1 Chronicles 16–18

The Ark of the Covenant Placed in Its Tent

16And they brought the ark of God and set it inside the tent that David had pitched for it. And they offered burnt offerings and fellowship offerings before God. ²And when David had finished offering the burnt offerings and fellowship offerings, he blessed the people in the name of Yahweh. ³And he distributed to every man of Israel, both men and women, to each person a loaf of bread, a cake of dates, and a cake of raisins. ⁴Then he appointed some of the Levites as ministers before the ark of Yahweh, to invoke, thank, and praise Yahweh the God of Israel. ⁵Asaph was chief, and his second was Zechariah; Jeiel, Shemiramoth, Jehiel, Mattithiah, Eliab, Benaiah, Obed-Edom, and Jeiel were on harps and lyres. And Asaph played on the cymbals. ⁶And Benaiah and Jahaziel the priests blew on the trumpets continually before the ark of the covenant of God. ⁷Then on that day David first appointed to give thanks to Yahweh by the hand of Asaph and his brothers.

David’s Song of Thanks

⁸Give thanks to Yahweh; call upon his name;

make known his deeds among the nations!

⁹Sing to him; sing praises to him;

tell of all his wondrous works!

¹⁰Glory in his holy name;

let the hearts of those seeking Yahweh rejoice!

¹¹Seek Yahweh and his strength;

seek his face continually!

¹²Remember his wonderful works that he has done,

his wonders and the judgments of his mouth,

¹³O offspring of Israel, his servant,

O sons of Jacob, his chosen ones!

¹⁴He is Yahweh our God;

his judgments are in all the earth.

¹⁵Remember his covenant forever,

the word he commanded for a thousand generations,

¹⁶that he made^a with Abraham,

his sworn oath to Isaac.

¹⁷And he confirmed it to Jacob as a statute,

an everlasting covenant to Israel,

¹⁸saying, “To you I will give the land of Canaan,

the portion of your inheritance.”

¹⁹When you were few in number, very few,^b

and sojourners in it,

²⁰when they wandered from nation to nation,

and from one kingdom to another people,

²¹he did not allow anyone to oppress them,

and he rebuked kings on their account,

²²saying, “You must not touch my anointed

nor do harm to my prophets!”

²³Sing to Yahweh, all the earth!

Proclaim his salvation from day to day!

²⁴Proclaim his glory among the nations,

his wondrous works among all the peoples!

²⁵For Yahweh is great and greatly praised,

and he is feared among all gods.

²⁶For all the gods of the nations are idols,

but Yahweh made the heavens.

²⁷Splendor and majesty are before him;

strength and joy are in his place.

²⁸Ascribe to Yahweh, O clans of the nations,

ascribe to Yahweh glory and strength!

²⁹Ascribe to Yahweh the glory of his name!

Lift up an offering and come before him!

Bow down to Yahweh in the splendor of holiness!

³⁰Tremble before him, all the earth;

surely the world is established; it shall not be shaken.

³¹Let the heavens rejoice, and let the earth be glad,

and let them tell the peoples, “Yahweh reigns!”

³²Let the sea roar and its fullness;

let the field rejoice and all that is in it.

³³Then the trees of the forest shall sing for joy before Yahweh,

for he comes to judge the earth.

³⁴Oh give thanks to Yahweh, for he is good;

his loyal love is everlasting.

³⁵Then say, “Save us, O God of our salvation;

gather us and rescue us from the nations

that we may give thanks to your holy name

and glory in your praise.

³⁶Blessed be Yahweh the God of Israel,

from everlasting to everlasting!”

Then all the people said, “Amen!” and praised Yahweh.

Worship and the Ark

³⁷So he^c left Asaph and his brothers there before the ark of the covenant of Yahweh to minister before the ark regularly as each day required,^{d 38}and he left Obed-Edom with his sixty-eight brothers. And Obed-Edom, the son of Jeduthun, and Hosah were gatekeepers. ³⁹And he left Zadok the priest and his brothers the priests before the tabernacle of Yahweh at the high place which was at Gibeon ⁴⁰to offer burnt offerings regularly to Yahweh on the altar of burnt offering, morning and evening, according to all that was written in the law of Yahweh that he commanded concerning Israel. ⁴¹And with them were Heman and Jeduthun and the remainder of those chosen, who were designated by name to give thanks to Yahweh, for his loyal love is everlasting. ⁴²And Heman and Jeduthun with them had trumpets and cymbals for making music, along with instruments for the song of God. And the sons of Jeduthun were at the gate. ⁴³Then all the people went each to his house, and David turned to bless his household.

Yahweh’s Covenant with David

17And as David lived in his house, David said to Nathan the prophet, “Look, I live in a house of cedar, but the ark of the covenant of Yahweh is under tent curtains.” ²And Nathan said to David, “Whatever is in your heart, do, for God is with you.”

³And it happened that same night the word of God came to Nathan, saying, ⁴“Go and say to David my servant, ‘Thus says Yahweh, “You are not to build a house for me to live in, ⁵for I have not lived in a house from the day that I brought out Israel unto this day. I have been from tent to tent and from tabernacle to tabernacle. ⁶In every place I have moved about in all Israel, did I say one word with any of the judges of Israel whom I commanded to shepherd my people, saying, ‘Why have you not built for me a house of cedar?’ ” ’ ⁷So now, thus you shall say to my servant David, ‘Thus says Yahweh of hosts, “I took you from the pasture, from following the sheep, to be leader over my people Israel, ⁸and I have been with you wherever you went and have cut down all your enemies from before you and will make a name for you, like the name of the great ones on the earth. ⁹And I will appoint a place for my people Israel, and I will plant them,^a and they^b shall dwell in their^c place and be in anguish no longer. And wicked men will no longer wear them down as before, ¹⁰from the day that I commanded judges over my people Israel. And I will subdue all your enemies, and I declare to you that Yahweh will build for you a house.^{d 11}And it shall be that when your days are fulfilled to go and sleep with your ancestors,^e then I will raise up your seed after you, who will be one of your sons, and I will establish his kingdom. ¹²He himself will build for me a house, and I will establish his throne forever. ¹³I myself will be a father to him, and he himself will be a son to me. And I will not remove my steadfast love from him as I took it away from whoever was before you. ¹⁴And I will establish him in my house and in my kingdom forever, and his throne will be established forever.” ’ ” ¹⁵According to all these words and according to all this revelation, thus did Nathan speak to David.

David’s Prayer

¹⁶Then King David went and sat before Yahweh and said, “Who am I, O Yahweh God, and what is my house that you have brought me thus far? ¹⁷And this was a small matter in your eyes, O God. And you have spoken concerning the house of your servant for a long time and have shown me future generations to come,^f O Yahweh God. ¹⁸What more^g can David do to you for honoring your servant? Now you know your servant. ¹⁹O Yahweh, for the sake of your servant and according to your heart you have done all this greatness, to make known all these great things. ²⁰O Yahweh, there is none like you, and there is no God except you, according to all that we have heard with our ears. ²¹And who is like your people Israel, the one nation upon earth whom God went to redeem for himself as a people, to establish for you a reputation^h for great and awesome things, to drive out nations from before your people whom you redeemed from Egypt? ²²And you made your people Israel an everlasting nation for yourself. And you, O Yahweh, became their God. ²³So now, O Yahweh, let the word that you spoke to your servant and to his house be established forever, that you might do what you have spoken. ²⁴And let your name be established and be magnified forever, saying, ‘Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel, is Israel’s God, and may the house of David your servant be established before you.’ ²⁵For you, my God, have informedⁱ your servant that you will build a house for him. Therefore, your servant has found courage to pray before you. ²⁶So now, O Yahweh, you yourself are God, and you have spoken to your servant this good thing. ²⁷And now may you begin to bless the house of your servant to continue forever^j before you, for you, O Yahweh, have blessed. And it will be blessed forever.”

David’s Victory over His Enemies

18And it happened that after David struck the Philistines and subdued them, he captured Gath and its villages out of the hand of the Philistines. ²And he struck Moab, and the Moabites became servants to David, bearing tribute. ³And David struck Hadadezer, king of Zobah-Hamath, as he went to set up his monument at the Euphrates River. ⁴And David captured from him one thousand chariots, seven thousand horsemen, and twenty thousand foot soldiers. And David hamstrung all the chariot horses but left one hundred of them to remain for chariots. ⁵And when the Arameans of Damascus came to help Hadadezer king of Zobah-Hamath, David struck down twenty-two thousand men of Aram. ⁶Then David set up garrisons in Aram of Damascus, and the Arameans became servants to David, bearing tribute. And Yahweh delivered David wherever he went. ⁷And David took small round shields of gold that were upon the servants of Hadadezer and brought them to Jerusalem. ⁸And from Tibhath and from Cun, cities of Hadadezer, David captured very much bronze. Solomon made the bronze sea with it along with the columns and objects of bronze.

⁹And when Tou the king of Hamath heard that David had defeated the whole army of Hadadezer the king of Zobah, ¹⁰he sent Hadoram his son to King David to ask him for peace and to bless him because he had fought against Hadadezer and defeated him, for Tou had been at war^a with Hadadezer. And he brought with him all the objects of gold, silver, and…