Day 107 of 365

¹It happened, at the time of the return of the year, at the time when kings go out, that Joab led forth the army, and wasted the country of the children of Ammon, and came and besieged Rabbah. But David stayed at Jerusalem. Joab struck Rabbah, and overthrew it.

²David took the crown of their king from off his head, and found it to weigh a talent of gold, and there were precious stones in it; and it was set on David's head: and he brought forth the spoil of the city, a very great amount.

³He brought forth the people who were therein, and cut them with saws, and with iron picks, and with axes. David did so to all the cities of the children of Ammon. David and all the people returned to Jerusalem.

⁴It happened after this, that there arose war at Gezer with the Philistines: then Sibbecai the Hushathite killed Sippai, of the sons of the giant; and they were subdued.

⁵There was again war with the Philistines; and Elhanan the son of Jair killed Lahmi the brother of Goliath the Gittite, the staff of whose spear was like a weaver's beam.

⁶There was again war at Gath, where there was a man of great stature, whose fingers and toes were twenty-four, six on each hand, and six on each foot; and he also was born to the giant.

⁷When he defied Israel, Jonathan the son of Shimea David's brother killed him.

⁸These were born to the giant in Gath; and they fell by the hand of David, and by the hand of his servants.

¹Satan stood up against Israel, and moved David to number Israel.

²David said to Joab and to the princes of the people, "Go, number Israel from Beersheba even to Dan; and bring me word, that I may know the sum of them."

³Joab said, "May the Lord make his people a hundred times as many as they are. But, my lord the king, aren't they all my lord's servants? Why does my lord require this thing? Why will he be a cause of guilt to Israel?"

⁴Nevertheless the king's word prevailed against Joab. Therefore Joab departed, and went throughout all Israel, and came to Jerusalem.

⁵Joab gave up the sum of the numbering of the people to David. All those of Israel were one million one hundred thousand men who drew sword: and in Judah were four hundred seventy thousand men who drew sword.

⁶But he did not count Levi and Benjamin among them; for the king's word was abominable to Joab.

⁷God was displeased with this thing; therefore he struck Israel.

⁸David said to God, "I have sinned greatly, in that I have done this thing. But now, put away, I beg you, the iniquity of your servant; for I have done very foolishly."

⁹The Lord spoke to Gad, David's seer, saying,

¹⁰"Go and speak to David, saying, 'Thus says the Lord, "I offer you three things. Choose one of them, that I may do it to you."'"

¹¹So Gad came to David, and said to him, "Thus says the Lord, 'Take your choice:

¹²either three years of famine; or three months to be consumed before your foes, while the sword of your enemies overtakes you; or else three days the sword of the Lord, even pestilence in the land, and the angel of the Lord destroying throughout all the borders of Israel. Now therefore consider what answer I shall return to him who sent me.'"

¹³David said to Gad, "I am in distress. Let me fall, I pray, into the hand of the Lord; for his mercies are very great. Let me not fall into the hand of man."

¹⁴So the Lord sent a pestilence on Israel; and seventy thousand men of Israel fell.

¹⁵God sent an angel to Jerusalem to destroy it. As he was about to destroy, the Lord saw, and he relented of the disaster, and said to the destroying angel, "It is enough; now stay your hand." The angel of the Lord was standing by the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite.

¹⁶David lifted up his eyes, and saw the angel of the Lord standing between earth and the sky, having a drawn sword in his hand stretched out over Jerusalem. Then David and the elders, clothed in sackcloth, fell on their faces.

¹⁷David said to God, "Isn't it I who commanded the people to be numbered? It is even I who have sinned and done very wickedly; but these sheep, what have they done? Please let your hand, O Lord my God, be against me, and against my father's house; but not against your people, that they should be plagued."

¹⁸Then the angel of the Lord commanded Gad to tell David that David should go up, and raise an altar to the Lord in the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite.

¹⁹David went up at the saying of Gad, which he spoke in the name of the Lord.

²⁰Ornan turned back, and saw the angel; and his four sons who were with him hid themselves. Now Ornan was threshing wheat.

²¹As David came to Ornan, Ornan looked and saw David, and went out of the threshing floor, and bowed himself to David with his face to the ground.

²²Then David said to Ornan, "Give me the place of this threshing floor, that I may build thereon an altar to the Lord. You shall sell it to me for the full price, that the plague may be stopped from afflicting the people."

²³Ornan said to David, "Take it for yourself, and let my lord the king do that which is good in his eyes. Behold, I give the oxen for burnt offerings, and the threshing instruments for wood, and the wheat for the meal offering. I give it all."

²⁴King David said to Ornan, "No; but I will most certainly buy it for the full price. For I will not take that which is yours for the Lord, nor offer a burnt offering without cost."

²⁵So David gave to Ornan six hundred shekels of gold by weight for the place.

²⁶David built an altar to the Lord there, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings, and called on the Lord; and he answered him from the sky by fire on the altar of burnt offering.

²⁷The Lord commanded the angel; and he put up his sword again into its sheath.

²⁸At that time, when David saw that the Lord had answered him in the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite, then he sacrificed there.

²⁹For the tabernacle of the Lord, which Moses made in the wilderness, and the altar of burnt offering, were at that time in the high place at Gibeon.

³⁰But David couldn't go before it to inquire of God; for he was afraid because of the sword of the angel of the Lord.

¹Then David said, "This is the house of the Lord God, and this is the altar of burnt offering for Israel."

²David gave orders to gather together the foreigners who were in the land of Israel; and he set masons to cut worked stones to build God's house.

³David prepared iron in abundance for the nails for the doors of the gates, and for the couplings; and brass in abundance without weight;

⁴and cedar trees without number: for the Sidonians and they of Tyre brought cedar trees in abundance to David.

⁵David said, "Solomon my son is young and tender, and the house that is to be built for the Lord must be exceedingly magnificent, of fame and of glory throughout all countries. I will therefore make preparation for it." So David prepared abundantly before his death.

⁶Then he called for Solomon his son, and commanded him to build a house for the Lord, the God of Israel.

⁷David said to Solomon his son, "As for me, it was in my heart to build a house to the name of the Lord my God.

⁸But the word of the Lord came to me, saying, 'You have shed blood abundantly, and have made great wars. You shall not build a house to my name, because you have shed much blood on the earth in my sight.

⁹Behold, a son shall be born to you, who shall be a man of rest. I will give him rest from all his enemies all around; for his name shall be Solomon, and I will give peace and quietness to Israel in his days.

¹⁰He shall build a house for my name; and he shall be my son, and I will be his father; and I will establish the throne of his kingdom over Israel for ever.'

¹¹Now, my son, may the Lord be with you and prosper you, and build the house of the Lord your God, as he has spoken concerning you.

¹²May the Lord give you discretion and understanding, and put you in charge of Israel; that so you may keep the law of the Lord your God.

¹³Then you will prosper, if you observe to do the statutes and the ordinances which the Lord gave Moses concerning Israel. Be strong, and courageous. Do not be afraid, neither be dismayed.

¹⁴Now, behold, in my affliction I have prepared for the house of the Lord one hundred thousand talents of gold, one million talents of silver, and brass and iron without weight; for it is in abundance. I have also prepared timber and stone; and you may add to them.

¹⁵There are also workmen with you in abundance, cutters and workers of stone and timber, and all kinds of men who are skillful in every kind of work:

¹⁶of the gold, the silver, and the brass, and the iron, there is no number. Arise and be doing, and may the Lord be with you."

¹⁷David also commanded all the princes of Israel to help Solomon his son, saying,

¹⁸"Isn't the Lord your God with you? Hasn't he given you rest on every side? For he has delivered the inhabitants of the land into my hand; and the land is subdued before the Lord, and before his people.

¹⁹Now set your heart and your soul to seek after the Lord your God. Arise therefore, and build the sanctuary of the Lord God, to bring the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and the holy vessels of God, into the house that is to be built to the name of the Lord."

¹Now David was old and full of days; and he made Solomon his son king over Israel.

²He gathered together all the princes of Israel, with the priests and the Levites.

³The Levites were numbered from thirty years old and upward: and their number by their polls, man by man, was thirty-eight thousand.

⁴David said, "Of these, twenty-four thousand were to oversee the work of the house of the Lord; six thousand were officers and judges;

⁵four thousand were doorkeepers; and four thousand praised the Lord with the instruments which I made, for giving praise."

⁶David divided them into divisions according to the sons of Levi: Gershon, Kohath, and Merari.

⁷Of the Gershonites: Ladan and Shimei.

⁸The sons of Ladan: Jehiel the chief, and Zetham, and Joel, three.

⁹The sons of Shimei: Shelomoth, and Haziel, and Haran, three. These were the heads of the fathers' households of Ladan.

¹⁰The sons of Shimei: Jahath, Zina, and Jeush, and Beriah. These four were the sons of Shimei.

¹¹Jahath was the chief, and Zizah the second: but Jeush and Beriah did not have many sons; therefore they became a fathers' house in one reckoning.

¹²The sons of Kohath: Amram, Izhar, Hebron, and Uzziel, four.

¹³The sons of Amram: Aaron and Moses; and Aaron was separated, that he should sanctify the most holy things, he and his sons, forever, to burn incense before the Lord, to minister to him, and to bless in his name, forever.

¹⁴But as for Moses the man of God, his sons were named among the tribe of Levi.

¹⁵The sons of Moses: Gershom and Eliezer.

¹⁶The sons of Gershom: Shebuel the chief.

¹⁷The sons of Eliezer were: Rehabiah the chief; and Eliezer had no other sons; but the sons of Rehabiah were very many.

¹⁸The sons of Izhar: Shelomith the chief.

¹⁹The sons of Hebron: Jeriah the chief, Amariah the second, Jahaziel the third, and Jekameam the fourth.

²⁰The sons of Uzziel: Micah the chief, and Isshiah the second.

²¹The sons of Merari: Mahli and Mushi. The sons of Mahli: Eleazar and Kish.

²²Eleazar died, and had no sons, but daughters only: and their brothers the sons of Kish took them as wives.

²³The sons of Mushi: Mahli, and Eder, and Jeremoth, three.

²⁴These were the sons of Levi after their fathers' houses, even the heads of the fathers' houses of those who were counted individually, in the number of names by their polls, who did the work for the service of the house of the Lord, from twenty years old and upward.

²⁵For David said, "The Lord, the God of Israel, has given rest to his people; and he dwells in Jerusalem forever.

²⁶Also the Levites will no longer need to carry the tabernacle and all its vessels for its service."

²⁷For by the last words of David the sons of Levi were numbered, from twenty years old and upward.

²⁸For their office was to wait on the sons of Aaron for the service of the house of the Lord, in the courts, and in the rooms, and in the purifying of all holy things, even the work of the service of God's house;

²⁹for the show bread also, and for the fine flour for a meal offering, whether of unleavened wafers, or of that which is baked in the pan, or of that which is soaked, and for all kinds of measure and size;

³⁰and to stand every morning to thank and praise the Lord, and likewise in the evening;

³¹and to offer all burnt offerings to the Lord, on the Sabbaths, on the new moons, and on the set feasts, in number according to the ordinance concerning them, continually before the Lord;

³²and that they should keep the duty of the Tent of Meeting, and the duty of the holy place, and the duty of the sons of Aaron their brothers, for the service of the house of the Lord.