May
15
1 Chronicles 27:16 — 29:30
16 And over the tribes of Israel, of the Reubenites, Eliezer the son of Zichri was leader; of the Simeonites, Shephatiah the son of Maacah; 17 of Levi, Hashabiah the son of Kemuel; of Aaron, Zadok; 18 of Judah, Elihu, one of David’s brothers; of Issachar, Omri the son of Michael; 19 of Zebulun, Ishmaiah the son of Obadiah; of Naphtali, Jerimoth the son of Azriel; 20 of the sons of Ephraim, Hoshea the son of Azaziah; of the half tribe of Manasseh, Joel the son of Pedaiah; 21 of the half tribe of Manasseh in Gilead, Iddo the son of Zechariah; of Benjamin, Jaasiel the son of Abner; 22 of Dan, Azarel the son of Jeroham. These were the princes of the tribes of Israel.
23 And David did not take the number of those from twenty years of age and under, because Jehovah had promised to make Israel as many as the stars of the heavens. 24 Joab the son of Zeruiah had himself started to take the count, but he did not finish; and for this there came to be indignation against Israel, and the number did not come up into the account of the affairs of the days of King David.
25 And over the treasures of the king there was Azmaveth the son of Adiel. And over the treasures in the field, in the cities and in the villages and in the towers there was Jonathan the son of Uzziah. 26 And over the doers of work in the field, for the cultivation of the soil, there was Ezri the son of Chelub. 27 And over the vineyards there was Shimei the Ramathite; and over that which was in the vineyards for the wine supplies there was Zabdi the Shiphmite. 28 And over the olive groves and the sycamore trees that were in the Shephelah there was Baal-hanan the Gederite; and over the oil supplies there was Joash. 29 And over the herds that were grazing in Sharon there was Shitrai the Sharonite; and over the herds in the low plains there was Shaphat the son of Adlai. 30 And over the camels there was Obil the Ishmaelite; and over the she-asses there was Jehdeiah the Meronothite. 31 And over the flocks there was Jaziz the Hagrite. All these were the chiefs of the goods that belonged to King David.
32 And Jonathan, David’s nephew, was a counselor, a man of understanding, he being also a secretary; and Jehiel the son of Hachmoni was with the king’s sons. 33 And Ahithophel was a counselor of the king; and Hushai the Archite was the king’s companion. 34 And after Ahithophel there were Jehoiada the son of Benaiah and Abiathar; and Joab was chief of the army of the king.
28
And David proceeded to congregate all the princes of Israel, the princes of the
tribes and the princes of the divisions of those ministering to the king and the
chiefs of thousands and the chiefs of hundreds and the chiefs of all the goods
and livestock of the king and of his sons, together with the court officials and
the mighty men, even every valiant, mighty man, to Jerusalem.
2 Then
David the king rose to his feet and said:
“Hear me, my brothers and my people. As for me, it was close to my heart to build a resting house for the ark of the covenant of Jehovah and as the footstool of our God, and I had made preparation to build. 3 And the [true] God himself said to me, ‘You will not build a house to my name; for a man of wars you are, and blood you have spilled.’ 4 Accordingly Jehovah the God of Israel chose me out of all the house of my father to become king over Israel to time indefinite; for it was Judah that he chose as leader, and in the house of Judah my father’s house, and among my father’s sons, I was the one whom he approved, to make me king over all Israel; 5 and out of all my sons (for many are the sons whom Jehovah has given me) he then chose Solomon my son to sit upon the throne of the kingship of Jehovah over Israel.
6 “Further, he said to me, ‘Solomon your son is the one that will build my house and my courtyards; for I have chosen him as my son, and I myself shall become his father. 7 And I shall certainly establish his kingship firmly to time indefinite if he will be strongly resolved to do my commandments and my judicial decisions, as at this day.’ 8 And now, before the eyes of all Israel, Jehovah’s congregation, and in the ears of our God, take care and search for all the commandments of Jehovah YOUR God, in order that YOU may possess the good land and may certainly pass it on as an inheritance to YOUR sons after YOU to time indefinite.
9 “And
you, Solomon my son, know the God of your father and serve him with a complete
heart and with a delightful soul; for all hearts Jehovah is searching, and every
inclination of the thoughts he is discerning. If you search for him, he will let
himself be found by you; but if you leave him, he will cast you off forever.
10 See,
now, for Jehovah himself has chosen you to build a house as a sanctuary. Be
courageous and act.”
11 And David proceeded to give Solomon his son the architectural plan of the porch and of its houses and its storerooms and its roof chambers and its dark inner rooms and the house of the propitiatory cover; 12 even the architectural plan of everything that had come to be with him by inspiration for the courtyards of Jehovah’s house and for all the dining rooms all around, for the treasures of the house of the [true] God and for the treasures of the things made holy; 13 and for the divisions of the priests and of the Levites and for all the work of the service of Jehovah’s house and for all the utensils of the service of Jehovah’s house; 14 for the gold by weight, the gold for all the utensils for the different services, for all the utensils of silver by weight, for all the utensils for the different services; 15 and the weight for the lampstands of gold and their lamps of gold, by weight of the different lampstands and their lamps, and for the lampstands of silver by weight for the lampstand and its lamps according to the service of the different lampstands; 16 and the gold by weight for the tables of the layer bread, for the different tables, and silver for the tables of silver; 17 and the forks and the bowls and the pitchers of pure gold, and for the small gold bowls by weight for the different small bowls, and for the small silver bowls by weight for the different small bowls; 18 and for the incense altar refined gold by weight and for the representation of the chariot, namely, the cherubs of gold for spreading [their wings] out and screening over the ark of the covenant of Jehovah. 19 “He gave insight for the entire thing in writing from the hand of Jehovah upon me, even for all the works of the architectural plan.”
20 And David went on to say to Solomon his son: “Be courageous and strong and act. Do not be afraid nor be terrified, for Jehovah God, my God, is with you. He will not desert you or leave you until all the work of the service of Jehovah’s house is finished. 21 And here are the divisions of the priests and of the Levites for all the service of the house of the [true] God; and with you in all the work there is every willing one with skill for all the service, and also the princes and all the people, for all your words.”
29
David the king now said to all the congregation: “Solomon my son, the one [whom]
God has chosen, is young and delicate, but the work is great; for the castle is
not for man, but for Jehovah God.
2 And
according to all my power I have prepared for the house of my God the gold for
the goldwork, and the silver for the silverwork, and the copper for the
copperwork, the iron for the ironwork, and the timbers for the timberwork; onyx
stones, and stones to be set with hard mortar, and mosaic pebbles, and every
precious stone, and alabaster stones in great quantity.
3 And
since I am taking pleasure in the house of my God, there is yet a special
property of mine, gold and silver; I do give it to the house of my God over and
above all that I have prepared for the holy house:
4 three
thousand talents of gold of the gold of Ophir, and seven thousand talents of
refined silver, for coating the walls of the houses;
5 of
the gold for the goldwork, and of the silver for the silverwork and for all the
work by the hand of the craftsmen. And who is there volunteering to fill his
hand today [with a gift] for Jehovah?”
6 And the princes of the paternal houses and the princes of the tribes of Israel and the chiefs of thousands and of hundreds and the chiefs of the business of the king proceeded to volunteer. 7 Accordingly they gave to the service of the house of the [true] God gold worth five thousand talents and ten thousand darics and silver worth ten thousand talents and copper worth eighteen thousand talents and iron worth a hundred thousand talents. 8 And what stones were found with any persons they gave to the treasure of the house of Jehovah under the control of Jehiel the Gershonite. 9 And the people gave way to rejoicing over their making voluntary offerings, for it was with a complete heart that they made voluntary offerings to Jehovah; and even David the king himself rejoiced with great joy.
10 Consequently David blessed Jehovah before the eyes of all the congregation and David said: “Blessed may you be, O Jehovah the God of Israel our father, from time indefinite even to time indefinite. 11 Yours, O Jehovah, are the greatness and the mightiness and the beauty and the excellency and the dignity; for everything in the heavens and in the earth is [yours]. Yours is the kingdom, O Jehovah, the One also lifting yourself up as head over all. 12 The riches and the glory are on account of you, and you are dominating everything; and in your hand there are power and mightiness, and in your hand is [ability] to make great and to give strength to all. 13 And now, O our God, we are thanking you and praising your beauteous name.
14 “And yet, who am I and who are my people, that we should retain power to make voluntary offerings like this? For everything is from you, and out of your own hand we have given to you. 15 For we are alien residents before you and settlers the same as all our forefathers. Like a shadow our days are upon the earth and there is no hope. 16 O Jehovah our God, all this abundance that we have prepared to build for you a house for your holy name, from your hand it is, and to you it all belongs. 17 And I well know, O my God, that you are an examiner of the heart, and that it is in rectitude that you take pleasure. I, for my part, in the uprightness of my heart have voluntarily offered all these things, and now your people who are on hand here I have enjoyed seeing make offerings voluntarily to you. 18 O Jehovah the God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel our forefathers, do keep this to time indefinite as the inclination of the thoughts of the heart of your people, and direct their heart to you. 19 And to Solomon my son give a complete heart to keep your commandments, your testimonies and your regulations, and to do everything, and to build the castle for which I have made preparation.”
20 And David went on to say to all the congregation: “Bless, now, Jehovah YOUR God.” And all the congregation proceeded to bless Jehovah the God of their forefathers and bow low and prostrate themselves to Jehovah and to the king. 21 And they continued to sacrifice sacrifices to Jehovah and offer up burnt offerings to Jehovah on the day following that day, a thousand young bulls, a thousand rams, a thousand male lambs and their drink offerings, even sacrifices in great number for all Israel. 22 And they continued eating and drinking before Jehovah on that day with great rejoicing; and they proceeded a second time to make Solomon the son of David king and to anoint him to Jehovah as leader and also Zadok as priest. 23 And Solomon began to sit upon Jehovah’s throne as king in place of David his father and to make a success of it, and all the Israelites were obedient to him. 24 As for all the princes and the mighty men and also all the sons of King David, they submitted themselves to Solomon the king. 25 And Jehovah continued to make Solomon surpassingly great before the eyes of all Israel and to put upon him such royal dignity as had not come to be upon any king before him over Israel.
26 As for David the son of Jesse, he reigned over all Israel; 27 and the days that he reigned over Israel were forty years. In Hebron he reigned for seven years, and in Jerusalem he reigned for thirty-three [years]. 28 And gradually he died in a good old age, satisfied with days, riches and glory; and Solomon his son began to reign in place of him. 29 As for the affairs of David the king, the first ones and the last, there they are written among the words of Samuel the seer and among the words of Nathan the prophet and among the words of Gad the visionary, 30 together with all his kingship and his mightiness and the times that had passed over him and over Israel and over all the kingdoms of the lands.