1 Chronicles 16–18

¹And they bring in the ark of God, and set it up in the midst of the tent that David hath stretched out for it, and they bring near burnt-offerings and peace-offerings before God; ²and David ceaseth from offering the burnt-offering and the peace-offerings, and blesseth the people in the name of Jehovah, ³and giveth a portion to every man of Israel, both man and woman: to each a cake of bread, and a measure of wine, and a grape-cake. ⁴And he putteth before the ark of Jehovah, of the Levites, ministers, even to make mention of, and to thank, and to give praise to Jehovah, God of Israel, ⁵Asaph the head, and his second Zechariah; Jeiel, and Shemiramoth, and Jehiel, and Mattithiah, and Eliab, and Benaiah, and Obed-Edom, and Jeiel, with instruments of psalteries, and with harps; and Asaph with cymbals is sounding; ⁶and Benaiah and Jahaziel the priests are with trumpets continually before the ark of the covenant of God.

⁷On that day then hath David given at the beginning to give thanks to Jehovah by the hand of Asaph and his brethren:— ⁸Give thanks to Jehovah, call in His name, Make known among the peoples His doings. ⁹Sing ye to Him, sing psalms to Him, Meditate on all His wonders. ¹⁰Boast yourselves in His holy name, Rejoice doth the heart of those seeking Jehovah. ¹¹Seek ye Jehovah and His strength, Seek His face continually. ¹²Remember His wonders that He did, His signs, and the judgments of His mouth, ¹³O seed of Israel, His servant, O sons of Jacob, His chosen ones! ¹⁴He is Jehovah our God, In all the earth are His judgments. ¹⁵Remember ye to the age His covenant, The word He commanded—To a thousand generations, ¹⁶Which He hath made with Abraham, And His oath—to Isaac, ¹⁷And He establisheth it to Jacob for a statute, To Israel—a covenant age-during. ¹⁸Saying: To thee I give the land of Canaan, The portion of your inheritance, ¹⁹When ye are few of number, As a little thing, and sojourners in it. ²⁰And they go up and down, From nation unto nation, And from a kingdom unto another people. ²¹He hath not suffered any to oppress them, And reproveth on their account kings: ²²Come not against Mine anointed ones, And against My prophets do not evil. ²³Sing to Jehovah, all the earth, Proclaim from day unto day His salvation. ²⁴Rehearse among nations His glory, Among all the peoples His wonders. ²⁵For great is Jehovah, and praised greatly, And fearful He is above all gods. ²⁶For all gods of the peoples are nought, And Jehovah the heavens hath made. ²⁷Honour and majesty are before Him, Strength and joy are in His place. ²⁸Ascribe to Jehovah, ye families of peoples, Ascribe to Jehovah honour and strength. ²⁹Ascribe to Jehovah the honour of His name, Lift up a present, and come before Him. Bow yourselves to Jehovah, In the beauty of holiness. ³⁰Be pained before Him, all the earth: ³¹Also, established is the world, It is not moved! The heavens rejoice, and the earth is glad, And they say among nations: Jehovah hath reigned. ³²Roar doth the sea, and its fulness, Exult doth the field, and all that is in it, ³³Then sing do trees of the forest, From the presence of Jehovah, For He hath come to judge the earth! ³⁴Give thanks to Jehovah, for good, For to the age, is His kindness, ³⁵And say, Save us, O God of our salvation, And gather us, and deliver us from the nations, To give thanks to Thy holy name, To triumph in Thy praise. ³⁶Blessed is Jehovah, God of Israel, From the age and unto the age;’ And all the people say, ‘Amen,’ and have given praise to Jehovah.

³⁷And he leaveth there before the ark of the covenant of Jehovah, for Asaph and for his brethren, to minister before the ark continually, according to the matter of a day in its day, ³⁸both Obed-Edom and their brethren, sixty and eight, and Obed-Edom son of Jeduthun, and Hosah for gatekeepers, ³⁹and Zadok the priest, and his brethren the priests, before the tabernacle of Jehovah, in a high place that is in Gibeon, ⁴⁰to cause to ascend burnt-offerings to Jehovah, on the altar of burnt-offering continually, morning and evening, and for all that is written in the law of Jehovah, that He charged on Israel. ⁴¹And with them are Heman and Jeduthun, and the rest of those chosen, who were defined by name, to give thanks to Jehovah, for to the age is His kindness, ⁴²and with them—Heman and Jeduthun—are trumpets and cymbals for those sounding, and instruments of the song of God, and the sons of Jeduthun are at the gate. ⁴³And all the people go, each to his house, and David turneth round to bless his house.

Chapter 17

¹And it cometh to pass as David sat in his house, that David saith unto Nathan the prophet, ‘Lo, I am dwelling in a house of cedars, and the ark of the covenant of Jehovah is under curtains;’ ²and Nathan saith unto David, ‘All that is in thy heart do, for God is with thee.’ ³And it cometh to pass on that night that a word of God is unto Nathan, saying, ⁴‘Go, and thou hast said unto David My servant, Thus said Jehovah, Thou dost not build for Me the house to dwell in: ⁵for I have not dwelt in a house from the day that I brought up Israel till this day, and I am from tent unto tent: and from the tabernacle, ⁶whithersoever I have walked up and down among all Israel, a word spake I, with one of the judges of Israel, whom I commanded to feed My people, saying, Why have ye not built for Me a house of cedars?

⁷‘And now, thus dost thou say to My servant, to David, Thus said Jehovah of Hosts, I have taken thee from the habitation, from after the sheep, to be leader over My people Israel, ⁸and I am with thee whithersoever thou hast walked, and I cut off all thine enemies from thy presence, and have made for thee a name like the name of the great ones who are in the earth.

⁹‘And I have prepared a place for My people Israel, and planted it, and it hath dwelt in its place, and is not troubled any more, and the sons of perverseness add not to wear it out as at first, ¹⁰yea, even from the days that I appointed judges over My people Israel. ‘And I have humbled all thine enemies, and I declare to thee that a house doth Jehovah build for thee, ¹¹and it hath come to pass, when thy days have been fulfilled to go with thy fathers, that I have raised up thy seed after thee, who is of thy sons, and I have established his kingdom, ¹²he doth build for Me a house, and I have established his throne unto the age; ¹³I am to him for a father, and he is to Me for a son, and My kindness I turn not aside from him as I turned it aside from him who was before thee, ¹⁴and I have established him in My house, and in My kingdom unto the age, and his throne is established unto the age.’ ¹⁵According to all these words, and according to all this vision, so spake Nathan unto David.

¹⁶And David the king cometh in and sitteth before Jehovah, and saith, ‘Who am I, O Jehovah God, and what my house, that Thou hast brought me hitherto? ¹⁷And this is small in Thine eyes, O God, and Thou speakest concerning the house of thy servant afar off, and hast seen me as a type of the man who is on high, O Jehovah God!

¹⁸‘What doth David add more unto Thee for the honour of Thy servant; and Thou Thy servant hast known. ¹⁹O Jehovah, for Thy servant’s sake, and according to Thine own heart Thou hast done all this greatness, to make known all these great things. ²⁰O Jehovah, there is none like Thee, and there is no god save Thee, according to all that we have heard with our ears.

²¹‘And who is as Thy people Israel, one nation in the earth whom God hath gone to ransom to Him for a people, to make for Thee a name great and fearful, to cast out from the presence of Thy people whom Thou hast ransomed out of Egypt—nations? ²²Yea, Thou dost appoint Thy people Israel to Thee for a people unto the age, and Thou, O Jehovah, hast been to them for God.

²³‘And now, O Jehovah, the word that Thou hast spoken concerning Thy servant, and concerning his house, let be stedfast unto the age, and do as Thou hast spoken; ²⁴and let it be stedfast, and Thy name is great unto the age, saying, Jehovah of Hosts, God of Israel, is God to Israel, and the house of Thy servant David is established before Thee; ²⁵for Thou, O my God, Thou hast uncovered the ear of Thy servant—to build to him a house, therefore hath Thy servant found to pray before Thee.

²⁶‘And now, Jehovah, Thou art God Himself, and Thou speakest concerning Thy servant this goodness; ²⁷and now, Thou hast been pleased to bless the house of Thy servant, to be to the age before Thee; for Thou, O Jehovah, hast blessed, and it is blessed to the age.’

Chapter 18

¹And it cometh to pass after this, that David smiteth the Philistines, and humbleth them, and taketh Gath and its small towns out of the hand of the Philistines; ²and he smiteth Moab, and the Moabites are servants to David, bringing a present. ³And David smiteth Hadarezer king of Zobah, at Hamath, in his going to establish his power by the river Phrat, ⁴and David captureth from him a thousand chariots, and seven thousand horsemen, and twenty thousand footmen, and David destroyeth utterly all the chariots, and leaveth of them a hundred chariots only. ⁵And Aram of Damascus cometh in to give help to Hadarezer king of Zobah, and David smiteth in Aram twenty and two thousand men, ⁶and David putteth garrisons in Aram of Damascus, and the Aramaeans are to David for servants, bearing a present, and Jehovah giveth salvation to David whithersoever he hath gone. ⁷And David taketh the shields of gold that have been on the servants of Hadarezer, and bringeth them in to Jerusalem; ⁸and from Tibhath, and from Chun, cities of Hadarezer, hath David taken very much brass; with it hath Solomon made the brazen sea, and the pillars, and the vessels of brass.

⁹And Tou king of Hamath heareth that David hath smitten the whole force of Hadarezer king of Zobah, ¹⁰and he sendeth Hadoram his son unto king David, to ask of him of peace, and to bless him (because that he hath fought against Hadarezer, and smiteth him, for a man of wars with Tou had Hadarezer been,) and all kinds of vessels,…