Regular Worship Maintained

³⁷ So he left ^(A)Asaph and his brothers there before the ark of the covenant of the Lord to minister before the ark regularly, as every day’s work ^(B)required; ³⁸ and ^(C)Obed-Edom with his sixty-eight brethren, including Obed-Edom the son of Jeduthun, and Hosah, to be gatekeepers; ³⁹ and Zadok the priest and his brethren the priests, ^(D)before the tabernacle of the Lord ^(E)at the ^[a]high place that was at Gibeon, ⁴⁰ to offer burnt offerings to the Lord on the altar of burnt offering regularly ^(F)morning and evening, and to do according to all that is written in the Law of the Lord which He commanded Israel; ⁴¹ and with them Heman and Jeduthun and the rest who were chosen, who were designated by name, to give thanks to the Lord, ^(G)because His mercy endures forever; ⁴² and with them Heman and Jeduthun, to sound aloud with trumpets and cymbals and the musical instruments of God. Now the sons of Jeduthun were gatekeepers.

^43 (H)Then all the people departed, every man to his house; and David returned to bless his house.

God’s Covenant with David^(I)

17 Now ^(J)it came to pass, when David was dwelling in his house, that David said to Nathan the prophet, “See now, I dwell in a house of cedar, but the ark of the covenant of the Lord is under tent curtains.”

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

³ But it happened that night that the word of God came to Nathan, saying, ⁴ “Go and tell My servant David, ‘Thus says the Lord: “You shall ^(K)not build Me a house to dwell in. ⁵ For I have not dwelt in a house since the time that I brought up Israel, even to this day, but have gone from tent to tent, and from one tabernacle to another. ⁶ Wherever I have moved about with all Israel, have I ever spoken a word to any of the judges of Israel, whom I commanded to shepherd 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 ^(L)from the sheepfold, from following the sheep, to be ^[b]ruler over My people Israel. ⁸ And I have been with you wherever you have gone, and have cut off all your enemies from before you, and have ^[c]made you a name like the name of the great men who are on the earth. ⁹ Moreover I will appoint a place for My people Israel, and will ^(M)plant them, that they may dwell in a place of their own and move no more; nor shall the sons of wickedness oppress them anymore, as previously, ¹⁰ since the time that I commanded judges to be over My people Israel. Also I will subdue all your enemies. Furthermore I tell you that the Lord will build you a ^[d]house. ¹¹ And it shall be, when your days are ^(N)fulfilled, when you must ^[e]go to be with your fathers, that I will set up your ^(O)seed after you, who will be of your sons; and I will establish his kingdom. ^12 (P)He shall build Me a house, and I will establish his throne forever. ^13 (Q)I will be his Father, and he shall be My son; and I will not take My mercy away from him, ^(R)as I took it from him who was before you. ¹⁴ And ^(S)I will establish 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.

^16 (T)Then King David went in and sat before the Lord; and he said: “Who am I, O Lord God? And what is my house, that You have brought me this far? ¹⁷ And yet this was a small thing in Your sight, O God; and You have also spoken of Your servant’s house for a great while to come, and have regarded me according to the rank of a man of high degree, O Lord God. ¹⁸ What more can David say to You for the honor of Your servant? For You know Your servant. ¹⁹ O Lord, for Your servant’s sake, and according to Your own heart, You have done all this greatness, in making 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 (U)And who is like Your people Israel, the one nation on the earth whom God went to redeem for Himself as a people—to make for Yourself a name by great and awesome deeds, by driving out nations from before Your people whom You redeemed from Egypt? ²² For You have made Your people Israel Your very own people forever; and You, Lord, have become their God.

²³ “And now, O Lord, the word which You have spoken concerning Your servant and concerning his house, let it be established forever, and do as You have said. ²⁴ So let it be established, that Your name may be magnified forever, saying, ‘The Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, is Israel’s God.’ And let the house of Your servant David be established before You. ²⁵ For You, O my God, ^[f]have revealed to Your servant that You will build him a house. Therefore Your servant has found it in his heart to pray before You. ²⁶ And now, Lord, ^[g]You are God, and have promised this goodness to Your servant. ²⁷ Now You have been pleased to bless the house of Your servant, that it may continue before You forever; for You have blessed it, O Lord, and it shall be blessed forever.”

David’s Further Conquests^(V)

18 After this ^(W)it came to pass that David ^[h]attacked the Philistines, subdued them, and took Gath and its towns from the hand of the Philistines. ² Then he ^[i]defeated ^(X)Moab, and the Moabites became David’s ^(Y)servants, and brought tribute.

³ And ^(Z)David ^[j]defeated ^[k]Hadadezer king of Zobah as far as Hamath, as he went to establish his power by the River Euphrates. ⁴ David took from him one thousand chariots, ^[l]seven thousand horsemen, and twenty thousand foot soldiers. Also David ^[m]hamstrung all the chariot horses, except that he spared enough of them for one hundred chariots.

⁵ When the ^(AA)Syrians of Damascus came to help Hadadezer king of Zobah, David killed twenty-two thousand of the Syrians. ⁶ Then David put garrisons in Syria of Damascus; and the Syrians became David’s servants, and brought tribute. So the Lord preserved David wherever he went. ⁷ And David took the shields of gold that were on the servants of Hadadezer, and brought them to Jerusalem. ⁸ Also from ^[n]Tibhath and from ^[o]Chun, cities of ^[p]Hadadezer, David brought a large amount of ^(AB)bronze, with which ^(AC)Solomon made the bronze ^[q]Sea, the pillars, and the articles of bronze.

⁹ Now when ^[r]Tou king of Hamath heard that David had ^[s]defeated all the army of Hadadezer king of Zobah, ¹⁰ he sent ^[t]Hadoram his son to King David, to greet him and bless him, because he had fought against Hadadezer and ^[u]defeated him (for Hadadezer had been at war with Tou); and Hadoram brought with him all kinds of ^(AD)articles of gold, silver, and bronze. ¹¹ King David also dedicated these to the Lord, along with the silver and gold that he had brought from all these nations—from Edom, from Moab, from the ^(AE)people of Ammon, from the ^(AF)Philistines, and from ^(AG)Amalek.

¹² Moreover ^(AH)Abishai the son of Zeruiah killed ^(AI)eighteen thousand ^[v]Edomites in the Valley of Salt. ^13 (AJ)He also put garrisons in Edom, and all the Edomites became David’s servants. And the Lord preserved David wherever he went.

David’s Administration^(AK)

¹⁴ So David reigned over all Israel, and administered judgment and justice to all his people. ¹⁵ Joab the son of Zeruiah was over the army; Jehoshaphat the son of Ahilud was recorder; ¹⁶ Zadok the son of Ahitub and ^[w]Abimelech the son of Abiathar were the priests; ^[x]Shavsha was the scribe; ^17 (AL)Benaiah the son of Jehoiada was over the Cherethites and the Pelethites; and David’s sons were ^[y]chief ministers at the king’s side.

God’s Righteous Judgment

2 Therefore you are ^(A)inexcusable, O man, whoever you are who judge, ^(B)for in whatever you judge another you condemn yourself; for you who judge practice the same things. ² But we know that the judgment of God is according to truth against those who practice such things. ³ And do you think this, O man, you who judge those practicing such things, and doing the same, that you will escape the judgment of God? ⁴ Or do you despise ^(C)the riches of His goodness, ^(D)forbearance, and ^(E)longsuffering, ^(F)not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance? ⁵ But in accordance with your hardness and your ^[a]impenitent heart ^(G)you are ^[b]treasuring up for yourself wrath in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God, ⁶ who ^(H)“will render to each one according to his deeds”: ⁷ eternal life to those who by patient continuance in doing good seek for glory, honor, and immortality; ⁸ but to those who are self-seeking and ^(I)do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness—indignation and wrath, ⁹ tribulation and anguish, on every soul of man who does evil, of the Jew ^(J)first and also of the ^[c]Greek; ^10 (K)but glory, honor, and peace to everyone who works what is good, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. ¹¹ For ^(L)there is no partiality with God.

¹² For as many as have sinned without law will also perish without law, and as many as have sinned in the law will be judged by the law ¹³ (for ^(M)not the hearers of the law are just in the sight of God, but the doers of the law will be justified; ¹⁴ for when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do the things in the law, these, although not having the law, are a law to themselves, ¹⁵ who show the ^(N)work of the law written in their hearts, their ^(O)conscience also bearing witness, and between themselves their thoughts accusing or else excusing them) ^16 (P)in the day when God will judge the secrets of men ^(Q)by Jesus Christ, ^(R)according to my gospel.

The Jews Guilty as the Gentiles

^17 [d]Indeed ^(S)you are called a Jew, and ^(T)rest^[e] on the law, ^(U)and make your boast in God, ¹⁸ and ^(V)know His will, and ^(W)approve the things that are excellent, being instructed out of the law, ¹⁹ and ^(X)are confident that you yourself are a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness, ²⁰ an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of babes, ^(Y)having the form of knowledge and truth in the law. ^21 (Z)You, therefore, who teach another, do you not teach yourself? You who preach that a man should not steal, do you steal? ²² You who say, “Do not commit adultery,” do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, ^(AA)do you rob temples? ²³ You who ^(AB)make your boast in the law, do you dishonor God through breaking the law? ²⁴ For ^(AC)“the name of God is ^(AD)blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you,” as it is written.