Historical

21 Satan [an adversary] stood up against Israel and stirred up David to number Israel.

² David said to Joab and the rulers of the people, Go, number Israel from Beersheba to Dan, and bring me the total, that I may know it.

³ And Joab answered, May the Lord multiply His people a hundred times! But, my lord the king, are they not all my lord’s servants? Why then does my lord require this? Why will he bring guilt upon Israel?

⁴ But the king’s word prevailed against Joab. So Joab departed and went throughout all Israel and came to Jerusalem.

⁵ Joab gave the total number of the people to David. And all of Israel were 1,100,000 who drew the sword, and of Judah 470,000 who drew the sword.

⁶ But Levi and Benjamin he did not include among them, for the king’s order was detestable to Joab.

⁷ And God was displeased with this [reliance on human resources], and He smote Israel.

⁸ And David said to God, I have sinned greatly because I have done this thing. But now, I beseech You, take away the hateful wickedness of Your servant; for I have done very foolishly.

⁹ And the Lord said to Gad, David’s seer,

¹⁰ Go and tell David, Thus says the Lord: I offer you three things; choose one of them, that I may do it to you.

¹¹ So Gad came to David and said to him, Thus says the Lord: Take which one you will:

¹² Either three years of famine, or three months of devastation before your foes, while the sword of your enemies overtakes you, or else three days of the sword of the Lord and pestilence in the land, and the angel of the Lord destroying throughout all the borders of Israel. Now therefore, consider what answer I shall return to Him Who sent me.

¹³ And David said to Gad, I am in great and distressing perplexity; let me fall, I pray you, into the hands of the Lord, for very great and many are His mercies; but let me not fall into the hands of man.

¹⁴ So the Lord sent a pestilence upon Israel, and there fell of Israel 70,000 men.

¹⁵ God sent an angel to Jerusalem to destroy it, and as he was destroying, the Lord beheld, and He regretted and relented of the evil and said to the destroying angel, It is enough; now stay your hand. And the angel of the Lord stood by the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite.

¹⁶ David lifted up his eyes and saw the angel of the Lord standing between earth and the heavens, having a drawn sword in his hand stretched out over Jerusalem. Then David and the elders, clothed in sackcloth, fell upon their faces.

¹⁷ And David said to God, Is it not I who commanded the people to be numbered? It is I who has sinned and done evil indeed; but as for these sheep, what have they done? Let Your hand, I pray You, O Lord my God, be on me and on my father’s house, but not on Your people, that they should be plagued.

¹⁸ Then the angel of the Lord commanded Gad to say to David that David should go up and set up an altar to the Lord in the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite.

¹⁹ So David went up at Gad’s word, which he spoke in the name of the Lord.

²⁰ Now Ornan was threshing wheat, and he turned back and saw the angel; and his four sons hid themselves.

²¹ And as David came to Ornan, Ornan looked and saw him, and went out from the threshing floor and bowed himself to David with his face to the ground.

²² Then David said to Ornan, Grant me the site of this threshing floor, that I may build an altar on it to the Lord. You shall charge me the full price for it, that the plague may be averted from the people.

²³ Ornan said to David, Take it; and let my lord the king do what is good in his eyes. I give you the oxen also for burnt offerings and the threshing sledges for wood and the wheat for the meal offering. I give it all.

²⁴ And King David said to Ornan, No, but I will pay the full price. I will not take what is yours for the Lord, nor offer burnt offerings which cost me nothing.

²⁵ So David gave to Ornan for the site 600 shekels of gold by weight.

²⁶ And David built there an altar to the Lord and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings and called upon the Lord; and He answered him by fire from heaven upon the altar of burnt offering.

²⁷ Then the Lord commanded the [avenging] angel, and he put his sword back into its sheath.

²⁸ When David saw that the Lord had answered him at the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite, he sacrificed there.

²⁹ For the tabernacle of the Lord, which Moses made in the wilderness, and the altar of burnt offering were at that time in the high place at Gibeon.

³⁰ But David could not go before it to inquire of God, for he was afraid of the sword of the angel of the Lord.

22 Then David said, Here shall be the house of the Lord God, and here the altar of the burnt offering for Israel.

² David commanded to gather together the strangers who were in the land of Israel, and he set stonecutters to hew out stones to build the house of God.

³ David prepared iron in abundance for nails for the doors of the gates and for the couplings, and bronze in abundance without weighing,

⁴ Also cedar trees without number, for the Sidonians and they of Tyre brought much cedar timber to David.

⁵ David said, Solomon my son is young and inexperienced, and the house that is to be built for the Lord must be exceedingly magnificent, of fame and glory throughout all lands. I will therefore make preparation for it. So David prepared abundantly before his death.

⁶ Then he called for Solomon his son and charged him to build a house for the Lord, the God of Israel.

⁷ David said to Solomon, My son, it was in my heart to build a house to the ^[a]Name and [for the symbol of] the Presence of the Lord my God.

⁸ But the word of the Lord came to me, saying, You have shed much blood and have waged great wars; you shall not build a house to My Name, because you have shed much blood on the earth in My sight.

⁹ Behold, a son shall be born to you who shall be a man of peace. I will give him rest from all his enemies round about; for his name shall be Solomon [peaceable], and I will give peace and quiet to Israel in his days.^(A)

¹⁰ He shall build a house for My Name and [the symbol of My] Presence. He shall be My son, and I will be his father; and I will establish his royal throne over Israel forever.

¹¹ Now, my son, the Lord be with and prosper you in building the house of the Lord your God, as He has spoken concerning you.

¹² Only may the Lord give you wisdom and understanding as you are put in charge of Israel, that you may keep the law of the Lord your God.

¹³ Then you will prosper if you are careful to keep and fulfill the statutes and ordinances with which the Lord charged Moses concerning Israel. Be strong and of good courage. Dread not and fear not; be not dismayed.

¹⁴ In my affliction and trouble I have provided for the house of the Lord 100,000 talents of gold, 1,000,000 talents of silver, and bronze and iron without weighing. I have also provided timber and stone; you must add to them.

¹⁵ You have workmen in abundance: hewers, workers of stone and timber, and all kinds of craftsmen without number, skillful in doing every kind of work

¹⁶ With gold, silver, bronze, and iron. So arise and be doing, and the Lord be with you!

¹⁷ David also commanded all the princes of Israel to help Solomon his son, saying,

¹⁸ Is not the Lord your God with you? And has He not given you peace on every side? For He has given the inhabitants of the land into my hand, and the land is subdued before the Lord and His people.

¹⁹ Now set your mind and heart to seek (inquire of and require as your vital necessity) the Lord your God. Arise and build the sanctuary of the Lord God, so that the ark of the covenant of the Lord and the holy vessels of God may be brought into the house built to the Name and renown of the Lord.

23 When David was old and full of days, he made Solomon his son king over Israel.

² David assembled all the leaders of Israel, with the priests and Levites.

³ The Levites thirty years old and upward numbered, man by man, 38,000,

⁴ Of whom ^[b]24,000 were to oversee the work of the house of the Lord and 6,000 were to be officers and judges.

⁵ And, said David, 4,000 shall be gatekeepers and 4,000 are to praise the Lord with the instruments which I made for praise.

⁶ And David organized them in sections according to the sons of Levi: Gershon, Kohath, and Merari.

⁷ Of the Gershonites: Ladan (Libni) and Shimei.

⁸ The sons of Ladan: Jehiel the chief, Zetham, and Joel—three in all.

⁹ The sons of Shimei: Shelomoth, Haziel, and Haran—three in all. These were the heads of the fathers’ houses of Ladan.

¹⁰ And the sons of Shimei: Jahath, Zina (Zizah), Jeush, and Beriah. Of these four sons of Shimei,

¹¹ Jahath was chief and Zizah the second, but Jeush and Beriah had not many sons [not enough for a father’s house or clan]; so they were counted together as one father’s house.

¹² The sons of Kohath: Amram, Izhar, Hebron, and Uzziel—four in all.

¹³ The sons of Amram: Aaron and Moses. Aaron was set apart to sanctify him as most holy and to consecrate the most holy things, that he and his sons forever might burn incense before the Lord, minister to Him, and bless in His name [and the character which that name denotes] forever.

¹⁴ But the sons of Moses the man of God were named among the tribe of Levi.

¹⁵ The sons of Moses: Gershom and Eliezer.

¹⁶ The son of Gershom: Shebuel the chief.

¹⁷ The son of Eliezer: Rehabiah the chief. Eliezer had no other sons, but Rehabiah’s sons were very many.

¹⁸ The sons of Izhar: Shelomith was the chief.

¹⁹ The sons of Hebron: Jeriah the first, Amariah the second, Jahaziel the third, and Jekameam the fourth.

²⁰ The sons of Uzziel: Micah the first and Isshiah the second.

²¹ The sons of Merari: Mahli and Mushi. The sons of Mahli: Eleazar and Kish.

²² Eleazar died and had no sons, but daughters only, and their kinsmen, sons of Kish, took them as wives.

²³ The sons of Mushi: Mahli, Eder, and Jeremoth—three in all.

²⁴ These were the Levites by their fathers’ houses, the heads of the fathers’ houses of those registered, according to the number of names of the individuals who were the servants of the house of the Lord, from twenty years old and upward.

²⁵ For David said, The Lord, the God of Israel has given peace and rest to His people, and He dwells in Jerusalem forever.

²⁶ So the Levites no more have need to carry the tabernacle and all its vessels for its service.

²⁷ For by the last words and acts of David, these were the number of the Levites from twenty years old and above.

²⁸ But their duty should be to wait on [the priests] the sons of Aaron in the service of the house of the Lord, caring for the courts, the chambers, the cleansing of all holy things, and any work of the service of God’s house,

²⁹ For the showbread also, and for the fine flour for a cereal offering, whether of unleavened wafers or of what is baked on the griddle or soaked [in oil], and for all measuring of amount and size [as the Law of Moses required].

³⁰ They are also to stand every morning to thank and praise the Lord, and likewise at evening,

³¹ And to assist in offering all burnt sacrifices to the Lord on Sabbaths, New Moon festivals, and set feast days by number according to the ordinance concerning them, continually before the Lord.

³² So they shall keep charge of the Tent of Meeting and the Holy Place and shall attend to the sons of Aaron their kinsmen, for the service of the house of the Lord.