And they were there with David three days, eating and drinking, for their kinsmen were prepared for them.

and those too that were near them, as far as Issachar and Zebulun and Naphtali, brought food on asses, and on camels, and on mules, and on oxen; provisions of meal, fig-cakes and raisin-cakes, and wine and oil, and oxen and sheep, abundantly; for there was joy in Israel.

And David will go up, and all Israel, to Baalah, to the cities of the forests which were to Judah, to bring up from thence the ark of God Jehovah dwelling in the cherubims, which the name was called.

And they carried the ark of God upon a new cart from the house of Abinadab, and Uzza and Ahio were driving the cart.

Now David and all Israel were celebrating before God with all [their] strength, and with songs, lyres, harps, tambourines, cymbals, and trumpets.

And they come in unto the threshing-floor of Chidon, and Uzza putteth forth his hand to seize the ark, for the oxen were released,

Now these [are] the names of the children who were [born] to him in Jerusalem: Shammua, Shobab, Nathan, Solomon,

And when they were come as far as Baalperazim, David beat them there. And David said, "God hath divided mine enemies with mine hand as a man would divide water." And therefore they called the name of the said place Baalperazim.

And they abandoned their gods there. And David commanded, and they were burnt with fire.

David also assembled the descendants of Aaron, who were descendants of Levi,

For the Lord our God burst out in anger against us because you Levites were not with us the first time, for we didn’t inquire of Him about the proper procedures.”

David told the leaders of the Levites to appoint some of their relatives as musicians; they were to play various instruments, including stringed instruments and cymbals, and to sing loudly and joyfully.

So Heman, the son of Joel, and, of his brothers, Asaph, the son of Berechiah; and of the sons of Merari their brothers, Ethan, the son of Kushaiah, were put in position by the Levites;

With them were their relatives second in rank: Zechariah, Jaaziel, Shemiramoth, Jehiel, Unni, Eliab, Benaiah, Maaseiah, Mattithiah, Eliphelehu, Mikneiah, and the gatekeepers Obed-edom and Jeiel.

The singers Heman, Asaph, and Ethan were to sound the bronze cymbals;

Zechariah, Aziel, Shemiramoth, Jehiel, Unni, Eliab, Maaseiah, and Benaiah were to play harps according to Alamoth;

and Mattithiah, Eliphelehu, Mikneiah, Obed-edom, Jeiel, and Azaziah were to lead the music with lyres according to the Sheminith.

Berechiah and Elkanah were to be gatekeepers for the ark.

The priests, Shebaniah, Joshaphat, Nethanel, Amasai, Zechariah, Benaiah, and Eliezer, were to blow trumpets before the ark of God. Obed-edom and Jehiah were also to be gatekeepers for the ark.

Thus, it was, David and the elders of Israel, and the rulers of thousands, who were going, to bring up the ark of the covenant of Yahweh, out of the house of Obed-edom, with joy.

While the Levites were carrying the ark of the covenant of the Lord, with God’s help, they sacrificed seven bulls and seven rams.

Now David was dressed in a robe of fine linen, as were all the Levites who were carrying the ark, as well as the singers and Chenaniah, the music leader of the singers. David also wore a linen ephod.

All Israel brought up the ark of the Lord's covenant; they were shouting, blowing trumpets, sounding cymbals, and playing stringed instruments.

Asaph [was] chief, and his second [was] Zechariah; Jeiel, Shemiramoth, Jehiel, Mattithiah, Eliab, Benaiah, Obed-Edom, and Jeiel [were] on harps and lyres. And Asaph played on the cymbals.

and the priests Benaiah and Jahaziel were to blow trumpets regularly before the ark of God's covenant.

When they were few in number,
very few indeed, and temporary residents in Canaan

He assigned Obed-edom and his 68 relatives. Obed-edom son of Jeduthun and Hosah were to be gatekeepers.

With them were Heman, Jeduthun, and the rest who were chosen and designated by name to give thanks to the Lord—for His faithful love endures forever.

Heman and Jeduthun had with them trumpets and cymbals to play and musical instruments of God. Jeduthun’s sons were at the gate.

And I have been with you wherever you went, cutting off before you all those who were against you; and I will make your name like the name of the greatest ones of the earth.

And I will make a resting-place for my people Israel, planting them there, so that they may be in the place which is theirs and never again be moved; and never again will they be made waste by evil men, as they were at first,

And it was When thy days were completed to go with thy fathers, and I raised up thy seed after thee, which shall be from thy sons; and I prepared his kingdom.

Nathan told David all these words that were revealed to him.

David later erected garrisons in Aram of Damascus, and the Arameans were placed under servitude to David, to whom they paid tribute.

And David took small round shields of gold that were upon the servants of Hadadezer and brought them [to] Jerusalem.

He put garrisons in Edom, and all the Edomites were subject to David. The Lord made David victorious wherever he went.

Zadok son of Ahitub
and Ahimelech son of Abiathar were priests;
Shavsha was court secretary;

Benaiah son of Jehoiada was over
the Cherethites and the Pelethites;
and David’s sons were the chief officials at the king’s side.

Then said David, "I will show kindness unto Hanun the son of Nahash, because his father dealt kindly with me." And thereupon David sent messengers to comfort him over the death of his father. And when the servants of David were come into the land of the children of Ammon to Hanun to comfort him,

So Hanun seized David's servants and shaved their beards off. He cut off the lower part of their robes so that their buttocks were exposed and then sent them away.

It was reported to David about his men, so he sent messengers to meet them, since the men were deeply humiliated. The king said, “Stay in Jericho until your beards grow back; then return.”

And the sons of Ammon will see that they were loathsome with David, and Hanun will send, and the sons of Ammon, a thousand talents of silver to hire to them from Aram of the rivers and from Aram-Maachah, and from Zobah, chariots and horsemen.

And they hired for themselves thirty-two thousand chariots and the king of Maacah and his people, and they came and encamped before Medeba. And the {Ammonites} were gathered from their cities and came to the battle.

The Ammonites marched out and lined up in battle formation at the entrance of the city while the kings who had come were in the field by themselves.

When Joab observed that the battle lines were set up to oppose him both in front and behind, he appointed some special forces from Israel and arrayed them to oppose the Arameans,

And the remainder of the people he put in the hand of Abishai his brother, and they were arranged to meet the {Ammonites}.

And Joab and the people who [were] with him drew near before Aram for battle, and they fled before him.

And when the children of Ammon saw that the Syrians were fled, they likewise fled before Abishai his brother, and entered into the city. Then Joab came to Jerusalem.

When the Arameans realized that they had been defeated by Israel, they sent messengers to summon the Arameans who were across the Euphrates. They were led by Shophach, the commander of Hadadezer’s army.

And word of this was given to David; and he got all Israel together and went over Jordan and came to Helam and put his forces in position against them. And when David's forces were in position against the Aramaeans, the fight was started.

When Hadadezer’s subjects saw that they had been defeated by Israel, they made peace with David and became his subjects. After this, the Arameans were never willing to help the Ammonites again.

And David took the crown of their king from off his head, and found it to weigh a talent of gold, and there were precious stones in it; and it was set upon David's head: and he brought forth the spoil of the city in great abundance.

He brought out the people who were in it and put them to work with saws, iron picks, and axes. David did the same to all the Ammonite cities. Then he and all his troops returned to Jerusalem.

After this, a war broke out with the Philistines at Gezer. At that time Sibbecai the Hushathite killed Sippai, a descendant of the giants, and the Philistines were subdued.

And there was again a battle, at Gath; and there was a man there of great stature, whose fingers and toes were four and twenty, six on each hand, and six on each foot; and he also was born to Rapha.

These were the descendants of the giant in Gath killed by David and his soldiers.

Joab gave the total troop registration to David. In all Israel there were 1,100,000 swordsmen and in Judah itself 470,000 swordsmen.

Levi and Benjamin were not included in the census, because what the king had commanded was unethical to Joab.

And the LORD sent pestilence upon all Israel, so that there were overthrown of Israel seventy thousand men.

And David lifted up his eyes, and saw the angel of the LORD stand between the earth and the heaven, having a drawn sword in his hand stretched out over Jerusalem. Then David and the elders of Israel, who were clothed in sackcloth, fell upon their faces.

Ornan was threshing wheat when he turned and saw the angel. His four sons, who were with him, hid themselves.

The tabernacle of the Lord, which Moses made in the desert, and the altar of burnt offering were at the high place in Gibeon,

So David gave orders to gather the foreigners that were in the land of Israel, and he appointed stonecutters to cut finished stones for building God’s house.

The Levites 30 years old or more were counted; the total number of men was 38,000 by headcount.

Of these, twenty-four thousand were to preside over the work of the house of Jehovah; and six thousand were officers and judges;

and four thousand were doorkeepers; and four thousand praised Jehovah with the instruments which I made, said David, to praise therewith.

For the Gershonites [were] Ladan and Shimei.

The sons of Ladan were Jehiel the first and Zetham and Joel, three.

Shimei’s sons: Shelomoth, Haziel, and Haran—three. Those were the heads of the families of Ladan.

Shimei’s sons: Jahath, Zizah, Jeush, and Beriah. Those were Shimei’s sons—four.

And Jahath was the chief, and Zizah the second, but Jeush and Beriah did not have many sons. They were enrolled as one for the house of a father.

The sons of Kohath were four: Amram, Izhar, Hebron and Uzziel.

The sons of Amram: Aaron and Moses. And Aaron was set apart to consecrate the most holy things. He and his sons [were] to burn offerings forever before Yahweh to serve him and to bless in his name forever.

As for Moses the man of God, his sons were named among the tribe of Levi.

The sons of Moses were, Gershom, and Eliezer.

the sons of Gershom, were Shebuel the chief;

Eliezer’s sons were Rehabiah, first; Eliezer did not have any other sons, but Rehabiah’s sons were very numerous.

The sons of Hebron were Jeriah the first, Amariah the second, Jahaziel the third and Jekameam the fourth.

The sons of Uzziel were Micah the first and Isshiah the second.

The sons of Merari, were Mahli and Mushi. The sons of Mahli, were Eleazar and Kish.

And Eleazar will die, and no sons were to him, but daughters: and their brethren the sons of Kish will take them.

The sons of Mushi, were Mahli and Eder and Jeremoth, three.

These were the sons of Levi by their ancestral houses—the heads of families, according to their registration by name in the headcount—20 years old or more, who worked in the service of the Lord’s temple.

for according to the last words of David, the Levites 20 years old or more were to be counted—

Their job was to help Aaron's descendants in the service of the Lord's temple. They were to take care of the courtyards, the rooms, ceremonial purification of all holy items, and other jobs related to the service of God's temple.

And [they were] to stand {every morning}, thanking and praising Yahweh, and likewise in the evening,

and whenever burnt sacrifices were offered to the Lord on the Sabbath and at new moon festivals and assemblies. A designated number were to serve before the Lord regularly in accordance with regulations.

They were in charge of the meeting tent and the holy place, and helped their relatives, the descendants of Aaron, in the service of the Lord's temple.

The divisions of the descendants of Aaron were as follows: Aaron’s sons were Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar.

But Nadab and Abihu died before their father and had no sons. And Eleazar and Ithamar were priests.

Since more leaders were found among Eleazar’s descendants than Ithamar’s, they were divided accordingly: 16 heads of ancestral houses were from Eleazar’s descendants, and eight heads of ancestral houses were from Ithamar’s.

They were assigned by lot, for there were officers of the sanctuary and officers of God among both Eleazar’s and Ithamar’s descendants.

These [were] their appointments for their service to come into the house of Yahweh according to their custom by the hand of Aaron their father, as Yahweh the God of Israel had commanded him.

And the rest of the sons of Levi were these: Of the sons of Amram; Shubael: of the sons of Shubael; Jehdeiah.

And the sons of Hebron were Jeriah the first, Amariah the second, Jahaziel the third, Jekameam the fourth.

The sons of Merari were Mahli, and Mushi: the sons of Jaaziah; Beno.

The sons of Merari: by Jaaziah were Beno, Shoham, Zaccur and Ibri.

Mushi’s sons: Mahli, Eder, and Jerimoth.

Those were the sons of the Levites according to their ancestral houses.

And lots were also cast [for] these, just as their brothers, the sons of Aaron, before David the king, Zadok, Ahimelech, and the heads of the {families} for the priests and for the Levites the fathers, {on the principle of the chief and younger brother alike}.

David and the officers of the army also set apart some of the sons of Asaph, Heman, and Jeduthun, who were to prophesy accompanied by lyres, harps, and cymbals. This is the list of the men who performed their service: