1 Chronicles 28

1 And David assembles all the heads of Israel, heads of the tribes, and heads of the divisions who are serving the king, and heads of the thousands, and heads of the hundreds, and heads of all the substance and possessions of the king, and of his sons, with the officers and the mighty ones, and of every mighty man of valor—to 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 David the king rises on his feet and says, “Hear me, my brothers and my people, I [had it] with my heart to build a house of rest for the Ark of the Covenant of YHWH, and for the footstool of our God, and I prepared 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 and God has said to me, You do not build a house for My Name, for you [are] a man of wars, and you have 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 And YHWH, God of Israel, fixes on me out of all the house of my father to be for king over Israel for all time, for He has fixed on Judah for a leader, and in the house of Judah, the house of my father, and among the sons of my father, He has been pleased with 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 out of all my sons—for YHWH has given many sons to me—He also fixes on my son Solomon, to sit on the throne of the kingdom of YHWH 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 says to me, Your son Solomon builds My house and My courts, for I have fixed on him [to be] to Me for a son, and I am to him for 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 And I have established his kingdom for all time, if he is strong to do My commands 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 And now, before the eyes of all Israel, the assembly of YHWH, and in the ears of our God, keep and seek all the commands of your God YHWH, so that you possess this good land, and have caused your sons to inherit after you for all time.

“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 you, my son Solomon, know the God of your father, and serve Him with a perfect heart and with a willing mind, for YHWH is seeking all hearts, and He is understanding every imagination of the thoughts; if you seek Him, He is found by you, and if you forsake Him, He casts you off forever.

“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, for YHWH has fixed on you to build a house for a sanctuary; be strong, and do.”

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 gives to his son Solomon the pattern of the porch, and of its houses, and of its treasures, and of its upper chambers, and of its innermost chambers, and of the house of the atonement;

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 has been with him by the Spirit, for the courts of the house of YHWH, and for all the surrounding chambers, for the treasures of the house of God, and for the treasures of the things sacrificed;

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 for the divisions of the priests and of the Levites, and for all the work of the service of the house of YHWH, and for all vessels of service of the house of YHWH,

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 even gold by weight, for [things of] gold, for all instruments of every service; for all instruments of silver by weight, for all instruments of every service;

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

15 and [by] weight for the lampstands of gold, and their lamps of gold, by weight [for] lampstand and lampstand, and its lamps; and for the lampstands of silver, by weight for a lampstand and its lamps, according to the service of lampstand and lampstand;

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 [by] weight for tables of the arrangement, for table and table, and 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 and the forks, and the bowls, and the cups of pure gold, and for the basins of gold, by weight for basin and basin, and for the basins of silver, by weight for basin and basin,

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, refined gold by weight, and for the pattern of the chariot of the cherubim of gold, spreading and covering over the Ark of the Covenant of YHWH.

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 The whole [is] in writing from the hand of YHWH, “He caused me to understand all the work of the pattern,” [said David.]

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 says to his son Solomon, “Be strong and courageous, and do; do not fear nor be frightened, for YHWH God, my God, [is] with you; He does not fail you, nor forsake you, to the completion of all the work of the service of the house of YHWH.

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, divisions of the priests and of the Levites [are] for all the service of the house of God; and with you in all work [is] every willing one with wisdom, for every service; and the heads and all the people [are] according to all your 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.”