Bible in 90 Days

Saul and his sons die in war

10 The Philistines fought against the Israelites.^[a] The Israelites ran away, and the Philistines killed many of them on Gilboa mountain. ² The Philistines chased after Saul and his sons to catch them. They killed Saul's sons Jonathan, Abinadab and Malki-Shua. ³ The Philistines were fighting the battle all around Saul. Some of their soldiers saw Saul and they shot their arrows at him. The arrows hurt Saul very much.

⁴ Saul said to the young man who carried his armour, ‘Kill me now with your sword. I do not want these foreign men to come and be cruel to me.’ But the young man would not agree to kill Saul because he was too afraid. So Saul took his own sword and he threw himself onto it so that he died. ⁵ The young man saw that Saul was dead. So he threw himself onto his own sword and he died too. ⁶ So Saul died there, with his three sons. His whole family died together.

⁷ All the Israelites who lived in Jezreel valley saw that their army had run away from the Philistines. They also saw that Saul and his sons were dead. So they left their towns and they ran away. Then the Philistines came to live in those towns.

⁸ On the day after the battle, the Philistines came to take all the valuable things from the dead soldiers. They found the dead bodies of Saul and his sons on Gilboa mountain. ⁹ They removed everything from Saul's dead body. They took away his head and his weapons. Then they sent men through all the country of the Philistines with the news of Saul's death. These men told the news to all their people and to their idols as well. ¹⁰ They put Saul's weapons in the temple of their gods. They hung his head in the temple of their god, Dagon.

¹¹ All the Israelites who lived in Jabesh Gilead heard about what the Philistines had done to Saul's body. ¹² So all their brave soldiers went to fetch the dead bodies of Saul and his sons. They took them to Jabesh Gilead. They buried the bones under the large tree there. The people in Jabesh Gilead did not eat any food for seven days because they were so sad.

¹³ Saul died because he turned away from the Lord. He did not obey the Lord's commands. He even tried to get advice from the spirits of dead people. ¹⁴ He did not ask the Lord to tell him what he should do. So the Lord punished him with death. The Lord gave the kingdom of Israel to Jesse's son, David, instead.

David becomes king^[b]

11 Then all the Israelites came to David at Hebron. They said to him, ‘We all belong to the same family as you do. ² In the past, even when Saul was our king, you led the Israelites in war. The Lord your God said to you, “You will take care of my people, as a shepherd takes care of his sheep. You will rule over my people, Israel.” ’

³ So King David made an agreement with the leaders of Israel when they came to him at Hebron. They made promises in the Lord's name. Then they anointed David to be king over Israel. The Lord had told Samuel that this would happen.

David and his men attack Jerusalem

⁴ David and the whole Israelite army marched to attack Jerusalem. At that time, the city was called Jebus. The people who lived there were called Jebusites. ⁵ The Jebusites said to David, ‘You will never get into our city.’ But David did get in and he took Zion, the city's strong place. It is now called the City of David.

⁶ David had said to his soldiers, ‘The man who attacks the Jebusites first will become the captain of my army.’ Zeruiah's son Joab attacked first. So he became the captain of the army.

⁷ David went to live in the strong place of the city. So people called it ‘The City of David’. ⁸ David built more houses all around it, from the edge of the hill to the city's walls. Joab built up again the other buildings in the city. ⁹ David became more and more powerful because the Lord Almighty was with him.

David's brave soldiers

¹⁰ These were the leaders of David's brave soldiers. They helped to make David's kingdom strong, so that he ruled over all the people in Israel. That is what the Lord had promised. ¹¹ This is the list of David's brave soldiers:

Jashobeam belonged to Hakmoni's clan. He was the leader of David's officers. He used his spear to fight against 300 men in one battle and he killed all of them.

¹² Eleazar was also a leader among the ‘Three Brave Soldiers’. He was Dodo's son, who belonged to Ahoah's clan. ¹³ Eleazar was with David at Pas-Dammim. The Philistine soldiers were ready to attack the Israelites. There was a field there with a lot of barley. The Israelites ran away from the Philistines. ¹⁴ But David and Eleazar stood in the middle of the field to stop the Philistines taking it for themselves. They killed the Philistines. The Lord saved them. He caused them to win a great battle.

¹⁵ There were 30 leaders among David's soldiers. Three of them went to be with David at Adullam's cave where there was a big rock. A group of Philistine soldiers had made their camp in Rephaim valley. ¹⁶ David was in his strong safe place. A group of Philistine soldiers had made their home in Bethlehem. ¹⁷ David was very thirsty. He said, ‘I want someone to bring water from the well near Bethlehem's gate for me to drink.’ ¹⁸ So the three soldiers fought through the Philistine camp and they reached Bethlehem's gate. They took some water from the well there and they carried it back to David. But he refused to drink it. He poured it on the ground as an offering to the Lord. ¹⁹ He said, ‘God knows that it is not right for me to drink this water. It would seem like the blood of the brave men who fetched it for me. The Philistines might have killed them on the way.’ So David refused to drink it.

That was one of the great things that those three brave soldiers did.

²⁰ Joab's brother Abishai was the leader of David's 30 great soldiers. One time, he used his spear to fight 300 men and he killed them all. So he became as famous as the ‘Three Brave Soldiers’. ²¹ He was not one of the ‘Three Brave Soldiers’ but he received more honour than the other 30 great soldiers. So he became their leader.

²² Jehoiada's son, Benaiah, was also one of David's brave soldiers. He came from Kabzeel and he did many great things. He killed two of Moab's best soldiers. He also went down into a deep hole to kill a lion when snow was on the ground. ²³ Benaiah also killed a very big Egyptian man who was 2.3 metres tall. The Egyptian held a spear that was thick and heavy, like a big tree. Benaiah attacked him with a heavy stick. He took the spear from the Egyptian's hand and he used it to kill him. ²⁴ Those were some things that Jehoiada's son Benaiah did. He became as famous as the ‘Three Brave Soldiers’. ²⁵ He received more honour than the other 30 great soldiers, but he did not belong to the ‘Three Brave Soldiers’. David made him the leader of his own special soldiers who were his guards.

²⁶ These men were also David's great soldiers:

The men who joined David's army at Ziklag

12 David went to Ziklag town because King Saul, the son of Kish, had chased him away. Many brave men went to David there. They were some of the brave soldiers who helped David to fight in war. ² They could shoot with bows and arrows. They could use slings to throw stones with either their right hand or their left hand. They were relatives of Saul, from Benjamin's tribe. Their names were:

The men of Gad's tribe who joined David's army

⁸ Many soldiers from Gad's tribe joined David's army at his strong place in the desert. These men were brave soldiers who knew how to fight well. They could use shields and spears. They could fight like lions. They could run as fast as deer on the mountains.

⁹ Ezer was their leader. After him there were: Obadiah (2), Eliab (3), ¹⁰ Mishmannah (4), Jeremiah (5), ¹¹ Attai (6), Eliel (7), ¹² Johanan (8), Elzabad (9), ¹³ Jeremiah (10), and Makbannai (11).^[c]

¹⁴ These descendants of Gad were leaders in the army. The least important officer among them led 100 soldiers. The greatest officer led 1,000 soldiers. ¹⁵ Those men went across to the west side of the Jordan River during the first month of the year.^[d] At that time the water in the river was very deep and wide. They chased away the people who lived in the valleys on both sides of the river.

¹⁶ Some other men from the tribes of Benjamin and Judah also came to David in his strong place. ¹⁷ David went out to meet them. He said to them, ‘I hope that you have come here as my friends. If you have come to help me, I will make an agreement with you. But I hope that you have not come here to help my enemies and to tell them where I am hiding. I have not done anything wrong. So I pray that the God of our ancestors will see what you do. He will punish you as you deserve!’

¹⁸ Then God's Spirit came to Amasai with power. He was the leader of the 30 great soldiers. He said,

So David accepted them as his friends. He made them officers in his army.

The men of Manasseh's tribe who joined David's army

¹⁹ Some men from Manasseh's tribe also joined David's army. That was at the time when David joined with the Philistines to fight against Saul. But David and his men were not able to help the Philistines like that. That was because the leaders of the Philistines decided to send David and his men away. They said, ‘David may turn against us and go to help his master Saul, instead. If he does that, we will all be dead!’

²⁰ So David returned to Ziklag. These men from Manasseh's tribe joined David's army at that time:

²¹ All those men were brave soldiers and they became officers in David's army. They helped David to fight against the enemy's soldiers when they attacked.

²² Every day more men came to help David. So his army became very large and powerful, like God's own army.

The men who joined David's army at Hebron

²³ This is a list of the soldiers who joined David's army at Hebron. They came with their officers and they were ready to fight. They wanted to help David become king of Israel instead of Saul. The Lord had promised that this would happen.

²⁴ From Judah's tribe, there were 6,800 men who carried shields and spears. They knew how to fight well.

²⁵ From Simeon's tribe, there were 7,100 strong men who knew how to fight well.

²⁶ From Levi's tribe, there were 4,600 men. ²⁷ Jehoiada was the leader of the men who were Aaron's descendants. He brought 3,700 men with him. ²⁸ Zadok was also in that group. He was a brave young soldier. There were also 22 officers who belonged to his clan.

²⁹ From Benjamin's tribe that Saul belonged to, there were 3,000 men. Most of those men had served Saul faithfully until that time.

³⁰ From Ephraim's tribe, there were 20,800 men who were brave soldiers. The people in their clans respected them very much.

³¹ From the half tribe of Manasseh on the west side of the Jordan River, there were 18,000 men. Their clans had chosen those men to go and help David become their king.

³² From Issachar's tribe, there were 200 officers and their relatives who obeyed their commands. Those officers understood that this was an important time for Israel. They knew what Israel should do.

³³ From Zebulun's tribe, there were 50,000 brave men who were ready to fight. They knew how to use many different kinds of weapons. They were completely faithful to David.

³⁴ From Naphtali's tribe, there were 1,000 officers and 37,000 men who carried shields and spears.

³⁵ From Dan's tribe, there were 28,600 men who were ready for war.

³⁶ From Asher's tribe there were 40,000 soldiers who were ready for war.

³⁷ From the east side of the Jordan River, there were 120,000 soldiers who knew how to use many different kinds of weapons. Those men belonged to the tribes of Reuben, Gad and the other half tribe of Manasseh.

³⁸ All those men were soldiers who were ready to fight in war. They came to David in Hebron because they wanted to make him king to rule all Israel. All the other Israelites also agreed that David should become king. ³⁹ The men stayed there with David for three days. Their relatives had prepared a lot of food for them. So they enjoyed a big feast together. ⁴⁰ People also came from places as far away as Issachar, Zebulun and Naphtali. They brought food on donkeys, camels, mules and oxen. So there was plenty of flour to make bread, and lots of figs, raisins, wine, olive oil, cows and sheep. All the Israelites had a very happy party!

David starts to bring the Covenant Box to Jerusalem

13 David spoke with the officers of his army. Some of them were the leaders of 1,000 men. Other officers were the leaders of 100 men. ² Then David said to all the Israelites who were present, ‘I think that we should send a message to our relatives in all the regions of Israel. That should include the priests and the Levites in the towns where they live. We should ask all those people to meet with us here. We will do it if you agree that it is a good idea, and if the Lord our God wants us to do it. ³ We should bring back the Covenant Box of our God. While Saul was king, we did not use it to ask God about things.’

⁴ All the people there agreed that this was a good idea. They realized that it was the right thing to do.

⁵ So David brought together all the Israelites. They came from everywhere in Israel, from the Shihor River in Egypt, and as far as Lebo-Hamath. They came to bring God's Covenant Box back from Kiriath-Jearim.^{[e] 6} David and all the Israelites went to Baalah, a town in Judah. (Baalah is also called Kiriath-Jearim.) They went to bring the Covenant Box of God from there to Jerusalem. The Israelites called it by the name of the Lord. He sits as King between the two cherubs that are on the top of the Covenant Box.

⁷ The people put God's Covenant Box on a new cart. They took it out of Abinadab's house. Uzzah and Ahio were leading the cart. ⁸ David and all the Israelites were singing and dancing with all their strength to praise God. They made music with harps, lyres, tambourines, cymbals and trumpets.

⁹ They reached the place of Kidon's threshing floor. There the oxen that were pulling the cart almost fell. So Uzzah reached out to hold the Covenant Box to stop it falling. ¹⁰ The Lord was very angry with Uzzah because he had touched the Covenant Box. He knocked Uzzah down to the ground. Uzzah died there, beside God's Covenant Box.^[f]

¹¹ David was angry because the Lord had punished Uzzah. So he called that place ‘Perez Uzzah’. That is still its name today.^[g]

¹² So David now became afraid of God. He said, ‘God's Covenant Box is too holy to take with me.’ ¹³ So he did not take the Covenant Box to the City of David to be with him there. Instead, he took it to the house of Obed-Edom, who came from Gath. ¹⁴ God's Covenant Box stayed in the home of Obed-Edom's family for three months. During that time, the Lord blessed Obed-Edom's family and everything that he had.

David becomes famous

14 Then Hiram, king of Tyre, sent some of his men to David. They brought wood from Lebanon's cedar trees. Men who could work with stone and with wood also came. They built a palace for David. ² David realized that the Lord had made him strong as king over Israel. He knew that God had made his kingdom great, to help his people, the Israelites.

³ When David lived in Jerusalem, he married more wives. He became the father of more sons and daughters. ⁴ These are the names of David's children who were born in Jerusalem: Shammua, Shobab, Nathan, Solomon, ⁵ Ibhar, Elishua, Elpelet, ⁶ Nogah, Nepheg, Japhia, ⁷ Elishama, Beeliada and Eliphelet.

David fights the Philistines

⁸ The Philistines heard the news that David had now become king over all Israel. So their whole army went to look for him to catch him. When David heard about this, he went out to attack them. ⁹ The Philistine soldiers arrived at Rephaim valley. They attacked the people there. ¹⁰ David asked God, ‘Should I go and attack the Philistines? Will you put them under my power?’

The Lord answered him, ‘Yes, go and attack the Philistines. I will help you to win against them.’

¹¹ So David and his men went to Baal Perazim. There they won the fight against the Philistines in that place. David said, ‘God has helped me to sweep away my enemy like a flood of water.’ So they called that place Baal Perazim. ¹² The Philistines did not take their idols with them when they ran away. David told his men to destroy the idols in a fire.

¹³ Once again, the Philistines attacked the people who lived in the valley. ¹⁴ So David again asked God what he should do. This time God told him, ‘Do not march straight towards them. Instead, go round behind them. Then attack them from the other side, where the poplar trees are. ¹⁵ When you hear a noise in the tops of the trees like marching men, go out to attack them. Then you will know that God has gone in front of you. He will knock down the Philistine army for you.’ ¹⁶ So David did as God had commanded him to do. His men chased the Philistine army all the way from Gibeon to Gezer.

¹⁷ So David became famous in every country. The Lord caused the people of every nation to be afraid of David.

Levites carry the Covenant Box properly

15 David built houses for himself in the City of David. He put up a tent as a place where he would put God's Covenant Box. ² Then David said, ‘Only the Levites may carry God's Covenant Box. The Lord chose them to do that. He chose them to serve him for ever.’

³ David brought all the Israelites together in Jerusalem. He said that they should bring the Lord's Covenant Box to the place that he had prepared for it. ⁴ Then David brought together the descendants of Aaron and the other Levites. They were:

¹¹ Then David told the priests Zadok and Abiathar to come to him. He also told these Levites to come: Uriel, Asaiah, Joel, Shemaiah, Eliel and Amminadab. ¹² David said to them, ‘You are the leaders of the Levites' clans. You and your relatives must make yourselves holy. Then you will be able to carry the Covenant Box of the Lord, Israel's God. You must bring it to the place that I have prepared for it. ¹³ The first time that we tried to bring it here, you did not carry it. Because of that, the Lord our God punished us. He did that because we did not ask him about the proper way to carry it.’

¹⁴ So the priests and the other Levites made themselves holy. Then they could carry the Covenant Box of the Lord, Israel's God. ¹⁵ The Levites carried God's Covenant Box with its poles on their shoulders. That is how God had commanded Moses that they should carry it.

¹⁶ David told the leaders of the Levites to choose some of their relatives to be musicians. Some would sing songs. Some would make music with lyres, harps and cymbals. They would sing loud and happy songs.

¹⁷ The Levites chose Joel's son Heman. They also chose Berekiah's son Asaph, who was a relative of Heman. And they chose Kushaiah's son Ethan, who belonged to Merari's clan. ¹⁸ They also chose another group of Levites to help them. They were: Zechariah, Ben, Jaaziel, Shemiramoth, Jehiel, Unni, Eliab, Benaiah, Maaseiah, Mattithiah, Eliphelehu, Mikneiah, as well as two temple guards, Obed-Edom and Jeiel.

¹⁹ They chose these musicians to make music with bronze cymbals: Heman, Asaph and Ethan. ²⁰ They chose these musicians to make music in a special way with harps: Zechariah, Aziel, Shemiramoth, Jehiel, Unni, Eliab, Maaseiah and Benaiah.

²¹ They chose these musicians to make music in a special way with lyres: Mattithiah, Eliphelehu, Mikneiah, Obed-Edom, Jeiel and Azaziah. ²² Kenaniah was the leader of the musicians. They chose him to do that because he had good skill in music.

²³ Berekiah and Elkanah were guards to keep the Covenant Box safe.

²⁴ The priests Shebaniah, Joshaphat, Nethanel, Amasai, Zechariah, Benaiah and Eliezer walked in front of God's Covenant Box. They made a loud noise with trumpets as they went. Obed-Edom and Jehiah were also guards for the Covenant Box.

The Covenant Box arrives in Jerusalem

²⁵ So David, the leaders of Israel and the army officers went to fetch the Lord's Covenant Box from Obed-Edom's house. They were very happy as they took it from there to Jerusalem. ²⁶ The Lord helped the Levites who were carrying his Covenant Box. So they offered seven bulls and seven male sheep as sacrifices to the Lord. ²⁷ David was wearing a robe that was made of good linen. All the Levites who were carrying the Covenant Box also wore linen clothes. So did the musicians and Kenaniah, their leader. David also wore a linen ephod over his robe.^[h]

²⁸ In that way, all the Israelites brought the Lord's Covenant Box to Jerusalem. They were shouting. They were making loud music with trumpets, cymbals, lyres and harps.

²⁹ While they where bringing the Lord's Covenant Box into the City of David, Saul's daughter Michal looked out through a window. She saw that King David was dancing because he was so happy. Michal felt ashamed of him.

The people worship the Lord

16 David had put up a special tent for God's Covenant Box, so they took it there. They put it in its place inside the tent. Then they offered burnt offerings and friendship offerings to God. ² After David had offered those sacrifices, he prayed that the Lord would bless the people. ³ Then he gave a gift to every Israelite man and woman. Each person received a loaf of bread, some dates and some raisins.

⁴ Then David chose some Levites to serve the Lord at the Covenant Box. They would lead prayers and songs to thank the Lord, Israel's God, and to praise him. ⁵ Asaph was the leader of that group and Zechariah was the second leader. Then there were Jeiel, Shemiramoth, Jehiel, Mattithiah, Eliab, Benaiah, Obed-Edom and Jeiel. Those men made music with harps and lyres. Asaph used the cymbals. ⁶ The priests Benaiah and Jahaziel would make a noise with trumpets in front of God's Covenant Box many times each day.

A song to thank God^[i]

⁷ On that day, David first told Asaph and the other Levites to sing this song to thank the Lord:

Then all the people said, ‘Amen! We agree! Praise the Lord!’

³⁷ King David had chosen Asaph and his relatives to serve the Lord at the Covenant Box. They must do that each day, as the rules said that they should do. ³⁸ They included Obed-Edom and 68 men from his clan. Jeduthun's son, Obed-Edom and Hosah were guards at the entrance of the tent.

³⁹ Zadok and the other priests served the Lord at the tabernacle in Gibeon. That was still the place where the Israelites worshipped God. ⁴⁰ Their job was to offer burnt offerings as sacrifices to the Lord on the big altar there. They did that every morning and every evening, as the law of the Lord commanded. The Israelites had to obey that law. ⁴¹ Heman and Jeduthun were with them at the tabernacle in Gibeon. There were also other Levites that David had chosen to help them. Their special job was to give thanks to the Lord with songs, because his faithful love continues for ever. ⁴² Heman and Jeduthun also had authority for the trumpets, the cymbals and the other musical instruments. The musicians used them to praise God with their music. Jeduthun's sons stood as guards at the entrance of the tabernacle.

⁴³ After that, all the people left to return to their homes. David also went home to ask God to bless his family.

The Lord's covenant with David

17 King David was living in his palace. One day, he said to Nathan the prophet, ‘Now I am living in a beautiful palace that is made of cedar wood. But the Lord's Covenant Box is still in a tent.’

² Nathan replied to David, ‘Do what you think is right. God will help you.’

³ But that night God said to Nathan, ⁴ ‘Go and tell my servant David, “The Lord says this: You are not the right man to build a house for me to live in. ⁵ From the time that I brought the Israelites safely out of Egypt until now, I have never lived in a house. I have lived in a tent as my home as I travelled from place to place. ⁶ I have moved about to many different places with the Israelites. I chose leaders to take care of my people, like shepherds take care of their sheep. But I never said to any of them, ‘You should have built a beautiful house of cedar wood for me.’ ”

⁷ So tell my servant David that the Lord Almighty says this: “I took you from the fields where you were taking care of sheep. I took you from there to become the ruler of my people Israel. ⁸ I have been with you everywhere that you have gone. I destroyed all your enemies that were attacking you. Now I will make you famous. Your name will be as great as the names of the earth's greatest men. ⁹ I have chosen a place where my people Israel will live. I have put them in that place, were they can be safe. They will not be afraid of trouble from any enemy. Wicked people will not hurt them any more. That happened in the past, ¹⁰ from the time that I chose leaders to rule my people Israel. But now I will cause all your enemies to be weak.

I say to you, David: the Lord will give you descendants who will rule as kings after you. That will be the royal house that I build for you.^{[j] 11} When you die, people will bury you in the grave of your ancestors. Then I will choose your descendant, one of your own sons, to become king. I will make his kingdom strong. ¹² He is the man who will build a house for me. And I will cause his descendants to rule as kings for ever. ¹³ I will be his father and he will be my son. I will never remove my faithful love from him, as I took it away from the king who ruled before you. ¹⁴ I will cause him to rule my people and my kingdom for ever. Someone from his family will always be king.” ’

¹⁵ Nathan told David the whole message that the Lord had shown to him.

David thanks the Lord

¹⁶ Then King David went into the Lord's tent.^[k] He sat down and he prayed to the Lord. He said, ‘Lord, my God, I am not a special person and my family is not special. You have helped me very much and I do not deserve it. ¹⁷ And you have done more than that, my God. You have made a promise about the descendants of my family in the future. You, Lord God, have spoken to me as if I am a very important man. ¹⁸ I am your servant and you know me completely. You have given great honour to me. There is nothing more that I can say.

¹⁹ Lord, you have chosen to do all these great things for me, your servant. You are telling me what you have promised to do. ²⁰ There is nobody like you, Lord. You alone are God. What we have heard about you is true! ²¹ There is no other nation on earth like your people, Israel. We are the nation that you rescued so that we would belong to you. You did that to show that your name is great. You did great miracles as you rescued your people from Egypt. You chased out the nations who wanted to stop them. ²² You chose Israel to be your own people for all time. You, Lord became our God.

²³ Lord, please do the things that you have promised to do for me, your servant, and for my family. Continue to do for ever what you have promised to do, ²⁴ so that people see your promises are true. Then people will always give honour to your great name. They will say, “The Lord Almighty is Israel's God.” And David's descendants will continue to serve you as kings.

²⁵ My God, you have made this promise to me, your servant. You have said that I will always have descendants who will rule. That is the house that you will build for me. Because you have said that, I was not afraid to pray to you. ²⁶ Lord, you are the true God! You have promised these good things to me, your servant. ²⁷ Now please bless my family and my descendants. Then we will serve you faithfully for ever. Yes, Lord, you have blessed my descendants, and I know that you will continue to bless them for ever.’

David wins against his enemies

18 After some time, David attacked the Philistines and he won against them. He took Gath city and the villages around it from the Philistines.

² David also won a battle against the Moabites. They were now under David's authority and they paid taxes to him.

³ David also won a battle against Hadadezer, king of Zobah. He won land as far as Hamath. That happened when Hadadezer took his army to the Euphrates river to show that he had authority there. ⁴ David took from Hadadezer 1,000 chariots and 7,000 men who drove them. He also caught 20,000 of Hadadezer's other soldiers. David kept 100 horses that pulled chariots. But he cut the legs of the other horses so that they could not run.

⁵ The Syrians from Damascus sent an army to help King Hadadezer of Zobah. But David killed 22,000 soldiers of the Syrian army. ⁶ David put some of his soldiers in Damascus to keep his authority over the Syrian people. They had to pay taxes to King David.

The Lord helped David to win all the battles that he fought.

⁷ David took the gold shields that Hadadezer's officers had carried. He brought the shields to Jerusalem. ⁸ David also took a lot of bronze things from Tebah and Cun. Those towns had belonged to Hadadezer towns. Later, Solomon used that bronze to make the big bath in the temple that was called ‘the Sea’. He also used the bronze to make pillars and other things for the temple.

⁹ Tou, the king of Hamath, heard news that David had won the battle against the whole army of King Hadadezer of Zobah. ¹⁰ There had been a war between King Hadadezer and King Tou. So Tou sent his son, Hadoram, to say ‘hello’ to King David. He wanted to praise David because he had won the battle against King Hadadezer. He also sent many gifts of gold, silver and bronze to David.

¹¹ King David took those gifts and he offered them to the Lord. He also offered to the Lord all the silver and gold things that he had taken from other nations. Those nations were Edom, Moab, the Ammonites, the Philistines and the Amalekites.

¹² Zeruiah's son Abishai killed 18,000 men from Edom in the Valley of Salt. ¹³ He put groups of his soldiers in Edom, so that David had authority over all the Edomites.

The Lord helped David to win all the battles that he fought.

David's officers

¹⁴ David ruled over all Israel. He did everything that was right and fair for all his people. ¹⁵ Zeruiah's son Joab was the leader of Israel's army. Ahilud's son Jehoshaphat wrote down the important things that happened. ¹⁶ Ahitub's son Zadok and Abiathar's son Ahimelech were priests. Shavsha was David's secretary. ¹⁷ Jehoiada's son Benaiah was the leader of David's personal guards. David's sons were his most important officers.^[l]

David fights against the Ammonites

19 After some time, Nahash, the king of the Ammonites, died. His son became the new king.^{[m] 2} David thought, ‘Nahash was kind to me, so I will be kind to his son Hanun.’ So David sent some of his officers to give a message to Hanun. David wanted to tell Hanun that he was sorry that his father Nahash had died.

David's officers took his kind message to the land of the Ammonites. ³ But the leaders of the Ammonites said to Hanun, ‘David has sent his officers to you with a kind message. But do not think that he really wants to give honour to your father. No, he has sent his men to look at our land. They want to see how they can attack our country and take it for themselves.’

⁴ So Hanun took hold of David's officers. He cut off their hair. He also cut off the lower half of their clothes up to their hips.^[n] Then he sent them away.

⁵ Some people came to tell David what had happened. His officers were very ashamed. So David sent men to them with a message. King David said, ‘Stay in Jericho city until your beards have grown again. Then you can return here.’

⁶ The Ammonites realized that they had caused David to be very angry. So King Hanun and his people made an agreement with the people of Aram-Naharaim, Aram-Maacah and Zobah. The Ammonites sent them about 34,000 kilograms of silver to get their help with chariots and their drivers. ⁷ They had 32,000 chariots to use in the battle. They also received help from the king of Maakah and his army. All these men made their camp near Medeba. At the same time King Hanun had brought together the Ammonite soldiers from their towns. They were all ready to fight.

⁸ David heard news about this. So he sent Joab with all the soldiers in his army to fight against them. ⁹ The Ammonite soldiers marched out from their city. They stood at the entrance of their city and they were ready to fight. The other kings and their soldiers stayed in the fields near the city.

¹⁰ Joab saw that there were two groups of the enemy's soldiers. They were ready to attack his army from different sides. So he chose some of Israel's best soldiers. Joab himself led them to attack the Syrian soldiers in the fields. ¹¹ He told his brother Abishai to lead the rest of Israel's army to fight against the Ammonites. ¹² Joab said to Abishai, ‘If the Syrian soldiers are too strong for me, you must come to rescue me. But if the Ammonites are too strong for you, I will come to rescue you. ¹³ Be strong! We must be brave as we fight on behalf of our people and the cities of our God. The Lord will do what he decides is good.’

¹⁴ Then Joab and his group of soldiers went to fight against the Syrians. As they marched towards the Syrian soldiers, they ran away. ¹⁵ The Ammonites saw that the Syrians were running away from Joab. So they also ran away from his brother Abishai's men. They went back into their city.

So Joab returned to Jerusalem.

¹⁶ The Syrian soldiers realized that Israel had won the battle against them. So they sent men with a message to fetch more soldiers to help them. More Syrian soldiers came from the other side of the Euphrates river. Shophach, the captain of Hadadezer's army, led them.

¹⁷ David heard about what was happening. So he took all Israel's soldiers across the Jordan River. David led his army to attack the Syrian soldiers. The Syrians also prepared to fight. When the battle started, ¹⁸ the Syrians ran away from the Israelites. David and his army killed 7,000 Syrians who drove chariots. They killed 40,000 other Syrian soldiers. They also killed Shophach, the captain of the Syrian army.

¹⁹ The kings who were under King Hadadezer's authority saw that Israel had won the battle. So they made an agreement with David that they would not fight against Israel any more. They agreed to be under David's authority. After that, the Syrians would no longer agree to help the Ammonites.

Joab wins the fight for Rabbah

20 In the spring, Joab led the Israelite army out to fight. That was the time of year when kings go out to fight battles. Joab and his army attacked the land of the Ammonites and he won against them. He put his soldiers around Rabbah city so that they could attack it. But David had stayed in Jerusalem. Joab attacked Rabbah and he destroyed its buildings.

² When David came, he took the crown off the Ammonite king's head. The crown was made of gold. It weighed 34 kilograms. There was a valuable jewel fixed on it. David's men then put the crown on David's head. David also took a lot of valuable things from the city. ³ He brought the people out from the city to do hard work for him. He made them cut wood with saws, and use iron tools and axes. He did the same thing to the people of all the other Ammonite cities.

Then David and all his army returned to Jerusalem.

The army fights the Philistines

⁴ Some time after that, the Israelites fought a battle against the Philistines at Gezer. In that battle, Sibbecai from Hushah killed Sippai. Sippai was a descendant of Rapha.^[o] So Israel won against the Philistines.

⁵ In another battle against the Philistines, Jair's son Elhanan killed Lahmi. Lahmi was the brother of Goliath who came from Gath. He had a spear that was very thick and heavy, like a big tree.

⁶ There was another battle at Gath. Another descendant of Rapha fought against the Israelites there. He was a very large man. He had six fingers on each hand and six toes on each foot. ⁷ He shouted to insult the Israelite soldiers. So Jonathan, the son of David's brother Shimea, killed him.

⁸ Those Philistines were descendants of Rapha and they lived in Gath. David and his soldiers killed all of them.

The Lord punishes the Israelites

21 Then Satan caused David to bring trouble to Israel.^[p] He caused David to count all the men in Israel. ² So David said to Joab and to the officers in his army, ‘Go and count the men everywhere in Israel, from Beersheba to Dan. Then come and give me a report. I want to know how many men there are.’

³ But Joab replied, ‘I pray that the Lord will make your army grow 100 times bigger! All your men are your faithful servants, my lord the king. But why do you want to do this? You will cause all Israel to become guilty.’

⁴ But Joab had to obey the king's command. So Joab left. He went through all Israel and then he returned to Jerusalem. ⁵ Joab reported to David about the number of soldiers who could fight. There were 1,100,000 men in all Israel who could fight with swords. There were 470,000 men in Judah who could fight with swords.

⁶ But the king's command had seemed disgusting to Joab. So he did not count the men from the tribes of Levi and Benjamin. ⁷ God was also angry because David had done this thing. So he decided to punish Israel. ⁸ Then David said to God, ‘What I have done was a bad sin. Please forgive me. I have done a foolish thing.’

⁹ Gad was David's prophet. The Lord said to him, ¹⁰ ‘Go and give my message to David: “There are three ways that I could punish you. You must choose one of them, and that is what I will do to punish you.” ’

¹¹ So Gad went to David and he said to him, ‘This is what the Lord says: “You must choose one of these punishments. ¹² You may choose to have three years when there will be a famine. Or you may choose to have three months when you have to run away from your enemies' swords so that they do not kill you. Or you may choose to have three days when a very bad disease comes to your people. The angel of the Lord would kill many people in every part of Israel.” Now decide which punishment you will choose. I will take your answer to God, who sent me with this message.’

¹³ David said to Gad, ‘I am very upset. I do not want men to punish me. The Lord is kind and he forgives people. So it is better if he punishes me.’

¹⁴ So the Lord caused a very bad disease to kill people in Israel. 70,000 Israelite men died. ¹⁵ God sent his angel to destroy Jerusalem. But as the angel started to kill people, the Lord saw what was happening. He decided to stop the punishment that he was causing. He said to the angel who was killing the people, ‘That is enough. Stop what you are doing!’ When the Lord said that, his angel was standing near the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.

¹⁶ David looked up and he saw the Lord's angel. The angel was standing between the earth and the sky. He had his sword in his hand and it was pointing towards Jerusalem. David and the leaders fell down with their faces towards the ground. They were wearing clothes that were made of rough sackcloth.

¹⁷ David said to God, ‘I am the person who has done an evil thing. I told Joab to count the number of men in my army. These people have followed me like sheep that follow a shepherd. They have not done anything wrong. Lord my God, you should only punish me and my family. But please take this disease away from your people.’

¹⁸ Then the angel of the Lord said to Gad, ‘Tell David to go up to the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite. Build an altar there to worship the Lord.’ ¹⁹ So David obeyed the Lord's message that Gad had spoken to him.

²⁰ Araunah and his four sons were threshing wheat. Araunah turned around and he saw the Lord's angel. His sons hid themselves. ²¹ Then David came to meet Araunah. When Araunah saw David, he came out from the threshing floor. He bent down low in front of David, with his face towards the ground. ²² David said to Araunah, ‘Let me buy this threshing floor from you. I want to build an altar here to worship the Lord. Then he will stop this bad disease from killing the people. I will pay you the whole price for the land.’

²³ Araunah replied, ‘My lord the king, please take it for yourself. You may do what you would like to do. Look, I will give you the bulls for the burnt offerings. You can use the wood from these tools for the fire. Take my wheat to make an offering to the Lord. I will give all these things to you.’

²⁴ But King David said to Araunah, ‘No, I must pay you the whole price. I cannot offer something that belongs to you as a sacrifice to the Lord. I cannot offer to him a burnt offering that has cost me nothing.’

²⁵ So David paid Araunah 600 gold coins to buy the place. ²⁶ Then he built an altar there to worship the Lord. He offered burnt offerings and friendship offerings on it. He prayed to the Lord and the Lord answered him. The Lord sent fire from the sky to burn up the sacrifice on the altar. ²⁷ Then the Lord told the angel to put his sword away into its pocket.

²⁸ David saw that the Lord had answered his prayer at the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite. So he offered sacrifices to God there. ²⁹ At that time the Lord's tabernacle was at Gibeon, where the Israelites worshipped God. The tabernacle was the special tent that Moses had made in the wilderness. The altar for burnt offerings was also at Gibeon. ³⁰ But David was not able to go there to meet with the Lord, because he was afraid of the sword of the Lord's angel.

David prepares to build God's temple

22 Then David said, ‘This is the place where the temple of the Lord God will be. The altar for Israel's burnt offerings will also be here.’

² So David told his officers to bring together all the foreign men who lived in Israel. He chose some of them to cut the stones to build God's house. They would cut the stones to have the right shape. ³ He supplied a lot of iron to make things for the temple. That was for nails and bars to fix the doors at the entrances. He also supplied more bronze than they could weigh. ⁴ The people from Tyre and Sidon had brought a lot of cedar wood to David. So he provided for the temple more pieces of cedar wood than anyone could count.

⁵ David said, ‘The Lord's temple must be great and beautiful. It must be famous, so that the people of every nation see how great it is. My son Solomon is young and he has no special skills. So I must prepare everything for him to build the temple.’

So before David died, he prepared all these things.

David tells Solomon to build the temple

⁶ David sent someone to fetch his son, Solomon. He told him that he must build a temple for the Lord, Israel's God. ⁷ He said to Solomon, ‘My son, I really wanted to build a house for the Lord my God, to give honour to him. ⁸ But the Lord said to me, “You have killed many people in the battles that you have fought. So you yourself will not build a house to give me honour. I have seen all the blood of the people that you have killed. ⁹ But you will have a son who will be a man who lives in peace. I will cause all his enemies to leave him in peace. Yes, his name will be Solomon. While he is king, I will cause Israel to enjoy peace. I will keep them safe from their enemies.^{[q] 10} He will build a temple to give honour to my name. He will become my son and I will become his father. I will give him descendants to rule Israel as kings for ever.”

¹¹ So, my son, I pray that the Lord will be with you. He will do what he has promised. He will help you to build a temple for the Lord your God. ¹² I also pray that the Lord will make you wise so that you understand things properly. I pray that you will obey the Law of the Lord your God as you rule over Israel. ¹³ You will be successful, if you carefully obey the Lord's commands and rules. Those are the laws that the Lord gave to Moses for Israel. Be strong! Be brave! Do not be afraid, but continue to be strong!

¹⁴ Look! I have been careful to prepare the things that you will need to build the Lord's temple. I have got 4,000 tons of gold and 40,000 tons of silver. I have more bronze and iron than anyone can weigh. I have plenty of wood and stone. You will need to get even more than this. ¹⁵ You have many workers with special skills. Some know how to cut stone. Others know how to build with stones or with wood. There are men who have skills to make many different kinds of things. ¹⁶ They can use gold, silver, bronze and iron to make things. You have more workers than you can count! So now you must start the work! I pray that the Lord will be with you to help you.’

¹⁷ Then David sent messages to all the leaders in Israel. He commanded them to help his son Solomon. ¹⁸ He said to them, ‘You know that the Lord your God is with you. He has kept you safe from all your enemies. He has put the people who live in this region under my authority. So now the Lord and his people rule over all those nations. ¹⁹ So you must serve the Lord your God with all that you are. Start the work! Begin to build the Lord God's holy place. Then you can put the Lord's Covenant Box there, as well as the other holy things. You will put them in the temple that you have built to give honour to the Lord's name.’

Rules for the Levites

23 David was old and his life had nearly finished.^[r] He chose his son Solomon to rule over Israel as king.

² He brought together all Israel's leaders, as well as the priests and the Levites. ³ His officers counted all the Levites who were 30 years old or older. There were 38,000 men. ⁴ David said, ‘24,000 of these Levite men must have authority for the work of the Lord's temple. 6,000 of them will be officers and judges. ⁵ 4,000 of them will be guards at the gates of the temple. 4,000 of them will use music to praise the Lord. They will use the musical instruments that I have provided for them.’

⁶ David made the Levites into three separate groups. Each group had descendants from one of Levi's sons: Gershon, Kohath and Merari.

The group from Gershon's clan

⁷ From Gershon's clan there were Ladan and Shimei.

⁸ Ladan's three sons were: Jehiel, the firstborn, then Zetham and Joel.

⁹ Shimei's three sons were: Shelomoth, Haziel and Haran.

Those men were the leaders of Ladan's family.

¹⁰ Shimei had four more sons: Jahath, Ziza, Jeush and Beriah.

¹¹ Jahath was the oldest son and Ziza was the second. But Jeush and Beriah did not have many sons. So the officers counted them together as one family.

The group from Kohath's clan

¹² Kohath's four sons were: Amram, Izhar, Hebron and Uzziel.

¹³ Amram's sons were Aaron and Moses.

The Lord chose Aaron and his descendants for special work for all time. Their work was to offer special holy things to the Lord. They would offer sacrifices to the Lord. They would serve him in the temple. And they would use his name to bless the people.

¹⁴ The tribe of Levi included the sons of Moses, God's servant.^[s]

¹⁵ Moses' sons were Gershom and Eliezer.

¹⁶ Gershom's oldest son was Shebuel.

¹⁷ Eliezer's son was Rehabiah. He was the leader of the family. Eliezer had no other sons, but Rehabiah had many descendants.

¹⁸ From the family of Kohath's second son Izhar, Shelomith was the leader.

¹⁹ Hebron had four sons: Jeriah was the leader, Amariah was second, Jahaziel was third and Jekameam was fourth.

²⁰ Uzziel had two sons: Micah was the leader and Isshiah was second.

The group from Merari's clan

²¹ Merari's sons were Mahli and Mushi.

Mahli's sons were Eleazar and Kish.

²² Eleazar died without any sons. He had only daughters. Kish's sons, who were their cousins, married them.

²³ Mushi's three sons were: Mahli, Eder and Jeremoth.

²⁴ Those were the leaders of the Levites' clans, family by family. The Israelites carefully recorded the names of all the men who were 20 years old or older. From that age, they each had their work to do in the Lord's temple.

²⁵ David had said, ‘Now the Lord, Israel's God, has given rest to his people. He has his home in Jerusalem for all time. ²⁶ So the Levites no longer need to carry the tabernacle to different places. They do not need to carry all the things that are used to serve God.’ ²⁷ So David counted the Levites who were 20 years old or older and could work in the temple. Those were David's last words before he died.

The work of the Levites

²⁸ The Levites' work was to help Aaron's descendants as they served the Lord in his temple. They took care of the temple's yards and its small rooms. They made the Lord's special things clean and holy. They did the work that was necessary to serve God in his temple. ²⁹ They took care of the special bread for the table in the holy place. They kept the flour for the grain offerings, for the flat bread that they made without yeast and for the special cakes. They weighed and they measured all the things for the bread and the cakes. ³⁰ Every morning they stood in their places to thank the Lord and to praise him. They did the same thing every evening. ³¹ They also did that when the priests offered burnt offerings to the Lord. That happened on Sabbath days, at New Moon festivals and on other special days. The correct number of Levites must be there to serve the Lord at all times, as the rules commanded. ³² In that way, the Levites had authority to take care of the special tent and the holy place. They helped their relatives, Aaron's descendants, as they served the Lord in his temple.^[t]