Study Desk

He will make you the king of Israel. May the Lord give you wisdom and understanding so you will be able to obey the teachings of the Lord your God.

"Solomon, I have worked hard getting many of the materials for building the Temple of the Lord . I have supplied about seven and one-half million pounds of gold, about seventy-five million pounds of silver, so much bronze and iron it cannot be weighed, and wood and stone. You may add to them.

Jahath was the first son, and Ziza was the second son. But Jeush and Beriah did not have many children, so they were counted as if they were one family.

So the Levites don't need to carry the Holy Tent or any of the things used in its services anymore."

So the Levites took care of the Meeting Tent and the Holy Place. And they helped their relatives, Aaron's descendants, with the services at the Temple of the Lord .

But Nadab and Abihu died before their father did, and they had no sons. So Eleazar and Ithamar served as the priests.

All these were sons of Heman, David's seer. God promised to make Heman strong, so Heman had many sons. God gave him fourteen sons and three daughters.

The Lord had promised to make the Israelites as many as the stars in the sky. So David only counted the men who were twenty years old and older.

Joab son of Zeruiah began to count the people, but he did not finish. God became angry with Israel for counting the people, so the number of the people was not put in the history book about King David's rule.

King David stood up and said, "Listen to me, my relatives and my people. I wanted to build a place to keep the Ark of the Agreement with the Lord . I wanted it to be God's footstool. So I made plans to build a temple.

The leaders gave willingly and completely to the Lord . The people rejoiced to see their leaders give so gladly, and King David was also very happy.

Then David said to all the people who were gathered, "Praise the Lord your God." So they all praised the Lord , the God of their ancestors, and they bowed to the ground to give honor to the Lord and the king.

The bronze altar that Bezalel son of Uri, who was the son of Hur, had made was in Gibeon in front of the Holy Tent. So Solomon and the people worshiped there.

Now give me wisdom and knowledge so I can lead these people in the right way, because no one can rule them without your help."

Solomon sent this message to Hiram king of the city of Tyre: "Help me as you helped my father David by sending him cedar logs so he could build himself a palace to live in.

Huram also made bowls, shovels, and small bowls. So he finished his work for King Solomon on the Temple of God:

Solomon had so many things made that the total weight of all the bronze was never known.

So all the Israelites came together with the king during the festival in the seventh month.

King Solomon and all the Israelites gathered before the Ark of the Agreement and sacrificed so many sheep and bulls no one could count them.

The carrying poles were so long that anyone standing in the Holy Place in front of the Most Holy Place could see the ends of the poles. But no one could see them from outside the Holy Place. The poles are still there today.