1 Chronicles 17–19

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 military force of Hadadezer king of Zobah,

¹⁰so he sent ¹Hadoram his son to King David to ²greet him and to bless him, because he had fought against Hadadezer and struck him down; for Hadadezer had been at war with Tou. And Hadoram brought all kinds of articles of gold and silver and bronze.

¹¹King David also set these apart as holy to Yahweh with the silver and the gold which he had carried away from all the nations: from Edom, Moab, the sons of Ammon, the Philistines, and from Amalek.

¹²Moreover, Abishai the son of Zeruiah ¹smote 18,000 of Edom in the Valley of Salt.

¹³Then he placed garrisons in Edom, and all the Edomites became servants to David. And Yahweh granted salvation to David wherever he went.

¹⁴So David reigned over all Israel; and he was doing justice and righteousness for all his people.

^15aNow Joab the son of Zeruiah was over the army, and Jehoshaphat the son of Ahilud was recorder;

¹⁶and Zadok the son of Ahitub and Abimelech the son of Abiathar were priests, and Shavsha was scribe;

¹⁷and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada was over the Cherethites and the Pelethites, and the sons of David were chiefs at the king’s side.

CHAPTER 19

The Ammonites Dishonor David’s Men

^1aNow it happened afterwards, that Nahash the king of the sons of Ammon died, and his son became king in his place.

²So David said, “I will show lovingkindness to Hanun the son of Nahash, because his father showed lovingkindness to me.” So David sent messengers to comfort him concerning his father. And David’s servants came into the land of the sons of Ammon to Hanun to comfort him.

³But the princes of the sons of Ammon said to Hanun, “In your eyes, is David honoring your father because he has sent comforters to you? Have not his servants come to you to search and to overthrow and to spy out the land?”

⁴So Hanun took David’s servants and shaved them and cut off their garments in the middle as far as their hips, and sent them away.

⁵Then certain persons went and told David about the men. And he sent to meet them, for the men were greatly dishonored. And the king said, “¹Stay at Jericho until your beards grow, and then return.”

⁶Then the sons of Ammon saw that they had made themselves odious to David. So Hanun and the sons of Ammon sent ¹1,000 talents of silver to hire for themselves chariots and horsemen from Mesopotamia, from Aram-maacah, and ^afrom Zobah.

⁷So they hired for themselves 32,000 chariots, and the king of Maacah and his people, who came and camped before ^aMedeba. And the sons of Ammon gathered together from their cities and came to battle.

⁸Then David heard of it, and he sent Joab and all the army, the mighty men.

⁹And the sons of Ammon came out and arranged themselves for battle at the entrance of the city. But the kings who had come were by themselves in the field.

David Defeats Ammon and Aram

¹⁰Then Joab saw that the ¹battle was set against him in front and in the rear. So he chose from all the choice men of Israel and ²they arranged themselves to meet the Arameans.

¹¹But the remainder of the people he put in the hand of ¹Abshai his brother; and they arranged themselves to meet the sons of Ammon.

¹²And he said, “If the Arameans are too strong for me, then you shall save me; but if the sons of Ammon are too strong for you, then I will save you.

¹³“Be strong, and let us show strength for the sake of our people and for the cities of our God; and may Yahweh do what is good in His sight.”

¹⁴So Joab and the people who were with him drew near before the Arameans for the battle, and they fled before him.

¹⁵Now the sons of Ammon saw that the Arameans fled. So they themselves also fled before Abshai his brother and came into the city. Then Joab came to Jerusalem.

¹⁶Then the Arameans saw that they had been ¹defeated by Israel. So they sent messengers and brought out the Arameans who were beyond the ²River, and Shophach the commander of the army of Hadadezer ³led them.

¹⁷And it was told to David, so he gathered all Israel together and crossed the Jordan, and came upon them and arranged for battle against them. So David arranged them in battle to meet the Arameans. And they fought against him.

¹⁸But the Arameans fled before Israel, and David killed of the Arameans 7,000 charioteers and 40,000 foot soldiers, and put to death Shophach the commander of the army.

¹⁹Then the servants of Hadadezer saw that they were ¹defeated by Israel. So they made peace with David and served him. And the Arameans were not willing to save the sons of Ammon anymore.