He was of the sons of Perez, and the chief of all the captains of the army for the first month.

And over the division for the second month was Eleazar, the son of Dodai the Ahohite, the ruler; and in his division were twenty-four thousand.

The third captain of the army for the third month was Benaiah, the son of Jehoiada the priest; and in his division were twenty-four thousand.

This is the same Benaiah who was the great man of the thirty, chief of the thirty; and in his division was Ammizabad his son.

The fourth captain for the fourth month was Asahel, the brother of Joab, and Zebadiah his son after him; and in his division were twenty-four thousand.

The sixth captain for the sixth month was Ira, the son of Ikkesh the Tekoite; and in his division were twenty-four thousand.

The seventh captain for the seventh month was Helez the Pelonite, of the sons of Ephraim; and in his division were twenty-four thousand.

The eighth captain for the eighth month was Sibbecai the Hushathite, of the Zerahites; and in his division were twenty-four thousand.

The ninth captain for the ninth month was Abiezer the Anathothite, of the Benjamites; and in his division were twenty-four thousand.

The tenth captain for the tenth month was Maharai the Netophathite, of the Zerahites; and in his division were twenty-four thousand.

The eleventh captain for the eleventh month was Benaiah the Pirathonite, of the sons of Ephraim; and in his division were twenty-four thousand.

The twelfth captain for the twelfth month was Heldai the Netophathite, of Othniel; and in his division were twenty-four thousand.

And over the tribes of Israel: the ruler of the Reubenites was Eliezer, the son of Zichri; of the Simeonites, Shephatiah, the son of Maacah;

Of Levi, Hashabiah, the son of Kemuel; of Aaron, Zadok;

Of Judah, Elihu, one of the brothers of David; of Issachar, Omri, the son of Michael;

Of Zebulun, Ishmaiah, the son of Obadiah; of Naphtali, Jerimoth, the son of Azriel;

Of the children of Ephraim, Hoshea, the son of Azaziah; of the half-tribe of Manasseh, Joel, the son of Pedaiah;

Of the half-tribe of Manasseh in Gilead, Iddo, the son of Zechariah; of Benjamin, Jaasiel, the son of Abner;

Of Dan, Azarel, the son of Jeroham. These were the captains of the tribes of Israel.

But David did not take the number of those who were under twenty years old, for the Lord had said that he would make Israel like the stars of heaven in number.

The numbering was started by Joab, the son of Zeruiah, but he did not go on to the end; and because of it, wrath came on Israel and the number was not recorded in the history of King David.

And Azmaveth, the son of Adiel, was controller of the king's property; Jonathan, the son of Uzziah, had control of all store-houses in country places and in the towns and little towns and strong places;

Ezri, the son of Chelub, had authority over the field-workers and farmers;

Shimei the Ramathite was responsible for the vine-gardens; Zabdi the Shiphmite was responsible for the produce of the vine-gardens and for all the stores of wine;

Baal-hanan the Gederite was responsible for the olive-trees and the sycamore-trees in the lowlands; and Joash for the stores of oil;

And Shitrai the Sharonite was responsible for the herds in the grass-lands of Sharon, and Shaphat, the son of Adlai, for those in the valleys;

Obil the Ishmaelite had control of the camels and Jehdeiah the Meronothite of the she-asses;

The flocks were in the care of Jaziz the Hagarite. All these were the controllers of King David's property.

Now Jonathan, David's father's brother, expert in discussion, and a man of good sense, was a scribe; and Jehiel the son of Hachmoni, had the care of the king's sons;

After Ahithophel was Jehoiada, the son of Benaiah, and Abiathar; and the captain of the king's army was Joab.

And David got together at Jerusalem all the rulers of Israel, the chiefs of the tribes and the captains of the divisions waiting on the king in turn, and the captains of thousands and the captains of hundreds and the controllers of all the goods and property of the king and his sons, with the unsexed servants and the great men of war.

Then David the king got up and said, Give ear to me, my brothers and my people; it was my desire to put up a house, a resting-place for the ark of the Lord's agreement, and for the foot-rest of our God; and I had got material ready for the building of it.

But God said to me, You are not to be the builder of a house for my name, because you are a man of war and have taken life;

Though the Lord, the God of Israel, took me out of all my father's family, to be king over Israel for ever, marking out Judah to be chief, and, of the people of Judah, my father's family; and among the sons of my father he was pleased to make me king over all Israel;

And of all my sons (for the Lord has given me a great number of sons) he has made selection of Solomon to take his place on the seat of the kingdom of the Lord over Israel.

And he said to me, Solomon your son will be the builder of my house and the open spaces round it; for I have taken him to be my son, and I will be his father.

I will keep his kingdom in its place for ever, if he is strong at all times to do my orders and keep my rules, as at this day.

So now, before the eyes of all Israel, the people of the Lord, and in the hearing of our God, keep and be true to the orders of the Lord your God; so that you may have this good land for yourselves and give it for a heritage to your children after you for ever.

And you, Solomon my son, get knowledge of the God of your father, and be his servant with a true heart and with a strong desire, for the Lord is the searcher of all hearts, and has knowledge of all the designs of men's thoughts; if you make search for him, he will be near you; but if you are turned away from him, he will give you up for ever.

Now then, take note; for the Lord has made selection of you to be the builder of a house for the holy place. Be strong and do it.

Then David gave to his son Solomon the design of the doorway of the house of God and of its houses and its store-houses, and the higher rooms and the inner rooms and the place for the mercy-seat;

And the design of all he had in his heart for the outer squares of the house of the Lord, and for the rooms all round it, and for the store-houses of the house of the Lord, and for the store-houses for the holy things;

And for the divisions of the priests and Levites, and for all the work in connection with the worship of the house of the Lord, and all the vessels used in the house of the Lord;

Of gold, by weight, for the vessels of gold, for all the vessels of different uses; and silver for all the vessels of silver by weight, for vessels of different uses;

And gold by weight for the light-supports and the vessels for the lights, the weight of gold needed for every support and every vessel for lights; and for the silver light-supports, the weight of silver needed for every support and for the different vessels as every one was to be used;

And the best gold for the altar of perfumes; and gold for the design of the carriage, for the winged ones whose wings were outstretched covering the ark of the Lord's agreement.

All this, said David, the design for all these things, has been made dear to me in writing by the hand of the Lord.

And David said to his son Solomon, Be strong and of a good heart and do your work; have no fear and do not be troubled, for the Lord God, my God, is with you; he will not give you up, and his face will not be turned away from you, till all the work necessary for the house of the Lord is complete.

And see, there are the divisions of the priests and Levites for all the work of the house of God; and every trained and expert workman will be ready to do for you whatever is needed; and the captains and the people will be under your orders in everything.

Now as far as I am able, I have made ready what is needed for the house of my God; the gold for the things of gold, and the silver for the silver things, and the brass for the brass things, iron for the things of iron, and wood for the things of wood; beryls and jewels to be framed, and stones of different colours for ornament; all sorts of stones of great price, and polished building-stone, as much as is needed and more.

And because this house of God is dear to me, I give my private store of gold and silver to the house of my God, in addition to all I have got ready for the holy house;

Even three thousand talents of gold of Ophir and seven thousand talents of the best silver, for plating the walls of the house:

Gold for the gold things, and silver for the silver things, and for every sort of work to be done by the expert workmen. Who then will come forward, offering himself this day for the Lord's work?

Then the heads of families and the chiefs of the tribes of Israel, and the captains of thousands and of hundreds, with the controllers of the king's business, freely gave themselves;

And they gave for the use of the house of the Lord, five thousand talents and ten thousand darics of gold, and ten thousand talents of silver, and eighteen thousand talents of brass, and a hundred thousand talents of iron.

And those who had stones of great price gave them to the store of the house of the Lord, under the care of Jehiel the Gershonite.

Then the people were glad because their offerings were freely given, for with a true heart they freely gave what they had to the Lord; and David the king was full of joy.

So David gave praise to the Lord before all the people; and David said, Praise be to you, O Lord the God of Israel, our father for ever and ever.

So now, our God, we give you praise, honouring the glory of your name.

For we, as all our fathers were, are like men from a strange country before you, who have got a place for a time in the land; our days on the earth are like a shade, and there is no hope of going on.

O Lord our God, all this store, which we have made ready for the building of a house for your holy name, comes from your hand and is yours.

And I am conscious, my God, that you are the searcher of hearts, taking pleasure in righteousness. As for me, with an upright heart I have freely given all these things; and I have seen with joy your people who are here to make their offerings freely to you.

O Lord, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Israel, our fathers, keep this for ever in the deepest thoughts of your people, and let their hearts be fixed and true to you;

And David said to all the people, Now give praise to the Lord your God. And all the people gave praise to the Lord, the God of their fathers, with bent heads worshipping the Lord and the king.

And they made offerings to the Lord, and gave burned offerings to the Lord, on the day after, a thousand oxen, a thousand sheep, and a thousand lambs, with their drink offerings, and a great wealth of offerings for all Israel.

And with great joy they made a feast before the Lord that day. And they made Solomon, the son of David, king a second time, putting the holy oil on him to make him holy to the Lord as ruler, and on Zadok as priest.

So Solomon was put on the seat of the Lord as king in place of his father David, and everything went well for him; and all Israel was under his authority.

And all the chiefs and the men of war and all the sons of King David put themselves under the authority of Solomon the king.

And the Lord made Solomon great in the eyes of all Israel, clothing him with glory and honour such as no other king in Israel had had before him.

Now David, the son of Jesse, was king over all Israel.

And he came to his end after a long life, full of days and great wealth and honour; and Solomon his son became king in his place.

Now all the acts of David, first and last, are recorded in the words of Samuel the seer, and the words of Nathan the prophet, and the words of Gad the seer;

Together with all his rule and his power, and the events which took place in his time, in Israel and in all the kingdoms of other lands.

And Solomon, the son of David, made himself strong in his kingdom, and the Lord his God was with him, and made him very great.

And Solomon sent word to all Israel, to the captains of thousands and of hundreds and to the judges and to every chief in all Israel, heads of their families.

Then Solomon, and all the men of Israel with him, went to the high place at Gibeon, because the Tent of meeting of God, which Moses, the servant of the Lord, had made in the waste land, was there.

But the ark of God had been moved by David from Kiriath-jearim to the place which he had made ready for it, for he had put up a tent for it at Jerusalem.

And the altar of brass which Bezalel, the son of Uri, the son of Hur, had made, was there before the Tent of the Lord; and Solomon and all the people went to give worship there.

And Solomon went up there to the brass altar before the Lord at the Tent of meeting, offering on it a thousand burned offerings.

Now, O Lord God, let your word to David my father come true; for you have made me king over a people like the dust of the earth in number.

Give me now wisdom and knowledge, so that I may go out and come in before this people: for who is able to be the judge of this great people of yours?

And God said to Solomon, Because this was in your heart, and you did not make request for money, property, or honour, or for the destruction of your haters, or for long life; but you have made request for wisdom and knowledge for yourself, so that you may be the judge of my people over whom I have made you king:

So Solomon went back from the high place at Gibeon, from before the Tent of meeting, to Jerusalem; and he was king over Israel.

And the king made silver and gold as common as stones in Jerusalem, and cedar like the sycamore-trees of the lowland in number.

And Solomon's horses came out of Egypt; the king's traders got them from Kue at a price.

A war-carriage might be got from Egypt for six hundred shekels of silver, and a horse for a hundred and fifty: they got them at the same rate for all the kings of the Hittites and the kings of Aram.

Now it was Solomon's purpose to put up a house for the name of the Lord and a house for himself as king.

And Solomon sent to Huram, king of Tyre, saying, As you did for my father David, sending him cedar-trees for the building of his house,

See! I am building a house for the name of the Lord my God, to be made holy to him, where perfumes of sweet spices will be burned before him, and the holy bread will be placed at all times, and burned offerings will be offered morning and evening, on the Sabbaths and at the new moons, and on the regular feasts of the Lord our God. This is a law for ever to Israel.

But who may have strength enough to make a house for him, seeing that the heaven and the heaven of heavens are not wide enough to be his resting-place? who am I then to make a house for him? But I am building it only for the burning of perfume before him.

So now send me an expert worker in gold and silver and brass and iron? in purple and red and blue, and in the cutting of all sorts of ornament, to be with the expert workmen who are here in Judah and in Jerusalem, whom my father David got together.

And I will give as food to your servants, the wood-cutters, twenty thousand measures of grain, and twenty thousand measures of barley and twenty thousand measures of wine and twenty thousand measures of oil.

Then Huram, king of Tyre, sent Solomon an answer in writing, saying, Because of his love for his people the Lord has made you king over them.

And Huram said, Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, maker of heaven and earth, who has given to David the king a wise son, full of wisdom and good sense, to be the builder of a house for the Lord and a house for himself as king.

The son of a woman of the daughters of Dan, whose father was a man of Tyre, an expert worker in gold and silver and brass and iron, in stone and wood, in purple and blue and fair linen and red, trained in the cutting of every sort of ornament and the invention of every sort of design; let him be given a place among your expert workmen and those of my lord, your father David.

And we will have wood cut from Lebanon, as much as you have need of, and will send it to you on flat boats by sea to Joppa, and from there you may take it up to Jerusalem.

Then Solomon took the number of all the men from strange lands who were living in Israel, as his father David had done; there were a hundred and fifty-three thousand, six hundred.

Seventy thousand he put to the work of transport, eighty thousand to cutting stone in the mountains, and three thousand, six hundred as overseers to put the people to work.

Then Solomon made a start at building the house of the Lord on Mount Moriah in Jerusalem, where the Lord had been seen by his father David, in the place which David had made ready in the grain-floor of Ornan the Jebusite.

The building was started in the second month in the fourth year of his rule.