The Bible (Old and New Testaments)

Another battle also was fought against the Philistines, in which Adeodatus the son of Saltus a Bethlehemite slew the brother of Goliath the Gethite, the staff of whose spear was like a weaver's beam.

There was another battle also in Geth, in which there was a man of great stature, whose fingers and toes were four and twenty, six on each hand and foot: who also was born of the stock of Rapha.

He reviled Israel: but Jonathan the son of Samaa the brother of David slew him. These were the sons of Rapha in Geth, who fell by the hand of David and his servants.

And Satan rose up against Israel: and moved David to number Israel.

And David said to Joab, and to the rulers of the people: Go, and number Israel from Bersabee even to Dan, and bring me the number of them that I may know it.

And Joab answered: The Lord make his people a hundred times more than they are: but, my lord the king, are they not all thy servants: why doth my lord seek this thing, which may be imputed as a sin to Israel?

But the king's word rather prevailed: and Joab departed, and went through all Israel: and returned to Jerusalem.

And he gave David the number of them, whom he had surveyed: and all the number of Israel was found to be eleven hundred thousand men that drew the sword: and of Juda four hundred and seventy thousand fighting men.

But Levi and Benjamin he did not number: for Joab unwillingly executed the king's orders.

And God was displeased with this thing that was commanded: and he struck Israel.

And David said to God: I have sinned exceedingly in doing this: I beseech thee take away the iniquity of thy servant, for I have done foolishly.

And the Lord spoke to Gad the seer of David, saying:

Go, and speak to David, and tell him: Thus saith the Lord: I give thee the choice of three things: choose one which thou wilt, and I will do it to thee.

And when Gad was come to David, he said to him: Thus saith the Lord: choose which thou wilt:

Either three years famine: or three months to flee from thy enemies, and not to be able to escape their sword: or three days to have the sword of the Lord, and pestilence in the land, and the angel of the Lord destroying in all the coasts of Israel: now therefore see what I shall answer him who sent me.

And David said to Gad: I am on every side in a great strait: but it is better for me to fall into the hands of the Lord, for his mercies are many, than into the hands of men.

So the Lord sent a pestilence upon Israel. And there fell of Israel seventy thousand men.

And he sent an angel to Jerusalem, to strike it: and as he was striking it, the Lord beheld, and took pity for the greatness of the evil: and said to the angel that destroyed: It is enough, now stop thy hand. And the angel of the Lord stood by the thrashingfloor of Ornan the Jebusite.

And David lifting up his eyes, saw the angel of the Lord standing between heaven and earth, with a drawn sword in his hand, turned against Jerusalem: and both he and the ancients clothed in haircloth, fell down flat on the ground.

And David said to God: Am not I he that commanded the people to be numbered? It is I that have sinned: it is I that have done the evil: but as for this flock, what hath it deserved? O Lord my God, let thy hand be turned, I beseech thee, upon me, and upon my father's house: and let not thy people be destroyed.

And the angel of the Lord commanded Gad to tell David, to go up, and build an altar to the Lord God in the thrashingfloor of Ornan the Jebusite.

And David went up, according to the word of Gad, which he spoke to him in the name of the Lord.

Now when Ornan looked up, and saw the angel, he and his four sons hid themselves: for at that time he was thrashing wheat in the floor.

And as David was coming to Ornan, Ornan saw him, and went out of the thrashingfloor to meet him, and bowed down to him with his face to the ground.

And David said to him: Give me this place of thy thrashingfloor, that I may build therein an altar to the Lord: but thou shalt take of me as much money as it is worth, that the plague may cease from the people.

And Ornan said to David: Take it, and let my lord the king do all that pleaseth him: and moreover the oxen also I give for a holocaust, and the drays for wood, and the wheat for the sacrifice: I will give it all willingly.

And king David said to him: It shall not be so, but I will give thee money as much as it is worth: for I must not take it from thee, and so offer to the Lord holocausts free cost.

So David gave to Ornan for the place, six hundred sicles of gold of just weight.

And he built there an altar to the Lord: and he offered holocausts, and peace offerings, and he called upon the Lord, and he heard him by sending fire from heaven upon the altar of the holocaust.

And the Lord commanded the angel: and he put up his sword again into the sheath.

And David seeing that the Lord had heard him in the thrashingfloor of Ornan the Jebusite, forthwith offered victims there.

But the tabernacle of the Lord, which Moses made in the desert, and the altar of holocausts, was at that time in the high place of Gabaon.

And David could not go to the altar there to pray to God: for he was seized with an exceeding great fear, seeing the sword of the angel of the Lord.

Then David said: This is the house of God, And this is the altar for the holocaust of Israel.

And he commanded to gather together all the proselytes of the land of Israel, and out of them he appointed stonecutters to hew stones and polish them, to build the house of God.

And David prepared in abundance iron for the nails of the gates, and for the closures and joinings: and of brass an immense weight.

And the cedar trees were without number, which the Sidonians, and Tyrians brought to David.

And David said: Solomon my son is very young and tender, and the house which I would have to be built to the Lord, must be such as to be renowned in all countries: therefore I will prepare him necessaries. And therefore before his death he prepared all the charges.

And he called for Solomon his son: and commanded him to build a house to the Lord the God of Israel.

And David said to Solomon: My son, it was my desire to have built a house to the name of the Lord my God.

But the word of the Lord came to me, saying: Thou hast shed much blood, and fought many battles, so thou canst not build house to my name, after shedding so much blood before me:

The son, that shall be born to thee, shall be a most quiet man: for I will make him rest from all his enemies round about: and therefore he shall be called Peaceable: and I will give peace and quietness to Israel all his days.

He shall build a house to my name, and he shall be a son to me, and I will be a father to him: and I will establish the throne of his kingdom over Israel for ever.

Now then, my son, the Lord be with thee, and do thou prosper, and build the house to the Lord thy God, as he hath spoken of thee.

The Lord also give thee wisdom and understanding, that thou mayest be able to rule Israel, and to keep the law of the Lord thy God.

For then thou shalt be able to prosper, if thou keep the commandments, and judgments, which the Lord commanded Moses to teach Israel: take courage and act manfully, fear not, nor be dismayed.

Behold I in my poverty have prepared the charges of the house of the Lord, of gold a hundred thousand talents, and of silver a million of talents: but of brass, and of iron there is no weight, for the abundance surpasseth all account: timber also and stones I have prepared for all the charges.

Thou hast also workmen in abundance, hewers of stones, and masons, and carpenters, and of all trades the most skilful in their work,

In gold, and in silver, and in brass, and in iron, whereof there is no number. Arise then, and be doing, and the Lord will be with thee.

David also charged all the princes of Israel, to help Solomon his son,

Saying: You see, that the Lord your God is with you, and hath given you rest round about, and hath delivered all your enemies into your hands, and the land is subdued before the Lord, and before his people.

Give therefore your hearts and your souls, to seek the Lord your God and arise, and build a sanctuary to the Lord God, that the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and the vessels consecrated to the Lord, may be brought into the house, which is built to the name of the Lord.

David being old and full of days, made Solomon his son king over Israel.

And he gathered together all the princes of Israel, and the priests and Levites.

And the Levites were numbered from the age of thirty years, and upwards: and there were found of them thirty-eight thousand men.

Of these twenty-four thousand were chosen, and distributed unto the ministry of the house of the Lord: and six thousand were the overseers and judges.

Moreover four thousand were porters: and as many singers singing to the Lord with the instruments, which he had made to sing with.

And David distributed them into courses by the families of the sons of Levi, to wit, of Gerson, and of Caath, and of Merari.

The sons of Gerson were Leedan and Semei.

The sons of Leedan: the chief Jahiel, and Zethan, and Joel, three.

The sons of Semei: Salomith, and Hosiel, and Aran, three: these were the heads of the families of Leedan.

And the sons of Semei were Leheth, and Ziza, and Jaus, and Baria: these were the sons of Semei, four.

And Leheth was the first, Ziza the second: but Jaus and Baria had not many children, and therefore they were counted in one family, and in one house.

The sons of Caath were Amram, and Isaar, Hebron, and Oziel, four.

The sons of Amram, Aaron, and Moses. And Aaron was separated to minister in the holy of holies, he and his sons for ever, and to burn incense before the Lord, according to his ceremonies, and to bless his name for ever.

The sons also of Moses, the man of God, were numbered in the tribe of Levi.

The sons of Moses were Gersom and Eliezer:

The sons of Gersom: Subuel the first.

And the sons of Eliezer were: Rohobia the first: and Eliezer had no more sons. But the sons of Rohobia were multiplied exceedingly.

The sons of Isaar: Salomith the first.

The sons of Hebron: Jeriau the first, Amarias the second, Jahaziel the third, Jecmaam the fourth.

The sons of Oziel: Micha the first, Jesia the second.

The sons of Merari: Moholi, and Musi. The sons of Moholi: Eleazar and Cis.

And Eleazar died, and had no sons but daughters: and the sons of Cis their brethren took them.

The sons of Musi: Moholi, and Eder, and Jerimoth, three.

These are the sons of Levi in their kindreds and families, princes by their courses, and the number of every head that did the works of the ministry of the house of the Lord from twenty years old and upward.

For David said: The Lord the God of Israel hath given rest to his people, and a habitation in Jerusalem for ever.

And it shall not be the office of the Levites to carry any more the tabernacle, and all the vessels for the service thereof.

So according to the last precepts of David, the sons of Levi are to be numbered from twenty years old and upward.

And they are to be under the hand of the sons of Aaron for the service of the house of the Lord, in the porches, and in the chambers, and in the place of purification, and in the sanctuary, and in all the works of the ministry of the temple of the Lord.

And the priests have the charge of the loaves of proposition, and of the sacrifice of fine flour, and of the unleavened cakes, and of the fryingpan, and of the roasting, and of every weight and measure.

And the Levites are to stand in the morning to give thanks, and to sing praises to the Lord: and in like manner in the evening,

As well in the oblation of the holocausts of the Lord, as in the sabbaths and in the new moons, and the rest of the solemnities, according to the number and ceremonies prescribed for every thing, continually before the Lord.

And let them keep the observances of the tabernacle of the covenant, and the ceremonies of the sanctuary, and the charge of the sons of Aaron their brethren, that they may minister in the house of the Lord.

Now these were the divisions of the sons of Aaron: The sons of Aaron: Nadab, and Abiu, and Eleazar, and Ithamar.

But Nadab and Abiu died before their father, and had no children: so Eleazar, and Ithamar did the office of the priesthood.

And David distributed them, that is, Sadoc of the sons of Eleazar, and Ahimelech of the sons of Ithamar, according to their courses and ministry.

And there were found many more of the sons of Eleazar among the principal men, than of the sons of Ithamar. And he divided them so, that there were of the sons of Eleazar, sixteen chief men by their families: and of the sons of Ithamar eight by their families and houses.

And he divided both the families one with the other by lot: for there were princes of the sanctuary, and princes of God, both of the sons of Eleazar, and of the sons of Ithamar.

And Semeias the son of Nathanael the scribe a Levite, wrote them down before the king and the princes, and Sadoc the priest, and Ahimelech the son of Abiathar, and the princes also of the priestly and Levitical families: one house, which was over the rest, of Eleazar: and another house, which had the rest under it, of Ithamar.

Now the first lot came forth to Joiarib, the second to Jedei,

The third to Harim, the fourth to Seorim,

The fifth to Melchia, the sixth to Maiman,

The seventh to Accos, the eighth to Abia,

The ninth to Jesua, the tenth to Sechenia,

The eleventh to Eliasib, the twelfth to Jacim,

The thirteenth to Hoppha, the fourteenth to Isbaab,

The fifteenth to Belga, the sixteenth to Emmer,

The seventeenth to Hezir, the eighteenth to Aphses,

The nineteenth to Pheteia, the twentieth to Hezechiel,