1 Chronicles 28

1 And David assembled all the chief men of Israel, the princes of the tribes, and the captains of the companies, who waited on the king: and the captains over thousands, and over hundreds, and them who had the charge over the substance and possessions of the king, and his sons with the officers of the court, and the men of power, and all the bravest of the army at Jerusalem.

David summoned all the leaders of Israel to come to Jerusalem. He summoned the leaders of the tribes, the leaders/commanders of the groups that worked for the king, the commanders of 100 soldiers, the commanders of 1,000 soldiers, those who were in charge of the property and livestock that belonged to the king and his sons, all the palace officials, and his mighty soldiers and bravest warriors.

2 And the king rising up, and standing said: Hear me, my brethren and my people: I had a thought to have built a house, in which the ark of the Lord, and the footstool of our God might rest: and I prepared all things for the building.

David stood up and said, “My fellow Israelis, listen to me. I wanted [IDM] to build a temple to be a place where we would put the Sacred Chest of Yahweh, where it would stay permanently. And I made plans to build it.

3 And God said to me: Thou shalt not build a house to my name: because thou art a man of war, and hast shed blood.

But God said to me, ‘You are not the one who will [arrange to] build a temple for me [MTY], because you are a warrior and you have killed many people [MTY] [in battles].’

4 But the Lord God of Israel chose me of all the house of my father, to be king over Israel for ever: for of Juda he chose the princes: and of the house of Juda, my father’s house: and among the sons of my father, it pleased him to choose me king over all Israel.

“But Yahweh, the God to whom we Israelis belong, had chosen me and my descendants to be the kings of Israel forever. [First] he chose the tribe of Judah, and from the people [MTY] of Judah he chose my family, and from my father’s sons he chose me to be the king over all of Israel.

5 And among my sons (for the Lord hath given me many sons) he hath chosen Solomon my son, to sit upon the throne of the kingdom of the Lord over Israel.

Yahweh has given me many sons, but from them he chose my son Solomon to be the next king to rule [MTY] the kingdom of Israel.

6 And he said to me: Solomon thy son shall build my house, and my courts: for I have chosen him to be my son, and I will be a father to him.

He said to me, ‘Solomon your son is the one who will [arrange to] build my temple and the courtyards around it, because I have chosen him to be [like] my son and I will be [like] [MET] his father.

7 And I will establish his kingdom for ever, if he continue to keep my commandments, and my judgments, as at this day.

I will enable his kingdom to endure forever if he continues to obey my laws and commands, like you are doing now.’

8 Now then before all the assembly of Israel, in the hearing of our God, keep ye, and seek all the commandments of the Lord our God: that you may possess the good land, and may leave it to your children after you for ever.

“So now, while all [you people of] Israel, all of you who belong to Yahweh, are watching, and while God is listening, I command you [leaders] to carefully obey all the commands of Yahweh our God, in order that you may continue to possess this good land and enable your descendants to inherit it forever.

9 And thou my son Solomon, know the God of thy father, and serve him with a perfect heart, and a willing mind: for the Lord searcheth all hearts, and understandeth all the thoughts of minds. If thou seek him, thou shalt find him: but if thou forsake him, he will cast thee off for ever.

“And you, my son Solomon, must know God like I know him, and you must serve him faithfully and because you want to. You must do that because he knows what everyone is thinking and he understands the reasons that people do what they do. If you seek [to know] him, he will heed your prayers. But if you abandon/reject him, he will abandon/reject you forever.

10 Now therefore seeing the Lord hath chosen thee to build the house of the sanctuary, take courage, and do it.

Yahweh has chosen you to [arrange to] build a temple for him. So think about [what I have said], and be strong and do what [he is wanting you to do].”

11 And David gave to Solomon his son a description of the porch, and of the temple, and of the treasures, and of the upper floor, and of the inner chambers, and of the house for the mercy seat,

Then David gave to his son Solomon [the scroll on which were written] the plans for the main rooms of the temple, its porch, its storerooms, all the other upper and lower rooms, and the Very Holy Place where God would forgive the sins that people had committed.

12 As also of all the courts, which he had in his thought, and of the chambers round about, for the treasures of the house of the Lord, and for the treasures of the consecrated things,

David wrote for him the plans that God’s Spirit had put into his mind for building the courtyards and all the rooms that surrounded the temple, including the room where the money and other valuable things that were dedicated to God would be kept.

13 And of the divisions of the priests and of the Levites, for all the works of the house of the Lord, and for all the vessels of the service of the temple of the Lord.

He gave Solomon instructions for the groups of priests and other descendants of Levi, about all the work that they must do to serve in Yahweh’s temple, and about taking care of all the things that would be used in the work at the temple.

14 Gold by weight for every vessel for the ministry. And silver by weight according to the diversity of the vessels and uses.

He wrote down how much gold and how much silver should be used to make all the items in the temple:

15 He gave also gold for the golden candlesticks, and their lamps, according to the dimensions of every candlestick, and the lamps thereof. In like manner also he gave silver by weight for the silver candlesticks, and for their lamps according to the diversity of the dimensions of them.

how much gold for making the gold lampstands and the lamps, how much silver to make the silver lamps and lampstands,

16 He gave also gold for the tables of proposition, according to the diversity of the tables: in like manner also silver for other tables of silver.

how much gold for making the table on which [the priests would put] the sacred bread, how much silver to use to make the other tables,

17 For fleshhooks also, and bowls, and censers of fine gold, and for little lions of gold, according to the measure he gave by weight, for every lion. In like manner also for lions of silver he set aside a different weight of silver.

how much pure gold for the meat forks and the bowls and the cups, how much gold for each gold dish, how much silver for each silver dish,

18 And for the altar of incense, he gave the purest gold: and to make the likeness of the chariot of the cherubims spreading their wings, and covering the ark of the covenant of the Lord.

and how much pure gold to make the altar for [burning] incense. He also gave to Solomon his plans for making the golden statues of winged creatures that would be above the Sacred Chest of Yahweh, [like] a chariot for him.

19 All these things, said he, came to me written by the hand of the Lord that I might understand all the works of the pattern.

Then David said, “I have written [all these plans] while Yahweh was directing [MTY] me. He has enabled me to understand all the details of his plan [for the temple that is to be built].”

20 And David said to Solomon his son: Act like a man, and take courage, and do: fear not, and be not dismayed: for the Lord my God will be with thee, and will not leave thee, nor forsake thee, till thou hast finished all the work for the service of the house of the Lord.

David also said to his son Solomon, “Be strong and courageous, and do this work. Do not be afraid or discouraged, because Yahweh our God will be with/helping you. He will not fail [to help] you or abandon you until you finish all the work of making his temple.

21 Behold the courses of the priests and the Levites, for every ministry of the house of the Lord, stand by thee, and are ready, and both the princes, and the people know how to execute all thy commandments.

The groups of priests and [other] descendants of Levi are ready to begin their work at the temple, and every man who has a special skill will help you in all the work. And my officials and the other people will obey you, whatever you command them to do.”