1 Chronicles 17-20

New American Standard Bible 1995

God’s Covenant with David

17 ^(A)And it came about, when David dwelt in his house, that David said to Nathan the prophet, “Behold, I am dwelling in a house of cedar, but the ark of the covenant of the Lord is under curtains.” ² Then Nathan said to David, “Do all that is in your heart, for God is with you.”

³ It came about the same night that the word of God came to Nathan, saying, ⁴ “Go and tell David My servant, ‘Thus says the Lord, “^(B)You shall not build a house for Me to dwell in; ⁵ for I have not dwelt in a house since the day that I brought up Israel to this day, ^(C)but I have ^[a]gone from tent to tent and from one dwelling place to another. ⁶ In all places where I have walked with all Israel, have I spoken a word ^(D)with any of the judges of Israel, whom I commanded to shepherd My people, saying, ‘Why have you not built for 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 pasture, from following the sheep, to be leader over My people Israel. ⁸ I have been with you wherever you have gone, and have cut off all your enemies from before you; and I will make you a name like the name of the great ones who are in the earth. ⁹ I will appoint a place for My people Israel, and will plant them, so that they may dwell in their own place and not be moved again; and the ^[b]wicked will not waste them anymore as formerly, ¹⁰ even from the day that I commanded judges to be over My people Israel. And I will subdue all your enemies.

Moreover, I tell you that the Lord will build a house for you. ¹¹ When your days are fulfilled that you must go to be with your fathers, that I will set up one of your ^[c]descendants after you, who will be of your sons; and I will establish his kingdom. ¹² He shall build for Me a house, and I will establish his throne forever. ^13 (E)I will be his father and he shall be My son; and I will not take My lovingkindness away from him, ^(F)as I took it from him who was before you. ¹⁴ But I will settle him in My house and in My kingdom forever, and his throne shall be established forever.”’” ¹⁵ According to all these words and according to all this vision, so Nathan spoke to David.

David’s Prayer in Response

¹⁶ Then David the king went in and sat before the Lord and said, “^(G)Who am I, O Lord God, and what is my house that You have brought me this far? ¹⁷ This was a small thing in Your eyes, O God; but You have spoken of Your servant’s house for a great while to come, and have regarded me according to the standard of a man of high degree, O Lord God. ¹⁸ What more can David still say to You concerning the honor bestowed on Your servant? For You know Your servant. ¹⁹ O Lord, ^(H)for Your servant’s sake, and according to 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 besides You, according to all that we have heard with our ears. ²¹ And what one nation in the earth is like Your people Israel, whom God went to redeem for Himself as a people, to make You a name by great and terrible things, in driving out nations from before Your people, whom You redeemed out of Egypt? ^22 (I)For Your people Israel You made Your own people forever, and You, O Lord, became their God.

²³ “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 Let Your name be established and magnified forever, saying, ‘The Lord of hosts is the God of Israel, even a God to Israel; and the house of David Your servant is established before You.’ ²⁵ For You, O my God, have revealed to Your servant that You will build for him a house; therefore Your servant has found courage to pray before You. ²⁶ Now, O Lord, You are God, and have ^[d]promised this good thing to Your servant. ²⁷ And now it has pleased You to bless the house of Your servant, that it may ^[e]continue forever before You; for You, O Lord, have blessed, and it is blessed forever.”

David’s Kingdom Strengthened

18 Now after this ^(J)it came about that David ^[f]defeated the Philistines and subdued them and took Gath and its towns from the hand of the Philistines. ² He defeated Moab, and the Moabites became servants to David, bringing tribute.

³ David also defeated Hadadezer king of Zobah as far as Hamath, as he went to establish his ^[g]rule to the Euphrates River. ⁴ David took from him 1,000 chariots and 7,000 horsemen and 20,000 foot soldiers, and David hamstrung all the chariot horses, but reserved enough of them for 100 chariots.

⁵ When the Arameans of ^[h]Damascus came to help Hadadezer king ^(K)of Zobah, David ^[i]killed 22,000 men of the Arameans. ⁶ Then David put garrisons among the Arameans of ^[j]Damascus; and the Arameans became servants to David, bringing tribute. And the Lord helped David wherever he went. ⁷ David took the shields of gold which were ^[k]carried by the servants of Hadadezer and brought them to Jerusalem. ⁸ Also from ^[l]Tibhath and from Cun, cities of Hadadezer, David took a very large amount of bronze, with which ^(L)Solomon made the bronze sea and the pillars and the bronze utensils.

⁹ Now when ^[m]Tou king of Hamath heard that David had ^[n]defeated all the army of Hadadezer king of Zobah, ¹⁰ he sent ^[o]Hadoram his son to King David to ^[p]greet him and to bless him, because he had fought against Hadadezer and had ^[q]defeated him; for Hadadezer had been at war with Tou. And Hadoram brought all kinds of articles of gold and silver and bronze. ¹¹ King David also dedicated these to the Lord with the silver and the gold which he had carried away from all the nations: from Edom, Moab, the sons of Ammon, the Philistines, and from Amalek.

¹² Moreover Abishai the son of Zeruiah ^[r]defeated 18,000 Edomites in the Valley of Salt. ¹³ Then he put garrisons in Edom, and all the Edomites became servants to David. And the Lord helped David wherever he went.

¹⁴ So David reigned over all Israel; and he ^[s]administered justice and righteousness for all his people. ^15 (M)Joab the son of Zeruiah was over the army, and Jehoshaphat the son of Ahilud was recorder; ¹⁶ and Zadok the son of Ahitub and Abimelech the son of Abiathar were priests, and Shavsha was secretary; ¹⁷ and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada was over the Cherethites and the Pelethites, and the sons of David were chiefs at the king’s side.

David’s Messengers Abused

19 ^(N)Now it came about after this, that Nahash the king of the sons of Ammon died, and his son became king in his place. ² Then David said, “I will show kindness to Hanun the son of Nahash, because his father showed kindness to me.” So David sent messengers to console him concerning his father. And David’s servants came into the land of the sons of Ammon to Hanun to console him. ³ But the princes of the sons of Ammon said to Hanun, “^[t]Do you think that David is honoring your father, in that he has sent comforters to you? Have not his servants come to you to search and to overthrow and to spy out the land?” ⁴ So Hanun took David’s servants and shaved them and cut off their garments in the middle as far as their hips, and sent them away. ⁵ Then certain persons went and told David about the men. And he sent to meet them, for the men were greatly humiliated. And the king said, “^[u]Stay at Jericho until your beards grow, and then return.”

⁶ When the sons of Ammon saw that they had made themselves odious to David, Hanun and the sons of Ammon sent 1,000 talents of silver to hire for themselves chariots and horsemen from Mesopotamia, from Aram-maacah and ^(O)from Zobah. ⁷ So they hired for themselves 32,000 chariots, and the king of Maacah and his people, who came and camped before ^(P)Medeba. And the sons of Ammon gathered together from their cities and came to battle. ⁸ When David heard of it, he sent Joab and all the army, the mighty men. ⁹ The sons of Ammon came out and drew up in battle array at the entrance of the city, and the kings who had come were by themselves in the field.

Ammon and Aram Defeated

¹⁰ Now when Joab saw that the ^[v]battle was set against him in front and in the rear, he selected from all the choice men of Israel and they arrayed themselves against the Arameans. ¹¹ But the remainder of the people he placed in the hand of ^[w]Abshai his brother; and they arrayed themselves against the sons of Ammon. ¹² He said, “If the Arameans are too strong for me, then you shall help me; but if the sons of Ammon are too strong for you, then I will help you. ¹³ Be strong, and let us show ourselves courageous for the sake of 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 to the battle against the Arameans, and they fled before him. ¹⁵ When the sons of Ammon saw that the Arameans fled, they also fled before Abshai his brother and entered the city. Then Joab came to Jerusalem.

¹⁶ When the Arameans saw that they had been ^[x]defeated by Israel, they sent messengers and brought out the Arameans who were beyond the ^[y]River, with Shophach the commander of the army of Hadadezer ^[z]leading them. ¹⁷ When it was told David, he gathered all Israel together and crossed the Jordan, and came upon them and drew up in formation against them. And when David drew up in battle array against the Arameans, they fought against him. ¹⁸ The Arameans fled before Israel, and David killed of the Arameans 7,000 charioteers and 40,000 foot soldiers, and put to death Shophach the commander of the army. ¹⁹ So when the servants of Hadadezer saw that they were ^[aa]defeated by Israel, they made peace with David and served him. Thus the Arameans were not willing to help the sons of Ammon anymore.

War with Philistine Giants

20 ^(Q)Then it happened ^[ab]in the spring, at the time when kings go out to battle, that Joab led out the army and ravaged the land of the sons of Ammon, and came and besieged Rabbah. But David stayed at Jerusalem. And ^(R)Joab struck Rabbah and overthrew it. ^2 (S)David took the crown of ^[ac]their king from his head, and he found it to weigh a talent of gold, and there was a precious stone in it; and it was placed on David’s head. And he brought out the spoil of the city, a very great amount. ³ He brought out the people who were in it, ^(T)and cut them with saws and with sharp instruments and with axes. And thus David did to all the cities of the sons of Ammon. Then David and all the people returned to Jerusalem.

^4 (U)Now it came about after this, that war ^[ad]broke out at ^[ae]Gezer with the Philistines; then Sibbecai the Hushathite ^[af]killed Sippai, one of the descendants of the ^[ag]giants, and they were subdued. ⁵ And there was war with the Philistines again, and Elhanan the son of ^(V)Jair ^[ah]killed Lahmi the brother of Goliath the Gittite, the ^(W)shaft of whose spear was like a weaver’s beam. ⁶ Again there was war at Gath, where there was a man of great stature who had twenty-four fingers and toes, six fingers on each hand and six toes on each foot; and he also was descended from the giants. ⁷ When he taunted Israel, Jonathan the son of Shimea, David’s brother, ^[ai]killed him. ⁸ These were descended from the giants in Gath, and they fell by the hand of David and by the hand of his servants.