David’s Address about the Temple

28 Now ^(A)David assembled at Jerusalem all the officials of Israel, the leaders of the tribes, and the commanders of the divisions that served the king, 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 ^(B)the mighty men, all the valiant warriors. ² Then King David rose to his feet and said, “Listen to me, my brothers and my people; ^[a]I ^(C)had intended to build a ^[b]permanent home for the ark of the covenant of the Lord and for ^(D)the footstool of our God. So I had made preparations to build it. ³ But God said to me, ‘^(E)You 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, ^(F)chose me from all the household of my father to be king over Israel ^(G)forever. For ^(H)He has chosen Judah to be a leader; and ^(I)in 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 (J)Of all my sons (for the Lord has given me many sons), ^(K)He 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 ^(L)Solomon is the one who shall build My house and My courtyards; 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 ^(M)if he resolutely performs My commandments and My ordinances, as ^[c]is done now.’ ⁸ So now, in the sight of all Israel, the assembly of the Lord, and in the ^[d]presence of our God, keep and seek after all the commandments of the Lord your God so that you may possess the good land and leave it as an inheritance to your sons after you forever.

⁹ “As for you, my son Solomon, know the God of your father, and ^(N)serve Him wholeheartedly and with a willing ^[e]mind; ^(O)for the Lord searches all hearts, and understands every intent of the thoughts. ^(P)If 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; ^(Q)be courageous and act.”

¹¹ Then David gave to his son Solomon ^(R)the plan of ^(S)the porch of the temple, its buildings, its storehouses, its upper rooms, its inner rooms, and ^(T)the room for the ^[f]atoning cover; ¹² and the plan of all that he had in ^[g]mind, for the courtyards of the house of the Lord, and for all the surrounding rooms, for ^(U)the storehouses of the house of God and for the storehouses of the dedicated things; ¹³ also for ^(V)the divisions of the priests and ^(W)the 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; ¹⁴ for the golden utensils, by weight of gold for all utensils for every service; for all the silver utensils, by weight of silver for all utensils for every service; ¹⁵ and the weight of gold for the ^(X)golden 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; ¹⁶ and the gold by weight for the tables of the showbread, for each table; and silver for the silver tables; ¹⁷ and 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; ¹⁸ and for ^(Y)the altar of incense, refined gold by weight; and gold for the model of the chariot, and ^(Z)the 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, ^(AA)all the ^[h]details of this pattern.”

²⁰ Then David said to his son Solomon, “^(AB)Be strong and courageous, and act; do not fear nor be dismayed, for the Lord God, my God, is with you. ^(AC)He 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, ^(AD)there are the divisions of the priests and the Levites for all the service of the house of God, and ^(AE)every 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.”

Offerings for the Temple

29 Then King David said to the entire assembly, “My son Solomon, whom alone God has chosen, ^(AF)is still young and inexperienced, and the work is great; for ^(AG)the ^[i]temple is not for mankind, but for the Lord God. ² Now ^(AH)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 ^[j]temple, ⁴ namely, ^(AI)three thousand ^[k]talents of gold, from ^(AJ)the gold of Ophir, and seven thousand talents of refined silver, to overlay the walls of the ^[l]buildings; ⁵ gold for the things of gold and silver for the things of silver, that is, for all the work ^[m]done by the craftsmen. Who then is willing ^[n]to consecrate himself this day to the Lord?”

⁶ Then ^(AK)the rulers of the fathers’ households, the leaders of the tribes of Israel, and the commanders of thousands and hundreds, with ^(AL)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 ^[o](AM)darics of gold, ten thousand talents of silver, eighteen thousand talents of brass, and a hundred thousand talents of iron. ^8 [p]Whoever possessed precious stones gave them to the treasury of the house of the Lord, ^[q]in care of ^(AN)Jehiel the Gershonite. ⁹ Then the people rejoiced because they had offered so willingly, for they made their offering to the Lord ^(AO)wholeheartedly, and King David also rejoiced greatly.

Prophecy a Superior Gift

14 ^(A)Pursue love, yet earnestly ^(B)desire ^(C)spiritual gifts, but especially that you may ^(D)prophesy. ² For the one who ^(E)speaks in a tongue does not speak to people, but to God; for no one ^[a]understands, but ^[b]in his spirit he speaks ^(F)mysteries. ³ But the one who prophesies speaks to people for ^(G)edification, ^[c](H)exhortation, and consolation. ⁴ The one who ^(I)speaks in a tongue ^(J)edifies himself; but the one who ^(K)prophesies ^(L)edifies the church. ⁵ Now I wish that you all ^(M)spoke in tongues, but ^(N)rather that you would prophesy; and greater is the one who prophesies than the one who ^(O)speaks in tongues, unless he interprets, so that the church may receive ^(P)edification.

⁶ But now, brothers and sisters, if I come to you speaking in tongues, how will I benefit you unless I speak to you either by way of ^(Q)revelation, or of ^(R)knowledge, or of ^(S)prophecy, or of ^(T)teaching? ⁷ Yet even lifeless instruments, whether flute or harp, in producing a sound, if they do not produce a distinction in the tones, how will it be known what is played on the flute or on the harp? ⁸ For if ^(U)the trumpet produces an indistinct sound, who will prepare himself for battle? ⁹ So you too, unless you produce intelligible speech by the tongue, how will it be known what is spoken? For you will just be ^(V)talking to the air. ¹⁰ There are, perhaps, a great many kinds of ^[d]languages in the world, and none is incapable of meaning. ¹¹ So if I do not know the meaning of the language, I will be ^(W)unintelligible to the one who speaks, and the one who speaks will be unintelligible ^[e]to me. ¹² So you too, since you are eager to possess ^[f]spiritual gifts, strive to excel for the ^(X)edification of the church.

¹³ Therefore, one who speaks in a tongue is to pray that he may interpret. ¹⁴ For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my mind is unproductive. ^15 (Y)What is the outcome then? I will pray with the spirit, but I will pray with the mind also; I will ^(Z)sing with the spirit, but I will sing with the mind also. ¹⁶ For otherwise, if you bless God ^[g]in the spirit only, how will the one who occupies the place of the ^[h]outsider know to say ^(AA)the “Amen” at your ^(AB)giving of thanks, since he does not understand what you are saying? ¹⁷ For you are giving thanks well enough, but the other person is not ^(AC)edified. ¹⁸ I thank God, I speak in tongues more than you all; ¹⁹ nevertheless, in church I prefer to speak five words with my mind so that I may instruct others also, rather than ten thousand words in a tongue.

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 (A)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 (B)Both riches and honor come from You, and You rule over all, and ^(C)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 ^[a]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 ^(D)we are strangers before You, and temporary residents, as all our fathers were; ^(E)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 ^(F)You put the heart to the test and ^(G)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 ^[b]intentions of the hearts of Your people, and direct their hearts to You; ¹⁹ and ^(H)give my son Solomon a perfect heart to keep Your commandments, Your testimonies, and Your statutes, and to do them all, and ^(I)to build the ^[c]temple for which I have made provision.”

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

Sacrifices

²¹ On the next day ^(L)they ^[e]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 ^(M)a second time, and they ^(N)anointed him as ruler for the Lord and Zadok as priest. ²³ Then ^(O)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 ^[f]pledged allegiance to King Solomon. ^25 (P)The Lord highly honored Solomon in the sight of all Israel, and ^(Q)bestowed on him royal majesty which had not been bestowed on any king before him in Israel.

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

Death of David

²⁸ Then he died at ^(T)a good old age, ^(U)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 ^(V)Samuel the seer, in the chronicles of ^(W)Nathan the prophet, and in the chronicles of ^(X)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.

The Prodigal Son

¹¹ And He said, “A man had two sons. ¹² The younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me ^(A)the share of the estate that ^[a]is coming to me.’ And so he divided his ^[b](B)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 ^[c]wild living. ¹⁴ Now when he had ^[d]spent everything, a severe famine occurred in that country, and he began doing without. ¹⁵ So he went and ^[e]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 ^[f]his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired laborers have more than enough bread, but I am dying here ^[g]from hunger! ¹⁸ I will set out and go to my father, and will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven, and ^[h]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 ^[i]his father. But when he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion for him, and ran and ^[j](C)embraced him and kissed him. ²¹ And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and ^[k]in your sight; I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ ²² But the father said to his slaves, ‘Quickly bring out ^(D)the best robe and put it on him, and ^[l](E)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 ^(F)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 ^[m]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 ^[n](G)wealth with prostitutes, you slaughtered the fattened calf for him.’ ³¹ And he said to him, ‘Son, you ^[o]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 ^(H)dead and has begun to live, and was lost and has been found.’”