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

And God was displeased with this thing, therefore he smote Israel.

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

And LORD spoke to Gad, David's seer, saying,

Go and speak to David, saying, Thus says LORD, I offer thee three things. Choose thee one of them, that I may do it to thee.

So Gad came to David, and said to him, Thus says LORD, Take which thou will:

either three years of famine, or three months to be consumed before thy foes while the sword of thine enemies overtakes thee, or else three days the sword of LORD, even pestilence in the land, and the agent of LORD destroying throu

And David said to Gad, I am in a great strait. Let me fall, I pray, into the hand of LORD, for his mercies are very great, and let me not fall into the hand of man.

So LORD sent a pestilence upon Israel, and there fell of Israel seventy thousand men.

And God sent an agent to Jerusalem to destroy it. And as he was about to destroy, LORD beheld, and he relented of the evil, and said to the destroying agent, It is enough. Now halt thy hand. And the agent of LORD was standing by th

And David lifted up his eyes, and saw the agent of LORD standing between earth and heaven, having a drawn sword in his hand stretched out over Jerusalem. Then David and the elders, clothed in sackcloth, fell upon their faces.

And David said to God, Is it not I who commanded the people to be numbered? Even I it is who have sinned and done very badly. But these sheep, what have they done? Let thy hand, I pray thee, O LORD my God, be against me, and agains

Then the agent of LORD commanded Gad to say to David that David should go up, and rear an altar to LORD in the threshing-floor of Ornan the Jebusite.

And David went up at the saying of Gad, which he spoke in the name of LORD.

And Ornan turned back, and saw the [heavenly] agent, and his four sons who were with him hid themselves. Now Ornan was threshing wheat.

And as 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.

And Ornan said to David, Take it to thee, and let my lord the king do that which is good in his eyes. Lo, I give [thee] the oxen for burnt-offerings, and the threshing instruments for wood, and the wheat for the meal-offering. I gi

And king David said to Ornan, No, but I will truly buy it for the full price. For I will not take that which is thine for LORD, nor offer a burnt-offering without cost.

And David built there an altar to LORD, and offered burnt-offerings and peace-offerings, and called upon LORD. And he answered him from heaven by fire upon the altar of burnt-offering.

And LORD commanded the agent, and he put up his sword again into the sheath of it.

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

Then David said, This is the house of LORD God, and this is the altar of burnt-offering for Israel.

And David commanded to gather together the sojourners that were in the land of Israel. And he set masons to hew wrought stones to build the house of God.

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

and cedar trees without number. For the Sidonians and those of Tyre brought cedar trees in abundance to David.

And David said, Solomon my son is young and tender, and the house that is to be built for LORD must be exceedingly magnificent, of fame and of glory throughout all countries. I will therefore make preparation for it. So David prepa

Then he called for Solomon his son, and charged him to build a house for LORD, the God of Israel.

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

But the word of LORD came to me, saying, Thou have shed blood abundantly, and have made great wars. Thou shall not build a house to my name because thou have shed much blood upon the earth in my sight.

Behold, a son shall be born to thee, who shall be a man of rest. And I will give him rest from all his enemies round about, for his name shall be Solomon. And I will give peace and quietness to Israel in his days.

He 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 forever.

Now, my son, LORD be with thee, and prosper thou, and build the house of LORD thy God as he has spoken concerning thee.

Only LORD give thee discretion and understanding, and give thee charge concerning Israel, so that thou may keep the law of LORD thy God.

Then thou shall prosper, if thou observe to do the statutes and the ordinances which LORD charged Moses with concerning Israel. Be strong, and of good courage. Fear not, neither be dismayed.

Now, behold, in my affliction I have prepared for the house of LORD a hundred thousand talents of gold, and a million talents of silver, and of brass and iron without weight, for it is in abundance. Also I have prepared timber and

Moreover there are workmen with thee in abundance, hewers and workers of stone and timber, and all men who are skilful in every manner of work.

Of the gold, the silver, and the brass, and the iron, there is no number. Arise and be doing, and LORD be with thee.

Is not LORD your God with you? And has he not given you rest on every side? For he has delivered the inhabitants of the land into my hand, and the land is subdued before LORD, and before his people.

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

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

And he gathered together all the rulers of Israel, with the priests and the Levites.

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

Of these, twenty-four thousand were to oversee the work of the house of 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 divided them into divisions according to the sons of Levi: Gershon, Kohath, and Merari.

Of the Gershonites: Ladan and Shimei.

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

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

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

And Jahath was the chief, and Zizah the second. But Jeush and Beriah had not many sons. Therefore they became a fathers' house in one reckoning.

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

The 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 LORD, to minister to him, and to bless in his name, forever.

The sons of Moses: Gershom and Eliezer.

And the sons of Eliezer were: Rehabiah the chief. And Eliezer had no other sons, but the sons of Rehabiah were very many.

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

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

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

And Eleazar died, and had no sons, but daughters only. And their brothers the sons of Kish took them [to wife].

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

For David said, LORD, the God of Israel, has given rest to his people, and he dwells in Jerusalem forever.

And also the Levites shall no more have need to carry the tabernacle and all the vessels of it for the service of it.

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

For their office was to wait on the sons of Aaron for the service of the house of LORD, in the courts, and in the chambers, and in the purifying of all holy things, even the work of the service of the house of God, also

for the showbread, 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 manner of measure and size.

And to stand every morning to thank and praise LORD, and likewise at evening.

And to offer all burnt-offerings to LORD, on the Sabbaths, on the new moons, and on the set feasts, in number according to the ordinance concerning them, continually before LORD.

And that they should keep the charge of the tent of meeting, and the charge of the holy place, and the charge of the sons of Aaron their brothers, for the service of the house of LORD.

And the divisions of the sons of Aaron [were these]. The sons of Aaron: Nadab and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar.

But Nadab and Abihu died before their father, and had no sons. Therefore Eleazar and Ithamar executed the priest's office.

And David with Zadok of the sons of Eleazar, and Ahimelech of the sons of Ithamar, divided them according to their ordering in their service.

And there were more chief men found of the sons of Eleazar than of the sons of Ithamar. And [thus] were they divided: of the sons of Eleazar there were sixteen heads of fathers' houses, and of the sons of Ithamar, according to thei

Thus they were divided by lot, one sort with another. For there were rulers of the sanctuary, and rulers for God, both of the sons of Eleazar, and of the sons of Ithamar.

And Shemaiah the son of Nethanel the scribe, who was of the Levites, wrote them in the presence of the king, and the princes, and Zadok the priest, and Ahimelech the son of Abiathar, and the heads of the fathers of the priests and

This was the ordering of them in their service, to come into the house of LORD according to the ordinance [given] to them by Aaron their father, as LORD, the God of Israel, had commanded him.

And of the rest of the sons of Levi: Of the sons of Amram, Shubael. Of the sons of Shubael, Jehdeiah.

And the sons [of Hebron]: Jeriah [the chief], Amariah the second, Jahaziel the third, Jekameam the fourth.

The sons of Merari: Mahli and Mushi. The sons of Jaaziah: Beno.

The sons of Merari: Of Jaaziah, Beno, and Shoham, and Zaccur, and Ibri.

And the sons of Mushi: Mahli, and Eder, and Jerimoth. These were the sons of the Levites after their fathers' houses.

These likewise cast lots even as their brothers the sons of Aaron in the presence of David the king, and Zadok, and Ahimelech, and the heads of the fathers of the priests and of the Levites, the fathers of the chief even as those o

Moreover David and the captains of the army set apart for the service certain of the sons of Asaph, and of Heman, and of Jeduthun, who should prophesy with harps, with psalteries, and with cymbals. And the number of those who did t

of the sons of Asaph: Zaccur, and Joseph, and Nethaniah, and Asharelah, the sons of Asaph, under the hand of Asaph, who prophesied after the order of the king.

Of Jeduthun, the sons of Jeduthun: Gedaliah, and Zeri, and Jeshaiah, Hashabiah, and Mattithiah, six, under the hands of their father Jeduthun with the harp, who prophesied in giving thanks and praising LORD.

Of Heman, the sons of Heman: Bukkiah, Mattaniah, Uzziel, Shebuel, and Jerimoth, Hananiah, Hanani, Eliathah, Giddalti, and Romamtiezer, Joshbekashah, Mallothi, Hothir, Mahazioth.

All these were the sons of Heman the king's seer in the words of God, to lift up the horn. And God gave to Heman fourteen sons and three daughters.

All these were under the hands of their father for song in the house of LORD, with cymbals, psalteries, and harps, for the service of the house of God; Asaph, Jeduthun, and Heman being under the order of the king.

And the number of them, with their brothers who were instructed in singing to LORD, even all who were skilful, was two hundred eighty-eight.

And they cast lots for their offices, all alike, as well the small as the great, the teacher as the scholar.

Now the first lot came forth for Asaph to Joseph, the second to Gedaliah (he and his brothers and sons were twelve),

the third to Zaccur, his sons and his brothers, twelve;

the fourth to Izri, his sons and his brothers, twelve;

the fifth to Nethaniah, his sons and his brothers, twelve;

the sixth to Bukkiah, his sons and his brothers, twelve;

the seventh to Jesharelah, his sons and his brothers, twelve;

the eighth to Jeshaiah, his sons and his brothers, twelve;

the ninth to Mattaniah, his sons and his brothers, twelve;

the tenth to Shimei, his sons and his brothers, twelve;

the eleventh to Azarel, his sons and his brothers, twelve;

the twelfth to Hashabiah, his sons and his brothers, twelve;

for the thirteenth, Shubael, his sons and his brothers, twelve;