David Prepares to Build the Temple

22 Then David said, ^(A)“This is the house of the Lord God, and this is the altar of burnt offering for Israel.” ² So David commanded to gather the ^(B)aliens who were in the land of Israel; and he appointed masons to ^(C)cut hewn stones to build the house of God. ³ And David prepared iron in abundance for the nails of the doors of the gates and for the joints, and bronze in abundance ^(D)beyond measure, ⁴ and cedar trees in abundance; for the ^(E)Sidonians and those from Tyre brought much cedar wood to David.

⁵ Now David said, ^(F)“Solomon my son is young and inexperienced, and the house to be built for the Lord must be exceedingly magnificent, famous and glorious throughout all countries. I will now make preparation for it.” So David made abundant preparations before his death.

⁶ Then he called for his son Solomon, and ^[a]charged him to build a house for the Lord God of Israel. ⁷ And David said to Solomon: “My son, as for me, ^(G)it was in my mind to build a house ^(H)to the name of the Lord my God; ⁸ but the word of the Lord came to me, saying, ^(I)‘You have shed much blood and have made great wars; you shall not build a house for My name, because you have shed much blood on the earth in My sight. ^9 (J)Behold, a son shall be born to you, who shall be a man of rest; and I will give him ^(K)rest from all his enemies all around. His name shall be ^[b]Solomon, for I will give peace and quietness to Israel in his days. ^10 (L)He shall build a house for My name, and ^(M)he shall be My son, and I will be his Father; and I will establish the throne of his kingdom over Israel forever.’ ¹¹ Now, my son, may ^(N)the Lord be with you; and may you prosper, and build the house of the Lord your God, as He has said to you. ¹² Only may the Lord ^(O)give you wisdom and understanding, and give you charge concerning Israel, that you may keep the law of the Lord your God. ^13 (P)Then you will prosper, if you take care to fulfill the statutes and judgments with which the Lord ^[c]charged Moses concerning Israel. ^(Q)Be strong and of good courage; do not fear nor be dismayed. ¹⁴ Indeed I have taken much trouble to prepare for the house of the Lord one hundred thousand talents of gold and one million talents of silver, and bronze and iron ^(R)beyond measure, for it is so abundant. I have prepared timber and stone also, and you may add to them. ¹⁵ Moreover there are workmen with you in abundance: woodsmen and stonecutters, and all types of skillful men for every kind of work. ¹⁶ Of gold and silver and bronze and iron there is no limit. Arise and begin working, and ^(S)the Lord be with you.”

¹⁷ David also commanded all the ^(T)leaders of Israel to help Solomon his son, saying, ¹⁸ “Is not the Lord your God with you? ^(U)And has He not given you rest on every side? For He has given the inhabitants of the land into my hand, and the land is subdued before the Lord and before His people. ¹⁹ Now set your heart and your soul to seek the Lord your God. Therefore arise and build the sanctuary of the Lord God, to ^(V)bring the ark of the covenant of the Lord and the holy articles of God into the house that is to be built ^(W)for the name of the Lord.”

The Divisions of the Levites

23 So when David was old and full of days, he made his son ^(X)Solomon king over Israel.

² And he gathered together all the leaders of Israel, with the priests and the Levites. ³ Now the Levites were numbered from the age of ^(Y)thirty years and above; and the number of individual males was thirty-eight thousand. ⁴ Of these, twenty-four thousand were to ^(Z)look after the work of the house of the Lord, six thousand were ^(AA)officers and judges, ⁵ four thousand were gatekeepers, and four thousand ^(AB)praised the Lord with musical instruments, ^(AC)“which I made,” said David, “for giving praise.”

⁶ Also ^(AD)David separated them into ^[d]divisions among the sons of Levi: Gershon, Kohath, and Merari.

⁷ Of the ^(AE)Gershonites: ^[e]Laadan and Shimei. ⁸ The sons of Laadan: the first Jehiel, then Zetham and Joel—three in all. ⁹ The sons of Shimei: Shelomith, Haziel, and Haran—three in all. These were the heads of the fathers’ houses of Laadan. ¹⁰ And the sons of Shimei: Jahath, ^[f]Zina, Jeush, and Beriah. These were the four sons of Shimei. ¹¹ Jahath was the first and Zizah the second. But Jeush and Beriah did not have many sons; therefore they were assigned as one father’s house.

^12 (AF)The sons of Kohath: Amram, Izhar, Hebron, and Uzziel—four in all. ¹³ The sons of ^(AG)Amram: Aaron and Moses; and ^(AH)Aaron was set apart, he and his sons forever, that he should ^[g]sanctify the most holy things, ^(AI)to burn incense before the Lord, ^(AJ)to minister to Him, and ^(AK)to give the blessing in His name forever. ¹⁴ Now ^(AL)the sons of Moses the man of God were reckoned to the tribe of Levi. ^15 (AM)The sons of Moses were ^[h]Gershon and Eliezer. ¹⁶ Of the sons of Gershon, ^(AN)Shebuel^[i] was the first. ¹⁷ Of the descendants of Eliezer, ^(AO)Rehabiah was the first. And Eliezer had no other sons, but the sons of Rehabiah were very many. ¹⁸ Of the sons of Izhar, ^(AP)Shelomith was the first. ^19 (AQ)Of the sons of Hebron, Jeriah was the first, Amariah the second, Jahaziel the third, and Jekameam the fourth. ²⁰ Of the sons of Uzziel, Michah was the first and Jesshiah the second.

^21 (AR)The sons of Merari were Mahli and Mushi. The sons of Mahli were Eleazar and ^(AS)Kish. ²² And Eleazar died, and ^(AT)had no sons, but only daughters; and their ^[j]brethren, the sons of Kish, ^(AU)took them as wives. ^23 (AV)The sons of Mushi were Mahli, Eder, and Jeremoth—three in all.

²⁴ These were the sons of ^(AW)Levi by their fathers’ houses—the heads of the fathers’ houses as they were counted individually by the number of their names, who did the work for the service of the house of the Lord, from the age of ^(AX)twenty years and above.

²⁵ For David said, “The Lord God of Israel ^(AY)has given rest to His people, that they may dwell in Jerusalem forever”; ²⁶ and also to the Levites, “They shall no longer ^(AZ)carry the tabernacle, or any of the articles for its service.” ²⁷ For by the ^(BA)last words of David the Levites were numbered from twenty years old and above; ²⁸ because their duty was to help the sons of Aaron in the service of the house of the Lord, in the courts and in the chambers, in the purifying of all holy things and the work of the service of the house of God, ²⁹ both with ^(BB)the showbread and ^(BC)the fine flour for the grain offering, with ^(BD)the unleavened cakes and ^(BE)what is baked in the pan, with what is mixed and with all kinds of ^(BF)measures and sizes; ³⁰ to stand every morning to thank and praise the Lord, and likewise at evening; ³¹ and at every presentation of a burnt offering to the Lord ^(BG)on the Sabbaths and on the New Moons and on the ^(BH)set^[k] feasts, by number according to the ordinance governing them, regularly before the Lord; ³² and that they should ^(BI)attend to the ^(BJ)needs of the tabernacle of meeting, the needs of the holy place, and the ^(BK)needs of the sons of Aaron their brethren in the work of the house of the Lord.

The Divisions of the Priests

24 Now these are the divisions of the sons of Aaron. ^(BL)The sons of Aaron were Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar. ² And ^(BM)Nadab and Abihu died before their father, and had no children; therefore Eleazar and Ithamar ministered as priests. ³ Then David with Zadok of the sons of Eleazar, and ^(BN)Ahimelech of the sons of Ithamar, divided them according to the schedule of their service.

⁴ There were more leaders found of the sons of Eleazar than of the sons of Ithamar, and thus they were divided. Among the sons of Eleazar were sixteen heads of their fathers’ houses, and eight heads of their fathers’ houses among the sons of Ithamar. ⁵ Thus they were divided by lot, one group as another, for there were officials of the sanctuary and officials of the house of God, from the sons of Eleazar and from the sons of Ithamar. ⁶ And the scribe, Shemaiah the son of Nethanel, one of the Levites, wrote them down before the king, the leaders, Zadok the priest, Ahimelech the son of Abiathar, and the heads of the fathers’ houses of the priests and Levites, one father’s house taken for Eleazar and one for Ithamar.

⁷ Now the first lot fell to Jehoiarib, the second to Jedaiah, ⁸ the third to Harim, the fourth to Seorim, ⁹ the fifth to Malchijah, the sixth to Mijamin, ¹⁰ the seventh to Hakkoz, the eighth to ^(BO)Abijah, ¹¹ the ninth to Jeshua, the tenth to Shecaniah, ¹² the eleventh to Eliashib, the twelfth to Jakim, ¹³ the thirteenth to Huppah, the fourteenth to Jeshebeab, ¹⁴ the fifteenth to Bilgah, the sixteenth to Immer, ¹⁵ the seventeenth to Hezir, the eighteenth to ^[l]Happizzez, ¹⁶ the nineteenth to Pethahiah, the twentieth to ^[m]Jehezekel, ¹⁷ the twenty-first to Jachin, the twenty-second to Gamul, ¹⁸ the twenty-third to Delaiah, the twenty-fourth to Maaziah.

¹⁹ This was the schedule of their service ^(BP)for coming into the house of the Lord according to their ordinance by the hand of Aaron their father, as the Lord God of Israel had commanded him.

Other Levites

²⁰ And the rest of the sons of Levi: of the sons of Amram, ^[n]Shubael; of the sons of Shubael, Jehdeiah. ²¹ Concerning ^(BQ)Rehabiah, of the sons of Rehabiah, the first was Isshiah. ²² Of the Izharites, ^[o]Shelomoth; of the sons of Shelomoth, Jahath. ²³ Of the sons ^[p]of ^(BR)Hebron, Jeriah was the first, Amariah the second, Jahaziel the third, and Jekameam the fourth. ²⁴ Of the sons of Uzziel, Michah; of the sons of Michah, Shamir. ²⁵ The brother of Michah, Isshiah; of the sons of Isshiah, Zechariah. ^26 (BS)The sons of Merari were Mahli and Mushi; the son of Jaaziah, Beno. ²⁷ The sons of Merari by Jaaziah were Beno, Shoham, Zaccur, and Ibri. ²⁸ Of Mahli: Eleazar, ^(BT)who had no sons. ²⁹ Of Kish: the son of Kish, Jerahmeel.

³⁰ Also ^(BU)the sons of Mushi were Mahli, Eder, and Jerimoth. These were the sons of the Levites according to their fathers’ houses.

³¹ These also cast lots just as their brothers the sons of Aaron did, in the presence of King David, Zadok, Ahimelech, and the heads of the fathers’ houses of the priests and Levites. The chief fathers did just as their younger brethren.

Concern for Their Faith

3 Therefore, when we could no longer endure it, we thought it good to be left in Athens alone, ² and sent ^(A)Timothy, our brother and minister of God, and our fellow laborer in the gospel of Christ, to establish you and encourage you concerning your faith, ^3 (B)that no one should be shaken by these afflictions; for you yourselves know that ^(C)we are appointed to this. ^4 (D)For, in fact, we told you before when we were with you that we would suffer tribulation, just as it happened, and you know. ⁵ For this reason, when I could no longer endure it, I sent to know your faith, ^(E)lest by some means the tempter had tempted you, and ^(F)our labor might be in vain.

Encouraged by Timothy

^6 (G)But now that Timothy has come to us from you, and brought us good news of your faith and love, and that you always have good remembrance of us, greatly desiring to see us, ^(H)as we also to see you— ⁷ therefore, brethren, in all our affliction and distress ^(I)we were comforted concerning you by your faith. ⁸ For now we live, if you ^(J)stand fast in the Lord.

⁹ For what thanks can we render to God for you, for all the joy with which we rejoice for your sake before our God, ¹⁰ night and day praying exceedingly that we may see your face ^(K)and perfect what is lacking in your faith?

Prayer for the Church

¹¹ Now may our God and Father Himself, and our Lord Jesus Christ, ^(L)direct our way to you. ¹² And may the Lord make you increase and ^(M)abound in love to one another and to all, just as we do to you, ¹³ so that He may establish ^(N)your hearts blameless in holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all His saints.