Bible in 90 Days

10 The Philistines attacked and defeated the Israeli troops, who turned and fled and were slaughtered on the slopes of Mount Gilboa.^{[a] 2} They caught up with Saul and his three sons, Jonathan, Abinadab, and Malchi-shua, and killed them all. ³ Saul had been hard pressed with heavy fighting all around him, when the Philistine archers shot and wounded him.

⁴ He cried out to his bodyguard, “Quick, kill me with your sword before these uncircumcised heathen capture and torture me.”

But the man was afraid to do it, so Saul took his own sword and fell against its point; and it pierced his body. ⁵ Then his bodyguard, seeing that Saul was dead, killed himself in the same way. ⁶ So Saul and his three sons died together; the entire family was wiped out in one day.

⁷ When the Israelis in the valley below the mountain heard that their troops had been routed and that Saul and his sons were dead, they abandoned their cities and fled. And the Philistines came and lived in them. ⁸ When the Philistines went back the next day to strip the bodies of the men killed in action and to gather the booty from the battlefield, they found the bodies of Saul and his sons. ⁹ So they stripped off Saul’s armor and cut off his head; then they displayed them throughout the nation and celebrated the wonderful news before their idols. ¹⁰ They fastened his armor to the walls of the Temple of the Gods and nailed his head to the wall of Dagon’s temple.

¹¹ But when the people of Jabesh-gilead heard what the Philistines had done to Saul, ¹² their heroic warriors went out to the battlefield^[b] and brought back his body and the bodies of his three sons. Then they buried them beneath the oak tree at Jabesh and mourned and fasted for seven days.

¹³ Saul died for his disobedience to the Lord and because he had consulted a medium,^{[c] 14} and did not ask the Lord for guidance. So the Lord killed him and gave the kingdom to David, the son of Jesse.

11 Then the leaders of Israel went to David at Hebron and told him, “We are your relatives,^{[d] 2} and even when Saul was king, you were the one who led our armies to battle and brought them safely back again. And the Lord your God has told you, ‘You shall be the shepherd of my people Israel. You shall be their king.’”

³ So David made a contract with them before the Lord, and they anointed him as king of Israel, just as the Lord had told Samuel. ⁴ Then David and the leaders went to Jerusalem (or Jebus, as it used to be called) where the Jebusites—the original inhabitants of the land—lived. ^5-6 But the people of Jebus refused to let them enter the city. So David captured the fortress of Zion, later called the City of David, and said to his men, “The first man to kill a Jebusite shall be made commander-in-chief!” Joab, the son of Zeruiah, was the first, so he became the general of David’s army. ⁷ David lived in the fortress and that is why that area of Jerusalem is called the City of David. ⁸ He extended the city out around the fortress while Joab rebuilt the rest of Jerusalem. ⁹ And David became more and more famous and powerful, for the Lord of the heavens was with him.

¹⁰ These are the names of some of the bravest of David’s warriors (who also encouraged the leaders of Israel to make David their king, as the Lord had said would happen):

¹¹ Jashobeam (the son of a man from Hachmon) was the leader of The Top Three—the three greatest heroes among David’s men. He once killed 300 men with his spear.

¹² The second of The Top Three was Eleazar, the son of Dodo, a member of the subclan of Ahoh. ¹³ He was with David in the battle against the Philistines at Pasdammim. The Israeli army was in a barley field and had begun to run away, ¹⁴ but he held his ground in the middle of the field, and recovered it and slaughtered the Philistines; and the Lord saved them with a great victory.

¹⁵ Another time, three of The Thirty^[e] went to David while he was hiding in the cave of Adullam. The Philistines were camped in the valley of Rephaim, ¹⁶ and David was in the stronghold at the time; an outpost of the Philistines had occupied Bethlehem. ¹⁷ David wanted a drink from the Bethlehem well beside the gate, and when he mentioned this to his men, ^18-19 these three broke through to the Philistine camp, drew some water from the well, and brought it back to David. But he refused to drink it! Instead he poured it out as an offering to the Lord and said, “God forbid that I should drink it! It is the very blood of these men who risked their lives to get it.”

²⁰ Abishai, Joab’s brother, was commander of The Thirty. He had gained his place among The Thirty by killing 300 men at one time with his spear. ²¹ He was the chief and the most famous of The Thirty, but he was not as great as The Three.

²² Benaiah, whose father was a mighty warrior from Kabzeel, killed the two famous giants^[f] from Moab. He also killed a lion in a slippery pit when there was snow on the ground. ²³ Once he killed an Egyptian who was seven and a half feet tall, whose spear was as thick as a weaver’s beam. But Benaiah went up to him with only a club in his hand, and pulled the spear away from him and used it to kill him. ^24-25 He was nearly as great as The Three, and he was very famous among The Thirty. David made him captain of his bodyguard.

^26-47 Other famous warriors among David’s men were:

12 These are the names of the famous warriors who joined David at Ziklag while he was hiding from King Saul.^{[h] 2} All of them were expert archers and slingers, and they could use their left hands as readily as their right! Like King Saul, they were all of the tribe of Benjamin.

^3-7 Their chief was Ahiezer, son of Shemaah from Gibeah. The others were:

^8-13 Great and brave warriors from the tribe of Gad also went to David in the wilderness. They were experts with both shield and spear and were “lion-faced men, swift as deer upon the mountains.”

¹⁴ These men were army officers; the weakest was worth a hundred normal troops, and the greatest was worth a thousand! ¹⁵ They crossed the Jordan River during its seasonal flooding and conquered the lowlands on both the east and west banks.

¹⁶ Others came to David from Benjamin and Judah. ¹⁷ David went out to meet them and said, “If you have come to help me, we are friends; but if you have come to betray me to my enemies when I am innocent, then may the God of our fathers see and judge you.”

¹⁸ Then the Holy Spirit came upon them, and Amasai, a leader of The Thirty, replied,

So David let them join him, and he made them captains of his army.

¹⁹ Some men from Manasseh deserted the Israeli army and joined David just as he was going into battle with the Philistines against King Saul. But as it turned out, the Philistine generals refused to let David and his men go with them. After much discussion they sent them back, for they were afraid that David and his men would imperil them by deserting to King Saul.

²⁰ Here is a list of the men from Manasseh who deserted to David as he was en route to Ziklag: Adnah, Jozabad, Jediael, Michael, Jozabad, Elihu, Zillethai.

Each was a high-ranking officer of Manasseh’s troops. ²¹ They were brave and able warriors, and they assisted David when he fought against the Amalek raiders at Ziklag.^[i]

²² More men joined David almost every day until he had a tremendous army—the army of God. ²³ Here is the registry of recruits who joined David at Hebron. They were all anxious to see David become king instead of Saul, just as the Lord had said would happen.

³⁸ All these men came in battle array to Hebron with the single purpose of making David the king of Israel. In fact, all of Israel was ready for this change. ³⁹ They feasted and drank with David for three days, for preparations had been made for their arrival. ⁴⁰ People from nearby and from as far away as Issachar, Zebulun, and Naphtali brought food on donkeys, camels, mules, and oxen. Vast supplies of flour, fig cakes, raisins, wine, oil, cattle, and sheep were brought to the celebration, for joy had spread throughout the land.

13 After David had consulted with all of his army officers, ² he addressed the assembled men of Israel as follows:

“Since you think that I should be your king, and since the Lord our God has given his approval, let us send messages to our brothers throughout the land of Israel, including the priests and Levites, inviting them to come and join us. ³ And let us bring back the Ark of our God, for we have been neglecting it ever since Saul became king.”

⁴ There was unanimous consent, for everyone agreed with him. ⁵ So David summoned the people of Israel from all across the nation^[j] so that they could be present when the Ark of God was brought from Kiriath-jearim.

⁶ Then David and all Israel went to Baalah (i.e., Kiriath-jearim) in Judah to bring back the Ark of the Lord God enthroned above the Guardian Angels.^{[k] 7} It was taken from the house of Abinadab on a new cart. Uzza and Ahio drove the oxen. ⁸ Then David and all the people danced before the Lord with great enthusiasm, accompanied by singing and by zithers, harps, tambourines, cymbals, and trumpets. ⁹ But as they arrived at the threshing floor of Chidon, the oxen stumbled and Uzza reached out his hand to steady the Ark. ¹⁰ Then the anger of the Lord blazed out against Uzza, and killed him because he had touched the Ark. And so he died there before God. ¹¹ David was angry at the Lord for what he had done to Uzza and he named the place “The Outbreak Against Uzza.” And it is still called that today.

¹² Now David was afraid of God and asked, “How shall I ever get the Ark of God home?”

¹³ Finally he decided to take it to the home of Obed-edom the Gittite instead of bringing it to the City of David. ¹⁴ The Ark remained there with the family of Obed-edom for three months, and the Lord blessed him and his family.

14 King Hiram of Tyre sent masons and carpenters to help build David’s palace and he supplied him with much cedar lumber. ² David now realized why the Lord had made him king and why he had made his kingdom so great; it was for a special reason—to give joy to God’s people!

³ After David moved to Jerusalem, he married additional wives and became the father of many sons and daughters.

^4-7 These are the names of the sons born to him in Jerusalem: Shammua, Shobab, Nathan, Solomon, Ibhar, Elishua, Elpelet, Nogah, Nepheg, Japhia, Elishama, Beeliada, Eliphelet.

⁸ When the Philistines heard that David was Israel’s new king, they mobilized their forces to capture him. But David learned that they were on the way, so he called together his army. ⁹ The Philistines were raiding the valley of Rephaim, ¹⁰ and David asked the Lord, “If I go out and fight them, will you give me the victory?”

And the Lord replied, “Yes, I will.”

¹¹ So he attacked them at Baal-perazim and wiped them out. He exulted, “God has used me to sweep away my enemies like water bursting through a dam!” That is why the place has been known as Baal-perazim ever since (meaning, “The Place of Breaking Through”).

¹² After the battle the Israelis picked up many idols left by the Philistines, but David ordered them burned.

¹³ Later the Philistines raided the valley again, ¹⁴ and again David asked God what to do.

The Lord replied, “Go around by the mulberry trees and attack from there. ¹⁵ When you hear a sound like marching in the tops of the mulberry trees, that is your signal to attack, for God will go before you and destroy the enemy.”

¹⁶ So David did as the Lord commanded him; and he cut down the army of the Philistines all the way from Gibeon to Gezer. ¹⁷ David’s fame spread everywhere, and the Lord caused all the nations to fear him.

15 David now built several palaces for himself in Jerusalem, and he also built a new Tabernacle to house the Ark of God, ² and issued these instructions: “When we transfer the Ark to its new home,^[l] no one except the Levites may carry it, for God has chosen them for this purpose; they are to minister to him forever.”

³ Then David summoned all Israel to Jerusalem to celebrate the bringing of the Ark into the new Tabernacle. ^4-10 These were the priests and Levites present:

¹¹ Then David called for Zadok and Abiathar, the High Priests, and for the Levite leaders: Uriel, Asaiah, Joel, Shemaiah, Eliel, and Amminadab.

¹² “You are the leaders of the clans of the Levites,” he told them. “Now sanctify yourselves with all your brothers so that you may bring the Ark of Jehovah, the God of Israel, to the place I have prepared for it. ¹³ The Lord destroyed us before because we handled the matter improperly—you were not carrying it.”

¹⁴ So the priests and the Levites underwent the ceremonies of sanctification in preparation for bringing home the Ark of Jehovah, the God of Israel. ¹⁵ Then the Levites carried the Ark on their shoulders with its carrying poles, just as the Lord had instructed Moses.

¹⁶ King David also ordered the Levite leaders to organize the singers into an orchestra, and they played loudly and joyously upon psaltries, harps, and cymbals. ¹⁷ Heman (son of Joel), Asaph (son of Berechiah), and Ethan (son of Kushaiah) from the clan of Merari were the heads of the musicians.

¹⁸ The following men were chosen as their assistants: Zechariah, Jaaziel, Shemiramoth, Jehiel, Unni, Eliab, Benaiah, Maaseiah, Mattithiah, Eliphelehu, Mikneiah, Obed-edom and Jeiel, the doorkeepers.

¹⁹ Heman, Asaph, and Ethan were chosen to sound the bronze cymbals; ²⁰ and Zechariah, Aziel, Shemiramoth, Jehiel, Unni, Eliab, Maaseiah, and Benaiah comprised an octet accompanied by harps.^{[m] 21} Mattithiah, Eliphelehu, Mikneiah, Obed-edom, Jeiel, and Azaziah were the harpists.^{[n] 22} The song leader was Chenaniah, the chief of the Levites, who was selected for his skill. ²³ Berechiah and Elkanah were guards for the Ark. ²⁴ Shebaniah, Joshaphat, Nethanel, Amasai, Zechariah, Benaiah, and Eliezer—all of whom were priests—formed a bugle corps to march at the head of the procession. And Obed-edom and Jehiah guarded the Ark.

²⁵ Then David and the elders of Israel and the high officers of the army went with great joy to the home of Obed-edom to take the Ark to Jerusalem. ²⁶ And because God didn’t destroy the Levites who were carrying the Ark, they sacrificed seven bulls and seven lambs. ²⁷ David, the Levites carrying the Ark, the singers, and Chenaniah the song leader were all dressed in linen robes. David also wore a linen ephod. ²⁸ So the leaders of Israel took the Ark to Jerusalem with shouts of joy, the blowing of horns and trumpets, the crashing of cymbals, and loud playing on the harps and zithers.

²⁹ (But as the Ark arrived in Jerusalem, David’s wife Michal, the daughter of King Saul, felt a deep disgust for David as she watched from the window and saw him dancing like a madman.)

16 So they brought the Ark of God into the special tent that David had prepared for it, and the leaders of Israel sacrificed burnt offerings and peace offerings before God. ² At the conclusion of these offerings David blessed the people in the name of the Lord; ³ then he gave every person present^[o] (men and women alike) a loaf of bread, some wine, and a cake of raisins.

⁴ He appointed certain of the Levites to minister before the Ark by giving constant praise and thanks to the Lord God of Israel and by asking for his blessings upon his people. These are the names of those given this assignment: ⁵ Asaph, the leader of this detail, sounded the cymbals. His associates were Zechariah, Jeiel, Shemiramoth, Jehiel, Mattithiah, Eliab, Benaiah, Obed-edom, and Jeiel; they played the harps and zithers. ⁶ The priests Benaiah and Jahaziel played their trumpets regularly before the Ark.

⁷ At that time David began the custom of using choirs in the Tabernacle to sing thanksgiving to the Lord. Asaph was the director of this choral group of priests.

And all the people shouted “Amen!” and praised the Lord.

³⁷ David arranged for Asaph and his fellow Levites to minister regularly at the Tabernacle,^[p] doing each day whatever needed to be done. ³⁸ This group included Obed-edom (the son of Jeduthun), Hosah, and sixty-eight of their colleagues as guards.

³⁹ Meanwhile the old Tabernacle of the Lord on the hill of Gibeon continued to be active. David left Zadok the priest and his fellow priests to minister to the Lord there. ⁴⁰ They sacrificed burnt offerings to the Lord each morning and evening upon the altar set aside for that purpose, just as the Lord had commanded Israel. ⁴¹ David also appointed Heman, Jeduthun, and several others who were chosen by name to give thanks to the Lord for his constant love and mercy. ⁴² They used their trumpets and cymbals to accompany the singers with loud praises to God. And Jeduthun’s sons were appointed as guards.

⁴³ At last the celebration ended and the people returned to their homes, and David returned to bless his own household.

17 After David had been living in his new palace for some time he said to Nathan the prophet, “Look! I’m living here in a cedar-paneled home while the Ark of the Covenant of God is out there in a tent!”

² And Nathan replied, “Carry out your plan in every detail, for it is the will of the Lord.”

³ But that same night God said to Nathan, ⁴ “Go and give my servant David this message: ‘You are not to build my temple! ⁵ I’ve gone from tent to tent as my home from the time I brought Israel out of Egypt. ⁶ In all that time I never suggested to any of the leaders of Israel—the shepherds I appointed to care for my people—that they should build me a cedar-lined temple.’

⁷ “Tell my servant David, ‘The Lord of heaven says to you, I took you from being a shepherd and made you the king of my people. ⁸ And I have been with you everywhere you’ve gone; I have destroyed your enemies, and I will make your name as great as the greatest of the earth. ⁹ And I will give a permanent home to my people Israel and will plant them in their land. They will not be disturbed again; the wicked nations won’t conquer them as they did before ¹⁰ when the judges ruled them. I will subdue all of your enemies. And I now declare that I will cause your descendants to be kings of Israel just as you are.

¹¹ “‘When your time here on earth is over and you die, I will place one of your sons upon your throne; and I will make his kingdom strong. ¹² He is the one who shall build me a temple, and I will establish his royal line of descent forever. ¹³ I will be his father, and he shall be my son; I will never remove my mercy and love from him as I did from Saul. ¹⁴ I will place him over my people and over the kingdom of Israel forever—and his descendants will always be kings.’”

¹⁵ So Nathan told King David everything the Lord had said.

¹⁶ Then King David went in and sat before the Lord and said, “Who am I, O Lord God, and what is my family that you have given me all this? ¹⁷ For all the great things you have already done for me are nothing in comparison to what you have promised to do in the future! For now, O Lord God, you are speaking of future generations of my children being kings too! You speak as though I were someone very great. ¹⁸ What else can I say? You know that I am but a dog, yet you have decided to honor me! ¹⁹ O Lord, you have given me these wonderful promises just because you want to be kind to me, because of your own great heart. ²⁰ O Lord, there is no one like you—there is no other God. In fact, we have never even heard of another god like you!

²¹ “And what other nation in all the earth is like Israel? You have made a unique nation and have redeemed it from Egypt so that the people could be your people. And you made a great name for yourself when you did glorious miracles in driving out the nations from before your people. ²² You have declared that your people Israel belong to you forever, and you have become their God.

²³ “And now I accept your promise, Lord, that I and my children will always rule this nation. ²⁴ And may this bring eternal honor to your name as everyone realizes that you always do what you say. They will exclaim, ‘The Lord of heaven is indeed the God of Israel!’ And Israel shall always be ruled by my children and their posterity! ²⁵ Now I have the courage to pray to you, for you have revealed this to me. ²⁶ God himself has promised this good thing to me! ²⁷ May this blessing rest upon my children forever, for when you grant a blessing, Lord, it is an eternal blessing!”

18 David finally subdued the Philistines and conquered Gath and its surrounding towns. ² He also conquered Moab and required its people to send him a large sum of money every year. ³ He conquered the dominion of King Hadadezer of Zobah (as far as Hamath) at the time Hadadezer went to tighten his grip along the Euphrates River. ⁴ David captured a thousand of his chariots, seven thousand cavalry, and twenty thousand troops. He crippled all the chariot teams except a hundred that he kept for his own use.

⁵ When the Syrians arrived from Damascus to help King Hadadezer, David killed twenty-two thousand of them; ⁶ then he placed a garrison of his troops in Damascus, the Syrian capital. So the Syrians, too, were forced to send him large amounts of money every year. And the Lord gave David victory everywhere he went. ⁷ He brought the gold shields of King Hadadezer’s officers to Jerusalem, ⁸ as well as a great amount of bronze from Hadadezer’s cities of Tibhath and Cun. (King Solomon later melted the bronze and used it for the Temple. He molded it into the bronze tank, the pillars, and the instruments used in offering sacrifices on the altar.)

⁹ When King Tou of Hamath learned that King David had destroyed Hadadezer’s army, ¹⁰ he sent his son Hadoram to greet and congratulate King David on his success and to present him with many gifts of gold, silver, and bronze, seeking an alliance. For Hadadezer and Tou had been enemies and there had been many wars between them. ¹¹ King David dedicated these gifts to the Lord, as he did the silver and gold he took from the nations of Edom, Moab, Ammon, Amalek, and the Philistines.

¹² Abishai (son of Zeruiah) then destroyed eighteen thousand Edomites in Salt Valley. ¹³ He put garrisons in Edom and forced the Edomites to pay large sums of money annually to David. This is just another example of how the Lord gave David victory after victory. ¹⁴ David reigned over all of Israel and was a just ruler.

¹⁵ Joab (son of Zeruiah) was commander-in-chief of the army; Jehoshaphat (son of Ahilud) was the historian; ¹⁶ Zadok (son of Ahitub) and Ahimelech (son of Abiathar) were the head priests; Shavsha was the king’s special assistant;^{[q] 17} Benaiah (son of Jehoiada) was in charge of the king’s bodyguard—the Cherethites and Pelethites—and David’s sons were his chief aides.

19 When King Nahash of Ammon died, his son Hanun became the new king.

^2-3 Then David declared, “I am going to show friendship to Hanun because of all the kind things his father did for me.”

So David sent a message of sympathy to Hanun for the death of his father. But when David’s ambassadors arrived, King Hanun’s counselors warned him, “Don’t fool yourself that David has sent these men to honor your father! They are here to spy out the land so that they can come in and conquer it!”

⁴ So King Hanun insulted King David’s ambassadors by shaving their beards and cutting their robes off at the middle to expose their buttocks; then he sent them back to David in shame. ⁵ When David heard what had happened, he sent a message to his embarrassed emissaries, telling them to stay at Jericho until their beards had grown out again. ⁶ When King Hanun realized his mistake he sent $2,000,000 to enlist mercenary troops, chariots, and cavalry from Mesopotamia, Aram-maacah, and Zobah. ⁷ He hired thirty-two thousand chariots, as well as the support of the king of Maacah and his entire army. These forces camped at Medeba where they were joined by the troops King Hanun had recruited from his cities.

⁸ When David learned of this, he sent Joab and the mightiest warriors of Israel. ⁹ The army of Ammon went out to meet them and began the battle at the gates of the city of Medeba. Meanwhile, the mercenary forces were out in the field. ¹⁰ When Joab realized that the enemy forces were both in front and behind him, he divided his army and sent one group to engage the Syrians. ¹¹ The other group, under the command of his brother Abishai, moved against the Ammonites.

¹² “If the Syrians are too strong for me, come and help me,” Joab told his brother; “and if the Ammonites are too strong for you, I’ll come and help you. ¹³ Be courageous and let us act like men to save our people and the cities of our God. And may the Lord do what is best.”

¹⁴ So Joab and his troops attacked the Syrians, and the Syrians turned and fled. ¹⁵ When the Ammonites, under attack by Abishai’s troops, saw that the Syrians were retreating, they fled into the city. Then Joab returned to Jerusalem.

¹⁶ After their defeat, the Syrians summoned additional troops from east of the Euphrates River, led personally by Shophach, King Hadadezer’s commander-in-chief. ^17-18 When this news reached David, he mobilized all Israel, crossed the Jordan River, and engaged the enemy troops in battle. But the Syrians again fled from David, and he killed seven thousand charioteers and forty thousand of their troops. He also killed Shophach, the commander-in-chief of the Syrian army. ¹⁹ Then King Hadadezer’s troops surrendered to King David and became his subjects. And never again did the Syrians aid the Ammonites in their battles.

20 The following spring (spring was the season when wars usually began) Joab led the Israeli army in successful attacks against the cities and villages of the people of Ammon. After destroying them, he laid siege to Rabbah and conquered it. Meanwhile, David had stayed in Jerusalem. ² When David arrived on the scene, he removed the crown from the head of King Milcom^[r] of Rabbah and placed it upon his own head. It was made of gold inlaid with gems and weighed seventy-five pounds! David also took great amounts of plunder from the city. ³ He drove the people from the city and set them to work with saws,^[s] iron picks, and axes, as was his custom with all the conquered Ammonite peoples. Then David and all his army returned to Jerusalem.

⁴ The next war was against the Philistines again, at Gezer. But Sibbecai, a man from Hushath, killed one of the sons of the giant, Sippai, and so the Philistines surrendered. ⁵ During another war with the Philistines, Elhanan (the son of Jair) killed Lahmi, the brother of Goliath the giant; the handle of his spear was like a weaver’s beam! ^6-7 During another battle, at Gath, a giant with six fingers on each hand and six toes on each foot (his father was also a giant) defied and taunted Israel; but he was killed by David’s nephew Jonathan, the son of David’s brother Shimea. ⁸ These giants were descendants of the giants of Gath, and they were killed by David and his soldiers.

21 Then Satan brought disaster upon Israel, for he made David decide to take a census.

² “Take a complete census throughout the land^[t] and bring me the totals,” he told Joab and the other leaders.

³ But Joab objected. “If the Lord were to multiply his people a hundred times, would they not all be yours? So why are you asking us to do this? Why must you cause Israel to sin?”

⁴ But the king won the argument, and Joab did as he was told; he traveled all through Israel and returned to Jerusalem. ⁵ The total population figure which he gave came to 1,100,000 men of military age in Israel and 470,000 in Judah. ⁶ But he didn’t include the tribes of Levi and Benjamin in his figures because he was so distressed at what the king had made him do.

⁷ And God, too, was displeased with the census and punished Israel for it.

⁸ But David said to God, “I am the one who has sinned. Please forgive me, for I realize now how wrong I was to do this.”

⁹ Then the Lord said to Gad, David’s personal prophet, ^10-11 “Go and tell David, ‘The Lord has offered you three choices. Which will you choose? ¹² You may have three years of famine, or three months of destruction by the enemies of Israel, or three days of deadly plague as the Angel of the Lord brings destruction to the land. Think it over and let me know what answer to return to the one who sent me.’”

¹³ “This is a terrible decision to make,” David replied, “but let me fall into the hands of the Lord rather than into the power of men, for God’s mercies are very great.”

¹⁴ So the Lord sent a plague upon Israel and 70,000 men died as a result. ¹⁵ During the plague God sent an Angel to destroy Jerusalem; but then he felt such compassion that he changed his mind and commanded the destroying Angel, “Stop! It is enough!” (The Angel of the Lord was standing at the time by the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite.) ¹⁶ When David saw the Angel of the Lord standing between heaven and earth with his sword drawn, pointing toward Jerusalem, he and the elders of Israel clothed themselves in sackcloth and fell to the ground before the Lord.

¹⁷ And David said to God, “I am the one who sinned by ordering the census. But what have these sheep done? O Lord my God, destroy me and my family, but do not destroy your people.”

¹⁸ Then the Angel of the Lord told Gad to instruct David to build an altar to the Lord at the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite. ^19-20 So David went to see Ornan, who was threshing wheat at the time. Ornan saw the Angel as he turned, and his four sons ran and hid. ²¹ Then Ornan saw the king approaching. So he left the threshing floor and bowed to the ground before King David.

²² David said to Ornan, “Let me buy this threshing floor from you at its full price; then I will build an altar to the Lord and the plague will stop.”

²³ “Take it, my lord, and use it as you wish,” Ornan said to David. “Take the oxen, too, for burnt offerings; use the threshing instruments for wood for the fire and use the wheat for the grain offering. I give it all to you.”

²⁴ “No,” the king replied, “I will buy it for the full price; I cannot take what is yours and give it to the Lord. I will not offer a burnt offering that has cost me nothing!”

²⁵ So David paid Ornan $4,300 in gold$4,300 in gold, literally, “600 shekels of gold by weight.” ²⁶ and built an altar to the Lord there, and sacrificed burnt offerings and peace offerings upon it; and he called out to the Lord, who answered by sending down fire from heaven to burn up the offering on the altar. ²⁷ Then the Lord commanded the Angel to put back his sword into its sheath; ²⁸ and when David saw that the Lord had answered his plea, he sacrificed to him again. ²⁹ The Tabernacle and altar made by Moses in the wilderness were on the hill of Gibeon, ³⁰ but David didn’t have time to go there to plead before the Lord, for he was terrified by the drawn sword of the Angel of Jehovah.

22 Then David said, “Right here at Ornan’s threshing floor is the place where I’ll build the Temple of the Lord and construct the altar for Israel’s burnt offering!”

² David now drafted all the resident aliens in Israel to prepare blocks of squared stone for the Temple. ³ They also manufactured iron into the great quantity of nails needed for the doors in the gates and for the clamps; and they smelted so much bronze that it was too much to weigh. ⁴ The men of Tyre and Sidon brought great rafts of cedar logs to David.

⁵ “Solomon my son is young and tender,” David said, “and the Temple of the Lord must be a marvelous structure, famous and glorious throughout the world; so I will begin the preparations for it now.”

So David collected the construction materials before his death. ⁶ He now commanded his son Solomon to build a Temple for the Lord God of Israel.

⁷ “I wanted to build it myself,” David told him, ⁸ “but the Lord said not to do it. ‘You have killed too many men in great wars,’ he told me. ‘You have reddened the ground before me with blood: so you are not to build my Temple. ⁹ But I will give you a son,’ he told me, ‘who will be a man of peace, for I will give him peace with his enemies in the surrounding lands. His name shall be Solomon (meaning “Peaceful”), and I will give peace and quietness to Israel during his reign. ¹⁰ He shall build my Temple, and he shall be as my own son and I will be his father; and I will cause his sons and his descendants to reign over every generation of Israel.’

¹¹ “So now, my son, may the Lord be with you and prosper you as you do what he told you to do and build the Temple of the Lord. ¹² And may the Lord give you the good judgment to follow all his laws when he makes you king of Israel. ¹³ For if you carefully obey the rules and regulations that he gave to Israel through Moses, you will prosper. Be strong and courageous, fearless and enthusiastic!

¹⁴ “By hard work I have collected several billion dollars worth of gold bullion, millions in silver,^[v] and so much iron and bronze that I haven’t even weighed it; I have also gathered timber and stone for the walls. This is at least a beginning, something with which to start. ¹⁵ And you have many skilled stonemasons and carpenters and craftsmen of every kind. ¹⁶ They are expert gold and silver smiths and bronze and iron workers. So get to work, and may the Lord be with you!”

¹⁷ Then David ordered all the leaders of Israel to assist his son in this project.

¹⁸ “The Lord your God is with you,” he declared. “He has given you peace with the surrounding nations, for I have conquered them in the name of the Lord and for his people. ¹⁹ Now try with every fiber of your being to obey the Lord your God, and you will soon be bringing the Ark and the other holy articles of worship into the Temple of the Lord!”

23 By this time David was an old, old man, so he stepped down from the throne and appointed his son Solomon as the new king of Israel. ² He summoned all the political and religious leaders of Israel for the coronation ceremony. ³ At this time a census was taken of the men of the tribe of Levi who were thirty years or older. The total came to 38,000.

^4-5 “Twenty-four thousand of them will supervise the work at the Temple,” David instructed, “6,000 are to be bailiffs and judges, 4,000 will be Temple guards, and 4,000 will praise the Lord with the musical instruments I have made.”

⁶ Then David divided them into three main divisions named after the sons of Levi—the Gershom division, the Kohath division, and the Merari division.

⁷ Subdivisions of the Gershom corps were named after his sons Ladan and Shimei. ^8-9 These subdivisions were still further divided into six groups named after the sons of Ladan: Jehiel the leader, Zetham, Joel; and the sons of Shimei^[w]—Shelomoth, Haziel, and Haran.

^10-11 The subclans of Shimei were named after his four sons: Jahath was greatest, Zizah^[x] was next, and Jeush and Beriah were combined into a single subclan because neither had many sons.

¹² The division of Kohath was subdivided into four groups named after his sons Amram, Izhar, Hebron, and Uzziel.

¹³ Amram was the ancestor of Aaron and Moses.^[y] Aaron and his sons were set apart for the holy service of sacrificing the people’s offerings to the Lord. He served the Lord constantly and pronounced blessings in his name at all times.

^14-15 As for Moses, the man of God, his sons, Gershom and Eliezer, were included with the tribe of Levi. ¹⁶ Gershom’s sons were led by Shebuel, ¹⁷ and Eliezer’s only son, Rehabiah, was the leader of his clan, for he had many children.

¹⁸ The sons of Izhar were led by Shelomith.

¹⁹ The sons of Hebron were led by Jeriah. Amariah was second in command, Jahaziel was third, and Jekameam was fourth.

²⁰ The sons of Uzziel were led by Micah, and Isshiah was the second in command.

²¹ The sons of Merari were Mahli and Mushi. The sons of Mahli were Eleazar and Kish. ²² Eleazar died without any sons, and his daughters were married to their cousins, the sons of Kish. ²³ Mushi’s sons were Mahli, Eder, and Jeremoth.

²⁴ In the census, all the men of Levi who were twenty years old or older were classified under the names of these clans and subclans; and they were all assigned to the ministry at the Temple. ²⁵ For David said, “The Lord God of Israel has given us peace, and he will always live in Jerusalem. ²⁶ Now the Levites will no longer need to carry the Tabernacle and its instruments from place to place.”

²⁷ (This census of the tribe of Levi was one of the last things David did before his death.) ²⁸ The work of the Levites was to assist the priests—the descendants of Aaron—in the sacrifices at the Temple; they also did the custodial work and helped perform the ceremonies of purification. ²⁹ They provided the Bread of the Presence, the flour for the grain offerings, and the wafers made without yeast (either fried or mixed with olive oil); they also checked all the weights and measures. ³⁰ Each morning and evening they stood before the Lord to sing thanks and praise to him. ³¹ They assisted in the special sacrifices of burnt offerings, the Sabbath sacrifices, the new moon celebrations, and at all the festivals. There were always as many Levites present as were required for the occasion. ³² And they took care of the Tabernacle and the Temple and assisted the priests in whatever way they were needed.