CHAPTER 22

²And David said to gather in the sojourners who were in the land of Israel, and he set them as hewers to hew dressed stone to build the house of God, ³and iron in abundance for the nails for the doors of the gates and for the clasps and bronze in abundance beyond weighing, ⁴and cedar logs beyond number, as the Sidonians and the Tyrians had brought cedar logs in abundance to David. ⁵And David thought, “Solomon my son is a tender lad, and the house to be built for the LORD should be exceedingly great in fame and in glory for all the lands. Let me ready things for him.” And David readied things in abundance before his death. ⁶And he called to Solomon his son and charged him to build a house for the LORD God of Israel. ⁷And David said to Solomon his son, “As for me, it was in my heart to build a house for the name of the LORD my God. ⁸But the word of the LORD came to me, saying, ‘Blood in abundance you have shed, and you fought great battles. You shall not build a house for My name, for you have shed much blood on the earth before Me. ⁹Look, a son is to be born to you. He shall be a man at rest, and I will grant him rest from all his enemies round about, for Solomon shall be his name and peace and quiet I will bestow upon Israel in his days. ¹⁰He it is who shall build a house for My name, and he shall be a son to Me and I will be a father to him, and I will make the throne of his kingship stand firm over Israel forever.’ ¹¹Now, my son, may the LORD be with you and may you prosper and build the house of the LORD your God as He has spoken concerning you. ¹²Only may the LORD give you insight and understanding and may He charge you over Israel to keep the teaching of the LORD your God. ¹³Then will you prosper, if you keep to do the statutes and the laws with which the LORD charged Moses for Israel. Be strong and stalwart. Do not fear and do not be dismayed. ¹⁴And, look, from my poor resources I have readied for the house of the LORD a hundred thousand talents of gold and a million talents of silver, and the bronze and the iron is beyond weighing for it is so much, and wood and stones I have readied, and you can add to them. ¹⁵And with you in abundance are craftsmen, hewers and stonemasons and carpenters and every expert in every task. ¹⁶And the gold and the silver and the bronze and the iron are beyond number. Rise and act, and may the LORD be with you.” ¹⁷And David charged all the officers of Israel to help Solomon his son: ¹⁸“Is not the LORD your God with you? And He shall grant you rest, for He has given into my hand the dwellers of the land, and the land has been conquered before the LORD and before His people. ¹⁹And now, set your heart and your very being to seek the LORD your God, and rise and build the sanctuary of the LORD God so as to bring the Ark of the LORD’S Covenant and God’s sacred vessels to the house being built for the name of the LORD.”