5. And of all my sons—for the Lord has given me many sons—he has chosen my son Solomon to sit on the throne of the Lord’s kingship over Israel.
6. For he said to me: It is your son Solomon who shall build my house and my courts, for I have chosen him for my son, and I will be a father to him.
7. I will establish his kingdom forever, if he perseveres in carrying out my commandments and ordinances as he does now.
8. Therefore, in the sight of all Israel, the assembly of the Lord, and in the hearing of our God: keep and carry out all the commandments of the Lord, your God, that you may continue to possess this good land and afterward leave it as an inheritance to your children forever.
9. “As for you, Solomon, my son, know the God of your father and serve him with a whole heart and a willing soul, for the Lord searches all hearts and understands all the mind’s thoughts. If you search for him, he will be found; but if you abandon him, he will cast you off forever.
10. See, then! The Lord has chosen you to build a house as his sanctuary. Be strong and set to work.”
11. Then David gave to his son Solomon the design of the portico and of the house itself, with its storerooms, its upper rooms and inner chambers, and the shrine containing the cover of the ark.
12. He provided also the design for all else that he had in mind by way of courts for the house of the Lord, with the surrounding compartments for the treasuries of the house of God and the treasuries for the votive offerings,