But certain of the sons of the priests were set to make sweet savours.

Then Saul said to his armor bearer, “Draw your sword and run me through with it, otherwise these uncircumcised [Philistines] will come and abuse and humiliate me.” But his armor bearer would not, for he was terrified. So Saul took his own sword and fell on it.

Then all Israel gathered to David at Hebron, saying, “Behold, we are your bone and your flesh.

Even aforetime, even when Saul was king, thou wast he that leddest out and broughtest in Israel; and Jehovah thy God said to thee, Thou shalt feed my people Israel, and thou shalt be prince over my people Israel.

And the inhabitants of Jebus said to David, Thou shalt not come hither. Nevertheless David took the castle of Zion, which is the city of David.

And David went out to meet them, and answered and said to them, If ye come peaceably to me to help me, my heart shall be knit unto you; but if to betray me to mine enemies, seeing there is no wrong in my hands, the God of our fathers see it and rebuke it.

And David said to all the congregation of Israel, If it seem good to you, and it be of Jehovah our God, let us send abroad to our brethren everywhere, that are left in all the lands of Israel, and with them to the priests and Levites in their cities and suburbs, that they may gather themselves to us;

And all the congregation said to do so, for the thing was right in the eyes of all the people.

And David inquired of God saying, Shall I go up against the Philistines, and wilt thou give them into my hand? And Jehovah said to him, Go up; and I will give them into thy hand.

And David inquired again of God; and God said to him, Go not up after them; turn round them and come upon them opposite the mulberry-trees.

and he said to them, Ye are the chief fathers of the Levites; hallow yourselves, ye and your brethren, that ye may bring up the ark of Jehovah the God of Israel to the place that I have prepared for it.

And the sons of the Levites took up the ark of God, lifting it by its rods, as the Lord had said to Moses.

and Zechariah, and Aziel, and Shemiramoth, and Jehiel, and Unni, and Eliab, and Maaseiah, and Benaiah, with psalteries set to Alamoth;

and Mattithiah, and Eliphelehu, and Mikneiah, and Obed-edom, and Jeiel, and Azaziah, with harps set to the Sheminith, to lead.

Now it came to pass, as David sat in his house, that David said to Nathan the prophet, Lo, I dwell in an house of cedars, but the ark of the covenant of the LORD remaineth under curtains.

And Nathan said to David, Do all that is in thy heart; for God is with thee.

But the princes of the children of Ammon said to Hanun, Thinkest thou that David doth honour thy father, that he hath sent comforters unto thee? are not his servants come unto thee for to search, and to overthrow, and to spy out the land?

And David said to Joab and to the rulers of the people, Go, number Israel from Beersheba even to Dan; and bring the number of them to me, that I may know it.

And David said to God, I have sinned greatly, in that I have done this thing; and now, I beseech thee, put away the iniquity of thy servant; for I have done very foolishly.

And the Lord said to Gad, David’s seer,

And Gad came to David, and said to him, Thus saith Jehovah:

And David said to Gad, I am in a great strait: let me fall, I pray thee, into the hand of Jehovah, for his mercies are very great; but let me not fall into the hand of man.

And God sent an angel unto Jerusalem to destroy it: and as he was destroying, the LORD beheld, and he repented him of the evil, and said to the angel that destroyed, It is enough, stay now thine hand. And the angel of the LORD stood by the threshingfloor of Ornan the Jebusite.

And David said to God, Is it not I that commanded the people to be numbered? It is I that have sinned and done evil; but these sheep, what have they done? Let thy hand, I pray thee, Jehovah my God, be on me and on my father's house; but not on thy people, that they should be smitten.

And the messenger of Jehovah said to Gad to say to David that David shall go up to set up an altar to Jehovah in the threshing-floor of Oman the Jebusite.

Then David said to Ornan, Grant me the place of this threshingfloor, that I may build an altar therein unto the LORD: thou shalt grant it me for the full price: that the plague may be stayed from the people.

And Ornan said to David, Take it to thee, and let my lord the king do that which is good in his sight: see, I give the oxen for the burnt-offering, and the threshing-sledges for wood, and the wheat for the oblation; I give it all.

And king David said to Ornan, Nay; but I will verily buy it for the full price: for I will not take that which is thine for the LORD, nor offer burnt offerings without cost.

And David said to Solomon, My son, as for me, it was in my mind to build an house unto the name of the LORD my God:

But the Lord said to me: 'You have spilled a great deal of blood and fought many battles. You must not build a temple to honor me, for you have spilled a great deal of blood on the ground before me.

Of which twenty four thousand were set to further the work of the house of the LORD. And six thousand were officers and judges.

and four thousand were porters, and four thousand praised LORD with the instruments which I made, [David said], to praise therewith.

And David hath not taken up their number from a son of twenty years and under, for Jehovah said to multiply Israel as the stars of the heavens.

But God said to me, Thou shalt not build a house unto my name, for thou art a man of war, and hast shed blood.

And he said to me, Solomon thy son, he shall build my house and my courts; for I have chosen him to be my son, and I will be his father.

And David said to Solomon his son, Be strong and of good courage, and do it: fear not, nor be dismayed: for the LORD God, even my God, will be with thee; he will not fail thee, nor forsake thee, until thou hast finished all the work for the service of the house of the LORD.

And king David said to all the congregation, Solomon my son, the one whom God has chosen, is young and tender, and the work is great; for this palace is not to be for man, but for Jehovah Elohim.

And David said to all the congregation, Now bless the LORD your God. And all the congregation blessed the LORD God of their fathers, and bowed down their heads, and worshipped the LORD, and the king.

And they offered offerings unto the LORD. And on the morrow after the said day, they offered in burnt offerings unto the LORD a thousand oxen, a thousand rams, and a thousand lambs with their drink offerings.