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 offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before God.

²When David had finished offering the burnt offering and the peace offerings, he blessed the people in the name of the Lord.

³He distributed to everyone of Israel, both man and woman, to everyone a loaf of bread and a portion of meat and a raisin cake.

⁴He appointed some of the Levites as ministers before the ark of the Lord, even to celebrate and to thank and praise the Lord 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 the Lord.

Psalm of Thanksgiving

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

^bMake known His deeds among the peoples.

⁹Sing to Him, sing praises to Him;

¹Speak of all His ²wonders.

¹⁰¹Glory in His holy name;

Let the heart of those who seek the Lord be glad.

^11aSeek the Lord and His strength;

Seek His face continually.

^12aRemember His wonderful deeds which He has done,

^bHis marvels and the judgments from His mouth,

¹³O seed of Israel His servant,

Sons of Jacob, His chosen ones!

¹⁴He is the Lord our God;

^aHis judgments are in all the earth.

¹⁵Remember His covenant forever,

The word which He commanded to a thousand generations,

^16aThe covenant which He made with Abraham,

And His oath to Isaac.

^17aHe 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 they were only a few in number,

Very few, and strangers 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, saying,

²²“Do not touch My anointed ones,

And ^ado My prophets no harm.”

^23aSing to the Lord, all the earth;

Proclaim good tidings of His salvation from day to day.

²⁴Tell of His glory among the nations,

His wonderful deeds among all the peoples.

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

He also is ^bto be feared above all gods.

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

^bBut the Lord made the heavens.

²⁷Splendor and majesty are before Him,

Strength and joy are in His place.

²⁸Ascribe to the Lord, O families of the peoples,

Ascribe to the Lord glory and strength.

²⁹Ascribe to the Lord the glory due His name;

Bring an ¹offering, and come before Him;

^aWorship the Lord in ²holy array.

³⁰Tremble before Him, all the earth;

Indeed, the world is firmly established, it will not be moved.

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

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

^32aLet the sea ¹roar, and ²all it contains;

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

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

For He is coming to judge the earth.

^34aO give thanks to the Lord, for He is good;

For His lovingkindness is everlasting.

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

And gather us and deliver us from the nations,

To give thanks to Your holy name,

And ¹glory in Your praise.”

^36aBlessed be the Lord, the God of Israel,

From everlasting even to everlasting.

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

Worship before the Ark

³⁷So he left Asaph and his ¹relatives there ^abefore the ark of the covenant of the Lord 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.

³⁹He left ^aZadok the priest and his ¹relatives the priests ^bbefore the ²tabernacle of the Lord in the high place which was at Gibeon,

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

⁴¹With them were ^aHeman and Jeduthun, and ^bthe rest who were chosen, who were designated by name, to ^cgive thanks to the Lord, because His lovingkindness is everlasting.

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 departed each to his house, and David returned to bless his household.

Chapter 17

God’s Covenant with David

^1aAnd it came about, when David dwelt in his house, that David said to Nathan the prophet, “Behold, I am dwelling in a house of cedar, but the ark of the covenant of the Lord is under curtains.”

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

³It came about the same night that the word of God came to Nathan, saying,

⁴“Go and tell David My servant, ‘Thus says the Lord, “^aYou shall not build a house for Me to dwell in;

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

⁶“In all places where I have walked with all Israel, have I spoken a word ^awith 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?’ ” ’

⁷“Now, therefore, thus shall you say to My servant David, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, “I took you from the pasture, from following the sheep, to be leader over My people Israel.

⁸“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 ones who are in the earth.

⁹“I will appoint a place for My people Israel, and will plant them, so that they may dwell in their own place and not be moved again; and the ¹wicked 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.

Moreover, I tell you that the Lord will build a house for you.

¹¹“When your days are fulfilled that you must go to be with your fathers, that I will set up one of your ¹descendants 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 his father and he shall be My son; and I will not take My lovingkindness away from him, ^bas I took it from him who was before you.

¹⁴“But I will settle him 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’s Prayer in Response

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

¹⁷“This was a small thing in Your eyes, O God; but You have spoken of Your servant’s house for a great while to come, and have regarded me according to the standard of a man of high degree, O Lord God.

¹⁸“What more can David still say to You concerning the honor bestowed on Your servant? For You know Your servant.

¹⁹“O Lord, ^afor Your servant’s sake, and according to Your own heart, You have wrought all this greatness, to make known all these great things.

²⁰“O Lord, there is none like You, nor is there any 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 terrible things, in driving out nations from before Your people, whom You redeemed out of Egypt?

²²“^aFor Your people Israel You made Your own people forever, and You, O Lord, became their God.

²³“Now, O Lord, let the word that You have spoken concerning Your servant and concerning his house be established forever, and do as You have spoken.

²⁴“Let Your name be established and magnified forever, saying, ‘The Lord of hosts is the God of Israel, even a God to Israel; and the house of David Your servant is established before You.’

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

²⁶“Now, O Lord, You are God, and have ¹promised this good thing to Your servant.

²⁷“And now it has pleased You to bless the house of Your servant, that it may ¹continue forever before You; for You, O Lord, have blessed, and it is blessed forever.”

Chapter 18

David’s Kingdom Strengthened

¹Now after this ^ait came about that David ¹defeated the Philistines and subdued them and took Gath and its towns from the hand of the Philistines.

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

³David also defeated Hadadezer king of Zobah as far as Hamath, as he went to establish his ¹rule to the Euphrates River.

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

⁵When the Arameans of ¹Damascus came to help Hadadezer king ^aof Zobah, David ²killed 22,000 men of the Arameans.

⁶Then David put garrisons among the Arameans of ¹Damascus; and the Arameans became servants to David, bringing tribute. And the Lord helped David wherever he went.

⁷David took the 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.

⁹Now when ¹Tou king of Hamath heard that David had ²defeated all the army of Hadadezer king of Zobah,

¹⁰he sent ¹Hadoram his son to King David to ²greet him and to bless him, because he had fought against…