And it came to pass, as the ark of the covenant of LORD came to the city of David, that Michal the daughter of Saul looked out at the window, and saw king David dancing and playing. And she despised him in her heart.

And they brought in the ark of God, and set it in the midst of the tent that David had pitched for it. And they offered burnt-offerings and peace-offerings before God.

And when David had made an end of offering the burnt-offering and the peace-offerings, he blessed the people in the name of LORD.

And he dealt to every one of Israel, both man and woman, to every one a loaf of bread, and a portion [of flesh], and a cake of raisins.

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

Asaph the chief, and second to him Zechariah, Jeiel, and Shemiramoth, and Jehiel, and Mattithiah, and Eliab, and Benaiah, and Obed-edom, and Jeiel, with psalteries and with harps, and Asaph with cymbals, sounding aloud,

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

Then on that day David first ordained to give thanks to LORD by the hand of Asaph and his brothers.

Seek ye LORD and his strength. Seek his face evermore.

Remember his marvelous works that he has done, his wonders, and the judgments of his mouth,

[the covenant] which he made with Abraham, and his oath to Isaac,

and confirmed the same to Jacob for a statute, to Israel for an everlasting covenant,

when ye were but a few men in number, yea, very few, and sojourners in it,

and they went about from nation to nation, and from one kingdom to another people.

[Saying], Touch not my anointed ones, and do my prophets no harm.

For great is LORD, and greatly to be praised. He also is to be feared above all gods.

Honor and majesty are before him. Strength and gladness are in his place.

Ascribe to LORD, ye kindred of the peoples. Ascribe to LORD glory and strength.

Ascribe to LORD the glory due to his name. Bring an offering, and come before him. Worship LORD in holy array.

Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice. And let them say among the nations, LORD reigns.

Let the sea roar, and the fullness of it. Let the field exult, and all that is therein.

And say ye, Save us, O God of our salvation. And gather us together and deliver us from the nations, to give thanks to thy holy name, and to triumph in thy praise.

Blessed be LORD, the God of Israel, from everlasting even to everlasting. And all the people said, Amen, and praised LORD.

So he left there, before the ark of the covenant of LORD, Asaph and his brothers, to minister before the ark continually, as every day's work required,

and Obed-edom with their sixty-eight brothers. And Obed-edom the son of Jeduthun and Hosah [were] to be porters,

and Zadok the priest, and his brothers the priests, before the tabernacle of LORD in the high place that was at Gibeon,

to offer burnt-offerings to LORD upon the altar of burnt-offering continually morning and evening, even according to all that is written in the law of LORD, which he commanded to Israel.

And with them Heman and Jeduthun, and the rest that were chosen, who were mentioned by name, to give thanks to LORD because his loving kindness [is] forever.

And with them Heman and Jeduthun [with] trumpets and cymbals for those who should sound aloud, and [with] instruments for the songs of God, and the sons of Jeduthun to be at the gate.

And all the people departed every man to his house. And David returned to bless his house.

And it came to pass, when David dwelt in his house, that David said to Nathan the prophet, Lo, I dwell in a house of cedar, but the ark of the covenant of LORD [dwells] under curtains.

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

And it came to pass the same night, that the word of God came to Nathan, saying,

Go and tell David my servant, Thus says LORD, Thou shall not build for me a house to dwell in.

For I have not dwelt in a house since the day that I brought up Israel, to this day, but have gone from tent to tent, and from [one] tabernacle [to another].

And I have been with thee wherever thou have gone, and have cut off all thine enemies from before thee. And I will make thee a name like the name of the great ones who are on the earth.

And I will appoint a place for my people Israel, and will plant them, that they may dwell in their own place, and be moved no more. Neither shall the sons of wickedness waste them any more, as at the first,

and [as] from the day that I commanded judges to be over my people Israel. And I will subdue all thine enemies. Moreover I tell thee that LORD will build for thee a house.

And it shall come to pass, when thy days are fulfilled that thou must go to be with thy fathers, that I will set up thy seed after thee, who shall be of thy sons. And I will establish his kingdom.

He shall build for me a house, and I will establish his throne forever.

I will be his father, and he shall be my son. And I will not take my loving kindness away from him as I took it from him who was before thee.

But I will settle him in my house and in my kingdom forever, and his throne shall be established forever.

According to all these words, and according to all this vision, so Nathan spoke to David.

Then David the king went in, and sat before LORD. And he said, Who am I, O LORD God, and what is my house, that thou have brought me thus far?

And this was a small thing in thine eyes, O God. But thou have spoken of thy servant's house for a great while to come, and have regarded me according to the estate of a man of high degree, O LORD God.

O LORD, for thy servant's sake, and according to thine own heart, thou have wrought all this greatness, to make known all [these] great things.

And what one nation on the earth is like thy people Israel, whom God went to redeem to himself for a people, to make thee a name by great and awesome things, in driving out nations from before thy people whom thou redeemed out of E

For thy people Israel thou made thine own people forever. And thou, LORD, became their God.

And now, O LORD, let the word that thou have spoken concerning thy servant, and concerning his house, be established forever, and do as thou have spoken.

And let thy name be established and magnified forever, saying, LORD of hosts is the God of Israel, even a God to Israel, and the house of David thy servant is established before thee.

And now, O LORD, thou are God, and have promised this good thing to thy servant,

and now it has pleased thee to bless the house of thy servant, that it may continue for ever before thee; for thou, O LORD, have blessed, and it is blessed forever.

And after this it came to pass, that David smote the Philistines, and subdued them, and took Gath and its towns out of the hand of the Philistines.

And he smote Moab, and the Moabites became servants to David, and brought tribute.

And David smote Hadarezer king of Zobah to Hamath, as he went to establish his dominion by the river Euphrates.

And David took from him a thousand chariots, and seven thousand horsemen, and twenty thousand footmen. And David hocked all the chariot horses, but reserved from them for a hundred chariots.

And when the Syrians of Damascus came to aid Hadarezer king of Zobah, David smote of the Syrians twenty-two thousand men.

Then David put [garrisons] in Syria of Damascus. And the Syrians became servants to David, and brought tribute. And LORD gave victory to David wherever he went.

And David took the shields of gold that were on the servants of Hadarezer, and brought them to Jerusalem.

And from Tibhath and from Cun, cities of Hadarezer, David took very much brass, with which Solomon made the brazen sea, and the pillars, and the vessels of brass.

And when Tou king of Hamath heard that David had smitten all the army of Hadarezer king of Zobah,

he sent Hadoram his son to king David, to salute him, and to bless him, because he had fought against Hadarezer and smitten him (for Hadarezer had wars with Tou), and [he had with him] all manner of vessels of gold and silver and b

These also king David dedicated to LORD, with the silver and the gold that he carried away from all the nations: from Edom, and from Moab, and from the sons of Ammon, and from the Philistines, and from Amalek.

And he put garrisons in Edom, and all the Edomites became servants to David. And LORD gave victory to David wherever he went.

And David reigned over all Israel, and he executed justice and righteousness to all his people.

And Joab the son of Zeruiah was over the army, and Jehoshaphat the son of Ahilud was recorder,

and Zadok the son of Ahitub, and Abimelech the son of Abiathar, were priests, and Shavsha was scribe,

and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada was over the Cherethites and the Pelethites, and the sons of David were chief about the king.

And it came to pass after this, that Nahash the king of the sons of Ammon died, and his son reigned in his stead.

And David said, I will show kindness to Hanun the son of Nahash, because his father showed kindness to me. So David sent messengers to comfort him concerning his father. And David's servants came into the land of the sons of Ammon

But the rulers of the sons of Ammon said to Hanun, Do thou think that David honors thy father, in that he has sent comforters to thee? Have not his servants come to thee to search, and to overthrow, and to spy out the land?

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

And they came and informed David about the men. And he sent to meet them, for the men were greatly ashamed. And the king said, Remain at Jericho until your beards be grown, and then return.

And when the sons of Ammon saw that they had made themselves odious to David, Hanun and the sons of Ammon sent a thousand talents of silver to hire for them chariots and horsemen out of Mesopotamia, and out of Arammaacah, and out o

So they hired for them thirty-two thousand chariots, and the king of Maacah and his people, who came and encamped before Medeba. And the sons of Ammon gathered themselves together from their cities, and came to battle.

And when David heard of it, he sent Joab, and all the army of the mighty men.

And the sons of Ammon came out, and put the battle in array at the gate of the city. And the kings that came were by themselves in the field.

Now when Joab saw that the battle was set against him in front and behind, he chose from all the choice men of Israel, and put them in array against the Syrians.

And the rest of the company he committed into the hand of Abishai his brother, and they put themselves in array against the sons of Ammon.

And he said, If the Syrians be too strong for me, then thou shall help me, but if the sons of Ammon be too strong for thee, then I will help thee.

Be of good courage, and let us act the man for our people, and for the cities of our God. And LORD do that which seems good to him.

So Joab and the company that were with him drew near before the Syrians to the battle, and they fled before him.

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

And when the Syrians saw that they were put to the worse before Israel, they sent messengers, and drew forth the Syrians that were beyond the River, with Shophach the captain of the army of Hadarezer at their head.

And it was told David. And he gathered all Israel together, and passed over the Jordan, and came upon them, and set the battle in array against them. So when David had put the battle in array against the Syrians, they fought with h

And the Syrians fled before Israel. And David killed of the Syrians [the men of] seven thousand chariots, and forty thousand footmen, and killed Shophach the captain of the army.

And when the servants of Hadarezer saw that they were put to the worse before Israel, they made peace with David, and served him, neither would the Syrians help the sons of Ammon any more.

And it came to pass, at the time of the return of the year, at the time when kings go out [to battle], that Joab led forth the army, and wasted the country of the sons of Ammon, and came and besieged Rabbah, but David remained at J

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, exceedingly much.

And he brought forth the people that were therein, and cut [them] with saws, and with harrows of iron, and with axes. And thus David did to all the cities of the sons of Ammon. And David and all the people returned to Jerusalem.

And it came to pass after this, that there arose war at Gezer with the Philistines. Then Sibbecai the Hushathite killed Sippai of the sons of the giant, and they were subdued.

And there was again war with the Philistines. And Elhanan the son of Jair killed Lahmi the brother of Goliath the Gittite, the staff of whose spear was like a weaver's beam.

And there was again war at Gath, where was a man of great stature whose fingers and toes were twenty-four, six [on each hand], and six [on each foot]. And he also was born to the giant.

And when he defied Israel, Jonathan the son of Shimea David's brother killed him.

These were born to the giant in Gath, and they fell by the hand of David, and by the hand of his servants.

And Satan stood up against Israel, and moved David to number Israel.

And David said to Joab and to the princes of the people, Go, number Israel from Beersheba even to Dan, and bring me word that I may know the sum of them.

And Joab said, LORD make his people a hundred times as many as they are. But, my lord the king, are they not all my lord's servants? Why does my lord require this thing? Why will he be a cause of guilt to Israel?

Nevertheless the king's word prevailed against Joab. Therefore Joab departed, and went throughout all Israel, and came to Jerusalem.

And Joab gave up the sum of the numbering of the people to David. And all those of Israel were a million and a hundred thousand men who drew a sword. And Judah was four hundred seventy thousand men who drew a sword.