Old/New Testament
David brings the Covenant Box to Jerusalem
6 David chose 30,000 of the best soldiers in Israel. 2 He took them with him to Baalah, a town in Judah. He wanted to bring God's Covenant Box from there to Jerusalem. The Israelites called it by the name of the Lord Almighty. He sits as King between the two cherubs that are on the top of the Covenant Box. 3 They put the Covenant Box on a new cart. They took it out of Abinadab's house which was on the hill. Abinadab's sons, Uzzah and Ahio, were leading the new cart 4 which had the Covenant Box on it. Ahio walked in front of the Covenant Box. 5 David and all Israel's people were singing and dancing with all their strength to praise the Lord. They made music with harps, lyres, tambourines, shakers and cymbals.[a]
6 They reached the place of Nacon's threshing floor. There the oxen that were pulling the cart almost fell. So Uzzah reached out to hold God's Covenant Box to stop it falling. 7 The Lord was very angry with Uzzah because he did not respect God's rules.[b] He immediately knocked Uzzah down to the ground. Uzzah died there, beside the Covenant Box.
8 David was angry because the Lord had punished Uzzah. So he called that place ‘Perez Uzzah’. That is still its name today.[c]
9 So David now became afraid of the Lord. He said, ‘The Lord's Covenant Box is too holy to come with me!’ 10 He no longer wanted to take the Lord's 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. 11 The Lord's Covenant Box stayed in Obed-Edom's house for three months. During that time, the Lord blessed Obed-Edom and all the people in his house.
12 People told King David, ‘The Lord has blessed Obed-Edom's family and everything that belongs to him, because of the Covenant Box.’
So David went back to Obed-Edom's house. He was now happy to bring the Covenant Box from there to the City of David. 13 The men who were carrying it walked six steps and they stopped. Then David offered a bull and a fat calf as sacrifices to God. 14 David was wearing a linen ephod.[d] He danced with all his strength to worship the Lord. 15 He and all the Israelites brought the Lord's Covenant Box to Jerusalem. They shouted and they made a loud noise with trumpets.
16 While they were bringing the Lord's Covenant Box into the City of David, Saul's daughter Michal looked out through a window. She saw what King David was doing. He was jumping and dancing to worship the Lord. Michal felt ashamed of him.
17 David had put up a special tent for the Covenant Box, so they took it there. They put it in its place inside the tent. Then David offered burnt offerings and friendship offerings to the Lord.
18 After David had offered those sacrifices, he prayed that the Lord Almighty would bless the people. 19 Then he gave a gift to every man and woman in the crowd of Israelite people. Each person received a loaf of bread, some dates and some raisins. Then all the people went to their homes.
20 David returned to his home to bless his own family. As he arrived, Saul's daughter Michal came out to meet him. She said, ‘The king of Israel has brought honour to himself today, has he? No, he has brought shame on himself! Even your officers' slave girls have seen how stupid you are. You have made your body bare like a useless fool!’
21 David said to Michal, ‘I was worshipping the Lord with joy! It was the Lord who chose me to be the ruler of his people, Israel. He chose me instead of your father or any of his family. 22 I am ready to bring even more shame on myself. Even I will be ashamed of myself! But the slave girls that you spoke about will still give me honour!’
23 Saul's daughter Michal gave birth to no children all her life.
God gives promises to David
7 The king was living in his palace. The Lord kept him safe from all his enemies everywhere. 2 One day, the king said to Nathan the prophet, ‘I am living in a beautiful palace that is made of cedar wood. But God's Covenant Box still has a tent for its home!’
3 Nathan replied to the king, ‘Do what you think is right. The Lord will help you.’
4 But that night the Lord said to Nathan, 5 ‘Go and tell my servant David,
“The Lord says this: Do not think that you are the right man to build a house for me to live in. 6 From the time that I brought Israel's people out of Egypt until now, I have never lived in a house. While my people moved from place to place, I travelled with them. I lived in a tent as my home. 7 I have moved about to many different places with the Israelite people. I chose leaders to take care of Israel's tribes, like shepherds for them. But in all that time, I never said to any of the leaders, ‘You should have built a beautiful house of cedar wood for me.’
8 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. 9 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.
10 I have chosen a place where my people Israel will live. I have put them in that place, where 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, 11 from the time that I chose leaders to rule my people Israel. But now I will keep you safe from all your enemies.
I, the Lord, say to you, David: I will give you descendants who will rule as kings after you. That will be the royal house that I build for you! 12 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. 13 He is the man who will build a house for me. People will give honour to my name there. I will cause his descendants to rule as kings for ever. 14 I will be his father and he will be my son. When he does something wrong, I will punish him, so that he learns to do what is right. I will punish him in the way that human fathers punish their sons. 15 I removed my faithful love from Saul, and I removed him as king before you. But I will always continue to faithfully love your son. 16 The kingdom that your descendants rule will continue for ever. Someone from your family will always be king.” ’
17 Nathan told David the whole message that God had shown to him.
David prays
18 Then King David went into the Lord's tent.[e] He sat down and he prayed to the Lord.
He said, ‘Almighty Lord, I am not a special person and my family is not special. You have helped me very much and I do not deserve it. 19 You have also made a promise about the descendants in my family, Almighty Lord. You have promised to help them in the future, as well as me. I am only a man but you have shown this to me, Almighty Lord.
20 I am your servant, Almighty Lord, and you know me completely. There is nothing more that I can say. 21 Because of your covenant you have chosen to do all these great things. You have told me, your servant, what you promise to do. 22 Almighty Lord, you are very great. There is nobody like you. You alone are God. What we have heard about you is true! 23 There is no other nation on earth like your people, Israel. We are the only nation that you have rescued so that we would belong to you. You did that to show that your name is great. You did great miracles to rescue your people from Egypt where they were slaves. Then you chased out other nations and their gods from the land that you were giving to your people. 24 You chose Israel to be your own people for all time. You, Lord, became our God.
25 Lord God, 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. 26 Then people will always give honour to your great name. They will say, “The Lord Almighty is the God who rules over Israel!” And David's descendants will continue to serve you as kings.
27 Lord Almighty, Israel's God, you have made this promise to me, your servant. You have said to me, “You will always have descendants who will rule. That is the house that I will build for you.” That is why I am not afraid to pray to you like this.
28 Almighty Lord, you are the true God. We trust your promises. You have promised these good things to me, your servant. 29 I pray that you will be pleased to bless my family and my descendants. Then we will serve you faithfully for ever. Almighty Lord, you have promised to do this. So I know that you will continue to bless my descendants for ever.’
David wins more fights[f]
8 Some time later, David attacked the Philistines, and he won the fight against them. He now had power over them and over their towns.
2 David also won a battle against the Moabites. He made the Moabite prisoners lie down on the ground. Then he used a piece of rope to measure them into groups. When he had measured two groups, he would tell his men to kill all those prisoners. When he measured the next group, he would let those prisoners stay alive. So the Moabites were now under David's authority and they began to pay taxes to him.
3 David also won a battle against Rehob's son, Hadadezer, king of Zobah. This happened when Hadadezer took his army to the Euphrates river to show that he had authority there. 4 David took from Hadadezer 1,700 men who drove chariots. He also caught 20,000 of Hadadezer's other soldiers. David kept 100 of the 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 groups of his soldiers in Damascus to be guards over the Syrian people. So the Syrians were now under David's authority and they paid taxes to him. 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 Berothai, towns that had belonged to Hadadezer.
9 Toi, the king of Hamath, heard news that David had won the battle against the whole army of Hadadezer. 10 There had been a war between King Hadadezer and King Toi. So now Toi sent his son, Joram to say ‘hello’ to David. He wanted to thank David because he had won the battle against King Hadadezer. Joram brought gifts to David that were made of gold, silver and bronze.
11 David took these 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 were all the nations that David had won against in battle. 12 They included Edom, Moab, the Ammonites, the Philistines and the Amalekites. He also offered to the Lord things that he had taken from Rehob's son, King Hadadezer of Zobah.
13 After that, David's army won a battle in the Valley of Salt against 18,000 Edomites. David became very famous because of that. 14 He put groups of his soldiers in every part of Edom's land, so that David had authority over all the Edomites. The Lord helped David to win all the battles that he fought.
David's officers
15 David ruled over all Israel. He did everything that was right and fair for all his people. 16 Zeruiah's son, Joab, was the leader of Israel's army. Ahilud's son, Jehoshaphat, wrote down the important things that happened. 17 Ahitub's son Zadok and Abiathar's son Ahimelech were priests. Seraiah was David's secretary. 18 Jehoiada's son Benaiah was the leader of David's personal guards.[g] David's sons served as priests.[h]
15 One day, many bad people and men who took taxes from people were coming round Jesus. They all wanted to hear what Jesus was saying. 2 The Pharisees and teachers of God's Law did not like this. ‘This man is friendly with people that do not obey God,’ they said. ‘He even eats with them in their homes.’
A story about a sheep that a man has lost[a]
3 So Jesus told them this story: 4 ‘Think about a man who has 100 sheep.[b] He may lose one of them. What does he do then? He leaves all his other sheep in the fields. Then he goes. He looks for the sheep that he has lost. He looks until he finds it. 5 When he finds the sheep, he is very happy. He lifts it up and he puts it across his shoulders. 6 Then he carries it back home. He speaks to all his friends and to the people that live near him. He says, “I have found the sheep that I lost. So come to my house and we can all be happy together.” 7 When one person stops doing wrong things, it is like that. It makes those that live with God in heaven very happy. They will be happier about that one person, than about 99 people who already obey God.’
A story about a coin that a woman has lost
8 Jesus told them another story: ‘Now think about a woman who has ten valuable coins.[c] She may lose one of them. What does she do then? She lights a lamp and she sweeps inside her house. She looks carefully until she finds the coin. 9 Then she speaks to all her friends and to those that live near to her. She says to them, “I have found the coin that I lost. So come to my house and we can all be happy together.”
10 When one person stops doing wrong things, it is like that. It makes God's angels and everyone in heaven very happy.’
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