David tells Solomon how to build the temple
1David called all the leaders to come to him in Jerusalem. He called the leaders_of_Israel, the leaders of the tribes, the leaders of the groups that worked for the king, the leaders of 1 000 men and the leaders of 100 men, the leaders of all the guards who had to look after everything that belonged to the king and the leaders of the people who had to look after the sheep and goats of the king and his sons. He called them all to come together with the officials of the palace, the special men of David and all the other important people. 2King David stood up and said: ‘My friends and my people, listen to me. I want to build a temple where the covenant box of the Lord can stay, a place where our God can put down his feet. I had prepared to build it 3but God said to me: “You may not build a temple for Me because you have gone to war and you have killed a lot of people.”
4The Lord, the God of Israel, chose me from my family to be king_of_Israel for as long as I live. He chose the Judah tribe to be the most important tribe. From the Judah tribe He chose my family and from my father's sons, He chose me to be king of all of Israel. 5The Lord gave me many sons and from all of my sons He chose Solomon to sit on the throne that belongs to the Lord, the king_of_Israel. 6The Lord said to me: “Your son, Solomon, will build my temple with all its courtyards because I have chosen him to be a son to Me and I will be a Father to him.
7Solomon is doing what I want and what I decide. If he continues to do it, then he will be king for as long as he lives.”
8You must promise me now, here where the people of Israel, the congregation of the Lord, can see us and where our God can hear us. You must promise that you will continue to do everything that the Lord your God wants. If you do this, then this good land will be your land and your children will inherit this land from you, forever.
9And you, Solomon my son, must know the God of your father and you must serve Him with all your heart. You must enjoy serving Him because the Lord knows what every person thinks and He knows why every person does things. If you ask the Lord to help you, He will help you and He will be with you. But if you turn away from the Lord, He will leave you forever. 10You must know that the Lord has chosen you to build the holy temple where people will worship Him. You must be strong and you must do the work that God has given you.’
11David gave Solomon his son plans for the porch and the other buildings at the temple, and also the plans for the rooms where they could store all the precious things, plans for the upper rooms, the most_holy room and the covenant box where God would forgive sins. 12There were plans for everything that David had thought about, plans for the courtyards at the temple, for all the rooms around the temple, the store rooms of the temple and the store rooms of the holy things, 13for the rooms of the groups of priests and Levites for the work they would have to do in the temple and the rooms for all the temple tools.
14David also told Solomon how much gold and silver they had to use for the tools. 15He told Solomon how much every golden lamp-stand and lamp had to weigh and how much gold they had to use for it, how much every silver lamp-stand and its lamp had to weigh and how much silver they had to use for it. He also told Solomon how to use each lamp-stand.
16David told Solomon how much gold they had to use for the tables where the sacrificial bread had to be and how much silver they had to use for the silver tables. 17David told them to use pure gold for the forks, the basins, the golden cups and bowls and he told Solomon how much gold they had to use for each one. He also told them to use silver for the silver bowls and he said how much silver they had to use for each one. 18He told them that the incense-altar had to be made of pure gold and he told him how much gold they had to use. He gave Solomon a plan for the chariot where the golden cherub-angels had to stand. The cherub-angels' wings had to be open and the wings had to cover the covenant box of God.
19David said: ‘Everything that I have written for you comes from the Lord. He told me everything that you must do and how you must do it.’
20Then David said to Solomon his son: ‘You must be strong and brave and you must start to do this work. You must not be afraid. You must not worry about anything because the Lord God, my God, is with you. He will not leave you, and He will help you to finish all the work at the temple. 21There are groups of priests and Levites who will do all the work in the temple, and there are good workers and artisans who can and want to do everything they have to do. The leaders and all the people will do what you say.’
