Beginning
Chapter 22
1 Then David said, “This is the house of the Lord God, and this is the altar for the burnt offerings of Israel.”
Preparations for Building the Temple. 2 David ordered that all of the foreigners who were in the land of Israel be gathered together. He assigned them the task of serving as masons to prepare hewn stone to build the house of God. 3 David prepared quite a bit of iron for the nails to be used in the doors, the gates, and the joints. He also prepared so much bronze that it could not be measured. 4 He also had much cedar wood, for the Sidonians of Tyre had brought much cedar wood to David.
5 David said, “Solomon, my son, is young and inexperienced, and the house that will be built for the Lord must be tremendously magnificent, famous, and glorious throughout every land. I will therefore make preparations for it now.” So David made many preparations before he died.
6 He then summoned Solomon, his son, and he charged him to build a house for the Lord, the God of Israel. 7 David said to Solomon, “My son, I wanted to build a house for the name of the Lord, the God of Israel, 8 but the word of the Lord came to me saying, ‘Because you have shed so much blood and you have waged many wars, you will not build a house for my name because you have shed too much blood upon the earth before me. 9 Behold, a son will be born to you who will be a man of peace[a] and rest. I will give him a respite from all of his surrounding enemies, for his name will be Solomon. I will give peace and quiet to Israel during his reign. 10 He is the one who will build a house for my name. He will be my son, and I will be his father. I will establish the throne of his kingdom over Israel forever.’
11 “Now, my son, the Lord will be with you. You will prosper, and you will build a house for the Lord, your God, as he has proclaimed. 12 May the Lord give you insight and understanding when he sets you over Israel so that you might observe the law of the Lord, your God. 13 You will prosper if you carefully observe the statutes and the ordinances that the Lord gave Moses for Israel. Be strong and be brave. Do not be afraid nor dismayed. 14 I have put myself to the trouble of preparing the following for the temple of the Lord: one hundred thousand talents of gold, one million talents of silver, so much bronze and iron that it could not even be weighed, and an abundance of wood and stone. You can now add to it.[b] 15 You have many workmen: stonecutters, masons, carpenters, and men who are skilled in every type of craft. 16 You cannot even count those who can work with gold, silver, bronze, and iron. So now be about it, and the Lord will be with you.”
17 Charge to the Leaders. David commanded all of the leaders of Israel to assist Solomon, his son, saying, 18 “Is not the Lord, your God, with you? Has he not given you rest on every side? He has placed the inhabitants of the land in your hand, and the land has been subjected to the Lord and his people. 19 Now dedicate yourselves heart and soul to seeking the Lord, your God. Rise up and build a sanctuary for the Lord, your God. Bring the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord and the sacred vessels of God into the temple that will be built for the name of the Lord.”
Chapter 23
The Levitical Classes.[c] 1 When David was old and his years were complete, he made Solomon, his son, king over Israel. 2 He gathered together all of the leaders of Israel along with the priests and the Levites.
3 The Levites who were thirty years and older were counted, and the total number of them was thirty-eight thousand. 4 David appointed twenty-four thousand of them to supervise the work on the temple of the Lord, and another six thousand of them were to be officials and judges. 5 Four thousand of them were to be gatekeepers, and four thousand were to praise the Lord upon musical instruments about which David said, “I made them to praise the Lord.”
6 David divided the Levites of Gershon, Kohath, and Merari into groups.
7 From the Gershonites there were Ladan and Shimei. 8 The sons of Ladan were Jehiel, the firstborn, Zetham, and Joel. There were three in all. 9 [d]The sons of Shimei were Shelomoth, Haziel, and Haran. There were three of them in all. These were the leaders of the ancestral clans of Ladan. 10 The sons of Shimei were Jahath, Zizah, Jeush, and Beriah. Shimei had four sons in all. 11 Jahath was the leader, and Zizah was the second in charge. Jeush and Beriah did not have many sons, so they were reckoned as a single ancestral clan.
12 The sons of Kohath were Amram, Izhar, Hebron, and Uzziel. There were four of them in all.
13 The sons of Amram were Aaron and Moses. Aaron was set apart to consecrate the most holy things. He and his sons were to burn incense before the Lord forever, and to minister, and to proclaim blessings in his name forever.
14 The sons of Moses, the man of God, were included with the tribe of Levi. 15 The sons of Moses were Gershom and Eliezer.
16 Shubael was the son of Gershom, his first. 17 Rehabiah was the son of Eliezer, his first. Eliezer had no other sons, but Rehabiah had a large number of sons.
18 Shelomith was the son of Izhar, his firstborn.
19 The sons of Hebron were Jeriah, his firstborn, Amariah, his second, Jahaziel, his third, and Jekameam, his fourth.
20 The sons of Uzziel were Micah, his firstborn, and Isshiah, his second.
21 The sons of Merari were Mahli and Mushi. The sons of Mahli were Eleazar and Kish.
22 Eleazar died without having any sons, he had only had daughters. The sons of Kish, their relatives, married them.
23 The sons of Mushi were Mahli, Eder, and Jeremoth. There were three of them in all.
24 These were the descendants of Levi by their ancestral clans, with the leaders of the ancestral clans as they were registered by name and counted. These are the ones who could perform the work in the temple of the Lord, twenty years old and older.[e]
25 David did this because he said, “The Lord, the God of Israel, had given his people rest so that they might dwell in Jerusalem forever. 26 The Levites therefore no longer have to carry the tabernacle or any of the articles used in its service.”
27 Thus, according to the last instructions of David, the Levites who were twenty years or older were counted. 28 Their responsibility was to assist the sons of Aaron in the service of the temple of the Lord, to be in charge of the courtyard and the inner chambers, to purify all of the holy things, and to fulfill other tasks in the temple of the Lord. 29 They were responsible for the shewbread, for the flour for the cereal offerings, for the unleavened loaves, for the baking and the mixing, and for all the standards of measurement and size. 30 They were to stand every morning to thank and praise the Lord. They were to do the same every evening. 31 They were also to do this whenever burnt offerings were made to the Lord on the Sabbath, on the new moons, and on the appointed feasts, as they had been commanded to do regularly before the Lord, 32 that they were to serve the tent of meeting and be responsible for the sanctuary under the direction of the descendants of Aaron, their brethren, for the service of the temple of the Lord.
Chapter 24
The Priestly Classes. 1 These are the divisions of Aaron.
The sons of Aaron were Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar. 2 Nadab and Abihu died before their father, and they did not have any sons. Eleazar and Ithamar served as priests.
3 David, with the help of Zadok, a descendant of Eleazar, and Ahimelech, a descendant of Ithamar, divided them according to the responsibilities of their service.
4 A larger number of leaders was found among the descendants of Eleazar than among the descendants of Ithamar. This is how they were divided: for the descendants of Eleazar there were sixteen leaders of the ancestral clans, and for the descendants of Ithamar there were eight leaders of the ancestral clans. 5 They divided them by lot, for there were officials of the sanctuary[f] and officials of God from among the descendants of Eleazar and from among the descendants of Ithamar. 6 Shemaiah, the son of Nethanel, the scribe, a Levite, recorded it in the presence of the king and the officials: Zadok the priest and Ahimelech, the son of Abiathar, and the leaders of the ancestral clans of the priests and the Levites, one ancestral clan being taken from Eleazar and then one from Ithamar.
7 The first lot fell to Jehoiarib, the second lot fell to Jedaiah, 8 the third lot fell to Harim, the fourth lot fell to Seorim, 9 the fifth lot fell to Malchijah, the sixth lot fell to Mijamin, 10 the seventh lot fell to Hakkoz, the eighth lot fell to Abijah, 11 the ninth lot fell to Jeshua, the tenth lot fell to Shecaniah, 12 the eleventh lot fell to Eliashib, the twelfth lot fell to Jakim, 13 the thirteenth lot fell to Huppah, the fourteenth lot fell to Ishbaal, 14 the fifteenth lot fell to Bilgah, the sixteenth lot fell to Immer, 15 the seventeenth lot fell to Hezir, the eighteenth lot fell to Happizzez, 16 the nineteenth lot fell to Pethahiah, the twentieth lot fell to Jehezkel, 17 the twenty-first lot fell to Jachin, the twenty-second lot fell to Gamul, 18 the twenty-third lot fell to Delaiah, and the twenty-fourth lot fell to Maaziah.
19 This was the appointed order of service when they would come into the temple of the Lord. This was according to the regulations given by Aaron their ancestor as the Lord, the God of Israel, had commanded.[g]
20 Other Levites. As for the other descendants of Levi, Shubael was the son of Amram, and Jehdeiah was the son of Shubael.
21 The firstborn son of Rehabiah was Isshiah.
22 From the Izharites there was Shelomoth.
Jahath was the son of Shelomoth.
23 The sons of Hebron were Jeriah, the firstborn, Amariah, the second, Jahaziel, the third, and Jekameam, the fourth.
24 Micah was the son of Uzziel, and Shamir was the son of Micah.
25 Isshiah was the brother of Micah.
Zechariah was the son of Isshiah.
26 The sons of Merari were Mahli and Mushi and the descendants of his son Uzziah.
27 Among the descendants of Merari, there was Jaaziah, whose sons were Beno, Shoham, Zaccur, and Ibri.
28 From Mahli there was Eleazar who did not have any sons.
29 From Kish, there was Jerahmeel, the son of Kish.
30 The sons of Mushi were Mahli, Eder, and Jerimoth.
These were the Levites, according to their ancestral clans. 31 They also cast lots, just as their brethren, the descendants of Aaron, had done. This was done before King David, Zadok, Ahimelech, the leaders of the ancestral clans of the priests and the Levites. The families of the oldest brother were treated the same as those of the youngest.
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