A Samaritan Village Rejects the Savior

⁵¹ Now it came to pass, when the time had come for ^(A)Him to be received up, that He steadfastly set His face to go to Jerusalem, ⁵² and sent messengers before His face. And as they went, they entered a village of the Samaritans, to prepare for Him. ⁵³ But ^(B)they did not receive Him, because His face was set for the journey to Jerusalem. ⁵⁴ And when His disciples ^(C)James and John saw this, they said, “Lord, do You want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them, ^[a]just as ^(D)Elijah did?”

⁵⁵ But He turned and rebuked them, ^[b]and said, “You do not know what manner of ^(E)spirit you are of. ^56 [c]For ^(F)the Son of Man did not come to destroy men’s lives but to save them.” And they went to another village.

The Cost of Discipleship^(G)

^57 (H)Now it happened as they journeyed on the road, that someone said to Him, “Lord, I will follow You wherever You go.”

⁵⁸ And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man ^(I)has nowhere to lay His head.”

^59 (J)Then He said to another, “Follow Me.”

But he said, “Lord, let me first go and bury my father.”

⁶⁰ Jesus said to him, “Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and preach the kingdom of God.”

⁶¹ And another also said, “Lord, ^(K)I will follow You, but let me first go and bid them farewell who are at my house.”

⁶² But Jesus said to him, “No one, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is ^(L)fit for the kingdom of God.”

^10 (A)You are witnesses, and God also, ^(B)how devoutly and justly and blamelessly we behaved ourselves among you who believe; ¹¹ as you know how we exhorted, and comforted, and ^[a]charged every one of you, as a father does his own children, ^12 (C)that you would walk worthy of God ^(D)who calls you into His own kingdom and glory.

Their Conversion

¹³ For this reason we also thank God ^(E)without ceasing, because when you ^(F)received the word of God which you heard from us, you welcomed it ^(G)not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which also effectively ^(H)works in you who believe. ¹⁴ For you, brethren, became imitators ^(I)of the churches of God which are in Judea in Christ Jesus. For ^(J)you also suffered the same things from your own countrymen, just as they did from the Judeans, ^15 (K)who killed both the Lord Jesus and ^(L)their own prophets, and have persecuted us; and they do not please God ^(M)and are ^[b]contrary to all men, ^16 (N)forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles that they may be saved, so as always ^(O)to fill up the measure of their sins; ^(P)but wrath has come upon them to the uttermost.

Longing to See Them

¹⁷ But we, brethren, having been taken away from you for a short time ^(Q)in presence, not in heart, endeavored more eagerly to see your face with great desire. ¹⁸ Therefore we wanted to come to you—even I, Paul, time and again—but ^(R)Satan hindered us. ¹⁹ For ^(S)what is our hope, or joy, or ^(T)crown of rejoicing? Is it not even you in the ^(U)presence of our Lord Jesus Christ ^(V)at His coming? ²⁰ For you are our glory and joy.

Longing for Zion in a Foreign Land

Offerings for Building the Temple

29 Furthermore King David said to all the assembly: “My son Solomon, whom alone God has ^(A)chosen, is ^(B)young and inexperienced; and the work is great, because the ^[a]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, ^(C)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 ^(D)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 ^(E)willing to ^[b]consecrate himself this day to the Lord?”

⁶ Then ^(F)the leaders of the fathers’ houses, leaders of the tribes of Israel, the captains of thousands and of hundreds, with ^(G)the officers over the king’s work, ^(H)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 ^(I)Jehiel^[c] the Gershonite. ⁹ Then the people rejoiced, for they had offered willingly, because with a loyal heart they had ^(J)offered willingly to the Lord; and King David also rejoiced greatly.

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 ^(O)test the heart and ^(P)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 ^(Q)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 ^[g]temple for which ^(R)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^(S)

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 ^(T)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 ^(U)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, ^(V)submitted^[h] themselves to King Solomon. ²⁵ So the Lord exalted Solomon exceedingly in the sight of all Israel, and ^(W)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 (X)And the period that he reigned over Israel was forty years; ^(Y)seven years he reigned in Hebron, and thirty-three years he reigned in Jerusalem. ²⁸ So he ^(Z)died in a good old age, ^(AA)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 ^[i]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, ^(AB)and the events that happened to him, to Israel, and to all the kingdoms of the lands.