Old/New Testament
David Addresses Israel
28 David gathered together all of the leaders of Israel, the leaders of the tribes, division officers who reported to the king, the commanders of thousands, commanders of hundreds, the supervisors of the property and livestock that belonged to the king and to his sons, along with all of the officers of the palace, the elite forces, and all of the soldiers.
2 King David rose to his feet and said, “My fellow citizens,[a] may I have your attention. I intended to build a house of rest for the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord, for a footstool of our God, so I began preparations for its construction. 3 But then God told me, ‘You will not build a temple to my name, because you are a man of war, and you have committed bloodshed.’[b] 4 Nevertheless, the Lord God of Israel chose me from my entire ancestral household to be king over Israel forever, since he had chosen Judah as Commander-in-Chief.[c] In my ancestor Judah’s household, from my father’s household, and from among my father’s sons it pleased him to make me king over all of Israel.
5 “Now out of all of my sons (since the Lord has given me many of them), he has selected my son Solomon to sit on the throne of the kingdom of the Lord, ruling[d] over Israel. 6 He told me,
‘I chose your son Solomon to be the one who will construct my Temple and my courts, because I have chosen him to be a son to me, and I will be a father to him. 7 I will establish his kingdom forever, assuming he remains strongly committed to carry out my commandments and ordinances, as he is doing today.’
8 Therefore, in the presence[e] of all of Israel, the assembly of the Lord, and while our God is listening, observe and search through all of the commandments of the Lord your God, so that you may continue to possess this good land, leaving it for an inheritance forever to benefit your descendants who come after you.”
David Addresses Solomon Directly
9 “Now as for you, my son Solomon, get to know the God of your father. Serve him with a sound heart and a devoted soul, because the Lord is searching every heart, every plan and thought. He will be found by you, assuming you are seeking him, but if you abandon him, he will abandon you forever. 10 So keep watching, because the Lord has chosen you to build the Temple of his sanctuary. So be strong, and get to work!”
David Transfers Plans and Materials to Solomon
11 At this point in his address,[f] David transferred to his son Solomon the construction plans for the Hall of Justice,[g] its buildings, its treasure vaults, its upper rooms, its inner chambers, the housing for the Mercy Seat, 12 and the plans for everything else that he had in mind for the courtyards of the Temple of the Lord. Included were plans for[h] all of the surrounding vaults and treasuries of the Temple of God intended for storage of[i] dedicated gifts, 13 for use by the ranks of priests and descendants of Levi, for all the work of service responsibilities in the Temple of the Lord, and for all of the utensils used in the work of the Temple of the Lord. 14 David also transferred to him[j] by weight the gold that was to be used to craft the[k] service utensils, the silver that was to be used to craft the[l] service utensils, 15 the gold for the golden lamp stands and their lamps, the silver for a lamp stand and its lamps (each according to its intended use in the service), 16 the gold by weight for each table of the rows of bread, the silver for the silver tables, 17 pure gold for the forks, the basins, the cups, the golden bowls (along with enough gold by weight for each one), enough weight for each of the silver bowls, 18 refined gold for the altar of incense, by weight, along with his plans for crafting[m] the golden chariot for the cherubim that spread out their wings to cover the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord.
David Continues His Address
19 “All of these things the Lord made clear to me in writing at his direction—the construction plans for all of the building.”
20 David continued with these words for his son Solomon: “Be strong and courageous, and get to work. Never be afraid or discouraged, for the Lord God, my God, is with you. He will not fail you nor will he abandon you right up to your completion of the work for the service of the Temple of the Lord. 21 Now look! Here are the ranks of the priests and the descendants of Levi for the entire service of the Temple of God, and in all of the work there will be all types of volunteers who have skills for anything needed for the services. Furthermore, the officers and all of the people will be at your complete command.”
Offerings for the Temple
29 Then King David addressed the entire assembly: “My son Solomon, the one whom God alone has chosen, is still young and inexperienced, and the task is great, since this structure will be a citadel to the Lord God and not for human beings. 2 To the extent that I have been able to do so, I have provided supplies for the Temple of my God, including gold for what is to be made of gold, silver for what is to be made of silver, bronze for what is to be made of bronze, iron for what is to be made of iron, wood for what is to be made of wood, and great quantities of onyx, precious stones, antimony, colored stones, all types of other semi-precious stones, and plenty of marble.
3 “In addition to everything that I have supplied for the Temple, it pleases me to provide my own treasure of gold and silver, so because of my love for the Temple of my God I hereby give to the Temple of my God the following: 4 3,000 gold talents[n] imported from Ophir,[o] 7,000 talents[p] of refined silver for gilding the walls of the Temple 5 and for all the work to be undertaken by skilled artists, gold for what is to be made of gold, and silver for what is to be made of silver. Who then, will be dedicating the productivity[q] of his own work[r] to the Lord today?”
6 So the leaders of the ancestral households presented their voluntary offerings, as did the leaders of the tribes, the commanders of thousands and hundreds, and the officials in charge of the king’s business. 7 They presented 5,000 gold talents[s] and 10,000 gold darics[t] for the work of the Temple of God, 10,000 silver talents[u], 18,000 bronze talents,[v] and 100,000 iron talents.[w] 8 Whoever owned precious stones gave them to the treasury of the Temple of the Lord, in care of Jehiel the Gershonite. 9 Then the people rejoiced because they had given voluntarily, since with a devoted heart they had freely given to the Lord.
David’s Praise to God
King David also rejoiced greatly. 10 Then David blessed the Lord in the presence of the entire assembly. David said,
How blessed you are, Lord,
the God of our ancestor Israel,
from eternity to eternity!
11 To you, Lord, belongs the greatness, and the valor,
and the splendor, and the endurance, and the majesty
because all that is in heaven
and on earth is yours.
To you belongs the kingdom, Lord,
and you are exalted as head over all.
12 Both wealth and honor proceed from you,
and you are ruling over them all.
You control[x] power—
you control who is made great,
and how everyone becomes strong.
13 And so, our God, we are giving you thanks,
and we are praising your wonderful name!
14 But who am I,
and who are my people,
that we make such voluntary offerings as these?
For all things come from you,
and from your own hand we are giving to you.
15 For we are aliens and vagrants in your presence,
as were all of our ancestors.
Our days on the earth pass away like shadows,
and we have no hope.
16 Lord our God, all of this abundance that we have given
for building a temple for your great name
was provided by you[y]
and all of it belongs to you.
17 And I know, God,
that it is you who searches the heart
and you who finds pleasure in righteousness.
With a righteous heart I have freely given all these things,
and now I have seen all of these people of yours
giving freely and joyfully to you!
18 Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, our ancestors,
keep your purposes and thoughts
constantly in the hearts of your people
and direct their hearts toward you,
19 granting to my son Solomon to keep with a devoted heart
your commands, your decrees, and your statutes,
carrying out all of them,
and that he may build the Temple
for which I have made the preparations.
20 Then David told the entire assembly, “Bless the Lord your God, please.” So the entire assembly blessed the Lord God of their ancestors, bowing their heads and falling in the Lord’s presence and before the king. 21 The next day, they offered sacrifices and burnt offerings to the Lord amounting to[z] 1,000 bulls, 1,000 rams, and 1,000 lambs, along with their libations. Sacrifices were abundant throughout all Israel, 22 and they ate and drank in the Lord’s presence with great joy.
Solomon is Anointed King(A)
They crowned David’s son Solomon king a second time and anointed him to serve[aa] as Commander-in-Chief[ab] to the Lord and Zadok to serve[ac] as priest. 23 So Solomon sat on the throne of the Lord as king in the place of[ad] his father David. He prospered, and all of Israel obeyed[ae] him. 24 All of the officials, all of the valiant soldiers, and all of King David’s sons submitted to King Solomon’s control, 25 and the Lord exalted Solomon magnificently in the sight of all Israel, bestowing upon him royal majesty such as had not been given to any king in Israel before him.
Summary of the Reign of King David
26 Jesse’s son David reigned as king over all of Israel, 27 serving as king over Israel for 40 years. He reigned for seven years in Hebron and for 33 in Jerusalem. 28 He died at a good old age, having lived a full life, replete with riches and honor, and with his son Solomon reigning in his place. 29 The activities of David the king are recorded in the History of Samuel the Seer,[af] in the History of Nathan the Prophet,[ag] and in the History of Gad the Seer,[ah] 30 including details regarding[ai] his reign, his power, the circumstances that attended his life, Israel, and all of the kingdoms of the countries that surrounded him.[aj]
24 The Jewish leaders[a] summoned the man who had been blind a second time and told him, “Give glory to God! We know that this man is a sinner.”
25 But he responded, “I don’t know whether he is a sinner or not. The one thing I do know is that I used to be blind and now I can see!”
26 Then they asked him, “What did he do to you? How did he heal[b] your eyes?”
27 He answered them, “I’ve already told you, but you didn’t listen. Why do you want to hear it again? You don’t want to become his disciples, too, do you?”
28 At this, they turned on him in fury and said, “You are his disciple, but we are disciples of Moses! 29 We know that God has spoken to Moses, but we do not know where this fellow comes from.”
30 The man answered them, “This is an amazing thing! You don’t know where he comes from, yet he healed[c] my eyes. 31 We know that God doesn’t listen to sinners, but he does listen to anyone who worships him and does his will. 32 Ever since creation it has never been heard that anyone healed[d] the eyes of a man who was born blind. 33 If this man were not from God, he couldn’t do anything like that.”
34 They asked him, “You were born a sinner[e] and you are trying to instruct us?” And they threw him out.
Spiritual Blindness
35 Jesus heard that they had thrown him out. So when he found him, he asked him, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?”[f]
36 He answered, “And who is he, sir?[g] Tell me,[h] so that I may believe in him.”
37 Jesus told him, “You have seen him. He is the person who is talking with you.”
38 He said, “Lord, I do believe,” and worshipped him.
39 Then Jesus said, “I have come into this world to judge it, so that those who are blind may see and so that those who see may become blind.”
40 Some of the Pharisees who were near him overheard this and asked him, “We aren’t blind, too, are we?”
41 Jesus told them, “If you were blind, you would not have any sin. But now that you insist, ‘We see,’ your sin still exists.”
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