20:1And it came to pass at the time of the return of the year, at the time when kings go forth, that Joab led forth the power of the army, and laid waste the land of the children of Ammon, and came and besieged Rabbah. But David abode at Jerusalem. And Joab smote Rabbah, and overthrew it.

20:2And David took the crown of their king from off his head, and found it to weigh a talent of gold, and there were precious stones in it; and it was set upon David's head: and he brought forth the spoil of the city in great abundance.

20:3And he brought out the people that were in it, and cut them with the saw, and with harrows of iron, and with saws. And so David did to all the cities of the children of Ammon. And David and all the people returned to Jerusalem.

20:4And it came to pass after this, that there arose war at Gezer with the Philistines; then Sibbechai the Hushathite smote Sippai, one of the children of Rapha; and they were subdued.

20:5And there was again a battle with the Philistines; and Elhanan the son of Jair smote Lahmi the brother of Goliath the Gittite; now the shaft of his spear was like a weaver's beam.

20:6And there was again a battle, at Gath; and there was a man there of great stature, whose fingers and toes were four and twenty, six on each hand, and six on each foot; and he also was born to Rapha.

20:7And he defied Israel; but Jonathan the son of Shimea David's brother smote him.

20:8These were born to Rapha in Gath; and they fell by the hand of David, and by the hand of his servants.

21:1And Satan stood up against Israel, and moved David to number Israel.

21:2And David said to Joab and to the princes of the people, Go, number Israel from Beer-sheba even to Dan; and bring the number of them to me, that I may know it.

21:3And Joab said, Jehovah add to his people, how many soever they be, a hundredfold: are they not all, my lord O king, my lord's servants? why does my lord require this thing? why should he become a trespass to Israel?

21:4But the king's word prevailed against Joab; and Joab departed, and went through all Israel, and came again to Jerusalem.

21:5And Joab gave the sum of the number of the people to David. And all they of Israel were eleven hundred thousand men that drew sword; and of Judah, four hundred and seventy thousand men that drew sword.

21:6But Levi and Benjamin he did not count among them; for the king's word was abominable to Joab.

21:7And God was displeased on account of this thing, and he smote Israel.

21:8And David said to God, I have sinned greatly, in that I have done this thing; and now, I beseech thee, put away the iniquity of thy servant; for I have done very foolishly.

21:9And Jehovah spoke to Gad, David's seer, saying,

21:10Go and speak to David saying, Thus saith Jehovah: I offer thee three things; choose one of them, that I may do it unto thee.

21:11And Gad came to David, and said to him, Thus saith Jehovah:

21:12Choose thee, either three years of famine, or three months to be destroyed before thine adversaries while that the sword of thine enemies overtaketh thee, or three days the sword of Jehovah and the pestilence in the land, and the angel of Jehovah destroying through all the borders of Israel. And now consider what word I shall bring again to him that sent me.

21:13And David said to Gad, I am in a great strait: let me fall, I pray thee, into the hand of Jehovah, for his mercies are very great; but let me not fall into the hand of man.

21:14And Jehovah sent a pestilence upon Israel; and there fell of Israel seventy thousand men.

21:15And God sent an angel to Jerusalem to destroy it; and as he was destroying, Jehovah beheld, and he repented him of the evil, and said to the angel that destroyed, It is enough; withdraw now thine hand. And the angel of Jehovah stood by the threshing-floor of Ornan the Jebusite.

21:16And David lifted up his eyes, and saw the angel of Jehovah stand between the earth and the heavens, and his sword drawn in his hand, stretched out over Jerusalem. And David and the elders, clothed in sackcloth, fell on their faces.

21:17And David said to God, Is it not I that commanded the people to be numbered? It is I that have sinned and done evil; but these sheep, what have they done? Let thy hand, I pray thee, Jehovah my God, be on me and on my father's house; but not on thy people, that they should be smitten.

21:18And the angel of Jehovah commanded Gad to say to David, that David should go up and rear an altar to Jehovah in the threshing-floor of Ornan the Jebusite.

21:19And David went up at the saying of Gad, which he had spoken in the name of Jehovah.

21:20And Ornan turned back and saw the angel; and his four sons with him hid themselves. Now Ornan was threshing wheat.

21:21And David came to Ornan, and Ornan looked and saw David, and went out of the threshing-floor, and bowed himself to David with his face to the ground.

21:22And David said to Ornan, Grant me the place of the threshing-floor, that I may build an altar in it to Jehovah: grant it to me for the full money, that the plague may be stayed from the people.

21:23And Ornan said to David, Take it to thee, and let my lord the king do that which is good in his sight: see, I give the oxen for the burnt-offering, and the threshing-sledges for wood, and the wheat for the oblation; I give it all.

21:24And king David said to Ornan, No; but I will in any case buy them for the full money; for I will not take that which is thine for Jehovah, to offer up a burnt-offering without cost.

21:25And David gave to Ornan for the place in shekels of gold the weight of six hundred shekels.

21:26And David built there an altar to Jehovah, and offered up burnt-offerings and peace-offerings, and called upon Jehovah; and he answered him from the heavens by fire upon the altar of burnt-offering.

21:27And Jehovah spoke to the angel; and he put up his sword again into its sheath.

21:28At that time when David saw that Jehovah had answered him in the threshing-floor of Ornan the Jebusite, then he sacrificed there.

21:29And the tabernacle of Jehovah, which Moses had made in the wilderness, and the altar of burnt-offering, were at that time in the high place at Gibeon.

21:30But David could not go before it to inquire of God; for he was afraid because of the sword of the angel of Jehovah.

22:1And David said, This is the house of Jehovah Elohim, and this is the altar of burnt-offering for Israel.

22:2And David commanded to collect the strangers that were in the land of Israel; and he set masons to hew wrought stones to build the house of God.

22:3And David prepared iron in abundance for the nails for the doors of the gates, and for the joists, and brass in abundance without weight;

22:4and cedar-trees innumerable; for the Zidonians and they of Tyre brought cedar-wood in abundance to David.

22:5For David said, Solomon my son is young and tender, and the house that is to be built for Jehovah must be exceeding great in fame and in beauty in all lands: I will therefore make preparation for it. And David prepared abundantly before his death.

22:6And he called for Solomon his son, and charged him to build a house for Jehovah the God of Israel.

22:7And David said to Solomon, As for me, my son, I was minded to build a house unto the name of Jehovah my God.

22:8But the word of Jehovah came to me saying, Thou hast shed blood abundantly, and hast made great wars: thou shalt not build a house unto my name, for thou hast shed much blood upon the earth in my sight.

22:9Behold, 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 in his days I will give peace and quietness unto Israel.

22:10He shall build a house unto 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 for ever.

22:11Now, my son, Jehovah be with thee, that thou mayest prosper, and build the house of Jehovah thy God, as he has said of thee.

22:12Only, Jehovah give thee wisdom and understanding, and place thee over Israel, and to keep the law of Jehovah thy God.

22:13Then shalt thou prosper, if thou takest heed to perform the statutes and ordinances which Jehovah commanded Moses for Israel: be strong and courageous; fear not, neither be dismayed.

22:14And behold, in my affliction I have prepared for the house of Jehovah a hundred thousand talents of gold, and a thousand thousand talents of silver; and of brass and iron without weight, for it is in abundance; and timber and stone have I prepared; and thou shalt add to it.

22:15And there are workmen with thee in abundance, hewers and workers of stone and timber, and all manner of skilful men for every kind of work.

22:16Of the gold, the silver, and the brass, and the iron, there is no number. Arise and be doing and Jehovah be with thee.

22:17And David commanded all the princes of Israel to help Solomon his son, saying,

22:18Is not Jehovah your God with you? and has he not given you rest on every side? for he has given the inhabitants of the land into my hand; and the land is subdued before Jehovah, and before his people.

22:19Now set your heart and your soul to seek Jehovah your God; and arise and build the sanctuary of Jehovah Elohim, to bring the ark of the covenant of Jehovah, and the vessels of the sanctuary of God into the house that is to be built unto the name of Jehovah.

23:1And David was old and full of days; and he made Solomon his son king over Israel.

23:2And he gathered together all the princes of Israel, with the priests and the Levites.

23:3And the Levites were numbered from thirty years old and upward; and their number, by their polls, man by man, was thirty-eight thousand.

23:4Of these, twenty-four thousand were to preside over the work of the house of Jehovah; and six thousand were officers and judges;

23:5and four thousand were doorkeepers; and four thousand praised Jehovah with the instruments which I made, said David, to praise therewith.

23:6And David divided them into courses according to the sons of Levi: Gershon, Kohath, and Merari.

23:7Of the Gershonites: Laadan and Shimei.

23:8The sons of Laadan: the head was Jehiel, and Zetham, and Joel, three.

23:9The sons of Shimei: Shelomith, and Haziel, and Haran, three. These were the chief fathers of Laadan.

23:10And the sons of Shimei: Jahath, Ziza, and Jeush, and Beriah. These were the four sons of Shimei.

23:11And Jahath was the head, and Ziza the second; and Jeush and Beriah had not many sons: as father's house, therefore, they were reckoned as one.

23:12The sons of Kohath: Amram, Jizhar, Hebron, and Uzziel, four.

23:13The sons of Amram: Aaron and Moses. And Aaron was separated, that he should be hallowed as most holy, he and his sons for ever, to offer before Jehovah, to do service to him, and to bless in his name for ever.

23:14-- And as to Moses the man of God, his sons were named of the tribe of Levi.

23:15The sons of Moses: Gershom and Eliezer.

23:16The sons of Gershom: Shebuel the head.

23:17And the sons of Eliezer: Rehabiah the head; and Eliezer had no other sons, but the sons of Rehabiah were very many.

23:18-- The sons of Jizhar: Shelomith the head.

23:19The sons of Hebron: Jeriah the head, Amariah the second, Jahaziel the third, and Jekameam the fourth.

23:20The sons of Uzziel: Micah the head, and Jishijah the second.

23:21The sons of Merari: Mahli and Mushi. The sons of Mahli: Eleazar and Kish.

23:22And Eleazar died, and had no sons, but daughters; and their brethren the sons of Kish took them.

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

23:24These were the sons of Levi according to their fathers' houses, the chief fathers, as they were reckoned, by number of names by their polls, who did the work of the service of the house of Jehovah, from twenty years old and upward.

23:25For David said, Jehovah the God of Israel has given rest to his people, and he will dwell in Jerusalem for ever;

23:26and the Levites also have no more to carry the tabernacle, nor any of its vessels for its service.

23:27For by the last words of David was this done, -- the numbering of the sons of Levi from twenty years old and upward.

23:28For their place was by the side of the sons of Aaron for the service of the house of Jehovah, over the courts, and over the chambers, and over the purifying of all holy things, and for the work of the service of the house of God;

23:29and for the loaves to be set in rows, and for the fine flour for the oblation, and for the unleavened cakes, and for what is baked in the pan, and for that which is saturated with oil, and for all measure of capacity and size;

23:30and to stand every morning to thank and praise Jehovah, and likewise at even;

23:31and for all burnt-offerings offered up to Jehovah on the sabbaths, on the new moons, and on the set feasts, by number, according to the ordinance concerning them, continually, before Jehovah;

23:32and they kept the charge of the tent of meeting, and the charge of the sanctuary, and the charge of the sons of Aaron their brethren, in the service of the house of Jehovah.