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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,[a] 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
7 Subdivisions of the Gershom corps were named after his sons
10-11 The subclans of Shimei were named after his four sons: Jahath was greatest, Zizah[c] 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
13 Amram was the ancestor of Aaron and Moses.[d] 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,
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
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.
9 Well, then, are we Jews better than others? No, not at all, for we have already shown that all men alike are sinners, whether Jews or Gentiles. 10 As the Scriptures say,
“No one is good—no one in all the world is innocent.”[a]
11 No one has ever really followed God’s paths or even truly wanted to.
12 Every one has turned away; all have gone wrong. No one anywhere has kept on doing what is right; not one.
13 Their talk is foul and filthy like the stench from an open grave.[b] Their tongues are loaded with lies. Everything they say has in it the sting and poison of deadly snakes.
14 Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness.
15 They are quick to kill, hating anyone who disagrees with them.[c]
16 Wherever they go they leave misery and trouble behind them, 17 and they have never known what it is to feel secure or enjoy God’s blessing.
18 They care nothing about God nor what he thinks of them.
19 So the judgment of God lies very heavily upon the Jews, for they are responsible to keep God’s laws instead of doing all these evil things; not one of them has any excuse; in fact, all the world stands hushed and guilty before Almighty God.
20 Now do you see it? No one can ever be made right in God’s sight by doing what the law commands. For the more we know of God’s laws, the clearer it becomes that we aren’t obeying them; his laws serve only to make us see that we are sinners.
21-22 But now God has shown us a different way to heaven[d]—not by “being good enough” and trying to keep his laws, but by a new way (though not new, really, for the Scriptures told about it long ago). Now God says he will accept and acquit us—declare us “not guilty”—if we trust Jesus Christ to take away our sins. And we all can be saved in this same way, by coming to Christ, no matter who we are or what we have been like. 23 Yes, all have sinned; all fall short of God’s glorious ideal; 24 yet now God declares us “not guilty” of offending him if we trust in Jesus Christ, who in his kindness freely takes away our sins.
25 For God sent Christ Jesus to take the punishment for our sins and to end all God’s anger against us. He used Christ’s blood and our faith as the means of saving us from his wrath.[e] In this way he was being entirely fair, even though he did not punish those who sinned in former times. For he was looking forward to the time when Christ would come and take away those sins. 26 And now in these days also he can receive sinners in this same way because Jesus took away their sins.
But isn’t this unfair for God to let criminals go free, and say that they are innocent? No, for he does it on the basis of their trust in Jesus who took away their sins.
27 Then what can we boast about doing to earn our salvation? Nothing at all. Why? Because our acquittal is not based on our good deeds; it is based on what Christ has done and our faith in him. 28 So it is that we are saved[f] by faith in Christ and not by the good things we do.
29 And does God save only the Jews in this way? No, the Gentiles, too, may come to him in this same manner. 30 God treats us all the same; all, whether Jews or Gentiles, are acquitted if they have faith. 31 Well then, if we are saved by faith, does this mean that we no longer need obey God’s laws? Just the opposite! In fact, only when we trust Jesus can we truly obey him.
12 Lord! Help! Godly men are fast disappearing. Where in all the world can dependable men be found? 2 Everyone deceives and flatters and lies. There is no sincerity left.
3-4 But the Lord will not deal gently with people who act like that; he will destroy those proud liars who say, “We will lie to our heart’s content. Our lips are our own; who can stop us?”
5 The Lord replies, “I will arise and defend the oppressed, the poor, the needy. I will rescue them as they have longed for me to do.” 6 The Lord’s promise is sure. He speaks no careless word; all he says is purest truth, like silver seven times refined. 7 O Lord, we know that you will forever preserve your own from the reach of evil men, 8 although they prowl on every side and vileness is praised throughout the land.
13 A rebellious son is a calamity to his father, and a nagging wife annoys like constant dripping.
14 A father can give his sons homes and riches, but only the Lord can give them understanding wives.
The Living Bible copyright © 1971 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.