King David rose to his feet and said: “Listen to me, my brothers and my people. I wanted to build a temple where the ark of the Lord’s covenant could be placed as a footstool for our God. ¹  I have made the preparations for building it.

David said to his son Solomon: “Be strong and brave! Do it! Don’t be afraid and don’t panic! ¹  For the Lord God, my God, is with you. He will not leave you or abandon you before all the work for the service of the Lord’s temple is finished.

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.

From Zebulun there were 50,000 warriors who were prepared for battle, equipped with all kinds of weapons, and ready to give their undivided loyalty. ¹ 

4,000 are to be gatekeepers; and 4,000 are to praise the Lord with the instruments I supplied for worship.” ¹ 

The other nine were Ibhar, Elishua, ¹  Elpelet, ² 

Zadok the priest and his fellow priests served ¹  before the Lord’s tabernacle at the worship center ²  in Gibeon,

These were the sons born to him in Jerusalem: Shimea, ¹  Shobab, Nathan, and Solomon – the mother of these four was Bathsheba ²  the daughter of Ammiel. ³ 

but then they made a stand in the middle of that area. They defended it ¹  and defeated the Philistines; the Lord gave them a great victory. ² 

Zelek the Ammonite, Naharai the Beerothite, the armor-bearer of Joab son of Zeruiah,

Joab son of Zeruiah was commanding general of ¹  the army; Jehoshaphat son of Ahilud was secretary;

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

and said, “God forbid that I should do this! ¹  Should I drink the blood of these men who risked their lives?” ²  Because they risked their lives to bring it to him, he refused to drink it. Such were the exploits of the three elite warriors. ³ 

He appointed some of the Levites to serve before the ark of the Lord, to offer prayers, songs of thanks, and hymns to the Lord God of Israel.

Joining them were Heman, Jeduthun, and the rest of those chosen and designated by name to give thanks to the Lord. (For his loyal love endures!) ¹ 

He gave him ¹  the prescribed weight for all the gold items to be used in various types of service in the Lord’s temple, for all the silver items to be used in various types of service, ² 

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.

for the pure gold used for the meat forks, bowls, and jars, for the small gold bowls, including the weight for each bowl, for the small silver bowls, including the weight for each bowl,

The scribe Shemaiah son of Nethanel, a Levite, wrote down their names before the king, the officials, Zadok the priest, Ahimelech son of Abiathar, and the leaders of the priestly and Levite families. One family was drawn by lot from Eleazar, and then the next from Ithamar. ¹