The Ark Placed in the Tent

16 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 offerings of well-being before God. ² When David had finished offering the burnt offerings and the offerings of well-being, he blessed the people in the name of the Lord; ³ and he distributed to every person in Israel—man and woman alike—to each a loaf of bread, a portion of meat,^[a] and a cake of raisins.

⁴ 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. ⁵ Asaph was the chief, and second to him Zechariah, Jeiel, Shemiramoth, Jehiel, Mattithiah, Eliab, Benaiah, Obed-edom, and Jeiel, with harps and lyres; Asaph was to sound the cymbals, ⁶ and the priests Benaiah and Jahaziel were to blow trumpets regularly, before the ark of the covenant of God.

David’s Psalm of Thanksgiving

⁷ Then on that day David first appointed the singing of praises to the Lord by Asaph and his kindred.

³⁵ Say also:

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

Regular Worship Maintained

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

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

God’s Covenant with David

17 Now when David settled in his house, David said to the prophet Nathan, “I am living in a house of cedar, but the ark of the covenant of the Lord is under a tent.” ² Nathan said to David, “Do all that you have in mind, for God is with you.”

³ But that same night the word of the Lord came to Nathan, saying: ⁴ Go and tell my servant David: Thus says the Lord: You shall not build me a house to live in. ⁵ For I have not lived in a house since the day I brought out Israel to this very day, but I have lived in a tent and a tabernacle.^{[e] 6} Wherever I have moved about among all Israel, did I ever 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? ⁷ Now therefore thus you shall say to my servant David: Thus says the Lord of hosts: I took you from the pasture, from following the sheep, to be ruler over my people Israel; ⁸ and I have been with you wherever you went, and have cut off all your enemies before you; and I will make for you a name, like the name of the great ones of the earth. ⁹ I will appoint a place for my people Israel, and will plant them, so that they may live in their own place, and be disturbed no more; and evildoers shall wear them down no more, as they did formerly, ¹⁰ from 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. ¹¹ When your days are fulfilled to go to be with your ancestors, I will raise up your offspring after you, one of your own sons, and I will establish his kingdom. ¹² He shall build a house for me, and I will establish his throne forever. ¹³ I will be a father to him, and he shall be a son to me. I will not take my steadfast love from him, as I took it from him who was before you, ¹⁴ but I will confirm him in my house and in my kingdom forever, and his throne shall be established forever. ¹⁵ In accordance with all these words and all this vision, Nathan spoke to David.

David’s Prayer

¹⁶ Then 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? ¹⁷ And even this was a small thing in your sight, O God; you have also spoken of your servant’s house for a great while to come. You regard me as someone of high rank,^[f] O Lord God! ¹⁸ And what more can David say to you for honoring your servant? You know your servant. ¹⁹ For your servant’s sake, O Lord, and according to your own heart, you have done all these great deeds, making known all these great things. ²⁰ There is no one like you, O Lord, and there is no God besides you, according to all that we have heard with our ears. ²¹ Who is like your people Israel, one nation on the earth whom God went to redeem to be his people, making for yourself a name for great and terrible things, in driving out nations before your people whom you redeemed from Egypt? ²² And you made your people Israel to be your people forever; and you, O Lord, became their God.

²³ “And now, O Lord, as for the word that you have spoken concerning your servant and concerning his house, let it be established forever, and do as you have promised. ²⁴ Thus your name will be established and magnified forever in the saying, ‘The Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, is Israel’s God’; and the house of your servant David will be established in your presence. ²⁵ For you, my God, have revealed to your servant that you will build a house for him; therefore your servant has found it possible to pray before you. ²⁶ And now, O Lord, you are God, and you have promised this good thing to your servant; ²⁷ therefore may it please you to bless the house of your servant, that it may continue forever before you. For you, O Lord, have blessed and are blessed^[g] forever.”

Further Warning

13 This is the third time I am coming to you. “Any charge must be sustained by the evidence of two or three witnesses.” ² I warned those who sinned previously and all the others, and I warn them now while absent, as I did when present on my second visit, that if I come again, I will not be lenient— ³ since you desire proof that Christ is speaking in me. He is not weak in dealing with you, but is powerful in you. ⁴ For he was crucified in weakness, but lives by the power of God. For we are weak in him,^[a] but in dealing with you we will live with him by the power of God.

⁵ Examine yourselves to see whether you are living in the faith. Test yourselves. Do you not realize that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless, indeed, you fail to meet the test! ⁶ I hope you will find out that we have not failed. ⁷ But we pray to God that you may not do anything wrong—not that we may appear to have met the test, but that you may do what is right, though we may seem to have failed. ⁸ For we cannot do anything against the truth, but only for the truth. ⁹ For we rejoice when we are weak and you are strong. This is what we pray for, that you may become perfect. ¹⁰ So I write these things while I am away from you, so that when I come, I may not have to be severe in using the authority that the Lord has given me for building up and not for tearing down.

Final Greetings and Benediction

¹¹ Finally, brothers and sisters,^[b] farewell.^[c] Put things in order, listen to my appeal,^[d] agree with one another, live in peace; and the God of love and peace will be with you. ¹² Greet one another with a holy kiss. All the saints greet you.

¹³ The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of^[e] the Holy Spirit be with all of you.