David Orders a Temple to Be Built

2 David ordered the resident foreigners in the land of Israel to be called together. He appointed some of them to be stonecutters to chisel stones for the building of God’s temple. 3 David supplied a large amount of iron for the nails of the doors of the gates and for braces, more bronze than could be weighed, 4 and more cedar logs than could be counted. (The Sidonians and Tyrians had brought a large amount of cedar logs to David.)

5 David said, “My son Solomon is just an inexperienced young man, and the temple to be built for the Lord must be especially magnificent so it will become famous and be considered splendid by all the nations. Therefore I will make preparations for its construction.” So David made extensive preparations before he died.

6 He summoned his son Solomon and charged him to build a temple for the Lord God of Israel. 7 David said to Solomon: “My son, I really wanted to build a temple to honor the Lord my God. 8 But the Lord said to me: ‘You have spilled a great deal of blood and fought many battles. You must not build a temple to honor me, for you have spilled a great deal of blood on the ground before me. 9 Look, you will have a son, who will be a peaceful man. I will give him rest from all his enemies on every side. Indeed, Solomon will be his name; I will give Israel peace and quiet during his reign. 10 He will build a temple to honor me; he will become my son, and I will become his father. I will grant to his dynasty permanent rule over Israel.’

11 “Now, my son, may the Lord be with you! May you succeed and build a temple for the Lord your God, just as he announced you would. 12 Only may the Lord give you insight and understanding when he places you in charge of Israel, so you may obey the law of the Lord your God. 13 Then you will succeed, if you carefully obey the rules and regulations which the Lord ordered Moses to give to Israel. Be strong and brave! Don’t be afraid and don’t panic! 14 Now, look, I have made every effort to supply what is needed to build the Lord’s temple. I have stored up 100,000 talents of gold, 1,000,000 talents of silver, and so much bronze and iron it cannot be weighed, as well as wood and stones. Feel free to add more! 15 You also have available many workers, including stonecutters, masons, carpenters, and an innumerable array of workers who are skilled 16 in using gold, silver, bronze, and iron. Get up and begin the work! May the Lord be with you!”

17 David ordered all the officials of Israel to support his son Solomon. 18 He told them, “The Lord your God is with you! He has made you secure on every side, for he handed over to me the inhabitants of the region and the region is subdued before the Lord and his people. 19 Now seek the Lord your God wholeheartedly and with your entire being! Get up and build the sanctuary of the Lord God! Then you can bring the ark of the Lord’s covenant and the holy items dedicated to God’s service into the temple that is built to honor the Lord.”

23 When David was old and approaching the end of his life, he made his son Solomon king over Israel.

2 David assembled all the leaders of Israel, along with the priests and the Levites. 3 The Levites who were thirty years old and up were counted; there were 38,000 men. 4 David said, “Of these, 24,000 are to direct the work of the Lord’s temple; 6,000 are to be officials and judges; 5 4,000 are to be gatekeepers; and 4,000 are to praise the Lord with the instruments I supplied for worship.” 6 David divided them into groups corresponding to the sons of Levi: Gershon, Kohath, and Merari.

7 The Gershonites included Ladan and Shimei.

8 The sons of Ladan:

Jehiel the oldest, Zetham, and Joel – three in all.

9 The sons of Shimei:

Shelomoth, Haziel, and Haran – three in all.

These were the leaders of the family of Ladan.

10 The sons of Shimei:

Jahath, Zina, Jeush, and Beriah. These were Shimei’s sons – four in all. 11 Jahath was the oldest and Zizah the second oldest. Jeush and Beriah did not have many sons, so they were considered one family with one responsibility.

12 The sons of Kohath:

Amram, Izhar, Hebron, and Uzziel – four in all.

13 The sons of Amram:

Aaron and Moses.

Aaron and his descendants were chosen on a permanent basis to consecrate the most holy items, to offer sacrifices before the Lord, to serve him, and to praise his name. 14 The descendants of Moses the man of God were considered Levites.

15 The sons of Moses:

Gershom and Eliezer.

16 The son of Gershom:

Shebuel the oldest.

17 The son of Eliezer was Rehabiah, the oldest. Eliezer had no other sons, but Rehabiah had many descendants.

18 The son of Izhar:

Shelomith the oldest.

19 The sons of Hebron:

Jeriah the oldest, Amariah the second, Jahaziel the third, and Jekameam the fourth.

20 The sons of Uzziel:

Micah the oldest, and Isshiah the second.

21 The sons of Merari:

Mahli and Mushi.

The sons of Mahli:

Eleazar and Kish.

22 Eleazar died without having sons; he had only daughters. The sons of Kish, their cousins, married them.

23 The sons of Mushi:

Mahli, Eder, and Jeremoth – three in all.

24 These were the descendants of Levi according to their families, that is, the leaders of families as counted and individually listed who carried out assigned tasks in the Lord’s temple and were twenty years old and up. 25 For David said, “The Lord God of Israel has given his people rest and has permanently settled in Jerusalem. 26 So the Levites no longer need to carry the tabernacle or any of the items used in its service.” 27 According to David’s final instructions, the Levites twenty years old and up were counted.

28 Their job was to help Aaron’s descendants in the service of the Lord’s temple. They were to take care of the courtyards, the rooms, ceremonial purification of all holy items, and other jobs related to the service of God’s temple. 29 They also took care of the bread that is displayed, the flour for offerings, the unleavened wafers, the round cakes, the mixing, and all the measuring. 30 They also stood in a designated place every morning and offered thanks and praise to the Lord. They also did this in the evening 31 and whenever burnt sacrifices were offered to the Lord on the Sabbath and at new moon festivals and assemblies. A designated number were to serve before the Lord regularly in accordance with regulations. 32 They were in charge of the meeting tent and the holy place, and helped their relatives, the descendants of Aaron, in the service of the Lord’s temple.

24 The divisions of Aaron’s descendants were as follows:

The sons of Aaron:

Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar.

2 Nadab and Abihu died before their father did; they had no sons. Eleazar and Ithamar served as priests.

3 David, Zadok (a descendant of Eleazar), and Ahimelech (a descendant of Ithamar) divided them into groups to carry out their assigned responsibilities. 4 The descendants of Eleazar had more leaders than the descendants of Ithamar, so they divided them up accordingly; the descendants of Eleazar had sixteen leaders, while the descendants of Ithamar had eight. 5 They divided them by lots, for there were officials of the holy place and officials designated by God among the descendants of both Eleazar and Ithamar. 6 The scribe Shemaiah son of Nethanel, a Levite, wrote down their names before the king, the officials, Zadok the priest, Ahimelech son of Abiathar, and the leaders of the priestly and Levite families. One family was drawn by lot from Eleazar, and then the next from Ithamar.

7 The first lot went to Jehoiarib,

the second to Jedaiah,

8 the third to Harim,

the fourth to Seorim,

9 the fifth to Malkijah,

the sixth to Mijamin,

10 the seventh to Hakkoz,

the eighth to Abijah,

11 the ninth to Jeshua,

the tenth to Shecaniah,

12 the eleventh to Eliashib,

the twelfth to Jakim,

13 the thirteenth to Huppah,

the fourteenth to Jeshebeab,

14 the fifteenth to Bilgah,

the sixteenth to Immer,

15 the seventeenth to Hezir,

the eighteenth to Happizzez,

16 the nineteenth to Pethahiah,

the twentieth to Jehezkel,

17 the twenty-first to Jakin,

the twenty-second to Gamul,

18 the twenty-third to Delaiah,

the twenty-fourth to Maaziah.

19 This was the order in which they carried out their assigned responsibilities when they entered the Lord’s temple, according to the regulations given them by their ancestor Aaron, just as the Lord God of Israel had instructed him.