1 Chronicles 16–18

Chapter 16

¹And they brought the ark of God, and set it inside the tent which David had pitched for it; and they offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before God. ²And when David had finished offering the burnt offerings and the peace offerings, he blessed the people in the name of the Lord, ³and distributed to all Israel, both men and women, to each a loaf of bread, a portion of meat, and a cake of raisins.

⁴Moreover he appointed certain of the Levites as ministers before the ark of the Lord, to invoke, to thank, and to praise the Lord, the God of Israel. ⁵Asaph was the chief, and second to him were Zechariah, Je-iel, Shemiramoth, Jehiel, Mattithiah, Eliab, Benaiah, Obed-edom, and Je-iel, who were to play harps and lyres; Asaph was to sound the cymbals, ⁶and Benaiah and Jahaziel the priests were to blow trumpets continually, before the ark of the covenant of God.

⁷Then on that day David first appointed that thanksgiving be sung to the Lord by Asaph and his brethren.

⁸O give thanks to the Lord, call on his name,

make known his deeds among the peoples!

⁹Sing to him, sing praises to him,

tell of all his wonderful works!

¹⁰Glory in his holy name;

let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice!

¹¹Seek the Lord and his strength,

seek his presence continually!

¹²Remember the wonderful works that he has done,

the wonders he wrought, the judgments he uttered,

¹³O offspring of Abraham his servant,

sons of Jacob, his chosen ones!

¹⁴He is the Lord our God;

his judgments are in all the earth.

¹⁵He is mindful of his covenant for ever,

of the word that he commanded, for a thousand generations,

¹⁶the covenant which he made with Abraham,

his sworn promise to Isaac,

¹⁷which he confirmed as a statute to Jacob,

as an everlasting covenant to Israel,

¹⁸saying, “To you I will give the land of Canaan,

as your portion for an inheritance.”

¹⁹When they were few in number,

and of little account, and sojourners in it,

²⁰wandering from nation to nation,

from one kingdom to another people,

²¹he allowed no one to oppress them;

he rebuked kings on their account,

²²saying, “Touch not my anointed ones,

do my prophets no harm!”

²³Sing to the Lord, all the earth!

Tell of his salvation from day to day.

²⁴Declare his glory among the nations,

his marvelous works among all the peoples!

²⁵For great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised,

and he is to be held in awe above all gods.

²⁶For all the gods of the peoples are idols;

but the Lord made the heavens.

²⁷Honor 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 offering, and come before him!

Worship the Lord in holy array;

³⁰tremble before him, all the earth;

yea, the world stands firm, never to be moved.

³¹Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice,

and let them say among the nations, “The Lord reigns!”

³²Let the sea roar, and all that fills it,

let the field exult, and everything in it!

³³Then shall the trees of the wood sing for joy

before the Lord, for he comes to judge the earth.

³⁴O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good;

for his steadfast love endures for ever!

³⁵Say also:

“Deliver us, O God of our salvation,

and gather and save us from among the nations,

that we may give thanks to thy holy name,

and glory in thy praise.

³⁶Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel,

from everlasting to everlasting!”

Then all the people said “Amen!” and praised the Lord.

³⁷So David left Asaph and his brethren there before the ark of the covenant of the Lord to minister continually before the ark as each day required, ³⁸and also Obed-edom and his sixty-eight brethren; while Obed-edom, the son of Jeduthun, and Hosah were to be gatekeepers. ³⁹And he left Zadok the priest and his brethren the priests before the tabernacle of the Lord in the high place that was at Gibeon, ⁴⁰to offer burnt offerings to the Lord upon the altar of burnt offering continually morning and evening, according to all that is written in the law of the Lord which he commanded Israel. ⁴¹With them were Heman and Jeduthun, and the rest of those chosen and expressly named to give thanks to the Lord, for his steadfast love endures for ever. ⁴²Heman and Jeduthun had trumpets and cymbals for the music and instruments for sacred song. The sons of Jeduthun were appointed to the gate.

⁴³Then all the people departed each to his house, and David went home to bless his household.

Chapter 17

¹Now when David dwelt in his house, David said to Nathan the prophet, “Behold, I dwell in a house of cedar, but the ark of the covenant of the Lord is under a tent.” ²And Nathan said to David, “Do all that is in your heart, for God is with you.”

³But that same night the word of the Lord came to Nathan, ⁴“Go and tell my servant David, ‘Thus says the Lord: You shall not build me a house to dwell in. ⁵For I have not dwelt in a house since the day I led up Israel to this day, but I have gone from tent to tent and from dwelling to dwelling. ⁶In all places where I have moved with all Israel, did I speak a word with any of the judges of Israel, whom I commanded to shepherd my people, saying, “Why have you not built me a house of cedar?” ’ ⁷Now 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, that you should be prince over my people Israel; ⁸and I have been with you wherever you went, and have cut off all your enemies from before you; and I will make for you a name, like the name of the great ones of the earth. ⁹And I will appoint a place for my people Israel, and will plant them, that they may dwell in their own place, and be disturbed no more; and violent men shall waste them no more, as formerly, ¹⁰from the time that I appointed judges over my people Israel; and I will subdue all your enemies. Moreover I declare to you that the Lord will build you a house. ¹¹When your days are fulfilled to go to be with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, one of your own sons, and I will establish his kingdom. ¹²He shall build a house for me, and I will establish his throne for ever. ¹³I will be his father, and he shall be my son; I will not take my steadfast love from him, as I took it from him who was before you, ¹⁴but I will confirm him in my house and in my kingdom for ever and his throne shall be established for ever.’ ” ¹⁵In accordance with all these words, and in accordance with all this vision, Nathan spoke to David.

¹⁶Then King David went in and sat before the Lord, and said, “Who am I, O Lord God, and what is my house, that thou hast brought me thus far? ¹⁷And this was a small thing in thy eyes, O God; thou hast also spoken of thy servant’s house for a great while to come, and hast shown me future generations, O Lord God! ¹⁸And what more can David say to thee for honoring thy servant? For thou knowest thy servant. ¹⁹For thy servant’s sake, O Lord, and according to thy own heart, thou hast wrought all this greatness, in making known all these great things. ²⁰There is none like thee, O Lord, and there is no God besides thee, according to all that we have heard with our ears. ²¹What other nation on earth is like thy people Israel, whom God went to redeem to be his people, making for thyself a name for great and terrible things, in driving out nations before thy people whom thou didst redeem from Egypt? ²²And thou didst make thy people Israel to be thy people for ever; and thou, O Lord, didst become their God. ²³And now, O Lord, let the word which thou hast spoken concerning thy servant and concerning his house be established for ever, and do as thou hast spoken; ²⁴and thy name will be established and magnified for ever, saying, ‘The Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, is Israel’s God,’ and the house of thy servant David will be established before thee. ²⁵For thou, my God, hast revealed to thy servant that thou wilt build a house for him; therefore thy servant has found courage to pray before thee. ²⁶And now, O Lord, thou art God, and thou hast promised this good thing to thy servant; ²⁷now therefore may it please thee to bless the house of thy servant, that it may continue for ever before thee; for what thou, O Lord, hast blessed is blessed for ever.”

Chapter 18

¹After this David defeated the Philistines and subdued them, and he took Gath and its villages out of the hand of the Philistines.

²And he defeated Moab, and the Moabites became servants to David and brought tribute.

³David also defeated Hadadezer king of Zobah, toward Hamath, as he went to set up his monument at the river Euphrates. ⁴And David took from him a thousand chariots, seven thousand horsemen, and twenty thousand foot soldiers; and David hamstrung all the chariot horses, but left enough for a hundred chariots. ⁵And when the Syrians of Damascus came to help Hadadezer king of Zobah, David slew twenty-two thousand men of the Syrians. ⁶Then David put garrisons in Syria of Damascus; and the Syrians became servants to David, and brought tribute. And the Lord gave victory to David wherever he went. ⁷And David took the shields of gold which were carried by the servants of Hadadezer, and brought them to Jerusalem. ⁸And from Tibhath and from Cun, cities of Hadadezer, David took very much bronze; with it Solomon made the bronze sea and the pillars and the vessels of bronze.

⁹When Tou king of Hamath heard that David had defeated the whole army of Hadadezer, king of Zobah, ¹⁰he sent his son Hadoram to King David, to greet him, and to congratulate him because he had fought against Hadadezer and defeated him; for Hadadezer had often been at war with Tou. And he sent all sorts of articles of gold, of silver, and of bronze; ¹¹these also King David dedicated to the Lord, together with the silver and gold which he had carried off from all the nations, from Edom, Moab, the Ammonites, the…