Beginning

David brings all his officers together^[a]

28 David told all Israel's officers to come and meet with him in Jerusalem. They included:

² King David stood up and he said, ‘Listen to me, my people. I wanted to build a house where we could put the Lord's Covenant Box. It would be like a place for our God to rest his feet. I prepared the things that I would need to build a temple. ³ But God said to me, “You are a fighter and you have killed many people in war. So you must not build a house to give honour to my name.” 

⁴ But it was the Lord, Israel's God, who chose me to become Israel's king. He chose my family to rule Israel for all time. First, he chose the tribe of Judah to be the leader of Israel's people. Then he chose my father's family from among the clans of Judah. Finally, he chose me from among my father's sons. He made me king to rule over all Israel. ⁵ The Lord has given me many sons. Now he has chosen my son Solomon from among them to rule over his kingdom, Israel. ⁶ The Lord said to me, “Your son Solomon will build my temple and the yards around it. I have chosen him to become my son. And I will become his father. ⁷ He must always continue to obey my commands and my laws, as he now does. If he is careful to do that, I will make his kingdom strong for all time.”

⁸ I am telling you this now, while we meet together as the Lord's people. All Israel's people, as well as our God, know what I have said. You must be careful to obey all the commands of the Lord your God. Then this good land will continue to be your home. And after you die it will belong to your descendants for ever.

⁹ As for you, Solomon, my son, keep near to your father's God. Be happy to serve him faithfully in every way. The Lord knows what you are thinking. He understands all your thoughts. If you turn to him, you will find him. But if you turn away from him, he will leave you alone for ever. ¹⁰ You must realize that the Lord has chosen you to build a temple to be his special home. Now you must be strong! Do this work.’

Solomon learns how to build the temple

¹¹ Then David gave his son Solomon the plans for the temple buildings. That included the entrance room, the rooms to store things, the upstairs rooms and the inside rooms. And it included the Most Holy Place where the Covenant Box would be. ¹² David showed Solomon the ideas that God had put in his mind. He gave him the plans for the yards around the Lord's temple and the rooms around the yards. There were also plans of the rooms to store the valuable things and the gifts that people had offered to God.

¹³ David gave Solomon the rules for the work of the priests and Levites. He gave him a list of the different kinds of work that each group must do in the Lord's temple. He also gave him a list of the special things that were used to serve the Lord in the temple.

¹⁴ He told Solomon the weight of gold and the weight of silver that he must use to make some of those special things. ¹⁵ That included the weight of gold for the lampstands and for their lamps. It also included the weight of silver for the silver lampstands and for their lamps. Each lampstand was different because they would use it for a different purpose. ¹⁶ It included the weight of gold to make the special table where the priests would put the special bread. And it included the weight of silver to make the silver tables. ¹⁷ It also included the weight of pure gold to make the forks, dishes, cups and small bowls. Each gold bowl had its own weight. There was also the weight of silver for each of the silver bowls. ¹⁸ And there was the weight of pure gold for the altar to burn incense.

David also gave Solomon the plan for the gold images of cherubs for the Lord's Covenant Box. They would have wings that touched each other above the lid of the Covenant Box. They would be like a chariot for the Lord.

¹⁹ David said, ‘I have written down everything about these things, as the Lord told me to do. He helped me to understand how these plans would work.’

²⁰ David said to his son Solomon, ‘Be strong and brave to do this work. The Lord God, my God, is with you to help you. He will not leave you alone. So do not be afraid. He will stay with you until you have finished all the work to build his temple.

²¹ Look! Here are the groups of priests and Levites who are ready to serve the Lord in the temple. The men with special skills are ready to help you with the work. The officers and all the people are ready to do what you tell them to do.’

Gifts to help build the temple

29 Then King David spoke to all the people who were meeting together. He said, ‘God has clearly chosen my son Solomon to do this great work. But he is still young and he has no special skills. It is a very important work for him to build the temple. It will not be a palace for people, but for the Lord God himself! ² I have tried to provide the things that he will need to build the temple for my God. They include gold, silver, bronze, iron and wood to make things. I have also given many valuable stones, including onyx, antimony and other jewels, as well as a lot of marble.^{[b] 3} I want very much to build a beautiful temple for my God. So I have added my own gold and silver to help to build it. I have added that to the other things that I have provided for God's holy temple. ⁴ I have given 110 tons of the best gold and 260 tons of pure silver to cover the walls of the buildings. ⁵ Workers with special skills can also use that gold and silver to make beautiful things. So now, who else will make a gift today to serve the Lord?’

⁶ Then the Israelite leaders and officers agreed to offer gifts to help the Lord's work. They included the leaders of clans and the leaders of Israel's tribes, the army officers who led 1,000 men and who led 100 men, and the officers with authority for the king's work. ⁷ They gave these gifts for God's temple:

⁸ People who had valuable stones gave them for the Lord's house. Jehiel from Gershon's clan stored them in a safe place. ⁹ The people were very happy that their leaders gave these things. They were pleased to give to help the Lord's work. King David was also very happy.

David praises the Lord

¹⁰ David praised the Lord in front of all the people who had met together. He said,

¹⁴ But I and my people are like nothing. How are we able to give all these gifts to help your work? Everything that we have comes from you. So we are giving back to you things that already belong to you. ¹⁵ We are like strangers and foreign people who live in your world. Our ancestors also lived in that way. We live here only for a short time and then we disappear, like a shadow. We know that we will die one day. ¹⁶ Lord, our God, we have given these things to build a temple for you, to give honour to your holy name. But all these valuable things come from you. They already belong to you. ¹⁷ My God, I know that you look carefully at our thoughts. You are pleased when we want to do things that are right. And I really do want to offer all these things to you. I know that your people who have met together here are happy. I can see that they are pleased to give these things to you. ¹⁸ Lord, you are the God of our ancestors Abraham, Isaac and Israel. Please help us, your people, to continue to obey you. Help us to serve you faithfully. ¹⁹ Please help my son Solomon to want to obey you. Help him to obey all your commands, rules and laws. Help him to work well to build your temple. I have prepared the things that he will need to do that.’

²⁰ Then David spoke to all the people who were meeting there together. He told them, ‘Now praise the Lord, your God!’ So all the people praised the Lord, the God of their ancestors. They bent down low to worship the Lord. They gave honour to the Lord and also to the king.

Solomon becomes king

²¹ On the next day, they offered sacrifices to the Lord. They made burnt offerings of 1,000 bulls, 1,000 male sheep and 1,000 lambs. They made the proper drink offerings with those sacrifices. They also offered many other sacrifices on behalf of all the Israelites.

²² They ate a big feast to give honour to the Lord and they were very happy.

Then they anointed David's son Solomon to be the next king, with the Lord's blessing. That was the second time that they had chosen him as their king.^[d] They also anointed Zadok to be priest. ²³ So Solomon sat on the Lord's throne as king, in his father David's place. Everything went well for him as king. All the people in Israel obeyed him. ²⁴ All King David's officers, his brave soldiers and all of his sons promised to serve King Solomon faithfully.

²⁵ The Lord caused all the people in Israel to respect Solomon as a great king. They gave him much honour, more than any king that had ruled Israel before him.

David dies

²⁶ Jesse's son David had ruled over all Israel as king. ²⁷ He had ruled Israel for 40 years. He ruled for seven years in Hebron. Then he ruled for 33 years in Jerusalem. ²⁸ He was an old man when he died. During his long life, God gave him riches as well as honour. Then David's son Solomon became king instead of him.

²⁹ The prophets Samuel, Nathan and Gad wrote history books about all the things that King David did. They wrote down everything that he did as king, from the beginning to the end. ³⁰ The books tell us how he ruled with great power. They tell us about the things that happened to him. They also tell us about the things that happened in Israel and in the other kingdoms in that region.

King Solomon speaks to his people

1 David's son Solomon made himself a strong ruler over his kingdom.^[a] The Lord his God was with Solomon, so that he became a great king.^[b]

² Solomon called all the people of Israel to come together. They included the army officers who had authority over 1,000 men, and those who had authority over 100 men. They also included the judges, the leaders in Israel and the leaders of families. ³ Then Solomon went with all those people to Gibeon town to worship God. The special tent that the Lord's servant Moses had made in the desert was there. It was the tent where God met with his people. ⁴ Before that, King David had brought God's Covenant Box from Kiriath-Jearim to Jerusalem. He had prepared a place for it in a tent there. ⁵ But the bronze altar that Bezalel had made was in Gibeon, in front of the Lord's tent. (Bezalel was the son of Uri, and the grandson of Hur.) So Solomon and the people went to meet the Lord there in Gibeon. ⁶ Solomon went up to the bronze altar which was in front of the Lord's special tent. He offered 1,000 burnt offerings on the altar to the Lord.

God meets with Solomon

⁷ That night, God showed himself to Solomon. God said, ‘Ask me to give you whatever you want.’

⁸ Solomon answered God, ‘You always showed your faithful love to my father David. Now you have chosen me to be king after him. ⁹ Now, Lord God, please do as you promised to my father David. You have chosen me to rule as king over a great nation with as many people as the dust on the ground. ¹⁰ So please give me wisdom and knowledge, so that I can be a good leader of these people. I will only be able to rule this great nation of your people if you do that for me.’

¹¹ God said to Solomon, ‘I am pleased that you have not asked to have riches or many valuable things. You have not asked me to give you great honour or for me to punish your enemies with death. You have not asked for a long life. Instead you asked me to give you wisdom and knowledge to rule over my people that I have chosen you to rule as king. ¹² Because of that, I will give to you wisdom and knowledge, as you asked. But I will also give you riches, valuable things and honour. You will have more of those than any king who has lived before you and more than any king who will live after you.’

¹³ Solomon left the special tent in Gibeon where God met with his people. He returned to Jerusalem. There he ruled over Israel as king.

Solomon buys horses and chariots

¹⁴ Solomon brought together many chariots and horses for his soldiers to ride. He had 1,400 chariots and 12,000 horses. He kept some of them in Jerusalem where he lived as king. He kept the others in cities that he had chosen for this. ¹⁵ While Solomon ruled as king, there was as much silver and gold in Jerusalem as stones! There was as much wood from cedar trees as there were fig trees that grew in the low hills in the west. ¹⁶ Solomon brought his horses from Egypt and from Kue. He sent traders to Kue to buy them for him. ¹⁷ They paid 600 pieces of silver for each chariot that they bought in Egypt. They paid 150 pieces of silver for each horse. They also sold chariots and horses to all the kings of the Hittites and to the kings of Syria.^[c]