1 Chronicles 27–29

Chapter 27

Commanders of the Army

¹Now this is the enumeration of the sons of Israel, the heads of fathers’ households, the commanders of thousands and of hundreds, and their officers who served the king in all the affairs of the divisions which came in and went out month by month throughout all the months of the year, each division numbering 24,000:

²Jashobeam the son of Zabdiel ^1ahad charge of the first division for the first month; and in his division were 24,000.

³He was from the sons of Perez, and was chief of all the commanders of the army for the first month.

⁴Dodai the Ahohite and his division had charge of the division for the second month, Mikloth being the chief officer; and in his division were 24,000.

⁵The third commander of the army for the third month was Benaiah, the son of Jehoiada the priest, as chief; and in his division were 24,000.

⁶This Benaiah was the mighty man of the thirty, and had charge of thirty; and over his division was Ammizabad his son.

⁷The fourth for the fourth month was Asahel the brother of Joab, and Zebadiah his son after him; and in his division were 24,000.

⁸The fifth for the fifth month was the commander Shamhuth the Izrahite; and in his division were 24,000.

⁹The sixth for the sixth month was Ira the son of Ikkesh the Tekoite; and in his division were 24,000.

¹⁰The seventh for the seventh month was Helez the Pelonite of the sons of Ephraim; and in his division were 24,000.

¹¹The eighth for the eighth month was Sibbecai the Hushathite of the Zerahites; and in his division were 24,000.

¹²The ninth for the ninth month was Abiezer the Anathothite of the Benjamites; and in his division were 24,000.

¹³The tenth for the tenth month was Maharai the Netophathite of the Zerahites; and in his division were 24,000.

¹⁴The eleventh for the eleventh month was Benaiah the Pirathonite of the sons of Ephraim; and in his division were 24,000.

¹⁵The twelfth for the twelfth month was Heldai the Netophathite of Othniel; and in his division were 24,000.

Chief Officers of the Tribes

¹⁶Now in charge of the tribes of Israel: chief officer for the Reubenites was Eliezer the son of Zichri; for the Simeonites, Shephatiah the son of Maacah;

¹⁷for Levi, Hashabiah the son of Kemuel; for Aaron, Zadok;

¹⁸for Judah, Elihu, one of David’s brothers; for Issachar, Omri the son of Michael;

¹⁹for Zebulun, Ishmaiah the son of Obadiah; for Naphtali, Jeremoth the son of Azriel;

²⁰for the sons of Ephraim, 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 the son of Abner;

²²for Dan, Azarel the son of Jeroham. ^aThese were the princes of the tribes of Israel.

²³But David did not ¹count those twenty years of age and under, ^abecause the Lord had said He would multiply Israel ^bas the stars of heaven.

²⁴Joab the son of Zeruiah had begun to count them, but did not finish; and because of ^athis, wrath came upon Israel, and the number was not included in the account of the chronicles of King David.

Various Overseers

²⁵Now Azmaveth the son of Adiel had charge of the king’s storehouses. And Jonathan the son of Uzziah had charge of the storehouses in the country, in the cities, in the villages and in the towers.

²⁶Ezri the son of Chelub had charge of the ¹agricultural workers who tilled the soil.

²⁷Shimei the Ramathite had charge of the vineyards; and Zabdi the Shiphmite had charge of the ¹produce of the vineyards stored in the wine cellars.

²⁸Baal-hanan the Gederite had charge of the olive and ^asycamore trees in the ¹Shephelah; and Joash had charge of the stores of oil.

²⁹Shitrai the Sharonite had charge of the cattle which were grazing in ^aSharon; and Shaphat the son of Adlai had charge of the cattle in the valleys.

³⁰Obil the Ishmaelite had charge of the camels; and Jehdeiah the Meronothite had charge of the donkeys.

³¹Jaziz the ^aHagrite had charge of the flocks. All these were ¹overseers of the property which belonged to King David.

Counselors

³²Also Jonathan, David’s uncle, was a counselor, a man of understanding, and a scribe; and Jehiel the son of Hachmoni ¹tutored the king’s sons.

^33aAhithophel was counselor to the king; and ^bHushai the Archite was the king’s friend.

³⁴Jehoiada the son of ^aBenaiah, and ^bAbiathar ¹succeeded Ahithophel; and Joab was the ^ccommander of the king’s army.

Chapter 28

David’s Address about the Temple

¹Now ^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.

²Then 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.”

¹¹Then 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;

¹²and 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;

¹³also 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;

¹⁴for 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;

¹⁵and 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;

¹⁶and the gold by weight for the tables of showbread, for each table; and silver for the silver tables;

¹⁷and 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;

¹⁸and 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.”

²⁰Then 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.”

Chapter 29

Offerings for the Temple

¹Then 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,

⁴namely, ^a3,000 talents of gold, of ^bthe gold of Ophir, and 7,000 talents of refined silver, to overlay the walls of the ¹buildings;

⁵of 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?”

⁶Then ^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;

⁷and for the service for the…