David Anointed King of All Israel

5 Then all the tribes of Israel came to David at Hebron and said, “Look, we are your bone and flesh.^{(A) 2} For some time, while Saul was king over us, it was you who led out Israel and brought it in. The Lord said to you, ‘It is you who shall be shepherd of my people Israel, you who shall be ruler over Israel.’ ”^{(B) 3} So all the elders of Israel came to the king at Hebron, and King David made a covenant with them at Hebron before the Lord, and they anointed David king over Israel.^{(C) 4} David was thirty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned forty years.^{(D) 5} At Hebron he reigned over Judah seven years and six months, and at Jerusalem he reigned over all Israel and Judah thirty-three years.^(E)

Jerusalem Made Capital of the United Kingdom

⁶ The king and his men marched to Jerusalem against the Jebusites, the inhabitants of the land, who said to David, “You will not come in here; even the blind and the lame will turn you back,” thinking, “David cannot come in here.”^{(F) 7} Nevertheless, David took the stronghold of Zion, which is now the city of David. ⁸ David had said on that day, “Whoever would strike down the Jebusites, let him get up the water shaft to attack the lame and the blind, those whom David hates.”^[a] Therefore it is said, “The blind and the lame shall not come into the house.”^{(G) 9} David occupied the stronghold and named it the city of David. David built the city all around from the Millo inward.^{(H) 10} And David became greater and greater, for the Lord of hosts^[b] was with him.^(I)

¹¹ King Hiram of Tyre sent messengers to David, along with cedar trees and carpenters and masons who built David a house.^{(J) 12} David then perceived that the Lord had established him king over Israel and that he had exalted his kingdom for the sake of his people Israel.

The Ministry of the Apostles

4 Think of us in this way: as servants of Christ and stewards of God’s mysteries.^{(A) 2} Moreover, it is required of stewards that they be found trustworthy. ³ But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged by you or by any human court. I do not even judge myself. ⁴ I am not aware of anything against myself, but I am not thereby acquitted. It is the Lord who judges me. ⁵ Therefore do not pronounce judgment before the time, before the Lord comes, who will bring to light the things now hidden in darkness and will disclose the purposes of the heart. Then each one will receive commendation from God.^(B)

⁶ I have applied all this to Apollos and myself for your benefit, brothers and sisters, so that you may learn through us what “Not beyond what is written” means, so that none of you will be puffed up in favor of one against another. ⁷ For who sees anything different in you?^[a] What do you have that you did not receive? And if you received it, why do you boast as if you did not receive?^(C)

⁸ Already you have all you want! Already you have become rich! Quite apart from us you have become kings! If only you had become kings, so that we might be kings with you! ⁹ For I think that God has exhibited us apostles as last of all, as though sentenced to death, because we have become a spectacle to the world, to angels and to humans.^{(D) 10} We are fools for the sake of Christ, but you are sensible people in Christ. We are weak, but you are strong. You are honored, but we are dishonored.^{(E) 11} To the present hour we are hungry and thirsty, we are naked and beaten and homeless,^{(F) 12} and we grow weary from the work of our own hands. When reviled, we bless; when persecuted, we endure;^{(G) 13} when slandered, we speak kindly. We have become like the rubbish of the world, the dregs of all things, to this very day.

Fatherly Admonition

¹⁴ I am not writing this to make you ashamed but to admonish you as my beloved children. ¹⁵ For though you might have ten thousand guardians in Christ, you do not have many fathers. Indeed, in Christ Jesus I fathered you through the gospel.^{(H) 16} I appeal to you, then, be imitators of me.^{(I) 17} For this reason I sent^[b] you Timothy, who is my beloved and trustworthy child in the Lord, to remind you of my ways in Christ Jesus, as I teach them everywhere in every church.

David Brings the Ark to Jerusalem

6 David again gathered all the chosen men of Israel, thirty thousand. ² David and all the people with him set out and went from Baale-judah to bring up from there the ark of God, which is called by the name of the Lord of hosts who is enthroned on the cherubim.^{(A) 3} They carried the ark of God on a new cart and brought it out of the house of Abinadab, which was on the hill. Uzzah and Ahio,^[a] the sons of Abinadab, were driving the new cart^{(B) 4} with the ark of God,^[b] and Ahio^[c] went in front of the ark.^{(C) 5} David and all the house of Israel were dancing before the Lord with all their might, with songs^[d] and lyres and harps and tambourines and castanets and cymbals.^(D)

⁶ When they came to the threshing floor of Nacon, Uzzah reached out his hand to the ark of God and took hold of it, for the oxen lurched.^{(E) 7} The anger of the Lord was kindled against Uzzah, and God struck him there,^[e] and he died there beside the ark of God.^{(F) 8} David was angry because the Lord had burst forth with an outburst upon Uzzah, so that place is called Perez-uzzah^[f] to this day. ⁹ David was afraid of the Lord that day; he said, “How can the ark of the Lord come into my care?” ¹⁰ So David was unwilling to take the ark of the Lord into his care in the city of David; instead, David took it to the house of Obed-edom the Gittite.^{(G) 11} The ark of the Lord remained in the house of Obed-edom the Gittite three months, and the Lord blessed Obed-edom and all his household.^(H)

¹² It was told King David, “The Lord has blessed the household of Obed-edom and all that belongs to him because of the ark of God.” So David went and brought up the ark of God from the house of Obed-edom to the city of David with rejoicing,^{(I) 13} and when those who bore the ark of the Lord had gone six paces, he sacrificed an ox and a fatted calf. ¹⁴ David danced before the Lord with all his might; David was girded with a linen ephod.^{(J) 15} So David and all the house of Israel brought up the ark of the Lord with shouting and with the sound of the trumpet.^(K)

¹⁶ As the ark of the Lord came into the city of David, Michal daughter of Saul looked out of the window and saw King David leaping and dancing before the Lord, and she despised him in her heart.^(L)

¹⁷ They brought in the ark of the Lord and set it in its place, inside the tent that David had pitched for it, and David offered burnt offerings and offerings of well-being before the Lord.^{(M) 18} When David had finished offering the burnt offerings and the offerings of well-being, he blessed the people in the name of the Lord of hosts^{(N) 19} and distributed food among all the people, the whole multitude of Israel, both men and women, to each a cake of bread, a portion of meat,^[g] and a cake of raisins. Then all the people went back to their homes.

²⁰ David returned to bless his household. But Michal the daughter of Saul came out to meet David and said, “How the king of Israel honored himself today, uncovering himself today before the eyes of his servants’ maids, as any vulgar fellow might shamelessly uncover himself!”^{(O) 21} David said to Michal, “It was before the Lord, who chose me in place of your father and all his household, to appoint me as prince over Israel, the people of the Lord—I will dance before the Lord.^{(P) 22} I will make myself yet more contemptible than this, and I will be humbled in my own eyes, but by the maids of whom you have spoken, by them I shall be held in honor.” ²³ And Michal the daughter of Saul had no child to the day of her death.

The Mission of the Seventy-Two

10 After this the Lord appointed seventy-two^[a] others and sent them on ahead of him in pairs to every town and place where he himself intended to go.^{(A) 2} He said to them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.^{(B) 3} Go on your way; I am sending you out like lambs into the midst of wolves.^{(C) 4} Carry no purse, no bag, no sandals, and greet no one on the road.^{(D) 5} Whatever house you enter, first say, ‘Peace to this house!’^{(E) 6} And if a person of peace is there, your peace will rest on that person, but if not, it will return to you. ⁷ Remain in the same house, eating and drinking whatever they provide, for the laborer deserves to be paid. Do not move about from house to house.^{(F) 8} Whenever you enter a town and its people welcome you, eat what is set before you; ⁹ cure the sick who are there, and say to them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you.’^{[b](G) 10} But whenever you enter a town and they do not welcome you, go out into its streets and say, ¹¹ ‘Even the dust of your town that clings to our feet, we wipe off in protest against you. Yet know this: the kingdom of God has come near.’^{[c](H) 12} I tell you, on that day it will be more tolerable for Sodom than for that town.^(I)

Woes to Unrepentant Cities

¹³ “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the deeds of power done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago, sitting in sackcloth and ashes.^{(J) 14} Indeed, at the judgment it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon than for you. ¹⁵ And you, Capernaum,

¹⁶ “Whoever listens to you listens to me, and whoever rejects you rejects me, and whoever rejects me rejects the one who sent me.”^(L)

The Return of the Seventy-Two

¹⁷ The seventy-two^[d] returned with joy, saying, “Lord, in your name even the demons submit to us!”^{(M) 18} He said to them, “I watched Satan fall from heaven like a flash of lightning.^{(N) 19} Indeed, I have given you authority to tread on snakes and scorpions and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing will hurt you.^{(O) 20} Nevertheless, do not rejoice at this, that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.”^(P)

Jesus Rejoices

²¹ At that very hour Jesus^[e] rejoiced in the Holy Spirit^[f] and said, “I thank^[g] you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and the intelligent and have revealed them to infants; yes, Father, for such was your gracious will.^{[h](Q) 22} All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows who the Son is except the Father or who the Father is except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.”^(R)

²³ Then turning to the disciples, Jesus^[i] said to them privately, “Blessed are the eyes that see what you see!^{(S) 24} For I tell you that many prophets and kings desired to see what you see but did not see it and to hear what you hear but did not hear it.”^(T)