for you, my God, have revealed to your servant that you will build a dynasty for him. That is why your servant has had the courage to pray to you.

Now you are willing to bless your servant’s dynasty so that it may stand permanently before you, for you, O Lord, have blessed it and it will be blessed from now on into the future.”

David ordered the resident foreigners in the land of Israel to be called together. He appointed some of them to be stonecutters to chisel stones for the building of God’s temple.

David said to Solomon: “My son, I really wanted to build a temple to honor the Lord my God.

He will build a temple to honor me; he will become my son, and I will become his father. I will grant to his dynasty permanent rule over Israel.’

“Now, my son, may the Lord be with you! May you succeed and build a temple for the Lord your God, just as he announced you would.

David said, “Of these, 24,000 are to direct the work of the Lord’s temple; 6,000 are to be officials and judges;

They were in charge of the meeting tent and the holy place, and helped their relatives, the descendants of Aaron, in the service of the Lord’s temple.

But God said to me, ‘You must not build a temple to honor me, for you are a warrior and have spilled blood.’

O Lord our God, all this wealth, which we have collected to build a temple for you to honor your holy name, comes from you; it all belongs to you.

Solomon laid the foundation for God’s temple; its length (determined according to the old standard of measure) was 90 feet, and its width 30 feet.

Solomon also made these items for God’s temple: the gold altar, the tables on which the Bread of the Presence was kept,

The priests could not carry out their duties because of the cloud; the Lord’s splendor filled God’s temple.

The Lord told my father David, ‘It is right for you to have a strong desire to build a temple to honor me.

King Rehoboam made bronze shields to replace them and assigned them to the officers of the royal guard who protected the entrance to the royal palace.

Whenever the king visited the Lord’s temple, the royal guards carried them and then brought them back to the guardroom.

Asa took all the silver and gold that was left in the treasuries of the Lord’s temple and of the royal palace and sent it to King Ben Hadad of Syria, ruler in Damascus, along with this message:

Asa was so angry at the prophet, he put him in jail. Asa also oppressed some of the people at that time.

Say, ‘This is what the king says: “Put this man in prison. Give him only a little bread and water until I return safely.”’”

He followed in the footsteps of the kings of Israel, just as Ahab’s dynasty had done, for he married Ahab’s daughter. He did evil in the sight of the Lord.