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¹Then it happened in the spring, at the time when kings go out to battle, that Joab led out the army and ravaged the land of the sons of Ammon, and came and besieged Rabbah. But David stayed in Jerusalem. And Joab struck Rabbah and overthrew it.

²David took the crown of their king from his head, and he found it to weigh a talent of gold, and there was a precious stone in it; and it was placed on David’s head. And he brought out the spoils of the city, a very great amount.

³He brought out the people who were in it, and put them to work at saws, iron picks, and axes. And David did the same to all the cities of the sons of Ammon. Then David and all the people returned to Jerusalem.

⁴Now it came about after this, that war broke out at Gezer with the Philistines; then Sibbecai the Hushathite killed Sippai, one of the descendants of the giants, and they were subdued.

⁵And there was war with the Philistines again, and Elhanan the son of Jair killed Lahmi the brother of Goliath the Gittite, the shaft of whose spear was like a weaver’s beam.

⁶Again there was war at Gath, where there was a man of great stature who had twenty-four fingers and toes, six fingers on each hand and six toes on each foot; and he also was descended from the giants.

⁷When he taunted Israel, Jonathan the son of Shimea, David’s brother, killed him.

⁸These were descended from the giants in Gath, and they fell by the hand of David and by the hand of his servants.

¹Then Satan stood up against Israel and incited David to count Israel.

²So David said to Joab and to the leaders of the people, “Go, count Israel from Beersheba to Dan, and bring me word so that I may know their number.”

³But Joab said, “May the LORD add to His people a hundred times as many as they are! My lord the king, are they not all my lord’s servants? Why does my lord seek this thing? Why should he be a cause of guilt to Israel?”

⁴Nevertheless, the king’s word prevailed against Joab. Therefore, Joab departed and went throughout Israel, and came to Jerusalem.

⁵Then Joab gave the number of the census of the people to David. Israel was 1,100,000 men in all who drew the sword; and Judah was 470,000 men who drew the sword.

⁶But he did not count Levi and Benjamin among them, because the king’s command was abhorrent to Joab.

⁷Now God was displeased with this thing, so He struck Israel.

⁸David said to God, “I have sinned greatly, by doing this thing. But now, please overlook Your servant’s guilt, for I have behaved very foolishly.”

⁹The LORD spoke to Gad, David’s seer, saying,

¹⁰“Go and speak to David, saying, ‘This is what the LORD says: “I extend to you three choices; choose for yourself one of them, which I will do to you.” ’ ”

¹¹So Gad came to David and said to him, “This is what the LORD says: ‘Take for yourself

¹²three years of famine, or three months to be swept away before your foes while the sword of your enemies overtakes you, or else three days of the sword of the LORD: a plague in the land, and the angel of the LORD destroying throughout the territory of Israel.’ Now, therefore, consider what answer I shall bring back to Him who sent me.”

¹³David said to Gad, “I am in great distress; please let me fall into the hand of the LORD, for His mercies are very great. But do not let me fall into human hands.”

¹⁴So the LORD sent a plague on Israel; seventy thousand men of Israel fell.

¹⁵And God sent an angel to Jerusalem to destroy it; but as he was about to destroy it, the LORD saw and was sorry about the catastrophe, and said to the destroying angel, “It is enough; now relax your hand.” And the angel of the LORD was standing by the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite.

¹⁶Then David raised his eyes and saw the angel of the LORD standing between earth and heaven, with his drawn sword in his hand stretched out over Jerusalem. Then David and the elders, covered with sackcloth, fell on their faces.

¹⁷And David said to God, “Is it not I who commanded to count the people? Indeed, I am the one who has sinned and acted very wickedly, but these sheep, what have they done? LORD, my God, just let Your hand be against me and my father’s household, and not against Your people as a plague.”

¹⁸Then the angel of the LORD commanded Gad to say to David, that David was to go up and build an altar to the LORD on the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite.

¹⁹So David went up at the word of Gad, which he spoke in the name of the LORD.

²⁰Now Ornan turned back and saw the angel, and his four sons who were with him hid themselves. And Ornan was threshing wheat.

²¹As David came to Ornan, Ornan looked and saw David, and went out from the threshing floor and prostrated himself to David with his face to the ground.

²²Then David said to Ornan, “Give me the site of this threshing floor, so that I may build on it an altar to the LORD; you shall give it to me for the full price, so that the plague may be brought to a halt from the people.”

²³But Ornan said to David, “Take it for yourself, and may my lord the king do what is good in his sight. See, I am giving the oxen for burnt offerings, and the threshing sledges for wood and the wheat for the grain offering; I am giving it all.”

²⁴Nevertheless, King David said to Ornan, “No, but I will certainly buy it for the full price; for I will not take what is yours for the LORD, nor offer a burnt offering which costs me nothing.”

²⁵So David gave Ornan six hundred shekels of gold by weight for the site.

²⁶Then David built an altar there to the LORD, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. And he called to the LORD, and He answered him with fire from heaven on the altar of burnt offering.

²⁷The LORD commanded the angel, and he returned his sword to its sheath.

²⁸At that time, when David saw that the LORD had answered him on the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite, he offered sacrifice there.

²⁹For the tabernacle of the LORD, which Moses had made in the wilderness, and the altar of burnt offering were on the high place at Gibeon at that time.

³⁰But David could not go before it to inquire of God, for he was terrified by the sword of the angel of the LORD.

¹Then David said, “This is the house of the LORD God, and this is the altar of burnt offering for Israel.”

²So David gave orders to gather the strangers who were in the land of Israel, and he set stonecutters to cut out stones to build the house of God.

³And David prepared large quantities of iron to make the nails for the doors of the gates and for the clamps, and more bronze than could be weighed;

⁴and timbers of cedar beyond number, for the Sidonians and Tyrians brought large quantities of cedar timber to David.

⁵David said, “My son Solomon is young and inexperienced, and the house that is to be built for the LORD shall be exceedingly magnificent, famous, and glorious throughout the lands. Therefore I now will make preparations for it.” So David made ample preparations before his death.

⁶Then he called for his son Solomon, and commanded him to build a house for the LORD God of Israel.

⁷David said to Solomon, “My son, I had intended 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 have waged great wars; you shall not build a house to My name, because you have shed so much blood on the earth before Me.

⁹Behold, a son will be born to you, who shall be a man of rest, and I will give him rest from all his enemies on every side; for his name will be Solomon, and I will give peace and quiet to Israel in his days.

¹⁰He 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.’

¹¹Now, my son, the LORD be with you that you may be successful, and build the house of the LORD your God just as He has spoken concerning you.

¹²Only the LORD give you discretion and understanding, and put you in charge of Israel, so that you may keep the Law of the LORD your God.

¹³Then you will prosper, if you are careful to follow the statutes and the ordinances which the LORD commanded Moses concerning Israel. Be strong and courageous, do not fear nor be dismayed.

¹⁴Now behold, with great pains I have prepared for the house of the LORD a hundred thousand talents of gold and a million talents of silver, and bronze and iron beyond measure, for they are in great quantity; I have also prepared timber and stone, and you may add to that.

¹⁵Moreover there are many workmen with you, stonecutters, masons of stone, and carpenters; and all of them are skillful in every kind of work.

¹⁶Of the gold, silver, bronze, and iron there is no limit. Arise and work, and may the LORD be with you.”

¹⁷David also commanded all the leaders of Israel to help his son Solomon, saying,

¹⁸“Is the LORD your God not with you? And has He not given you rest on every side? For He has handed over to me the inhabitants of the land, and the land is subdued before the LORD and before His people.

¹⁹Now set your heart and your soul to seek the LORD your God; then arise, and build the sanctuary of the LORD God, so that you may bring the ark of the covenant of the LORD and the holy vessels of God into the house that is to be built for the name of the LORD.”

¹Now when David reached old age, he made his son Solomon king over Israel.

²And he gathered together all the leaders of Israel with the priests and the Levites.

³Now the Levites were counted from thirty years old and upward, and their number by head count of men was thirty-eight thousand.

⁴Of these, twenty-four thousand were to oversee the work of the house of the LORD; and six thousand were officers and judges,

⁵and four thousand were gatekeepers, and four thousand were praising the LORD with the instruments which David made for giving praise.

⁶David divided them into divisions according to the sons of Levi: Gershon, Kohath, and Merari.

⁷Of the Gershonites there were Ladan and Shimei.

⁸The sons of Ladan were Jehiel the first, and Zetham and Joel, three.

⁹The sons of Shimei were Shelomoth, Haziel, and Haran, three. These were the heads of the fathers’ households of Ladan.

¹⁰The sons of Shimei were Jahath, Zina, Jeush, and Beriah. These four were the sons of Shimei.

¹¹Jahath was the first and Zizah the second; but Jeush and Beriah did not have many sons, so they became a father’s household, one group for duty.

¹²The sons of Kohath were four in number: Amram, Izhar, Hebron, and Uzziel.

¹³The sons of Amram were Aaron and Moses. And Aaron was set apart to sanctify him as most holy, he and his sons forever, to burn incense before the LORD, to serve Him and bless in His name forever.

¹⁴But as for Moses, the man of God, his sons were named among the tribe of Levi.

¹⁵The sons of Moses were Gershom and Eliezer.

¹⁶The son of Gershom was Shebuel the chief.

¹⁷The son of Eliezer was Rehabiah the chief; and Eliezer had no other sons, but the sons of Rehabiah were very many.

¹⁸The son of Izhar was Shelomith the chief.

¹⁹The sons of Hebron were Jeriah the first, Amariah the second, Jahaziel the third, and Jekameam the fourth.

²⁰The sons of Uzziel were Micah the first and Isshiah the second.

²¹The sons of Merari were Mahli and Mushi. The sons of Mahli were Eleazar and Kish.

²²Eleazar died and had no sons, but only daughters; so their relatives, the sons of Kish, took them as wives.

²³The sons of Mushi were three: Mahli, Eder, and Jeremoth.

²⁴These were the sons of Levi according to their fathers’ households, the heads of the fathers’ households of those among them who were counted, in the number of names by their head count, doing the work for the service of the house of the LORD, from twenty years old and upward.

²⁵For David said, “The LORD God of Israel has given rest to His people, and He dwells in Jerusalem forever.

²⁶Also, the Levites will no longer need to carry the tabernacle and all its utensils for its service.”

²⁷For by the last words of David, the sons of Levi were counted from twenty years old and upward.

²⁸For their office is to assist the sons of Aaron with the service of the house of the LORD, in the courtyards and in the chambers, and in the purification of all holy things, and the work of the service of the house of God,

²⁹and with the showbread, and the fine flour for a grain offering, and unleavened wafers, or what is baked in the pan or what is well-mixed, and all measures of volume and size.

³⁰They are to stand every morning to thank and to praise the LORD, and likewise at evening,

³¹and to offer all burnt offerings to the LORD, on the Sabbaths, the new moons and the appointed festivals, in the number determined by the ordinance concerning them, continually before the LORD.

³²So they are to perform the duties of the tent of meeting, the holy place, and of assisting the sons of Aaron their relatives, for the service of the house of the LORD.