Solomon Instructed to Build the Temple

28 Now David assembled at Jerusalem all ^(A)the leaders of Israel: the officers of the tribes and ^(B)the captains of the divisions who served the king, the captains over thousands and captains over hundreds, and ^(C)the stewards over all the substance and ^[a]possessions of the king and of his sons, with the officials, the valiant men, and all ^(D)the mighty men of valor.

² Then King David rose to his feet and said, “Hear me, my brethren and my people: ^(E)I had it in my heart to build a house of rest for the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and for ^(F)the footstool of our God, and had made preparations to build it. ³ But God said to me, ^(G)‘You shall not build a house for My name, because you have been a man of war and have shed ^(H)blood.’ ⁴ However the Lord God of Israel ^(I)chose me above all the house of my father to be king over Israel forever, for He has chosen ^(J)Judah to be the ruler. And of the house of Judah, ^(K)the house of my father, and ^(L)among the sons of my father, He was pleased with me to make me king over all Israel. ^5 (M)And of all my sons (for the Lord has given me many sons) ^(N)He has chosen my son Solomon to sit on the throne of the kingdom of the Lord over Israel. ⁶ Now He said to me, ‘It is ^(O)your son Solomon who shall build My house and My courts; for I have chosen him to be My son, and I will be his Father. ⁷ Moreover I will establish his kingdom forever, ^(P)if he is steadfast to observe My commandments and My judgments, as it is this day.’ ⁸ Now therefore, in the sight of all Israel, the assembly of the Lord, and in the hearing of our God, be careful to seek out all the commandments of the Lord your God, that you may possess this good land, and leave it as an inheritance for your children after you forever.

⁹ “As for you, my son Solomon, ^(Q)know the God of your father, and serve Him ^(R)with a loyal heart and with a willing mind; for ^(S)the Lord searches all hearts and understands all the intent of the thoughts. ^(T)If you seek Him, He will be found by you; but if you forsake Him, He will ^(U)cast you off forever. ¹⁰ Consider now, ^(V)for the Lord has chosen you to build a house for the sanctuary; be strong, and do it.”

¹¹ Then David gave his son Solomon ^(W)the plans for the vestibule, its houses, its treasuries, its upper chambers, its inner chambers, and the place of the mercy seat; ¹² and the ^(X)plans for all that he had by the Spirit, of the courts of the house of the Lord, of all the chambers all around, ^(Y)of the treasuries of the house of God, and of the treasuries for the dedicated things; ¹³ also for the division of the priests and the ^(Z)Levites, for all the work of the service of the house of the Lord, and for all the articles of service in the house of the Lord. ¹⁴ He gave gold by weight for things of gold, for all articles used in every kind of service; also silver for all articles of silver by weight, for all articles used in every kind of service; ¹⁵ the weight for the ^(AA)lampstands of gold, and their lamps of gold, by weight for each lampstand and its lamps; for the lampstands of silver by weight, for the lampstand and its lamps, according to the use of each lampstand. ¹⁶ And by weight he gave gold for the tables of the showbread, for each ^(AB)table, and silver for the tables of silver; ¹⁷ also pure gold for the forks, the basins, the pitchers of pure gold, and the golden bowls—he gave gold by weight for every bowl; and for the silver bowls, silver by weight for every bowl; ¹⁸ and refined gold by weight for the ^(AC)altar of incense, and for the construction of the chariot, that is, the gold ^(AD)cherubim that spread their wings and overshadowed the ark of the covenant of the Lord. ¹⁹ “All this,” said David, ^(AE)“the Lord made me understand in writing, by His hand upon me, all the ^[b]works of these plans.”

²⁰ And David said to his son Solomon, ^(AF)“Be strong and of good courage, and do it; do not fear nor be dismayed, for the Lord God—my God—will be with you. ^(AG)He will not leave you nor forsake you, until you have finished all the work for the service of the house of the Lord. ²¹ Here are ^(AH)the divisions of the priests and the Levites for all the service of the house of God; and ^(AI)every willing craftsman will be with you for all manner of workmanship, for every kind of service; also the leaders and all the people will be completely at your command.”

Offerings for Building the Temple

29 Furthermore King David said to all the assembly: “My son Solomon, whom alone God has ^(AJ)chosen, is ^(AK)young and inexperienced; and the work is great, because the ^[c]temple is not for man but for the Lord God. ² Now for the house of my God I have prepared with all my might: gold for things to be made of gold, silver for things of silver, bronze for things of bronze, iron for things of iron, wood for things of wood, ^(AL)onyx stones, stones to be set, glistening stones of various colors, all kinds of precious stones, and marble slabs in abundance. ³ Moreover, because I have set my affection on the house of my God, I have given to the house of my God, over and above all that I have prepared for the holy house, my own special treasure of gold and silver: ⁴ three thousand talents of gold, of the gold of ^(AM)Ophir, and seven thousand talents of refined silver, to overlay the walls of the houses; ⁵ the gold for things of gold and the silver for things of silver, and for all kinds of work to be done by the hands of craftsmen. Who then is ^(AN)willing to ^[d]consecrate himself this day to the Lord?”

⁶ Then ^(AO)the leaders of the fathers’ houses, leaders of the tribes of Israel, the captains of thousands and of hundreds, with ^(AP)the officers over the king’s work, ^(AQ)offered willingly. ⁷ They gave for the work of the house of God five thousand talents and ten thousand darics of gold, ten thousand talents of silver, eighteen thousand talents of bronze, and one hundred thousand talents of iron. ⁸ And whoever had precious stones gave them to the treasury of the house of the Lord, into the hand of ^(AR)Jehiel^[e] the Gershonite. ⁹ Then the people rejoiced, for they had offered willingly, because with a loyal heart they had ^(AS)offered willingly to the Lord; and King David also rejoiced greatly.

Prophecy and Tongues

14 Pursue love, and ^(A)desire spiritual gifts, ^(B)but especially that you may prophesy. ² For he who ^(C)speaks in a tongue does not speak to men but to God, for no one understands him; however, in the spirit he speaks mysteries. ³ But he who prophesies speaks ^(D)edification and ^(E)exhortation and comfort to men. ⁴ He who speaks in a tongue edifies himself, but he who prophesies edifies the church. ⁵ I wish you all spoke with tongues, but even more that you prophesied; ^[a]for he who prophesies is greater than he who speaks with tongues, unless indeed he interprets, that the church may receive edification.

Tongues Must Be Interpreted

⁶ But now, brethren, if I come to you speaking with tongues, what shall I profit you unless I speak to you either by ^(F)revelation, by knowledge, by prophesying, or by teaching? ⁷ Even things without life, whether flute or harp, when they make a sound, unless they make a distinction in the sounds, how will it be known what is piped or played? ⁸ For if the trumpet makes an uncertain sound, who will prepare for battle? ⁹ So likewise you, unless you utter by the tongue words easy to understand, how will it be known what is spoken? For you will be speaking into the air. ¹⁰ There are, it may be, so many kinds of languages in the world, and none of them is without ^[b]significance. ¹¹ Therefore, if I do not know the meaning of the language, I shall be a ^[c]foreigner to him who speaks, and he who speaks will be a foreigner to me. ¹² Even so you, since you are ^[d]zealous for spiritual gifts, let it be for the ^[e]edification of the church that you seek to excel.

¹³ Therefore let him who speaks in a tongue pray that he may ^(G)interpret. ¹⁴ For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my understanding is unfruitful. ¹⁵ What is the conclusion then? I will pray with the spirit, and I will also pray with the understanding. ^(H)I will sing with the spirit, and I will also sing ^(I)with the understanding. ¹⁶ Otherwise, if you bless with the spirit, how will he who occupies the place of the uninformed say “Amen” ^(J)at your giving of thanks, since he does not understand what you say? ¹⁷ For you indeed give thanks well, but the other is not edified.

¹⁸ I thank my God I speak with tongues more than you all; ¹⁹ yet in the church I would rather speak five words with my understanding, that I may teach others also, than ten thousand words in a tongue.

David’s Praise to God

¹⁰ Therefore David blessed the Lord before all the assembly; and David said:

¹⁶ “O Lord our God, all this abundance that we have prepared to build You a house for Your holy name is from Your hand, and is all Your own. ¹⁷ I know also, my God, that You ^(E)test the heart and ^(F)have pleasure in uprightness. As for me, in the uprightness of my heart I have willingly offered all these things; and now with joy I have seen Your people, who are present here to offer willingly to You. ¹⁸ O Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, our fathers, keep this forever in the intent of the thoughts of the heart of Your people, and fix their heart toward You. ¹⁹ And ^(G)give my son Solomon a loyal heart to keep Your commandments and Your testimonies and Your statutes, to do all these things, and to build the ^[d]temple for which ^(H)I have made provision.”

²⁰ Then David said to all the assembly, “Now bless the Lord your God.” So all the assembly blessed the Lord God of their fathers, and bowed their heads and prostrated themselves before the Lord and the king.

Solomon Anointed King^(I)

²¹ And they made sacrifices to the Lord and offered burnt offerings to the Lord on the next day: a thousand bulls, a thousand rams, a thousand lambs, with their drink offerings, and ^(J)sacrifices in abundance for all Israel. ²² So they ate and drank before the Lord with great gladness on that day. And they made Solomon the son of David king the second time, and ^(K)anointed him before the Lord to be the leader, and Zadok to be priest. ²³ Then Solomon sat on the throne of the Lord as king instead of David his father, and prospered; and all Israel obeyed him. ²⁴ All the leaders and the mighty men, and also all the sons of King David, ^(L)submitted^[e] themselves to King Solomon. ²⁵ So the Lord exalted Solomon exceedingly in the sight of all Israel, and ^(M)bestowed on him such royal majesty as had not been on any king before him in Israel.

The Close of David’s Reign

²⁶ Thus David the son of Jesse reigned over all Israel. ^27 (N)And the period that he reigned over Israel was forty years; ^(O)seven years he reigned in Hebron, and thirty-three years he reigned in Jerusalem. ²⁸ So he ^(P)died in a good old age, ^(Q)full of days and riches and honor; and Solomon his son reigned in his place. ²⁹ Now the acts of King David, first and last, indeed they are written in the ^[f]book of Samuel the seer, in the book of Nathan the prophet, and in the book of Gad the seer, ³⁰ with all his reign and his might, ^(R)and the events that happened to him, to Israel, and to all the kingdoms of the lands.

The Parable of the Lost Son

¹¹ Then He said: “A certain man had two sons. ¹² And the younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the portion of goods that falls to me.’ So he divided to them ^(A)his livelihood. ¹³ And not many days after, the younger son gathered all together, journeyed to a far country, and there wasted his possessions with ^[a]prodigal living. ¹⁴ But when he had spent all, there arose a severe famine in that land, and he began to be in want. ¹⁵ Then he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country, and he sent him into his fields to feed swine. ¹⁶ And he would gladly have filled his stomach with the ^[b]pods that the swine ate, and no one gave him anything.

¹⁷ “But when he came to himself, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger! ¹⁸ I will arise and go to my father, and will say to him, “Father, ^(B)I have sinned against heaven and before you, ¹⁹ and I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me like one of your hired servants.” ’

²⁰ “And he arose and came to his father. But ^(C)when he was still a great way off, his father saw him and had compassion, and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him. ²¹ And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven ^(D)and in your sight, and am no longer worthy to be called your son.’

²² “But the father said to his servants, ^[c]‘Bring out the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet. ²³ And bring the fatted calf here and kill it, and let us eat and be merry; ^24 (E)for this my son was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ And they began to be merry.

²⁵ “Now his older son was in the field. And as he came and drew near to the house, he heard music and dancing. ²⁶ So he called one of the servants and asked what these things meant. ²⁷ And he said to him, ‘Your brother has come, and because he has received him safe and sound, your father has killed the fatted calf.’

²⁸ “But he was angry and would not go in. Therefore his father came out and pleaded with him. ²⁹ So he answered and said to his father, ‘Lo, these many years I have been serving you; I never transgressed your commandment at any time; and yet you never gave me a young goat, that I might make merry with my friends. ³⁰ But as soon as this son of yours came, who has devoured your livelihood with harlots, you killed the fatted calf for him.’

³¹ “And he said to him, ‘Son, you are always with me, and all that I have is yours. ³² It was right that we should make merry and be glad, ^(F)for your brother was dead and is alive again, and was lost and is found.’ ”