1 Chronicles 22-23

21st Century King James Version

22 Then David said, “This is the house of the Lord God, and this is the altar of the burnt offering for Israel.”

² And David commanded to gather together the strangers who were in the land of Israel, and he set masons to hew wrought stones to build the house of God.

³ And David prepared iron in abundance for the nails for the doors of the gates and for the joinings, and brass in abundance beyond measure,

⁴ also cedar trees in abundance; for the Sidonians and those of Tyre brought much cedar wood to David.

⁵ And David said, “Solomon my son is young and tender, and the house that is to be built for the Lord must be exceedingly magnificent, of fame and of glory throughout all countries. I will therefore now make preparation for it.” So David prepared abundantly before his death.

⁶ Then he called for Solomon his son, and charged him to build a house for the Lord God of Israel.

⁷ And David said to Solomon, “My son, as for me, it was in my mind to build a house unto the name of the Lord my God.

⁸ But the word of the Lord came to me, saying, ‘Thou hast shed blood abundantly, and hast made great wars. Thou shalt not build a house unto My name, because thou hast shed much blood upon the earth in My sight.

⁹ Behold, a son shall be born to thee, who shall be a man of rest. And I will give him rest from all his enemies round about; for his name shall be Solomon [that is, Peaceable], and I will give peace and quietness unto Israel in his days.

¹⁰ He shall build a house for My name, and he shall be My son, and I will be his Father; and I will establish the throne of his kingdom over Israel for ever.’

¹¹ Now, my son, the Lord be with thee; and prosper thou, and build the house of the Lord thy God, as He hath said of thee.

¹² Only the Lord give thee wisdom and understanding, and give thee charge concerning Israel, that thou mayest keep the law of the Lord thy God.

¹³ Then shalt thou prosper, if thou takest heed to fulfill the statutes and judgments which the Lord charged Moses with concerning Israel. Be strong and of good courage; dread not, nor be dismayed.

¹⁴ Now behold, in my trouble I have prepared for the house of the Lord a hundred thousand talents of gold, and a thousand thousand talents of silver, and of brass and iron beyond measure, for it is in abundance. Timber also and stone have I prepared, and thou mayest add thereto.

¹⁵ Moreover there are workmen with thee in abundance: hewers and workers of stone and timber, and all manner of skillful men for every manner of work.

¹⁶ Of the gold, the silver and the brass and the iron, there is no number. Arise therefore and be doing, and the Lord be with thee.”

¹⁷ David also commanded all the princes of Israel to help Solomon his son, saying,

¹⁸ “Is not the Lord your God with you? And hath He not given you rest on every side? For He hath given the inhabitants of the land into mine hand, and the land is subdued before the Lord and before His people.]

¹⁹ Now set your heart and your soul to seek the Lord your God. Arise therefore, and build ye the sanctuary of the Lord God, to bring the ark of the covenant of the Lord and the holy vessels of God into the house that is to be built to the name of the Lord.”

23 So when David was old and full of days, he made Solomon his son king over Israel.

² And he gathered together all the princes of Israel, with the priests and the Levites.

³ Now the Levites were numbered from the age of thirty years and upward; and their number by their head count, man by man, was thirty and eight thousand,

⁴ of whom twenty and four thousand were to oversee the work of the house of the Lord, and six thousand were officers and judges.

⁵ Moreover four thousand were doorkeepers, and four thousand praised the Lord with the instruments “which I made,” said David, “to praise therewith.”

⁶ And David divided them into divisions among the sons of Levi, namely, Gershon, Kohath, and Merari.

⁷ Of the Gershonites were Laadan and Shimei.

⁸ The sons of Laadan: the chief was Jehiel, and Zetham, and Joel, three.

⁹ The sons of Shimei: Shelomith, and Haziel, and Haran, three. These were the chief of the fathers of Laadan.

¹⁰ And the sons of Shimei were Jahath, Zina, and Jeush, and Beriah. These four were the sons of Shimei.

¹¹ And Jahath was the chief, and Zizah the second; but Jeush and Beriah had not many sons; therefore they were in one reckoning, according to their father’s house.

¹² The sons of Kohath: Amram, Izhar, Hebron, and Uzziel, four.

¹³ The sons of Amram: Aaron and Moses; and Aaron was separated, that he should sanctify the most holy things, he and his sons for ever, to burn incense before the Lord, to minister unto Him, and to bless in His name for ever.

¹⁴ Now concerning Moses the man of God, his sons were named of the tribe of Levi.

¹⁵ The sons of Moses were Gershom and Eliezer.

¹⁶ Of the sons of Gershom, Shebuel was the chief.

¹⁷ And the son of Eliezer was Rehabiah, the chief. And Eliezer had no other sons, but the sons of Rehabiah were very many.

¹⁸ Of the sons of Izhar, Shelomith was the chief.

¹⁹ Of the sons of Hebron: Jeriah the first, Amariah the second, Jahaziel the third, and Jekameam the fourth.

²⁰ Of the sons of Uzziel: Micah the first, and Jesiah the second.

²¹ The sons of Merari: Mahli and Mushi. The sons of Mahli: Eleazar and Kish.

²² And Eleazar died and had no sons, but daughters; and their brethren the sons of Kish took them as wives.

²³ The sons of Mushi: Mahli, and Eder, and Jeremoth, three.

²⁴ These were the sons of Levi according to the house of their fathers, even the chief of the fathers, as they were counted by number of names by their heads, who did the work for the service of the house of the Lord, from the age of twenty years and upward.

²⁵ For David said, “The Lord God of Israel hath given rest unto His people, that they may dwell in Jerusalem for ever”;

²⁶ and also unto the Levites, “They shall no more carry the tabernacle, nor any vessels of it for the service thereof.”

²⁷ For by the last words of David the Levites were numbered from twenty years old and above,

²⁸ because their office was to wait on the sons of Aaron for the service of the house of the Lord in the courts and in the chambers, and in the purifying of all holy things, and the work of the service of the house of God,

²⁹ both for the showbread and for the fine flour for meat offering, and for the unleavened cakes and for that which is baked in the pan and for that which is fried, and for all manner of measure and size;

³⁰ and to stand every morning to thank and praise the Lord, and likewise at evening;

³¹ and to offer all burnt sacrifices unto the Lord on the Sabbaths, on the new moons, and on the set feasts, by number according to the order commanded unto them, continually before the Lord;

³² and that they should keep the charge of the tabernacle of the congregation, and the charge of the holy place, and the charge of the sons of Aaron their brethren in the service of the house of the Lord.