Study Desk

So now, O Lord , may the promise you made about your servant and his family become a permanent reality! Do as you promised,

so it may become a reality and you may gain lasting fame, as people say, ‘The Lord who commands armies is the God of Israel.' David's dynasty will be established before you,

Now you are willing to bless your servant's dynasty so that it may stand permanently before you, for you, O Lord , have blessed it and it will be blessed from now on into the future."

David said, "I will express my loyalty to Hanun son of Nahash, for his father was loyal to me." So David sent messengers to express his sympathy over his father's death. When David's servants entered Ammonite territory to visit Hanun and express the king's sympathy,

the Ammonite officials said to Hanun, "Do you really think David is trying to honor your father by sending these messengers to express his sympathy? No, his servants have come to you so they can get information and spy out the land!"

So Hanun seized David's servants and shaved their beards off. He cut off the lower part of their robes so that their buttocks were exposed and then sent them away.

Messengers came and told David what had happened to the men, so he summoned them, for the men were thoroughly humiliated. The king said, "Stay in Jericho until your beards grow again; then you may come back."

So Joab and his men marched toward the Arameans to do battle, and they fled before him.

David told Joab and the leaders of the army, "Go, count the number of warriors from Beer Sheba to Dan. Then bring back a report to me so I may know how many we have."

But the king's edict stood, despite Joab's objections. So Joab left and traveled throughout Israel before returning to Jerusalem.

God was also offended by it, so he attacked Israel.

So the Lord sent a plague through Israel, and 70,000 Israelite men died.

God sent an angel to ravage Jerusalem. As he was doing so, the Lord watched and relented from his judgment. He told the angel who was destroying, "That's enough! Stop now!" Now the Lord 's angel was standing near the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite.

So the Lord 's messenger told Gad to instruct David to go up and build an altar for the Lord on the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite.

So David went up as Gad instructed him to do in the name of the Lord .

David said to Ornan, "Sell me the threshing floor so I can build on it an altar for the Lord —I'll pay top price—so that the plague may be removed from the people."

So David bought the place from Ornan for 600 pieces of gold.

David said, "My son Solomon is just an inexperienced young man, and the temple to be built for the Lord must be especially magnificent so it will become famous and be considered splendid by all the nations. Therefore I will make preparations for its construction." So David made extensive preparations before he died.

Only may the Lord give you insight and understanding when he places you in charge of Israel, so you may obey the law of the Lord your God.

Now, look, I have made every effort to supply what is needed to build the Lord 's temple. I have stored up 100,000 talents of gold, 1,000,000 talents of silver, and so much bronze and iron it cannot be weighed, as well as wood and stones. Feel free to add more!