The sons of Reuben, and the sons of Gad, and half the tribe of Manasseh, (sons of valor, men lifting up shield and sword, and to shoot with bow, and skillful in war), were forty-four thousand, seven hundred and sixty who went out to the war.

And they were helped against them, and the Hagarites were delivered into their hand, and all who were with them. For they cried to God in the battle, and He was pleased to hear them, because they put their trust in Him.

For many fell down slain, because the war was of God. And they lived in their places until the captivity.

And they sinned against the God of their fathers, and went lusting after the gods of the people of the land, whom God destroyed before them.

And the God of Israel stirred up the spirit of Pul king of Assyria, and the spirit of Tilgath-pilneser king of Assyria. And he exiled them, the people of Reuben and the people of Gad, and the half tribe of Manasseh, and brought them to Halah, and Habor, and Hara, and to the river Gozan, to this day.

And their brothers, the Levites, were appointed for all kinds of service of the tabernacle of the house of God.

But Aaron and his sons offered on the altar of the burnt offering, and on the altar of incense, and were appointed for all the work of the Most Holy Place, and to make an atonement for Israel, according to all that Moses the servant of God had commanded.

And to the sons of Merari were given by lot, throughout their families, out of the tribe of Reuben, and out of the tribe of Gad, and out of the tribe of Zebulun, twelve cities.

And out of the tribe of Gad they gave Ramoth in Gilead with its open lands, and Mahanaim with its open lands,

and Azariah the son of Hilkiah, the son of Meshullam, the son of Zadok, the son of Meraioth, the son of Ahitub, the ruler of the house of God,

and their brothers, heads of their fathers' house, seventeen hundred and sixty very able men for the work of the service of the house of God.

And before they were at the king's gate eastward, they were gatekeepers in the companies of the sons of Levi.

For they were in faithfulness, the four chief gatekeepers; they were Levites, and were over the rooms, and over the treasuries of the house of God.

And they lived around the house of God, because the duty was on them. And they were to open it morning by morning.

And also in time past, even when Saul was king, you were the one who led out and brought in Israel. And Jehovah your God said to you, You shall feed My people Israel, and you shall be ruler over My people Israel.

And David longed and said, Oh that someone would give me drink from the water of the well of Bethlehem, which was by the gate!

And the three broke through the Philistine army and drew water out of the well of Bethlehem by the gate, and took it, and brought it to David. But David would not drink it, but poured it out to Jehovah.

And he said, May my God forbid me to do this thing. Shall I drink the blood of these men who have put their lives in danger? For they brought it with their lives. And he was not willing to drink it. These three mighty ones did these things.

These were the sons of Gad, captains of the army. One of the least was over a hundred, and the greatest over a thousand.

And David went out to meet them, and answered and said to them, If you have come to me in peace, to help me, my heart shall be knit to you. But if you come to betray me to my enemies, since there is no wrong in my hands, let the God of our fathers look on it and rebuke it.

And the Spirit came on Amasai, chief of the Thirty. And he said, We are yours, David, and on your side, son of Jesse. Peace, peace be on you, and peace on your helpers. For your God has helped you. And David received them and made them captains of the band.

For at that time they came to David day by day to help him, until it was a great army, like an army of God.

And David said to all the congregation of Israel, If it is good to you, and if it has broken forth from Jehovah our God, let us send to our brothers, those remaining in all the lands of Israel, and with them to the priests and Levites in their cities that they be gathered to us.

And let us bring again the ark of our God to us. For we did not inquire at it in the days of Saul.

And David gathered all Israel together, from Shihor of Egypt even to the entering of Hamath, to bring the ark of God from Kirjath-jearim.

And David and all Israel went up to Baalah, to Kirjath-jearim of Judah, to bring up from there the ark of Jehovah God, He who dwells between the cherubs, whose name is called on it.

And they carried the ark of God in a new cart out of the house of Abinadab. And Uzza and Ahio led the cart.

And David and all Israel played before God with all their might, and with singing, and with lyres, and with harps, and with timbrels, and with cymbals, and with trumpets.

And David was afraid of God that day, saying, How shall I bring the ark of God to me?

And the ark of God remained with the family of Obed-edom in his house three months. And Jehovah blessed the house of Obed-edom and all that he had.

And David asked of God, saying, Shall I go up against the Philistines? And will You deliver them into my hand? And Jehovah said to him, Go up, for I will deliver them into your hand.

And they came up to Baal-perazim. And David struck them there. Then David said, God has broken in on my enemies by my hand like the breaking forth of waters. Therefore they called the name of that place The Breaking of Baal.

And David asked again of God. And God said to him, Do not go up after them. Turn away from them, and come on them over against the weeping trees.

And it shall be, when you hear a sound of marching in the tops of the weeping trees, then you shall go out to battle. For God has gone forth before you to strike the army of the Philistines.

And David did as God commanded him. And they struck the army of the Philistines from Gibeon to Gezer.

And David made houses for himself in the City of David, and prepared a place for the ark of God, and pitched a tent for it.

Then David said, No one ought to carry the ark of God except the Levites, for God has chosen them to carry the ark of God, and to minister to Him forever.

And he said to them, You are the heads of the fathers of the Levites. Sanctify yourselves, you and your brothers, so that you may bring up the ark of Jehovah, the God of Israel to the place which I have prepared for it.

For because you did not do it at the first, Jehovah our God made a break on us, since we did not seek Him in due order.

And the priests and the Levites made themselves pure in order to bring up the ark of Jehovah, the God of Israel.

And the sons of the Levites carried the ark of God on their shoulders, with the staves on it, as Moses commanded according to the Word of Jehovah.

And Shebaniah, and Jehoshaphat, and Nethaneel, and Amasai, and Zechariah, and Benaiah, and Eliezer, the priests, blew with the trumpets before the ark of God. And Obed-edom and Jehiah were gatekeepers for the ark.

And it happened as God helped the Levites who bore the ark of the covenant of Jehovah, they offered seven bulls and seven rams.

And they brought the ark of God and set it in the middle of the tent which David had pitched for it. And they offered burnt sacrifices and peace offerings before God.

And he appointed certain of the Levites to minister before the ark of Jehovah, and to record, and to thank and praise Jehovah, the God of Israel:

Also Benaiah and Jahaziel the priests praised with trumpets continually before the ark of the covenant of God.

He is Jehovah our God. His judgments are in all the earth.

O give thanks to Jehovah, for He is good, for His mercy endures forever.

And say, Save us, O God of our salvation, and gather us, and deliver us from the nations, so that we may give thanks to Your holy name, and glory in Your praise.

Blessed be Jehovah, the God of Israel forever and ever. And all the people said, Amen, and praised Jehovah.

And with them were Heman and Jeduthun with trumpets and cymbals for those making a sound, and with musical instruments of God. And the sons of Jeduthun were gatekeepers.

And Nathan said to David, Do all that is in your heart, for God is with you.

And it happened the same night the Word of God came to Nathan, saying,

And I have been with you wherever you have walked, and have cut off all your enemies from before you, and have made you a name like the name of the great men in the earth.

And David the king came and sat before Jehovah, and said, Who am I, O, Jehovah God, and what is my house, that You have brought me here?

And this was a small thing in Your eyes, O God, for You have also spoken of Your servant's house for a great while to come, and have regarded me according to the estate of a man of high degree, O Jehovah God.

O Jehovah, there is none like You, neither any God besides You, according to all that we have heard with our ears.

And what one nation in the earth is like Your people Israel, whom God went to redeem to be His own people, to make You a name of greatness and terribleness, by driving out nations from before Your people whom You have redeemed out of Egypt?

And You have chosen Your people Israel for Yourself, for a people forever. And You, Jehovah, became their God.

Let it even be established, so that Your name may be magnified forever, saying, Jehovah of Hosts is the God of Israel, a God to Israel. And let the house of David Your servant be established before You.

For You, O my God, have told Your servant that You will build him a house. Therefore Your servant has found in his heart to pray before You.

And now, Jehovah, You are God, and have promised this goodness to Your servant.

And Hanun took David's servants and shaved them, and cut off their garments in half, to the buttocks, and sent them away.

And the sons of Ammon came out and put the battle in order before the gate of the city. And the kings who had come were by themselves in the field.

Be of good courage and let us behave ourselves bravely for our people, and for the cities of our God. And let Jehovah do what is good in His sight.

And it was evil in the eyes of God as to this thing. And He struck Israel.

And David said to God, I have sinned greatly because I have done this thing. But now, I beseech You, remove the iniquity of Your servant for I have done very foolishly.

And Jehovah spoke to Gad, David's seer, saying,

And Gad came to David and said to him, So says Jehovah, Choose for yourself:

And David said to Gad, I am in great distress. Let me fall now into the hand of Jehovah, for His mercies are very great. But do not let me fall into the hand of man.

And God sent an angel to Jerusalem to destroy it. And as he was destroying, Jehovah looked. And He repented of the evil and said to the angel who destroyed, Enough! Stay your hand now! And the angel of Jehovah stood by the threshing-floor of Ornan the Jebusite.

And David said to God, Did not I command to number the people? I am the one who has sinned and done evil indeed. But these sheep, what have they done? I pray You, let Your hand be on me, O Jehovah my God, and on my father's house, but not on Your people, that they should be plagued.

And the angel of Jehovah commanded Gad to say to David that David should go up and set up an altar to Jehovah in the threshing-floor of Ornan the Jebusite.

And David went up at the word of Gad which he spoke in the name of Jehovah.

And Ornan said to David, Take for yourself, and let my lord the king do what is good in his eyes. Lo, I give the oxen for burnt offerings, and the threshing instruments for wood, and the wheat for the food offering. I give it all.

But David could not go before it to ask of God, for he was afraid because of the sword of the angel of Jehovah.

Then David said, This is the house of Jehovah God, and this is the altar of the burnt offering for Israel.

And David commanded the strangers in the land of Israel to be gathered. And he set masons to cut squared stones to build the house of God.

And he called for Solomon his son, and commanded him to build a house for Jehovah, the God of Israel.

And David said to Solomon, My son, as for me, it was in my mind to build a house to the name of Jehovah my God.

Now, my son, may Jehovah be with you and bless you, and build the house of Jehovah your God as He has said of you.

Only may Jehovah give you wisdom and understanding, and direct you concerning Israel, so that you may keep the Law of Jehovah your God.

Then you shall prosper, if you take heed to fulfil the statutes and judgments with which Jehovah charged Moses, concerning Israel. Be strong and of good courage. Do not fear, nor be dismayed.

Is not Jehovah your God with you? And has He not given you rest on every side? For He has given the people of the land into my hand. And the land is humbled before Jehovah and before His people.

Now set your heart and your soul to seek Jehovah your God. Arise therefore and build the sanctuary of Jehovah God, to bring the ark of the covenant of Jehovah, and the holy vessels of God, into the house that is to be built to the name of Jehovah.

And as to Moses the man of God, his sons were named of the tribe of Levi.

For David said, Jehovah, the God of Israel has given rest to His people so that they may dwell in Jerusalem forever,

because their office was to wait on the sons of Aaron for the service of the house of Jehovah, in the courts and in the chambers, and in the purifying of all holy things, and the work of the service of the house of God

So they divided them by lot, one sort with another. For the governors of the sanctuary, and governors of the house of God, were of the sons of Eleazar, and of the sons of Ithamar.

These were their orderings in their service to come into the house of Jehovah, according to their manner, to Aaron their father, as Jehovah, the God of Israel had commanded him.

All these were the sons of Heman the king's seer in the words of God, to lift up the horn. And God gave to Heman fourteen sons and three daughters.

All these were under the hands of their father for song in the house of Jehovah, with cymbals, harps and lyres, for the service of the house of God, according to the king's order to Asaph, Jeduthun, and Heman.

Ammiel the sixth, Issachar the seventh, Peulthai the eighth-- for God blessed him.

And they cast lots, the small as well as the great, according to the house of their fathers, for every gate.

to Shuppim and Hosah westward, with the gate of Shallecheth, by the highway going up, guard corresponding to guard.

And of the Levites, Ahijah was over the treasures of the house of God and over the treasures of the dedicated things.

And his brothers, mighty men, were two thousand and seven hundred chief fathers whom King David made rulers over the men of Reuben, of Gad, and the half tribe of Manasseh, for every matter having to do with God and the affairs of the king.

And David the king stood up on his feet and said, Hear me, my brothers and my people. I had in my heart to build a house of rest for the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and for the footstool of our God, and had made ready for the building.

But God said to me, You shall not build a house for My name, because you have been a man of war and have shed blood.

But Jehovah, the God of Israel chose me before all the house of my father to be king over Israel forever. For He has chosen Judah to be the ruler, and of the house of Judah the house of my father. And in my father's house He was pleased to make me king over all Israel.