First Book of Chronicles 22

¹ Then David said, ‘Here is the house of Yahweh God; and this shall be the altar of holocaust for Israel’.

² David gave orders for the gathering of all the strangers living in the land of Israel and set stonecutters preparing dressed stones for building the house of God.

³ David furthermore stored up great quantities of iron to make nails for the leaves of the doors and for clamps, and more bronze than could be weighed;

⁴ logs of cedar too, beyond number, the Sidonians and Tyrians having brought cedar logs to David in great quantities.

⁵ Then David said, ‘My son Solomon is young, of tender years, and the house to be built for Yahweh must be of great splendour, renowned for its magnificence in every country. I will make preparations for him.’ And so, before he died, David made ample preparations.

⁶ He then summoned his son Solomon and instructed him to build a house for Yahweh, the God of Israel.

⁷ ‘My son,’ David said to Solomon ‘my heart was set on building a house for the name of Yahweh my God.

⁸ But the word of Yahweh came to me, “You have shed much blood and fought great battles; it is not for you to build a house for my name, since you have shed so much blood on the earth in my presence.

⁹ But now a son is born to you. He shall be a man of peace, and I will give him peace from all the enemies that surround him; for Solomon is his name,[*b] and in his days I will give Israel peace and quiet.

¹⁰ He shall build a house for my name; he shall be a son to me and I a father to him, and I will make his royal throne secure in Israel for ever.”

¹¹ Now, my son, may Yahweh be with you and give you success in building a house for Yahweh your God, as he has said concerning you.

¹² Yet may he give you discretion and discernment, may he give you his orders for Israel so that you may observe the Law of Yahweh your God.

¹³ Success will be yours if you carefully observe the statutes and the ordinances that Yahweh has prescribed to Moses for Israel. Be strong and stand fast, be fearless, be dauntless.

¹⁴ Poor as I am, I have set aside for the house of Yahweh one hundred thousand talents of gold, a million talents of silver and more bronze and iron than can be weighed; I have stored up wood and stone too, to which you must add more.

¹⁵ You will have many workmen, stonecutters, masons, carpenters, skilled artisans of every kind,

¹⁶ while your gold and silver, bronze and iron, will be beyond reckoning. Set to work, then, and may Yahweh be with you!’

¹⁷ David then ordered all the Israelite leaders to help his son Solomon.

¹⁸ ‘Is not Yahweh your God with you?’ he said. ‘He has given you peace on all sides, since he has put the inhabitants of the country into my power and the land has been subdued for Yahweh and for his people.

¹⁹ So now devote heart and soul to the search for Yahweh your God. Set to and build the sanctuary of Yahweh your God, so that you can bring the ark of the covenant of Yahweh and the holy things of God to the house that is built for the name of Yahweh.’