David

So David inquired of God, “Should I go up against the Philistines? Will You deliver them into my hand?” “Go,” replied the LORD, “for I will deliver them into your hand.”

So David and his men went up to Baal-perazim, where he defeated the Philistines and said, “Like a bursting flood, God has burst out against my enemies by my hand.” So they called that place Baal-perazim.

There the Philistines abandoned their gods, and David ordered that they be burned in the fire.

So David again inquired of God, who answered him, “Do not march up after them, but circle around them and attack them in front of the balsam trees.

So David did as God had commanded him, and they struck down the army of the Philistines all the way from Gibeon to Gezer.

And David’s fame went out into every land, and the LORD caused all nations to fear him.

David constructed buildings for himself in the City of David, and he prepared a place for the ark of God and pitched a tent for it.

Then David said, “No one but the Levites may carry the ark of God, because the LORD has chosen them to carry the ark of the LORD and to minister before Him forever.”

And David assembled all Israel in Jerusalem to bring up the ark of the LORD to the place he had prepared for it.

Then he gathered together the descendants of Aaron and the Levites:

David summoned the priests Zadok and Abiathar and the Levites Uriel, Asaiah, Joel, Shemaiah, Eliel, and Amminadab.

David also told the leaders of the Levites to appoint their relatives as singers to lift up their voices with joy, accompanied by musical instruments—harps, lyres, and cymbals.

So David, the elders of Israel, and the commanders of thousands went with rejoicing to bring the ark of the covenant of the LORD from the house of Obed-edom.

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 director of music for the singers. David also wore a linen ephod.

As the ark of the covenant of the LORD was entering the City of David, Saul’s daughter Michal looked down from a window and saw King David dancing and celebrating, and she despised him in her heart.

So they brought the ark of God and placed it inside the tent that David had pitched for it. And they presented burnt offerings and peace offerings before God.

When David had finished sacrificing the burnt offerings and peace offerings, he blessed the people in the name of the LORD.

On that day David first committed to Asaph and his brothers this song of thanksgiving to the LORD:

Then all the people departed for their homes, and David returned home to bless his household.

After David had settled into his palace, he said to Nathan the prophet, “Here I am, living in a house of cedar, while the ark of the covenant of the LORD is under a tent.”

And Nathan replied to David, “Do all that is in your heart, for God is with you.”

“Go and tell My servant David that this is what the LORD says: You are not the one to build Me a house in which to dwell.

Now then, you are to tell My servant David that this is what the LORD of Hosts says: I took you from the pasture, from following the flock, to be the ruler over My people Israel.

So Nathan relayed to David all the words of this entire vision.

Then King David went in, sat before the LORD, and said, “Who am I, O LORD God, and what is my house, that You have brought me this far?