But that night the word of God came to Nathan, saying:

David’s Prayer

Then King David went in and sat before the Lord, and he said: “Who am I, Lord God, and what is my family, that you have brought me this far?

And as if this were not enough in your sight, my God, you have spoken about the future of the house of your servant. You, Lord God, have looked on me as though I were the most exalted of men.

“There is no one like you, Lord, and there is no God but you, as we have heard with our own ears.

And who is like your people Israel—the one nation on earth whose God went out to redeem a people for himself, and to make a name for yourself, and to perform great and awesome wonders by driving out nations from before your people, whom you redeemed from Egypt?

You made your people Israel your very own forever, and you, Lord, have become their God.

so that it will be established and that your name will be great forever. Then people will say, ‘The Lord Almighty, the God over Israel, is Israel’s God!’ And the house of your servant David will be established before you.

“You, my God, have revealed to your servant that you will build a house for him. So your servant has found courage to pray to you.

You, Lord, are God! You have promised these good things to your servant.

Be strong, and let us fight bravely for our people and the cities of our God. The Lord will do what is good in his sight.”

This command was also evil in the sight of God; so he punished Israel.

Then David said to God, “I have sinned greatly by doing this. Now, I beg you, take away the guilt of your servant. I have done a very foolish thing.”

And God sent an angel to destroy Jerusalem. But as the angel was doing so, the Lord saw it and relented concerning the disaster and said to the angel who was destroying the people, “Enough! Withdraw your hand.” The angel of the Lord was then standing at the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.

David said to God, “Was it not I who ordered the fighting men to be counted? I, the shepherd, have sinned and done wrong. These are but sheep. What have they done? Lord my God, let your hand fall on me and my family, but do not let this plague remain on your people.”

But David could not go before it to inquire of God, because he was afraid of the sword of the angel of the Lord.

Then David said, “The house of the Lord God is to be here, and also the altar of burnt offering for Israel.”

Preparations for the Temple

So David gave orders to assemble the foreigners residing in Israel, and from among them he appointed stonecutters to prepare dressed stone for building the house of God.

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

David said to Solomon: “My son, I had it in my heart to build a house for the Name of the Lord my God.

“Now, my son, the Lord be with you, and may you have success and build the house of the Lord your God, as he said you would.

May the Lord give you discretion and understanding when he puts you in command over Israel, so that you may keep the law of the Lord your God.

He said to them, “Is not the Lord your God with you? And has he not granted you rest on every side? For he has given the inhabitants of the land into my hands, and the land is subject to the Lord and to his people.

Now devote your heart and soul to seeking the Lord your God. Begin to build the sanctuary of the Lord God, so that you may bring the ark of the covenant of the Lord and the sacred articles belonging to God into the temple that will be built for the Name of the Lord.”

The sons of Moses the man of God were counted as part of the tribe of Levi.

For David had said, “Since the Lord, the God of Israel, has granted rest to his people and has come to dwell in Jerusalem forever,