David's Wives and Children

14 ^(A)And Hiram king of Tyre sent messengers to David, and cedar trees, also masons and carpenters to build a house for him. ² And David knew that the Lord had established him as king over Israel, and that his kingdom was highly exalted for the sake of his people Israel.

³ And David took more wives in Jerusalem, and David fathered more sons and daughters. ^4 (B)These are the names of the children born to him in Jerusalem: ^(C)Shammua, Shobab, Nathan, Solomon, ⁵ Ibhar, Elishua, Elpelet, ⁶ Nogah, Nepheg, Japhia, ⁷ Elishama, ^(D)Beeliada and ^(E)Eliphelet.

Philistines Defeated

⁸ When the Philistines heard that David had been anointed king over all Israel, all the Philistines went up to search for David. But David heard of it and went out against them. ⁹ Now the Philistines had come and ^(F)made a raid in the ^(G)Valley of Rephaim. ¹⁰ And David inquired of God, “Shall I go up against the Philistines? Will you give them into my hand?” And the Lord said to him, “Go up, and I will give them into your hand.” ¹¹ And he went up to Baal-perazim, and David struck them down there. And David said, “God has broken through^[a] my enemies by my hand, like a bursting flood.” Therefore the name of that place is called Baal-perazim. ¹² And they left their gods there, and David gave command, and they were burned.

¹³ And the Philistines yet again ^(H)made a raid in the valley. ¹⁴ And when David again inquired of God, ^(I)God said to him, “You shall not go up after them; go around and come against them opposite the balsam trees. ¹⁵ And when you hear the sound of marching in the tops of the balsam trees, then go out to battle, for God has gone out before you to strike down the army of the Philistines.” ¹⁶ And David did as God commanded him, and they struck down the Philistine army from Gibeon to Gezer. ¹⁷ And the fame of David went out into all lands, and the Lord brought the ^(J)fear of him upon all nations.

The Ark Brought to Jerusalem

15 David^[b] built houses for himself in the city of David. And he prepared a place for the ark of God and ^(K)pitched a tent for it. ² Then David said that no one but the Levites may carry ^(L)the ark of God, for the Lord had chosen them to carry the ark of the Lord and to minister to him forever. ^3 (M)And David assembled all Israel at Jerusalem to bring up the ark of the Lord ^(N)to its place, which he had prepared for it. ⁴ And David gathered together the sons of Aaron and ^(O)the Levites: ⁵ of the sons of Kohath, Uriel the chief, with 120 of his brothers; ⁶ of the sons of Merari, Asaiah the chief, with 220 of his brothers; ⁷ of the sons of Gershom, Joel the chief, with 130 of his brothers; ⁸ of the sons of Elizaphan, Shemaiah the chief, with 200 of his brothers; ⁹ of the sons of Hebron, Eliel the chief, with 80 of his brothers; ¹⁰ of the sons of Uzziel, Amminadab the chief, with 112 of his brothers. ¹¹ Then David summoned the priests ^(P)Zadok and ^(Q)Abiathar, and the Levites Uriel, Asaiah, Joel, Shemaiah, Eliel, and Amminadab, ¹² and said to them, “You are the heads of the fathers' houses of the Levites. ^(R)Consecrate yourselves, you and your brothers, so that you may bring up the ark of the Lord, the God of Israel, ^(S)to the place that I have prepared for it. ^13 (T)Because you did not carry it the first time, the Lord our God broke out against us, because we did not seek him according to the rule.” ¹⁴ So the priests and the Levites consecrated themselves to bring up the ark of the Lord, the God of Israel. ¹⁵ And the Levites carried the ark of God on their shoulders ^(U)with the poles, ^(V)as Moses had commanded according to the word of the Lord.

¹⁶ David also commanded the chiefs of the Levites to appoint their brothers as the singers who should play loudly on ^(W)musical instruments, on harps and lyres and cymbals, to raise sounds of joy. ¹⁷ So the Levites appointed ^(X)Heman the son of Joel; and of his brothers ^(Y)Asaph the son of Berechiah; and of the sons of Merari, their brothers, ^(Z)Ethan the son of Kushaiah; ¹⁸ and with them their brothers of the second order, Zechariah, Jaaziel, Shemiramoth, Jehiel, Unni, Eliab, Benaiah, Maaseiah, Mattithiah, Eliphelehu, and Mikneiah, and the gatekeepers Obed-edom and Jeiel. ¹⁹ The singers, Heman, Asaph, and Ethan, were to sound bronze cymbals; ²⁰ Zechariah, ^(AA)Aziel, Shemiramoth, Jehiel, Unni, Eliab, Maaseiah, and Benaiah were to play harps according to ^(AB)Alamoth; ²¹ but Mattithiah, Eliphelehu, Mikneiah, ^(AC)Obed-edom, Jeiel, and Azaziah were to lead with lyres according to ^(AD)the Sheminith. ²² Chenaniah, leader of the Levites in music, should direct the music, for he understood it. ²³ Berechiah and Elkanah were to be gatekeepers for the ark. ²⁴ Shebaniah, Joshaphat, Nethanel, Amasai, Zechariah, Benaiah, and Eliezer, the priests, should ^(AE)blow the trumpets before the ark of God. ^(AF)Obed-edom and Jehiah were to be gatekeepers for the ark.

^25 (AG)So David and the elders of Israel and the commanders of thousands went to bring up the ark of the covenant of the Lord from the house of ^(AH)Obed-edom with rejoicing. ²⁶ And because God helped the Levites who were carrying the ark of the covenant of the Lord, they sacrificed ^(AI)seven bulls and seven rams. ²⁷ David was clothed with a robe of fine linen, as also were all the Levites who were carrying the ark, and the singers and Chenaniah the leader of the music of the singers. And David wore a linen ephod. ²⁸ So all Israel brought up the ark of the covenant of the Lord with shouting, to the sound of the horn, ^(AJ)trumpets, and cymbals, and made loud music on ^(AK)harps and lyres.

²⁹ And as the ark of the covenant of the Lord came to the city of David, Michal the daughter of Saul looked out of the window and saw King David dancing and celebrating, and she despised him in her heart.

The Ark Placed in a Tent

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

⁴ Then 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. ^5 (AM)Asaph 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, ⁶ and Benaiah and Jahaziel the priests were to blow trumpets regularly before the ark of the covenant of God. ⁷ Then on that day ^(AN)David first appointed that thanksgiving be sung to the Lord by Asaph and his brothers.

David's Song of Thanks

^35 (BL)Say also:

^(BN)Then all the people said, “Amen!” and praised the Lord.

Worship Before the Ark

³⁷ So David left Asaph and his brothers there ^(BO)before the ark of the covenant of the Lord to minister regularly before the ark ^(BP)as each day required, ³⁸ and also ^(BQ)Obed-edom and his^[e] sixty-eight brothers, while ^(BR)Obed-edom, the son of Jeduthun, and ^(BS)Hosah were to be gatekeepers. ³⁹ And he left ^(BT)Zadok the priest and his brothers the priests before the tabernacle of the Lord ^(BU)in the high place that was at Gibeon ⁴⁰ to offer burnt offerings to the Lord ^(BV)on the altar of burnt offering ^(BW)regularly morning and evening, to do all that is written in the Law of the Lord that he commanded Israel. ⁴¹ With them were ^(BX)Heman and Jeduthun ^(BY)and the rest of those chosen and ^(BZ)expressly named to give thanks to the Lord, ^(CA)for his steadfast love endures forever. ⁴² Heman and Jeduthun had trumpets and cymbals for the music and instruments ^(CB)for sacred song. The sons of Jeduthun were appointed to the gate.

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

Lawsuits Against Believers

6 When one of you has a grievance against another, does he dare go to law before the unrighteous ^(A)instead of the saints? ² Or do you not know that ^(B)the saints will judge the world? And if the world is to be judged by you, are you incompetent to try trivial cases? ³ Do you not know that we are to judge angels? How much more, then, matters pertaining to this life! ⁴ So if you have such cases, ^(C)why do you lay them before those who have no standing in the church? ^5 (D)I say this to your shame. Can it be that there is no one among you wise enough to settle a dispute between the brothers, ⁶ but brother goes to law against brother, and that before unbelievers? ⁷ To have lawsuits at all with one another is already a defeat for you. ^(E)Why not rather suffer wrong? Why not rather be defrauded? ⁸ But you yourselves wrong and defraud—even ^(F)your own brothers!^[a]

⁹ Or do you not know that the unrighteous^[b] will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: ^(G)neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality,^{[c] 10} nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. ¹¹ And ^(H)such were some of you. But ^(I)you were washed, ^(J)you were sanctified, ^(K)you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

Flee Sexual Immorality

^12 (L)“All things are lawful for me,” but not all things are helpful. “All things are lawful for me,” but I will not be dominated by anything. ^13 (M)“Food is meant for the stomach and the stomach for food”—and God will destroy both one ^(N)and the other. The body is not meant for sexual immorality, but ^(O)for the Lord, and ^(P)the Lord for the body. ¹⁴ And ^(Q)God raised the Lord and ^(R)will also raise us up ^(S)by his power. ¹⁵ Do you not know that ^(T)your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? Never! ¹⁶ Or do you not know that he who is joined^[d] to a prostitute becomes one body with her? For, as it is written, ^(U)“The two will become one flesh.” ¹⁷ But he who is joined to the Lord ^(V)becomes one spirit with him. ^18 (W)Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin^[e] a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person ^(X)sins against his own body. ¹⁹ Or ^(Y)do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? ^(Z)You are not your own, ^20 (AA)for you were bought with a price. ^(AB)So glorify God in your body.