Offerings for the Temple

29 And David the king said to all the assembly, “Solomon my son, whom alone God has chosen, is (A)young and inexperienced, and the work is great, for (B)the palace will not be for man but for the Lord God. So I have provided for the house of my God, so far as I was able, the gold for the things of gold, the silver for the things of silver, and the bronze for the things of bronze, the iron for the things of iron, and wood for the things of wood, besides great quantities of (C)onyx and stones for setting, antimony, colored stones, all sorts of precious stones and marble. Moreover, in addition to all that I have provided for the holy house, I have a treasure of my own of gold and silver, and because of my devotion to the house of my God I give it to the house of my God: (D)3,000 talents[a] of gold, of the gold of (E)Ophir, and 7,000 talents of refined silver, for overlaying the walls of the house,[b] and for all the work to be done by craftsmen, gold for the things of gold and silver for the things of silver. Who then will offer willingly, consecrating himself[c] today to the Lord?”

Then (F)the leaders of fathers' houses made their freewill offerings, as did also the leaders of the tribes, the commanders of thousands and of hundreds, and (G)the officers over the king's work. They gave for the service of the house of God 5,000 talents and 10,000 (H)darics[d] of gold, 10,000 talents of silver, 18,000 talents of bronze and 100,000 talents of iron. And whoever had precious stones gave them to the treasury of the house of the Lord, in the care of (I)Jehiel the Gershonite. Then the people rejoiced because they had given willingly, for with a (J)whole heart they had offered freely to the Lord. David the king also rejoiced greatly.

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Footnotes

  1. 1 Chronicles 29:4 A talent was about 75 pounds or 34 kilograms
  2. 1 Chronicles 29:4 Septuagint; Hebrew houses
  3. 1 Chronicles 29:5 Or ordaining himself; Hebrew filling his hand
  4. 1 Chronicles 29:7 A daric was a coin weighing about 1/4 ounce or 8.5 grams

The People Contribute to the Project

29 King David said to the entire assembly: “My son Solomon, the one whom God has chosen, is just an inexperienced young man,[a] and the task is great, for this palace is not for man, but for the Lord God. So I have made every effort[b] to provide what is needed for the temple of my God, including the gold, silver, bronze, iron, wood,[c] as well as a large amount of onyx, settings of antimony and other stones, all kinds of precious stones, and alabaster. Now, to show my commitment to the temple of my God, I donate my personal treasure of gold and silver to the temple of my God, in addition to all that I have already supplied for this holy temple. This includes 3,000 talents[d] of gold from Ophir and 7,000 talents of refined silver for overlaying the walls of the buildings, for gold and silver items, and for all the work of the craftsmen. Who else wants to contribute to the Lord today?”

The leaders of the families, the leaders of the Israelite tribes, the commanders of units of a thousand and a hundred, and the supervisors of the king’s work contributed willingly. They donated for the service of God’s temple 5,000 talents[e] and 10,000 darics[f] of gold, 10,000 talents of silver, 18,000 talents of bronze, and 100,000 talents of iron. All who possessed precious[g] stones donated them to the treasury of the Lord’s temple, which was under the supervision of Jehiel the Gershonite. The people were delighted with their donations, for they contributed to the Lord with a willing attitude;[h] King David was also very happy.[i]

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Footnotes

  1. 1 Chronicles 29:1 tn Heb “a young man and tender.”
  2. 1 Chronicles 29:2 tn Heb “and according to all my strength.”
  3. 1 Chronicles 29:2 tn Heb “the gold for the gold, and the silver for the silver, and the bronze for the bronze, the iron for the iron, and the wood for the wood.”
  4. 1 Chronicles 29:4 tn See the note on the word “talents” in 19:6. Using the “light” standard talent of 67.3 lbs. (30.6 kg) as the standard for calculation, David had supplied 101 tons (91,800 kg) of gold and 235.5 tons (214,200 kg) of silver.
  5. 1 Chronicles 29:7 tn See the note on the word “talents” in 19:6. Using the “light” standard talent of 67.3 lbs. (30.6 kg) as the standard for calculation, the people donated 168.3 tons (153,000 kg) of gold, 336.5 tons (306,000 kg) of silver, 605.7 tons (550,800 kg) of bronze, and 3,365 tons (3,060,000 kg) of iron.
  6. 1 Chronicles 29:7 tn On the “daric” as a unit of measure, see BDB 204 s.v. דַּרְכְּמוֹן. Some have regarded the daric as a minted coin, perhaps even referring to the Greek drachma, but this is less likely.sn The daric was a unit of weight perhaps equal to between 8 and 9 grams (just under one-third of an ounce), so 10,000 darics of gold would weigh between 80 and 90 kilograms (between 176 and 198 pounds).
  7. 1 Chronicles 29:8 tn The word “precious” is supplied in the translation for clarification.
  8. 1 Chronicles 29:9 tn Heb “with a complete heart.”
  9. 1 Chronicles 29:9 tn Heb “And also David the king rejoiced with great joy.”