The Daily Audio Bible

Worship Before the Ark

³⁷ So he left Asaph and his brothers before the ark of the covenant of the Lord to minister before the ark regularly, as each day required, ³⁸ and also Obed-Edom and his sixty-eight brothers, while Obed-Edom, the son of Jeduthun, and Hosah were to be gatekeepers.

³⁹ And he left Zadok the priest and his priestly brothers before the tabernacle of the Lord at the high place that was at Gibeon ⁴⁰ to offer burnt offerings to the Lord on the altar of burnt offering continually, morning and evening, according to all that was written in the Law of the Lord, which He commanded Israel.

⁴¹ With them were Heman and Jeduthun and the rest who were chosen, who were marked by name to give thanks to the Lord, for His mercy endures forever. ⁴² Heman and Jeduthun had with them trumpets and cymbals to sound aloud and instruments for sacred song. The sons of Jeduthun were appointed to the gate.

⁴³ Then all the people departed, each man to his house, and David returned to bless his house.

The Davidic Covenant^(A)

17 Now it happened as David dwelt in his house that he said to Nathan the prophet, “Here I am dwelling in a house of cedar while the ark of the Lord is under curtains.”

² So Nathan said to David, “Do all that is in your heart, for God is with you.”

³ But it happened on that same night that the word of the Lord came to Nathan, saying,

⁴ Go and tell David My servant: Thus says the Lord: You will not build a house for Me to dwell in, ⁵ for I have not dwelt in a house since the day when I brought Israel up even until this day, but I have gone from tent to tent and from tabernacle to tabernacle. ⁶ Wherever I have gone in all Israel, have I ever spoken a word to the any of the judges of Israel that I commanded to shepherd My people, saying, Why have you not built Me a house of cedar?

⁷ And now say this to My servant David: Thus says the Lord of Hosts: I took you from the pasture, from following after the flock, to be ruler over My people Israel, ⁸ and I have been with you wherever you went, and I have cut off all your enemies from before you. Also I will make your name like the names of the greatest on earth. ⁹ And I will appoint a place for My people Israel, and I will plant them there where they will dwell securely and tremble no more, so that the sons of wickedness will not oppress them just as before ¹⁰ from the time when I commanded the judges of My people Israel. I will subdue all your enemies.

And I declare to you the Lord will build a house for you. ¹¹ Then it will be when your days are full and you go to your fathers, I will raise up your seed after you from your own sons. His kingdom I will establish. ¹² He is the one who will build Me a house, and I will establish his throne forever. ¹³ I will be a father to him, and he will be a son to Me. I will not take away My favor from him as I did from the one who was before you. ¹⁴ I will assign him a place in My house and in My kingdom forever, and his throne will be established for all time.

¹⁵ Thus, Nathan spoke to David all these words and according to all this vision.

The Prayer of David^(B)

¹⁶ Then King David came and sat before the Lord, and he said,

“Who am I, O Lord God, and what is my house that You have brought me this far? ¹⁷ This was something small in Your eyes, God, but You have spoken concerning the house of Your servant for a great while to come and have regarded me with the status of a great man, O Lord God.

¹⁸ “What more can David speak to You for the honor of Your servant? For You know Your servant. ¹⁹ O Lord, for the sake of Your servant and according to Your own heart You have done all these great things and made known all these great things.

²⁰ “O Lord, there is none like You, and there is no god besides You as we have heard with our ears. ²¹ Who is like Your people Israel, a nation on earth whom God has redeemed for Himself as a people to make for Yourself a great name by great and awesome deeds in driving out nations from before Your people whom You redeemed from Egypt? ²² For You made Your people Israel for Yourself for a people forever, and You, O Lord, have become their God.

²³ “And now, Lord, the word which You have spoken concerning Your servant and concerning his house, let it endure forever and do just as You have spoken. ²⁴ Let Your name endure and be magnified forever, saying, ‘The Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel, is God to Israel.’ And let the house of David Your servant be established before You.

²⁵ “For You, my God, have revealed to Your servant that You will build a house for him. Therefore Your servant has found courage to pray before You. ²⁶ And now, O Lord, You are God, and You have promised this good word to Your servant. ²⁷ Now, You have been pleased to bless the house of Your servant that it may be forever before You. For You, O Lord, have blessed it, and it shall be blessed forever.”

David’s Conquests^(C)

18 Now it happened after this that David attacked the Philistines and subdued them, so he took Gath and its neighboring towns from Philistine control.

² He also defeated Moab so that the Moabites became servants to David and brought tribute.

³ Next David struck down Hadadezer the king of Zobah toward Hamath as he marched out to establish his authority along the Euphrates. ⁴ David captured from him one thousand chariots, seven thousand horsemen, and twenty thousand infantry men. Then David hamstrung all the chariot horses except for the one hundred he spared.

⁵ When the Arameans of Damascus came to help Hadadezer king of Zobah, David struck down twenty-two thousand Arameans. ⁶ Then David set garrisons in Aram of Damascus; and Arameans became subject to David, and brought tribute. The Lord gave victory to David wherever he went.

⁷ So David took the shields of gold that were on the servants of Hadadezer, and brought them to Jerusalem. ⁸ Also from Tibhath^[a] and Kun, cities of Hadadezer, David took a large amount of bronze; with it Solomon made the bronze Sea, the pillars, and the vessels of bronze.

⁹ When Tou king of Hamath heard that David had defeated all the army of Hadadezer king of Zobah, ¹⁰ he sent his son Hadoram to King David to ask about his welfare and to bless him because he fought and defeated Hadadezer (for Hadadezer had been at war with Tou). He sent all kinds of articles of gold, silver, and bronze.

¹¹ King David also dedicated these to the Lord, together with the silver and gold which he had carried away from all the surrounding nations, from Edom, Moab, the Ammonites, the Philistines, and Amalek.

¹² Also Abishai the son of Zeruiah struck down eighteen thousand men of Edom in the Valley of Salt. ¹³ He set up garrisons in Edom, and all the Edomites became servants to David. Wherever he went, the Lord gave David victory.

David’s Officials

¹⁴ So David was king over all Israel, and he executed justice and righteousness for all his people. ¹⁵ Joab the son of Zeruiah was over the army, and Jehoshaphat the son of Ahilud was the historian. ¹⁶ Zadok the son of Ahitub and Abimelek the son of Abiathar served as priests, while Shavsha was scribe. ¹⁷ Benaiah the son of Jehoiada was over the Kerethites and the Pelethites, and the sons of David were the king’s principal officials.

The Righteous Judgment of God

2 Therefore you are without excuse, O man, whoever you are who judges, for when you judge another, you condemn yourself, for you who judge do the same things. ² But we know that the judgment of God is according to truth against those who commit such things. ³ Do you think, O man, who judges those who do such things, and who does the same thing, that you will escape the judgment of God? ⁴ Do you despise the riches of His goodness, tolerance, and patience, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance?

⁵ But because of your hardness and impenitent heart, you are storing up treasures of wrath against yourself on the day of wrath when the righteous judgment of God will be revealed, ⁶ and He “will render to every man according to his deeds.”^{[a] 7} To those who by patiently doing good seek for glory and honor and immortality will be eternal life. ⁸ But to those who are contentious and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, indignation, and wrath, ⁹ will be tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man who does evil, to the Jew first, and then to the Gentile. ¹⁰ But glory, honor, and peace will be to every man who does good work—to the Jew first, and then to the Gentile, ¹¹ for there is no partiality with God.

¹² As many as have sinned without the law will also perish without the law, and as many as have sinned under the law will be judged by the law, ¹³ for the hearers of the law are not justified before God, but the doers of the law will be justified. ¹⁴ For when Gentiles, who do not have the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these, not having the law, are a law unto themselves, ¹⁵ who show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, while their conflicting thoughts accuse or even excuse them, ¹⁶ in the day when, according to my gospel, God will judge the secrets of men through Jesus Christ.

The Jews and the Law

¹⁷ Indeed you are called a Jew, and rest in the law, and make your boast in God. ¹⁸ You know His will and approve the things that are more excellent, because you are instructed in the law. ¹⁹ You are confident that you are a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness, ²⁰ an instructor of the foolish, and a teacher of babes, who have the full content of knowledge and truth in the law: ²¹ You, therefore, who teach another, do you not teach yourself? You who preach not to steal, do you steal? ²² You who say not to commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples? ²³ You who boast in the law, do you dishonor God through breaking the law? ²⁴ As it is written, “The name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you.”^[b]