1 Chronicles 17-19

Amplified Bible, Classic Edition

17 As David sat in his house, he said to Nathan the prophet, Behold, I dwell in a house of cedars, but the ark of the covenant of the Lord remains under tent curtains.

² Then Nathan said to David, Do all that is in your heart, for God is with you.

³ And that same night the word of God came to Nathan, saying,

⁴ Go and tell David My servant, Thus says the Lord: You shall not build Me a house to dwell in,

⁵ For I have not dwelt in a house since the day that I brought up Israel from Egypt until this day; but I have gone from tent to tent, and from one tabernacle to another.

⁶ Wherever I have walked with all Israel, did I say a word to any of the judges of Israel whom I commanded to feed My people, saying, Why have you not built Me a house of cedar?

⁷ Now therefore, thus shall you say to My servant David, Thus says the Lord of hosts: I took you from the sheepfold, from following the sheep, that you should be prince over My people Israel.

⁸ And I have been with you wherever you have gone, and I have cut off all your enemies from before you, and I will make your name like the name of the great ones of the earth.

⁹ Also I will appoint a place for My people Israel and will plant them, that they may dwell in their own place and be moved no more; neither shall the children of wickedness waste them any more, as at the first,

¹⁰ Since the time that I commanded judges to be over My people Israel. Moreover, I will subdue all your enemies. Furthermore, I foretell to you that the Lord will build you a house (a blessed posterity).

¹¹ And it shall come to pass that when your days are fulfilled to go to be with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, one of your own sons, and I will establish his kingdom.

¹² He shall build Me a house, and I will establish his throne forever.^(A)

¹³ I will be his father, and he shall be My son; and I will not take My mercy and steadfast love away from him, as I took it from him [King Saul] who was before you.^(B)

¹⁴ But I will settle ^[a]him (Him) in My house and in My kingdom forever; and his (His) throne shall be established forevermore.^(C)

¹⁵ According to all these words and according to all this vision, so Nathan spoke to David.

¹⁶ And David the king went in and sat before the Lord and said, Who am I, O Lord God, and what is my house and family, that You have brought me up to this?

¹⁷ And yet this was a small thing in Your eyes, O God; for You have spoken of Your servant’s house for a great while to come, and have regarded me according to the estate of a man of high degree, O Lord God!

¹⁸ What more can David say to You for thus honoring Your servant? For You know Your servant.

¹⁹ O Lord, for Your servant’s sake and in accord with Your own heart, You have wrought all this greatness, to make known all these great things.

²⁰ O Lord, there is none like You, nor is there any God beside You, according to all that our ears have heard.

²¹ And what nation on the earth is like Your people Israel, whom God went to redeem to Himself as a people, making Yourself a name by great and terrible things, by driving out nations from before Your people, whom You redeemed out of Egypt?

²² You made Your people Israel Your own forever, and You, Lord, became their God.

²³ Therefore now, Lord, let the word which You have spoken concerning Your servant and his house be established forever, and do as You have said.

²⁴ Let it be established and let Your name [and the character that name denotes] be magnified forever, saying, The Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, is Israel’s God; and the house of David Your servant will be established before You.

²⁵ For You, O my God, have told Your servant that You will build for him a house (a blessed posterity); therefore Your servant has found courage and confidence to pray before You.

²⁶ And now, Lord, You are God, and have promised this good thing to Your servant.

²⁷ Therefore may it please You to bless the house (posterity) of Your servant, that it may continue before You forever; for what You bless, O Lord, is blessed forever.

18 After this, David smote and subdued the Philistines, and took Gath and its villages out of the hand of the Philistines.

² He smote Moab, and the Moabites became David’s servants and brought tribute.

³ Also David defeated Hadadezer king of Zobah toward Hamath, as he went to establish his dominion by the river Euphrates.

⁴ David took from him 1,000 chariots, 7,000 horsemen, and 20,000 foot soldiers. David also hamstrung all the chariot horses, but reserved enough for 100 chariots.

⁵ When the Syrians of Damascus came to help Hadadezer king of Zobah, David slew of the Syrians 22,000 men.

⁶ Then David put garrisons in Syria, [whose capital was] Damascus; the Syrians became David’s servants and brought tribute. Thus the Lord preserved and gave victory to David wherever he went.

⁷ David took the shields of gold that were carried by the servants of Hadadezer and brought them to Jerusalem.

⁸ Likewise from Tibhath and from Cun, cities of Hadadezer, David brought very much bronze, with which Solomon later made the bronze laver, the pillars, and the vessels of bronze.

⁹ When Tou king of Hamath heard how David had defeated all the hosts of Hadadezer king of Zobah,

¹⁰ He sent Hadoram his son to King David to salute him and to congratulate him because he had fought and defeated Hadadezer, for Hadadezer had had wars with Tou. And Hadoram brought with him all manner of vessels of gold, silver, and bronze.

¹¹ King David dedicated them also to the Lord, with the silver and the gold he brought from all these nations: Edom, Moab, the Ammonites, the Philistines, and the Amalekites.

¹² Also Abishai son of Zeruiah slew 18,000 of the Edomites in the Valley of Salt.

¹³ He put garrisons in Edom, and all the Edomites became David’s servants. Thus the Lord preserved and gave victory to David wherever he went.

¹⁴ So David reigned over all Israel and executed judgment and justice among all his people.

¹⁵ Joab son of Zeruiah [David’s half sister] was over the army; and Jehoshaphat son of Ahilud was the recorder;

¹⁶ Zadok son of Ahitub and Abimelech son of Abiathar were the priests; and Shavsha was secretary [of state];

¹⁷ Benaiah son of Jehoiada was over [David’s bodyguards] the Cherethites and the Pelethites; and David’s sons were chiefs next to the king.

19 After this, Nahash king of the Ammonites died, and his son reigned in his stead.

² David said, I will show kindness to Hanun son of Nahash, because his father showed kindness to me. And David sent messengers to comfort him concerning his father’s death. So the servants of David came into the land of the Ammonites to comfort Hanun.

³ But the princes of the Ammonites said to Hanun, Do you think that David has sent comforters to you because he honors your father? Have his servants not come to you to search, to overthrow, and to spy out the land?

⁴ Therefore Hanun took David’s servants, shaved them, cut off their garments in the middle near their buttocks, and sent them away.

⁵ When David was told how the men were served, he sent to meet them, for [they] were greatly shamed and embarrassed. The king said, Stay in Jericho until your beards are grown, and then return.

⁶ When the Ammonites saw that they had made themselves hateful to David, Hanun and [his people] sent 1,000 talents of silver to hire chariots and horsemen from Mesopotamia and Aram-maacah and Zobah.

⁷ So they hired 32,000 chariots, and the king of Maacah and his troops, who came and pitched before Medeba. And the Ammonites gathered from their cities and came to battle.

⁸ When David heard of it, he sent Joab and all the army of mighty men.

⁹ And the Ammonites came out and lined up in battle array before the entrance of the city [Medeba], and the kings who had come were by themselves in the open country.

¹⁰ When Joab saw that the battle was set against him before and behind, he chose from all the choice men of Israel and put them in array against the Syrians.

¹¹ The rest of the soldiers he delivered to Abishai his brother, and they were arrayed against the Ammonites.

¹² And he said, If the Syrians are too strong for me, then you help me; but if the Ammonites are too strong for you, I will help you.

¹³ Be of good courage and let us behave ourselves courageously for our people and for the cities of our God; and may the Lord do what is good in His sight.

¹⁴ So Joab and the people who were with him drew near before the Syrians for battle, and they fled before him.

¹⁵ And when the Ammonites saw that the Syrians fled, they likewise fled before Abishai, Joab’s brother, and entered into the city [Medeba]. Then Joab came to Jerusalem.

¹⁶ When the Syrians saw that they were defeated by Israel, they sent messengers and drew forth the Syrians who were beyond the Euphrates River, with Shophach the commander of the army of Hadadezer at their head.

¹⁷ It was told to David, and he gathered all Israel and crossed the Jordan and drew up his army against them. So when David set the battle in array against the Syrians, they fought with him.

¹⁸ But the Syrians fled before Israel, and David slew of the Syrians 7,000 men in chariots and 40,000 foot soldiers, and killed Shophach the commander of the army.

¹⁹ When the servants of Hadadezer saw that they were defeated before Israel, they made peace with David and became subject to him; nor would the Syrians any longer help the Ammonites.