31 32 33 34 35 36 37 Let heaven rejoice, and the earth exult with joy, And the trees of the field and all therein; the Lord; Because he is come to judge the earth. O praise the Lord; for it is good, And in thy praises make our boast. Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, From everlasting to everlasting, And let all the people say, Amen. presence of And when they had praised the Lord, they left there, be fore the ark of the covenant of the Lord, Asaph and his brethren, that they might minister before the ark continually as 38 each day's service required. And with regard to Abdedom and his brethren who were sixty eight, Abdedom son of Idi39 thun and Osa were to be door keepers. And they left Sadok the priest, and his brethren the priests, before the tabernacle of the Lord at the high place at Gabaon, that they might offer 40 whole burnt offerings to the Lord, on the altar of whole burnt offerings continually every morning and evening, according to all that is written in the law of the Lord, which he enjoined on the children of Israel by the ministry of Moses the servant 41 of God: and with him were Aiman and Idithun, and the rest who were chosen by name to praise the Lord, because his 42 mercy endureth forever. And they had with them trumpets and high sounding cymbals, and musical instruments, for the 43 songs of God. And the sons of Idithun were to be keepers of the gate. Then all the people returned every one to his home, and David returned to bless his household. XVII. When David was settled in his house, he said to Nathan the prophet, Behold I dwell in a house of cedar, but the ark of the covenant of the Lord is beneath curtains of skin. 2 Thereupon Nathan said to David, Do whatever is in thy heart; 3 for God is with thee. But that very night there came to Na. 4 than a word of the Lord, Go, and say to David my servant, Thus saith the Lord, Thou shalt not build me a house to dwell 5 in. Because I have not dwelt in a house from the day I brought up Israel even to this day, but have been in a tent and under 6 a curtain in all the places, through which I passed among Is-> rael, did I ever speak to any tribe of Israel, whom I commanded to feed my people, and say, Why have you not built for 7 me a house of cedar? But now, Thus shalt thou say to my servant David, Thus saith the Lord Almighty, I took thee from 8 the fold-from following the flocks, to be ruler over my people Israel, and have been with thee wherever thou hast gone, and have cut off all thy enemies from before thee, and made thee a name like the name of the great men on the earth; and 9 I will fix a place for my people Israel, and plant them, and they shall dwell by themselves and no more be in trouble, nor shall 10 a son of iniquity any more humble them as at the first, even from the time I appointed judges over my people Israel. I have indeed subdued all thy enemies, and I will increase thee 11 and the Lord will build thee a house. And when thy days are fulfilled and thou shalt go to rest with thy fathers, I will raise up thy seed after thee who shall proceed from thy loins, and I 12 will prepare his kingdom. He shall build a house for me, and 13 I will establish his throne forever. I will be to him a father and he shall be to me a son; and I will not withdraw my mercy from him as I withdrew it from them who were before him; 14 but will confirm him in my house and in his kingdom, and his throne shall be established forever. 15 According to all these words and according to all this 16 vision, so did Nathan speak to David. Whereupon king David went and sat down before the Lord, and said, Who am I, O Lord my God, and what is my house that 17 thou shouldst love me forever! Though these were very small before thee, O my God, yet thou hast spoken of thy servant's house for a great while to come, and hast looked upon me as 18 with the eyes of a man, and exalted me. O Lord my God, what more can David address to thee to express thy praise? Thou 19 knowest thy servant, and according to thy own heart thou hast 20 made all this greatness. O Lord! there is none like thee, nor is there a god besides thee according to all that we have heard with our ears; nor is there another nation on the earth like thy people 21 Israel. How hath God led them to redeem a people for himself, to make himself a name great and glorious, by driving out nations from before thy people whom thou didst redeem out 22 of Egypt! As thou hast made thy people Israel a people for 23 thyself forever, and thou the Lord art become their God; now therefore, O Lord, let the word which thou hast spoken to thy servant, and touching his house be established forever, and do 24 as thou hast spoken; and let thy name be established and magnified forever by men, saying, O Lord, Lord Almighty, thou art the God of Israel, and the house of thy servant 25 David is established before thee. Because thou, O Lord my God, hast revealed to the ear of thy servant, that thou wilt build him a house; therefore thy servant hath found freedom 26 to make supplication before thee. And now, O Lord, thou art God. As thou hast spoken these good things, respecting thy 27 servant; now therefore begin to bless the house of thy servant that it may be before thee forever. Because thou hast blessed, therefore bless it forever. XVIII. Now after these things, David smote the Philistines and subdued them, and took out of their hands Geth and the vil2 lages thereof. He smote Moab also, and they became vassals 3 to David and brought him gifts. David also smote Adraazar king of Suba Emath. As he was going to establish his domi4 nion over the river Euphrates; David intercepted a thousand of his chariots and seven thousand cavalry, and twenty thousand infantry. And David destroyed all the chariots, reserving only 5 a hundred of them. And when the Syrians of Damascus came to assist Adraazar king of Suba, David smote of the Syrians 6 twenty two thousand men. And David garrisoned that part of Syria which belonged to Damascus, and the inhabitants became David's vassals, and brought him gifts. And the Lord pre7 served David wherever he went. And David took the chains of gold which were on the servants of Adraazar, and brought 8 them to Jerusalem. And from Matabeth and from the chief cities which belonged to Adraazar, David took brass in great abundance, of which Solomon made the brasen sea and the pil9 lars and the vessels of brass. Now when Thoa king of Emath, heard that David had smitten all the army of Adraazar king of 10 Suba, he sent his son Aduram to king David, to sue for peace with him, and to congratulate him because he had fought Adraazar and defeated him; for Thoa was at war with Ad11 raazar. And all the vessels of gold and silver and brass, which he brought, these king David dedicated to the Lord, together with the silver and the gold which he took from all the nations from Idumea and Moab, and from the Ammonites and the Philistines and from Amelek. 12 When Abessa son of Saruia had smitten of the Idumeans 13 in the valley of salt, eighteen thousand, he put garrisons in the vale; and the Idumeans became David's vassals, and the 14 Lord preserved David wherever he went. And David reigned over all Israel, and continued to execute judgment and jus15 tice among all the people. And Joab son of Saruia was over 16 the army; and Josaphat son of Achilud was recorder; and Sa dok son of Achitob and Achimelech son of Abiathar, were the 17 priests; and Sousa was secretary; and Banaias son of Jodae was over the Cherethites and the Phelethites, and David's sons were next in rank to the king. XIX. Now after these things, when Naas king of the Ammon2 ites died and his son Anan reigned in his stead, David said, I will shew kindness to Anan son of Naas as his father shewed kindness to me. So David sent messengers to comfort him for his father. But when David's servants came to the country of the Ammonites to Anan to comfort him, the chiefs of the Am3 monites said to Anan, Is it to honour thy father in thy presence that David hath sent comforters to thee? Is it not that they may examine the city and spy the country that his servants are come 4 to thee? Thereupon Anan took David's servants and shaved them, and having cut off the half of their military robe even to 5 the under garment, he dismissed them. And when messengers came to inform David respecting his servants, David sent to meet them, because they had been greatly dishonoured; and the king said to them, Abide at Jericho till your beards grow 6 and then return. Now when the Ammonites saw that David's people were dishonoured, Anan and the children of Ammon sent a thousand talents of silver to hire for themselves chariots and cavalry from Syrian Mesopotamia, and from Syrian Maa 7 cha and from Sobal. And they hired thirty two thousand of the chariot army, and the king of Maacha and his people. And when they arrived they encamped over against Medaba, and the Ammonites were drawn together out of their cities, and 8 came to commence war. When David heard this he sent Joab 9 with all the army of the worthies. And the Ammonites came out and drew up in array for battle before the gate of the city; but the kings who had come, encamped by themselves in the 10 plain. When Joab saw that they were arrayed for battle against him both in front and rear, he made a draught out of all the youth 11 of Israel and drew them up in array against the Syrians. And the rest of the people he put under the command of Abesai his brother, and they were drawn up in array against the Ammon12 ites. And Joab said, If the Syrians be too strong for me, thou must come to my assistance; and if the children of Ammon 13 prove too strong for thee I will support thee. Be of good cou rage and let us act valiantly for our people and for the cities of 14 our God, and the Lord will do what is good in his sight. And when Joab and the people with him drew up in array for battle 15 over against the Syrians they fled from them. And soon as the Ammonites saw that the Syrians fled they also fled before Abesai and before Joab his brother, and entered the city. Upon which Joab returned to Jerusalem. 16 When the Syrian saw that Israel had defeated him, he despatched messengers and drew out the Syrians from beyond the river. And Sophath the general of Adraazar's army was at 17 their head. This being told David, he assembled all Israel and crossed the Jordan and came upon them, and drew up for battle against them. And while David was marshalling his army for battle against the Syrians, they attacked him; but the 18 Syrians fled before Israel, and David slew of the Syrians seven thousand of the chariot army, and forty thousand infantry. 19 He slew also Sophath the general of the army. And when the servants of Adraazar saw that they were defeated before Is. rael, they made peace with David and served him. And the XX. Syrians would not help the Ammonites any more. And at the return of the year when kings take the field, Joab led out all the strength of the army, and having laid waste all the country of the Ammonites, he went and besieged Rabba |