Offerings for the Temple

1 And David the king said to all the assembly, “Solomon my son, whom alone God has chosen, is ^pyoung and inexperienced, and the work is great, for ^qthe palace will not be for man but for the Lord God. 2 So I have provided for the house of my God, so far as I was able, the gold for the things of gold, 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, besides great quantities of ^ronyx and stones for setting, antimony, colored stones, all sorts of precious stones and marble.

6 Then ^uthe leaders of fathers’ houses made their freewill offerings, as did also the leaders of the tribes, the commanders of thousands and of hundreds, and ^vthe officers over the king’s work. 7 They gave for the service of the house of God 5,000 talents and 10,000 ^wdarics¹ of gold, 10,000 talents of silver, 18,000 talents of bronze and 100,000 talents of iron.

9 Then the people rejoiced because they had given willingly, for with a ^ywhole heart they had offered freely to the Lord. David the king also rejoiced greatly.

David Prays in the Assembly

10 Therefore David blessed the Lord in the presence of all the assembly. And David said: ^z“Blessed are you, O Lord, the God of Israel our father, forever and ever. 11 ^aYours, O Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty, for all that is in the heavens and in the earth is yours. Yours is the kingdom, O Lord, and you are exalted as head above all. 12 ^bBoth riches and honor come from you, and you rule over all. ^cIn your hand are power and might, and in your hand it is to make great and to give strength to all. 13 And now we thank you, our God, and praise your glorious name.

14 “But who am I, and what is my people, that we should be able thus to offer willingly? For all things come from you, and of your own have we given you. 15 ^dFor we are strangers before you and sojourners, as all our fathers were. Our days on the earth are ^elike a shadow, and there is no abiding.¹ 16 O Lord our God, all this abundance that we have provided for building you a house for your holy name comes from your hand and is all your own. 17 I know, my God, ^fthat you test the heart and ^ghave pleasure in uprightness. In the uprightness of my heart I have freely offered all these things, and now I have seen your people, who are present here, offering freely and joyously to you.