1 Chronicles 29

EasyEnglish Bible

Gifts to help build the temple

29 Then King David spoke to all the people who were meeting together. He said, ‘God has clearly chosen my son Solomon to do this great work. But he is still young and he has no special skills. It is a very important work for him to build the temple. It will not be a palace for people, but for the Lord God himself! ² I have tried to provide the things that he will need to build the temple for my God. They include gold, silver, bronze, iron and wood to make things. I have also given many valuable stones, including onyx, antimony and other jewels, as well as a lot of marble.^{[a] 3} I want very much to build a beautiful temple for my God. So I have added my own gold and silver to help to build it. I have added that to the other things that I have provided for God's holy temple. ⁴ I have given 110 tons of the best gold and 260 tons of pure silver to cover the walls of the buildings. ⁵ Workers with special skills can also use that gold and silver to make beautiful things. So now, who else will make a gift today to serve the Lord?’

⁶ Then the Israelite leaders and officers agreed to offer gifts to help the Lord's work. They included the leaders of clans and the leaders of Israel's tribes, the army officers who led 1,000 men and who led 100 men, and the officers with authority for the king's work. ⁷ They gave these gifts for God's temple:

⁸ People who had valuable stones gave them for the Lord's house. Jehiel from Gershon's clan stored them in a safe place. ⁹ The people were very happy that their leaders gave these things. They were pleased to give to help the Lord's work. King David was also very happy.

David praises the Lord

¹⁰ David praised the Lord in front of all the people who had met together. He said,

¹⁴ But I and my people are like nothing. How are we able to give all these gifts to help your work? Everything that we have comes from you. So we are giving back to you things that already belong to you. ¹⁵ We are like strangers and foreign people who live in your world. Our ancestors also lived in that way. We live here only for a short time and then we disappear, like a shadow. We know that we will die one day. ¹⁶ Lord, our God, we have given these things to build a temple for you, to give honour to your holy name. But all these valuable things come from you. They already belong to you. ¹⁷ My God, I know that you look carefully at our thoughts. You are pleased when we want to do things that are right. And I really do want to offer all these things to you. I know that your people who have met together here are happy. I can see that they are pleased to give these things to you. ¹⁸ Lord, you are the God of our ancestors Abraham, Isaac and Israel. Please help us, your people, to continue to obey you. Help us to serve you faithfully. ¹⁹ Please help my son Solomon to want to obey you. Help him to obey all your commands, rules and laws. Help him to work well to build your temple. I have prepared the things that he will need to do that.’

²⁰ Then David spoke to all the people who were meeting there together. He told them, ‘Now praise the Lord, your God!’ So all the people praised the Lord, the God of their ancestors. They bent down low to worship the Lord. They gave honour to the Lord and also to the king.

Solomon becomes king

²¹ On the next day, they offered sacrifices to the Lord. They made burnt offerings of 1,000 bulls, 1,000 male sheep and 1,000 lambs. They made the proper drink offerings with those sacrifices. They also offered many other sacrifices on behalf of all the Israelites.

²² They ate a big feast to give honour to the Lord and they were very happy.

Then they anointed David's son Solomon to be the next king, with the Lord's blessing. That was the second time that they had chosen him as their king.^[c] They also anointed Zadok to be priest. ²³ So Solomon sat on the Lord's throne as king, in his father David's place. Everything went well for him as king. All the people in Israel obeyed him. ²⁴ All King David's officers, his brave soldiers and all of his sons promised to serve King Solomon faithfully.

²⁵ The Lord caused all the people in Israel to respect Solomon as a great king. They gave him much honour, more than any king that had ruled Israel before him.

David dies

²⁶ Jesse's son David had ruled over all Israel as king. ²⁷ He had ruled Israel for 40 years. He ruled for seven years in Hebron. Then he ruled for 33 years in Jerusalem. ²⁸ He was an old man when he died. During his long life, God gave him riches as well as honour. Then David's son Solomon became king instead of him.

²⁹ The prophets Samuel, Nathan and Gad wrote history books about all the things that King David did. They wrote down everything that he did as king, from the beginning to the end. ³⁰ The books tell us how he ruled with great power. They tell us about the things that happened to him. They also tell us about the things that happened in Israel and in the other kingdoms in that region.