1 Chronicles 21; 1 Chronicles 22; 1 Chronicles 23

1 Satan wanted to bring trouble on the people of Israel, so he made David decide to take a census.

2 David gave orders to Joab and the other officers, "Go through Israel, from one end of the country to the other, and count the people. I want to know how many there are."

3 Joab answered, "May the Lord make the people of Israel a hundred times more numerous than they are now! Your Majesty, they are all your servants. Why do you want to do this and make the whole nation guilty?"

4 But the king made Joab obey the order. Joab went out, traveled through the whole country of Israel, and then returned to Jerusalem.

5 He reported to King David the total number of men capable of military service: 1,100,000 in Israel and 470,000 in Judah.

6 Because Joab disapproved of the king's command, he did not take any census of the tribes of Levi and Benjamin.

7 God was displeased with what had been done, so he punished Israel.

8 David said to God, "I have committed a terrible sin in doing this! Please forgive me. I have acted foolishly."

9 Then the Lord said to Gad, David's prophet,

10 "Go and tell David that I am giving him three choices. I will do whichever he chooses."

11 Gad went to David, told him what the Lord had said, and asked, "Which is it to be?

12 Three years of famine? Or three months of running away from the armies of your enemies? Or three days during which the Lord attacks you with his sword and sends an epidemic on your land, using his angel to bring death throughout Israel? What answer shall I give the Lord?"

13 David replied to Gad, "I am in a desperate situation! But I don't want to be punished by people. Let the Lord himself be the one to punish me, because he is merciful."

14 So the Lord sent an epidemic on the people of Israel, and seventy thousand of them died.

15 Then he sent an angel to destroy Jerusalem, but he changed his mind and said to the angel, "Stop! That's enough!" The angel was standing by the threshing place of Araunah, a Jebusite.

16 David saw the angel standing in midair, holding his sword in his hand, ready to destroy Jerusalem. Then David and the leaders of the people - all of whom were wearing sackcloth - bowed low, with their faces touching the ground.

17 David prayed, "O God, I am the one who did wrong. I am the one who ordered the census. What have these poor people done? Lord, my God, punish me and my family, and spare your people."

18 The angel of the Lord told Gad to command David to go and build an altar to the Lord at Araunah's threshing place.

19 David obeyed the Lord's command and went, as Gad had told him to.

20 There at the threshing place Araunah and his four sons were threshing wheat, and when they saw the angel, the sons ran and hid.

21 As soon as Araunah saw King David approaching, he left the threshing place and bowed low, with his face touching the ground.

22 David said to him, "Sell me your threshing place, so that I can build an altar to the Lord, to stop the epidemic. I'll give you the full price."

23 "Take it, Your Majesty," Araunah said, "and do whatever you wish. Here are these oxen to burn as an offering on the altar, and here are the threshing boards to use as fuel, and wheat to give as an offering. I give it all to you."

24 But the king answered, "No, I will pay you the full price. I will not give as an offering to the Lord something that belongs to you, something that costs me nothing."

25 And he paid Araunah six hundred gold coins for the threshing place.

26 He built an altar to the Lord there and offered burnt offerings and fellowship offerings. He prayed, and the Lord answered him by sending fire from heaven to burn the sacrifices on the altar.

27 The Lord told the angel to put his sword away, and the angel obeyed.

28 David saw by this that the Lord had answered his prayer, so he offered sacrifices on the altar at Araunah's threshing place.

29 The Tent of the Lord's presence which Moses had made in the wilderness, and the altar on which sacrifices were burned were still at the place of worship at Gibeon at this time;

30 but David was not able to go there to worship God, because he was afraid of the sword of the Lord's angel.

1 So David said, "This is where the Temple of the Lord God will be. Here is the altar where the people of Israel are to offer burnt offerings."

2 King David gave orders for all the foreigners living in the land of Israel to assemble, and he put them to work. Some of them prepared stone blocks for building the Temple.

3 He supplied a large amount of iron for making nails and clamps for the wooden gates, and so much bronze that no one could weigh it.

4 He had the people of Tyre and Sidon bring him a large number of cedar logs.

5 David thought, "The Temple that my son Solomon is to build must be splendid and world-famous. But he is young and inexperienced, so I must make preparations for it." So David got large amounts of the materials ready before he died.

6 He sent for his son Solomon and commanded him to build a temple for the Lord, the God of Israel.

7 David said to him, "Son, I wanted to build a temple to honor the Lord my God.

8 But the Lord told me that I had killed too many people and fought too many wars. And so, because of all the bloodshed I have caused, he would not let me build a temple for him.

9 He did, however, make me a promise. He said, "You will have a son who will rule in peace, because I will give him peace from all his enemies. His name will be Solomon, because during his reign I will give Israel peace and security.

10 He will build a temple for me. He will be my son, and I will be his father. His dynasty will rule Israel forever.' "

11 David continued, "Now, son, may the Lord your God be with you, and may he keep his promise to make you successful in building a temple for him.

12 And may the Lord your God give you insight and wisdom so that you may govern Israel according to his Law.

13 If you obey all the laws which the Lord gave to Moses for Israel, you will be successful. Be determined and confident, and don't let anything make you afraid.

14 As for the Temple, by my efforts I have accumulated almost four thousand tons of gold and nearly forty thousand tons of silver to be used in building it. Besides that, there is an unlimited supply of bronze and iron. I also have wood and stone ready, but you must get more.

15 You have many workers. There are stonecutters to work in the quarries, and there are masons and carpenters, as well as a large number of skilled workers of every sort who can work

16 with gold, silver, bronze, and iron. Now begin the work, and may the Lord be with you."

17 David commanded all the leaders of Israel to help Solomon.

18 He said, "The Lord your God has been with you and given you peace on all sides. He let me conquer all the people who used to live in this land, and they are now subject to you and to the Lord.

19 Now serve the Lord your God with all your heart and soul. Start building the Temple, so that you can place in it the Covenant Box of the Lord and all the other sacred objects used in worshiping him."

1 When David was very old, he made his son Solomon king of Israel.

2 King David brought together all the Israelite leaders and all the priests and Levites.

3 He took a census of all the male Levites aged thirty or older. The total was thirty-eight thousand.

4 The king assigned twenty-four thousand to administer the work of the Temple, six thousand to keep records and decide disputes

5 four thousand to do guard duty, and four thousand to praise the Lord, using the musical instruments provided by the king for this purpose.

6 David divided the Levites into three groups, according to their clans: Gershon, Kohath, and Merari.

7 Gershon had two sons: Ladan and Shimei.

8 Ladan had three sons: Jehiel, Zetham, and Joel,

9 who were the heads of the clans descended from Ladan. (Shimei had three sons: Shelomoth, Haziel, and Haran.)

10 Shimei had four sons: Jahath, Zina, Jeush, and Beriah, in order of age. Jeush and Beriah did not have many descendants, so they were counted as one clan.

12 Kohath had four sons: Amram, Izhar, Hebron, and Uzziel.

13 His oldest son, Amram, was the father of Aaron and Moses. (Aaron and his descendants were set apart to be in charge of the sacred objects forever, to burn incense in the worship of the Lord, to serve him, and to bless the people in his name.

14 But the sons of Moses, the man of God, were included among the Levites.

15 Moses had two sons, Gershom and Eliezer.

16 The leader among Gershom's sons was Shebuel.

17 Eliezer had only one son, Rehabiah, but Rehabiah had many descendants.

18 Kohath's second son, Izhar, had a son, Shelomith, the head of the clan.

19 Kohath's third son, Hebron, had four sons: Jeriah, Amariah, Jahaziel, and Jekameam

20 Kohath's fourth son, Uzziel, had two sons, Micah and Isshiah.

21 Merari had two sons, Mahli and Mushi. Mahli also had two sons, Eleazar and Kish

22 but Eleazar died without having any sons, only daughters. His daughters married their cousins, the sons of Kish.

23 Merari's second son, Mushi, had three sons: Mahli, Eder, and Jeremoth.

24 These were the descendants of Levi, by clans and families, every one of them registered by name. Each of his descendants, twenty years of age or older, had a share in the work of the Lord's Temple.

25 David said, "The Lord God of Israel has given peace to his people, and he himself will live in Jerusalem forever.

26 So there is no longer any need for the Levites to carry the Tent of the Lord's presence and all the equipment used in worship."

27 On the basis of David's final instructions all Levites were registered for service when they reached the age of twenty,

28 and were assigned the following duties: to help the priests descended from Aaron with the Temple worship, to take care of its courtyards and its rooms, and to keep undefiled everything that is sacred;

29 to be responsible for the bread offered to God, the flour used in offerings, the wafers made without yeast, the baked offerings, and the flour mixed with olive oil; to weigh and measure the Temple offerings;

30 and to praise and glorify the Lord every morning and every evening

31 and whenever offerings to the Lord are burned on the Sabbath, the New Moon Festival, and other festivals. Rules were made specifying the number of Levites assigned to do this work each time. The Levites were assigned the duty of worshiping the Lord for all time.

32 They were given the responsibility of taking care of the Tent of the Lord's presence and the Temple, and of assisting their relatives, the priests descended from Aaron, in the Temple worship.