The Daily Audio Bible
David prepares to bring the chest to Jerusalem
15 After he had built houses for himself in David’s City, David prepared a place for God’s chest and pitched a tent for it. 2 David said, “Only the Levites may carry God’s chest, because the Lord has chosen them to carry the Lord’s chest and to minister to him forever.”
3 David assembled all Israel in Jerusalem to bring the Lord’s chest to the place he had prepared for it. 4 David also gathered Aaron’s family and the Levites:
5 Uriel, the leader of Kohath’s family, and 120 of his relatives;
6 Asaiah, the leader of Merari’s family, and 220 of his relatives;
7 Joel, the leader of Gershom’s family, and 130 of his relatives;
8 Shemaiah, the leader of Elizaphan’s family, and 200 of his relatives;
9 Eliel, the leader of Hebron’s family, and 80 of his relatives;
10 and Amminadab, the leader of Uzziel’s family, and 112 of his relatives.
11 David called for the priests Zadok and Abiathar, and the Levites Uriel, Asaiah, Joel, Shemaiah, Eliel, and Amminadab. 12 He said to them, “You are the household heads of the Levites. Make yourselves holy, you and your brothers, and then bring the chest of the Lord, Israel’s God, to the place I’ve prepared for it. 13 When you weren’t with us the first time, the Lord our God burst out against us because we didn’t ask his advice properly.” 14 So the priests and the Levites made themselves holy to bring up the chest of the Lord, Israel’s God. 15 The Levites carried God’s chest with poles on their shoulders, just as Moses had commanded according to the Lord’s word.
16 Then David told the leaders of the Levites to appoint some of their relatives as singers to raise their voices joyfully, accompanied by musical instruments, including harps, lyres, and cymbals.
17 So the Levites appointed Heman, Joel’s son; and from his relatives, Asaph, Berechiah’s son; and from their Merarite relatives, Ethan, Kushaiah’s son; 18 and second in rank with them their relatives: Zechariah, Jaaziel,[a] Shemiramoth, Jehiel, Unni, Eliab, Benaiah, Maaseiah, Mattithiah, Eliphelehu, Mikneiah, and Obed-edom and Jeiel the gatekeepers.
19 The singers Heman, Asaph, and Ethan were to make music with bronze cymbals.
20 Zechariah, Aziel, Shemiramoth, Jehiel, Unni, Eliab, Maaseiah, and Benaiah were to play harps tuned to the Alamoth.
21 Mattithiah, Eliphelehu, Mikneiah, Obed-edom, Jeiel, and Azaziah were to lead with lyres tuned to the Sheminith.
22 Chenaniah was leader of the Levites who provided transportation,[b] because he was skilled at it.
23 Berechiah and Elkanah were gatekeepers for the chest.
24 The priests Shebaniah, Joshaphat, Nethanel, Amasai, Zechariah, Benaiah, and Eliezer were to blow the trumpets before God’s chest. Obed-edom and Jehiah also were to be gatekeepers for the chest.
David brings the chest to Jerusalem
25 Then David, along with Israel’s elders and the captains of the thousands, went with rejoicing to bring up the chest containing the Lord’s covenant from Obed-edom’s house. 26 Since God had helped the Levites who were carrying the chest containing the Lord’s covenant, they sacrificed seven bulls and seven rams. 27 David wore a fine-linen robe, as did the singers, all the Levites who were carrying the chest, and Chenaniah, the leader of transportation.[c] David also wore a linen priestly vest.[d] 28 So all Israel brought up the chest containing the Lord’s covenant with shouts of joy, accompanied by the blast of the ram’s horn, by trumpets and cymbals, and playing on harps and lyres. 29 As the chest containing the Lord’s covenant entered David’s City, Michal, Saul’s daughter, looked out the window. When she saw King David leaping and dancing, she lost all respect for him.
16 They brought in God’s chest and placed it inside the tent David had pitched for it. Then they brought entirely burned offerings and well-being sacrifices before God. 2 When David had finished offering the entirely burned offerings and the well-being sacrifices, he blessed the people in the Lord’s name 3 and distributed a loaf of bread, a piece of meat,[e] and a raisin cake to every Israelite man and woman.
David establishes worship
4 David appointed some of the Levites to serve before the Lord’s chest in order to remember, to give thanks, and to praise the Lord, Israel’s God: 5 Asaph was the leader, and Zechariah his assistant; also Jeiel, Shemiramoth, Jehiel, Mattithiah, Eliab, Benaiah, Obed-edom, and Jeiel with harps and lyres; Asaph sounding the cymbals; 6 and the priests Benaiah and Jahaziel blowing trumpets regularly before the chest containing God’s covenant. 7 On the same day, for the first time, David ordered Asaph and his relatives to give thanks to the Lord.
David’s song of praise
8 Give thanks to the Lord, call on his name;
make his deeds known to all people!
9 Sing to God, sing praises to him;
dwell on all his wondrous works!
10 Give praise to God’s holy name!
Let the hearts of all those seeking the Lord rejoice!
11 Pursue the Lord and his strength;
seek his face always!
12 Remember the wondrous works he has done,
all his marvelous works,
and the justice he declared—
13 you who are the offspring of Israel, his servant,
and the children of Jacob, his chosen ones.
14 The Lord—he is our God.
His justice is everywhere throughout the whole world.
15 God remembers[f] his covenant forever,
the word he commanded to a thousand generations,
16 which he made with Abraham,
the solemn pledge he swore to Isaac.
17 God set it up as binding law for Jacob,
as an eternal covenant for Israel,
18 promising, “I hereby give you the land of Canaan
as your allotted inheritance.”
19 When they[g] were few in number—
insignificant, just immigrants—
20 wandering from nation to nation,
from one kingdom to the next,
21 God didn’t let anyone oppress them.
God punished kings for their sake:
22 “Don’t touch my anointed ones;
don’t harm my prophets!”
23 Sing to the Lord, all the earth!
Share the news of his saving work every single day!
24 Declare God’s glory among the nations;
declare his wondrous works among all people
25 because the Lord is great and so worthy of praise.
He is awesome beyond all other gods
26 because all the gods of the nations are just idols,
but it is the Lord who created heaven!
27 Greatness and grandeur are in front of him;
strength and joy are in his place.
28 Give to the Lord, all families of the nations—
give to the Lord glory and power!
29 Give to the Lord the glory due his name!
Bring gifts! Enter his presence!
Bow down to the Lord
in his holy splendor!
30 Tremble before him, all the earth!
Yes, he set the world firmly in place;[h]
it won’t be shaken.
31 Let heaven celebrate!
Let the earth rejoice!
Let the nations say, “The Lord rules!”
32 Let the sea and everything in it roar!
Let the countryside and everything in it celebrate!
33 Then the trees of the forest will shout out joyfully
before the Lord, because he is coming
to establish justice on earth!
34 Give thanks to the Lord because he is good,
because his faithful love endures forever.
35 Say: “Save us, God, our savior!
Gather us! Deliver us from among the nations
so we can give thanks to your holy name
and rejoice in your praise.”
36 Bless the Lord, Israel’s God,
from forever in the past to forever always.
And let all the people say, “Amen!”
Praise the Lord!
Gentiles are without excuse
18 God’s wrath is being revealed from heaven against all the ungodly behavior and the injustice of human beings who silence the truth with injustice. 19 This is because what is known about God should be plain to them because God made it plain to them. 20 Ever since the creation of the world, God’s invisible qualities—God’s eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, because they are understood through the things God has made. So humans are without excuse. 21 Although they knew God, they didn’t honor God as God or thank him. Instead, their reasoning became pointless, and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 While they were claiming to be wise, they made fools of themselves. 23 They exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images that look like mortal humans: birds, animals, and reptiles. 24 So God abandoned them to their hearts’ desires, which led to the moral corruption of degrading their own bodies with each other. 25 They traded God’s truth for a lie, and they worshipped and served the creation instead of the creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.
26 That’s why God abandoned them to degrading lust. Their females traded natural sexual relations for unnatural sexual relations. 27 Also, in the same way, the males traded natural sexual relations with females, and burned with lust for each other. Males performed shameful actions with males, and they were paid back with the penalty they deserved for their mistake in their own bodies. 28 Since they didn’t think it was worthwhile to acknowledge God, God abandoned them to a defective mind to do inappropriate things. 29 So they were filled with all injustice, wicked behavior, greed, and evil behavior. They are full of jealousy, murder, fighting, deception, and malice. They are gossips, 30 they slander people, and they hate God. They are rude and proud, and they brag. They invent ways to be evil, and they are disobedient to their parents. 31 They are without understanding, disloyal, without affection, and without mercy. 32 Though they know God’s decision that those who persist in such practices deserve death, they not only keep doing these things but also approve others who practice them.
Psalm 10[a]
10 Why do you stand so far away, Lord,
hiding yourself in troubling times?
2 Meanwhile, the wicked are proudly
in hot pursuit of those who suffer.
Let them get caught
in the very same schemes they’ve thought up!
3 The wicked brag about their body’s[b] cravings;
the greedy reject the Lord, cursing.
4 At the peak of their wrath,
the wicked don’t seek God:
There’s no God—
that’s what they are always thinking.
5 Their ways are always twisted.
Your rules are too lofty for them.
They snort at all their foes.
6 They think to themselves,
We’ll never stumble.
We’ll never encounter any resistance.
7 Their mouths are filled
with curses, dishonesty, violence.
Under their tongues lie
troublemaking and wrongdoing.
8 They wait in a place perfect for ambush;[c]
from their hiding places
they kill innocent people;
their eyes spot those who are helpless.
9 They lie in ambush
in secret places,
like a lion in its lair.
They lie in ambush
so they can seize those who suffer!
They seize the poor, all right,
dragging them off in their nets.
10 Their helpless victims are crushed;
they collapse, falling prey to the strength of the wicked.
11 The wicked think to themselves:
God has forgotten.
God has hidden his face.
God never sees anything!
12 Get up, Lord!
Get your fist ready, God!
Don’t forget the ones who suffer!
13 Why do the wicked reject God?
Why do they think to themselves
that you won’t find out?
14 But you do see!
You do see troublemaking and grief,
and you do something about it!
The helpless leave it all to you.
You are the orphan’s helper.
15 Break the arms of those
who are wicked and evil.
Seek out their wickedness
until there’s no more to find.
6 Many seek favor from rulers;
everyone befriends a gift giver.
7 All the relatives of the poor hate them;
even more, their friends stay far from them.
When they pursue them with words, they aren’t there.
Copyright © 2011 by Common English Bible