1 Chronicles 28:1-8

David's Address about the Temple

1 Now ¹David assembled at Jerusalem all the officials of Israel, the princes of the tribes, and the commanders of the divisions that served the king, and the commanders of thousands, and the commanders of hundreds, and the overseers of all the property and livestock belonging to the king and his sons, with the officials and ²the mighty men, even all the valiant men.

2 Then King David rose to his feet and said, "Listen to me, my brethren and my people; I ³had intended to build a permanent home for the ark of the covenant of the LORD and for ⁴the footstool * of our God. So I had made preparations to build it.

3 "But God said to me, '⁵You shall not build a house for My name because you are a man of war and have shed blood.'

4 "Yet, the LORD, the God of Israel, ⁶chose me from all the house of my father to be king over Israel ⁷forever. For ⁸He has chosen Judah to be a leader; and ⁹in the house of Judah, my father's house, and among the sons of my father He took pleasure in me to make me king over all Israel.

5 "¹⁰Of all my sons (for the LORD has given me many sons ), ¹¹He has chosen my son Solomon to sit on the throne of the kingdom of the LORD over Israel.

6 "He said to me, 'Your son ¹²Solomon is the one who shall build My house and My courts; for I have chosen him to be a son to Me, and I will be a father to him.

7 'I will establish his kingdom forever * ¹³if he resolutely performs My commandments and My ordinances, as is done now.'

8 "So now, in the sight of all Israel, the assembly of the LORD, and in the hearing of our God, observe and seek after all the commandments of the LORD your God so that you may possess the good land and bequeath it to your sons after you forever *.

1 Chronicles 28:1-8 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO 1 CHRONICLES 28

David, having convened the principal men of the nation, declared Solomon his successor, whom God had chosen both to be king, and to build the temple, 1Ch 28:1-7, and exhorted both them and him to serve the Lord, and build an house for him, 1Ch 28:8-10, then gave Solomon the pattern of it, and an account of the materials he had prepared for it, 1Ch 28:11-19, and encouraged him to go about the work with alacrity and intrepidity, 1Ch 28:20,21.

Cross References

• 1. 1 Chronicles 23:2; 1 Chronicles 27:1-31
• 2. 1 Chronicles 11:10-47
• 3. 1 Chronicles 17:1, 2
• 4. Psalms 132:7; Isaiah 66:1
• 5. 1 Chronicles 22:8
• 6. 1 Samuel 16:6-13
• 7. 1 Chronicles 17:23, 27
• 8. Genesis 49:8-10; 1 Chronicles 5:2
• 9. 1 Samuel 16:1
• 10. 1 Chronicles 3:1-9; 1 Chronicles 14:3-7
• 11. 1 Chronicles 22:9, 10
• 12. 2 Samuel 7:13, 14
• 13. 1 Chronicles 22:13

Footnotes

• [a]. Lit "in my heart"
• [b]. Lit "house of rest"
• [c]. Lit "at this day"