Offerings for the Temple

¹And David the king said to all the assembly, “Solomon my son, whom alone God has chosen, is pyoung and inexperienced, and the work is great, for qthe palace will not be for man but for the Lord God. ²So I have provided for the house of my God, so far as I was able, the gold for the things of gold, the silver for the things of silver, and the bronze for the things of bronze, the iron for the things of iron, and wood for the things of wood, besides great quantities of ronyx and stones for setting, antimony, colored stones, all sorts of precious stones and marble. ³Moreover, in addition to all that I have provided for the holy house, I have a treasure of my own of gold and silver, and because of my devotion to the house of my God I give it to the house of my God: ⁴s3,000 talents1 of gold, of the gold of tOphir, and 7,000 talents of refined silver, for overlaying the walls of the house,2 ⁵and for all the work to be done by craftsmen, gold for the things of gold and silver for the things of silver. Who then will offer willingly, consecrating himself3 today to the Lord?”

⁶Then uthe leaders of fathers' houses made their freewill offerings, as did also the leaders of the tribes, the commanders of thousands and of hundreds, and vthe officers over the king's work. ⁷They gave for the service of the house of God 5,000 talents and 10,000 wdarics4 of gold, 10,000 talents of silver, 18,000 talents of bronze and 100,000 talents of iron. ⁸And whoever had precious stones gave them to the treasury of the house of the Lord, in the care of xJehiel the Gershonite. ⁹Then the people rejoiced because they had given willingly, for with a ywhole heart they had offered freely to the Lord. David the king also rejoiced greatly.

David Prays in the Assembly

¹⁰Therefore David blessed the Lord in the presence of all the assembly. And David said: z“Blessed are you, O Lord, the God of Israel our father, forever and ever. ¹¹aYours, O Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty, for all that is in the heavens and in the earth is yours. Yours is the kingdom, O Lord, and you are exalted as head above all. ¹²bBoth riches and honor come from you, and you rule over all. cIn your hand are power and might, and in your hand it is to make great and to give strength to all. ¹³And now we thank you, our God, and praise your glorious name.

¹⁴“But who am I, and what is my people, that we should be able thus to offer willingly? For all things come from you, and of your own have we given you. ¹⁵dFor we are strangers before you and sojourners, as all our fathers were. Our days on the earth are elike a shadow, and there is no abiding.5 ¹⁶O Lord our God, all this abundance that we have provided for building you a house for your holy name comes from your hand and is all your own. ¹⁷I know, my God, fthat you test the heart and ghave pleasure in uprightness. In the uprightness of my heart I have freely offered all these things, and now I have seen your people, who are present here, offering freely and joyously to you. ¹⁸O Lord, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, our fathers, keep forever such purposes and thoughts in the hearts of your people, and direct their hearts toward you. ¹⁹hGrant to Solomon my son a whole heart that he may keep your commandments, your testimonies, and your statutes, performing all, and that he may ibuild the palace jfor which I have made provision.”

²⁰Then David said to all the assembly, k“Bless the Lord your God.” And all the assembly blessed the Lord, the God of their fathers, land bowed their heads and paid homage to the Lord and to the king.

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