1 Chronicles 16–18

CHAPTER 16

A Tent for the Ark

¹And they brought in the ark of God and ^aplaced it inside the tent which David had pitched for it, and they brought burnt offerings and peace offerings near before God.

²Then David completed offering the burnt offerings and the peace offerings. And he blessed the people in the name of Yahweh.

³And he apportioned to everyone of Israel, both men and women, to everyone a loaf of bread and a portion of meat and a raisin cake.

⁴And he made some of the Levites ministers before the ark of Yahweh, even to bring remembrance and to thank and praise Yahweh, the God of Israel:

⁵Asaph the chief, and second to him Zechariah, then ¹Jeiel, Shemiramoth, Jehiel, Mattithiah, Eliab, Benaiah, Obed-edom, and Jeiel, with musical instruments, harps, lyres; also Asaph played loud-sounding cymbals,

⁶and Benaiah and Jahaziel the priests blew trumpets continually before the ark of the covenant of God.

⁷Then on that day David ^afirst assigned ¹Asaph and his ²relatives to give thanks to Yahweh.

Song of Thanksgiving

^8aOh give thanks to Yahweh, call upon His name;

^bMake known His acts among the peoples.

⁹Sing to Him, sing praises to Him;

Muse on all His wondrous deeds.

¹⁰Boast in His holy name;

Let the heart of those who seek Yahweh be glad.

^11aInquire of Yahweh and His strength;

Seek His face continually.

^12aRemember His wondrous deeds which He has done,

^bHis miraculous signs and the judgments uttered by His mouth,

¹³O seed of Israel His servant,

O sons of Jacob, His chosen ones!

¹⁴He is Yahweh our God;

^aHis judgments are in all the earth.

¹⁵Remember His covenant forever,

The word which He commanded for a thousand generations,

^16aWhich He cut with Abraham,

And His oath to Isaac.

^17aThen He also confirmed it to Jacob for a statute,

To Israel as an everlasting covenant,

¹⁸Saying, “^aTo you I will give the land of Canaan,

As the portion of your inheritance,”

^19aWhen you were only a few men in number,

Of little account, and sojourners in it,

²⁰And they wandered about from nation to nation,

And from one kingdom to another people,

²¹He permitted no man to oppress them,

And ^aHe reproved kings for their sakes,

²²“Do not touch My anointed ones,

And ^aagainst My prophets do no evil.”

^23aSing to Yahweh, all the earth;

Proclaim good news of His salvation from day to day.

²⁴Recount His glory among the nations,

His wondrous deeds among all the peoples.

²⁵For ^agreat is Yahweh, and greatly to be praised;

And He is ^1bmore ²fearsome than all gods.

²⁶For all the gods of the peoples are ^1aidols,

^bBut Yahweh made the heavens.

²⁷Splendor and majesty are before Him,

Strength and joy are in His place.

²⁸Ascribe to Yahweh, O families of the peoples,

Ascribe to Yahweh glory and strength.

²⁹Ascribe to Yahweh the glory of His name;

Lift up ¹an offering, and come before Him;

^aWorship Yahweh in the splendor of holiness.

³⁰Tremble before Him, all the earth;

Indeed, the world is established, it will not be shaken.

^31aLet the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice;

And let them say among the nations, “^bYahweh reigns.”

^32aLet the sea ¹roar, as well as its fullness;

Let the field exult, and all that is in it.

³³Then the trees of the forest will sing for joy before Yahweh;

For He is coming to judge the earth.

^34aOh give thanks to Yahweh, for He is good,

For His lovingkindness endures forever.

^35aThen say, “Save us, O God of our salvation,

And gather us and deliver us from among the nations,

To give thanks to Your holy name

And revel in Your praise.”

^36aBlessed be Yahweh, the God of Israel,

From everlasting to everlasting.

Then all the people ^bsaid, “Amen,” and praised Yahweh.

Ministering Before the Ark

³⁷So he left behind Asaph and his ¹relatives there ^abefore the ark of the covenant of Yahweh to minister before the ark continually, ^bas every day’s work required;

³⁸and ^aObed-edom with ¹his 68 relatives; Obed-edom, also the son of Jeduthun, and ^bHosah as gatekeepers.

³⁹Now he left behind ^aZadok the priest and his ¹relatives the priests ^bbefore the ²tabernacle of Yahweh in the high place, which was at Gibeon,

⁴⁰to offer burnt offerings to Yahweh on the altar of burnt offering continually morning and evening, ^aeven according to all that is written in the law of Yahweh, which He commanded Israel.

⁴¹And with them were ^aHeman and Jeduthun, and ^bthe rest who were chosen, who were designated by name, to ^cgive thanks to Yahweh, because His lovingkindness endures forever.

⁴²And with them were Heman and Jeduthun with trumpets and cymbals for those who should sound aloud, and with instruments for ^athe songs of God, and the sons of Jeduthun for the gate.

^43aThen all the people went each to his house, and David returned to bless his household.

CHAPTER 17

The Ark of God Inhabits a Tent

^1aNow it happened when David inhabited his house, that David said to Nathan the prophet, “Behold, I inhabit a house of cedar, but the ark of the covenant of Yahweh is under tent curtains.”

²So Nathan said to David, “Do all that is in your heart, for God is with you.”

³Now it happened in the same night, that the word of God came to Nathan, saying,

⁴“Go and say to David My servant, ‘Thus says Yahweh, “^aYou shall not build Me a house to inhabit;

⁵for I have not inhabited a house since the day that I brought up Israel to this day, ^abut I have been from tent to tent and from one ¹dwelling place to another.

⁶“Wherever I have gone about with all Israel, did I speak a word ^awith even one of the judges of Israel, whom I commanded to shepherd My people, saying, ‘Why have you not built Me a house of cedar?’”’

David’s House Will Be Established Forever

⁷“So now, thus shall you say to My servant David, ‘Thus says Yahweh of hosts, “I Myself took you from the pasture, from following the sheep, to be ruler over My people Israel.

⁸“And I have been with you wherever you have gone, and have cut off all your enemies from before you; and I will make you a name like the name of the great men who are on the earth.

⁹“And I will appoint a place for My people Israel and will plant them, that they may dwell in their own place and not be disturbed again; and the ¹unrighteous will not waste them anymore as formerly,

¹⁰even from the day that I commanded judges to be over My people Israel. And I will subdue all your enemies.

And I tell you that Yahweh will build a house for you.

¹¹“And it will be that when your days are fulfilled to go to be with your fathers, I will raise up one of your seed after you, who will be of your sons; and I will establish his kingdom.

¹²“He shall build for Me a house, and I will establish his throne forever.

¹³“^aI will be a father to him and he will be a son to Me; and I will not remove My lovingkindness from him, ^bas I removed it from him who was before you.

¹⁴“But I will cause him to stand in My house and in My kingdom forever, and his throne shall be established forever.” ’ ”

¹⁵According to all these words and according to all this vision, so Nathan spoke to David.

David Magnifies Yahweh’s Name

¹⁶Then David the king went in and sat before Yahweh and said, “^aWho am I, O Yahweh God, and what is my house that You have brought me this far?

¹⁷“And this was a small thing in Your eyes, O God; but You have spoken of the house of Your slave concerning the distant future, and have regarded me according to the standard of a man of high degree, O Yahweh God.

¹⁸“Again what more can David say to You concerning the glory bestowed on Your slave? You know Your slave.

¹⁹“O Yahweh, ^afor the sake of Your slave, and according to Your own heart, You have done all this greatness, to make known all these great things.

²⁰“O Yahweh, there is none like You, and there is no God besides You, according to all that we have heard with our ears.

²¹“And what one nation in the earth is like Your people Israel, whom God went to redeem for Himself as a people, to make You a name by great and awesome things, in driving out nations from before Your people, whom You redeemed out of Egypt?

²²“^aYet You gave Your people Israel to be Your own people forever, and You, O Yahweh, have become their God.

²³“So now, O Yahweh, let the word that You have spoken concerning Your slave and concerning his house ¹endure forever, and do as You have spoken,

²⁴that Your name ¹endure and be magnified forever, by saying, ‘Yahweh of hosts is the God of Israel, even a God to Israel; and the house of David Your ²servant is established before You.’

²⁵“For You, O my God, have revealed in the hearing of Your slave that You will build for him a house; therefore Your slave has found courage to pray before You.

²⁶“So now, O Yahweh, You are God, and You have ¹promised this good thing to Your slave.

²⁷“So now, You have been pleased to bless the house of Your slave, that it may be forever before You. For You, O Yahweh, have blessed, and it is blessed forever.”

CHAPTER 18

David Strikes Down Nations

¹Now ^ait happened afterwards, that David struck the Philistines and subdued them and took Gath and its towns from the hand of the Philistines.

²He also struck Moab, and the Moabites became servants to David, bringing tribute.

³Then David struck Hadadezer king of Zobah as far as Hamath, as he went to set up his ¹power at the Euphrates River.

⁴And David captured from him 1,000 chariots and 7,000 horsemen and 20,000 foot soldiers, and David hamstrung all the chariot horses, but left enough of them for 100 chariots.

⁵Then the Arameans of ¹Damascus came to help Hadadezer king ^aof Zobah. And David struck down 22,000 men of the Arameans.

⁶Then David placed garrisons among the Arameans of ¹Damascus; and the Arameans became servants to David, bringing tribute. And Yahweh granted salvation to David wherever he went.

⁷And David took the small shields of gold which were ¹carried by the servants of Hadadezer and brought them to Jerusalem.

⁸Also from ¹Tibhath and from Cun, cities of Hadadezer, David took a very large amount of bronze, with which ^aSolomon made the bronze sea and the pillars and the bronze utensils.

⁹Then ¹Tou king of Hamath heard that David had struck down all the…