1 Chronicles 16–18
1 So they brought in the ark of God, placed it in the midst of the tent that David had erected for it, and drew near to God with burnt offerings and peace offerings. 2 When David had finished offering the burnt offerings and the peace offerings, he blessed the people in the name of the Lord. 3 Then he distributed to all the children of Israel, both men and women, a loaf of bread, a piece of meat, and a raisin cake for each.
4 And he appointed some of the Levites to minister before the ark of the Lord, to commemorate, to thank, and to praise the Lord God of Israel: 5 Asaph the chief, and next to him Zechariah, then Jeiel, Shemiramoth, Jehiel, Mattithiah, Eliab, Benaiah, and Obed-Edom: Jeiel with stringed instruments and harps, but Asaph made music with the cymbals. 6 Moreover, Benaiah and Jahaziel the priests sounded trumpets continually before the ark of the covenant of God.
7 On that day then, David delivered for the first time this psalm of thanksgiving to the Lord into the hand of Asaph and his brothers:
8 Give thanks to the Lord, call on His name;
make known His deeds among the peoples.
9 Sing to Him, sing praise to Him,
recount all His wonders.
10 Glory in His holy name;
let the heart of those who seek the Lord rejoice.
11 Seek the Lord and His strength;
seek His face continually.
12 Remember His wonders which He has done,
His wonders and the judgments of His mouth,
13 O seed of Israel, His servant,
O sons of Jacob, His chosen.
14 He is the Lord our God;
His judgments are in all the earth.
15 Remember His covenant forever,
the word He commanded for a thousand generations,
16 that He made with Abraham,
even His oath to Isaac.
17 He confirmed it to Jacob as a statute,
to Israel for an everlasting covenant,
18 saying, “To you I will give the land of Canaan
as the portion of your inheritance.”
19 When you were few in number,
few indeed, and strangers there,
20 when they wandered from nation to nation,
from one kingdom to another,
21 He allowed no man to oppress them;
He rebuked kings on their account,
22 saying, “Do not touch My anointed,
and do My prophets no harm.”
23 Sing to the Lord, all the earth.
Proclaim good tidings of His salvation from day to day.
24 Declare His glory among the nations,
His wonders among all the peoples.
25 For great is the Lord and greatly to be praised.
He is to be feared above all gods.
26 For all the gods of the peoples are idols,
but the Lord made the heavens.
27 Honor and majesty are before Him;
strength and joy are in His place.
28 Give to the Lord, O families of the peoples,
give to the Lord glory and strength.
29 Give to the Lord the glory due His name;
bring an offering and come before Him,
bow down to the Lord in holy array.
30 Tremble before Him, all the earth.
The world also is firmly established; it shall not be moved.
31 Let the heavens rejoice, and let the earth be glad.
Let them say among the nations, “The Lord is King.”
32 Let the sea roar, and all its fullness.
Let the field rejoice, and all that is in it.
33 Then the trees of the forest will ring out before the Lord,
for He is coming to judge the earth.
34 Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good;
for His mercy endures forever.
35 Now say, “Save us, O God of our salvation,
and gather us and deliver us from the nations,
that we may give thanks to Your holy name,
to glory in Your praise.
36 Blessed is the Lord, the God of Israel,
from everlasting to everlasting.”
Then all the people said, “Amen,” and “Praise the Lord.”
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.
Chapter 17
1 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 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.
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.”
Chapter 18
1 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 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.
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.
John 7:28–53
28 Then Jesus, still teaching in the temple, cried out, “You know Me and you likewise know where I am from. I have not come on My own authority, but He who sent Me is true, whom you do not know. 29 But I know Him, for I am from Him, and He sent Me.”
30 So they tried to seize Him, but no one laid hands on Him, because His hour had not yet come. 31 Still, many of the people believed in Him and said, “When the Christ comes, will He do more signs than these which this Man has done?”
32 The Pharisees heard the people murmuring these things concerning Him. So the Pharisees and the chief priests sent officers to arrest Him.
33 Then Jesus said to them, “I shall be with you a little while longer, and then I go to Him who sent Me. 34 You will look for Me and you will not find Me. And where I am, you cannot come.”
35 The Jews said among themselves, “Where does He intend to go that we shall not find Him? Does He intend to go to the Dispersion among the Greeks and teach the Greeks? 36 What kind of saying is this which He said, ‘You will look for Me and you will not find Me. And where I am, you cannot come’?”
37 On the last and greatest day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. 38 He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart shall flow rivers of living water.” 39 By this He spoke of the Spirit, whom those who believe in Him would receive. For the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.
40 Therefore when they heard these words, many of the people said, “Truly, this is the Prophet.”
41 Others said, “This is the Christ.”
But some said, “Will the Christ come out of Galilee? 42 Has the Scripture not said that the Christ comes from the seed of David, out of the town of Bethlehem where David was?” 43 So there was a division among the people because of Him. 44 Some of them wanted to arrest Him, but no one laid hands on Him.
45 Then the officers came to the chief priests and Pharisees, who said to them, “Why did you not bring Him?”
46 The officers answered, “No man has ever spoken like this Man.”
47 Then the Pharisees answered them, “Are you also deceived? 48 Have any of the rulers or the Pharisees believed in Him? 49 Not at all. This crowd who does not know the law is accursed.”
50 Nicodemus, being one of them who came to Jesus by night, said to them, 51 “Does our law judge a man before it hears him and knows what he is doing?”
52 They answered him, “Are you also from Galilee? Search and see that no prophet arises out of Galilee.”
53 Then everyone went to his own house.