David Orders a Temple to Be Built

² David ordered the resident foreigners^[a] in the land of Israel to be called together. He appointed some of them to be stonecutters to chisel stones for the building of God’s temple. ³ David supplied a large amount of iron for the nails of the doors of the gates and for braces, more bronze than could be weighed, ⁴ and more cedar logs than could be counted. (The Sidonians and Tyrians had brought a large amount of cedar logs to David.)

⁵ David said, “My son Solomon is just an inexperienced young man,^[b] and the temple to be built for the Lord must be especially magnificent so it will become famous and be considered splendid by all the nations.^[c] Therefore I will make preparations for its construction.” So David made extensive preparations before he died.