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¹And it came about, when David lived in his house, that David said to Nathan the prophet, “Look, I am living in a house of cedar, but the ark of the covenant of the LORD is under tent curtains.”

²Then Nathan said to David, “Do whatever is in your heart, for God is with you.”

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

⁴“Go and tell David My servant, ‘This is what the LORD says: “You shall not build a house for Me to dwell in;

⁵for I have not dwelt in a house since the day that I brought up Israel to this day, but I have gone from tent to tent and from one dwelling place to another.

⁶In all places where I have walked with all Israel, have I spoken a word with any of the judges of Israel, whom I commanded to shepherd My people, saying, ‘Why have you not built Me a house of cedar?’ ” ’

⁷Now, therefore, this is what you shall say to My servant David: ‘This is what the LORD of armies says: “I took you from the pasture, from following the sheep, to be leader over My people Israel.

⁸I have been with you wherever you have gone, and have eliminated all your enemies from you; and I will make for you a name like the name of the great ones who are on the earth.

⁹And I will appoint a place for My people Israel, and will plant them there, so that they may live in their own place and not tremble with anxiety again; and the wicked will not make them waste away anymore as they did previously,

¹⁰even from the day that I commanded judges to be over My people Israel. And I will subdue all your enemies. Moreover, I tell you that the LORD will build a house for you.

¹¹When your days are fulfilled that you must go to be with your fathers, then I will set up one of your descendants after you, who will be from your sons; and I will establish his kingdom.

¹²He shall build for Me a house, and I will establish his throne forever.

¹³I will be his father and he shall be My son; and I will not take My favor away from him, as I took it from him who was before you.

¹⁴But I will settle him in My house and in My kingdom forever, and his throne will be established forever.” ’ ”

¹⁵According to all these words and according to all of this vision, so Nathan spoke to David.

¹⁶Then King David came in and sat before the LORD, and said, “Who am I, LORD God, and what is my house that You have brought me this far?

¹⁷This was a small thing in Your eyes, God; but You have spoken of Your servant’s house for a great while to come, and have viewed me according to the standard of a person of high degree, LORD God.

¹⁸What more can David still say to You concerning the honor bestowed on Your servant? For You know Your servant.

¹⁹LORD, for Your servant’s sake, and according to Your own heart, You have accomplished all this greatness, to make known all these great things.

²⁰LORD, there is none like You, nor is there any God besides You, according to everything that we have heard with our ears.

²¹And what one nation on the earth is like Your people Israel, whom God went to redeem for Himself as a people, to make for You a name by great and awesome things, by driving out nations from before Your people, whom You redeemed from Egypt?

²²For You have made Your people Israel Your own people forever, and You, LORD, became their God.

²³“Now, LORD, let the word that You have spoken concerning Your servant and concerning his house be established forever, and do just as You have spoken.

²⁴Let Your name be established and be great forever, saying, ‘The LORD of armies is the God of Israel, a God to Israel; and the house of Your servant David is established before You.’

²⁵For You, my God, have revealed to Your servant that You will build him a house; therefore Your servant has found courage to pray before You.

²⁶Now, LORD, You are God, and have promised this good thing to Your servant.

²⁷And now You have decided to bless the house of Your servant, that it may continue forever before You; for You, LORD, have blessed, and it is blessed forever.”

¹Now after this it came about that David defeated the Philistines and subdued them and took Gath and its towns from the hand of the Philistines.

²And he defeated Moab, and the Moabites became servants to David, bringing tribute.

³David also defeated Hadadezer king of Zobah as far as Hamath, as he went to establish his rule to the river Euphrates.

⁴David took from him a thousand chariots and seven thousand horsemen and twenty thousand foot soldiers, and David hamstrung almost all the chariot horses, but left enough of them for a hundred chariots.

⁵When the Arameans of Damascus came to help Hadadezer king of Zobah, David killed twenty-two thousand men of the Arameans.

⁶Then David put garrisons among the Arameans of Damascus; and the Arameans became servants to David, bringing tribute. And the LORD helped David wherever he went.

⁷And David took the shields of gold which were carried by the servants of Hadadezer, and brought them to Jerusalem.

⁸Also from Tibhath and Cun, cities of Hadadezer, David took a very large amount of bronze, with which Solomon made the bronze Sea and the pillars and the bronze utensils.

⁹Now when Tou king of Hamath heard that David had defeated all the army of Hadadezer king of Zobah,

¹⁰he sent Hadoram his son to King David to greet him and to bless him, because he had fought against Hadadezer and had defeated him; for Hadadezer had been at war with Tou. And Hadoram brought all kinds of articles of gold and silver and bronze.

¹¹King David also dedicated these to the LORD, with the silver and the gold which he had carried away from all the nations: from Edom, Moab, the sons of Ammon, the Philistines, and from Amalek.

¹²Moreover, Abishai the son of Zeruiah defeated eighteen thousand Edomites in the Valley of Salt.

¹³Then he put garrisons in Edom, and all the Edomites became servants to David. And the LORD helped David wherever he went.

¹⁴So David reigned over all Israel; and he administered justice and righteousness for all his people.

¹⁵Joab the son of Zeruiah was over the army, and Jehoshaphat the son of Ahilud was secretary;

¹⁶and Zadok the son of Ahitub and Abimelech the son of Abiathar were priests, and Shavsha was secretary;

¹⁷and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada was over the Cherethites and the Pelethites, and the sons of David were chiefs at the king’s side.

¹Now it came about after this, that Nahash the king of the sons of Ammon died, and his son became king in his place.

²Then David said, “I will show kindness to Hanun the son of Nahash, because his father showed kindness to me.” So David sent messengers to console him concerning his father. And David’s servants came into the land of the sons of Ammon to Hanun to console him.

³But the commanders among the sons of Ammon said to Hanun, “Do you think that David is honoring your father, in that he has sent comforters to you? Have his servants not come to you to search, to demolish, and to spy out the land?”

⁴So Hanun took David’s servants and shaved them, and cut off their robes in the middle as far as their buttocks, and sent them away.

⁵Then certain people went and told David about the men. And he sent messengers to meet them, because the men were very humiliated. And the king said, “Stay at Jericho until your beards grow back, then return.”

⁶When the sons of Ammon saw that they had made themselves repulsive to David, Hanun and the sons of Ammon sent a thousand talents of silver to hire for themselves chariots and horsemen from Mesopotamia, Aram-maacah, and Zobah.

⁷So they hired for themselves thirty-two thousand chariots, and the king of Maacah and his people, who came and camped opposite Medeba. And the sons of Ammon gathered together from their cities and came to the battle.

⁸When David heard about it, he sent Joab and all the army, the mighty men.

⁹The sons of Ammon came out and drew up in battle formation at the entrance of the city; and the kings who had come were by themselves in the field.

¹⁰Now when Joab saw that the battle was set against him at the front and at the rear, he selected warriors from all the choice men in Israel and lined them up against the Arameans.

¹¹But the remainder of the people he placed under the command of Abshai his brother; and they lined up against the sons of Ammon.

¹²He said, “If the Arameans are too strong for me, then you shall help me; but if the sons of Ammon are too strong for you, then I will help you.

¹³Be strong, and let’s show ourselves courageous for the benefit of our people and the cities of our God; and may the LORD do what is good in His sight.”

¹⁴So Joab and the people who were with him advanced to battle against the Arameans, and they fled from him.

¹⁵When the sons of Ammon saw that the Arameans had fled, they also fled from his brother Abshai and entered the city. Then Joab came to Jerusalem.

¹⁶When the Arameans saw that they had been defeated by Israel, they sent messengers and brought out the Arameans who were beyond the Euphrates River, with Shophach the commander of the army of Hadadezer leading them.

¹⁷When it was reported to David, he gathered all Israel together and crossed the Jordan, and came upon them and drew up in formation against them. And when David drew up in battle formation against the Arameans, they fought against him.

¹⁸And the Arameans fled from Israel, and David killed of the Arameans seven thousand charioteers and forty thousand foot soldiers; and he put Shophach the commander of the army to death.

¹⁹So when the servants of Hadadezer saw that they had been defeated by Israel, they made peace with David and served him. So the Arameans were not willing to help the sons of Ammon anymore.