1 Chronicles 28

1 And David assembled all the princes of Israel, the princes of the tribes, and the captains of the divisions that ministered to the king, and the captains of the thousands, and the captains of the hundreds, and the rulers of all the property and the cattle of the king and of his sons, with the court-servants, and the mighty men, and with all the valiant men of the army, unto 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 Then arose king David upon his feet, and said, Hear me, my brethren, and my people! I had in my heart to build a house of rest for the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and for the footstool of our God, and I had made preparations to build;

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 But God said unto me, Thou shalt not build a house unto my name; because thou art a man of war, and blood hast thou shed.

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 Yet the Lord the God of Israel made choice of me out of all the house of my father to be king over Israel for ever; for of Judah had he made choice as ruler, and among the house of Judah, of the house of my father; and among the sons of my father had he pleasure in me to make [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 of all my sons, —for the Lord hath given me many sons, — hath he made choice of 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 hath said unto me, Solomon thy son it is that shall build my house and my courts; for I have made choice of him to be as a son unto me, and I will be indeed to him as a father.

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 Moreover, I will firmly establish his kingdom for everlasting, if he be strong to execute my commandments and my ordinances as it is 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 And now before the eyes of all Israel, the congregation of the Lord, and in the hearing of our God, [I admonish you] observe and seek for all the commandments of the Lord your God: in order that ye may keep possession of this good land, and leave it for an inheritance unto your children after you forever.

“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, Solomon my son, know thou the God of thy father, and serve him with an entire heart and with a willing soul; for all hearts doth the Lord search, and every imagination of the thoughts doth he understand; if thou seek him, he will let himself be found by thee; 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 See now that the Lord hath made choice of thee to build a house for the sanctuary: be strong 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 Then gave David to Solomon his son the pattern of the porch, and of its apartments, and of its treasuries, and of upper chambers, and of its inner chambers, and of the place of the cover of the ark.

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 And the pattern of all that he had in his spirit, concerning the courts of the house of the Lord, and concerning all the chambers round about, concerning the treasuries of the house of God, and concerning the treasuries of the holy 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 Also concerning the divisions of the priests and the Levites, and concerning all the work of the service of the house of the Lord, and concerning all the vessels of service of the house 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 Concerning the golden vessels, after the weight of the gold, for all the vessels of all manner of service; concerning all the vessels of silver after the weight, for all the vessels of every kind of service;

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

15 Also the weight for the candlesticks of gold, and for their lamps of gold, after the weight for every candlestick, and for its lamps; and concerning the candlesticks of silver after the weight, for the candlestick, and for its lamps, according to the use of every candlestick;

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

16 And the gold after the weight for the tables of the rows of shewbread, for every table; and the silver for the 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 Also [concerning] the forks, and the bowls, and the supporters of pure gold; and concerning the golden cups after the weight for every cup; and concerning the silver cups after the weight for every cup;

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 concerning the altar of incense the refined gold after the weight; and concerning the pattern of the chariot of the golden cherubim, which spread out [their wings], and over 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 [this, said David, ] was put in writing from the hand of the Lord, who gave me instruction [respecting] 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, Be strong, and of good courage, and do [the work]; fear not, and be not dismayed; for the Lord God, [yea, ] my God is with thee: he will not fail thee, nor forsake thee, until thou have 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 And, behold, the divisions of the priests and the Levites are there for all the service of the house of God; and with thee are in all manner of workmanship all kinds of men distinguished in wisdom, for every manner of service; and the princes and all the people are ready [to obey] all thy words.

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.”