1 Chronicles 29
New Catholic Bible
Chapter 29
Gifts for the Temple.[a] 1 King David then said to the whole assembly, “My son, Solomon, is the one whom God has chosen. He is young and inexperienced, and the task is great. This is not a palace for a human, but it is for the Lord God.
2 “I have made preparations for the temple of the Lord, my God, with all my resources: the gold, the golden objects, the silver, the silver objects, the bronze, the bronze objects, the iron, the iron objects, the wood, the wood objects, the stone, the onyx for settings, the glistening stones of various colors, all types of precious stones, and marble, all of them in great quantities.
3 “Moreover, in my devotion to the temple of my God, I have given gold and silver from my own possessions for the temple of my God in addition to everything that I have prepared for the holy temple. 4 This includes three thousand talents of gold (gold of Ophir) and seven thousand talents of refined silver to be used for overlaying the walls of the buildings. 5 It is also for the gold and the gold objects, the silver and the silver objects, and all types of work to be done by the craftsmen. Now, who is willing today to consecrate himself to the Lord?”
6 The leaders of the ancestral clans and the tribes of Israel, the captains of the thousands and the hundreds, and the supervisors of the king’s work gave willingly. 7 They gave five thousand talents and ten thousand darics[b] of gold, ten thousand talents of silver, eighteen thousand talents of bronze, and one hundred thousand talents of iron. 8 Any of those who had found precious stones gave them to the treasury of the temple of the Lord through Jehiel the Gershonite. 9 The people rejoiced because they had willingly responded and had given with their whole hearts to the Lord, and King David also rejoiced greatly.
10 [c]David praised the Lord in front of the whole assembly, and David said:
“Blessed are you, O Lord,
the God of Israel,
our father forever and ever.
11 “Yours, O Lord, are greatness,
power, glory, strength, and majesty,
for everything in heaven and on earth is yours.
Yours, O Lord, is the kingdom;
you are exalted as head over all.
12 Wealth and honor are from you,
you reign over all.
In your hand are power and might;
it to is in your hand make great and to give strength to all.
13 Now, our God, we thank you,
and we praise your glorious name.
14 But who am I, and what are your people,
that we should be able to do this?
All things belong to you,
and everything that we have given you is from your hand.
15 We are foreigners and aliens,
as all our fathers were before us.
Our days are like a shadow upon the earth,
none of them abide.
16 O Lord, our God,
all of this wealth that we have to build a temple for you
and for your holy name is from your hand,
and it all belongs to you.
17 I know, my God,
that you have tested my heart,
and that you are pleased with
the integrity of my heart.
I have willingly offered you all these things.
And now I have seen your people who are present here.
They joyfully and willingly make
this offering to you.
18 O Lord, God of our fathers,
of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob,
keep this desire in the inner thoughts
of your people forever,
and make their hearts loyal to you.
19 Give my son Solomon a pure heart
so that he might observe your commandments, your ordinances, and your statutes,
and do everything to build the temple
for which I have made provision.”
20 David then said to the whole assembly, “Praise the Lord, your God!” The whole assembly praised the Lord, the God of their fathers. They bowed down their heads, and they fell prostrate before the Lord and the king.
21 On the next day they made sacrifices to the Lord and offered burnt offerings to the Lord: one thousand bulls, one thousand rams, and one thousand lambs. There were drink offerings and other sacrifices in abundance for all of Israel. 22 They ate and drank before the Lord that day with great joy.[d]
Then they acknowledged Solomon, the son of David, as king a second time, and they anointed him before the Lord to be ruler and Zadok to be priest. 23 Solomon sat on the throne of the Lord in the place of David, his father. He prospered and everyone in Israel obeyed him. 24 All of the leaders and mighty men and all of King David’s sons paid obeisance to King Solomon. 25 The Lord exalted Solomon greatly before all of Israel, and he bestowed upon him majesty and royal dignity as no king in Israel had ever had before him.
26 David, the son of Jesse, reigned over all of Israel. 27 He ruled over Israel for forty years. He reigned for seven years in Hebron, and he reigned for thirty-three years in Jerusalem. 28 He died at a good, old age in the fullness of his years. He had enjoyed wealth and honor. Then Solomon, his son, reigned in his stead.
29 [e]As for the other deeds of King David, from the beginning to the end, they are written in the Book of Samuel the Seer, the Book of Nathan the Prophet, and in the Book of Gad the Seer, 30 along with all of the details of his reign and his might and his own times and those of Israel and of all the kingdoms of the other lands.
Footnotes
- 1 Chronicles 29:1 The numbers seem inflated here, as they were earlier (1 Chr 22:14); they are a way of bringing out the importance and high quality of the gifts.
- 1 Chronicles 29:7 Darics: evidently an anachronism, since darics were gold Persian coins.
- 1 Chronicles 29:10 The thanksgiving which the king offers in the name of the people is still one of the most beautiful of liturgical prayers.
- 1 Chronicles 29:22 Solomon was David’s choice to succeed him (1 Chr 23:1), and this is a public affirmation of his appointment.
- 1 Chronicles 29:29 It is of interest to know of the works used by the author, but they are unknown to us.
