1 Chronicles 16–18

16They^l brought the ark of God and placed it inside the tent David had pitched for it.^m Then they offered burnt offerings and fellowship offerings in God’s presence. ²When David had finished offering the burnt offerings and the fellowship offerings, he blessed the people in the name of the Lord. ³Then he distributed to each and every Israelite, both men and women, a loaf of bread, a date cake, and a raisin cake.

⁴David appointed some of the Levites to be ministers before the ark of the Lord, to celebrate the Lord God of Israel, and to give thanks and praise to him. ⁵Asaph was the chief and Zechariah was second to him. Jeiel, Shemiramoth, Jehiel, Mattithiah, Eliab, Benaiah, Obed-edom, and Jeiel played the harps and lyres, while Asaph sounded the cymbals ⁶and the priests Benaiah and Jahaziel blew the trumpets regularly before the ark of the covenant of God.

DAVID’S PSALM OF THANKSGIVING

⁷On that day David decreed for the first time that thanks be given to the Lord by Asaph and his relatives:

⁸Give thanksⁿ to the Lord; call on his name;

proclaim his deeds among the peoples.^a

⁹Sing to him; sing praise to him;

tell about all his wondrous works!

¹⁰Boast in his holy name;

let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice.

¹¹Seek the Lord and his strength;

seek his face always.^b

¹²Remember the wondrous works he has done,^c

his wonders, and the judgments he has pronounced,^Bd

¹³you offspring of Israel his servant,

Jacob’s descendants—his chosen ones.

¹⁴He is the Lord our God;

his judgments govern the whole earth.^e

¹⁵Remember his covenant forever—

the promise he ordained for a thousand generations,

¹⁶the covenant he made with Abraham,

swore^A to Isaac,^f

¹⁷and confirmed to Jacob as a decree,

and to Israel as a permanent covenant:^g

¹⁸“I will give the land of Canaan to you

as your inherited portion.”^h

¹⁹When they^B were few in number,

very few indeed,ⁱ and resident aliens in Canaan

²⁰wandering from nation to nation

and from one kingdom to another,

²¹he allowed no one to oppress them;

he rebuked kings on their behalf:^j

²²“Do not touch my anointed ones

or harm my prophets.”^k

²³Let the whole earth sing^l to the Lord.

Proclaim his salvation from day to day.

²⁴Declare his glory among the nations,

his wondrous works among all peoples.

²⁵For the Lord is great and highly praised;^m

he is feared above all gods.ⁿ

²⁶For all the gods of the peoples are worthless idols,^o

but the Lord made the heavens.^p

²⁷Splendor and majesty are before him;

strength and joy are in his place.

²⁸Ascribe to the Lord, families of the peoples,

ascribe to the Lord glory and strength.

²⁹Ascribe to the Lord the glory of his name;

bring an offering and come before him.

Worship the Lord in the splendor of his holiness;^q

³⁰let the whole earth tremble^r before him.

The world is firmly established;

it cannot be shaken.

³¹Let the heavens be glad and the earth rejoice,^s

and let them say among the nations, “The Lord reigns!”

³²Let the sea and all that fills it resound;

let the fields and everything in them exult.^t

³³Then the trees of the forest will shout for joy before the Lord,

for he is coming to judge the earth.

³⁴Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good;

his faithful love endures forever.^u

³⁵And say,^v “Save us, God of our salvation;

gather us and rescue us from the nations

so that we may give thanks to your holy name

and rejoice in your praise.

³⁶Blessed be the Lord God of Israel^w

from everlasting to everlasting.”

Then all the people said, “Amen” and “Praise the Lord.”

³⁷So David left Asaph and his relatives there before the ark of the Lord’s covenant to minister regularly^x before the ark according to the daily requirements.^{y 38}He assigned Obed-edom^z and his^A sixty-eight relatives. Obed-edom son of Jeduthun and Hosah^aa were to be gatekeepers. ³⁹David left the priest Zadok and his fellow priests before the tabernacle of the Lord at the high place in Gibeon^{a 40}to offer burnt offerings regularly, morning and evening, to the Lord on the altar of burnt offerings and to do everything that was written in the law of the Lord, which he had commanded Israel to keep.^{b 41}With them were Heman,^c Jeduthun, and the rest who were chosen and designated by name^d to give thanks to the Lord—for his faithful love endures forever.^{e 42}Heman and Jeduthun had with them trumpets and cymbals to play and musical instruments of God.^f Jeduthun’s sons were at the city gate.

⁴³Then all the people went home, and David returned home to bless his household.^g

THE LORD’S COVENANT WITH DAVID

17When David^h had settled into his palace, he said to the prophet Nathan, “Look! I am living in a cedar house while the ark of the Lord’s covenant is under tent curtains.”ⁱ

²So Nathan told David, “Do all that is on your mind, for God is with you.”

³But that night^j the word of God came to Nathan: ⁴“Go to David my servant and say, ‘This is what the Lord says: You are not the one to build me a house to dwell in.^{k 5}From the time I brought Israel out of Egypt until today I have not dwelt in a house; instead, I have moved from one tent site to another, and from one tabernacle location to another.^{Bl 6}In all my journeys throughout Israel, have I ever spoken a word to even one of the judges of Israel, whom I commanded to shepherd my people, asking: Why haven’t you built me a house of cedar?’^m

⁷“So now this is what you are to say to my servant David: ‘This is what the Lord of Armies says: I took you from the pasture, from tending the flock, to be ruler over my people Israel.^{n 8}I have been with you wherever you have gone, and I have destroyed all your enemies before you. I will make a name for you like that of the greatest on the earth. ⁹I will designate a place for my people Israel and plant them,^o so that they may live there and not be disturbed again. Evildoers will not continue to oppress them as they have done ¹⁰ever since the day I ordered judges to be over my people Israel. I will also subdue all your enemies.

“ ‘Furthermore, I declare to you that the Lord himself will build a house for you. ¹¹When your time comes to be with your ancestors, I will raise up after you your descendant, who is one of your own sons, and I will establish his kingdom. ¹²He is the one who will build a house for me,^p and I will establish his throne forever. ¹³I will be his father, and he will be my son.^q I will not remove my faithful love from him as I removed it from the one who was before you.^{r 14}I will appoint him over my house and my kingdom forever, and his throne will be established forever.’ ”^s

¹⁵Nathan reported all these words and this entire vision to David.

DAVID’S PRAYER OF THANKSGIVING

¹⁶Then^t King David went in, sat in the Lord’s presence, and said,

Who am I, Lord God, and what is my house that you have brought me this far? ¹⁷This was a little thing to you,^A God, for you have spoken about your servant’s house in the distant future. You regard me as a man of distinction,^B Lord God. ¹⁸What more can David say to you for honoring your servant? You know your servant. ¹⁹Lord, you have done this whole great thing, making known all these great promises for the sake of your servant and according to your will.^{u 20}Lord, there is no one like you, and there is no God besides you, as all we have heard confirms. ²¹And who is like your people Israel? God, you came to one nation on earth to redeem a people for yourself, to make a name for yourself through great and awesome works by driving out nations before your people you redeemed from Egypt.^{v 22}You made your people Israel your own people forever, and you, Lord, have become their God.^w

²³Now, Lord, let the word that you have spoken concerning your servant and his house be confirmed forever, and do as you have promised. ²⁴Let your name be confirmed and magnified forever in the saying, “The Lord of Armies, the God of Israel, is God over Israel.” May the house of your servant David be established before you. ²⁵Since you, my God, have revealed to^Cx your servant that you will build him a house, your servant has found courage to pray in your presence. ²⁶Lord, you indeed are God, and you have promised this good thing to your servant. ²⁷So now, you have been pleased to bless your servant’s house that it may continue before you forever. For you, Lord, have blessed it, and it is blessed forever.

DAVID’S MILITARY CAMPAIGNS

18After this,^a David defeated the Philistines, subdued them, and took Gath and its surrounding villages from Philistine control. ²He also defeated the Moabites, and they became David’s subjects and brought tribute.

³David also defeated King Hadadezer of Zobah at Hamath when he went to establish his control at the Euphrates River. ⁴David captured one thousand chariots, seven thousand horsemen, and twenty thousand foot soldiers from him, hamstrung all the horses, and kept a hundred chariots.^D

⁵When the Arameans of Damascus came to assist King Hadadezer of Zobah,^b David struck down twenty-two thousand Aramean men. ⁶Then he placed garrisons^c in Aram of Damascus, and the Arameans became David’s subjects and brought tribute. The Lord made David victorious wherever he went.

⁷David took the gold shields carried by Hadadezer’s officers and brought them to Jerusalem. ⁸From Tibhath and Cun, Hadadezer’s cities, David also took huge quantities of bronze, from which Solomon made the bronze basin,^B the pillars, and the bronze articles.^d

⁹When King Tou of Hamath heard that David had defeated the entire army of King Hadadezer of Zobah, ¹⁰he sent his son Hadoram to King David to greet him and to congratulate him because David had fought against Hadadezer and defeated him, for Tou and Hadadezer had fought many wars. Hadoram brought all kinds of gold, silver, and bronze items. ¹¹King David also dedicated these to the Lord, along with the silver and gold he had carried off from all the nations—from Edom, Moab, the Ammonites, the Philistines, and the Amalekites.

¹²Abishai son of Zeruiah struck down eighteen thousand Edomites in the Salt…