22 Then David said, This is the house of the Lord God, and this is the altar of the burnt offering for Israel.

² And David commanded to gather together the strangers that were in the land of Israel; and he set masons to hew wrought stones to build the house of God.

³ And David prepared iron in abundance for the nails for the doors of the gates, and for the joinings; and brass in abundance without weight;

⁴ Also cedar trees in abundance: for the Zidonians and they of Tyre brought much cedar wood to David.

⁵ And David said, Solomon my son is young and tender, and the house that is to be builded for the Lord must be exceeding magnifical, of fame and of glory throughout all countries: I will therefore now make preparation for it. So David prepared abundantly before his death.

⁶ Then he called for Solomon his son, and charged him to build an house for the Lord God of Israel.

⁷ And David said to Solomon, My son, as for me, it was in my mind to build an house unto the name of the Lord my God:

⁸ But the word of the Lord came to me, saying, Thou hast shed blood abundantly, and hast made great wars: thou shalt not build an house unto my name, because thou hast shed much blood upon the earth in my sight.

⁹ Behold, a son shall be born to thee, who shall be a man of rest; and I will give him rest from all his enemies round about: for his name shall be Solomon, and I will give peace and quietness unto Israel in his days.

¹⁰ He shall build an house for my name; and he shall be my son, and I will be his father; and I will establish the throne of his kingdom over Israel for ever.

¹¹ Now, my son, the Lord be with thee; and prosper thou, and build the house of the Lord thy God, as he hath said of thee.

¹² Only the Lord give thee wisdom and understanding, and give thee charge concerning Israel, that thou mayest keep the law of the Lord thy God.

¹³ Then shalt thou prosper, if thou takest heed to fulfil the statutes and judgments which the Lord charged Moses with concerning Israel: be strong, and of good courage; dread not, nor be dismayed.

¹⁴ Now, behold, in my trouble I have prepared for the house of the Lord an hundred thousand talents of gold, and a thousand thousand talents of silver; and of brass and iron without weight; for it is in abundance: timber also and stone have I prepared; and thou mayest add thereto.

¹⁵ Moreover there are workmen with thee in abundance, hewers and workers of stone and timber, and all manner of cunning men for every manner of work.

¹⁶ Of the gold, the silver, and the brass, and the iron, there is no number. Arise therefore, and be doing, and the Lord be with thee.

¹⁷ David also commanded all the princes of Israel to help Solomon his son, saying,

¹⁸ Is not the Lord your God with you? and hath he not given you rest on every side? for he hath given the inhabitants of the land into mine hand; and the land is subdued before the Lord, and before his people.

¹⁹ Now set your heart and your soul to seek the Lord your God; arise therefore, and build ye the sanctuary of the Lord God, to bring the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and the holy vessels of God, into the house that is to be built to the name of the Lord.

23 So when David was old and full of days, he made Solomon his son king over Israel.

² And he gathered together all the princes of Israel, with the priests and the Levites.

³ Now the Levites were numbered from the age of thirty years and upward: and their number by their polls, man by man, was thirty and eight thousand.

⁴ Of which, twenty and four thousand were to set forward the work of the house of the Lord; and six thousand were officers and judges:

⁵ Moreover four thousand were porters; and four thousand praised the Lord with the instruments which I made, said David, to praise therewith.

⁶ And David divided them into courses among the sons of Levi, namely, Gershon, Kohath, and Merari.

⁷ Of the Gershonites were, Laadan, and Shimei.

⁸ The sons of Laadan; the chief was Jehiel, and Zetham, and Joel, three.

⁹ The sons of Shimei; Shelomith, and Haziel, and Haran, three. These were the chief of the fathers of Laadan.

¹⁰ And the sons of Shimei were, Jahath, Zina, and Jeush, and Beriah. These four were the sons of Shimei.

¹¹ And Jahath was the chief, and Zizah the second: but Jeush and Beriah had not many sons; therefore they were in one reckoning, according to their father's house.

¹² The sons of Kohath; Amram, Izhar, Hebron, and Uzziel, four.

¹³ The sons of Amram; Aaron and Moses: and Aaron was separated, that he should sanctify the most holy things, he and his sons for ever, to burn incense before the Lord, to minister unto him, and to bless in his name for ever.

¹⁴ Now concerning Moses the man of God, his sons were named of the tribe of Levi.

¹⁵ The sons of Moses were, Gershom, and Eliezer.

¹⁶ Of the sons of Gershom, Shebuel was the chief.

¹⁷ And the sons of Eliezer were, Rehabiah the chief. And Eliezer had none other sons; but the sons of Rehabiah were very many.

¹⁸ Of the sons of Izhar; Shelomith the chief.

¹⁹ Of the sons of Hebron; Jeriah the first, Amariah the second, Jahaziel the third, and Jekameam the fourth.

²⁰ Of the sons of Uzziel; Micah the first and Jesiah the second.

²¹ The sons of Merari; Mahli, and Mushi. The sons of Mahli; Eleazar, and Kish.

²² And Eleazar died, and had no sons, but daughters: and their brethren the sons of Kish took them.

²³ The sons of Mushi; Mahli, and Eder, and Jeremoth, three.

²⁴ These were the sons of Levi after the house of their fathers; even the chief of the fathers, as they were counted by number of names by their polls, that did the work for the service of the house of the Lord, from the age of twenty years and upward.

²⁵ For David said, The Lord God of Israel hath given rest unto his people, that they may dwell in Jerusalem for ever:

²⁶ And also unto the Levites; they shall no more carry the tabernacle, nor any vessels of it for the service thereof.

²⁷ For by the last words of David the Levites were numbered from twenty years old and above:

²⁸ Because their office was to wait on the sons of Aaron for the service of the house of the Lord, in the courts, and in the chambers, and in the purifying of all holy things, and the work of the service of the house of God;

²⁹ Both for the shewbread, and for the fine flour for meat offering, and for the unleavened cakes, and for that which is baked in the pan, and for that which is fried, and for all manner of measure and size;

³⁰ And to stand every morning to thank and praise the Lord, and likewise at even:

³¹ And to offer all burnt sacrifices unto the Lord in the sabbaths, in the new moons, and on the set feasts, by number, according to the order commanded unto them, continually before the Lord:

³² And that they should keep the charge of the tabernacle of the congregation, and the charge of the holy place, and the charge of the sons of Aaron their brethren, in the service of the house of the Lord.

⁹ What then? are we better than they? No, in no wise: for we have before proved both Jews and Gentiles, that they are all under sin;

¹⁰ As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one:

¹¹ There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God.

¹² They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one.

¹³ Their throat is an open sepulchre; with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips:

¹⁴ Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness:

¹⁵ Their feet are swift to shed blood:

¹⁶ Destruction and misery are in their ways:

¹⁷ And the way of peace have they not known:

¹⁸ There is no fear of God before their eyes.

¹⁹ Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God.

²⁰ Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin.

²¹ But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets;

²² Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference:

²³ For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;

²⁴ Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus:

²⁵ Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God;

²⁶ To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.

²⁷ Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? of works? Nay: but by the law of faith.

²⁸ Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law.

²⁹ Is he the God of the Jews only? is he not also of the Gentiles? Yes, of the Gentiles also:

³⁰ Seeing it is one God, which shall justify the circumcision by faith, and uncircumcision through faith.

³¹ Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law.

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