Chronicles Chapters

Peoples and Cities and Their Relationships with the Israelites

1 | ¹Adam, Seth, Enosh, ²Kenan, Mahalalel, Jared, ³Enoch, Methuselah, Lamech, ⁴Noah, Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

⁵Sons of Japheth: Gomer, Magog, Madai, Javan, Tubal, Meshech, Tiras. ⁶Sons of Gomer: Ashkenaz, Diphath, Togarmah. ⁷Sons of Javan: Elisha, Tarshish, the Kittim, the Rodanim.

⁸Sons of Ham: Cush, Mizraim, Put, Canaan.

⁹Sons of Cush: Seba, Havilah, Sabta, Raama, Sabteca; Sons of Raama: Sheba, Dedan. ¹⁰Cush became the father of Nimrod, the first potentate on earth.

¹¹Mizraim became of the people of the Ludim, Anamim, Lehabim, Naptuhim, ¹²Pathrusim, Casluhim, and Caphtorim, from which the Philistines came. ¹³Canaan became the father of Sidon, his firstborn, then Heth, ¹⁴and the Jebusites, the Amorites, Girgashites, ¹⁵Hivites, Arkites, Sinites, ¹⁶Arvadites, Zemarites, Hamathites.

¹⁷Sons of Shem: Elam, Asshur, Arpachshad, Lud, Aram. Sons of Aram: Uz, Hul, Gether, and Mash. ¹⁸Arpachshad became the father of Shelah, and Shelah became the father of Eber. ¹⁹To Eber were born two sons; the first was called Peleg because it was in his time the earth was divided, and his brother was called Joktan.

²⁰Joktan became the father of Almodad, Sheleph, Hazarmaveth, Jerah, ²¹Hadoram, Uzal, Diklah, ²²Ebal, Abimael, Sheba, ²³Ophir, Havilah, Jobab; all these are sons of Joktan.

²⁴Shem, Arpachshad, Shelah, ²⁵Eber, Peleg, Reu, ²⁶Serug, Nahor, Terah, ²⁷Abram, that is, Abraham.

Descendants of Abraham

²⁸Sons of Abraham: Isaac and Ishmael. ²⁹Sons of Ishmael: Nebaioth (his firstborn), then Kedar, Adbeel, Mibsam, ³⁰Mishma, Dumah, Massa, Hadad, Tema, ³¹Jetur, Naphish, and Kedemah.

³²Sons of Keturah, Abraham’s concubine: Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbak, and Shuah. Sons of Jokshan: Sheba and Dedan. ³³Sons of Midian were Ephah, Epher, Hanoch, Abida, Eldaah.

³⁴Abraham was the father of Isaac, who had two sons: Esau and Israel. ³⁵The descendants of Esau were Eliphaz, Reuel, Jeush, Jalam, and Korah. ³⁶The descendants of Eliphaz were Teman, Omar, Zephi, Gatam, Kenaz, Timna, and Amalek. ³⁷The descendants of Reuel were Nahath, Zerah, Shammah, and Mizzah. ³⁸The sons of Seir were Lotan, Shobal, Zibeon, Anah, Dishon, Ezer, and Dishan. ³⁹The clans descended from Lotan were Hori and Homam. Lotan’s sister was named Timna. ⁴⁰The clans descended from Shobal were Alian, Manahath, Ebal, Shephi, and Onam. The descendants of Zibeon were Aiah and Anah. ⁴¹Anah had a son named Dishon, the ancestor of the Hemdan, Eshban, Ithran, and Cheran clans. ⁴²Ezer was the ancestor of Bilhan, Zaavan, and Jaakan clans. Sons of Dishan: Uz and Aran.

⁴³Here are the kings who ruled in the land of Edom before an Israelite king ruled: Bela, son of Beor; his city was called Dinhabah. ⁴⁴When Bela died, Jobab, son of Zerah from Bozrah, became king. ⁴⁵When Jobab died, Husham of the land of the Temanites became king. ⁴⁶When Husham died, Hadad, son of Bedad, became king; he defeated the Midianites in the country of Moab, and his city was called Avith. ⁴⁷When Hadad died, Samlah of Masrekah became king. ⁴⁸Samlah died, and Saul of Rehoboth on the Euphrates became king. ⁴⁹When Saul died, Baalhanan, the son of Achbor, became king. ⁵⁰When Baalhanan died, Hadad became king. His city was called Pai; his wife was Mehetabel, daughter of Matred, from Mezahab.

⁵¹After Hadad died, these were the chiefs of Edom: Chief of Timna, Chief of Aliah, Chief Jetheth, ⁵²Chief Oholibamah, Chief of Elah, Chief Pinon, ⁵³Chief Kenaz, Chief Teman, Chief Mibzar, ⁵⁴Chief Magdiel, and Chief Iram. These were the chiefs of Edom.

The Sons of Israel and the Descendants of Judah

2 | ¹These are the sons of Israel: Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah; Issachar and Zebulun; ²Dan, Joseph and Benjamin, Naphtali; and Gad and Asher.

³Judah had five sons in all. The first three were born to him by Bathshua, the Canaanite woman. They were Er, Onan, and Shelah. Er, Judah’s firstborn, was so evil that the Lord put him to death. ⁴By his daughter-in-law Tamar, Judah had two more sons, Perez and Zerah. ⁵Perez had two sons, Hezron and Hamul. ⁶His brother Zerah had five sons: Zimri, Ethan, Heman, Calcol, and Darda. ⁷One of them, Achar, son of Carmi—brought trouble upon the people of Israel by keeping loot that had been devoted to God. ⁸Ethan had one son, Azariah.

⁹Hezron became the father of Jerahmeel, Ram, and Chelubai. ¹⁰Ram was the father of Amminadab; Amminadab of Nahshon. ¹¹Nahshon, who was a prince of the tribe of Judah, was the father of Salmah; Salmah of Boaz; ¹²Boaz of Obed; Obed of Jesse. ¹³Jesse had seven sons: Eliab, the firstborn, Abinadab, Shimea, ¹⁴Nethanel, Raddai, ¹⁵Ozem and David, the youngest. Jesse had two daughters: Zeruiah and Abigail. ¹⁶Zeruiah had three sons: Abishai, Joab, and Asahel. ¹⁷Abigail married Jether the Ishmaelite. They had a son named Amasa.

¹⁸Caleb, son of Hezron, married Azubah and had a daughter named Jerioth. Jerioth had three sons: Jesher, Shobab, and Ardon. ¹⁹Azubah died, Caleb married Ephrath, and they had a son named Hur. ²⁰Hur became the father of Uri and grandfather of Bezalel.

²¹When Hezron was sixty, he married Machir’s daughter, Gilead's sister. They had a son named Segub, who had a son named Jair. ²²Jair ruled twenty-three towns in the land of Gilead. ²³But the kingdoms of Geshur and Aram took from them the villages of Jair, Kenath, and its towns, sixty towns in all. All this had belonged to the descendants of Machir, father of Gilead.

²⁴After Hezron’s death, his son Caleb married Ephrathah, his father’s widow. They had a son named Ashur, the father of Tekoa.

²⁵Jerahmeel, Hezron’s eldest son, had five sons: Ram, his firstborn; Bunah, Oren, Ozem, and Ahijah. ²⁶Jerahmeel had another wife called Atarah; she was the mother of Onam.

²⁷Ram had three sons: Maaz, Jamin, and Eker.

²⁸Onam was the father of Shammai and Jada; Shammai, of Nadab and Abishur. ²⁹Abishur’s wife was called Abihail; she bore him Ahban and Molid. ³⁰Nadab had two sons, Seled and Appaim, but Seled died, leaving no son. ³¹Appaim was the father of Ishi, who was the father of Sheshan; Sheshan was the father of Ahlai. ³²Jada, Shammai’s brother, had two sons: Jether and Jonathan. Jether died, leaving no sons. ³³Jonathan had two sons: Peleth and Zaza.

These were all descendants of Jerahmeel.

³⁴Sheshan had no sons, only daughters. ³⁵He had an Egyptian slave named Jarha, to whom he gave his daughter in marriage. ³⁶They had a son named Attai. The ancestral line from Attai to Elishama is as follows: Attai, Nathan, ³⁷Zabad, Ephlal, Obed, ³⁸Jehu, Azariah, ³⁹Helez, Eleasah, ⁴⁰Sismai, Shallum, ⁴¹Jekamiah, and Elishama.

⁴²The firstborn son of Caleb, Jerahmeel’s brother, was named Mesha. Mesha was the father of Ziph, who was the father of Maresha. ⁴³Maresha was the father of Hebron, who had four sons: Korah, Tappuah, Rekem, and Shema. ⁴⁴Shema became the father of Raham and grandfather of Jorkeam. Rekem became the father of Shammai, ⁴⁵and grandfather of Maon. Maon became the father of Beth-Zur.

⁴⁶Caleb had a concubine named Ephah, who gave birth to Haran, Moza, and Gazez. Haran also had a son named Gazez. ⁴⁷Jahdai had six sons: Regem, Jotham, Geshan, Pelet, Ephah, and Shaaph. ⁴⁸Caleb had another concubine, Maacah, who gave birth to Sheber and Tirhanah. ⁴⁹Later, she had two more sons: Shaaph, who founded the town of Madmannah, and Sheva, who founded the towns of Machbenah and Gibea. The daughter of Caleb was Achsah.

⁵⁰The following were also descendants of Caleb. Hur was the firstborn son of Ephrath. Hur’s son Shobal was the father of Kiriath-jearim; ⁵¹Salma, the father of Bethlehem, and Hareph, the father of Bethgader. ⁵² The sons of Shobal, the father of Kiriath-jearim, were Reaiah, half of the Manahathites, ⁵³and also the clans living in Kiriath-jearim: the Ithrites, Puthites, Shumathites, and Mishraites. The people of the cities of Zorah and Eshtaol belonged to these clans.

⁵⁴Sons of Salma: Bethlehem, Netophath, Atroth-beth-Joab, half of the Mananathites, and the Zorites. ⁵⁵The Soferites lived in the town of Jabez: the Tirathites, Shimeathites, and Sucathites. They were Kenites, descendants of Hammath, the Rechabites’ ancestor.

The Descendants of David

3 | ¹These are the sons of David who were born to him while he was in Hebron: the firstborn Amnon, whose mother was Ahinoam from Jezreel; second, Daniel, whose mother was Abigail from Carmel; ²third, Absalom, whose mother was Maacah, daughter of King Talmai of Geshur; fourth, Adonijah, whose mother was Haggith; ³fifth, Shephatiah, whose mother was Abital; sixth, Ithream, whose mother was Eglah. ⁴All six were born to him in Hebron, where he ruled for seven years and six months.

He ruled as king for thirty-three years in Jerusalem. ⁵Many sons were born to him in Jerusalem. By his wife Bathsheba, daughter of Ammiel, he had four sons: Shimea, Shobab, Nathan, and Solomon. Nine other sons were ⁶Ibhar, Elishama, Eliphelet, ⁷Nogah, Nepheg, Japhia, ⁸Elishama, Eliada, and Eliphelet.

⁹All these were sons of David, besides other sons by the concubines. Tamar was their sister.

¹⁰These are the descendants of King Solomon from father to son: Rehoboam, Abijah, Asa, Jehoshaphat, ¹¹Joram, Ahaziah, Joash, ¹²Amaziah, Azariah, Jotham, ¹³Ahaz, Hezekiah, Manasseh, ¹⁴Amon, and Josiah. ¹⁵Josiah had four sons: Johanan, the firstborn; Jehoiakim second, Zedekiah third, and Shallum fourth. ¹⁶The sons of Jehoiakim were Jeconiah and Zedekiah.

¹⁷These are the descendants of King Jeconiah, who was taken captive by the Babylonians. Jeconiah had seven sons: Shealtiel, ¹⁸Malchiram, Pedaiah, Shenazzar, Jekamiah, Hoshama, and Nedabiah. ¹⁹Pedaiah had two sons: Zerubbabel and Shimei. Zerubbabel had two sons, Meshullam and Hananiah, and one daughter, Shelomith. ²⁰Meshullam had five sons: Hashubah, Ohel, Berechiah, Hasadiah, and Jushabhesed. ²¹Hananiah’s two sons were Pelatish and Jeshaiah. Jeshiah was the father of Rephaiah, the father of Arnan, the father of Obadiah, and the grandfather of Shecaniah. ²²Shecaniah’s son was Shemaiah, and his five grandsons were Hattush, Igal, Bariah, Neariah, and Shaphat. ²³Neariah’s three sons were Elioenai, Hizkiah, and Azrikam. ²⁴Elioenai’s seven sons were Hodaviah, Eliashib, Pelaiah, Akkub, Johanan, Delaiah, and Anani.

Heads of Families of the Twelve Tribes

4 | ¹Some of the descendants of Judah are Perez, Hezron, Carmi, Hur, and Shobal. ²Shobal was the father of Reaiah, who was the father of Jahath, the father of Ahumai and Lahad; these people lived in Zorah.

³These were the descendants of Etam: Jezreel, Ishma, and Idbash, whose sister was called Hazzelelponi. ⁴Penuel became the father of Gedor, and Ezer the father of Hushah. These are the descendants of Hur, the firstborn of Ephrathah and the father of Bethlehem.

⁵Ashhur, the father of Tekoa, had two wives: Helah and Naarah. ⁶Naarah bore him four sons: Ahuzaam, Hepher, the Temenites, and the Ahashtarites. ⁷Ashur had three sons by Helah: Zereth, Izhar, and Ethnan. ⁸Koz became the father of Anub and Zobebah and the clans of Aharhel, son of Harum. ⁹Jabez was the known of them. His mother had given him the name Jabez to recall that: “In pain, she had given birth to him.” ¹⁰Jabez called on the God of Israel, “Bless me by giving me more land. Be with me, and keep me from anything that might harm or cause pain.” God gave him what he had prayed for.

¹¹Chelub, the brother of Shuhah, became the father of Mehir, who was the father of Eshton. ¹²Eshton had three sons, Bethrapha, Paseah, and Tehinnah. Tehinnah, the father of the city of Nahash. The descendants of these men lived in Recah.

¹³Kenaz had two sons, Othniel and Seraiah. Othniel also had two sons: Hathath and Meonothai, ¹⁴who became the father of Ophrah. Seraiah became the father of Joab and the founder of Craftsmen’s Valley, where skilled workers lived.

¹⁵Caleb, son of Jephunneh, had three sons: Ir, Elah, and Naam, and the son of Elah, Kenaz.

¹⁶The sons of Jehallelel were Ziph, Ziphah, Tiria, and Asarel.

¹⁷Ezrah had four sons: Jether, Mered, Epher, and Jalon. Jether became the father of Miriam, Shammai, and Ishbah. Ishbah was the father of Eshtemoa. ¹⁸Mered also had a wife from the tribe of Judah, who gave birth to three sons: Jered, the father of Gedor; Heber, father of Soco; and Jekuthiel, father of Zanoah. These were the sons of Bithiah, the daughter of Pharaoh, whom Mered married.

¹⁹Hodiah married the sister of Naham. Their descendants formed the clan of Garm, which lived in the town of Keilah, and the clan of Maacath, which lived in the town of Eshtemoa.

²⁰The sons of Shimon were: Amnon, Rinnah, Benhanan, and Tilon.

The sons of Ishi were Zoheth and Ben-zoheth.

²¹The descendants of Shelah, son of Judah, were Er, father of Lecah; Laadah, father of Mareshah; and the clans of linen weavers of Bethashbea; ²²Jokim and the people who lived in Cozeba; Joash and Saraph, who went to Moab to take wives before returning to Bethlehem (these are events of long ago.) ²³They were potters and lived in the towns of Netaim and Gederah. They stayed with the king there and were employed in his workshop.

²⁴Simeon had five sons: Nemuel, Jamin, Jachin, Zerah, and Shaul. ²⁵Shaul’s son was Shallum. His grandson was Mibsam, and his great-grandson was Mishma. ²⁶The sons of Mishma were Hammuel and Zaccur, whose son was Shimei. ²⁷Shimei had sixteen sons and daughters, but his brothers did not have many children, and none of their families increased as the families of Judah did.

²⁸They lived in Beersheba, Moladah and Hazarshual, ²⁹Bilhah, Ezem and Tolad, ³⁰Bethuel, Hormah and Ziklag, ³¹Beth-marcaboth, Hazar-susim, Bethbiri, Shaaraim. These were their towns until the reign of David. ³²Their outlying villages were Etam, Ain, Rimmon, Tochen, and Ashan, five towns, ³³with all their surrounding villages as far as Baalath. Here, they had their settlements and sorted themselves into their various groups.

³⁴Meshobab, Jamlech, Joshah son of Amaziah, ³⁵Joel, Jehu son of Joshibiah, son of Seraiah, son of Asiel, ³⁶Elioenei, Jaakobah, Jeshohaiah, Asaiah, Adiel, Jesimiel, Benaiah, ³⁷Ziza, son of Shiphi, son of Allon, son of Jedaiah, son of Shimri, son of Shemaiah. ³⁸These men came with their clans and families. They grew in number and spread. ³⁹As they searched for pasture for their flocks, they traveled from the Gedor Pass to the valley's eastern end, ⁴⁰where they found good, fat pasture. The land was broad, untroubled, and peaceful.

Hamites had been living there before them. ⁴¹But in the time of Hezekiah, king of Judah, this Simeon tribe group arrived and overran their tents and the dwellings they found there. They wiped them out through an anathema still in force today and settled in their place since there was pasture for their flocks.

⁴²Some of them, belonging to the sons of Simeon, reached Mount Seir: five hundred men led by Pelathiah, Neariah, Rephaiah, and Uzziel, the sons of Ishi. ⁴³They defeated the surviving fugitives of Amalek who had escaped and still live there today.

5 | ¹The sons of Reuben, Israel’s firstborn (Now, he was the firstborn, but when he had defiled his father’s bed, his rights as firstborn were given to the sons of Joseph, Israel’s son. So Reuben is not listed as firstborn in the genealogical records. ²Though Judah was the strongest among his brothers and a leader descended from him, the right of the firstborn belonged to Joseph.

³Sons of Reuben, firstborn of Israel: Hanoch, Pallu, Hezron, Carmi.

⁴Sons of Joel: Shemaiah his son, Gog his son, Shimei his son, ⁵Micah his son, Reaiah his son, Baal his son, ⁶Beerah his son, whom Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria carried off into exile. He was a prince of the Reubenites.

⁷His relatives, grouped by clans, were Jeiel, the chief, Zechariah, ⁸Bela son of Azaz, son of Shema, son of Joel.

These lived in Aroer as far as Nebo and Baal-Meon. ⁹These extended to the east toward the River Euphrates, reaching the desert because their flocks had multiplied in the land of Gilead.

¹⁰In Saul's days, they waged war against the defeated Hagrites and occupied their homes east of Gilead.

¹¹The sons of Gad lived opposite them in the land of Bashan, as far as Salecah. 12 Joel was chief, Shapham was second in command, and Janai was a judge in Bashan.

¹³The other families of the tribe were those of Michael, Meshullam, Sheba, Jorai, Jacan, Zia, and Eber.

¹⁴These are the descendants of Abihail, whose ancestors were traced back as follows: Abihail, Huri, Jaroah, Gilead, Michael, Jeshishai, Jahdo, and Buz. ¹⁵Ahi, the son of Abdiel and grandson of Guni, was the head of these clans.

¹⁶They had settled in the territory of Gilead and Bashan, in the towns there, and all over the pasturelands of Sharon. ¹⁷(All were listed in the family records in the days of King Jotham of Judah and King Jeroboam of Israel).

¹⁸The people of Reuben, Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh were 44,760 valiant men, well-trained in shields, swords, and bows, ready for service. ¹⁹They waged war against the Hagrite tribes of Jetur, Naphish, and Nodab, and as they put their trust in God and called on him for help, ²⁰they were victorious over the Hagrites and all their allies. ²¹They took with them from the Hagrites’ livestock 50,000 camels, 250,000 sheep, and 2,000 donkeys. ²²They took 100,000 prisoners of war, but many of the enemies had been killed, for it was God’s war. And they settled in what had been Hagrite territory until the exile.

²³The half-tribe of Manasseh settled in the land between Bashan and Baal-Hermon, Senir and Mount Hermon, and they were very numerous. ²⁴These are the heads of their clans: Epher, Ishi, Eliel, Azriel, Jeremiah, Hodaviah, and Jahdiel. These were famous warriors and leaders of their clans.

²⁵But they were unfaithful to the God of their ancestors and worshiped the gods of the peoples whom God had driven out of the land. ²⁶So the God of Israel brought against them the anger of Pul, king of Assyria, and of Tilgath-pilneser, king of Assyria, who deported the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh. They were taken off to Halah near Hara and the river Gozan. They are still there today.

The Ancestral Lines of the High Priests

²⁷Sons of Levi: Gershom, Kohath, and Merari. ²⁸Sons of Kohath: Amram, Izhar, Hebron, and Uzziel. ²⁹Sons of Amram: Aaron, Moses, and Miriam. Sons of Aaron: Nadab and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar.

³⁰The descendants of Eleazar from one generation to the next are as follows: Phinehas, Abishua, Bukki, Uzzi, ³¹Zerahiah, Meraioth, ³²Amariah, Ahitub, ³³Zadok, Ahimaaz, ³⁴Azariah, Johanan, ³⁵Azariah (the one who served as priest in the temple that Solomon built in Jerusalem), ³⁶Amariah, Ahitub, ³⁷Zadok, Shallum, ³⁸Hilkiah, Azariah, ³⁹Seraiah, Jehozadak. ⁴⁰Jehozadak was deported when the Lord, through King Nebuchadnezzar, sent the people of Judah and Jerusalem into exile.

The Families of Levi

6 | ¹Levi had three sons: Gershom, Kohath, and Merari.

²These are the names of the sons of Gershom: Libni and Shimei.

³Sons of Kohath: Amran, Izhar, Hebron, and Uzziel. ⁴Sons of Merari: Mahli and Mushi. These are the families of Levi, according to their ancestors.

⁵Descendants of Gershon from one generation to the next: Libni, Jahath, Zimmah, ⁶Joah, Iddo, Zerah, Jetherai.

⁷Descendants of Kohath from one generation to the next: Amminadab, Korah, Assir, ⁸Elkanah, Ebiasaph, Assir, ⁹Tahath, Uriel, Uzziah, Shaul. ¹⁰Elkanah had two sons, Amasai and Ahimoth; ¹¹Elkanah, son of Ahimoth, Zophai, Nahath, ¹²Eliab, Jeroham, Elkanah. ¹³The sons of Elkanah were Samuel his firstborn, and Abijah. Samuel had two sons: Joel, the firstborn, and Abijah, the younger.

¹⁴Descendants of Merari from one generation to the next: Mahli, Libni, ¹⁵Shimei, Uzzah, Shimea, Haggiah, Asaiah.

¹⁶David named men to lead the singing in the temple of the Lord when the Ark had come to rest there. ¹⁷They were responsible for singing before the Holy Tent of the Tent of Meeting until Solomon had built the temple of the Lord in Jerusalem. They did their duties by the rules.

¹⁸These are the men who accomplished this ministry and their sons:

Of the clan of Kohath: Heman, the leader of the first choir, was the son of Joel. His ancestral line went back to Jacob as follows: Heman, Joel, Samuel, ¹⁹Elkanah, Jeroham, Eliel, Toah, Zuph, ²⁰Elkanah, Mahath, Amasai, ²¹Elkanah, Joel, Azariah, Zephaniah, ²²Tahath, Assir, Ebiasaph, Korah, ²³Izhar, Kohath, Levi, Israel.

²⁴His brother Asaph was the leader of the second choir. His ancestral line went back to Levi as follows: Asaph, Berechiah, Shimea, ²⁵Michael, Baaseiah, Malchijah, ²⁶Ethni, Zerah, Adaiah, ²⁷Ethan, Zimmah, Shimei, ²⁸Jahath, Gershon, Levi.

²⁹Ethan of the clan of Merari was the leader of the third choir on the left side. His ancestral line went back to Levi as follows: Ethan, son of Kishi, son of Abdi, son of Malluch, ³⁰son of Hashabiah, son of Amaziah, son of Hilkiah, ³¹son of Amzi, son of Bani, son of Shemer, ³²son of Mahli, son of Mushi, son of Merari, son of Levi.

³³Their brother Levites were in charge of the Holy Tent of the temple of the Lord. ³⁴Aaron and his descendants burned the offerings on the altar for the burnt offering and on the altar of incense. They were responsible for all the worship in the Most Holy Place and for the atonement for Israel’s sins, according to the instructions of Moses, the servant of God.

³⁵This is the line of Aaron’s descendants: Eleazar, Phinehas, Abishua, ³⁶Bukki, Uzzi, Zerahiah, ³⁷Meraioth, Amariah, Ahitub, ³⁸Zadok, Ahimaaz.

³⁹These are the places they lived in, according to the boundaries of their settlements:

⁴⁰To the sons of Aaron of the Kohath clan (to whom the first share of land was assigned), they gave Hebron in the land of Judah and the pasturelands nearby. ⁴¹The fields and villages of this town, however, had been given to Caleb, son of Jephunneh. ⁴²The following towns were given to the descendants of Aaron: Hebron, a city of refuge; Jattir, Libnah, Eshtemoa, ⁴³Holon, Debir, ⁴⁴Ashan, and Beth-shemesh, with pasturelands near them. ⁴⁵In the territory of Benjamin, they were given the following towns with their pasturelands: Geba, Almon, and Anathoth. Thirteen towns were given them for all their families to live in.

⁴⁶To the rest of the clan of Kohath, family by family, ten towns were given from the territory of the half-tribe of Manasseh. ⁴⁷The clan of Gershom, family by family, were given thirteen towns from the territories of Issachar, Asher, Naphtali, and from the tribe of Manasseh in Bashan. ⁴⁸The clan of Merari, family by family, was given twelve towns from the territories of Reuben, Gad, and Zebulun. ⁴⁹The people of Israel gave these towns with their pasturelands to the Levites.

⁵⁰They received the towns to which they gave names from the territories of Judah, Simeon, and Benjamin.

⁵¹The clans of Kohath obtained towns by lot from the tribe of Ephraim. ⁵²They were given the following towns with their pasturelands: Shechem, the city of refuge in the hill country of Ephraim, Gezer, ⁵³Jokmeam, Beth-horon, ⁵⁴Aijalon, and Gath Rimmon. ⁵⁵In the territory of the half-tribe of Manasseh, they were given the towns of Taanach and Ibleam with their pasture lands. So much was given to the remaining families of the son of Kohath.

⁵⁶The clan of Gershon, family by family, was given the following towns with their pasturelands: in the territory of the half-tribe of Manasseh: Golan in Bashan, and Ashtaroth; ⁵⁷in the territory of Issachar: Kedesh, Daberath, ⁵⁸Ramoth, and Engannim; ⁵⁹in the territory of Asher: Mashal, Abdon, ⁶⁰Hilkath, and Rehob; ⁶¹in the territory of Naphtali: Kedesh in Galilee, Hammon, and Kiriathaim.

⁶²The rest of the clan of Merari was given the following towns with their pasturelands: Rimmon and Tabor in the territory of Zebulun; ⁶³ Bezer on the high, flat land, Jahzah, ⁶⁴ Kedemoth, and Mephaath in the territory of Reuben, beyond the Jordan River near Jericho; ⁶⁵ Ramoth in Gilead, Mahanaim, ⁶⁶ Heshbon, and Jazer in the territory of Gad.

Clans and Families of the Northern Tribes

7 | ¹Issachar had four sons: Tola, Puah, Jashub, and Shimron.

²Tola had six sons: Uzzi, Rephaiah, Jeriel, Jahmai, Ibsam, and Shemuel. They were heads of families of the clan of Tola and famous warriors. In the time of David, the descendants numbered 22,600. Uzzi had one son, Rephaiah. ³Rephaiah had four sons: Michael, Obadiah, Joel, and Isshiah. All five were chiefs, ⁴and were obliged to enlist their troops: 36,000 men, for they had many wives and children. ⁵The family records of all the Issachar clans listed 87,000 men able to give military service.

⁶Benjamin had three sons: Bela, Becher, and Jediael.

⁷Bela had five sons: Ezbon, Uzzi, Uzziel, Jerimoth, and Iri. They were heads of families in the clan and famous warriors. Their family records listed 22,034 men able to give military service. ⁸Becher had nine sons: Zemirah, Joash, Eliezer, Elioenai, Omri, Jeremoth, Abijah, Anathoth, and Alemeth. ⁹Their family records listed 20,200 men able to give military service. Shuppin and Huppin also belonged to this tribe. ¹⁰Jediael had one son, Bilhan, who had seven sons: Jeush, Benjamin, Ehud, Chenaanah, Zethan, Tarshish, and Ahishahar. ¹¹They were heads of families in the clan and famous warriors, 17,200 ready for service in the war. ¹²Shupham and Hupham were the sons of Ir, and Hushim was the son of Aher.

¹³Naphtali had four sons: Jahziel, Guni, Jezer, and Shallum. They were descendants of Bilhah.

¹⁴Manasseh had Asriel by his Aramean concubine. She also gave birth to Machir, Gilead's father. ¹⁵Now Machir married a wife from the Huppites and Shuppites. (His sister’s name was Maacah.) Zelophehad was Manasseh’s second son; he only had daughters.

¹⁶Maacah, the wife of Machir, gave birth to two sons, whom they named Peresh and Sheresh. Peresh had two sons: Ulam and Rakem. ¹⁷Ulam had a son named Bedan. These were Gilead's descendants, Machir's son and grandson of Manasseh: ¹⁸Gilead’s sister Molecheth had three sons: Ishhod, Abiezer, and Mahlah. ¹⁹Shemida had four sons: Ahian, Shechem, Likhi, and Aniam.

²⁰These are the descendants of Ephraim from one generation to the next: Shuthelah, Bered, Tahath, Eleadah, Tahath, ²¹Zabad, Shuthelah. Ephraim’s two other sons, Ezer and Elead, were killed when they tried to steal the cattle belonging to the people of Gath. ²²Ephraim, their father, mourned for them for a long time, and his brothers came to comfort him. ²³Then Ephraim went to his wife, who conceived and gave birth to a son whom she called Beriah because of the trouble that had come to their family. ²⁴Beriah’s daughter, Sheerah, built Lower and Upper Beth-horon and Uzzen-sheerah.

Ephraim also had a son named Rephah. The descendants of ²⁵Rephah were as follows: Resheph, Telah, Tahan, ²⁶Ladan, Ammihud, Elishama, ²⁷Nun, Joshua. ²⁸They had lands and settlements in Bethel and its towns; in Naaran to the east; in Gezer, and its towns to the west; Shechem and its towns, as far as Ayyah and its towns. ²⁹Beth-shean, Taanach, Megiddo, and Dor, each with its towns, were controlled by the descendants of Manasseh. In all these places lived the descendants of Joseph, son of Jacob.

³⁰Asher had four sons: Imnah, Ishvah, Ishvi, and Beriah, and one daughter, Serah. ³¹Sons of Beriah: Heber and Malchiel. Malchiel was the father of Birzaith. ³²Heber had three sons, Japhlet, Shomer, and Hotham, and one daughter, Shura. ³³Japhlet had three sons: Pasah, Bimhal, and Ashvath, ³⁴his brother Shomer also had three sons: Rohgah, Jehubbah, and Aram. ³⁵His brother Hotham had four sons: Zophah, Imna, Shelesh, and Amal. ³⁶The sons of Zophah were Suah, Harnepher, Shual, Beri, and Imrah, ³⁷Bezer, Hod, Shamma, Shilshah, Ithran, and Beera. ³⁸The sons of Jether: Jephunneh, Pispa, and Ara. ³⁹The sons of Ulla, Arah, Hanniel, and Rizia, ⁴⁰were descendants of Asher. They were heads of families and famous warriors. Asher’s descendants included 26,000 men who could serve in the military.

8 | ¹Benjamin became the father of Bela, his firstborn, Ashbel second, Ahiram third, ²Nohah fourth, Rapha fifth. ³Bela had sons: Addar, Gera, Ehud, ⁴Abishua, Naaman, and Ahoah, ⁵Gera, Shephuphan, and Huram.

⁶These are the sons of Ehud. They were heads of families of the inhabitants of Geba and led them into exile at Manahath: ⁷Naaman, Ahijah, and Gera. It was he who led them into exile; he became the father of Uzza and Ahihud.

⁸He became the father of Shaharaim in the plains of Moab after he had dismissed his wives, Hushim and Baara. ⁹By his new wife, he had sons: Jobab, Zibia, Mesha, Malcam, ¹⁰Jeuz, Sachia, and Mirmah. These were his sons, heads of families.

¹¹By Hushim, he had sons Abitub and Elpaal. ¹²Sons of Elpaal: Eber, Misham, and Shemed: He built Ono and Lud with its outlying towns.

¹³Beriah and Shema were the heads of families of the inhabitants of Aijalon, who put to flight the inhabitants of Gath. ¹⁴Shashak was his brother.

Jeremoth, ¹⁵Zebadiah, Arad, Eder, ¹⁶Michael, Ishpah, and Joha were sons of Beriah. ¹⁷Zebadiah, Meshullam, Hizki, Haber, ¹⁸Ishmerai, Izliah, Jobab were sons of Elpaal. ¹⁹Jakim, Zichri, Zabdi, ²⁰Elioenai, Zillethai, Eliel, ²¹Adaiah, Beraiah, and Shimrath were sons of Shimei.

²²Ishpan, Eber, Eliel, ²³Abdon, Zichri, Hanan, ²⁴Hananiah, Elam, Anthothijah, ²⁵Iphdeiah, and Penuel were sons of Shashak. ²⁶Shamsherai, Shehariah, Athaliah, ²⁷Jaareshaiah, Elijah, and Zichri were sons of Jeroham. ²⁸These were the heads of families, grouped according to their kinship. They lived in Jerusalem.

²⁹At Gibeon lived Jeiel, whose wife was Macaah. ³⁰His firstborn son was Abdon, then Zur, Kish, Baal, Ner, Nadab, ³¹Gedor, Ahio, Zecher ^32 , and Mikloth, who became the father of Shimeah. These were also near their relatives and lived with their relatives in Jerusalem.

³³Ner was the father of Kish, Saul, Saul, Jonathan, Malchi-shua, Abinadab, and Eshbaal. ³⁴Son of Jonathan: Meribbaal. Meribbaal became the father of Micah. ³⁵Sons of Micah: Pithon, Melech, Tarea, Ahaz. ³⁶Ahaz became the father of Jehoaddah, Jehoaddah, father of Alemeth, Azmaveth, and Zimri. Zimri became the father of Moza, ³⁷Moza, and the father of Binea; Raphah was his son, Eleasah his son, and Azel, his son. ³⁸Azel had six sons, whose names were these: Azrikam, his firstborn, then Ishmael, Sheariah, Azariah, Obadiah, and Hanan. All these were sons of Azel. ³⁹Sons of Eshek his brother: Ulam, his firstborn, Jeush second, Eliphelet third. ⁴⁰Ulam had sons, stout fighting men, and bowmen. They had numerous sons and grandsons, a hundred and fifty of them.

All these were sons of Benjamin.

Inhabitants of Jerusalem After the Exile

9 | ¹All the Israelites were classified into related groups and were listed in the Book of the Kings of Israel. As for those of Judah, they were deported to Babylon for their faithlessness. ²The first who came back to their towns and estates were Israelites, priests, Levites, and helpers. ³So in Jerusalem lived Judaeans, Benjaminites, Ephraimites, and Manassites.

⁴Uthai, son of Ammihud, son of Omri, son of Imri, son of Bani, one of the sons of Perez, son of Judah. ⁵Of the Shelanites: Asaiah, the firstborn, and his sons. ⁶Of the sons of Zerah: Jeuel. Also, their relatives: six hundred and ninety.

⁷Of the tribe of Benjamin: Sallu, son of Meshullam, son of Hodaviah, son of Hassenuah; ⁸Ibneiah, son of Jeroham; Elah, son of Uzzi, son of Michri; Meshullam, son of Shephatiah, son of Reuel, son of Ibnijah. ⁹They had nine hundred and fifty-six relatives, grouped according to their kinship. All these men were heads of families.

¹⁰Of the priests: Jedaiah, Jehoiarib, Jachin, ¹¹Azariah son of Hilkiah, son of Meshullam, son of Zadok, son of Meraioth, son of Ahitub, ruler of the house of God. ¹²Adaiah son of Jeroham, son of Pashhur, son of Malchijah, Maasai son of Adiel, son of Jahzerah, son of Meshullam, son of Meshillemith, son of Immer. ¹³They had relatives, heads of families, one thousand seven hundred and sixty men who undertook the duties of the temple of God.

¹⁴Of the Levites: Shemaiah, son of Hasshub, son of Azrikam, son of Hashabiah of the sons of Merari, ¹⁵Bakbakkar, Heresh, Galal, Mattaniah, son of Mica, son of Zichri, son of Asaph, ¹⁶Obadiah son of Shemaiah, son of Galal, son of Jeduthun, and Berechiah, son of Asa, son of Elkanah, who lived in the villages of the Netophathites.

¹⁷The keepers of the gate: Shallum, Akkub, Talmon, Ahiman, and their relatives. Shallum was their head ^18 , and they still keep the station at the royal gate to the east. These were the gatekeepers of the camp of the Levites. ¹⁹Shallum, son of Kore, son of Ebiasaph, son of Korah, and his brother Korahites, who were of the same family, were responsible for the liturgical service. They were “keepers of the threshold for the Tent,” for their fathers had guarded the entrance of the camp of the Lord. ²⁰At one time, Phinehas, son of Eleazar, had ruled them, and they served before the Lord. ²¹Zechariah, son of Meshelemiah, was the gatekeeper at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting. ²²All the keepers of the gate at the thresholds were picked men; there were two hundred and twelve of them, and they were registered in their various villages. These were appointed by David and Samuel the seer because of their loyalty. ²³They and their sons had the guardianship of the gates of the house of the Lord, the house of the Tent. ²⁴On the four sides stood the keepers of the gate: east, west, north, and south. ²⁵Their relatives in their villages would come to join them for a week from time to time, ²⁶since the four head gatekeepers themselves lived there permanently. Some of them were responsible for the chambers and treasuries of the house of God. ²⁷They spent the night in the precincts of the house of God, their duties being to guard it, and they had the keys to open the rooms in the morning.

²⁸Some of them were responsible for the furnishings of worship. They counted them whenever they put them away and took them out. ²⁹Others were in charge of the furniture and all the sacred furnishings, the fine flour, the wine, the oil, the incense, the spices; ³⁰but only the priests prepared the mixture for the spices.

³¹One of the Levites, Mattithiah, the firstborn of Shallum the Korahite, was responsible for the offerings baked on the pan. ³²Some of their relatives, the Kohathites, were responsible for the loaves to be set out in rows Sabbath by Sabbath.

³³These are the cantors, heads of the Levitical families. When free from service, they lived in the temple chambers because they were on duty day and night.

³⁴These were the heads of the Levite families, grouped according to their families. They lived in Jerusalem.

The Family of King Saul

³⁵In the city of Gibeon, dwelt in Gibeon; and Jeiel, whose wife was called Maacah. ³⁶His firstborn was Abdon, then Zur, Kish, Baal, Ner, Nadab, ³⁷Gedor, Ahio, Zechariah, and Mikloth. ³⁸Mikloth became the father of Shimeam. Their descendants lived in Jerusalem near other families of their clans.

³⁹Ner became the father of Kish, Kish, Saul, Saul, the father of Jonathan, Malchi-shua, Abinadab, and Eshbaal. ⁴⁰Jonathan’s son, Meribbaal, became the father of Micah. ⁴¹Micah had four sons: Pithon, Melech, Tahrea, and Ahaz. ⁴²Ahaz became the father of Jehoaddah, Jehoaddah father of Alemeth, Azmaveth, and Zimri; Zimri became the father of Moza, ⁴³Moza father of Binea, whose son was ⁴⁴Rephaiah, whose son was Eleasah, whose son was Azel. Azel had six sons: Azrikam, his firstborn, and then Ishmael, Sheariah, Azariah, Obadiah, and Hanan. These were the sons of Azel.

10 | ¹The Philistines attacked Israel, and the Israelites fled or were killed on Mount Gilboa. ²The Philistines caught up with Saul and killed Jonathan, Abinadab, and Malchi-shua, the sons of Saul. ³The fighting grew heavy about Saul. Enemy arrows and badly wounded hit him. ⁴Then Saul told the young man carrying his weapon, “Draw your sword and kill me. I do not want these godless Philistines to come and gloat over me.” But the young man was afraid and would not do it. So Saul took his own sword and threw himself on it. ⁵Then the young man threw himself on his sword, too, and died. ⁶And so Saul died, he and his three sons and all his own, together.

⁷All the Israelites who were in the valley heard that the army had fled and that Saul and his sons were dead. So they abandoned their towns and ran away. The Philistines then came in and occupied them.

⁸When the Philistines came on the following day to strip the dead, they found Saul and his sons lying on Mount Gilboa. ⁹They stripped him and, taking his head and his armor, had them carried around the land of the Philistines to proclaim the good news to their idols and their people. ¹⁰They placed his armor in the temple of their god, but his head hung in the temple of Dagon.

¹¹When all the people of Gilead heard all that the Philistines had done to Saul, ¹²the valiant men went and took the bodies of Saul and his sons away and brought them to Jabesh. They buried their bones under the oak tree in Jabesh, and they fasted for seven days.

¹³Saul died because he had been unfaithful to the Lord. He had disobeyed the commands of the Lord, and he had even consulted the spirits of the dead. ¹⁴As he had not consulted the Lord, the Lord put him to death and gave control of the kingdom to David, son of Jesse.

David is Anointed King

11 | ¹All the people of Israel went to David at Hebron and said: “Look, we are your flesh and blood. ²Even when Saul was our king, you led Israel in battle; and the Lord your God said to you, ‘You are the man who shall be the shepherd of my people Israel and shall be ruler over them.’” ³So all the elders of Israel came to the king at Hebron, and David made a Covenant with them at Hebron in the presence of the Lord, and he became king of Israel, just as the Lord had promised through Samuel.

⁴David, with all the Israelites, attacked Jerusalem (that is to say, Jebus); there lived the Jebusites. ⁵They said to David, “You will not get in here.” But David captured the fortress of Zion, and it became the city of David. ⁶David said, “The first man to attack the Jebusites shall become leader and commander of the army.” Joab, son of Zeruiah, attacked first and became commander. ⁷David went to live in the fortress, and because of this, it was called the city of David. ⁸He then built a wall around the city, the Millo, and the surrounding wall, while Joab restored the rest of the city. ⁹David grew greater and greater, and the Lord Sabaoth was with him.

David’s Champions

¹⁰These are the famous warriors of David, those who, during his rule, struggled with him and with all Israel to make him king as the Lord had promised. ¹¹This is the list of David’s warriors: Ishbaal the Hachmonite, leader of the three; one day, he wielded his battle-ax against three hundred whom he killed at one time.

¹²After him was Eleazar, son of Dodo, the Ahohite, one of the three champions. 13 He was with David at Pas-dammim, where the Philistines had gathered to attack. There was a field full of barley there. When the Israelites started to run away, 14 Eleazar took a stand in the middle of the field, defended it, and fought the Philistines. So, the Lord brought about a great victory.

¹⁵The Thirty leading soldiers went down to David at the rock near the Cave of Adullam while a company of Philistines was encamped in the Valley of the Rephaim. ¹⁶David was then on a fortified hill, and a group of Philistines had occupied Bethlehem. ¹⁷David sighed, “Oh if someone would fetch me a drink of water from the well by the gate of Bethlehem!” ¹⁸At this, The Three, forcing their way through the Philistine camp, drew water from the well by the gate of Bethlehem and, bringing it away, presented it to David. But David would drink none of it and pour it out as an offering to the Lord. ¹⁹“God keeps me,” he said, “from doing this! Am I to drink the blood of these men? For at the risk of their lives, they brought it.” And so he would not drink it. Such were the deeds of The Three.

²⁰Abishai, Joab's brother, was the leader of The Thirty. He fought with his spear against three hundred, whom he killed, winning himself a name among The Thirty. ²¹He was the most famous of The Thirty and became their captain, but he was not as famous as The Three.

²²Benaiah, son of Jehoiada, a hero from Kabzeel, did many brave deeds; he killed the two Ariels of Moab. One snowy day, he went down and killed a lion in a pit. ²³He also killed an Egyptian, a huge man, seven and a half feet tall. The Egyptian had a gigantic spear in his hand, but Benaiah attacked him with a club, snatched the spear from the Egyptian’s hand, and killed the man with it. ²⁴Such were the deeds of Benaiah, son of Jehoiada, winning him a name among the thirty leading soldiers. ²⁵He was famous among The Thirty but not as famous as The Three. David put him in command of his bodyguard.

²⁶The other valiant warriors were Asahel, the brother of Joab; Elhanan, son of Dodo, from Bethlehem; ²⁷Shammoth from Harod, Helez the Pelonite; ²⁸Ira, son of Ikkesh, from Tekoa; Abiezer from Anathoth; ²⁹Sibbecai, from Hushah; Ilai from Ahoh; ³⁰Maharai from Netophah; Heled son of Baanah, from Netophah; ³¹Ithai the son of Ribai, from Gibeah of Benjamin; Benaiah from Pirathon; ³²Hurai from the valleys near Gaash; Abiel from Beth-arabah; ³³Azmaveth from Bahurim; Eliahba from Shaalbon; ³⁴Jashen the Gunite; Jonathan son of Shagee, from Harar; ³⁵Ahiam son of Sachar, from Harar; Eliphelet son of Ur; ³⁶Ahasbai, from Beth-maacah; Ahijah, from Gilo; ³⁷Hezro from Carmel; Naarai son of Ezbai; ³⁸Joel the brother of Nathan, from Rehob, the Gadite; ³⁹Zelek the Ammonite; Naharai from Beeroth, armor-bearer to Joab son of Zeruiah; ⁴⁰Ira from Jattir; Gareb from Jattir; ⁴¹Uriah the Hittite; Zabad son of Ahlai;

⁴²Adina, son of Shiza (a leading member of the tribe of Reuben, with his group of thirty soldiers); ⁴³Hanan, son of Maacah; Joshaphat the Mithnite; ⁴⁴Uzzia from Ashteroth; Shama and Jeiel, sons of Hotham the Aroerite; ⁴⁵Jediael the son of Shimri, and Joha his brother, the Tizite; ⁴⁶Eliel the Mahavite; Jeribai and Joshaviah, sons of Elnaam; Ithmah the Moabite; ⁴⁷Eliel, Obed, and Jaasiel from Zoba.

David’s Early Followers

12 | ¹The following men came to David in Ziklag, where he had gone to escape from King Saul. They were valiant and reliable warriors, members of the tribe of Benjamin, to which Saul belonged. ²They were archers who could use either the right or the left hand, both in slinging stones and in shooting arrows with the bow. ³They were Ahiezer, the leader, and Joash, sons of Shemaah from Gibeah; Jeziel and Pelet, sons of Azmaveth; Berach and Jehu from Anathoth; ⁴Ismaiah from Gibeon, a famous soldier and one of the leaders of The Thirty; ⁵Jeremiah, Jahaziel, Johanan and Jozabad from Gederoth; ⁶Eluzai, Jerimoth, Bealiah, Shemariah, Shephatiah from Haruph, ⁷Elkanah, Isshiah, Azarel, Joezer, Jashobeam; Korahites: ⁸Joelah, Zebadiah, sons of Jeroham from Gedor.

⁹Some Gadites also joined David’s troops when he was at the desert fort. They were valiant fighting men and experts with shields and spears. They were as fierce-looking as lions and as quick as mountain deer. ¹⁰Ezer was the leader, Obadiah second, Eliab third, ¹¹Mishmannah fourth, Jeremiah fifth. ¹²Attai sixth, Eliel seventh, ¹³Johanan eighth, Elzabad ninth, ¹⁴Jeremiah tenth, Machbannai eleventh. ¹⁵These sons of Gad were troop commanders, each in command of a unit; the junior officers placed over a hundred, and the senior officers over a thousand. ¹⁶These men crossed the Jordan in the first month when it overflowed its course and scattered all the people who lived on its banks, both east and west.

¹⁷Those men from the tribes of Benjamin and Judah came to David at the fort. ¹⁸David went to meet them and said, “If you come to me as friends to give me help, then I am ready to join you. But if it is to betray me to my enemies when I have done no wrong, then may the God of our ancestors see and punish you.”

¹⁹Then God’s spirit took control of one of them, Amasai, leader of The Thirty, and he called out: “Yours we are, David! We are with you, son of Jesse! Peace to you; peace to him that helps you, for God is on your side.”

David welcomed them and made them officers in his army.

²⁰Some people from the tribe of Manasseh went over to David’s side as he was setting out with the Philistines to fight Saul. But David did not help the Philistines because their chiefs, after consultation, sent him back to Ziklag. They were afraid he would betray them to his former master, Saul. ²¹He was on his way to Ziklag when these Manassites joined him: Adnah, Jozabad, Jediael, Michael, Jozabad, Elihu, Zillethai, commanders of thousands in Manasseh. ²²They were reinforcements for David and his troops since they were all outstanding soldiers and became officers in the army. ²³Indeed, new men joined David’s forces almost every day so that his camp grew into an enormous camp.

The Warriors Who Assured David’s Kingship

²⁴These are the figures from the list of experienced warriors who joined David at Hebron to transfer Saul’s kingship to him by the command of the Lord:

²⁵Sons of Judah carrying shield and spear: 6,800 men equipped for battle. ²⁶Of the sons of Simeon; 7,100 well-trained men. ²⁷Of the sons of Levi: 4,600 ²⁸in addition to Jehoiada, in command of the Aaronites, with 3,700 men; ²⁹Zadok, a young and able fighter and ²²commanders of his family.

³⁰Of the sons of Benjamin: 3,000 relatives of Saul, most of them hitherto in the service of the house of Saul. ³¹Of the sons of Ephraim: 20,800 men famous in their families. ³²Of the half-tribe of Manasseh, 18,000 men were assigned by name to go and proclaim David king. ³³Of the sons of Issachar, an expert in knowing the times when Israel should take action and the way to do it: 200 leaders and all their relatives under their command.

³⁴Of Zebulun: 50,000 men fit for service, ready to fight with weapons of every kind. ³⁵Of Naphtali: 1,000 commanders, and with them, 37,000 men armed with shields and spears. ³⁶Of the Danites: 28,600 men ready for battle. ³⁷Of Asher: 40,000 men fit for service, prepared for battle. ³⁸From Transjordan: 120,000 men of Reuben, Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh, with weapons of every kind.

³⁹All these warriors, ready for battle, came to Hebron willingly to proclaim David king over all Israel, and the rest of Israel, too, were all of one mind in making David king. ⁴⁰For three days, they stayed there, eating and drinking with David, for their relatives had sent food for them. ⁴¹Moreover, from as far as Issachar and Zebulun and Naphtali, their neighbors brought provisions by donkey and camel, mule and ox—flour cakes, fig cakes, bunches of raisins, wine, oil, quantities of oxen and sheep, for there was joy in Israel.

The Ark Is Brought to Jerusalem

13 | ¹David consulted with the commanders of thousands, of hundreds. With all the leaders. ²To the whole assembly of Israel, David said, “If you agree and if the Lord our God wills it so, we will send messengers to the rest of our brothers throughout the territories of Israel, and also to the priests and Levites in their towns and nearby lands, and tell them to gather here with us. ³We will then go and get the Ark of our God, for in the time of Saul we neglected it.”

⁴They agreed to this, for in the eyes of all the people, it was the right thing to do. ⁵So David gathered all the people together, from the Shihor of Egypt to the Pass of Hamath, to bring the Ark of God from Kiriath-jearim. ⁶Then David and all Israel went up to Baalah, to Kiriath-jearim in Judah, to bring up the Ark of God which bears the name of the Lord who is seated on the Cherub. ⁷they placed the Ark of God on a new cart at Abinadab's house. Uzzah and Ahio were leading the cart. ⁸David and all Israel danced before God with all their might, singing to the accompaniment of lyres, harps, tambourines, cymbals, and trumpets. ⁹When they came to the threshing floor of the Javelin, the oxen stumbled, and Uzzah stretched out his hand and took hold of the ark. ¹⁰Then the anger of the Lord blazed out against Uzzah, and he killed him because he had laid his hand on the ark, and he died there in the presence of God. ¹¹David was disturbed that the Lord had punished Uzzah in anger, and so that place has been called Perez-Uzzah ever since.

¹²David went in fear of God that day and said, “How can I bring the Ark of God to my home?” ¹³So David did not take the Ark home to the city of David but to the house of a man named Obed-edom of Gath. ¹⁴The Ark of God remained with the family of Obed-edom in his house for three months, and the Lord blessed the family of Obed-edom and everything that belonged to him.

14 | ¹Hiram, king of Tyre, sent messengers to David with cedar wood and stonemasons and carpenters to build him a palace. ²David then knew that the Lord had established him as king over Israel and that, for the sake of his people Israel, his kingdom was being made prosperous.

³At Jerusalem, David took more wives and fathered more sons and daughters. ⁴These are the names of the children born to him in Jerusalem: Shammua, Shobab, Nathan, Solomon, ⁵Ibhar, Elishua, Elpelet, ⁶Nogah, Nepheg, Japhia, ⁷Elishama, Beeliada, Eliphelet.

⁸When the Philistines heard that David had been anointed king of all Israel, they marched up to capture him. On hearing this, David went out to meet them. ⁹When the Philistines arrived, they began plundering the Valley of the Rephaim. ¹⁰David consulted the Lord, “Shall I attack the Philistines? Will you turn them over to me?” the Lord answered him, “Attack! I will turn them over to you.” ¹¹The Philistines went up to Baal-perazim, and there David defeated them. David said, “God has broken through them by my hand just as water breaks through a dam.” For this reason, that place was called Baal-perazim. ¹²They had left their gods behind them there, and David ordered them to be burned.

¹³Again, the Philistines started plundering in the valley. ¹⁴David again consulted God, and God answered, “Do not attack them from the front; go around and get ready to attack them from the other side, near the balsam trees. ¹⁵When you hear the sound of marching in the tops of the balsam trees, launch your attack, for God is going out ahead of you to defeat the army of the Philistines.” ¹⁶David did as God had ordered, and they defeated the Philistine army from Gibeon as far as Gezer.

¹⁷David became famous everywhere, and the Lord made every nation afraid of him.

15 | ¹David put up buildings for himself in the city of David and prepared a place for the Ark of God, and he put up a tent for it. ²Then he said, “Only the Levites shall move the Ark of God since the Lord has chosen them to carry the Ark and to serve him always.”

³Then David gathered all Israel in Jerusalem to bring the Ark of God to where he had prepared for it. ⁴David called together the sons of Aaron and the sons of Levi: ⁵of the sons of Kohath, Uriel the chief and his hundred and twenty relatives; ⁶of the sons of Merari, Asaiah and his two hundred and twenty relatives; ⁷of the sons of Gershom, Joel and his hundred and thirty relatives; ⁸of the sons of Elizaphan, Shemaiah and his two hundred relatives; ⁹of the sons of Hebron, Eliel and eighty relatives; ¹⁰of the sons of Uzziel, Amminadab and his hundred and twelve relatives.

¹¹David called in the priests Zadok and Abiathar and the Levites Uriel, Asaiah, Joel, Shemaiah, Eliel, and Amminadab. ¹²He told them, “You are the heads of families of the Levites. Purify yourselves, you and your brothers, and bring the Ark of the Lord, the God of Israel, up to the place I have prepared for it. ¹³The first time, you were not there to carry it, and the Lord our God punished us for not consulting him as we should have done.”

¹⁴So the priests and the Levites purified themselves to bring up the Ark of the Lord, the God of Israel, ¹⁵and the Levites carried the Ark of God with the poles on their shoulders, as Moses had ordered according to the command of the Lord.

¹⁶David then told the leaders of the Levites to assign duties to some Levites, such as singing and playing a joyful tune with their various musical instruments: harps, lyres, and cymbals. ¹⁷The Levites then appointed Heman son of Joel, Asaph son of Berechiah, one of his brothers, Ethan son of Kushaiah, one of their Merarite relatives; ¹⁸and with them, next in rank, their relatives as keepers of the gate: Zechariah son of Uzziel, Shemiramoth, Jehiel, Unni, Eliab, Benaiah, Maaseiah, Mattithiah, Eliphelehu, Mikneiah, Obed-edom, Jeiel. ¹⁹Heman, Asaph, and Ethan, the cantors, were to clash the cymbals of bronze; ²⁰Zechariah, Uzziel, Shemiramoth, Jehiel, Unni, Eliab, Maaseiah, and Benaiah were to play the keyed harp. ²¹Mattithiah, Eliphelehu, Mikneiah, Obed-edom, Jeiel, and Azaziah, giving the beat, were to play the octave lyre. ²²Chenaniah was chosen to be in charge of the transportation because he was very skillful at doing these things. ²³Berechiah and Elkanah were to be gatekeepers to the ark. ²⁴The priests Shebaniah, Joshaphat, Nethanel, Amasai, Zechariah, Benaiah, and Eliezer were to sound the trumpet before the Ark of God. Obed-edom and Jeiel were to be gatekeepers to the ark.

²⁵So David, with the leaders of Israel and the commanders of thousands, went to bring up the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord from Obed-edom’s house with great rejoicing. ²⁶While God was securing the Levites who carried the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord, they sacrificed seven bulls and seven sheep. ²⁷David was wearing a robe of fine linen, like all the Levites who carried the ark, as well as the cantors and Chenaniah, the officer in charge of its transportation. David also wore linen. ²⁸Thus, all Israel brought up the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord with shouts of joy to the sound of the horn, trumpets, and cymbals, making music with harp and lyre. ²⁹Now, as the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord entered the city of David, Michal, the daughter of Saul, was watching from the window and saw King David dancing and leaping with joy, and she despised him.

16 | ¹They brought the Ark of God in and put it inside the tent that David had prepared for it, and they offered burnt offerings and peace offerings to God. ²And when David had finished offering the sacrifices, he blessed the people in the name of the Lord. ³He then distributed to all the Israelites, men and women, a loaf of bread each, a piece of roasted meat, and a raisin cake.

David Organizes the Levitical Cult

⁴David appointed some of the Levites to minister before the Ark of the Lord, to commemorate, thank, and praise the Lord, the God of Israel: ⁵first Asaph, second Zechariah, then Uzziel, Shemiramoth, Jehiel, Mattithiah, Eliab, Benaiah, Obed-edom, Jeiel. These were to play the harp and the lyre, while Asaph was to clash the cymbals. ⁶The priests Benaiah and Jahaziel were to keep sounding the trumpet before the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord. ⁷That day, David entrusted this song of praise to Asaph and his brethren:

⁸Give thanks to the Lord, call upon his name, proclaim his deeds to the peoples.

⁹Sing to him, sing his praise; tell of all his marvels.

¹⁰Glory in his holy name, let the hearts that seek the Lord rejoice!

¹¹Seek the Lord and his strength; seek his face untiringly;

¹²Recall the wondrous deeds he has done, his miracles, the judgments from his mouth.

¹³Descendants of Israel, his servant, sons of Jacob, his chosen one,

¹⁴he is the Lord our God; he rules over all the earth. ¹⁵He remembers his Covenant forever, his promises for many generations,

¹⁶the Covenant he made with Abraham, his promise to Isaac,

¹⁷He gave as law to Jacob, an everlasting Covenant for Israel.

¹⁸For he said, “I give you a land, Canaan, your own possession,”

¹⁹when they were easily counted, few in numbers, strangers to the country.

²⁰They wandered from nation to nation, from one kingdom to another.

²¹But he let no one oppress them and punished kings for their sake:

²²“Do not touch my anointed ones, do not harm my prophets.”

²³Sing to the Lord, all the earth. Proclaim his salvation day after day.

²⁴Tell his glory among the nations and his wonders to every people.

²⁵The Lord is great and highly to be praised, more fearsome than all gods.

²⁶Nothingness are all the gods of the nations, the Lord himself made the heavens;

²⁷splendor and majesty go before him; praise and joy are in his Sanctuary.

²⁸Give to the Lord, families of the peoples, give to the Lord glory and praise. ²⁹Give to the Lord the glory due his name. Bring offerings, bow before him, and worship the Lord in his sacred ornaments.

³⁰Be quiet before him, all the earth! Firm has he made the world, not to be moved.

³¹Let the heavens be glad, and the earth rejoice! Say among the nations, “The Lord is King!”

³²Let the sea thunder and all that it holds; let the fields exult and all that is in them,

³³let all the trees cry out for joy and rejoice before the Lord, for he comes to rule the earth.

³⁴Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever.

³⁵Say, “Save us, O God, our Savior, gather us and deliver us from among the nations, that we may give thanks to your holy name and glory in praising you.”

³⁶Blessed be the Lord the God of Israel from all eternity and forever! And let all the people say, “Amen! Alleluia!”

³⁷David left there before the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord. Asaph and his brother Levites were in permanent charge of the worship before the Ark as each day’s ritual required. ³⁸ He also left Obed-edom with his sixty-eight relatives. Obed-edom, son of Jeduthun, and Hosah were to be keepers of the gate.

³⁹He left Zadok the priest and the priests, his relatives, before the Holy Tent of the Lord at the high place in Gibeon ⁴⁰to offer burnt offerings to the Lord regularly, morning and evening, on the altar for burnt offerings and to carry out all that is written in the law of the Lord laid down for Israel. ⁴¹With them were Heman and Jeduthun and the rest of those chosen and assigned by name to praise God, for his love is everlasting. ⁴²With them were Heman and Jeduthun, who were to sound the trumpets, cymbals, and musical instruments accompanying the hymns to God. The sons of Jeduthun were given charge of the gate.

⁴³Then all went away, each to his own house, and David returned to bless his household.

The Prophecy of Nathan

17 | ¹Once David was living in his palace, he said to the prophet Nathan, “Here am I living in a house of cedar, while the Ark of the Lord’s Covenant is under a tent.” ²Nathan said to David, “Do all that is in your mind, for God is with you.”

 ³But that very night the Lord said to Nathan, ⁴“Go and tell my servant David, ‘The Lord says this: You are not to build a temple for me to live in. ⁵I have never lived in a temple from the day I brought Israel out until today, but went from tent to tent, from one shelter to another. ⁶In all my journeying with the whole of Israel, did I say to any one of the rulers of Israel whom I had appointed as shepherds of my people: Why do you not build me a temple of cedar wood?

⁷This you must say to my servant David: This is the word of the Lord Sabaoth: I took you from following the sheep, to be the leader of my people Israel. ⁸I have been with you wherever you have gone, and I have defeated all your enemies as you advanced. I will make your name as great as the name of the greatest on earth. ⁹I will provide a place for my people Israel; I will plant them there, and they shall live in that place and never be disturbed again; nor shall the wicked ever again oppress them, as they did ¹⁰in the days when I appointed judges over my people Israel. For now, I will subdue all their enemies. Moreover, I tell you that I will build you a house. ¹¹And when your days are ended, and you must die and be buried with your ancestors, I will raise up your offspring after you, one of your sons, and I will make his kingdom strong. ¹²He will build a temple for me, and I will make his throne firm forever. 13 I will be a father to him and a son to me. I will not withdraw my support from him, as I withdrew it from Saul. ¹⁴I will put him in charge of my people, and his kingdom shall be established forever.”

¹⁵Nathan told David accordingly all these words and this vision.

David’s Prayer

¹⁶King David then went in and, seated before the Lord, said: “I am not worthy of what you have already done for me, the Lord God, nor is my family. ¹⁷In your eyes, O God, this is still insufficient. You have promised my descendants to reach into the distant future and have looked at me as a great man. ¹⁸What more can I say to you? For you know your servant David. ¹⁹You have done this because you looked kindly on your servant and wanted to show your greatness.

²⁰O Lord, there is none like you, no God except you alone, that we have ever heard of. ²¹Is there another people on the earth like your people Israel, whom you rescued from slavery in Egypt to make them your own people, giving yourself a name for great and terrible things by driving nations out before your people whom you rescued from Egypt?

²²You made your people Israel your own people forever; and you, Lord, have become their God. ²³Now, Lord, let the promise you have made to me and my descendants always be kept. ²⁴May this promise to hold good and your name be exalted forever; may they say, ‘The Lord Sabaoth, the God of Israel, is God for Israel.’ And let my descendants be established before you forever.

²⁵O my God, you have just told me you will build me a house; because of this, I have to offer this prayer in your presence. ²⁶Yes, Lord, you are God indeed and have made this kind promise to me. ²⁷Be pleased to bless my house so they may remain forever in your favor. You, Lord, are the one who blesses, and your blessing will rest on them forever.”

The Wars of David

18 | ¹After this, David defeated the Philistines and subdued them, taking Gath and its outlying villages. ²He also defeated the Moabites. The Moabites became subject to David, paying him taxes.

³At Hamath, David defeated Hadadezer, king of Zobah, who was trying to gain control of the territory by the river Euphrates. ⁴David captured one thousand chariots, seven thousand horsemen, and twenty thousand foot soldiers from him. David hamstrung all the chariot teams, keeping only a hundred of them. ⁵The Arameans of Damascus came to the help of Hadadezer, king of Zobah. Still, David killed twenty-two thousand men of the Arameans. ⁶Then David established governors in Aram of Damascus, and the Arameans became subject to David, paying him taxes. Wherever David went, the Lord gave him victory.

⁷David took the golden shields of Hadadezer's guards and brought them to Jerusalem. 8 David took a great quantity of bronze from Tibhath and Cun, towns belonging to Hadadezer. With this, Solomon would make the bronze Sea and pillars and furnishings.

⁹When Tou, king of Hamath, heard that David had defeated the entire army of Hadadezer, king of Zobah, ¹⁰he sent his son Hadoram to King David to greet him and to congratulate him on fighting and defeating Hadadezer since Hadadezer was the enemy of Tou. Hadoram brought articles of every kind in gold, silver, and bronze, ¹¹which King David also consecrated to the Lord, together with the silver and gold he had taken from all the nations: Edom, Moab, Ammonites, Philistines, Amalek.

¹²After that, David defeated the Edomites in the Valley of Salt, eighteen thousand of them. ¹³He imposed governors on Edom, and all the Edomites became subject to David. Wherever David went, the Lord gave him victory.

¹⁴David ruled over all of Israel, administering law and justice to all his people. ¹⁵Joab, son of Zeruiah, was in command of the army. Jehoshaphat, the son of Ahilud, was the recorder. ¹⁶Zadok, son of Ahitub, and Abiathar, son of Ahimelech, were priests. Shavsha was the secretary. ¹⁷Benaiah, son of Jehoiada, was in command of the Cheretites and Pelethites. David’s sons were the chief assistants of the king.

19 | ¹Afterwards, Nahash, king of the Ammonites, died, and his son Hanun became king. ² David thought, “I will show kindness to Hanun, son of Nahash, since his father was kind to me.” And David sent messengers with his condolences on his father’s death. But when David’s servants reached Hanun in the land of the Ammonites to present these condolences, ³the Ammonite leaders said to Hanun, “Do you think David means to honor your father when he sends you messengers of sympathy? On the contrary, he has sent them here as spies to explore the land so that he can conquer it.” ⁴Hanun had David’s servants seized, shaved their beards, cut their clothes halfway up to the hips, and sent them away. ⁵David was told what had happened to these men, so he sent someone to meet them, for they were too ashamed to return home. And he said, “Stay in Jericho until your beards have grown again, and come back then.”

⁶The Ammonites saw that they had made David their enemy. So Hanun and the Ammonites sent a thousand talents of silver to hire chariots and charioteers from the Aramaeans of Upper Mesopotamia, Maacah, and Zobah. ⁷They hired thirty-two thousand chariots and the king of Maacah with his army. These came and encamped before Medeba, while the Ammonites came out from all their cities and got ready to fight. ⁸David sent Joab with the whole army and the warriors when he heard this. ⁹The Ammonites marched out and took up their positions at the entrance to the town, but the kings who had come remained in the open country. ¹⁰Joab, seeing that he had to fight on two fronts, to his front and his rear, chose the best fighters of the Israelites and drew them up in a line facing the Aramaeans. ¹¹He placed the rest of the troops under the command of his brother Abishai, to face the Ammonites. He told him, ¹²“If the Aramaeans prove too strong for me, you shall come to my help. If the Ammonites prove too strong for you, I will come to yours. ¹³Take courage and fight hard for the sake of our people and the towns of our God. And may the Lord do as he thinks right.”

¹⁴Joab and his force advanced to attack the Aramaeans, who fled before him. ¹⁵When the Ammonites saw that the Aramaeans were running away, they fled before Abishai, Joab’s brother, and withdrew into their town. Then Joab came back to Jerusalem.

¹⁶Seeing that Israel had defeated them, the Aramaeans sent messengers and mobilized the Aramaeans from beyond the river, with Shophach, commander of Hadadezer’s army, at their head. ¹⁷This news was brought to David, who gathered the Israelite troops, crossed the Jordan, and met them. David drew up his line of battle facing the Aramaeans, and the fighting began. ¹⁸But the Aramaeans fled before Israel, and David killed seven thousand of their chariot teams and forty thousand foot soldiers. He also killed Shophach, their general. ¹⁹When the kings subject to Hadadezer saw that Israel had defeated them, they made peace with David and became subject to him. After this, the Aramaeans refused to help the Ammonites.

20 | ¹At the turn of the year, when kings went to war, Joab set out with the army to invade the Ammonites' land and lay siege to Rabbah. David, however, remained in Jerusalem. Joab attacked Rabbah and destroyed it. ²David took the gold crown from the head of the Ammonite idol Milcom. They found that it weighed about seventy-five pounds. A precious stone was set that made an ornament for David’s head. He carried off a great quantity of loot from the town. ³He brought away its population and set them to work with saws, iron picks, and axes. David treated all the Ammonite towns in the same way. Then David and the whole army returned to Jerusalem.

⁴After this, war broke out again with the Philistines at Gezer. This was when Sibbecai of Hushah killed Sippai, a descendant of the Rephaim. The Philistines were defeated. ⁵War with the Philistines broke out again, and Elhanan, son of Jair, killed Lahmi, the brother of Goliath of Gath, the shaft of whose spear was as thick as a weaver’s beam. ⁶There was another battle at Gath, where there was a giant with six fingers on each hand and six toes on each foot, twenty-four in all. He, too, was a descendant of Raphaim. ⁷He defied Israel, and Jonathan, son of David’s brother Shimea, killed him.

⁸These men were descended from Raphaim of Gath, and David and his guards killed them.

The Census

21 | ¹Satan wanted to bring trouble on the people of Israel. So he made David take a census of the Israelites. ²David said to Joab and the senior army officers, “Go, and take a census of Israel, from Beersheba to Dan, then come back that I may know their number.” ³Joab said, “May the Lord multiply the people a hundred times! My lord king, are they not all your servants? Why do you want to do this? Will you bring guilt upon Israel?”

⁴But the king enforced his order on Joab. Joab went away, traveling through the whole country of Israel before he returned to Jerusalem. ⁵Joab gave David the figures for the census of the people: the whole of Israel numbered one million, one hundred thousand men capable of drawing sword, and Judah four hundred and seventy thousand capable of drawing sword. ⁶But Joab disapproved of the king’s command, and because of this, he had not taken any census of Levi or Benjamin.

⁷God looked displeased at what had been done, so he punished Israel. ⁸Then David said to God, “I have sinned greatly by doing this. But now I beg you to forgive me for this fault. I have been very foolish.” ⁹Then the Lord spoke to Gad, David’s prophet, ¹⁰“Go and say to David, ‘The Lord says this: I offer you three things; choose one of them for me to do to you.” ¹¹So Gad went to David and said, “The Lord says this, ‘Take your choice: ¹²three years of famine, three months running away from the armies of your enemies, or three days of the Lord’s sword, an epidemic in your land, with the Lord’s destroying angel bringing death throughout Israel.’ Now decide how I am to answer him who sends me.” ¹³David said to Gad, “This is a hard choice, but let me rather fall into the power of the Lord, since his mercy is very great; and not into the power of men.”

¹⁴So the Lord sent an epidemic on Israel, and seventy thousand Israelites died. ¹⁵God sent an angel to Jerusalem to destroy it, but as he was about to destroy it, the Lord looked and changed his mind, and he said to the destroying angel, “Enough! Now, withdraw your hand.” The angel of the Lord was standing beside the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite. ¹⁶David saw the angel of the Lord standing between the heavens and earth with a naked sword in his hand, ready to destroy Jerusalem. Then David and the elders, clothed in sackcloth, fell on their faces. ¹⁷David prayed to God, “Was it not I who sinned by ordering this wicked census? But these, this flock, what have they done? O Lord my God, let your hand lie heavy on me and my family, but let your people escape the plague.”

¹⁸The angel of the Lord then told Gad, “David must go up and build an altar to the Lord on the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite.” ¹⁹So David obeyed the command Gad had spoken in the name of the Lord. ²⁰Ornan, as he turned, had seen the angel and had hidden with his four sons.

Ornan was threshing wheat ²¹when David came to him. When Ornan looked up and saw David coming, he left the threshing floor and did homage to David with his face to the ground. ²²Then David told Ornan, “Sell me your threshing floor to build an altar to the Lord. Let me have it at its full price that the plague may be turned away from the people.” ²³“Take it,” Ornan said to David, “and let my lord the king do as he thinks right. Look, I will give you the oxen for burnt offerings, the threshing sled for the wood, and the wheat for the grain offering; I give them all.”

²⁴King David told Ornan, “No, I must buy it from you at the full price; I will not take for the Lord what is yours or offer burnt offerings that cost me nothing.” ²⁵So David gave Ornan six hundred gold coins for the threshing place.

²⁶David built an altar there to the Lord and offered burnt and peace offerings. He called on the Lord, and the Lord answered him with fire from heaven on the altar for burnt offerings ²⁷and ordered the angel to put his sword away. ²⁸Then David saw that the Lord had answered him on the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite, so he kept offering sacrifices there. ²⁹The Holy Tent of the Lord that Moses had made in the wilderness and the altar for burnt offerings were at that time at the high place at Gibeon, ³⁰but David had not been able to go there before God to consult him, so fearful was he of the sword of the angel of the Lord.

22 | ¹Then David said, “Here is where the temple of the Lord God will be; and this is where the people of Israel are to offer burnt offerings.”

Preparations for the Building of the Temple

²David gave orders to gather all the strangers living in the land of Israel, and he set stonecutters to prepare stone blocks for building the temple of God. ³David furthermore stored up great quantities of iron to make nails for the wooden gates and clamps and more bronze than could be weighed; ⁴logs of cedar too, beyond number—the Sidonians and Tyrians had brought cedar logs to David in great quantities.

⁵Then David said, “My son Solomon is young and inexperienced, and the temple to be built for the Lord must be of great splendor and famous for its magnificence in every country. I will make preparations for him.” And so, before he died, David laid away large amounts of needed materials. ⁶He then sent for his son Solomon and instructed him to build a temple for the Lord, the God of Israel: ⁷“My son, my heart was set on building a temple for the name of the Lord my God. ⁸But the Lord told me, ‘You have shed much blood and fought great battles; it is not for you to build a temple for my name since you have shed so much blood on the earth in my presence. ⁹But 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, and in his days, I will give Israel peace and quiet. ¹⁰He shall build a temple for my name. He shall be a son to me, and I will be a father to him. His dynasty will rule Israel forever. ¹¹Now, my son, may the Lord be with you and give you success in building a temple for the Lord your God, as he has said concerning you. ¹²Yet may he give you insight and wisdom so that you may govern Israel according to his law. ¹³Success will be yours if you carefully observe the statutes and ordinances the Lord has prescribed to Moses for Israel. Be strong and stand fast, be fearless, be confident. ¹⁴Poor as I am, I have set aside for the temple of the Lord four thousand tons of gold, nearly forty thousand tons of silver, and more bronze and iron than can be weighed. I have also stored up wood and stone, which you must add more. ¹⁵You will have many workmen, stonecutters, masons, carpenters, and skilled artisans, ¹⁶while your supply of gold, silver, bronze, and iron will be unlimited. Set to work, and may the Lord be with you!”

¹⁷David then commanded all the Israelite leaders to help his son, Solomon, ¹⁸“Is not the Lord your God with you? He has given you peace on all sides since he has let me conquer all the people who lived in this land, and the land has been subdued for the Lord and his people. ¹⁹So now devote heart and soul to the search for the Lord your God. Begin to build the Sanctuary of the Lord your God, so that the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord and the holy things of God may be brought to the temple built for the name of the Lord.”

The Work of the Levites

23 | ¹When David was very old, he made his son Solomon king over Israel. ²He then gathered all the Israelite leaders together, with the priests and Levites.

³A census was taken of those Levites thirty years old or older. The total was thirty-eight thousand; ⁴twenty-four thousand were responsible for the services of the house of the Lord; six thousand were scribes and judges; ⁵four thousand were gatekeepers; four thousand praised the Lord on the instruments David had made for that purpose.

⁶Then David divided the Levites into three groups, according to their clans: Gershon, Kohath, and Merari.

⁷For the Gershonites: Ladan and Shimei. ⁸Sons of Ladan: Jehiel first, Zetham, Joel; three in all. ⁹Sons of Shimei: Shelomoth, Haziel, Haran; three in all. These are the heads of Ladan's families. ¹⁰Sons of Shimei: Jahath, Zizah, Jeush, Beriah; these were the sons of Shimei; four in all. ¹¹Jahath was the eldest, Zizah the second, then Jeush and Beriah, who had not many children and were counted as one family.

¹²Sons of Kohath: Amram, Izhar, Hebron, Uzziel; four in all. ¹³Sons of Amram: Aaron and Moses. Aaron and his descendants were set apart to be in charge of the sacred objects forever, burn incense in the Lord's presence, serve him, and bless the people in his name forever. ¹⁴As for Moses, the man of God, his sons were included among the Levites. ¹⁵Sons of Moses: Gershom and Eliezer. ¹⁶Sons of Gershom: Shubael, the first: ¹⁷Eliezer had sons: Rehabiah, the first. Eliezer had no other sons, but the sons of Rehabiah were very numerous.

¹⁸Sons of Izhar: Shelomith, the first. ¹⁹Sons of Hebron: Jeriah first, Amariah second, Jahaziel third, Jekameam fourth. ²⁰Sons of Uzziel: Micah first, Isshiah second.

²¹Sons of Merari: Mahli and Mushi. Sons of Mahli: Eleazar and Kish. ²²Eleazar died leaving no sons but only daughters; their cousins, the sons of Kish, married these. ²³Sons of Mushi: Mahli, Eder, Jeremoth; three in all.

²⁴These were the sons of Levi by their families, the heads of families, and those registered by name, individually. Whoever was twenty years old or older had his duty in the service of the temple of the Lord. ²⁵For David had said, “The Lord, the God of Israel, has given peace to his people, and he dwells in Jerusalem forever. ²⁶The Levites are no longer required to carry the Holy Tent or anything used in its service.”

²⁷According to the last words of David, the Levites who had been registered were twenty years and older. ²⁸Their duty is to assist the sons of Aaron with the service of the temple of the Lord, in the courts and chambers, to purify everything sacred. Their duty is to serve the temple of God. ²⁹They are also responsible for the loaves set out in rows and for the flour for the grain offering, the wafers of unleavened bread, the cakes baked on the griddle or mixed, and they are to weigh and measure the temple offerings. ³⁰They have to be present every morning to give glory and praise to the Lord, and also in the evening, ³¹and at every burnt offering to the Lord on the Sabbath, New Moon, or solemn feast, in such numbers as are prescribed. They must always be present before the Lord. ³²In serving the temple of the Lord, they observe the ritual of the Tent of Meeting, the ritual of the Sanctuary, and the ritual of their brethren, the sons of Aaron.

The Classification of the Priests

24 | ¹These are the groups to which the descendants of Aaron belong. Sons of Aaron: Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar, Ithamar. ²Nadab and Abihu died in their father’s lifetime, leaving no children, so Eleazar and Ithamar became priests. ³David divided them into groups with the help of Zadok, one of Eleazar’s sons, and Ahimelech, one of the sons of Ithamar, and made a register of them according to their duties. ⁴The sons of Eleazar were found to have more leading men than the sons of Ithamar. Accordingly, from the heads of families of the sons of Eleazar, they made sixteen groups, and from those of the sons of Ithamar, eight. ⁵They divided them, both parties, by lot: there were temple officials and spiritual leaders among the sons of Eleazar, as well as among the sons of Ithamar. ⁶One of the Levites, the scribe Shemaiah, son of Nethanel, recorded them in the presence of the king, his officers, Zadok the priest, Ahimelech, son of Abiathar and the heads of the priestly and Levitical families. They took turns drawing lots for each family of Eleazar's sons and Ithamar's sons.

⁷The first lot fell to Jehoiarib, to Jedaiah the second, ⁸Harim the third, Seorim the fourth, ⁹Malchijah the fifth, Mijamin the sixth, ¹⁰Hakkoz the seventh, Abijah the eighth, ¹¹Jeshua the ninth, Shecaniah the tenth, ¹²Eliashib the eleventh, Jakim the twelfth, ¹³Huppah the thirteenth, Ishbaal the fourteenth, ¹⁴Bilgah the fifteenth, Immer the sixteenth, ¹⁵Hezir the seventeenth, Happizzez the eighteenth, ¹⁶Pethahiah the nineteenth, Jehezkel the twentieth, ¹⁷Jachin the twenty-first, Gamul the twenty-second, ¹⁸Delaiah the twenty-third, Maaziah the twenty-fourth.

¹⁹These men were registered according to their various duties, to enter the temple of Yahweh according to the regulations that the Lord, the God of Israel, had given through Aaron, their ancestor.

²⁰Regarding the rest of the sons of Levi:

Sons of Aaron: Shubael. Sons of Shubael: Jehdeiah. ²¹For Rehabiah, for the sons of Rehabiah: the eldest, Isshiah. ²²Izharites: Shelomoth: Jahath. ²³Sons of Hebron: Jeriah the first, Amariah the second, Jahaziel the third, Jekameam the fourth. ²⁴Sons of Uzziel: Micah; sons of Micah: Shamir; ²⁵the brother of Micah: Isshiah; of the sons of Isshiah, Zechariah. ²⁶Sons of Merari: Mahli and Mushi. Sons of Jaaziah: Beno; ²⁷sons of Merari: for Jaaziah, his son: Shoham, Zaccur, Ibri: ²⁸for Mahli: Eleazar who had no sons; ²⁹for Kish: the sons of Kish: Jerahmeel. ³⁰Sons of Mushi: Mahli, Eder, Jerimoth.

³¹These were the sons of Levi by their families. The head of each family and one of his younger brothers drew lots for their assignments, just as their relatives, the priests descended from Aaron, had done. King David, Zadok, Ahimelech, and the heads of families of the priests and the Levites were witnesses.

The Cantors

25 | ¹For the liturgy, David and the senior army officers set apart the sons of Asaph, of Heman, and of Jeduthun, who prophesied playing lyre and harp and cymbal, and a list was made of those with these duties to perform.

²Sons of Asaph: Zaccur, Joseph, Nethaniah, Asharelah. The sons of Asaph were under the direction of Asaph, who prophesied whenever the king commanded.

³For Jeduthun: There were six sons of Jeduthun: Gedaliah, Zeri, Jeshaiah, Shimei, Hashabiah, and Mattithiah. They were under the direction of their father, Jeduthun, who, to the sound of the lyre, sang praise and thanks to Yahweh.

⁴For Heman: sons of Heman: Bukkiah, Mattaniah, Uzziel, Shubael, Jerimoth, Hananiah, Hanani, Eliathah, Giddalti, Romanti-ezer, Josh-bekashah, Mallothi, Hothir, Mahazioth. ⁵All these were sons of Heman, the king’s seer; these sounded the trumpet when the Lord’s word came. God gave Heman fourteen sons and three daughters; ⁶all of them sang in the temple of the Lord under their father’s direction to the sound of cymbal, harp, and lyre for the liturgy in the house of the Lord at the king’s direction.

⁷All of these, whether of Asaph, Jeduthun, or Heman, trained in singing to the Lord and skilled men, were altogether two hundred and eighty-eight. ⁸They drew lots to determine the assignment of duties of each of them, whether they were young or old, experts or beginners. ⁹The first lot fell to the Asaphite, Joseph. The second was Gedaliah; he and his sons and brothers were twelve. ¹⁰The third was Zaccur, and he and his sons and brothers were twelve. ¹¹The fourth was Izri, and he and his sons and brothers were twelve. ¹²The fifth was Nethaniah, and he and his sons and brothers were twelve. ¹³The sixth was Bukkiah, and he and his sons and brothers were twelve. ¹⁴The seventh was Jesarelah; he and his sons and brothers were twelve. ¹⁵The eighth was Jeshaiah; he and his sons and brothers were twelve. ¹⁶The ninth was Mattaniah; he and his sons and brothers were twelve. ¹⁷The tenth was Shimei; he and his sons and brothers were twelve. ¹⁸The eleventh was Azarel; he and his sons and brothers were twelve. ¹⁹The twelfth was Hashabiah; he and his sons and brothers were twelve. ²⁰The thirteenth was Shubael; he and his sons and brothers were twelve. ²¹The fourteenth was Mattithiah; he and his sons and brothers were twelve. ²²The fifteenth was Jeremoth; he and his sons and brothers were twelve. ²³The sixteenth was Hananiah; he and his sons and brothers were twelve. ²⁴The seventeenth was Joshbekashah; he and his sons and brothers were twelve. ²⁵The eighteenth was Hanani; he and his sons and brothers were twelve. ²⁶The nineteenth was Mallothi; he and his sons and brothers were twelve. ²⁷The twentieth was Eliathah; he and his sons and brothers were twelve. ²⁸The twenty-first was Hothir; he and his sons and brothers were twelve. ²⁹The twenty-second was Giddalti; he and his sons and brothers were twelve. ³⁰The twenty-third was Mahazioth; he and his sons and brothers were twelve. ³¹The twenty-fourth was Romamti-ezer; he and his sons and brothers were twelve.

The Keepers of the Gate

26 | ¹These are the work assignments for the Levites who served as temple guards. For the Korahites: Meshelemiah, son of Kore, one of the sons of Asaph. ²Meshelemiah had sons: Zechariah the firstborn, Jediael the second, Zebadiah the third, Jathniel the fourth, ³Elam the fifth, Jehohanan the sixth, Eliehoenai the seventh.

⁴Obed-edom had sons: Shemaiah the firstborn, Jehozabad the second, Joah the third, Sachar the fourth, Nethanel the fifth, ⁵Ammiel the sixth, Issachar the seventh, Peullethai the eighth; God had indeed blessed him. ⁶Shemaiah had sons who were important men in their clan because of their great ability. ⁷Sons of Shemaiah: Othni, Rephael, Obed, Elzabad, and his brothers, Elihu and Semachiah, brave men. ⁸All these were sons of Obed-edom. These and their sons and brothers were highly qualified for this work. For Obed-edom, sixty-two.

⁹Meshelemiah had sons and brothers: eighteen brave men.

¹⁰Hosah, son of Merari, had sons: Shimri was the first, for although he was not the firstborn, his father had made him the chief. 11 Hilkiah was the second, Tebaliah the third, and Zechariah the fourth. Altogether, thirteen members of Hosah’s family were temple guards.

¹²The temple guards were divided into groups, according to their families, and they were assigned duties in the temple, just as the other Levites were. ¹³They drew lots, junior and senior family alike, to see which gate each would be responsible for. ¹⁴For the east side, the lot fell to Meshelemiah, whose son Zechariah was a shrewd counselor; when they drew lots, the lot for the north side fell to the latter. ¹⁵To Obed-edom went the south and to his sons the storehouse. ¹⁶The lots for the West Gate and the Shallecheth Gate on the upper road fell to Shuppim and Hosah. One guard was adjacent to another. ¹⁷On the east, six daily; on the north, four daily; on the south, four daily; at the storehouse, two each side; ¹⁸at the court on the west, there were four posted on the road and two at the court. ¹⁹These were the orders of the gatekeepers among the Korahites and Merarites.

²⁰Others of their fellow Levites were in charge of the temple treasury and the storerooms for gifts dedicated to God.

²¹The sons of Ladan, sons of Gershon, through Ladan, had the Jehielites for heads of the families of Ladan the Gershonite. ²²The Jehielites, Zetham, and Joel, his brother, were responsible for the treasuries of the temple of the Lord.

²³Regarding the Amramites, Izharites, Hebronites, and Uzzielites;

²⁴Shubael, the son of Gershom, the son of Moses, was the officer responsible for the treasuries. ²⁵His relatives through Eliezer: Rehabiah his son, Jeshaiah his son, Joram his son, Zichri his son, Shelomoth, his son. ²⁶This Shelomoth and his relatives were in charge of all the gifts dedicated to the Lord by King David and by the heads of families as officers of thousands, of hundreds, or as other senior officers. ²⁷There was a part of the loot they captured in battle and dedicated for use in the temple ²⁸and also the things that Samuel, the seer, and Saul, son of Kish, Abner, son of Ner, and Joab son of Zeruiah had dedicated. All that had been dedicated was under the responsibility of Shelomoth and his relatives.

²⁹For the Izharites, Chananiah and his sons were officials and judges in charge of Israel’s civil affairs.

³⁰For the Hebronites: Hashabiah and his relatives, one thousand seven hundred fighting men, were appointed as overseers of all Israel west of Jordan, for all the service of the Lord and the service of the king. ³¹For the Hebronites: Jerijah the chief. In the fortieth year of David’s reign, the family line of the Hebronite families was investigated, and fighting men were found belonging to them at Jazer in Gilead. ³²King David appointed two thousand seven hundred fighting men, relatives to Jerijah and heads of families, as overseers of the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh for all the service of the Lord and the sacrifices of the king.

Military and Civil Organization

27 | ¹Census of the sons of Israel; The heads of families, the commanders of thousands and hundreds, and other officers who served the king in all that referred to the divisions of twenty-four thousand men each, that were on duty for a month, each month of the year: ²For the first month, Jashobeam, son of Zabdiel, ³son of Perez, and chief of all the officers of the division, had charge of a division of twenty-four thousand men. ⁴Over the division of the second month was Eleazar, son of Dodo, the Ahohite, had charge of a division of twenty-four thousand men. ⁵For the third month, Benaiah, son of Jehoiada, the chief priest, had charge of a division of twenty-four thousand men. ⁶Benaiah who was champion of The Thirty, was overseer for The Thirty and for his division. Ammizabad was his son. ⁷For the fourth month was Asahel, the brother of Joab; his son Zebadiah succeeded him. He had charge of a division of twenty-four thousand men. ⁸For the fifth month, Shamhuth, the Izrahite, had charge of a division of twenty-four thousand men. ⁹For the sixth month, Ira, son of Ikkesh of Tekoa, had charge of a division of twenty-four thousand men. ¹⁰For the seventh month, Helez the Pelonite, an Ephraimite, had charge of a division of twenty-four thousand men. ¹¹For the eighth month, Sibbecai of Hushah, a Zerahite, had charge of a division of twenty-four thousand men. ¹²For the ninth month, Abiezer of Anathoth, a Benjaminite, had charge of a division of twenty-four thousand men. ¹³For the tenth month, Maharai of Netophah, a Zerahite, had charge of a division of twenty-four thousand men. ¹⁴For the eleventh month, Benaiah of Pirathon, an Ephraimite, had charge of a division of twenty-four thousand men. ¹⁵For the twelfth month, Heldai from Netophah of Othniel had charge of a division of twenty-four thousand men. ¹⁶Overseers for the tribes of Israel: Eliezer, son of Zichri, was chief officer for the Reubenites; Shephatiah, son of Maacah for the Simeonites, ¹⁷Hashabiah, son of Kemuel for the Levites; Zadok for the Aaronites, ¹⁸Elihu, a brother of David, led Judah, Omri son of Michael led Issachar. ¹⁹Ishmaiah, son of Obadiah for the Zebulunites; Jeremoth, son of Azriel for the Naphtalites, ²⁰Hoshea, son of Azaziah for the Ephraimites; Joel, son of Pedaiah for the half-tribe of Manasseh, ²¹Iddo, son of Zechariah for the half-tribe of Manasseh in Gilead, Jaasiel, son of Abner for the Benjaminites, ²²Azarel, son of Jeroham for the Danites. These were the officials for the tribes of Israel.

²³David did not take a census of those twenty years old or younger since the Lord had promised to make Israel as numerous as the stars of heaven. ²⁴ Joab, son of Zeruiah, began a census but did not finish it, for God punished Israel because of this census. The final figures were never recorded in King David's official records.

²⁵This is the list of those who administered the king’s property. Overseers for the king’s storerooms: Azmaveth, son of Adiel. Commissioner for the stores in provincial towns, villages, and castles: Jonathan, son of Uzziah. ²⁶For the agricultural workers employed on the land: Ezri, son of Chelub. ²⁷For the vineyards: Shimei of Ramah. For those in the vineyards who looked after the wine cellars: Zabdi of Shepham. ²⁸For the olives and sycamores in the lowlands: Baalhanan of Geder. For the stores of oil: Joash. ²⁹For cattle in the pasture at Sharon: Shitrai of Sharon. For cattle in the valleys: Shaphat, son of Adlai. ³⁰For camels: Obil, the Ishmaelite. For donkeys: Jehdeiah of Meronoth. ³¹For flocks: Jaziz, the Hagrite. All these were overseers for King David’s property.

³²Jonathan, David’s uncle, was a skilled adviser and scholar. Jehiel, son of Hachmoni, attended the king’s sons. ³³ Ahithophel was the king’s counselor. Hushai, the Archite, was a friend of the king. ³⁴Jehoiada, son of Benaiah and Abiathar, succeeded Ahithophel. Joab was the commander of the king’s armies.

David’s Instructions for the Temple

28 | ¹David held a meeting in Jerusalem of all the officials of Israel, the overseers for the tribes, the officials in the royal service, the commanders of thousands, the commanders of hundreds, the overseers for all the property and livestock of the king and his sons, together with the palace officials, leading soldiers, and important men. ²Then king David got up and said:

“My brothers and my people, listen to me. I had set my heart on building a settled home for the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord as a footstool for our God. I have made preparations for building, ³but God has said to me, ‘You are not to build a temple for my name, for you have been a man of war and have shed blood.’

⁴The Lord, the God of Israel, chose me and my descendants to rule Israel forever. He chose Judah as leader, my family within the tribe of Judah, and of my father’s sons, myself. He was pleased to make me king of all Israel. ⁵Of all my sons—he has chosen my son Solomon to sit on the throne of the Lord over Israel. ⁶He said to me, ‘Solomon, your son, is the man to build my temple and my courts, for I have chosen him to be my son, and I will be a father to him. ⁷I will make his kingdom last forever if he continues to obey carefully all my laws and commands as he does now.’

⁸So now in the sight of all Israel and of the assembly of the Lord, and in the hearing of our God, I tell you to observe and meditate on all the commandments of the Lord your God, so that you may possess this prosperous land and leave it to your children after you as an inheritance forever.

⁹And you, Solomon, my son, know the God of your father, serve him with an undivided heart and a willing mind; for the Lord knows all our thoughts and desires. If you seek him, he will let you find him, but if you turn away, he will abandon you forever. ¹⁰Realize that the Lord has chosen you to build a house for him as a Sanctuary. Be strong and set to work.”

¹¹David gave his son Solomon the plans for the vestibule, the buildings, the treasuries, the upper rooms, the inner apartments, and the room where the mercy Seat would be. ¹²He also gave him a description of all he had in mind for the courts of the Lord’s house, all the surrounding apartments, the treasuries of the Lord’s house, and the treasuries of votive offerings; ¹³also of the orders of priests and Levites, the liturgical duties in the Lord’s house. ¹⁴He instructed him about how much silver and gold was to be used for making the utensils, ¹⁵the bullion for the golden lampstands and their lamps, the gold bullion for the silver lampstand, for the lampstand and its lamps according to the requirements for each lampstand, ¹⁶gold bullion for the tables on which the rows of bread were set, for each of these tables, the silver for the silver tables, ¹⁷the forks, the sprinkling bowls, basins of pure gold, the gold bullion for the bowls, for each of the bowls, ¹⁸the bullion of refined gold for the altar of incense. He gave him the plans for the chariot, for the golden cherubim with wings outspread covering the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord—¹⁹all this per the plan drawn according to the instructions the Lord gave him to carry out.

²⁰Then David said to his son Solomon, “Be strong, stand firm; be fearless, be determined and set to work, because the Lord God, my God, is with you. He will not fail you or abandon you before you have finished all the work for the house of the Lord. ²¹Here are the orders of priests and Levites for all the duties of the house of God; every willing man of any aptitude will help you in all this work; the officials and all the people are entirely at your command.”

29 | ¹Then King David said to the whole assembly, “Solomon my son, whom the Lord has chosen, is still young and the work is great; this palace is not for people but for the Lord God. ²With all my means, I have provided for the house of my God, adding gold to gold, silver to silver, bronze to bronze, iron to iron, wood to wood, onyx, inlaid stones, colored and striped stones, precious stones of every kind, masses of alabaster. ³What is more, the gold and silver that I have in my treasury I give out of love for the house of God, above what I have provided already for the holy house—⁴101 tons of the finest gold, gold of Ophir, 214 tons of pure silver for plating the walls of the buildings. ⁵Whatever gold you have, silver, or quality of the craftsman’s hand, will each of you offer it to the Lord today?”

⁶Then the heads of families, the officials for the tribes of Israel, the commanders of thousands and hundreds, and those who managed the king’s affairs, ⁷gave for the service of the house of God 168 tons of gold, 336 tons of silver, 606 tons of bronze, and 3,365 tons of iron. ⁸Those who had precious stones brought them to Jehiel, the Gershonite for the treasury of the Lord’s house. ⁹The people rejoiced at what had been given so readily since their gifts to the Lord had been made wholeheartedly. King David, too, was filled with joy. ¹⁰David praised the Lord before the entire assembly:

“May you be praised, the Lord God of Israel our ancestor, forever and ever! ¹¹Yours, Lord, is the greatness, the power, splendor, length of days, glory; for all that is in the heavens and on the earth is yours. Yours is the sovereignty forever, O Lord; you are the supreme ruler. ¹²Riches and honor go before you; you are the ruler of all; in your hand lie strength and power. You are the one who gives greatness and strength to all.

¹³At this time, our God, we give you thanks; we praise the splendor of your name. ¹⁴For who am I, and what are my people, to have received all that we give you back now? All comes from you. What we have received from your hand, we have given to you. ¹⁵For we are strangers before you, settlers only, as all our ancestors were; our days on earth pass like a shadow, and there is no hope beyond.

¹⁶The Lord, our God, all this wealth that we have brought together to build a house for your holy Name comes from your hand; all is yours. ¹⁷O my God, I know that you examine the heart and delight in honesty, and honesty of heart I have willingly given all this; and now with joy, I have seen your people here offer their gifts willingly. ¹⁸O Lord, God of our fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, keep such thoughts in your people's hearts and minds forever and direct them toward you. ¹⁹Give Solomon, my son, a heart determined to keep your commandments, decrees, and statutes; may he practice them all and build this palace I have prepared for you.”

²⁰David told the entire assembly, “Praise the Lord your God!” And the whole assembly praised the Lord, the God of their ancestors, and went on their knees to give honor to the Lord and the king. ²¹The following day, the Israelites offered sacrifices and burnt offerings to the Lord: a thousand bulls, a thousand rams, a thousand lambs with their wine offerings, and many sacrifices for the whole of Israel. ²²They ate and drank that day in the Lord’s presence with great joy. Then they made Solomon, son of David, their second king, anointed him to rule over them in the name of the Lord and anointed Zadok as priest. ²³Solomon sat on the throne of the Lord in place of David, his father. He prospered, and all Israel obeyed him. ²⁴All the officials, all the champions, and sons of King David swore fidelity to King Solomon. ²⁵The Lord exalted Solomon exceedingly in the eyes of all Israel and gave him a glorious reign that any king over Israel had not enjoyed before him.

²⁶David, son of Jesse, had reigned over the whole of Israel. ²⁷His reign over Israel lasted forty years; he reigned in Hebron for seven years and in Jerusalem for thirty-three. ²⁸He died at a good old age, with his fill of days, riches, and honor. Then his son Solomon succeeded him. ²⁹The history of King David, from first to last, can be found in the records of Samuel the prophet, Nathan the prophet, and the records of Gad, the prophet. ³⁰These records tell how he ruled, how powerful he was, and everything that happened to him, Israel, and the surrounding kingdoms.