1 Crónicas 28

David’s instructions for the temple

¹David gathered all the officials of Israel at Jerusalem: the officials of the tribes, the commanders of the divisions that served the king, the commanders of thousands and the commanders of hundreds, and the officials who managed all the property and livestock that belonged to the king and his sons, along with the court officials, the warriors and every mighty warrior. ²King David stood up and said, “Hear me, my brothers and my people. I had set my heart on building a house where the ark of the covenant of the LORD could rest, the footstool of our God, and I made preparations for building it. ³But God said to me, ‘You will not build a house for my name, for you are a man of war and you have poured out blood.’ ⁴Still, the LORD, the God of Israel, chose me from my whole family to be king over Israel forever. He chose Judah to lead, and among the people of Judah he chose my father’s family, and from my father’s sons it pleased him to make me king over all Israel. ⁵And of all my sons, and the LORD has given me many, he has chosen my son Solomon to sit on the throne of the LORD’s kingdom over Israel. ⁶He said to me, ‘Your son Solomon is the one who will build my house and my courts. I have chosen him as my son, and I will be a father to him. ⁷I will make his kingdom firm forever if he holds firmly to doing my commandments and my rulings, as he does today.’ ⁸So now, before the eyes of all Israel, the assembly of the LORD, and with our God listening, I charge you: keep all the commandments of the LORD your God and seek them out, so that you may keep possession of the good land and leave it to your descendants after you as their inheritance forever.

⁹As for you, my son Solomon, know your father’s God, and serve him with an undivided heart and a willing soul, for the LORD searches every heart and understands every intention behind people’s thoughts. If you seek him, he will let you find him; but if you abandon him, he will reject you forever. ¹⁰Consider this now: the LORD has chosen you to build a house to be the sanctuary. Be strong and do the work.”

The plans for the temple

¹¹Then David gave his son Solomon the plans for the porch of the temple, its buildings, its treasuries, its upper rooms, its inner rooms and the room for the mercy seat, ¹²and the plans for everything he had in mind: the courts of the LORD’s house and all the rooms around them, the treasuries of God’s house and the treasuries for the dedicated gifts,^{a 13}for the priests’ and Levites’ divisions, for all the work of serving in the LORD’s house, and for all the articles used in the service of the LORD’s house, ¹⁴the weight of gold for all the gold articles used in each kind of service, and the weight of silver for all the silver articles used in each kind of service, ¹⁵the weight of the gold lampstands and their gold lamps, with the weight for each lampstand and its lamps; and the weight of the silver lampstands, for each lampstand and its lamps, according to the use of each lampstand, ¹⁶the weight of gold for each of the tables for the rows of holy bread, and silver for the silver tables, ¹⁷the pure gold for the forks, the basins and the pitchers; the weight of gold for each gold bowl, and the weight of silver for each silver bowl, ¹⁸and the weight of refined gold for the altar of incense; and the plan for the chariot, the gold cherubim that spread their wings and cover the ark of the covenant of the LORD.^{b 19}“All this,” David said, “is in writing from the hand of the LORD upon me. He made me understand all the details of the plan.”^c

²⁰David said to his son Solomon, “Be strong and courageous, and do the work. Do not be afraid or lose heart, for the LORD God, my God, is with you. He will not let go of you or abandon you until you have finished all the work for the service of the LORD’s house. ²¹Look, here are the divisions of the priests and the Levites for every kind of service in the house of God. Every willing person with skill for any kind of service will be with you in all the work, and the officials and all the people will do whatever you command.”