“Enough! Stay your hand!” The angel of the LORD was then standing by the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite. 16David looked up and saw the angel of the LORD standing between heaven and earth, with a drawn sword in his hand directed against Jerusalem. David and the elders, covered in sackcloth, threw themselves on their faces. 17David said to God, “Was it not I alone who ordered the numbering of the people? I alone am guilty, and have caused severe harm; but these sheep, what have they done? O LORD my God, let Your hand fall upon me and my father’s house, and let not Your people be plagued!” 18The angel of the LORD told Gad to inform David that David should go and set up an altar to the LORD on the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite. 19David went up, following Gad’s instructions, which he had delivered in the name of the LORD. 20Ornan too saw the angel; his four sons who were with him hid themselves while Ornan kept on threshing wheat. 21David came to Ornan; when Ornan looked up, he saw David and came off the threshing floor and bowed low to David, with his face to the ground. 22David said to Ornan, “Sell me the site of the threshing floor, that I may build on it an altar to the LORD. Sell it to me at the full price, that the plague against the people will be checked.” 23Ornan said to David, “Take it and let my lord the king do whatever he sees fit. See, I donate oxen for burnt offerings, and the threshing boards for wood, as well as wheat for a meal offering—I donate all of it.” 24But King David replied to Ornan, “No, I will buy them at the full price. I cannot make a present to the LORD of what belongs to you, or sacrifice a burnt offering that has cost me nothing.” 25So David paid Ornan for the site 600 shekels’ worth of gold. 26And David built there an altar to the LORD and sacrificed burnt offerings and offerings of well-being. He invoked the LORD, who answered him with fire from heaven on the altar of burnt offerings. 27The LORD ordered the angel to return his sword to its sheath. 28At that time, when David saw that the LORD answered him at the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite, then he sacrificed there—29for the Tabernacle of the LORD, which Moses had made in the wilderness, and the altar of burnt offerings, were at that time in the shrine at Gibeon, 30and David was unable to go to it to worship the LORD because he was terrified by the sword of the angel of the LORD. 1David said, “Here will be the House of the LORD and here the altar of burnt offerings for Israel.”

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2David gave orders to assemble the aliens living in the land of Israel, and assigned them to be hewers, to quarry and dress stones for building the House of God. 3Much iron for nails for the doors of the gates and for clasps did David lay aside, and so much copper it could not be weighed, 4and cedar logs without number—for the Sidonians and the Tyrians brought many cedar logs to David.

5For David thought, “My son Solomon is an untried youth, and the House to be built for the LORD is to be made exceedingly great to win fame and glory throughout all the lands; let me then lay aside material for him.” So David laid aside much material before he died. 6Then he summoned his son Solomon and charged him with building the House for the LORD God of Israel.
7David said to Solomon, “My son, I wanted to build a House for the name of the LORD my God. 8But the word of the LORD came to me, saying, ‘You have shed much blood and fought great battles; you shall not build a House for My name for you have shed much blood on the earth in My sight. 9But you will have a son who will be a man at rest, for I will give him rest from all his enemies on all sides; Solomona will be his name and I shall confer peaceb and quiet on Israel in his time. 10He will build a House for My name; he shall be a son to Me and I to him a father, and I will establish his throne of kingship over Israel forever.’ 11Now, my son, may the LORD be with you, and may you succeed in building the House of the LORD your God as He promised you would. 12Only let God give you sense and understanding and put you in charge of Israel and the observance of the Teaching of the LORD your God. 13Then you shall succeed, if you observantly carry out the laws and the rules that the LORD charged Moses to lay upon Israel. Be strong and of good courage; do not be afraid or dismayed. 14See, c-by denying myself,-c I have laid aside for the House of the LORD one hundred thousand talents of gold and one million talents of silver, and so much copper and iron it cannot be weighed; I have also laid aside wood and stone, and you shall add to them. 15An abundance of workmen is at your disposal— hewers, workers in stone and wood, and every kind of craftsman in every kind of material—16gold, silver, copper, and iron without limit. Go and do it, and may the LORD be with you.”

17David charged all the officers of Israel to support his son Solomon, 18“See, the LORD your God is with you, and He will give you rest on every side, for He delivered the inhabitants of the land into my hand so that the land lies conquered before the LORD and before His people. 19Now, set your minds and hearts on worshiping the LORD your God, and go build the Sanctuary of the LORD your God so that you may bring the Ark of the Covenant of the LORD and the holy vessels of God to the house that is built for the name of the LORD.”

23 When David reached a ripe old age, he made his son Solomon king over Israel. 2Then David assembled all the officers of Israel and the priests and the Levites. 3The Levites, from the age of thirty and upward, were counted; the head-count of their males was 38,000: 4of these there were 24,000 in charge of the work of the House of the LORD, 6,000 officers and magistrates, 54,000 gatekeepers, and 4,000 for praising the LORD “with instruments I devised for singing praises.” 6David formed them into divisions:
The sons of Levi: Gershon, Kohath, and Merari. 7The Gershonites: Ladan and Shimei. 8The sons of Ladan: Jehiel the chief, Zetham, and Joel—3. 9The sons of Shimei: Shelomith, Haziel, and Haran—3. These were the chiefs of the clans of the Ladanites. 10And the sons of Shimei: Jahath, Zina, Jeush, and Beriah; these were the sons of Shimei—4. 11Jahath was the chief and Zizah the second, but Jeush and Beriah did not have many children, so they were enrolled together as a single clan. 12The sons of Kohath: Amram, Izhar, Hebron, and Uzziel—4. 13The sons of Amram: Aaron and Moses. Aaron was set apart, he and his sons, forever, to be consecrated as most holy, to make burnt offerings to the LORD and serve Him and pronounce blessings in His name forever. 14As for Moses, the man of God, his sons were named after the tribe of Levi. 15The sons of Moses: Gershom and Eliezer. 16The sons of Gershom: Shebuel the chief. 17And the sons of Eliezer were: Rehabiah the chief. Eliezer had no other sons, but the sons of Rehabiah were very numerous. 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 having no sons but only daughters; the sons of Kish, their kinsmen, married them. 23The sons of Mushi: Mahli, Eder, and Jeremoth—3.

24These are the sons of Levi by clans, with their clan chiefs as they were enrolled, with a list of their names by heads, who did the work of the service of the House of the LORD from the age of twenty and upward. 25For David said, “The LORD God of Israel has given rest to His people and made His dwelling in Jerusalem forever. 26Therefore the Levites need not carry the Tabernacle and all its various service vessels.” 27Among the last acts of David was the counting of the Levites from the age of twenty and upward. 28For their appointment was alongside the Aaronites for the service of the House of the LORD, to look after the courts and the chambers, and the purity of all the holy things, and the performance of the service of the House of God, 29and the rows of bread, and the fine flour for the meal offering, and the unleavened wafers, and the cakes made on the griddle and soaked, and every measure of capacity and length; 30and to be present every morning to praise and extol the LORD, and at evening too, 31and whenever offerings were made to the LORD, according to the quantities prescribed for them, on sabbaths, new moons and holidays, regularly, before the LORD; 32and so to keep watch over the Tent of Meeting,