Beginning
15 David founded the city of David as his capital and built his palaces there. But in his zeal to rebuild Jerusalem and build his palaces, He prepared a place for the covenant chest of God in a tent adjacent to the palace. 2-3 Then David invited the people of Israel to Jerusalem for a parade celebrating the arrival of the covenant chest of the Eternal.
David (to the assembly): Because of Uzza’s fiasco when we tried to move the chest three months ago, no one but the Levites may carry the covenant chest of God. The Eternal has selected them and them alone to bear it and to serve Him forever.
4 So David gathered the men of Aaron and the other Levites: 5 the men of Kohath (Uriel the chief and 120 of his relatives), 6 the men of Merari (Asaiah the chief and 220 of his relatives), 7 the men of Gershom (Joel the chief and 130 of his relatives), 8 the men of Elizaphan (Shemaiah the chief and 200 of his relatives), 9 the men of Hebron (Eliel the chief and 80 of his relatives), and 10 the men of Uzziel (Amminadab the chief and 112 of his relatives).
11 When they had all gathered together, David summoned Zadok and Abiathar (two priests) and the other Levites: Uriel, Asaiah, Joel, Shemaiah, Eliel, and Amminadab.
David (commissioning them): 12 You are the heads of the households of the Levites. You are the ones whom God wants to carry His covenant chest. Sanctify yourselves and your relatives, so you may deliver the covenant chest of the Eternal One, God of Israel, to the tent I have prepared for it next to my palace in Jerusalem. 13 You did not carry the chest from Kiriath-jearim the first time we moved it, so the Eternal our God was infuriated at us for ignoring His commands. This time, we will bring it to Jerusalem in the way He told us to.
14 After the priests and the Levites were consecrated for their duty, David and the Levites organized the city’s processional in honor of the chest of the Eternal, the God of Israel. 15 The Levites picked up the covenant chest of God and carried it by wooden poles on their shoulders as the Eternal commanded them to do through His prophet Moses. 16 David told the leaders of the Levites to select their relatives as musicians and singers in the parade, playing instruments such as lutes, lyres, and cymbals and raising their voices in joy. 17 So the Levites appointed Heman (son of Joel) and his kinsmen, Asaph (son of Berechiah), the sons of Merari, and Ethan (son of Kushaiah). 18 With these men were their assistants: Zechariah, Jaaziel, Shemiramoth, Jehiel, Unni, Eliab, Benaiah, Maaseiah, Mattithiah, Eliphelehu, and Mikneiah, along with Obed-edom and Jeiel who were gatekeepers.
19 The celebration began with a parade. The assembled singers (Heman, Asaph, and Ethan) sounded their bronze cymbals; 20 Zechariah, Aziel, Shemiramoth, Jehiel, Unni, Eliab, Maaseiah, and Benaiah played their lutes tuned to alamoth, 21 and Mattithiah, Eliphelehu, Mikneiah, Obed-edom, Jeiel, and Azaziah played their lyres tuned to sheminith. 22 Chenaniah, chief of the Levites, directed the singing because of his musical ability, 23 while Berechia and Elkanah led the gatekeepers. 24 Shebaniah, Joshaphat, Nethanel, Amasai, Zechariah, Benaiah, and Eliezer (all priests) blew their clarions at the front of the parade in front of the covenant chest of God, as Obed-edom and Jehiah carried it. 25 In this manner, David, the elders of Israel, and the captains over thousands prepared to move the covenant chest of the Eternal from the house of Obed-edom into its high place in Jerusalem with rejoicing. 26 As God was helping the Levites to carry the heavy covenant chest, they offered seven wild bulls and seven stags to Him. 27 David, all the Levites carrying the chest, the singers, and Chenaniah the song leader were dressed in fine linen robes. The king also wore a linen priestly vest. 28 All Israel celebrated the chest’s journey to its tent, rejoicing with the sound of trumpets, clarions, and cymbals, and worshiping with harps and lyres.
29 When the covenant chest of the Eternal entered the city of David, Michal (the daughter of Saul and David’s wife) gazed out of a window and saw her husband dancing and celebrating in the parade. At that moment, Michal hated David.
16 The Levites set the covenant chest of God down in the middle of the tent David had built for it, and they made sacrifices and burnt offerings before God. 2 When David finished these rituals of burnt offerings and peace offerings he blessed the people under the Eternal’s authority. 3 He gave a loaf of bread, a date roll,[a] and a raisin cake to every man and woman in Israel. 4 He appointed some of the Levites as servants of the covenant chest of the Eternal, as officers to commemorate, to give thanks, and to give praise to the Eternal One, God of Israel. 5 Asaph was the head of the servants, next Zechariah, then Jeiel, Shemiramoth, Jehiel, Mattithiah, Eliab, Benaiah, and Obed-edom. Jeiel was over all instruments, including a ten-stringed harp and lyre, while Asaph played the cymbals. 6 Benaiah and Jahaziel the priests played trumpets regularly before the covenant chest of God. 7 That day, at the end of the parade, David gave this first song of thanks to Asaph and his brothers:
8 Give thanks to the Eternal, and call out to Him.
Teach the people His deeds.
9 Sing to Him! Sing praises to Him!
Talk about all His wonders.
10 Brag about His holy name;
let your heart rejoice in following the Eternal.
11 Always follow the Eternal,
His strength and His face.
12 Remember the wonders which He did,
and the judgments which He spoke.
13 Seed of Israel, you are His servants;
sons of Jacob, you are His chosen.
14 He is the Eternal One, your God.
His judgments fill the earth.
15 Always remember His covenant,
the word He commanded to 1,000 generations
16 Which is His covenant with Abraham
and His pledge to Isaac,
17 His statute with Jacob
and His covenant with Israel forever:
18 “I will give the land of Canaan to you,
a territory as your inheritance.”
19 When He promised this, you were a diminished few,
mere strangers in the land.
20 You went from nation to nation
and from one kingdom to another,
21 But He did not let those nations oppress you.
He reproved the kings:
22 “Do not strike My anointed people
or do evil to My prophets.”
23 Now, sing to the Eternal, all the earth!
Announce the good news of His salvation each and every day!
24 Enlighten the nations to His splendor;
describe His wondrous acts to all people!
25 For the Eternal is great indeed and praiseworthy,
feared and reverenced above all gods.
26 For all gods are worthless idols,
but the Eternal plotted the vast heavens.
27 Honor and majesty precede Him;
strength and beauty infuse His holy sanctuary.
28 Give all credit to the Eternal, families of the world!
Credit Him with honor and strength!
29 Credit Him with the glory worthy of His magnificent name;
gather your sacrifice, and present it before Him.
Bow down to the Eternal, adorned in holiness.
30 Fear Him, all the earth.
For the earth is firmly rooted; it cannot move.
31 Heavens, be glad; earth, rejoice.
Say to the nations, “The Eternal One reigns.”
32 The sea roars, as do its creatures.
The field rejoices, as do its crops.
33 Then will the forest and its trees cry out
before the Eternal, for He comes to judge the earth.
34 Give testimony about the Eternal because He is good;
His loyal love lasts forever.
35 Say, “Save us, God of our salvation.
Gather us and free us from the nations
To thank Your holy name,
to boast in Your praise.”
36 Blessed is the Eternal One, God of Israel,
from everlasting to everlasting.
People: So may it be! We will praise the Eternal.
37 So David left Asaph and his brothers at the covenant chest of the Eternal to serve it continually, performing the daily rituals. 38 Obed-edom and the 68 brothers served, with Obed-edom (son of Jeduthun) and Hosah as the gatekeepers.
39 Zadok (the priest) and his fellow priests lived before the congregation tent of the Eternal in the high place at Gibeon 40 to burn offerings continually to Him upon the altar in the morning and evening, as God had commanded Israel. 41-42 With them were Heman, Jeduthun, and the rest of those who are chosen and recorded here who gave testimony about the Eternal, whose loyal love never ends, using clarions, cymbals, other instruments, and songs. The sons of Jeduthun were assigned to be gatekeepers at Gibeon. 43 Once the congregation tent was prepared, all the people returned to their homes, and David returned to bless his own house.
After David moves the covenant chest to Jerusalem, Israel has two places of worship and two high priests. One is with the chest in Jerusalem, and the other is at the congregation tent in Gibeon. Although David intends to build a temple in Jerusalem and reunite the covenant chest and the congregation tent, that one worship center will not be built until his son, Solomon, is king.
17 Once David had sat in his palace, he made an observation.
David (to Nathan the prophet): I live in a sturdy house made of expensive, imported cedar, but the covenant chest of the Eternal lives in a temporary house made of curtains. This does not seem right.
Nathan: 2 If you want to build God a house, then do it. God is with you.
3 Later that night, God came to Nathan and corrected his thinking.
Eternal One: 4 Go and tell My servant David the Eternal One says: You may not build a house for Me to live in; 5 I have never lived in a house, from the day I brought Israel out of Egypt until today. I have always moved from tent to tent, from one home to another. 6 In all these places where I have walked with Israel, did I ever ask any of the judges I commanded to shepherd Israel, “Why have you not built for Me an expensive house of cedar?”
7 I, the Eternal One, Commander of heavenly armies, pledge this: I moved you from the pasture, where you followed behind sheep, to the palace, where you now lead My sheep, Israel. 8 I have accompanied you wherever you have gone and have destroyed your enemies from before you. I will exalt your name to the level of the great ones who are on the earth. 9 I will select a land for My people Israel; I will plant them so they may live in their own land and not be moved again. The wicked will not exhaust them anymore, as they did from the beginning 10 and as when I commanded judges to be over My people Israel. I will humble all your enemies. I, the Eternal One, will build a house for you, instead of you building a house for Me. 11-12 At the end of your life, when your reign on earth is complete and you have joined your ancestors, I shall select one of your sons in your place, and I shall build his house. In return, he will build a house for Me, a temple where I shall dwell and where your people will worship Me. And I will establish his throne forever. 13 I shall be his Father, and he will be My son. I shall not take My loyal love from him as I took it from Saul who reigned before you. 14 I shall establish him in My temple and in My kingdom forever. His throne will last forever.
God is clever! David comes to Him, asking to build Him a house, but God turns it around on the king. God uses the opportunity to talk about something more important than a house with four walls; instead, He wants to talk about David’s house—David’s monarchy. This promise gives the Jews the inspiration they need as they rebuild the temple. Certainly buildings are fleeting, for even Solomon’s glorious temple that David draws the plans for is destroyed. But God’s promise remains. David’s descendants continue to lead His people, just as He has led the Jews back from Babylon.
15 Nathan told David exactly what the Eternal said through this vision. 16 Then King David sat before the Eternal.
David: Why have You, Eternal God, brought someone as lowly as me and my family to such a prominent place? 17 This promise was a small thing to You, O God; but it ensures the stability of my house for a long time and reveals to me future generations while regarding me as a man of importance, and their importance to You, Eternal God. 18 How else can I thank you? For You have honored Your servant, and you have come to know Your servant. 19 Eternal, for my sake and according to Your desire, You have orchestrated all this greatness and revealed all these great things. 20 Eternal, there is none like You; for all we have heard no other god exists who has revealed such things. 21 No other nation on the earth is like Your people Israel. You redeemed us to be Your people, to make Your name great by Your powerful deeds—driving out nations from before us, whom You redeemed out of Egypt. 22 You made us Your own people forever; and You, Eternal One, became our God forever. 23 Eternal, may Your promise last forever, and may You do as You have spoken over your servant and his house. 24 May Your name be established and magnified forever: “The Eternal, Commander of heavenly armies, God of Israel, is Israel’s God; and the house of Your servant David is established before You.” 25 You, my God, have revealed Your intention to establish my kingdom; therefore, I have the courage to pray before You. 26 Now, Eternal, You are God and have promised this good thing to Your servant. 27 You are pleased to bless the house of Your servant; may Your pleasure continue forever. For You, Eternal, have blessed and will bless forever.
The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.