Offerings for the Temple

29 Then King David said to the entire assembly, “My son Solomon, whom alone God has chosen, ^(A)is still young and inexperienced, and the work is great; for ^(B)the ^[a]temple is not for mankind, but for the Lord God. ² Now ^(C)with all my ability I have provided for the house of my God the gold for the things of gold, the silver for the things of silver, the bronze for the things of bronze, the iron for the things of iron, 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 In addition, 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 ^[b]temple, ⁴ namely, ^(D)three thousand ^[c]talents of gold, from ^(E)the gold of Ophir, and seven thousand talents of refined silver, to overlay the walls of the ^[d]buildings; ⁵ gold for the things of gold and silver for the things of silver, that is, for all the work ^[e]done by the craftsmen. Who then is willing ^[f]to consecrate himself this day to the Lord?”

⁶ Then ^(F)the rulers of the fathers’ households, the leaders of the tribes of Israel, and the commanders of thousands and hundreds, with ^(G)the supervisors of the king’s work, offered willingly; ⁷ and for the service of the house of God they gave five thousand talents and ten thousand ^[g](H)darics of gold, ten thousand talents of silver, eighteen thousand talents of brass, and a hundred thousand talents of iron. ^8 [h]Whoever possessed precious stones gave them to the treasury of the house of the Lord, ^[i]in care of ^(I)Jehiel the Gershonite. ⁹ Then the people rejoiced because they had offered so willingly, for they made their offering to the Lord ^(J)wholeheartedly, and King David also rejoiced greatly.

David’s Prayer

¹⁰ So David blessed the Lord in the sight of all the assembly; and David said, “Blessed are You, Lord God of Israel our father, forever and ever. ^11 (K)Yours, Lord, is the greatness, the power, the glory, the victory, and the majesty, indeed everything that is in the heavens and on the earth; Yours is the dominion, Lord, and You exalt Yourself as head over all. ^12 (L)Both riches and honor come from You, and You rule over all, and ^(M)in 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 ^[j]be able to offer as generously as this? For all things come from You, and from Your hand we have given to You. ¹⁵ For ^(N)we are strangers before You, and temporary residents, as all our fathers were; ^(O)our days on the earth are like a shadow, and there is no hope. ¹⁶ 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 everything is Yours. ¹⁷ Since I know, my God, that ^(P)You put the heart to the test and ^(Q)delight 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 Lord, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, our fathers, keep this forever in the ^[k]intentions of the hearts of Your people, and direct their hearts to You; ¹⁹ and ^(R)give my son Solomon a perfect heart to keep Your commandments, Your testimonies, and Your statutes, and to do them all, and ^(S)to build the ^[l]temple for which I have made provision.”

²⁰ Then David said to all the assembly, “Now bless the Lord your God.” And ^(T)all the assembly blessed the Lord, the God of their fathers, and ^(U)bowed down and paid ^[m]homage to the Lord and the king.

Sacrifices

²¹ On the next day ^(V)they ^[n]made sacrifices to the Lord and offered burnt offerings to the Lord, a thousand bulls, a thousand rams, and a thousand 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 ^(W)a second time, and they ^(X)anointed him as ruler for the Lord and Zadok as priest. ²³ Then ^(Y)Solomon sat on the throne of the Lord as king instead of his father David; and he prospered, and all Israel obeyed him. ²⁴ And all the officials, the mighty men, and also all the sons of King David ^[o]pledged allegiance to King Solomon. ^25 (Z)The Lord highly honored Solomon in the sight of all Israel, and ^(AA)bestowed on him royal majesty which had not been bestowed on any king before him in Israel.

²⁶ Now ^(AB)David the son of Jesse reigned over all Israel. ^27 (AC)The period which he reigned over Israel was forty years; he reigned in Hebron seven years and ^[p]in Jerusalem thirty-three years.

Death of David

²⁸ Then he died at ^(AD)a good old age, ^(AE)full of days, riches, and honor; and his son Solomon reigned in his place. ²⁹ Now the acts of King David, from the first to the last, are written in the chronicles of ^(AF)Samuel the seer, in the chronicles of ^(AG)Nathan the prophet, and in the chronicles of ^(AH)Gad the seer, ³⁰ with all of his reign, his power, and the circumstances which came upon him, Israel, and all the kingdoms of the lands.

Purpose of This Letter

3 ^(A)Beloved, this is now the second letter I am writing to you in which I am ^(B)stirring up your sincere mind by way of a reminder, ² to ^(C)remember the words spoken beforehand by ^(D)the holy prophets and ^(E)the commandment of the Lord and Savior spoken by your apostles.

The Coming Day of the Lord

^3 (F)Know this first of all, that ^(G)in the last days ^(H)mockers will come with their mocking, ^(I)following after their own lusts, ⁴ and saying, “^(J)Where is the promise of His ^(K)coming? For ever since the fathers ^[a](L)fell asleep, all things continue just as they were ^(M)from the beginning of creation.” ⁵ For ^[b]when they maintain this, it escapes their notice that ^(N)by the word of God the heavens existed long ago and the earth was ^(O)formed out of water and by water, ⁶ through which ^(P)the world at that time was ^(Q)destroyed by being flooded with water. ⁷ But by His word ^(R)the present heavens and earth are being reserved for ^(S)fire, kept for ^(T)the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly people.

⁸ But do not let this one fact escape your notice, ^(U)beloved, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and ^(V)a thousand years like one day. ^9 (W)The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but ^(X)is patient toward you, ^(Y)not willing for any to perish, but for all to come to repentance.

A New Heaven and Earth

¹⁰ But ^(Z)the day of the Lord ^(AA)will come like a thief, in which ^(AB)the heavens ^(AC)will pass away with a roar and the ^(AD)elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and ^(AE)the earth and ^[c]its works will be ^[d]discovered.

¹¹ Since all these things are to be destroyed in this way, what sort of people ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, ^12 (AF)looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which ^(AG)the heavens will be destroyed by burning, and the ^(AH)elements will melt with intense heat! ¹³ But according to His ^(AI)promise we are looking for ^(AJ)new heavens and a new earth, ^(AK)in which righteousness dwells.

^14 (AL)Therefore, ^(AM)beloved, since you look for these things, be diligent to be ^(AN)found ^(AO)spotless and blameless by Him, at peace, ¹⁵ and regard the ^(AP)patience of our Lord as salvation; just as also ^(AQ)our beloved brother Paul, ^(AR)according to the wisdom given him, wrote to you, ¹⁶ as also in all his letters, speaking in them of ^(AS)these things, ^(AT)in which there are some things that are hard to understand, which the untaught and ^(AU)unstable distort, as they do also ^(AV)the rest of the Scriptures, to their own destruction. ¹⁷ You therefore, ^(AW)beloved, knowing this beforehand, ^(AX)be on your guard so that you are not carried away by ^(AY)the error of ^[e](AZ)unscrupulous people and ^(BA)lose your own ^[f]firm commitment, ¹⁸ but grow in the grace and ^(BB)knowledge of our ^(BC)Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. ^(BD)To Him be the glory, both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.

God’s Indictment of His People

What God Requires of Mankind

The Lost Sheep

15 Now all the ^(A)tax collectors and ^[a]sinners were coming near ^[b]Jesus to listen to Him. ² And both the Pharisees and the scribes began to complain, saying, “This man receives sinners and ^(B)eats with them.”

³ And so He told them this parable, saying, ⁴ “^(C)What man among you, if he has a hundred sheep and has lost one of them, does not leave the other ninety-nine in the ^[c]open pasture and go after the one that is lost, until he finds it? ⁵ And when he has found it, he puts it on his shoulders, rejoicing. ⁶ And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, because I have found my sheep that was lost!’ ⁷ I tell you that in the same way, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous people who have no need of repentance.

The Lost Coin

⁸ “Or what woman, if she has ten ^[d]silver coins and loses one coin, does not light a lamp and sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it? ⁹ And when she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Rejoice with me, because I have found the coin which I had lost!’ ¹⁰ In the same way, I tell you, there is joy ^(D)in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”

The Prodigal Son

¹¹ And He said, “A man had two sons. ¹² The younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me ^(E)the share of the estate that ^[e]is coming to me.’ And so he divided his ^[f](F)wealth between them. ¹³ And not many days later, the younger son gathered everything together and went on a journey to a distant country, and there he squandered his estate in ^[g]wild living. ¹⁴ Now when he had ^[h]spent everything, a severe famine occurred in that country, and he began doing without. ¹⁵ So he went and ^[i]hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, and he sent him into his fields to feed pigs. ¹⁶ And he longed to have his fill of the carob pods that the pigs were eating, and no one was giving him anything. ¹⁷ But when he came to ^[j]his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired laborers have more than enough bread, but I am dying here ^[k]from hunger! ¹⁸ I will set out and go to my father, and will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven, and ^[l]in your sight; ¹⁹ I am no longer worthy to be called your son; treat me as one of your hired laborers.”’ ²⁰ So he set out and came to ^[m]his father. But when he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion for him, and ran and ^[n](G)embraced him and kissed him. ²¹ And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and ^[o]in your sight; I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ ²² But the father said to his slaves, ‘Quickly bring out ^(H)the best robe and put it on him, and ^[p](I)put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet; ²³ and bring the fattened calf, slaughter it, and let’s eat and celebrate; ²⁴ for this son of mine was ^(J)dead and has come to life again; he was lost and has been found.’ And they began to celebrate.

²⁵ “Now his older son was in the field, and when he came and approached the house, he heard music and dancing. ²⁶ And he summoned one of the servants and began inquiring what these things could be. ²⁷ And he said to him, ‘Your brother has come, and your father has slaughtered the fattened calf because he has received him back safe and sound.’ ²⁸ But he became angry and was not willing to go in; and his father came out and began pleading with him. ²⁹ But he answered and said to his father, ‘Look! For so many years I have been serving you and I have never ^[q]neglected a command of yours; and yet you never gave me a young goat, so that I might celebrate with my friends; ³⁰ but when this son of yours came, who has devoured your ^[r](K)wealth with prostitutes, you slaughtered the fattened calf for him.’ ³¹ And he said to him, ‘Son, you ^[s]have always been with me, and all that is mine is yours. ³² But we had to celebrate and rejoice, because this brother of yours was ^(L)dead and has begun to live, and was lost and has been found.’”