He summoned his son Solomon and charged him to build a temple for the Lord God of Israel.

David said to Solomon: “My son, I really wanted ¹  to build a temple to honor ²  the Lord my God.

When David had settled into his palace, ¹  he ²  said to Nathan the prophet, “Look, I am living in a palace ³  made from cedar, while the ark of the Lord’s covenant is under a tent.” ⁴ 

David consulted with his military officers, including those who led groups of a thousand and those who led groups of a hundred. ¹ 

David took the crown from the head of their king ¹  and wore it ²  (its weight was a talent ³  of gold and it was set with precious stones). He took a large amount of plunder from the city.

Look, you will have a son, who will be a peaceful man. ¹  I will give him rest from all his enemies on every side. ²  Indeed, Solomon ³  will be his name; I will give Israel peace and quiet during his reign. ⁴ 

There was another battle with the Philistines in which Elhanan son of Jair the Bethlehemite killed the brother of Goliath the Gittite, ¹  whose spear had a shaft as big as the crossbeam of a weaver’s loom. ² 

They transported the ark on a new cart from the house of Abinadab; Uzzah and Ahio were guiding the cart,

Sheshan gave his daughter to his servant Jarha as a wife; she bore him Attai.

Elihu, a brother of David, led Judah, Omri son of Michael led Issachar,

For I have not lived in a house from the time I brought Israel up from Egypt ¹  to the present day. I have lived in a tent that has been in various places. ² 

And who is like your people, Israel, a unique nation ¹  in the earth? Their God ²  went to claim ³  a nation for himself! You made a name for yourself by doing great and awesome deeds ⁴  when you drove out ⁵  nations before your people whom you had delivered from the Egyptian empire and its gods. ⁶ 

For we are resident foreigners and nomads in your presence, like all our ancestors; ¹  our days are like a shadow on the earth, without security. ² 

But the Lord said to me: ¹  ‘You have spilled a great deal of blood and fought many battles. You must not build a temple to honor me, ²  for you have spilled a great deal of blood on the ground before me.

David was in the stronghold at the time, while a Philistine garrison was in Bethlehem. ¹ 

This is the list of David’s warriors: ¹  Jashobeam, a Hacmonite, was head of the officers. ²  He killed three hundred men with his spear in a single battle. ³ 

He was a descendant of Perez; he was in charge of all the army officers for the first month.

The ninth, assigned the ninth month, was Abiezer the Anathothite, a Benjaminite. His division consisted of 24,000 men.

They held a feast ¹  before the Lord that day and celebrated. ²  Then they designated Solomon, David’s son, as king a second time; ³  before the Lord they anointed him as ruler and Zadok as priest.

“Go, tell my servant David: ‘This is what the Lord says: “You must not build me a house in which to live.