1 Chronicles 22–24

Chapter 22

David Prepares for Temple Building

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

²So David ¹gave orders to gather ^athe foreigners who were in the land of Israel, and ^bhe set stonecutters to hew out stones to build the house of God.

³David ^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.

⁵David said, “My son ^aSolomon is young and inexperienced, and the house that is to be built for the Lord shall be exceedingly magnificent, famous and glorious throughout all lands. Therefore now I will make preparation for it.” So David made ample preparations before his death.

Solomon Charged with the Task

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

⁷David said to Solomon, “^aMy son, ¹I had intended to build a house to the name of the Lord my God.

⁸“But the word of the Lord came to me, saying, ‘^aYou have shed much blood and have ¹waged great wars; you shall not build a house to 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 My son and I will be his father; and I will establish the throne of his kingdom over Israel forever.’

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

¹²“^aOnly the Lord give you discretion and understanding, and give you charge over Israel, so that you may ^bkeep the law of the Lord your God.

¹³“^aThen you will prosper, if you are careful to observe the statutes and the ordinances which the Lord 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 the Lord ^a100,000 talents of gold and 1,000,000 talents of silver, and ^bbronze and iron beyond weight, for ²they are in great quantity; also timber and stone I have prepared, and you may add to them.

¹⁵“Moreover, there are many workmen with you, stonecutters and masons of stone and carpenters, and all men who are skillful in every kind of work.

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

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

¹⁸“Is not the Lord 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 the Lord and before His people.

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

Chapter 23

Solomon Reigns

^1aNow when David ¹reached old age, ^bhe made his son Solomon king over Israel.

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

Offices of the Levites

^3aThe 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 oversee the work of the house of the Lord; and 6,000 were ^bofficers and judges,

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

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

Gershonites

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 ¹class.

Kohathites

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

^13aThe sons of Amram were Aaron and Moses. And ^bAaron was set apart to sanctify him as most holy, he and his sons forever, ^cto burn incense before the Lord, 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.

Merarites

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

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

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

Duties Revised

^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 the Lord, ^bfrom twenty years old and upward.

²⁵For David said, “The Lord 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 utensils for its service.”

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

²⁸For their office is ¹to assist the sons of Aaron with the service of the house of the Lord, in the courts and in the chambers and in the purifying 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 baked in the pan or ^dwhat is well-mixed, and ^eall measures of volume and size.

³⁰They are to stand every morning to thank and to praise the Lord, and likewise at evening,

³¹and to offer all burnt offerings to the Lord, ^aon the sabbaths, the new moons and ^bthe fixed festivals in the number set by the ordinance concerning them, continually before the Lord.

³²Thus ^athey are to keep charge of the tent of meeting, and charge of the holy place, and ^bcharge of the sons of Aaron their ¹relatives, for the service of the house of the Lord.

Chapter 24

Divisions of Levites

¹Now the divisions of the ¹descendants 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 served as priests.

³David, with ^aZadok of the sons of Eleazar and Ahimelech of the sons of Ithamar, divided them according to their offices ¹for their ministry.

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

^5aThus they were divided by lot, the one as the other; for they were officers of the sanctuary and officers of God, both from the ¹descendants of Eleazar and the descendants of Ithamar.

⁶Shemaiah, the son of Nethanel the scribe, from the Levites, recorded them 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 offices for their ministry when they came in to the house of the Lord according to the ordinance given to them through Aaron their father, just as the Lord 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.

²⁴Of the 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 just as their ¹relatives the sons of Aaron in the presence of David the king, ^bZadok, Ahimelech, and the heads of the fathers’ households of the priests and of the Levites—the head of fathers’ households as well as those of his younger brother.…