15 David made himself houses in David’s city; and he prepared a place for God’s ark, and pitched a tent for it. ² Then David said, “No one ought to carry God’s ark but the Levites. For Yahweh has chosen them to carry God’s ark, and to minister to him forever.”

³ David assembled all Israel at Jerusalem, to bring up Yahweh’s ark to its place, which he had prepared for it. ⁴ David gathered together the sons of Aaron and the Levites: ⁵ of the sons of Kohath, Uriel the chief, and his brothers one hundred twenty; ⁶ of the sons of Merari, Asaiah the chief, and his brothers two hundred twenty; ⁷ of the sons of Gershom, Joel the chief, and his brothers one hundred thirty; ⁸ of the sons of Elizaphan, Shemaiah the chief, and his brothers two hundred; ⁹ of the sons of Hebron, Eliel the chief, and his brothers eighty; ¹⁰ of the sons of Uzziel, Amminadab the chief, and his brothers one hundred twelve. ¹¹ David called for Zadok and Abiathar the priests, and for the Levites, for Uriel, Asaiah, Joel, Shemaiah, Eliel, and Amminadab, ¹² and said to them, “You are the heads of the fathers’ households of the Levites. Sanctify yourselves, both you and your brothers, that you may bring the ark of Yahweh, the God of Israel, up to the place that I have prepared for it. ¹³ For because you didn’t carry it at first, Yahweh our God broke out in anger against us, because we didn’t seek him according to the ordinance.”

¹⁴ So the priests and the Levites sanctified themselves to bring up the ark of Yahweh, the God of Israel. ¹⁵ The children of the Levites bore God’s ark on their shoulders with its poles, as Moses commanded according to Yahweh’s word. ¹⁶ David spoke to the chief of the Levites to appoint their brothers as singers with instruments of music, stringed instruments, harps, and cymbals, sounding aloud and lifting up their voices with joy. ¹⁷ So the Levites appointed Heman the son of Joel; and of his brothers, Asaph the son of Berechiah; and of the sons of Merari their brothers, Ethan the son of Kushaiah; ¹⁸ and with them their brothers of the second rank, Zechariah, Ben, Jaaziel, Shemiramoth, Jehiel, Unni, Eliab, Benaiah, Maaseiah, Mattithiah, Eliphelehu, Mikneiah, Obed-Edom, and Jeiel, the doorkeepers. ¹⁹ So the singers, Heman, Asaph, and Ethan, were given cymbals of bronze to sound aloud; ²⁰ and Zechariah, Aziel, Shemiramoth, Jehiel, Unni, Eliab, Maaseiah, and Benaiah, with stringed instruments set to Alamoth; ²¹ and Mattithiah, Eliphelehu, Mikneiah, Obed-Edom, Jeiel, and Azaziah, with harps tuned to the eight-stringed lyre, to lead. ²² Chenaniah, chief of the Levites, was over the singing. He taught the singers, because he was skillful. ²³ Berechiah and Elkanah were doorkeepers for the ark. ²⁴ Shebaniah, Joshaphat, Nethanel, Amasai, Zechariah, Benaiah, and Eliezer, the priests, blew the trumpets before God’s ark; and Obed-Edom and Jehiah were doorkeepers for the ark.

²⁵ So David, the elders of Israel, and the captains over thousands, went to bring the ark of Yahweh’s covenant up out of the house of Obed-Edom with joy. ²⁶ When God helped the Levites who bore the ark of Yahweh’s covenant, they sacrificed seven bulls and seven rams. ²⁷ David was clothed with a robe of fine linen, as were all the Levites who bore the ark, the singers, and Chenaniah the choir master with the singers; and David had an ephod of linen on him. ²⁸ Thus all Israel brought the ark of Yahweh’s covenant up with shouting, with sound of the cornet, with trumpets, and with cymbals, sounding aloud with stringed instruments and harps. ²⁹ As the ark of Yahweh’s covenant came to David’s city, Michal the daughter of Saul looked out at the window, and saw king David dancing and playing; and she despised him in her heart.

2 My brothers, don’t hold the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ of glory with partiality. ² For if a man with a gold ring, in fine clothing, comes into your synagogue,^[a] and a poor man in filthy clothing also comes in, ³ and you pay special attention to him who wears the fine clothing and say, “Sit here in a good place;” and you tell the poor man, “Stand there,” or “Sit by my footstool” ⁴ haven’t you shown partiality among yourselves, and become judges with evil thoughts? ⁵ Listen, my beloved brothers. Didn’t God choose those who are poor in this world to be rich in faith, and heirs of the Kingdom which he promised to those who love him? ⁶ But you have dishonored the poor man. Don’t the rich oppress you, and personally drag you before the courts? ⁷ Don’t they blaspheme the honorable name by which you are called? ⁸ However, if you fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,”Leviticus 19:18 you do well. ⁹ But if you show partiality, you commit sin, being convicted by the law as transgressors. ¹⁰ For whoever keeps the whole law, and yet stumbles in one point, he has become guilty of all. ¹¹ For he who said, “Do not commit adultery,”Exodus 20:14; Deuteronomy 5:18 also said, “Do not commit murder.”Exodus 20:13; Deuteronomy 5:17 Now if you do not commit adultery, but murder, you have become a transgressor of the law. ¹² So speak and so do, as men who are to be judged by a law of freedom. ¹³ For judgment is without mercy to him who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.

¹⁴ What good is it, my brothers, if a man says he has faith, but has no works? Can faith save him? ¹⁵ And if a brother or sister is naked and in lack of daily food, ¹⁶ and one of you tells them, “Go in peace. Be warmed and filled;” yet you didn’t give them the things the body needs, what good is it? ¹⁷ Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead in itself. ¹⁸ Yes, a man will say, “You have faith, and I have works.” Show me your faith without works, and I will show you my faith by my works.

¹⁹ You believe that God is one. You do well. The demons also believe, and shudder. ²⁰ But do you want to know, vain man, that faith apart from works is dead? ²¹ Wasn’t Abraham our father justified by works, in that he offered up Isaac his son on the altar? ²² You see that faith worked with his works, and by works faith was perfected. ²³ So the Scripture was fulfilled which says, “Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him as righteousness,”Genesis 15:6 and he was called the friend of God. ²⁴ You see then that by works, a man is justified, and not only by faith. ²⁵ In the same way, wasn’t Rahab the prostitute also justified by works, in that she received the messengers and sent them out another way? ²⁶ For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, even so faith apart from works is dead.

9 I saw the Lord standing beside the altar, and he said, “Strike the tops of the pillars, that the thresholds may shake; and break them in pieces on the head of all of them; and I will kill the last of them with the sword: there shall not one of them flee away, and there shall not one of them escape. ² Though they dig into Sheol,^[a] there my hand will take them; and though they climb up to heaven, there I will bring them down. ³ Though they hide themselves in the top of Carmel, I will search and take them out from there; and though they be hidden from my sight in the bottom of the sea, there I will command the serpent, and it will bite them. ⁴ Though they go into captivity before their enemies, there I will command the sword, and it will kill them. I will set my eyes on them for evil, and not for good. ⁵ For the Lord, Yahweh of Armies, is he who touches the land and it melts, and all who dwell in it will mourn; and it will rise up wholly like the River, and will sink again, like the River of Egypt. ⁶ It is he who builds his rooms in the heavens, and has founded his vault on the earth; he who calls for the waters of the sea, and pours them out on the surface of the earth; Yahweh is his name. ⁷ Are you not like the children of the Ethiopians to me, children of Israel?” says Yahweh. “Haven’t I brought up Israel out of the land of Egypt, and the Philistines from Caphtor, and the Syrians from Kir? ⁸ Behold, the eyes of the Lord Yahweh are on the sinful kingdom, and I will destroy it from off the surface of the earth; except that I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob,” says Yahweh. ⁹ “For, behold, I will command, and I will sift the house of Israel among all the nations, as grain is sifted in a sieve, yet not the least kernel will fall on the earth. ¹⁰ All the sinners of my people will die by the sword, who say, ‘Evil won’t overtake nor meet us.’ ¹¹ In that day I will raise up the tent of David who is fallen, and close up its breaches, and I will raise up its ruins, and I will build it as in the days of old; ¹² that they may possess the remnant of Edom, and all the nations who are called by my name,” says Yahweh who does this.