1 Chronicles 28:1–29:30
David’s Address about the Temple
1 Now aDavid assembled at Jerusalem all the officials of Israel, the princes of the tribes, and the commanders of the divisions that served the king, and the commanders of thousands, and the commanders of hundreds, and the overseers of all the property and livestock belonging to the king and his sons, with the officials and bthe mighty men, even all the valiant men.
2 Then King David rose to his feet and said, “Listen to me, my brethren and my people; I ahad 1intended to build a 2permanent home for the ark of the covenant of the Lord and for bthe footstool of our God. So I had made preparations to build it.
3 “But God said to me, ‘aYou shall not build a house for My name because you are a man of war and have shed blood.’
4 “Yet, the Lord, the God of Israel, achose me from all the house of my father to be king over Israel bforever. For cHe has chosen Judah to be a leader; and din the house of Judah, my father’s house, and among the sons of my father He took pleasure in me to make me king over all Israel.
5 “aOf all my sons (for the Lord has given me many sons), bHe has chosen my son Solomon to sit on the throne of the kingdom of the Lord over Israel.
6 “He said to me, ‘Your son aSolomon is the one who shall build My house and My courts; for I have chosen him to be a son to Me, and I will be a father to him.
7 ‘I will establish his kingdom forever aif he resolutely performs My commandments and My ordinances, as 1is done now.’
8 “So now, in the sight of all Israel, the assembly of the Lord, and in the hearing of our God, observe and seek after all the commandments of the Lord your God so that you may possess the good land and bequeath it to your sons after you forever.
9 “As for you, my son Solomon, know the God of your father, and aserve Him with 1a whole heart and a willing 2mind; bfor the Lord searches all hearts, and understands every intent of the thoughts. cIf you seek Him, He will let you find Him; but if you forsake Him, He will reject you forever.
10 “Consider now, for the Lord has chosen you to build a house for the sanctuary; abe courageous and act.”
11 Then David gave to his son Solomon athe plan of bthe porch of the temple, its buildings, its storehouses, its upper rooms, its inner rooms and cthe room for the mercy seat;
12 and the plan of all that he had in 1mind, for the courts of the house of the Lord, and for all the surrounding rooms, for athe storehouses of the house of God and for the storehouses of the dedicated things;
13 also for athe divisions of the priests and bthe Levites and for all the work of the service of the house of the Lord and for all the utensils of service in the house of the Lord;
14 for the golden utensils, the weight of gold for all utensils for every kind of service; for the silver utensils, the weight of silver for all utensils for every kind of service;
15 and the weight of gold for the agolden lampstands and their golden lamps, with the weight of each lampstand and its lamps; and the weight of silver for the silver lampstands, with the weight of each lampstand and its lamps according to the use of each lampstand;
16 and the gold by weight for the tables of showbread, for each table; and silver for the silver tables;
17 and the forks, the basins, and the pitchers of pure gold; and for the golden bowls with the weight for each bowl; and for the silver bowls with the weight for each bowl;
18 and for athe altar of incense refined gold by weight; and gold for the model of the chariot, even bthe cherubim that spread out their wings and covered the ark of the covenant of the Lord.
19 “All this,” said David, “the Lord made me understand in writing by His hand upon me, aall the 1details of this pattern.”
20 Then David said to his son Solomon, “aBe strong and courageous, and act; do not fear nor be dismayed, for the Lord God, my God, is with you. bHe will not fail you nor forsake you until all the work for the service of the house of the Lord is finished.
21 “Now behold, athere are the divisions of the priests and the Levites for all the service of the house of God, and bevery willing man of any skill will be with you in all the work for all kinds of service. The officials also and all the people will be entirely at your command.”
1 Then King David said to the entire assembly, “My son Solomon, whom alone God has chosen, ais still young and inexperienced and the work is great; for bthe 1temple is not for man, but for the Lord God.
2 “Now awith all my ability I have provided for the house of my God the gold for the things of gold, and the silver for the things of silver, and the bronze for the things of bronze, the iron for the things of iron, and wood for the things of wood, onyx stones and inlaid stones, stones of antimony and stones of various colors, and all kinds of precious stones and alabaster in abundance.
3 “Moreover, in my delight in the house of my God, the treasure I have of gold and silver, I give to the house of my God, over and above all that I have already provided for the holy 1temple,
4 namely, a3,000 talents of gold, of bthe gold of Ophir, and 7,000 talents of refined silver, to overlay the walls of the 1buildings;
5 of gold for the things of gold and of silver for the things of silver, that is, for all the work 1done by the craftsmen. Who then is willing 2to consecrate himself this day to the Lord?”
6 Then athe rulers of the fathers’ households, and the princes of the tribes of Israel, and the commanders of thousands and of hundreds, with bthe overseers over the king’s work, offered willingly;
7 and for the service for the house of God they gave 5,000 talents and 10,000 adarics of gold, and 10,000 talents of silver, and 18,000 talents of brass, and 100,000 talents of iron.
8 1Whoever possessed precious stones gave them to the treasury of the house of the Lord, 2in care of aJehiel the Gershonite.
9 Then the people rejoiced because they had offered so willingly, for they made their offering to the Lord awith a whole heart, and King David also rejoiced greatly.
10 So David blessed the Lord in the sight of all the assembly; and David said, “Blessed are You, O Lord God of Israel our father, forever and ever.
11 “aYours, O Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty, indeed everything that is in the heavens and the earth; Yours is the dominion, O Lord, and You exalt Yourself as head over all.
12 “aBoth riches and honor come from You, and You rule over all, and bin Your hand is power and might; and it lies in Your hand to make great and to strengthen everyone.
13 “Now therefore, our God, we thank You, and praise Your glorious name.
14 “But who am I and who are my people that we should 1be able to offer as generously as this? For all things come from You, and from Your hand we have given You.
15 “For awe are sojourners before You, and tenants, as all our fathers were; bour days on the earth are like a shadow, and there is no hope.
16 “O Lord our God, all this abundance that we have provided to build You a house for Your holy name, it is from Your hand, and all is Yours.
17 “Since I know, O my God, that aYou try the heart and bdelight in uprightness, I, in the integrity of my heart, have willingly offered all these things; so now with joy I have seen Your people, who are present here, make their offerings willingly to You.
18 “O Lord, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, our fathers, preserve this forever in the 1intentions of the heart of Your people, and direct their heart to You;
19 and agive to my son Solomon a perfect heart to keep Your commandments, Your testimonies and Your statutes, and to do them all, and bto build the 1temple, for which I have made provision.”
20 Then David said to all the assembly, “Now bless the Lord your God.” And aall the assembly blessed the Lord, the God of their fathers, and bbowed low and did homage to the Lord and to the king.
21 On the next day athey 1made sacrifices to the Lord and offered burnt offerings to the Lord, 1,000 bulls, 1,000 rams and 1,000 lambs, with their drink offerings and sacrifices in abundance for all Israel.
22 So they ate and drank that day before the Lord with great gladness.
Solomon Again Made King
And they made Solomon the son of David king aa second time, and they banointed him as ruler for the Lord and Zadok as priest.
23 Then aSolomon sat on the throne of the Lord as king instead of David his father; and he prospered, and all Israel obeyed him.
24 All the officials, the mighty men, and also all the sons of King David 1pledged allegiance to King Solomon.
25 aThe Lord highly exalted Solomon in the sight of all Israel, and bbestowed on him royal majesty which had not been on any king before him in Israel.
26 Now aDavid the son of Jesse reigned over all Israel.
27 aThe period which he reigned over Israel was forty years; he reigned in Hebron seven years and 1in Jerusalem thirty-three years.
28 Then he died in aa 1ripe old age, bfull of days, riches and honor; and his son Solomon reigned in his place.
29 Now the acts of King David, from first to last, are written in the chronicles of aSamuel the seer, in the chronicles of bNathan the prophet and in the chronicles of cGad the seer,
30 with all his reign, his power, and the circumstances which came on him, on Israel, and on all the kingdoms of the lands.