HelpFinder Bible - Flipbook - Page 745
1 CHR ONICL ES 23
page 375
Preparations for the Temple
2 So David gave orders to call together the foreigners living in Israel, and he assigned them
the task of preparing finished stone for building the Temple of God. 3 David provided large
amounts of iron for the nails that would be
needed for the doors in the gates and for the
clamps, and he gave more bronze than could be
weighed. 4 He also provided innumerable cedar
logs, for the men of Tyre and Sidon had brought
vast amounts of cedar to David.
5 David said, “My son Solomon is still young
and inexperienced. And since the Temple to
be built for the Lord must be a magnificent
structure, famous and glorious throughout the
world, I will begin making preparations for it
now.” So David collected vast amounts of building materials before his death.
6 Then David sent for his son Solomon and
instructed him to build a Temple for the Lord,
the God of Israel. 7 “My son, I wanted to build a
Temple to honor the name of the Lord my God,”
David told him. 8 “But the Lord said to me, ‘You
have killed many men in the battles you have
fought. And since you have shed so much blood
in my sight, you will not be the one to build a
Temple to honor my name. 9 But you will have a
son who will be a man of peace. I will give him
peace with his enemies in all the surrounding
lands. His name will be Solomon,* and I will
give peace and quiet to Israel during his reign.
10 He is the one who will build a Temple to honor
my name. He will be my son, and I will be his father. And I will secure the throne of his kingdom
over Israel forever.’
11 “Now, my son, may the Lord be with you
and give you success as you follow his directions in building the Temple of the Lord your
God. 12 And may the Lord give you wisdom and
understanding, that you may obey the Law of
the Lord your God as you rule over Israel. 13 For
you will be successful if you carefully obey the
decrees and regulations that the Lord gave
to Israel through Moses. Be strong and courageous; do not be afraid or lose heart!
14 “I have worked hard to provide materials
for building the Temple of the Lord—nearly
4,000 tons of gold, 40,000 tons of silver,* and
so much iron and bronze that it cannot be
weighed. I have also gathered timber and stone
for the walls, though you may need to add more.
15 You have a large number of skilled stonemasons and carpenters and craftsmen of every
kind. 16 You have expert goldsmiths and silversmiths and workers of bronze and iron. Now
begin the work, and may the Lord be with you!”
22:9 Solomon sounds like and is probably derived from the
Hebrew word for “peace.” 22:14 Hebrew 100,000 talents
[3,400 metric tons] of gold, 1,000,000 talents [34,000 metric
tons] of silver. 23:7 Hebrew Ladan (also in 23:8, 9), a variant
spelling of Libni; compare 6:17. 23:10 As in Greek version
and Latin Vulgate (see also 23:11); Hebrew reads Zina.
17 Then David ordered all the leaders of Israel
to assist Solomon in this project. 18 “The Lord
your God is with you,” he declared. “He has
given you peace with the surrounding nations.
He has handed them over to me, and they are
now subject to the Lord and his people. 19 Now
seek the Lord your God with all your heart and
soul. Build the sanctuary of the Lord God so
that you can bring the Ark of the Lord’s Covenant and the holy vessels of God into the
Temple built to honor the Lord’s name.”
Duties of the Levites
When David was an old man, he appointed his son Solomon to be king
over Israel. 2 David summoned all the leaders of
Israel, together with the priests and Levites. 3 All
the Levites who were thirty years old or older
were counted, and the total came to 38,000.
4 Then David said, “From all the Levites, 24,000
will supervise the work at the Temple of the
Lord. Another 6,000 will serve as officials
and judges. 5 Another 4,000 will work as gatekeepers, and 4,000 will praise the Lord with
the musical instruments I have made.” 6 Then
David divided the Levites into divisions named
after the clans descended from the three sons of
Levi—Gershon, Kohath, and Merari.
23
The Gershonites
7 The Gershonite family units were defined
by their lines of descent from Libni* and
Shimei, the sons of Gershon. 8 Three of the
descendants of Libni were Jehiel (the family
leader), Zetham, and Joel. 9 These were the
leaders of the family of Libni.
Three of the descendants of Shimei were
Shelomoth, Haziel, and Haran. 10 Four other
descendants of Shimei were Jahath, Ziza,*
Jeush, and Beriah. 11 Jahath was the family
leader, and Ziza was next. Jeush and Beriah
were counted as a single family because
neither had many sons.
The Kohathites
12 Four of the descendants of Kohath were
Amram, Izhar, Hebron, and Uzziel.
13 The sons of Amram were Aaron and Moses.
Aaron and his descendants were set apart
to dedicate the most holy things, to offer
sacrifices in the Lord’s presence, to serve
the Lord, and to pronounce blessings in
his name forever.
14 As for Moses, the man of God, his sons
were included with the tribe of Levi. 15 The
sons of Moses were Gershom and Eliezer.
16 The descendants of Gershom included
Shebuel, the family leader. 17 Eliezer had
only one son, Rehabiah, the family leader.
Rehabiah had numerous descendants.
18 The descendants of Izhar included Shelomith,
the family leader.