1 Chronicles 28 - 29, Revelation 8, Ecclesiastes 11

David Assembles His Commanders

28And ^aDavid assembled at Jerusalem all the commanders of Israel, the commanders of the tribes, and the commanders of the divisions that ministered to the king, and the commanders of thousands, and the commanders of hundreds, and the commanders over all the property and livestock belonging to the king and his sons, with the officials and ^bthe mighty men, even all the mighty men of valor. ²Then King David rose to his feet and said, “Listen to me, my brothers and my people; I ^ahad it within my heart to build a house of rest for the ark of the covenant of Yahweh and for ^bthe footstool of the feet of our God. So I had made preparations to build it. ³“But God said to me, ‘^aYou shall not build a house for My name because you are a man of war and have shed blood.’ ⁴“Yet, Yahweh, the God of Israel, ^achose me from all the house of my father to be king over Israel ^bforever. For ^cHe has chosen Judah to be a ruler; and ^din the house of Judah, my father’s house, and among the sons of my father He took pleasure in me to make me king over all Israel. ⁵“^aNow of all my sons (for Yahweh has given me many sons), ^bHe has chosen my son Solomon to sit on the throne of the kingdom of Yahweh over Israel. ⁶“And He said to me, ‘Your son ^aSolomon is the one who shall build My house and My courts; for I have chosen him to be a son to Me, and I will be a father to him. ⁷‘And I will establish his kingdom forever ^aif he will be strong to do My commandments and My judgments, as ¹is done now.’ ⁸“So now, in the sight of all Israel, the assembly of Yahweh, and in the hearing of our God, keep and seek after all the commandments of Yahweh your God so that you may possess the good land and cause your sons after you to inherit it forever.

⁹“As for you, my son Solomon, know the God of your father, and ^aserve Him with ¹a whole heart and a delighted soul; ^bfor Yahweh searches all hearts, and understands every intent of the thoughts. ^cIf you seek Him, He will be found; but if you forsake Him, He will reject you forever. ¹⁰“See now, for Yahweh has chosen you to build a house for the sanctuary; ^abe strong and act.”

¹¹Then David gave to his son Solomon ^athe pattern of ^bthe porch of the temple, its buildings, its storehouses, its upper rooms, its inner rooms, and ^cthe room for the mercy seat; ¹²and the pattern of all that he had in ¹mind, for the courts of the house of Yahweh, and for all the surrounding chambers, for ^athe treasuries of the house of God, and for the treasuries of the holy things; ¹³also for ^athe divisions of the priests and ^bthe Levites and for all the work of the service of the house of Yahweh and for all the utensils of service in the house of Yahweh; ¹⁴for the golden utensils, the weight of gold for all utensils for every kind of service; for the silver utensils, the weight of silver for all utensils for every kind of service; ¹⁵and the weight of gold for the ^agolden lampstands and their golden lamps, with the weight of each lampstand and its lamps; and the weight of silver for the silver lampstands, with the weight of each lampstand and its lamps according to the service of each lampstand; ¹⁶and the gold by weight for the tables of showbread, for each table; and silver for the silver tables; ¹⁷and the flesh hooks, the bowls, and the jars of pure gold; and for the golden bowls with the weight for each bowl; and for the silver bowls with the weight for each bowl; ¹⁸and for ^athe altar of incense refined gold by weight; and gold for the pattern of the chariot, even ^bthe cherubim that spread out their wings and covered the ark of the covenant of Yahweh.

¹⁹“All this,” said David, “has been granted to me as insight in writing by the hand of Yahweh, ^aall the ¹details of this pattern.”

²⁰Then David said to his son Solomon, “^aBe strong and courageous, and act; do not fear nor be dismayed, for Yahweh God, my God, is with you. ^bHe will not fail you nor forsake you until all the work for the service of the house of Yahweh is completed. ²¹“Now behold, ^athere are the divisions of the priests and the Levites for all the service of the house of God, and ^bevery willing man with wisdom will be with you in all the work for all the service. The officials also and all the people will be entirely at your command.”

Offerings for the Temple

29Then King David said to the entire assembly, “My son Solomon, whom alone God has chosen, ^ais still young and inexperienced and the work is great; for ^bthe ¹temple is not for man, but for Yahweh God. ²“Now ^awith all my power I have prepared for the house of my God the gold for the things of gold, and the silver for the things of silver, and the bronze for the things of bronze, the iron for the things of iron, and wood for the things of wood, onyx stones and inlaid stones, stones of antimony and stones of various colors, and all kinds of precious stones and alabaster in abundance. ³“Moreover, in my pleasure in the house of my God, the treasure I have of gold and silver, I give to the house of my God, over and above all that I have already prepared for the holy ¹house, ⁴namely, ¹^,^a3,000 talents of gold, of ^bthe gold of Ophir, and ²7,000 talents of refined silver, to overlay the walls of the ³buildings; ⁵of gold for the things of gold and of silver for the things of silver, that is, for all the work done by the hand of craftsmen. Who then would offer willingly ¹to ordain himself this day to Yahweh?”

⁶Then ^athe commanders of the fathers’ households, and the commanders of the tribes of Israel, and the commanders of thousands and of hundreds, with ^bthe commanders of the king’s work, offered willingly; ⁷and for the service for the house of God they gave 5,000 talents and 10,000 ¹^,^adarics of gold, and 10,000 talents of silver, and 18,000 talents of brass, and 100,000 talents of iron. ⁸¹And whoever possessed precious stones gave them to the treasury of the house of Yahweh, ²in the care of ^aJehiel the Gershonite. ⁹Then the people were glad because they had offered so willingly, for they made their freewill offering to Yahweh ^awith a whole heart, and King David also was exceedingly glad.

David Blesses Yahweh

¹⁰So David blessed Yahweh in the sight of all the assembly; and David said, “Blessed are You, O Yahweh, the God of Israel our father, from everlasting to everlasting. ¹¹“^aYours, O Yahweh, is the greatness and the ¹power and the glory and the ²victory and the majesty, indeed everything that is in the heavens and the earth; Yours is the kingdom, O Yahweh, and You exalt Yourself as head over all. ¹²“^aBoth riches and honor come from You, and You rule over all, and ^bin Your hand is power and might; and it lies in Your hand to make great and to strengthen everyone. ¹³“So now, our God, we are thanking You and praising Your glorious name.

¹⁴“But who am I and who are my people that we should ¹be able to offer as willingly as this? For all things come from You, and from Your hand we have given You. ¹⁵“For ^awe are sojourners before You, and foreign residents, like all our fathers were; ^bour days on the earth are like a shadow, and there is no hope. ¹⁶“O Yahweh our God, all this abundance that we have prepared to build You a house for Your holy name, it is from Your hand, and all is Yours. ¹⁷“And I know, O my God, that ^aYou try the heart and ^bdelight in uprightness. I, in the uprightness of my heart, have willingly offered all these things. So now with gladness I have seen Your people, who are present here, make their offerings willingly to You. ¹⁸“O Yahweh, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, our fathers, keep this forever in the ¹intentions of the heart of Your people, and prepare their heart to You; ¹⁹and ^agive to my son Solomon a whole heart to keep Your commandments, Your testimonies and Your statutes, and to do them all, and ^bto build the ¹temple, for which I have made preparation.”

²⁰Then David said to all the assembly, “Now bless Yahweh your God.” And ^aall the assembly blessed Yahweh, the God of their fathers, and ^bbowed low and prostrated themselves to Yahweh and to the king.

Sacrifices to Yahweh

²¹And on the next day ^athey ¹made sacrifices to Yahweh and offered burnt offerings to Yahweh, 1,000 bulls, 1,000 rams, and 1,000 lambs, with their drink offerings and sacrifices in abundance for all Israel. ²²So they ate and drank that day before Yahweh with great gladness. David’s Officials and Sons Pledge Allegiance And they made Solomon the son of David king ^aa second time, and they ^banointed him as ruler for Yahweh and Zadok as priest. ²³Then ^aSolomon sat on the throne of Yahweh as king instead of David his father; and he succeeded, and all Israel obeyed him. ²⁴And all the officials, the mighty men, and also all the sons of King David ¹pledged allegiance to King Solomon. ²⁵^aAnd Yahweh highly exalted Solomon in the sight of all Israel, and ^bgranted to him royal majesty which had not been on any king before him in Israel.

²⁶Now ^aDavid the son of Jesse reigned over all Israel. ²⁷^aAnd the ¹time which he reigned over Israel was forty years; in Hebron he reigned seven years and ²in Jerusalem thirty-three years.

Death of David

²⁸Then he died in ^aa good old age, ^bfull of days, riches and glory; and his son Solomon became king in his place. ²⁹Now the acts of King David, from first to last, behold, they are written in the chronicles of ^aSamuel the seer, in the chronicles of ^bNathan the prophet and in the chronicles of ^cGad the seer, ³⁰with all his reign, his might, and the circumstances which came on him, on Israel, and on all the kingdoms of the lands.

The Seventh Seal

8When He opened the ^aseventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour. ²Then I saw ^athe seven angels who stand before God, and seven ^btrumpets were given to them.

³^aAnd another angel came and stood at the ^baltar, having a ^cgolden censer; and much ^dincense was given to him, so that he might ¹add it to the ^eprayers of all the saints on the ^fgolden altar which was before the throne. ⁴And ^athe smoke of the incense went up ¹with the prayers of the saints, out of the angel’s hand, before God. ⁵Then the angel ¹took the censer and ^afilled it with the fire of the altar, and ^bthrew it to the earth; and there followed ^cpeals of thunder and sounds and flashes of lightning and an ^dearthquake.

The Seven Trumpets

⁶^aAnd the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound them.

⁷And the first sounded, and there came ^ahail and fire, mixed with blood, and they were thrown to the earth; and ^ba third of the earth was burned up, and ^ca third of the ^dtrees were burned up, and all the green ^egrass was burned up.

⁸And the second angel sounded, and something like a great ^amountain burning with fire was thrown into the sea; and ^ba third of the ^csea became blood, ⁹and ^aa third of the creatures which were in the sea—those which had life—died; and a third of the ^bships were destroyed.

¹⁰And the third angel sounded, and a great star ^afell from heaven, burning like a torch, and it fell on a ^bthird of the rivers and on the ^csprings of waters. ¹¹And the name of the star is called Wormwood; and a ^athird of the waters became ^bwormwood, and many men died from the waters, because they were made bitter.

¹²And the fourth angel sounded, and a ^athird of the ^bsun and a third of the ^cmoon and a ^dthird of the ^estars were struck, so that a ^fthird of them would be darkened and the day would not shine for a ^gthird of it, and the night in the same way.

¹³Then I looked, and I heard ¹an eagle flying in ^amidheaven, saying with a loud voice, “^bWoe, woe, woe to ^cthose who dwell on the earth, because of the remaining blasts of the trumpet of the ^dthree angels who are about to sound!”

Cast Your Bread on the Waters

11^aCast your bread on the surface of the waters, for you ^bwill find it ¹after many days. ²^aDivide your portion to seven, or even to eight, for you do not know what ^bcalamity may occur on the earth. ³If the clouds are full, they empty the rain upon the earth; and whether a tree falls toward the south or toward the north, wherever the tree falls, there it ¹lies. ⁴He who ¹watches the wind will not sow, and he who looks at the clouds will not reap. ⁵Just as you do not ^aknow ¹the path of the wind and ^bhow bones are formed in the womb of the ²pregnant woman, so you do not ^cknow the work of God who works all things.

⁶Sow your seed ^ain the morning and do not put your hands down in the evening, for you do not know whether ¹morning or evening sowing will succeed, or whether both of them alike will be good.

⁷The light is sweet, and it is good for the eyes to ^asee the sun. ⁸Indeed, if a man should live many years, let him ^abe glad in them all, and let him remember the ^bdays of darkness, for they will be many. Everything that is to come will be vanity.

⁹Be glad, young man, during your childhood, and let your heart be merry during the days of young manhood. And walk in the ways of your heart and in the ^asights of your eyes. Yet know that ^bGod will bring you to judgment for all these things. ¹⁰So, remove vexation from your heart and put away ^aevil from your flesh because childhood and the prime of life are vanity.