Bible in a Year.

On day 142, 2 Samuel 24 shows us the consequences of the census ordered by David, reminding us of the importance of trusting in God. 1 Chronicles 29 records the people's generosity and offerings for the construction of the temple, highlighting the spirit of worship. Psalm 30 is a song of gratitude and praise to God for healing, protection, and victory over adversity.

1. And the anger of the Lord was again kindled against Israel, and stirred up David among them, saying: Go, number Israel and Juda.

2. And the king said to Joab the general of his army: Go through all the tribes of Israel from Dan to Bersabee, and number ye the people that I may know the number of them.

3. And Joab said to the king: The Lord thy God increase thy people, and make them as many more as they are now, and again multiply them a hundredfold in the sight of my lord the king: but what meaneth my lord the king by this kind of thing?

4. But the king's words prevailed over the words of Joab, and of the captains of the army: and Joab, and the captains of the soldiers went out from the presence of the king, to number the people of Israel.

5. And when they had passed the Jordan, they came to Aroer to the right side of the city, which is in the vale of Gad.

6. And by Jazer they passed into Galaad, and to the lower land of Hodsi, and they came into the woodlands of Dan. And going about by Sidon,

7. They passed near the walls of Tyre, and all the land of the Hevite, and the Chanaanite, and they came to the south of Juda into Bersabee:

8. And having gone through the whole land, after nine months and twenty days, they came to Jerusalem.

9. And Joab gave up the sum of the number of the people to the king, and there were found of Israel eight hundred thousand valiant men that drew the sword: and of Juda five hundred thousand fighting men.

10. But David's heart struck him, after the people were numbered: and David said to the Lord: I have sinned very much in what I have done: but I pray thee, O Lord, to take away the iniquity of thy servant, because I have done exceeding foolishly.

11. And David arose in the morning, and the word of the Lord came to Gad the prophet and the seer of David, saying:

12. Go, and say to David: Thus saith the Lord: I give thee thy choice of three things, choose one of them which thou wilt, that I may do it to thee.

13. And when Gad was come to David, he told him, saying: Either seven years of famine shall come to thee in thy land: or thou shalt flee three months before thy adversaries, and they shall pursue thee: or for three days there shall be a pestilence in thy land. Now therefore deliberate, and see what answer I shall return to him that sent me.

14. And David said to Gad: I am in a great strait: but it is better that I should fall into the hands of the Lord (for his mercies are many) than into the hands of men.

15. And the Lord sent a pestilence upon Israel, from the morning unto the time appointed, and there died of the people from Dan to Bersabee seventy thousand men.

16. And when the angel of the Lord had stretched out his hand over Jerusalem to destroy it, the Lord had pity on the affliction, and said to the angel that slew the people: It is enough: now hold thy hand. And the angel of the Lord was by the thrashingfloor of Areuna the Jebusite.

17. And David said to the Lord, when he saw the angel striking the people: It is I; I am he that have sinned, I have done wickedly: these that are the sheep, what have they done? let thy hand, I beseech thee, be turned against me, and against my father's house.

18. And Gad came to David that day, and said: Go up, and build an altar to the Lord in the thrashingfloor of Areuna the Jebusite.

19. And David went up according to the word of Gad which the Lord had commanded him.

20. And Areuna looked, and saw the king and his servants coming towards him:

21. An going out he worshipped the king, bowing with his face to the earth, and said: Wherefore is my lord the king come to his servant? Arid David said to him: To buy the thrashingfloor of thee, and build an altar to the Lord, that the plague, which rageth among the people, may cease.

22. And Areuna said to David: Let my lord the king take, and offer, as it seemeth good to him: thou hast here oxen for a holocaust, and the wain, and the yokes of the oxen for wood.

23. All these things Areuna as a king gave to the king: and Areuna said to the king: The Lord thy God receive thy vow.

24. And the king answered him, and said: Nay, but I will buy it of thee at a price, and I will not offer to the Lord my God holocausts free cost. So David bought the floor, and the oxen, for fifty sicles of silver:

25. And David built there an altar to the Lord, and offered holocausts and peace offerings: and the Lord became merciful to the land, and the plague was stayed from Israel.

1. And king David said to all the assembly: Solomon my son, whom alone God hath chosen, is as yet young and tender: and the work is great, for a house is prepared not for man, but for God.

2. And I with all my ability have prepared the expenses for the house of my God. Gold for vessels of gold, and silver for vessels of silver, brass for things of brass, iron for things of iron, wood for things of wood: and onyx stones, and stones like alabaster, and of divers colours, and all manner of precious stones, and marble of Paros in great abundance.

3. Now over and above the things which I have offered into the house of my God I give of my own proper goods, gold and silver for the temple of my God, beside what things I have prepared for the holy house.

4. Three thousand talents of gold of the gold of Ophir: and seven thousand talents of refined silver, to overlay the walls of the temple.

5. And gold for wheresoever there is need of gold: and silver for wheresoever there is need of silver, for the works to be made by the hands of the artificers: now if any man is willing to offer, let him fill his hand to day, and offer what he pleaseth to the Lord.

6. Then the heads of the families, and the princes of the tribes of Israel, and the captains of thousands, and of hundreds, and the overseers of the king's possessions promised,

7. And they gave for the works of the house of the Lord, of gold, five thousand talents, and ten thousand solids: of silver ten thousand talents: and of brass eighteen thousand talents: and of iron a hundred thousand talents.

8. And all they that had stones, gave them to the treasures of the house of the Lord, by the hand of Jahiel the Gersonite.

9. And the people rejoiced, when they promised their offerings willingly: because they offered them to the Lord with all their heart: and David the king rejoiced also with a great joy.

10. And he blessed the Lord before all the multitude, and he said: Blessed art thou, O Lord the God of Israel, our father from eternity to eternity.

11. Thine, O Lord, is magnificence, and power, and glory, and victory: and to thee is praise: for all that is in heaven, and in earth, is thine: thine is the kingdom, O Lord, and thou art above all princes.

12. Thine are riches, and thine is glory, thou hast dominion over all, in thy hand is power and might: in thy hand greatness, and the empire of all things.

13. Now therefore our God we give thanks to thee, and we praise thy glorious name.

14. Who am I, and what is my people, that we should be able to promise thee all these things? all things are thine: and we have given thee what we received of thy hand.

15. For we are sojourners before thee, and strangers, as were all our fathers. Our days upon earth are as a shadow, and there is no stay.

16. O Lord our God, all this store that we have prepared to build thee a house for thy holy name, is from thy hand, and all things are thine.

17. I know my God that thou provest hearts, and lovest simplicity, wherefore I also in the simplicity of my heart, have joyfully offered all these things: and I have seen with great joy thy people, which are here present, offer thee their offerings.

18. O Lord God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Israel our fathers, keep for ever this will of their heart, and let this mind remain always for the worship of thee.

19. And give to Solomon my son a perfect heart, that he may keep thy commandments, thy testimonies, and thy ceremonies, and do all things: and build the house, for which I have provided the charges.

20. And David commanded all the assembly: Bless ye the Lord our God. And all the assembly blessed the Lord the God of their fathers: and they bowed themselves and worshipped God, and then the king.

21. And they sacrificed victims to the Lord: and they offered holocausts the next day, a thousand bullocks, a thousand rams, a thousand lambs, with their libations, and with every thing prescribed most abundantly for all Israel.

22. And they ate, and drank before the Lord that day with great joy. And they anointed the second time Solomon the son of David. And they anointed him to the Lord to be prince, end Sadoc to be high priest.

23. And Solomon sat on the throne of the Lord as king instead of David his father, and he pleased all: and all Israel obeyed him.

24. And all the princes, and men of power, and all the sons of king David gave their hand, and were subject to Solomon the king.

25. And the Lord magnified Solomon over all Israel: and gave him the glory of a reign, such as no king of Israel had before him.

26. So David the son of Isai reigned over all Israel.

27. And the days that he reigned over Israel, were forty years: in Hebron he reigned seven years, and in Jerusalem three and thirty years.

28. And he died in a good age, full of days, and riches, and glory. And Solomon his son reigned in his stead.

29. Now the acts of king David first and last are written in the book of Samuel the seer, and in the book of Nathan the prophet, and in the book of Gad the seer:

30. And of all his reign, and his valour, and of the times that passed under him, either in Israel, or in all the kingdoms of the countries.

1. A psalm of a canticle, at the dedication of David's house.

2. I will extol thee, O Lord, for thou hast upheld me: and hast not made my enemies to rejoice over me.

3. O Lord my God, I have cried to thee, and then hast healed me.

4. Thou hast brought forth, O Lord, my soul from hell: thou hast saved me from them that go down into the pit.

5. Sing to the Lord, O ye his saints: and give praise to the memory of his holiness.

6. For wrath is in his indignation; and life in his good will. In the evening weeping shall have place, and in the morning gladness.

7. And in my abundance I said: I shall never be moved.

8. O Lord, in thy favour, thou gavest strength to my beauty. Thou turnedst away thy face from me, and I became troubled.

9. To thee, O Lord, will I cry: and I will make supplication to my God.

10. What profit is there in my blood, whilst I go down to corruption? Shall dust confess to thee, or declare thy truth?

11. The Lord hath heard, and hath had mercy on me: the Lord became my helper.

12. Thou hast turned for me my mourning into joy: thou hast cut my sackcloth, and hast compassed me with gladness:

13. To the end that my glory may sing to thee, and I may not regret: O Lord my God, I will give praise to thee for ever.