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 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,^[a] O Lord God! ¹⁸ And what more can David say to you for honoring your servant? For you know your servant. ^19 (A)For 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. ²⁰ There is none like you, O Lord, and there is no God besides you, according to all that we have heard with our ears. ²¹ And who is like your people Israel, the one^[b] 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? ²² And you made your people Israel to be your people forever, and you, O Lord, became their God. ²³ And 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, ²⁴ and 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. ²⁵ For 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. ²⁶ And now, O Lord, you are God, and you have promised this good thing to your servant. ²⁷ Now 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.”

David Defeats His Enemies

18 ^(B)After this David defeated the Philistines and subdued them, and he took Gath and its villages out of the hand of the Philistines.

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

³ David also defeated ^(C)Hadadezer king of ^(D)Zobah-Hamath, as he went to set up his monument^[c] at the river Euphrates. ⁴ And David took from him 1,000 chariots, ^(E)7,000 horsemen, and 20,000 foot soldiers. And David hamstrung all the chariot horses, but left enough for 100 chariots. ⁵ And when the Syrians of Damascus came to help Hadadezer king ^(F)of Zobah, David struck down 22,000 men of the Syrians. ⁶ Then David put garrisons^[d] in Syria of Damascus, and the Syrians became servants to David and brought tribute. And the Lord gave victory to David^[e] wherever he went. ⁷ And David took the shields of gold that were carried by the servants of Hadadezer and brought them to Jerusalem. ⁸ And from ^(G)Tibhath and from Cun, cities of Hadadezer, David took a large amount of bronze. ^(H)With it Solomon made the bronze sea and the pillars and the vessels of bronze.

⁹ When ^(I)Tou king of Hamath heard that David had defeated the whole army of Hadadezer, king ^(J)of Zobah, ¹⁰ he sent his son ^(K)Hadoram to King David, to ask about his health and to bless him because he had fought against ^(L)Hadadezer and defeated him; for ^(M)Hadadezer had often been at war with Tou. And he sent all sorts of articles of gold, of silver, and of bronze. ¹¹ These also King David dedicated to the Lord, together with the silver and gold that he had carried off from all the nations, from ^(N)Edom, Moab, the Ammonites, the Philistines, and Amalek.

¹² And ^(O)Abishai, the son of Zeruiah, killed 18,000 Edomites in the Valley of Salt. ¹³ Then he put garrisons in Edom, and all the Edomites became David's servants. And the Lord gave victory to David wherever he went.

David's Administration

¹⁴ So David reigned over all Israel, and he administered justice and equity to all his people. ¹⁵ And ^(P)Joab the son of Zeruiah was over the army; and Jehoshaphat the son of Ahilud was recorder; ^16 (Q)and Zadok the son of Ahitub and ^(R)Ahimelech the son of Abiathar were priests; and ^(S)Shavsha was secretary; ¹⁷ and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada was over the Cherethites and the Pelethites; and David's sons were the ^(T)chief officials in the service of the king.

Paul and Barnabas at Lystra

⁸ Now at Lystra there was a man sitting who could not use his feet. He was ^(A)crippled from birth and had never walked. ⁹ He listened to Paul speaking. And Paul, looking intently at him and ^(B)seeing that he had faith to be made well,^{[a] 10} said in a loud voice, “Stand upright on your feet.” And he ^(C)sprang up and began walking. ¹¹ And when the crowds saw what Paul had done, they lifted up their voices, saying in Lycaonian, ^(D)“The gods have come down to us in the likeness of men!” ¹² Barnabas they called ^(E)Zeus, and Paul, Hermes, because he was the chief speaker. ¹³ And the priest of ^(F)Zeus, whose temple was at the entrance to the city, brought oxen and garlands to the gates and ^(G)wanted to offer sacrifice with the crowds. ¹⁴ But when the apostles Barnabas and Paul heard of it, they ^(H)tore their garments and rushed out into the crowd, crying out, ¹⁵ “Men, ^(I)why are you doing these things? We also are men, ^(J)of like nature with you, and we bring you good news, that ^(K)you should turn from these ^(L)vain things to ^(M)a living God, ^(N)who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and all that is in them. ¹⁶ In past generations he ^(O)allowed all the nations ^(P)to walk in their own ways. ¹⁷ Yet ^(Q)he did not leave himself without witness, for he ^(R)did good by ^(S)giving you rains from heaven and ^(T)fruitful seasons, satisfying your hearts with ^(U)food and ^(V)gladness.” ¹⁸ Even with these words they scarcely restrained the people from offering sacrifice to them.