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 lampstands and their lamps, with the weight for each lampstand and its lamps; and the weight of silver for each silver lampstand and its lamps, according to the use of each lampstand; 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 Lord God, 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.”
ዳዊት ስለ ቤተ መቅደሱ ያወጣው ዕቅድ
1ዳዊት በኢየሩሳሌም እንዲሰበሰቡ የነገዱን የጦር አለቆች፣ ንጉሡን የሚያገለግሉትን የከፍለ ጦር አዛዦች፣ የሻለቆቹን፣ የመቶ አለቆቹን፣ የንጉሡና የልጆቹ ንብረትና ከብት ሁሉ ኀላፊ የሆኑትን፣ እንዲሁም የቤተ መንግሥቱን ሹማምት፣ ኀያላንና ጀግና ተዋጊዎቹን፣ በአጠቃላይ የእስራኤልን ሹማምት ሁሉ ጠራ።
2ከዚያም ንጉሥ ዳዊት በእግሩ ቆሞ እንዲህ አላቸው፤ “ወንድሞቼና ወገኖቼ ሆይ፤ እስቲ አድምጡኝ፤ ለእግዚአብሔር ለቃል ኪዳኑ ታቦት ማደሪያና ለአምላካችን እግር ማረፊያ የሚሆን ቤት ለመሥራት ዐስቤ ዕቅድ አውጥቼ ነበር። 3እግዚአብሔር ግን እንዲህ አለኝ፤ ‘ጦረኛ ሰው ስለ ሆንህና ደምም ስላፈሰስህ፣ አንተ ለስሜ ቤት አትሠራም።’
4“ነገር ግን የእስራኤል አምላክ እግዚአብሔር በእስራኤል ላይ ለዘላለም እንድነግሥ ከቤተ ሰቤ ሁሉ እኔን መረጠ፤ መሪ እንዲሆንም ይሁዳን መረጠ፤ ከይሁዳም ቤት የእኔን ቤተ ሰብ መረጠ፤ ከአባቴ ልጆች መካከል ደግሞ በመላው እስራኤል ላይ እንድነግሥ ፈቃዱ ሆነ። 5እግዚአብሔር ብዙ ልጆች ሰጥቶኛል፤ ከወንዶቹ ልጆቼ ሁሉ በእግዚአብሔር መንግሥት ዙፋን ላይ ተቀምጦ በእስራኤል ሁሉ ላይ እንዲነግሥ ደግሞ ልጄን ሰሎሞንን መርጦታል። 6እንዲህም አለኝ፤ ‘ቤቴንና አደባባዮቼን የሚሠራልኝ ልጅህ ሰሎሞን ነው፤ ምክንያቱም ልጄ እንዲሆን መርጬዋለሁ፤ እኔም አባት እሆነዋለሁ። 7አሁን እንደሚያደርገው ሁሉ፣ ትእዛዞቼንና ሕጎቼን ምንጊዜም ሳያወላውል የሚፈጽም ከሆነ፣ መንግሥቱን ለዘላለም አጸናታለሁ’።
8“እንግዲህ አሁንም ይህችን መልካሚቱን ምድር እንድትወርሱና ለልጆቻችሁም የዘላለም ርስት አድርጋችሁ እንድታወርሷቸው፣ የአምላካችሁን የእግዚአብሔርን ትእዛዝ ሁሉ በጥንቃቄ እንድታከብሩ በእስራኤል ሁሉ ፊት፣ በእግዚአብሔር ጉባኤና እግዚአብሔርም እየሰማ አዝዛችኋለሁ።
9“አንተም ልጄ ሰሎሞን ሆይ፤ እግዚአብሔር ልብን ሁሉ ስለሚመረምርና ሐሳብን ሁሉ ስለሚያውቅ፣ የአባትህን አምላክ ዕወቅ፤ በፍጹም ልብና በበጎ ፈቃድ አገልግለው። ከፈለግኸው ታገኘዋለህ፤ ከተውኸው ግን እርሱም ለዘላለም ይተውሃል። 10ለመቅደስ የሚሆን ቤት እንድትሠራ እግዚአብሔር የመረጠህ መሆኑን አሁንም ዐስብ፤ በርትተህም ሥራ።”
11ከዚያም ዳዊት የቤተ መቅደሱን መመላለሻ፣ የሕንጻውን፣ የዕቃ ቤቶቹን፣ የፎቁንና የውስጥ ክፍሎቹን እንዲሁም የማስተስረያውን ቦታ ንድፍ ለልጁ ለሰሎሞን ሰጠው። 12ደግሞም መንፈስ ቅዱስ በልቡ ያሳደረውን የእግዚአብሔርን ቤተ መቅደስ አደባባይ፣ በዙሪያው ያሉትን ክፍሎች ሁሉ፣ የእግዚአብሔርን ቤተ መቅደስ ዕቃ ቤቶችና የንዋየ ቅድሳቱን ግምጃ ቤቶች ንድፍ ሁሉ ሰጠው፤ 13እንዲሁም የካህናቱንና የሌዋውያኑን አመዳደብ፣ በእግዚአብሔር ቤተ መቅደስ አገልግሎት ሥራና ለአገልግሎቱ ስለሚጠቀምባቸው ዕቃዎች ሁሉ መመሪያ ሰጠው። 14ለልዩ ልዩ አገልግሎት የሚውሉትን የወርቅ ዕቃዎች ሁሉ መጠን፣ ለልዩ ልዩ አገልግሎት የሚውሉትን የብር ዕቃዎች ሁሉ መጠን አሳወቀው፤ 15እንደየመቅረዙ አገልግሎት ዐይነት ለወርቁ መቅረዞችና ለቀንዲሎቻቸው የሚሆነውን የእያንዳንዳቸውን የወርቅ መጠን፣ ለብሩ መቅረዞችና ለቀንዲሎቻቸው የሚያስፈልገውን የእያንዳንዳቸውን የብር መጠን፣ 16ለእያንዳንዱ፣ ገጸ ኅብስት ጠረጴዛ የሚያስፈልገውን የወርቅ መጠን፣ ለእያንዳንዱም የብር ጠረጴዛ የሚያስፈልገውን የብር መጠን፣ 17ለሹካዎቹ፣ ለጐድጓዳ ሳሕኖቹ፣ ለማንቈርቈርያዎቹ የሚያስፈልገውን ንጹሕ የወርቅ መጠን፣ ለእያንዳንዱ የብር ሳሕን የሚያስፈልገውን የብር መጠን፣ 18ለዕጣኑ መሠዊያ የሚሆነውን የጠራ ወርቅ መጠን እንዲሁም ክንፎቻቸውን ዘርግተው የእግዚአብሔርን የቃል ኪዳኑን ታቦት የሚሸፍኑትን ከወርቅ የተሠሩትን የኪሩቤል ሠረገሎች ንድፍ ሰጠው። 19ዳዊትም፣ “ይህ ሁሉ፣ በእኔ ላይ ባለው በእግዚአብሔር እጅ በጽሑፍ ተገለጠልኝ፤ የንድፉንም ዝርዝር እንድረዳ ማስተዋልን ሰጠኝ” አለ።
20ደግሞም ዳዊት ልጁን ሰሎሞንን እንዲህ አለው፤ “እንግዲህ በርታ፤ ጠንክር፤ ሥራውንም ጀምር። አትፍራ፤ ተስፋም አትቍረጥ፤ እግዚአብሔር አምላኬ ከአንተ ጋር ነውና፤ እርሱም የእግዚአብሔር ቤተ መቅደስ አገልግሎት ሥራ እስኪፈጸም ድረስ አይተውህም፤ አይጥልህም። 21ለእግዚአብሔር ቤተ መቅደስ ሥራ ሁሉ የሚያስፈልጉት ካህናትና ሌዋውያን ምድብም ዝግጁ ነው። በሁሉም የእጅ ሙያ የሠለጠኑ ፈቃደኛ ሰዎች በሥራው ሁሉ ይረዱሃል። ሹማምቱና ሕዝቡ ሁሉ ትእዛዝህን ይፈጽማሉ።”
