The Daily Audio Bible

22 Then David said, “This is the house of Adonai, God; and this is the altar Isra’el is to use for burnt offerings.” ² David ordered that the foreigners in the land of Isra’el should be assembled, and he appointed stone-workers to shape stones for building the house of God. ³ David prepared a large store of iron from which to make nails and clamps for the gateway doors and, a quantity of bronze too great to weigh, ⁴ and cedar logs beyond numbering — because the Tzidonim and the people from Tzor brought cedar logs in abundance to David.

⁵ David said, “Shlomo my son is young and inexperienced, while the house to be built for Adonai must be so magnificent and splendid that its fame and glory will be known in every country; so I will make preparations for him.” Therefore David made extensive preparations before his death. ⁶ Then he summoned Shlomo his son and charged him to build a house for Adonai, the God of Isra’el. ⁷ “My son,” said David to Shlomo, “my heart was set on building a house for the name of Adonai my God. ⁸ But a message from Adonai came to me, ‘You have shed much blood and fought great wars. You are not to build a house for my name, because you have shed so much blood on the earth in my sight. ⁹ But you will have a son who will be a man of rest. I will give him rest from all his enemies that surround him; for his name is to be Shlomo, and during his reign I will give peace ^[a] and quiet to Isra’el. ¹⁰ It is he who will build a house for my name. He will be my son and I will be his father, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom over Isra’el forever.’

¹¹ “Now, my son, may Adonai be with you and give you success as you build the house of Adonai your God, in keeping with what he said about you. ¹² May Adonai give you common sense and understanding, and may he give you his orders concerning Isra’el, so that you will observe the Torah of Adonai your God. ¹³ Then you will succeed, if you take care to obey the laws and rulings that Adonai ordered Moshe concerning Isra’el. Be strong, be bold; don’t be afraid or become discouraged!

¹⁴ “Now look: despite my difficulties, I have prepared for the house of Adonai 3,300 tons of gold, 33,000 tons of silver, and so much bronze and iron that it can’t be weighed. I’ve also prepared timber and stone, and you can add to it. ¹⁵ Moreover, you have plenty of workers — quarrymen, stone-workers, lumbermen, and all kinds of skilled craftsmen to do whatever has to be done with ¹⁶ the gold, silver, bronze and iron — they’re beyond number. So get up, and get to work! And may Adonai be with you.”

¹⁷ David also ordered all the leaders of Isra’el to help Shlomo his son: ¹⁸ “Isn’t Adonai your God with you? Hasn’t he given you rest on every side? For he has put the inhabitants of the land under my power — the land has been subdued before Adonai and his people. ¹⁹ Now set your heart and being on seeking Adonai your God. Get up, and build the sanctuary for Adonai, God. Then you can bring the ark for the covenant of Adonai and the holy articles of God into the house that will be built for the name of Adonai.”

23 David had now grown old; he had lived many years; so he made Shlomo his son king over Isra’el.

² Then he assembled all the leaders of Isra’el, with the cohanim and L’vi’im. ³ A census of L’vi’im thirty years old and over was taken, and their number came to 38,000. ⁴ Of these, 24,000 were to oversee the work on the house of Adonai, while 6,000 were officials and judges, ⁵ 4,000 were gatekeepers, and 4,000 sang praise to Adonai “with the instruments I made for the purpose of singing praise.”

⁶ David organized them into divisions named after the sons of Levi — Gershon, K’hat and M’rari.

⁷ For the Gershuni: La‘dan and Shim‘i. ⁸ The sons of La‘dan: Yechi’el the chief, Zetam and Yo’el — three. ⁹ The sons of Shim‘i: Shlomit, Hazi’el and Haran — three. These were the heads of the clans of La‘dan. ¹⁰ The sons of Shim‘i: Yachat, Zina Ye‘ush and B’ri‘ah. These four were the sons of Shim‘i. ¹¹ Yachat was the chief and Zizah the second, then Ye‘ush and B’ri‘ah, who did not have many descendants and were therefore counted as one clan.

¹² The sons of K’hat: ‘Amram, Yitz’har, Hevron and ‘Uzi’el — four. ¹³ The sons of ‘Amram: Aharon and Moshe. Aharon was set apart to be consecrated as especially holy, he and his sons forever; so that they might bring offerings before Adonai, perform the service for him and bless in his name forever. ¹⁴ But as for Moshe the man of God, his sons are included with the tribe of Levi. ¹⁵ The sons of Moshe: Gershom and Eli‘ezer. ¹⁶ The sons of Gershom: Sh’vu’el the chief. ¹⁷ The sons of Eli‘ezer were: Rechavyah the chief. Eli‘ezer had no other sons, but the sons of Rechavyah were very numerous.

¹⁸ The sons of Yitz’har: Shlomit the chief. ¹⁹ The sons of Hevron: Yeriyahu the chief, Amaryah the second, Yachzi’el the third and Y’kam‘am the fourth. ²⁰ The sons of ‘Uzi’el: Mikhah the chief and Yishiyah the second.

²¹ The sons of M’rari: Machli and Mushi. The sons of Machli: El‘azar and Kish. ²² El‘azar died without having sons, but daughters only; their cousins, the sons of Kish, married them. ²³ Mushi had three sons — Machli, ‘Eder and Yeremot.

²⁴ These were the descendants of Levi, according to their clans, the heads of clans according to their listing in the register, who did the work for the service of the house of Adonai, those twenty years old and over. ²⁵ For David said, “Adonai the God of Isra’el has given rest to his people, and he lives in Yerushalayim forever. ²⁶ The L’vi’im will no longer have to carry the tabernacle and all the equipment that goes with it for its service.” ²⁷ For, according to David’s last instructions, the descendants of Levi twenty years old and over were to be counted. ²⁸ Their role was to assist the descendants of Aharon with the service of the house of Adonai in the courtyards and rooms, and with purification of all the holy articles — in other words, with the work needed to minister in the house of God. ²⁹ They were to assist with the showbread and the finely ground flour needed for grain offerings, no matter whether of matzah, pan-baked bread or mixed with oil, and no matter what shape or size. ³⁰ They were to stand every morning to sing thanks and praises to Adonai, and likewise every evening. ³¹ They were to be present regularly before Adonai whenever burnt offerings were offered to Adonai on Shabbat, at Rosh-Hodesh, and at the other designated times, in the numbers required by the rules for sacrifices. ³² Finally, for the service in the house of Adonai they were to perform their duties in relation to the tent of meeting, the Holy Place and their kinsmen the descendants of Aharon.

⁹ So are we Jews better off? Not entirely; for I have already made the charge that all people, Jews and Gentiles alike, are controlled by sin. ¹⁰ As the Tanakh puts it,

¹⁹ Moreover, we know that whatever the Torah says, it says to those living within the framework of the Torah, in order that every mouth may be stopped and the whole world be shown to deserve God’s adverse judgment. ²⁰ For in his sight no one alive will be considered righteous^[g] on the ground of legalistic observance of Torah commands, because what Torah really does is show people how sinful they are.

²¹ But now, quite apart from Torah, God’s way of making people righteous in his sight has been made clear — although the Torah and the Prophets give their witness to it as well — ²² and it is a righteousness that comes from God, through the faithfulness of Yeshua the Messiah, to all who continue trusting. For it makes no difference whether one is a Jew or a Gentile, ²³ since all have sinned and come short of earning God’s praise. ²⁴ By God’s grace, without earning it, all are granted the status of being considered righteous before him, through the act redeeming us from our enslavement to sin that was accomplished by the Messiah Yeshua. ²⁵ God put Yeshua forward as the kapparah for sin through his faithfulness in respect to his bloody sacrificial death. This vindicated God’s righteousness; because, in his forbearance, he had passed over [with neither punishment nor remission] the sins people had committed in the past; ²⁶ and it vindicates his righteousness in the present age by showing that he is righteous himself and is also the one who makes people righteous on the ground of Yeshua’s faithfulness.

²⁷ So what room is left for boasting? None at all! What kind of Torah excludes it? One that has to do with legalistic observance of rules? No, rather, a Torah that has to do with trusting. ²⁸ Therefore, we hold the view that a person comes to be considered righteous by God on the ground of trusting, which has nothing to do with legalistic observance of Torah commands.

²⁹ Or is God the God of the Jews only? Isn’t he also the God of the Gentiles? Yes, he is indeed the God of the Gentiles; ³⁰ because, as you will admit, God is one.^[h] Therefore, he will consider righteous the circumcised on the ground of trusting and the uncircumcised through that same trusting. ³¹ Does it follow that we abolish Torah by this trusting? Heaven forbid! On the contrary, we confirm Torah.