1 Chronicles 17–19

God’s Promise to David

17When David moved into his palace, he said to Nathan the prophet, “Look, I am living in a palace made of cedar, but the Ark of the Agreement with the Lord sits in a tent.”

²Nathan said to David, “Do what you want to do, because God is with you.”

³But that night God spoke his word to Nathan, saying, ⁴“Go and tell David my servant, ‘This is what the Lord says: You are not the person to build a house for me to live in. ⁵From the time I brought Israel out of Egypt until now I have not lived in a house. I have moved from one tent site to another and from one place to another. ⁶As I have moved with the Israelites to different places, I have never said to the leaders, whom I commanded to take care of my people, “Why haven’t you built me a house of cedar?” ’

⁷“Now, tell my servant David: ‘This is what the Lord All-Powerful says: I took you from the pasture and from tending the sheep and made you king of my people Israel. ⁸I have been with you everywhere you have gone. I have defeated your enemies for you. I will make you as famous as any of the great people on the earth. ⁹I will choose a place for my people Israel, and I will plant them so they can live in their own homes. They will not be bothered anymore. Wicked people will no longer hurt them as they have in the past ¹⁰when I chose judges for my people Israel. I will defeat all your enemies.

“ ‘I tell you that the Lord will make your descendants kings of Israel after you. ¹¹When you die and join your ancestors, I will make one of your sons the new king, and I will set up his kingdom. ¹²He will build a house for me, and I will let his kingdom rule always. ¹³I will be his father, and he will be my son. I took away my love from Saul, who ruled before you, but I will never stop loving your son. ¹⁴I will put him in charge of my house and kingdom forever. His family will rule forever.’ ”

¹⁵Nathan told David everything God had said in this vision.

David Prays to God

¹⁶Then King David went in and sat in front of the Lord. David said, “Lord God, who am I? What is my family? Why did you bring me to this point? ¹⁷But that was not enough for you, God. You have also made promises about my future family. Lord God, you have treated me like a very important person.

¹⁸“What more can I say to you for honoring me, your servant? You know me so well. ¹⁹Lord, you have done this wonderful thing for my sake and because you wanted to. You have made known all these great things.

²⁰“There is no one like you, Lord. There is no God except you. We have heard all this ourselves! ²¹There is no nation like your people Israel. They are the only people on earth that God chose to be his own. You made your name well known by the great and wonderful things you did for them. You went ahead of them and forced other nations out of the land. You freed your people from slavery in Egypt. ²²You made the people of Israel your very own people forever, and, Lord, you are their God.

²³“Lord, keep the promise forever that you made about my family and me, your servant. Do what you have said. ²⁴Then you will be honored always, and people will say, ‘The Lord All-Powerful, the God over Israel, is Israel’s God!’ And the family of your servant David will continue before you.

²⁵“My God, you have told me that you would make my family great. So I, your servant, am brave enough to pray to you. ²⁶Lord, you are God, and you have promised these good things to me, your servant. ²⁷You have chosen to bless my family. Let it continue before you always. Lord, you have blessed my family, so it will always be blessed.”

David Defeats Nations

18Later, David defeated the Philistines, conquered them, and took the city of Gath and the small towns around it.

²He also defeated the people of Moab. So the people of Moab became servants of David and gave him the payment he demanded.

³David also defeated Hadadezer king of Zobah all the way to the town of Hamath as he tried to spread his kingdom to the Euphrates River. ⁴David captured one thousand of his chariots, seven thousand men who rode in chariots, and twenty thousand foot soldiers. He crippled all but a hundred of the chariot horses.

⁵Arameans from Damascus came to help Hadadezer king of Zobah, but David killed twenty-two thousand of them. ⁶Then David put groups of soldiers in Damascus in Aram. The Arameans became David’s servants and gave him the payments he demanded. So the Lord gave David victory everywhere he went.

⁷David took the shields of gold that had belonged to Hadadezer’s officers and brought them to Jerusalem. ⁸David also took many things made of bronze from Tebah and Cun, which had been cities under Hadadezer’s control. Later, Solomon used this bronze to make things for the Temple: the large bronze bowl, which was called the Sea, the pillars, and other bronze utensils.

⁹Toi king of Hamath heard that David had defeated all the army of Hadadezer king of Zobah. ¹⁰So Toi sent his son Hadoram to greet and congratulate King David for defeating Hadadezer. (Hadadezer had been at war with Toi.) Hadoram brought items made of gold, silver, and bronze. ¹¹King David gave them to the Lord, along with the silver and gold he had taken from these nations: Edom, Moab, the Ammonites, the Philistines, and Amalek.

¹²Abishai son of Zeruiah killed eighteen thousand Edomites in the Valley of Salt. ¹³David put groups of soldiers in Edom, and all the Edomites became his servants. The Lord gave David victory everywhere he went.

David’s Important Officers

¹⁴David was king over all of Israel, and he did what was fair and right for all his people. ¹⁵Joab son of Zeruiah was commander over the army. Jehoshaphat son of Ahilud was the recorder. ¹⁶Zadok son of Ahitub and Abiathar son of Ahimelech were priests. Shavsha was the royal secretary. ¹⁷Benaiah son of Jehoiada was over the Kerethites and Pelethites. ⁿ And David’s sons were important officers who served at his side.

War with the Ammonites and Arameans

19When Nahash king of the Ammonites died, his son became king after him. ²David said, “Nahash was loyal to me, so I will be loyal to his son Hanun.” So David sent messengers to comfort Hanun about his father’s death.

David’s officers went to the land of the Ammonites to comfort Hanun. ³But the Ammonite leaders said to Hanun, “Do you think David wants to honor your father by sending men to comfort you? No! David sent them to study the land and capture it and spy it out.” ⁴So Hanun arrested David’s officers. To shame them he shaved their beards and cut off their clothes at the hips. Then he sent them away.

⁵When the people told David what had happened to his officers, he sent messengers to meet them, because they were very ashamed. King David said, “Stay in Jericho until your beards have grown back. Then come home.”

⁶The Ammonites knew that they had insulted David. So Hanun and the Ammonites sent about seventy-four thousand pounds of silver to hire chariots and chariot drivers from Northwest Mesopotamia, Aram Maacah, and Zobah. ⁷The Ammonites hired thirty-two thousand chariots and the king of Maacah and his army. So they came and set up camp near the town of Medeba. The Ammonites themselves came out of their towns and got ready for battle.

⁸When David heard about this, he sent Joab with the whole army. ⁹The Ammonites came out and prepared for battle at the city gate. The kings who had come to help were out in the field by themselves.

¹⁰Joab saw that there were enemies both in front of him and behind him. So he chose some of the best soldiers of Israel and sent them out to fight the Arameans. ¹¹Joab put the rest of the army under the command of Abishai, his brother. Then they went out to fight the Ammonites. ¹²Joab said to Abishai, “If the Arameans are too strong for me, you must help me. Or, if the Ammonites are too strong for you, I will help you. ¹³Be strong. We must fight bravely for our people and the cities of our God. The Lord will do what he thinks is right.”

¹⁴Then Joab and the army with him went to attack the Arameans, and the Arameans ran away. ¹⁵When the Ammonites saw that the Arameans were running away, they also ran away from Joab’s brother Abishai and went back to their city. So Joab went back to Jerusalem.

¹⁶When the Arameans saw that Israel had defeated them, they sent messengers to bring other Arameans from east of the Euphrates River. Their leader was Shophach, the commander of Hadadezer’s army.

¹⁷When David heard about this, he gathered all the Israelites, and they crossed over the Jordan River. He prepared them for battle, facing the Arameans. The Arameans fought with him, ¹⁸but they ran away from the Israelites. David killed seven thousand Aramean chariot drivers and forty thousand Aramean foot soldiers. He also killed Shophach, the commander of the Aramean army.

¹⁹When those who served Hadadezer saw that the Israelites had defeated them, they made peace with David and served him. So the Arameans refused to help the Ammonites again.