Preparations for the Temple

² So David gave orders to assemble the foreigners^(A) residing in Israel, and from among them he appointed stonecutters^(B) to prepare dressed stone for building the house of God. ³ He provided a large amount of iron to make nails for the doors of the gateways and for the fittings, and more bronze than could be weighed.^{(C) 4} He also provided more cedar logs^(D) than could be counted, for the Sidonians and Tyrians had brought large numbers of them to David.

⁵ David said, “My son Solomon is young^(E) and inexperienced, and the house to be built for the Lord should be of great magnificence and fame and splendor^(F) in the sight of all the nations. Therefore I will make preparations for it.” So David made extensive preparations before his death.

¹⁴ “I have taken great pains to provide for the temple of the Lord a hundred thousand talents^[a] of gold, a million talents^[b] of silver, quantities of bronze and iron too great to be weighed, and wood and stone. And you may add to them.^{(A) 15} You have many workers: stonecutters, masons and carpenters,^(B) as well as those skilled in every kind of work ¹⁶ in gold and silver, bronze and iron—craftsmen^(C) beyond number. Now begin the work, and the Lord be with you.”

² With all my resources I have provided for the temple of my God—gold^(A) for the gold work, silver for the silver, bronze for the bronze, iron for the iron and wood for the wood, as well as onyx for the settings, turquoise,^[a](B) stones of various colors, and all kinds of fine stone and marble—all of these in large quantities.^{(C) 3} Besides, in my devotion to the temple of my God I now give my personal treasures of gold and silver for the temple of my God, over and above everything I have provided^(D) for this holy temple: ⁴ three thousand talents^[b] of gold (gold of Ophir)^(E) and seven thousand talents^[c] of refined silver,^(F) for the overlaying of the walls of the buildings, ⁵ for the gold work and the silver work, and for all the work to be done by the craftsmen. Now, who is willing to consecrate themselves to the Lord today?”