16 The Ark Placed in a Tent

16:1 And they brought in the ark of God and set it inside the tent that 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,[1] and a cake of raisins.

⁴Then he appointed some 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, Jeiel, Shemiramoth, Jehiel, Mattithiah, Eliab, Benaiah, Obed-edom, and Jeiel, who were to play harps and lyres; Asaph was to sound the cymbals, ⁶and Benaiah and Jahaziel the priests were to blow trumpets regularly 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 brothers.

David’s Song of Thanks

⁸Oh give thanks to the Lord; call upon his name; make known his deeds among the peoples! ⁹Sing to him; sing praises to him; tell of all his wondrous 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 wondrous works that he has done, his miracles and the judgments he uttered, ¹³O offspring of Israel his servant, sons of Jacob, his chosen ones!

¹⁴He is the Lord our God; his judgments are in all the earth. ¹⁵Remember his covenant forever, the word that he commanded, for a thousand generations, ¹⁶the covenant that 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 you 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. ²⁷Splendor and majesty are before him; strength and joy are in his place.

²⁸Ascribe to the Lord, O clans 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 the splendor of holiness;^[2]³⁰tremble before him, all the earth; yes, the world is established; it shall never 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 forest sing for joy before the Lord, for he comes to judge the earth. ³⁴Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; for his steadfast love endures forever! ³⁵Say also:

“Save us, O God of our salvation, and gather and deliver us from among the nations, that we may give thanks to your holy name, and glory in your praise. ³⁶Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, from everlasting to everlasting!” Then all the people said, “Amen!” and praised the Lord.

Worship Before the Ark

³⁷So David left Asaph and his brothers there before the ark of the covenant of the Lord to minister regularly before the ark as each day required, ³⁸and also Obed-edom and his[3] sixty-eight brothers, while Obed-edom, the son of Jeduthun, and Hosah were to be gatekeepers. ³⁹And he left Zadok the priest and his brothers the priests before the tabernacle of the Lord in the high place that was at Gibeon ⁴⁰to offer burnt offerings to the Lord on the altar of burnt offering regularly morning and evening, to do all that is written in the Law of the Lord that 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 forever. 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.

[1] Compare Septuagint, Syriac, Vulgate; the meaning of the Hebrew is uncertain [2] Or in holy attire [3] Hebrew their

17 The Lord’s Covenant with David

17:1 Now when David lived 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: It is not you who will build me a house to dwell in. ⁵For I have not lived in a house since the day I brought 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, to be prince over my people Israel, ⁸and I have been with you wherever you have gone 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 walk 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 forever. ¹³I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a 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 forever, and his throne shall be established forever.’” ¹⁵In accordance with all these words, and in accordance with all this vision, Nathan spoke to David.

David’s Prayer

¹⁶Then King David went in and sat before the Lord and said, “Who am I, O Lord God, and what is my house, that you have brought me thus far? ¹⁷And this was a small thing in your eyes, O God. You have also spoken of your servant’s house for a great while to come, and have shown me future generations,[4] O Lord God! ¹⁸And what more can David say to you for honoring your servant? For you know your servant. ¹⁹For your servant’s sake, O Lord, and according to your own heart, you have done all this greatness, in making known all these great things. ²⁰There is none like you, O Lord, and there is no God besides you, according to all that we have heard with our ears. ²¹And who is like your people Israel, the one[5] nation on earth whom God went to redeem to be his people, making for yourself a name for great and awesome things, in driving out nations before your people whom you redeemed from Egypt? ²²And you made your people Israel to be your people forever, and you, O Lord, became their God. ²³And 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, ²⁴and your name will be established and magnified forever, saying, ‘The Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, is Israel’s God,’ and the house of your servant David will be established before you. ²⁵For you, my God, have revealed to your servant that you will build a house for him. Therefore your servant has found courage to pray before you. ²⁶And now, O Lord, you are God, and you have promised this good thing to your servant. ²⁷Now you have been pleased to bless the house of your servant, that it may continue forever before you, for it is you, O Lord, who have blessed, and it is blessed forever.”

[4] The meaning of the Hebrew is uncertain [5] Septuagint, Vulgate other