David said, ¹  “Of these, 24,000 are to direct the work of the Lord’s temple; 6,000 are to be officials and judges;

and whenever burnt sacrifices were offered to the Lord on the Sabbath and at new moon festivals and assemblies. A designated number were to serve before the Lord regularly in accordance with regulations. ¹ 

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. ¹ 

David did not count the males twenty years old and under, for the Lord had promised to make Israel as numerous as the stars in the sky.

He gave him ¹  the blueprints of all he envisioned ²  for the courts of the Lord’s temple, all the surrounding rooms, the storehouses of God’s temple, and the storehouses for the holy items.

and for the refined gold of the incense altar. He gave him ¹  the blueprint for the seat ²  of the gold cherubim that spread their wings ³  and provide shelter for the ark of the Lord’s covenant.

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.

O Lord God of our ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, maintain the motives of your people and keep them devoted to you. ¹ 

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.

Solomon sat on the Lord’s throne as king in place of his father David; he was successful and all Israel was loyal to him. ¹ 

three ¹  years of famine, or three months being chased by your enemies and struck down by their swords, ²  or three days being struck down by the Lord, during which a plague will invade the land and the Lord’s messenger will destroy throughout Israel’s territory.’ ³  Now, decide what I should tell the one who sent me.”

The sons of Judah: Er, Onan, and Shelah. These three were born to him by Bathshua, ¹  a Canaanite woman. Er, Judah’s firstborn, displeased the Lord, so the Lord killed him. ² 

They performed music ¹  before the sanctuary ²  of the meeting tent until Solomon built the Lord’s temple in Jerusalem. ³  They carried out their tasks according to regulations.

Shallum son of Kore, son of Ebiasaph, son of Korah, and his relatives from his family (the Korahites) were assigned to guard the entrance to the sanctuary. ¹  Their ancestors had guarded the entrance to the Lord’s dwelling place. ² 

In the past, even when Saul was king, you were Israel’s commanding general. ¹  The Lord your God said to you, ‘You will shepherd my people Israel; you will rule over my people Israel.’”

David said to the whole Israelite assembly, “If you so desire and the Lord our God approves, ¹  let’s spread the word ²  to our brothers who remain in all the regions of Israel, and to the priests and Levites in their cities, ³  so they may join us.

David and all Israel went up to Baalah (that is, Kiriath Jearim) in Judah to bring up from there the ark of God the Lord, who sits enthroned between the cherubim – the ark that is called by his name. ¹ 

The ark of God remained in Obed-Edom’s house for three months; the Lord blessed Obed-Edom’s family and everything that belonged to him.

As the ark of the Lord’s covenant entered the City of David, Michal, Saul’s daughter, looked out the window. When she saw King David jumping and celebrating, she despised him. ¹ 

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