1 *Chronicles 22

₁Then David said: ‘The temple of the Lord God and the burnt-offering altar of Israel must be here.’

₂Then David said that all the strangers who were in the land must come together. He chose some of them to cut stones to build the temple. ₃David prepared lots of iron to make nails and hinges for the doors and gates. There was so much bronze that no one could weigh it. ₄There was also a lot of cedar wood. It was too much to count, because the people of the towns of Sidon and Tyre brought lots of cedar wood to David.

₅David said: ‘The temple that we are going to build must be very big. People from all the other lands must talk about how beautiful this temple is. My son Solomon is young and he has not yet learned what to do and what he must know to build this temple. That is why I want to prepare everything for him.’ David then prepared many things before he died.

₆He called his son Solomon and told him how he must build the temple for the Lord, the God of Israel. ₇David said to his son Solomon: ‘I wanted to build a temple for the Lord my God, ₈but He said to me: “David, you have killed many people and you have made many wars. You may not build a temple for Me because I have seen how many people you have killed. ₉But when your son becomes king, he will have peace because I will give him peace and no enemies will go to war_against him. Yes, his name is Solomon because when he is king, I will be good to the land_of_Israel and they will have peace. ₁₀He is the one who will build the temple where I will live. He will be like a son to Me and I will be like a Father to him. I will make him king_of_Israel and he will be king for many years.”

₁₁Solomon my son, that is why I pray that God will be with you and that you will succeed in everything and that you will build the temple of your Lord God as He has said you will. ₁₂I pray that the Lord will help you know and understand everything and that He will tell you how you must rule over Israel. I pray that you will do what the laws of the Lord your God say. ₁₃You will succeed if you make sure that the Israelites do what God says and if they do what He has decided. The Lord told Moses everything. My son, you must be strong and brave. Don't be discouraged, and don't be afraid.

₁₄I have worked very hard. Here is more than 100 000 talents of gold and 1 000 000 talents of silver for the temple and so much bronze and iron that no one can weigh it. I have also got a lot of wood and stone and you can get even more wood and stone. ₁₅There are also many workers that you can use. There are people who can cut stone, artisans who can work with stone and wood and people who can do any work. ₁₆There is so much gold, silver, bronze and iron that no one can count it. You must start now and do the work. I pray that God will be with you.’

₁₇David told all the officers of Israel to help his son Solomon. ₁₈David said: ‘The Lord your God is with you. He defeated all your enemies. He helped me defeat the people who lived in this land before. The Lord and his people could rule over all the people in the land. ₁₉Now give yourselves to the Lord your God and do what He wants you to do. Start building the temple of the Lord your God so that we can put the covenant box of the Lord and the holy tools of God into the temple that you build for God to live in.’