Old/New Testament

David prepares to build God's temple

22 Then David said, ‘This is the place where the temple of the Lord God will be. The altar for Israel's burnt offerings will also be here.’

² So David told his officers to bring together all the foreign men who lived in Israel. He chose some of them to cut the stones to build God's house. They would cut the stones to have the right shape. ³ He supplied a lot of iron to make things for the temple. That was for nails and bars to fix the doors at the entrances. He also supplied more bronze than they could weigh. ⁴ The people from Tyre and Sidon had brought a lot of cedar wood to David. So he provided for the temple more pieces of cedar wood than anyone could count.

⁵ David said, ‘The Lord's temple must be great and beautiful. It must be famous, so that the people of every nation see how great it is. My son Solomon is young and he has no special skills. So I must prepare everything for him to build the temple.’

So before David died, he prepared all these things.

David tells Solomon to build the temple

⁶ David sent someone to fetch his son, Solomon. He told him that he must build a temple for the Lord, Israel's God. ⁷ He said to Solomon, ‘My son, I really wanted to build a house for the Lord my God, to give honour to him. ⁸ But the Lord said to me, “You have killed many people in the battles that you have fought. So you yourself will not build a house to give me honour. I have seen all the blood of the people that you have killed. ⁹ But you will have a son who will be a man who lives in peace. I will cause all his enemies to leave him in peace. Yes, his name will be Solomon. While he is king, I will cause Israel to enjoy peace. I will keep them safe from their enemies.^{[a] 10} He will build a temple to give honour to my name. He will become my son and I will become his father. I will give him descendants to rule Israel as kings for ever.”

¹¹ So, my son, I pray that the Lord will be with you. He will do what he has promised. He will help you to build a temple for the Lord your God. ¹² I also pray that the Lord will make you wise so that you understand things properly. I pray that you will obey the Law of the Lord your God as you rule over Israel. ¹³ You will be successful, if you carefully obey the Lord's commands and rules. Those are the laws that the Lord gave to Moses for Israel. Be strong! Be brave! Do not be afraid, but continue to be strong!

¹⁴ Look! I have been careful to prepare the things that you will need to build the Lord's temple. I have got 4,000 tons of gold and 40,000 tons of silver. I have more bronze and iron than anyone can weigh. I have plenty of wood and stone. You will need to get even more than this. ¹⁵ You have many workers with special skills. Some know how to cut stone. Others know how to build with stones or with wood. There are men who have skills to make many different kinds of things. ¹⁶ They can use gold, silver, bronze and iron to make things. You have more workers than you can count! So now you must start the work! I pray that the Lord will be with you to help you.’

¹⁷ Then David sent messages to all the leaders in Israel. He commanded them to help his son Solomon. ¹⁸ He said to them, ‘You know that the Lord your God is with you. He has kept you safe from all your enemies. He has put the people who live in this region under my authority. So now the Lord and his people rule over all those nations. ¹⁹ So you must serve the Lord your God with all that you are. Start the work! Begin to build the Lord God's holy place. Then you can put the Lord's Covenant Box there, as well as the other holy things. You will put them in the temple that you have built to give honour to the Lord's name.’

Rules for the Levites

23 David was old and his life had nearly finished.^[b] He chose his son Solomon to rule over Israel as king.

² He brought together all Israel's leaders, as well as the priests and the Levites. ³ His officers counted all the Levites who were 30 years old or older. There were 38,000 men. ⁴ David said, ‘24,000 of these Levite men must have authority for the work of the Lord's temple. 6,000 of them will be officers and judges. ⁵ 4,000 of them will be guards at the gates of the temple. 4,000 of them will use music to praise the Lord. They will use the musical instruments that I have provided for them.’

⁶ David made the Levites into three separate groups. Each group had descendants from one of Levi's sons: Gershon, Kohath and Merari.

The group from Gershon's clan

⁷ From Gershon's clan there were Ladan and Shimei.

⁸ Ladan's three sons were: Jehiel, the firstborn, then Zetham and Joel.

⁹ Shimei's three sons were: Shelomoth, Haziel and Haran.

Those men were the leaders of Ladan's family.

¹⁰ Shimei had four more sons: Jahath, Ziza, Jeush and Beriah.

¹¹ Jahath was the oldest son and Ziza was the second. But Jeush and Beriah did not have many sons. So the officers counted them together as one family.

The group from Kohath's clan

¹² Kohath's four sons were: Amram, Izhar, Hebron and Uzziel.

¹³ Amram's sons were Aaron and Moses.

The Lord chose Aaron and his descendants for special work for all time. Their work was to offer special holy things to the Lord. They would offer sacrifices to the Lord. They would serve him in the temple. And they would use his name to bless the people.

¹⁴ The tribe of Levi included the sons of Moses, God's servant.^[c]

¹⁵ Moses' sons were Gershom and Eliezer.

¹⁶ Gershom's oldest son was Shebuel.

¹⁷ Eliezer's son was Rehabiah. He was the leader of the family. Eliezer had no other sons, but Rehabiah had many descendants.

¹⁸ From the family of Kohath's second son Izhar, Shelomith was the leader.

¹⁹ Hebron had four sons: Jeriah was the leader, Amariah was second, Jahaziel was third and Jekameam was fourth.

²⁰ Uzziel had two sons: Micah was the leader and Isshiah was second.

The group from Merari's clan

²¹ Merari's sons were Mahli and Mushi.

Mahli's sons were Eleazar and Kish.

²² Eleazar died without any sons. He had only daughters. Kish's sons, who were their cousins, married them.

²³ Mushi's three sons were: Mahli, Eder and Jeremoth.

²⁴ Those were the leaders of the Levites' clans, family by family. The Israelites carefully recorded the names of all the men who were 20 years old or older. From that age, they each had their work to do in the Lord's temple.

²⁵ David had said, ‘Now the Lord, Israel's God, has given rest to his people. He has his home in Jerusalem for all time. ²⁶ So the Levites no longer need to carry the tabernacle to different places. They do not need to carry all the things that are used to serve God.’ ²⁷ So David counted the Levites who were 20 years old or older and could work in the temple. Those were David's last words before he died.

The work of the Levites

²⁸ The Levites' work was to help Aaron's descendants as they served the Lord in his temple. They took care of the temple's yards and its small rooms. They made the Lord's special things clean and holy. They did the work that was necessary to serve God in his temple. ²⁹ They took care of the special bread for the table in the holy place. They kept the flour for the grain offerings, for the flat bread that they made without yeast and for the special cakes. They weighed and they measured all the things for the bread and the cakes. ³⁰ Every morning they stood in their places to thank the Lord and to praise him. They did the same thing every evening. ³¹ They also did that when the priests offered burnt offerings to the Lord. That happened on Sabbath days, at New Moon festivals and on other special days. The correct number of Levites must be there to serve the Lord at all times, as the rules commanded. ³² In that way, the Levites had authority to take care of the special tent and the holy place. They helped their relatives, Aaron's descendants, as they served the Lord in his temple.^[d]

Rules for the priests

24 Aaron's descendants, the priests, were in the following groups.

Aaron's four sons were: Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar. ² But Nadab and Abihu died before their father died. They had no sons. So Eleazar and Ithamar served God as priests.

³ Zadok and Ahimelech helped David to put Aaron's descendants into groups. Zadok was a descendant of Eleazar. Ahimelech was a descendant of Ithamar. They told each group what their work would be to serve God. ⁴ There were more leaders among Eleazar's descendants than among Ithamar's descendants. So from Eleazar's descendants, there were 16 groups with their leaders. From Ithamar's descendants there were eight groups with their leaders. ⁵ They used lots to decide the work of each group. The families of both Eleazar and Ithamar included officers for the temple as well as priests.

⁶ Shemaiah was the secretary who wrote down the names in each group. He was the son of Nethanel, a Levite. Shemaiah wrote down the names while the king and his officers watched. Zadok the priest, Abiathar's son Ahimelech and the leaders of the priests' clans and of the other Levite clans were also watching. When they threw the lots, they would choose a family from Eleazar's descendants, then a family from Ithamar's descendants, and so on.

^7-18 This is the list of the group leaders as they chose them, one by one:

¹⁹ Each of these leaders, with their group, had their jobs to do in the temple. They had to obey the rules that their ancestor Aaron had given. The Lord, Israel's God, had told him what they must do.

The other Levites

²⁰ The leaders of the other Levite families included:^[e]

That is the list of the Levites, with the leaders of each family.

³¹ They also used lots to choose their different jobs, as their relatives, Aaron's descendants, had done. King David, Zadok, Ahimelech and the family leaders of the priests and the other Levites watched them. They chose work for the family leaders in the same way that they did for their younger brothers.

²⁸ So Jesus said to them, ‘You will lift up the Son of Man on a cross. Then you will know that “I am who I am”. And you will know that I do nothing by myself. I say only what the Father has taught me to say. ²⁹ He who sent me is with me. I always do the things that make him happy. So he has never gone away and left me alone.’ ³⁰ Many people who heard Jesus say these things believed in him.^[a]

The truth about God will make you free

³¹ Then Jesus said to the Jews who now believed him, ‘Continue to obey the words that I have spoken to you. If you do that, you are really my disciples. ³² Then you will know what is true. And that will make you free.’ ³³ They answered him, ‘We are descendants of Abraham. We have never been anyone's slaves. But you say that we will become free. What do you mean?’

³⁴ Jesus answered them, ‘I tell you this: Everyone who does wrong things is a slave to sin. ³⁵ A slave does not belong to a family for ever. But a son does belong to a family for ever. ³⁶ So, if the Son makes you free, you will really be free. ³⁷ I know that you belong to Abraham's family. But you are looking for a way to kill me. That is because you have no place in yourselves for my words. ³⁸ I speak about the things that my Father has shown me. You do the things that you have heard from your father.’

³⁹ They answered, ‘Abraham is our father!’ Jesus replied, ‘If you really belonged to Abraham's family, you would do the same kind of things that Abraham did. ⁴⁰ I have told you the true message that I have heard from God. But you want to kill me. Abraham did not do anything like that! ⁴¹ You do the same things that your own father does.’

They said to Jesus, ‘God himself is our only Father, and we are his proper sons!’

⁴² Jesus said to them, ‘If God was your Father, you would love me. I came from God and now I am here with you. I did not come on my own behalf, but God sent me. ⁴³ Why do you not understand what I say? It is because you cannot really accept my message. ⁴⁴ You belong to your father, the Devil, and you want to do the things that he wants. From the beginning, he has been someone who murders people. He refuses to accept the truth, because there is nothing true in him. When he tells lies, he is showing what he is really like. He always tells lies. He is the father of all lies. ⁴⁵ As for me, I tell you what is true. And that is why you do not believe me. ⁴⁶ None of you can show that I have done anything wrong. You should believe me, because I am telling you God's true message. ⁴⁷ Someone who belongs to God accepts God's message. But you do not belong to God. That is why you do not accept his message.’

⁴⁸ The Jews answered him, ‘What we say about you is right! You are from Samaria and you have a demon in you!’^{[b] 49} Jesus replied, ‘There is no demon in me. I want people to know how great my Father is. But you want people to think bad things about me. ⁵⁰ I myself do not want people to praise me. But there is someone who wants people to praise me. He is the one who decides if I am right. ⁵¹ I tell you this: Anyone who obeys my words will never die.’ ⁵² The Jews said, ‘Now we know that a demon lives in you! Abraham and all the prophets died. But you say, “Anyone who obeys my words will never know death!” ⁵³ You cannot be greater than our father Abraham, and he died! You cannot be greater than the prophets, and they all died! Who do you think that you are?’

⁵⁴ Jesus replied, ‘If I myself wanted people to praise me, that would be worth nothing. But it is my Father who wants that. And you say that he is your God. ⁵⁵ You have never known him, but I know him. I might say, “I do not know him.” But then I would be telling a lie. So I would be like you. But I do know him, and I obey his words. ⁵⁶ Your ancestor Abraham knew that I would come at some time. He was happy to know that he would see that time. He did see that time, and he was very happy.’

⁵⁷ The Jews said, ‘You are not 50 years old yet. But you say that you have seen Abraham!’ ⁵⁸ Jesus said, ‘I tell you this: Before Abraham was even born, “I am”.’^{[c] 59} Then they picked up stones. They wanted to throw them at him and kill him. But Jesus hid himself from them. He went away from the temple.