1 Chronicles 17–19

God Makes a Promise to David

17David settled down in his palace. Then he spoke to the prophet Nathan. He said, “Here I am, living in a palace that has beautiful cedar walls. But the ark of the covenant of the Lord is under a tent.”

²Nathan replied to David, “Do what you want to. God is with you.”

³That night a message came to Nathan from God. He said,

⁴“Go and speak to my servant David. Tell him, ‘The Lord says, “You are not the one who will build me a house to live in. ⁵I have not lived in a house from the day I brought Israel up out of Egypt until now. I have moved my tent from one place to another. I have moved my home from one place to another. ⁶I have moved from place to place with all of the people of Israel. I commanded their leaders to be shepherds over them. I never asked any of those leaders, ‘Why haven’t you built me a house that has beautiful cedar walls?’ ” ’

⁷“So tell my servant David, ‘The Lord who rules over all says, “I took you away from the grasslands. That is where you were taking care of your father’s sheep and goats. I made you ruler over my people Israel. ⁸I have been with you everywhere you have gone. I cut off all of your enemies when you were attacking them. Now I will make you famous. Your name will be just as respected as the names of the most important people on earth.

⁹“ ‘ “I will provide a place where my people Israel can live. I will plant them in the land. Then they will have a home of their own. They will not be bothered anymore. Sinful people will no longer crush them, as they did at first. ¹⁰That is what your enemies have done ever since I appointed leaders over my people Israel. But I will bring all of them under your control.

“ ‘ “I tell you that I will build a royal house for your family. ¹¹Some day your life will come to an end. You will join the members of your family who have already died. Then I will give you one of your own sons to become the next king after you. I will make his kingdom secure.

¹²“ ‘ “He is the one who will build me a house. I will set up his throne. It will last forever. ¹³I will be his father. And he will be my son. I took my love away from the man who ruled before you. But I will never take my love away from your son. ¹⁴I will place him over my house and my kingdom forever. His throne will last forever.” ’ ”

¹⁵Nathan reported to David all of the words that the Lord had spoken to him.

David Prays to the Lord

¹⁶Then King David went into the holy tent. He sat down in front of the Lord. He said,

“Lord God, who am I? My family isn’t important. So why have you brought me this far? ¹⁷I would have thought that you had already done more than enough for me. But now, God, you have spoken about what is going to happen to my royal house in days to come. Lord God, you have treated me as if I were the most honored man of all.

¹⁸“What more can I say to you for honoring me? You know all about me. ¹⁹Lord, you have done a wonderful thing. You have given me many great promises. All of them are for my good. They are exactly what you wanted to give me.

²⁰“Lord, there isn’t anyone like you. There isn’t any God but you. We have heard about it with our own ears.

²¹“Who is like your people Israel? God, we are the one nation on earth you have saved. You have set us free for yourself. Your name has become famous. You have done great and wonderful things. You have driven nations out to make room for your people. You saved us when you set us free from Egypt. No other god has done any of those things for its people. ²²You made Israel your very own people forever. Lord, you have become our God.

²³“And now, Lord, let the promise you have made to me and my royal house stand forever. Do exactly as you promised. ²⁴When your promise comes true, your name will be honored forever. People will say, ‘The Lord rules over all. He is the God over Israel. He is Israel’s God.’ My royal house will be made secure in your sight.

²⁵“My God, you have shown me that you will build me a royal house. So I can pray to you boldly. ²⁶Lord, you are God! You have promised many good things to me. ²⁷You have been pleased to bless my royal house. Now it will continue forever in your sight. Lord, you have blessed it. And it will be blessed forever.”

David Wins Many Battles

18While David was king of Israel, he won many battles over the Philistines. He brought them under his control. He took Gath away from the Philistines. He also captured the villages that were around Gath.

²David also won the battle over the people of Moab. They were brought under his rule. They gave him the gifts he required them to bring him.

³David fought against Hadadezer all the way to Hamath. Hadadezer was king of Zobah. He had gone to take complete control of the land along the Euphrates River. ⁴David captured 1,000 of Hadadezer’s chariots, 7,000 chariot riders and 20,000 soldiers on foot. He cut the legs of all but 100 of the chariot horses.

⁵The Arameans of Damascus came to help Hadadezer, the king of Zobah. But David struck down 22,000 of them. ⁶He stationed some soldiers in the Aramean kingdom of Damascus. The people of Aram were brought under his rule. They gave him the gifts he required them to bring him. The Lord helped David win his battles everywhere he went.

⁷David took the gold shields that were carried by the officers of Hadadezer. He brought the shields to Jerusalem. ⁸He took a huge amount of bronze from Tebah and Cun. Those towns belonged to Hadadezer. Later, Solomon used the bronze to make the huge bronze bowl for washing. He also used it to make the pillars and many other bronze articles for the temple.

⁹Tou was king of Hamath. He heard that David had won the battle over the entire army of Hadadezer, the king of Zobah. ¹⁰So Tou sent his son Hadoram to King David. Hadoram greeted David. He praised him because he had won the battle over Hadadezer. Hadadezer had been at war with Tou. So Hadoram brought David all kinds of articles that were made out of gold, silver and bronze.

¹¹King David set those articles apart for the Lord. He had done the same thing with the silver and gold he had taken from other nations. The nations were Edom, Moab, Ammon, Philistia and Amalek.

¹²Abishai struck down 18,000 men of Edom in the Valley of Salt. Abishai was the son of Zeruiah. ¹³He stationed some soldiers in Edom. The whole nation of Edom was brought under his rule. The Lord helped David win his battles everywhere he went.

David’s Officials

¹⁴David ruled over the whole nation of Israel. He did what was fair and right for all of his people. ¹⁵Joab, the son of Zeruiah, was commander over the army. Jehoshaphat, the son of Ahilud, kept the records. ¹⁶Zadok, the son of Ahitub, was a priest. Ahimelech, the son of Abiathar, was also a priest. Shavsha was the secretary. ¹⁷Benaiah, the son of Jehoiada, was commander over the Kerethites and Pelethites. And King David’s sons were the chief officials who served at his side.

David Goes to War Against the People of Ammon

19Nahash was king of Ammon. After he died, his son became the next king after him. ²David thought, “I’m going to be kind to Hanun. His father Nahash was kind to me.” So David sent messengers to Hanun. He wanted them to tell Hanun how sad he was that Hanun’s father had died.

David’s messengers went to the land of Ammon. They told Hanun how sad David was.

³The Ammonite nobles spoke to Hanun. They said, “David has sent messengers to tell you he is sad. They say he wants to honor your father. But the real reason they’ve come is to look the land over. They want to destroy it.”

⁴So Hanun grabbed hold of David’s men. He shaved them. He cut their clothes off just below the waist and left them half naked. Then he sent them away.

⁵Someone came and told David what had happened to his men. So David sent messengers to them because they were filled with shame. King David said to them, “Stay at Jericho until your beards grow out again. Then come back here.”

⁶The Ammonites realized that what they had done had made David very angry with them. So Hanun and the Ammonites got 37 tons of silver. They used it to hire chariots and chariot riders from Aram Naharaim, Aram Maacah and Zobah. ⁷They hired 32,000 chariots and riders. They also hired the king of Maacah and his troops. All of them came out and camped near Medeba. At the same time the Ammonites brought their troops together from their towns. Then they marched out to fight.

⁸David heard about it. So he sent Joab out with the entire army of Israel’s fighting men. ⁹The Ammonites marched out. They took up their battle positions at the entrance to their city. The kings who came to help them gathered their troops together in the open country.

¹⁰Joab saw that there were lines of soldiers in front of him and behind him. So he chose some of the best troops in Israel. He sent them to march out against the Arameans. ¹¹He put the rest of the men under the command of his brother Abishai. They were sent to march out against the Ammonites.

¹²Joab said, “Suppose the Arameans are too strong for me. Then you must come and help me. But suppose the Ammonites are too strong for you. Then I’ll come and help you. ¹³Be strong. Let’s be brave as we fight for our people and the cities of our God. The Lord will do what he thinks is best.”

¹⁴Then Joab and the troops who were with him marched out to attack the Arameans. They ran away from him. ¹⁵The Ammonites saw that the Arameans were running away. So they also ran away from Joab’s brother Abishai. They went inside the city. Then Joab went back to Jerusalem.

¹⁶The Arameans saw that they had been driven away by Israel. So they sent messengers to get some Arameans from east of the Euphrates River. The Arameans were under the command of Shophach. He was the commander of Hadadezer’s army.

¹⁷David was told about it. So he gathered the whole army of Israel together. They went across the Jordan River. David marched out against the Arameans. He lined up his soldiers opposite them. He lined them up to meet the Arameans in battle.

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