1 Chronicles 29

1 And king David said unto all the assembly, Solomon, the only son of mine whom God hath made choice of, is yet young and tender, and the work is great; because not for man is the palace to be, but for the Lord God.

Then King David said to all the people who had gathered there, “My son Solomon, the one whom God has chosen [to be the next king], is young and does not have much experience. This work [of building the temple] is great/important, because this glorious building will not be to [honor] people, but to honor Yahweh our God.

2 But with all my might have I made ready for the house of my God, the gold for the things of gold, and the silver for the things of silver, and the copper for the things of copper, the iron for the things of iron, and the wood for the things of wood, onyx stones, and stones to be set, bright stones, and stones of divers colors, and all manner of precious stones, and marble stones in abundance.

From all the things that I possess, I have provided [what will be needed] to [build] the temple of my God—the gold for the things to be made of gold, the silver for the things to be made of silver, bronze for the things to be made of bronze, iron for the things to be made of iron, wood for the things to be made of wood, and large amounts of onyx and turquoise and other valuable stones of various colors, and marble and all kinds of valuable stones.

3 Moreover, because I have set my affection on the house of my God, have I acquired as my own property gold and silver; [and this] have I given to the house of my God, over and above all that I have prepared for the holy house:

In addition to all these things that I have given for the temple, I am giving treasures of gold and silver, because I very much desire that this holy temple for my God be built.

4 Three thousand talents of gold, of the gold of Ophir, and seven thousand talents of refined silver, to overlay the walls of the houses;

I am giving 110 tons of gold from Ophir and 260 tons of refined silver to cover the walls of the buildings,

5 All that is needed of gold and of silver, and for every manner of work [to be made] by the hands of artificers. And who [now] is willing to consecrate his hand this day unto the Lord?

for making the other items of gold and silver, and for the other work to be done by the craftsmen. So now, [I ask you], are there others willing to show [by contributing other gifts for the building of the temple] [EUP] that they have dedicated themselves to Yahweh?”

6 Thereupon offered voluntarily the chiefs of the family divisions and the princes of the tribes of Israel, and the captains of the thousands and of the hundreds, with the supervisors of the king's work;

Then the leaders of the families/clans, the leaders of the tribes of Israel, the commanders of 1,000 soldiers and the commanders of 100 soldiers, and the officials who supervised the work that the king wanted done, gave gifts (willingly/because they wanted to give them).

7 And they gave for the service of the house of God of gold five thousand talents and ten thousand drachms, and of silver ten thousand talents, and of copper eighteen thousand talents, and of iron one hundred thousand talents.

For the work at the temple they gave 190 tons and (185 pounds/84 kg.) of gold, 375 tons of silver, 675 tons of bronze, and 3,750 tons of iron.

8 And those with whom stones were found gave them to the treasury of the house of the Lord, under the supervision of Jechiel the Gershunite.

And any people who owned valuable stones gave them to be put in the storeroom of the temple. Jehiel, a descendant of Gershon, was appointed to be in charge of them.

9 Then did the people rejoice, because they had voluntarily offered: for with an undivided heart did they offer to the Lord: and also king David rejoiced with great joy.

The people were happy to see that their leaders wanted to give those things, because [they knew that] their leaders were happy and enthusiastic to give those things to Yahweh. And King David also was very happy.

10 And David blessed the Lord before the eyes of all the congregation; and David said, Blessed be thou, O Lord the God of Israel our father, from everlasting even unto everlasting.

Then, while all the people there were listening, David prayed, saying, “We praise you, Yahweh, the God whom our ancestor Jacob worshiped. We will praise you forever!

11 Thine, O Lord, are the greatness, and the might, and the glory, and the victory, and the majesty, yea, all that is in the heavens and on the earth: thine, O Lord, is the kingdom, and thou art exalted as the head above all.

You alone are great and powerful; only you are truly glorious and majestic and wonderful. [And that is true] because everything in heaven and on the earth is yours. You are the king of all the people in this world; you are the ruler of everything.

12 And riches and honor come from thee, and thou rulest over all; and in thy hand are power and might; and it is in thy hand to make great, and to give strength unto all.

Because you are very powerful [DOU], you are able to cause anyone to be great and strong.

13 And now, O our God, we give thanks unto thee, and praise thy glorious name.

So now, our God, we thank you, and we praise you [MTY] for being very great.

14 For who am I, and what is my people, that we should possess the power to offer voluntarily after this sort? for from thee is every thing, and out of thy own have we given unto thee.

But my people and I are not really able to give anything to you, because everything [that we have] comes from you, and what we have given to you are only the things that we have received from you [MTY].

15 For strangers are we before thee, and sojourners, as were all our fathers: like a shadow are our days on the earth, and there is no hope [of abiding].

[In this land] we are like [MET] foreigners and strangers, like our ancestors were. Our time here on this earth is like [SIM] a shadow [that disappears quickly]; [we know that there is] nothing [that] can enable us [to escape dying].

16 O Lord our God! all this abundant store which we have prepared to build for thee a house for thy holy name, is out of thy own hand, and thine is all.

Yahweh our God, we have gathered all these things to use in building your [MTY] temple, but all of it really belongs to you, and you have given it to us [MTY].

17 And I know, my God, that thou probest the heart, and uprightness thou receivest in favor. As for me, in the uprightness of my heart have I voluntarily offered all these things; and now thy people, that are present here, do I see with joy offering voluntarily unto thee.

My God, I know that you test us people, and you are pleased if you find out that we do what is right. All these things I have given to you because I wanted to. And now I have seen that your people have also joyfully and generously given things to you.

18 O Lord, God of Abraham, Isaac, and of Israel, our father, preserve this for ever as the imagination of the thoughts of the heart of thy people, and direct their heart firmly unto thee.

Yahweh, the God whom our ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob worshiped, I desire/hope that your people will continue to desire [to do things like this] forever, and that they will always be loyal to you.

19 And unto Solomon my son do thou give an undivided heart to keep thy commandments, thy testimonies, and thy statutes, and to do all, and to build the palace, for which I have made preparation.

And now, please enable my son Solomon to faithfully and sincerely [DOU] obey your commands and laws and decrees [DOU] and to do everything that is needed to build this beautiful building for which I have provided [all these things].”

20 And David said to all the assembly. Bless now the Lord your God. And all the assembly blessed the Lord the God of their fathers, and bent down their heads, and prostrated themselves to the Lord, and to the king.

Then David said to all the people who were gathered there, “Praise Yahweh our God!” So they all praised Yahweh the God whom their ancestors ([also worshiped/belonged to]). They prostrated themselves on the ground in front of Yahweh and in front of the king.

21 And they sacrificed sacrifices unto the Lord, and they offered burnt-offerings unto the Lord, on the morrow after that day, one thousand bullocks, a thousand rams, a thousand sheep, with their drink-offerings, and [other] sacrifices in abundance for all Israel;

The next day the people offered sacrifices to Yahweh. They presented many animals to be completely burned [on the altar]: 1,000 bulls, 1,000 rams, 1,000 male sheep, plus offerings of wine, and many other sacrifices on behalf of all [the people of] Israel.

22 And they ate and drank before the Lord on that day with great joy. And they declared the second time Solomon the son of David to be king, and they anointed him unto the Lord as chief ruler, and Zadok as priest.

On that day the people were joyful and ate and drank while Yahweh was watching. Then for the second time they declared that Solomon was now the king. While Yahweh was watching, they anointed him [with olive oil] to be the king, and they anointed Zadok to be the Supreme Priest.

23 Then sat Solomon on the throne of the Lord as king instead of David his father, and he was prosperous; and all Israel obeyed him.

So Solomon sat on the throne [because Yahweh wanted him to be] the king to succeed his father David. [During the following years] Solomon prospered, and all the Israeli people obeyed him.

24 And all the princes, and the mighty men, and also all the sons of king David, submitted themselves unto king Solomon.

King David’s other sons and all the officers and mighty warriors accepted Solomon as their king, and they solemnly promised to obey him.

25 And the Lord made Solomon exceedingly great before the eyes of all Israel; and he bestowed upon him a royal majesty such as had not been on any king over Israel before him.

Yahweh caused Solomon to be highly respected by all the Israeli people, and they honored him very much. No king of Israel was honored as much as Solomon was.

26 Thus did David the son of Jesse reign over all Israel.

Jesse’s son David was the king who ruled all of Israel.

27 And the time that he reigned over Israel was forty years: in Hebron he reigned seven years, and in Jerusalem he reigned thirty and three [years].

He ruled for 40 years: Seven years in Hebron [city] and 33 years in Jerusalem.

28 And he died in a good old age, full of days, riches, and honor: and Solomon his son became king in his stead.

He became an old man who was very rich and greatly honored by all the people. Then he died, and his son Solomon became the king [of Israel].

29 And the acts of king David, the first and the last, behold, they are written in the history of Samuel the seer, and in the history of Nathan the prophet, and in the history of Gad the seer,

A record of all the things that King David did while he ruled, from the beginning to the end, was put on scrolls written by the prophets Samuel, Nathan, and Gad.

30 Together with all his reign and his mighty deeds, and the times that passed over him, and over Israel, and over all the kingdoms of the [various] countries.

They told about his powerful rule [HEN], and all the things that happened to him and to the people of Israel and in the nearby kingdoms [while he was ruling Israel].