1Not to us, Lord, not to us

but to your name be the glory,

because of your love and faithfulness.

2Why do the nations say,

“Where is their God?”

3Our God is in heaven;

he does whatever pleases him.

4But their idols are silver and gold,

made by human hands.

5They have mouths, but cannot speak,

eyes, but cannot see.

6They have ears, but cannot hear,

noses, but cannot smell.

7They have hands, but cannot feel,

feet, but cannot walk,

nor can they utter a sound with their throats.

8Those who make them will be like them,

and so will all who trust in them.

9All you Israelites, trust in the Lord—

he is their help and shield.

10House of Aaron, trust in the Lord—

he is their help and shield.

11You who fear him, trust in the Lord—

he is their help and shield.

12The Lord remembers us and will bless us:

He will bless his people Israel,

he will bless the house of Aaron,

13he will bless those who fear the Lord—

small and great alike.

14May the Lord cause you to flourish,

both you and your children.

15May you be blessed by the Lord,

the Maker of heaven and earth.

16The highest heavens belong to the Lord,

but the earth he has given to mankind.

17It is not the dead who praise the Lord,

those who go down to the place of silence;

18it is we who extol the Lord,

both now and forevermore.

Praise the Lord.

1When Israel came out of Egypt,

Jacob from a people of foreign tongue,

2Judah became God’s sanctuary,

Israel his dominion.

3The sea looked and fled,

the Jordan turned back;

4the mountains leaped like rams,

the hills like lambs.

5Why was it, sea, that you fled?

Why, Jordan, did you turn back?

6Why, mountains, did you leap like rams,

you hills, like lambs?

7Tremble, earth, at the presence of the Lord,

at the presence of the God of Jacob,

8who turned the rock into a pool,

the hard rock into springs of water.

1Praise the Lord.

Praise the Lord, you his servants;

praise the name of the Lord.

2Let the name of the Lord be praised,

both now and forevermore.

3From the rising of the sun to the place where it sets,

the name of the Lord is to be praised.

4The Lord is exalted over all the nations,

his glory above the heavens.

5Who is like the Lord our God,

the One who sits enthroned on high,

6who stoops down to look

on the heavens and the earth?

7He raises the poor from the dust

and lifts the needy from the ash heap;

8he seats them with princes,

with the princes of his people.

9He settles the childless woman in her home

as a happy mother of children.

Praise the Lord.

1Praise the Lord.

Blessed are those who fear the Lord,

who find great delight in his commands.

2Their children will be mighty in the land;

the generation of the upright will be blessed.

3Wealth and riches are in their houses,

and their righteousness endures forever.

4Even in darkness light dawns for the upright,

for those who are gracious and compassionate and righteous.

5Good will come to those who are generous and lend freely,

who conduct their affairs with justice.

6Surely the righteous will never be shaken;

they will be remembered forever.

7They will have no fear of bad news;

their hearts are steadfast, trusting in the Lord.

8Their hearts are secure, they will have no fear;

in the end they will look in triumph on their foes.

9They have freely scattered their gifts to the poor,

their righteousness endures forever;

their horn will be lifted high in honor.

10The wicked will see and be vexed,

they will gnash their teeth and waste away;

the longings of the wicked will come to nothing.

1Praise the Lord.

I will extol the Lord with all my heart

in the council of the upright and in the assembly.

2Great are the works of the Lord;

they are pondered by all who delight in them.

3Glorious and majestic are his deeds,

and his righteousness endures forever.

4He has caused his wonders to be remembered;

the Lord is gracious and compassionate.

5He provides food for those who fear him;

he remembers his covenant forever.

6He has shown his people the power of his works,

giving them the lands of other nations.

7The works of his hands are faithful and just;

all his precepts are trustworthy.

8They are established for ever and ever,

enacted in faithfulness and uprightness.

9He provided redemption for his people;

he ordained his covenant forever—

holy and awesome is his name.

10The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom;

all who follow his precepts have good understanding.

To him belongs eternal praise.

1 Chronicles 29

Gifts for Building the Temple

1Then King David said to the whole assembly: “My son Solomon, the one whom God has chosen, is young and inexperienced. The task is great, because this palatial structure is not for man but for the LordGod. 2With all my resources I have provided for the temple of my God—gold 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,stones of various colors, and all kinds of fine stone and marble—all of these in large quantities. 3Besides, 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 for this holy temple: 4three thousand talentsof gold (gold of Ophir) and seven thousand talentsof refined silver, for the overlaying of the walls of the buildings, 5for 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 Lordtoday?”

6Then the leaders of families, the officers of the tribes of Israel, the commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds, and the officials in charge of the king’s work gave willingly. 7They gave toward the work on the temple of God five thousand talentsand ten thousand daricsof gold, ten thousand talentsof silver, eighteen thousand talentsof bronze and a hundred thousand talentsof iron. 8Anyone who had precious stones gave them to the treasury of the temple of the Lordin the custody of Jehiel the Gershonite. 9The people rejoiced at the willing response of their leaders, for they had given freely and wholeheartedly to the Lord. David the king also rejoiced greatly.

David’s Prayer

10David praised the Lordin the presence of the whole assembly, saying,

“Praise be to you, Lord,

the God of our father Israel,

from everlasting to everlasting.

11Yours, Lord, is the greatness and the power

and the glory and the majesty and the splendor,

for everything in heaven and earth is yours.

Yours, Lord, is the kingdom;

you are exalted as head over all.

12Wealth and honor come from you;

you are the ruler of all things.

In your hands are strength and power

to exalt and give strength to all.

13Now, our God, we give you thanks,

and praise your glorious name.

14“But who am I, and who are my people, that we should be able to give as generously as this? Everything comes from you, and we have given you only what comes from your hand. 15We are foreigners and strangers in your sight, as were all our ancestors. Our days on earth are like a shadow, without hope. 16Lord our God, all this abundance that we have provided for building you a temple for your Holy Name comes from your hand, and all of it belongs to you. 17I know, my God, that you test the heart and are pleased with integrity. All these things I have given willingly and with honest intent. And now I have seen with joy how willingly your people who are here have given to you. 18Lord, the God of our fathers Abraham, Isaac and Israel, keep these desires and thoughts in the hearts of your people forever, and keep their hearts loyal to you. 19And give my son Solomon the wholehearted devotion to keep your commands, statutes and decrees and to do everything to build the palatial structure for which I have provided.”

20Then David said to the whole assembly, “Praise the Lord your God.” So they all praised the Lord, the God of their fathers; they bowed down, prostrating themselves before the Lord and the king.

Solomon Acknowledged as King

21The next day they made sacrifices to the Lord and presented burnt offerings to him: a thousand bulls, a thousand rams and a thousand male lambs, together with their drink offerings, and other sacrifices in abundance for all Israel. 22They ate and drank with great joy in the presence of the Lord that day.

Then they acknowledged Solomon son of David as king a second time, anointing him before the Lord to be ruler and Zadok to be priest. 23So Solomon sat on the throne of the Lord as king in place of his father David. He prospered and all Israel obeyed him. 24All the officers and warriors, as well as all of King David’s sons, pledged their submission to King Solomon.

25The Lord highly exalted Solomon in the sight of all Israel and bestowed on him royal splendor such as no king over Israel ever had before.

The Death of David

26David son of Jesse was king over all Israel. 27He ruled over Israel forty years—seven in Hebron and thirty-three in Jerusalem. 28He died at a good old age, having enjoyed long life, wealth and honor. His son Solomon succeeded him as king.

29As for the events of King David’s reign, from beginning to end, they are written in the records of Samuel the seer, the records of Nathan the prophet and the records of Gad the seer, 30together with the details of his reign and power, and the circumstances that surrounded him and Israel and the kingdoms of all the other lands.

Psalm 127

A song of ascents. Of Solomon.

1Unless the Lord builds the house,

the builders labor in vain.

Unless the Lord watches over the city,

the guards stand watch in vain.

2In vain you rise early

and stay up late,

toiling for food to eat—

for he grants sleep to those he loves.

3Children are a heritage from the Lord,

offspring a reward from him.

4Like arrows in the hands of a warrior

are children born in one’s youth.

5Blessed is the man

whose quiver is full of them.

They will not be put to shame

when they contend with their opponents in court.

David’s Plans for the Temple

1David summoned all the officials of Israel to assemble at Jerusalem: the officers over the tribes, the commanders of the divisions in the service of the king, the commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds, and the officials in charge of all the property and livestock belonging to the king and his sons, together with the palace officials, the warriors and all the brave fighting men.

2King David rose to his feet and said: “Listen to me, my fellow Israelites, my people. I had it in my heart to build a house as a place of rest for the ark of the covenant of the Lord, for the footstool of our God, and I made plans to build it. 3But God said to me, ‘You are not to build a house for my Name, because you are a warrior and have shed blood.’

4“Yet the Lord, the God of Israel, chose me from my whole family to be king over Israel forever. He chose Judah as leader, and from the tribe of Judah he chose my family, and from my father’s sons he was pleased to make me king over all Israel. 5Of all my sons—and the Lord has given me many—he has chosen my son Solomon to sit on the throne of the kingdom of the Lord over Israel. 6He said to me: ‘Solomon your son is the one who will build my house and my courts, for I have chosen him to be my son, and I will be his father. 7I will establish his kingdom forever if he is unswerving in carrying out my commands and laws, as is being done at this time.’

8“So now I charge you in the sight of all Israel and of the assembly of the Lord, and in the hearing of our God: Be careful to follow all the commands of the Lord your God, that you may possess this good land and pass it on as an inheritance to your descendants forever.

9“And you, my son Solomon, acknowledge the God of your father, and serve him with wholehearted devotion and with a willing mind, for the Lord searches every heart and understands every desire and every thought. If you seek him, he will be found by you; but if you forsake him, he will reject you forever. 10Consider now, for the Lord has chosen you to build a house as the sanctuary. Be strong and do the work.”

11Then David gave his son Solomon the plans for the portico of the temple, its buildings, its storerooms, its upper parts, its inner rooms and the place of atonement. 12He gave him the plans of all that the Spirit had put in his mind for the courts of the temple of the Lord and all the surrounding rooms, for the treasuries of the temple of God and for the treasuries for the dedicated things. 13He gave him instructions for the divisions of the priests and Levites, and for all the work of serving in the temple of the Lord, as well as for all the articles to be used in its service. 14He designated the weight of gold for all the gold articles to be used in various kinds of service, and the weight of silver for all the silver articles to be used in various kinds of service: 15the weight of gold for the gold lamp stands and their lamps, with the weight for each lamp stand and its lamps; and the weight of silver for each silver lamp stand and its lamps, according to the use of each lamp stand; 16the weight of gold for each table for consecrated bread; the weight of silver for the silver tables; 17the weight of pure gold for the forks, sprinkling bowls and pitchers; the weight of gold for each gold dish; the weight of silver for each silver dish; 18and the weight of the refined gold for the altar of incense. He also gave him the plan for the chariot, that is, the cherubim of gold that spread their wings and overshadow the ark of the covenant of the Lord.

19“All this,” David said, “I have in writing as a result of the Lord’s hand on me, and he enabled me to understand all the details of the plan.”

20David also said to Solomon his son, “Be strong and courageous, and do the work. Do not be afraid or discouraged, for the LordGod, my God, is with you. He will not fail you or forsake you until all the work for the service of the temple of the Lord is finished. 21The divisions of the priests and Levites are ready for all the work on the temple of God, and every willing person skilled in any craft will help you in all the work. The officials and all the people will obey your every command.”