility of the sons of Aaron their ¹relatives, for the service of the house of Yahweh.

CHAPTER 24

Divisions of Levites

¹Now the divisions of the sons of Aaron were these: ^athe sons of Aaron were Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar.

^2aBut Nadab and Abihu died before their father and had no ¹sons. So Eleazar and Ithamar ministered as priests.

³And David, with ^aZadok of the sons of Eleazar and Ahimelech of the sons of Ithamar, divided them according to their assignments for their service.

⁴And more chief men were found from the ¹sons of Eleazar than the ²sons of Ithamar, so they divided them thus: there were sixteen heads of fathers’ households of the ³sons of Eleazar and eight of the ⁴sons of Ithamar, according to their fathers’ households.

^5aThus they were divided by lot, the one as the other; for they were leaders for the sanctuary and leaders for God, both from the sons of Eleazar and the sons of Ithamar.

⁶Shemaiah, the son of Nethanel the scribe, from the Levites, wrote them down in the presence of the king, the princes, Zadok the priest, ^aAhimelech the son of Abiathar, and the heads of the fathers’ households of the priests and of the Levites; one father’s household taken for Eleazar and one taken for Ithamar.

⁷Now the first lot came out for Jehoiarib, the second for Jedaiah,

⁸the third for Harim, the fourth for Seorim,

⁹the fifth for Malchijah, the sixth for Mijamin,

¹⁰the seventh for Hakkoz, the eighth for ^aAbijah,

¹¹the ninth for Jeshua, the tenth for Shecaniah,

¹²the eleventh for Eliashib, the twelfth for Jakim,

¹³the thirteenth for Huppah, the fourteenth for Jeshebeab,

¹⁴the fifteenth for Bilgah, the sixteenth for Immer,

¹⁵the seventeenth for Hezir, the eighteenth for Happizzez,

¹⁶the nineteenth for Pethahiah, the twentieth for Jehezkel,

¹⁷the twenty-first for Jachin, the twenty-second for Gamul,

¹⁸the twenty-third for Delaiah, the twenty-fourth for Maaziah.

^19aThese were their assignments for their service when they came in to the house of Yahweh according to the legal judgment rendered to them by the hand of Aaron their father, just as Yahweh, the God of Israel, had commanded him.

²⁰Now for the rest of the sons of Levi: of the sons of Amram, ¹Shubael; of the sons of Shubael, Jehdeiah.

²¹Of Rehabiah: of the sons of Rehabiah, Isshiah the first.

²²Of the Izharites, ¹Shelomoth; of the sons of Shelomoth, Jahath.

²³The sons ^aof Hebron: Jeriah the first, Amariah the second, Jahaziel the third, Jekameam the fourth.

²⁴The sons of Uzziel, Micah; of the sons of Micah, Shamir.

²⁵The brother of Micah, Isshiah; of the sons of Isshiah, Zechariah.

²⁶The sons of Merari, Mahli and Mushi; the sons of Jaaziah, Beno.

²⁷The sons of Merari: by Jaaziah were Beno, Shoham, Zaccur, and Ibri.

²⁸By Mahli: Eleazar, who had no sons.

²⁹By Kish: the sons of Kish, Jerahmeel.

³⁰The sons of Mushi: Mahli, Eder and Jerimoth. These were the sons of the Levites according to their fathers’ households.

^31aThese also cast lots alongside their ¹relatives the sons of Aaron in the presence of David the king, ^bZadok, Ahimelech, and the heads of the…