1 Chronicles 25-29

Contemporary English Version

David Assigns the Temple Musicians Their Duties

25 David and the temple officials chose the descendants of Asaph, Heman, and Jeduthun to be in charge of music. They were to praise the Lord by playing cymbals, harps and other stringed instruments. Here is a list of the musicians and their duties:

² Asaph's four sons, Zaccur, Joseph, Nethaniah, and Asarelah, were under the direction of their father and played music whenever the king told them to.

³ Jeduthun's six sons, Gedaliah, Zeri, Jeshaiah, Shimei,^[a] Hashabiah, and Mattithiah, were under the direction of their father and played harps and sang praises to the Lord.

⁴ Heman had 14 sons: Bukkiah, Mattaniah, Uzziel, Shebuel, Jerimoth, Hananiah, Hanani, Eliathah, Giddalti, Romamtiezer, Joshbekashah, Mallothi, Hothir, Mahazioth. ⁵ Heman was one of the king's prophets, and God honored Heman by giving him 14 sons and 3 daughters. ⁶ His sons were under his direction and played cymbals, harps, and other stringed instruments during times of worship at the temple.

Asaph, Jeduthun, and Heman took their orders directly from the king.

⁷ There were 288 of these men, and all of them were skilled musicians. ⁸ David assigned them their duties by asking the Lord what he wanted.^[b] Everyone was responsible for something, whether young or old, teacher or student.

^9-31 The musicians were divided into 24 groups of twelve, and each group went by the name of their family leader. They were assigned their duties in the following order: Joseph, Gedaliah, Zaccur, Zeri, Nethaniah, Bukkiah, Asarelah, Jeshaiah, Mattaniah, Shimei, Uzziel, Hashabiah, Shebuel, Mattithiah, Jerimoth, Hananiah, Joshbekashah, Hanani, Mallothi, Eliathah, Hothir, Giddalti, Mahazioth, and Romamtiezer.

The Temple Guards Are Assigned Their Duties

26 The temple guards were also divided into groups according to clans.

Meshelemiah son of Kore was from the Korah clan and was a descendant of Asaph. ² He had seven sons, who were born in the following order: Zechariah, Jediael, Zebadiah, Jathniel, ³ Elam, Jehohanan, and Eliehoenai.

^4-5 (A) Obed-Edom had been blessed with eight sons: Shemaiah, Jehozabad, Joah, Sachar, Nethanel, Ammiel, Issachar, and Peullethai.

^6-7 Shemaiah was the father of Othni, Rephael, Obed, Elzabad, Elihu, and Semachiah. They were all respected leaders in their clan. ⁸ There were 62 descendants of Obed-Edom who were strong enough to be guards at the temple.

⁹ Eighteen descendants of Meshelemiah were chosen for this work.

^10-11 Hosah, from the Merari clan, was the father of Shimri, Hilkiah, Tebaliah, and Zechariah. Hosah had made Shimri the family leader, even though he was not the oldest son. Thirteen men from Hosah's family were chosen to be temple guards.

¹² The guards were divided into groups, according to their family leaders, and they were assigned duties at the temple, just like the other Levites. ¹³ Each group, no matter how large or small, was assigned a gate to guard, and they let the Lord show them what he wanted done.^[c]

¹⁴ Shelemiah^[d] was chosen to guard the East Gate. Zechariah his son was a wise man and was chosen to guard the North Gate. ¹⁵ Obed-Edom was then chosen to guard the South Gate, and his sons were chosen to guard the storerooms. ¹⁶ Shuppim and Hosah were chosen to guard the West Gate and the Shallecheth Gate on the upper road.

The guards were assigned the following work schedule: ¹⁷ Each day six guards were on duty on the east side of the temple, four were on duty on the north side, and four were on duty on the south side. Two guards were stationed at each of the two storerooms, ¹⁸ four were stationed along the road leading to the west courtyard,^[e] and two guards stayed in the court itself.

¹⁹ These were the guard duties assigned to the men from the clans of Korah and Merari.

Guards Are Assigned to the Treasury

²⁰ The Levites who were relatives of the Korahites and the Merarites were^[f] in charge of guarding the temple treasury and the gifts that had been dedicated to God.

²¹ Ladan was from the Gershon clan and was the father of Jehieli. Many of his other descendants were family leaders in the clan.^{[g] 22} Jehieli was the father of Zetham and Joel, and they were responsible for guarding the treasury.

²³ Other guards at the treasury were from the Kohathite clans of Amram, Izhar, Hebron, and Uzziel.

²⁴ Shebuel was a descendant of Gershom the son of Moses. He was the chief official in charge of the temple treasury. ²⁵ The descendants of Gershom's brother Eliezer included Rehabiah, Jeshaiah, Joram, Zichri, and Shelomoth.

²⁶ Shelomoth and his relatives were in charge of all the gifts that were dedicated to the Lord. These included the gifts that King David had dedicated, as well as those dedicated by the family leaders, army officers, and army commanders. ²⁷ And whenever valuable things were captured in battle, these men brought back some of them to make repairs to the temple. ²⁸ Shelomoth and his relatives were responsible for any gifts that had been given to the temple, including those from Samuel the prophet, King Saul the son of Kish, Abner the son of Ner,^[h] and Joab the son of Zeruiah.

Other Officers Are Assigned Their Duties

²⁹ Chenaniah from the Izhar clan and his sons were government officials and judges. They did not work at the temple.

³⁰ Hashabiah from the Hebron clan and 1,700 of his skilled relatives were the officials in charge of all religious and government business in the Israelite territories west of the Jordan River.

^31-32 Jerijah was the leader of the Hebron clan. David assigned him and 2,700 of his relatives, who were all respected family leaders, to be the officials in charge of all religious and government business in the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and East Manasseh. David found out about these men during the fortieth year of his rule, when he had a list made of all the families in the Hebron clan. They were from the town of Jazer in the territory of Gilead.

David Assigns Army Commanders

27 Each month a group of 24,000 men served as soldiers in Israel's army. These men, which included the family leaders, army commanders, and officials of the king, were under the command of the following men, arranged by the month of their service:

David Assigns Tribal Leaders

^16-22 Here is a list of the leaders of each tribe in Israel:

Eliezer son of Zichri was over Reuben; Shephatiah son of Maacah was over Simeon; Hashabiah son of Kemuel was over the Levites, and Zadok the priest was over the descendants of Aaron; Elihu the brother of David was over Judah; Omri son of Michael was over Issachar; Ishmaiah son of Obadiah was over Zebulun; Jerimoth son of Azriel was over Naphtali; Hoshea son of Azaziah was over Ephraim; Joel son of Pedaiah was over West Manasseh; Iddo son of Zechariah was over East Manasseh; Jaasiel son of Abner was over Benjamin; Azarel son of Jeroham was over Dan.

^23 (B) When David decided to count the people of Israel, he gave orders not to count anyone under 20 years of age, because the Lord had promised long ago that Israel would have as many people as there are stars in the sky. ^24 (C) Joab the son of Zeruiah had begun to count the people, but he stopped when the Lord began punishing Israel. So the total number was never included in David's official records.

Officials in Charge of the King's Property

²⁵ Azmaveth the son of Adiel was in charge of the king's personal storage rooms. Jonathan the son of Uzziah was in charge of the king's other storerooms that were in the towns, the villages, and the defense towers in Israel.

²⁶ Ezri the son of Chelub was in charge of the workers who farmed the king's land.

²⁷ Shimei from Ramah was in charge of the vineyards, and Zabdi from Shepham was in charge of storing the wine.

²⁸ Baal Hanan from Geder was in charge of the olive and sycamore trees in the western foothills, and Joash was in charge of storing the olive oil.

²⁹ Shitrai from Sharon was responsible for the cattle that were kept in Sharon Plain, and Shaphat son of Adlai was responsible for those kept in the valleys.

³⁰ Obil the Ishmaelite was in charge of the camels, Jehdeiah from Meronoth was in charge of the donkeys, and Jaziz the Hagrite was in charge of the sheep and goats.

³¹ These were the men in charge of David's royal property.

David's Personal Advisors

³² David's uncle Jonathan was a wise and intelligent advisor. He and Jehiel the son of Hachmoni taught David's sons.

³³ Ahithophel and Hushai the Archite were two of David's advisors. ³⁴ Jehoiada the son of Benaiah was the king's advisor after Ahithophel, and later, Abiathar was his advisor.

Joab was commander of Israel's army.

David Gives Solomon the Plans for the Temple

28 David called a meeting in Jerusalem for all of Israel's leaders, including the tribal leaders, the government officials, the army commanders, the officials in charge of the royal property and livestock, the palace officials, and the brave warriors.

^2 (D) After everyone was there, David stood up and said:

Listen to me, my people. I wanted to build a place where the sacred chest would be kept, so we could go there and worship the Lord our God. I have prepared all the supplies for building a temple, ³ but the Lord has refused to let me build it, because he said I have killed too many people in battle.

⁴ The Lord God chose Judah to be the leading tribe in Israel. Then from Judah, he chose my father's family, and from that family, he chose me to be the king of Israel, and he promised that my descendants will also rule as kings. ⁵ The Lord has blessed me with many sons, but he chose my son Solomon to be the next king of Israel. ⁶ The Lord said to me, “Your son Solomon will build my temple, and it will honor me. Solomon will be like a son to me, and I will be like a father to him. ⁷ If he continues to obey my laws and commands, his kingdom will never end.”

⁸ My friends, you are the Lord's people. And now, with God as your witness, I want you to promise that you will do your best to obey everything the Lord God has commanded us. Then this land will always belong to you and your descendants.

⁹ Solomon, my son, worship God and obey him with all your heart and mind, just as I have done. He knows all your thoughts and your reasons for doing things, and so if you turn to him, he will hear your prayers. But if you ignore him, he will reject you forever. ¹⁰ The Lord has chosen you to build a temple for worshiping him. Be confident and do the work you have been assigned.

¹¹ After David finished speaking, he gave Solomon the plans for building the main rooms of the temple, including the porch, the storerooms, the rooms upstairs and downstairs, as well as the most holy place. ¹² He gave Solomon his plans for the courtyards and the open areas around the temple, and for the rooms to store the temple treasures and gifts that had been dedicated to God.

¹³ David also gave Solomon his plans for dividing the priests and the Levites into groups, as well as for the work that needed to be done at the temple and for taking care of the objects used for worship. ¹⁴ He told Solomon how much gold and silver was to be used in making the sacred objects, ¹⁵ including the lampstands and lamps, ¹⁶ the gold table which held the sacred loaves of bread, the tables made of silver, ¹⁷ the meat forks, the bowls and cups, ¹⁸ the gold incense altar, and the gold statue of a chariot for the winged creatures which were on the lid of the sacred chest.

¹⁹ David then said to Solomon:

The Lord showed me how his temple is to be built. ²⁰ But you must see that everything is done according to these plans. Be confident, and never be afraid of anything or get discouraged. The Lord my God will help you do everything needed to finish the temple, so it can be used for worshiping him. ²¹ The priests and Levites have been assigned their duties, and all the skilled workers are prepared to do their work. The people and their leaders will do anything you tell them.

Gifts for Building the Temple

29 ^(E) David told the crowd:

God chose my son Solomon to build the temple, but Solomon is young and has no experience. This is not just any building—this is the temple for the Lord God! ² That's why I have done my best to get everything Solomon will need to build it—gold, silver, bronze, iron, wood, onyx, turquoise, colored gems, all kinds of precious stones, and marble.

³ Besides doing all that, I have promised to give part of my own gold and silver as a way of showing my love for God's temple. ⁴ More than 100 tons of my finest gold and almost 240 tons of my silver will be used to decorate its walls ⁵ and to make the gold and silver objects. Now, who else will show their dedication to the Lord by giving gifts for building his temple?

⁶ After David finished speaking, the family leaders, the tribal leaders, the army commanders, and the government officials voluntarily gave gifts ⁷ for the temple. These gifts included more than 170 tons of gold, over 340 tons of silver, 620 tons of bronze, and more than 3,400 tons of iron. ⁸ Everyone who owned precious stones also donated them to the temple treasury, where Jehiel from the Levite clan of Gershon guarded them.

⁹ David and the people were very happy that so much had been given to the Lord, and they all celebrated.

David Praises the Lord

¹⁰ Then, in front of everyone, David sang praises to the Lord:

I praise you forever, Lord! You are the God our ancestor Jacob^[k] worshiped. ^11 (F) Your power is great, and your glory is seen everywhere in heaven and on earth. You are king of the entire world, ¹² and you rule with strength and power. You make people rich and powerful and famous. ¹³ We thank you, our God, and praise you.

¹⁴ But why should we be happy that we have given you these gifts? They belong to you, and we have only given back what is already yours. ¹⁵ We are only foreigners living here on earth for a while, just as our ancestors were. And we will soon be gone, like a shadow that suddenly disappears.

¹⁶ Our Lord God, we have brought all these things for building a temple to honor you. They belong to you, and you gave them to us. ¹⁷ But we are happy, because everyone has voluntarily given you these things. You know what is in everyone's heart, and you are pleased when people are honest. ¹⁸ Always make us eager to give, and help us be faithful to you, just as our ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob faithfully worshiped you. ¹⁹ And give Solomon the desire to completely obey your laws and teachings, and the desire to build the temple for which I have provided these gifts.

²⁰ David then said to the people, “Now it's your turn to praise the Lord, the God your ancestors worshiped!” So everyone praised the Lord, and they bowed down to honor him and David their king.

Solomon Is Crowned King

²¹ The next day, the Israelites slaughtered 1,000 bulls, 1,000 rams, and 1,000 lambs, and they offered them as sacrifices to please the Lord,^[l] along with offerings of wine. ²² The people were very happy, and they ate and drank there at the Lord's altar.

That same day, Solomon was again crowned king. The people celebrated and poured olive oil on Solomon's head to show that he would be their next king. They also poured oil on Zadok's head to show that he was their priest.

^23 (G) So Solomon became king after David his father. Solomon was successful, and everyone in Israel obeyed him. ²⁴ Every official and every soldier, as well as all of David's other sons, were loyal to him. ²⁵ The Lord made Solomon a great king, and the whole nation was amazed at how famous he was. In fact, no other king of Israel was as great as Solomon.

David Dies

²⁶ David the son of Jesse was king of Israel ^27 (H) for 40 years. He ruled from Hebron for 7 years and from Jerusalem for 33 years. ²⁸ David was rich and respected and lived to be an old man. Then he died, and his son Solomon became king.

²⁹ Everything David did while he was king is included in the history written by the prophets Samuel, Nathan, and Gad. ³⁰ They wrote about his powerful rule and about the things that happened not only to him, but also to Israel and the other nations.