1
King Hiram of Tyre sent a trade mission to David; he provided him with cedar logs and with stonemasons and carpenters to build a palace.
2
And so David realized that the LORD had established him as king of Israel and was making his kingdom prosperous for the sake of his people.
3
There in Jerusalem, David married more wives and had more sons and daughters.
4
The following children were born to him in Jerusalem: Shammua, Shobab, Nathan, Solomon,
5
Ibhar, Elishua, Elpelet,
7
Elishama, Beeliada, and Eliphelet.
8
When the Philistines heard that David had now been made king over the whole country of Israel, their army went out to capture him. So David marched out to meet them.
9
The Philistines arrived at Rephaim Valley and began plundering.
10
David asked God, "Shall I attack the Philistines? Will you give me the victory?" The LORD answered, "Yes, attack! I will give you the victory!"
11
So David attacked them at Baal Perazim and defeated them. He said, "God has used me to break through the enemy army like a flood." So that place is called Baal Perazim.
12
When the Philistines fled, they left their idols behind, and David gave orders for them to be burned.
13
Soon the Philistines returned to the valley and started plundering it again.
14
Once more David consulted God, who answered, "Don't attack them from here, but go around and get ready to attack them from the other side, near the balsam trees.
15
When you hear the sound of marching in the treetops, then attack, because I will be marching ahead of you to defeat the Philistine army."
16
David did what God had commanded, and so he drove the Philistines back from Gibeon all the way to Gezer.
17
David's fame spread everywhere, and the LORD made every nation afraid of him.
1
For his own use, David built houses in David's City. He also prepared a place for God's Covenant Box and put up a tent for it.
2
Then he said, "Only Levites should carry the Covenant Box, because they are the ones the LORD chose to carry it and to serve him forever."
3
So David summoned all the people of Israel to Jerusalem in order to bring the Covenant Box to the place he had prepared for it.
4
Next he sent for the descendants of Aaron and for the Levites.
5
From the Levite clan of Kohath came Uriel, in charge of 120 members of his clan;
6
from the clan of Merari came Asaiah, in charge of 220;
7
from the clan of Gershon, Joel, in charge of 130;
8
from the clan of Elizaphan, Shemaiah, in charge of 200;
9
from the clan of Hebron, Eliel, in charge of 80;
10
and from the clan of Uzziel, Amminadab, in charge of 112.
11
David called in the priests Zadok and Abiathar and the six Levites, Uriel, Asaiah, Joel, Shemaiah, Eliel, and Amminadab.
12
He said to the Levites, "You are the leaders of the Levite clans. Purify yourselves and your fellow Levites, so that you can bring the Covenant Box of the LORD God of Israel to the place I have prepared for it.
13
Because you were not there to carry it the first time, the LORD our God punished us for not worshiping him as we should have done."
14
Then the priests and the Levites purified themselves in order to move the Covenant Box of the LORD God of Israel.
15
The Levites carried it on poles on their shoulders, as the LORD had commanded through Moses.
16
David commanded the leaders of the Levites to assign various Levites to sing and to play joyful music on harps and cymbals.
17
From the clans of singers they chose the following men to play the brass cymbals: Heman son of Joel, his relative Asaph son of Berechiah, and Ethan son of Kushaiah, of the clan of Merari. To assist them they chose the following Levites to play the high-pitched harps: Zechariah, Jaaziel, Shemiramoth, Jehiel, Unni, Eliab, Maaseiah, and Benaiah. To play the low-pitched harps they chose the following Levites: Mattithiah, Eliphelehu, Mikneiah, Azaziah, and the Temple guards, Obed Edom and Jeiel.
22
Because of his skill in music Chenaniah was chosen to be in charge of the levitical musicians.
23
Berechiah and Elkanah, along with Obed Edom and Jehiah, were chosen as guards for the Covenant Box. The priests Shebaniah, Joshaphat, Nethanel, Amasai, Zechariah, Benaiah, and Eliezer were chosen to blow trumpets in front of the Covenant Box.
25
So King David, the leaders of Israel, and the military commanders went to the house of Obed Edom to get the Covenant Box, and they had a great celebration.
26
They sacrificed seven bulls and seven sheep, to make sure that God would help the Levites who were carrying the Covenant Box.
27
David was wearing a robe made of the finest linen, and so were the musicians, Chenaniah their leader, and the Levites who carried the Box. David also wore a linen ephod.
28
So all the Israelites accompanied the Covenant Box up to Jerusalem with shouts of joy, the sound of trumpets, horns, and cymbals, and the music of harps.
29
As the Box was being brought into the city, Michal, Saul's daughter, looked out of the window and saw King David dancing and leaping for joy, and she was disgusted with him.
1
LORD, do not forget David and all the hardships he endured.
2
Remember, LORD, what he promised, the vow he made to you, the Mighty God of Jacob:
3
"I will not go home or go to bed;
4
I will not rest or sleep,
5
until I provide a place for the LORD, a home for the Mighty God of Jacob."
6
In Bethlehem we heard about the Covenant Box, and we found it in the fields of Jearim.
7
We said, "Let us go to the LORD's house; let us worship before his throne."
8
Come to the Temple, LORD, with the Covenant Box, the symbol of your power, and stay here forever.
9
May your priests do always what is right; may your people shout for joy!
10
You made a promise to your servant David; do not reject your chosen king, LORD.
11
You made a solemn promise to David--- a promise you will not take back: "I will make one of your sons king, and he will rule after you.
12
If your sons are true to my covenant and to the commands I give them, their sons, also, will succeed you for all time as kings."
13
The LORD has chosen Zion; he wants to make it his home:
14
"This is where I will live forever; this is where I want to rule.
15
I will richly provide Zion with all she needs; I will satisfy her poor with food.
16
I will bless her priests in all they do, and her people will sing and shout for joy.
17
Here I will make one of David's descendants a great king; here I will preserve the rule of my chosen king.
18
I will cover his enemies with shame, but his kingdom will prosper and flourish."
1
At that time the disciples came to Jesus, asking, "Who is the greatest in the Kingdom of heaven?"
2
So Jesus called a child to come and stand in front of them,
3
and said, "I assure you that unless you change and become like children, you will never enter the Kingdom of heaven.
4
The greatest in the Kingdom of heaven is the one who humbles himself and becomes like this child.
5
And whoever welcomes in my name one such child as this, welcomes me.
6
"If anyone should cause one of these little ones to lose his faith in me, it would be better for that person to have a large millstone tied around his neck and be drowned in the deep sea.
7
How terrible for the world that there are things that make people lose their faith! Such things will always happen---but how terrible for the one who causes them!
8
"If your hand or your foot makes you lose your faith, cut it off and throw it away! It is better for you to enter life without a hand or a foot than to keep both hands and both feet and be thrown into the eternal fire.
9
And if your eye makes you lose your faith, take it out and throw it away! It is better for you to enter life with only one eye than to keep both eyes and be thrown into the fire of hell.
10
"See that you don't despise any of these little ones. Their angels in heaven, I tell you, are always in the presence of my Father in heaven.
12
"What do you think a man does who has one hundred sheep and one of them gets lost? He will leave the other ninety-nine grazing on the hillside and go and look for the lost sheep.
13
When he finds it, I tell you, he feels far happier over this one sheep than over the ninety-nine that did not get lost.
14
In just the same way your Father in heaven does not want any of these little ones to be lost.
15
"If your brother sins against you, go to him and show him his fault. But do it privately, just between yourselves. If he listens to you, you have won your brother back.
16
But if he will not listen to you, take one or two other persons with you, so that 'every accusation may be upheld by the testimony of two or more witnesses,' as the scripture says.
17
And if he will not listen to them, then tell the whole thing to the church. Finally, if he will not listen to the church, treat him as though he were a pagan or a tax collector.
18
"And so I tell all of you: what you prohibit on earth will be prohibited in heaven, and what you permit on earth will be permitted in heaven.
19
"And I tell you more: whenever two of you on earth agree about anything you pray for, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven.
20
For where two or three come together in my name, I am there with them."
21
Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, "Lord, if my brother keeps on sinning against me, how many times do I have to forgive him? Seven times?"
22
"No, not seven times," answered Jesus, "but seventy times seven,
23
because the Kingdom of heaven is like this. Once there was a king who decided to check on his servants' accounts.
24
He had just begun to do so when one of them was brought in who owed him millions of dollars.
25
The servant did not have enough to pay his debt, so the king ordered him to be sold as a slave, with his wife and his children and all that he had, in order to pay the debt.
26
The servant fell on his knees before the king. 'Be patient with me,' he begged, 'and I will pay you everything!'
27
The king felt sorry for him, so he forgave him the debt and let him go.
28
"Then the man went out and met one of his fellow servants who owed him a few dollars. He grabbed him and started choking him. 'Pay back what you owe me!' he said.
29
His fellow servant fell down and begged him, 'Be patient with me, and I will pay you back!'
30
But he refused; instead, he had him thrown into jail until he should pay the debt.
31
When the other servants saw what had happened, they were very upset and went to the king and told him everything.
32
So he called the servant in. 'You worthless slave!' he said. 'I forgave you the whole amount you owed me, just because you asked me to.
33
You should have had mercy on your fellow servant, just as I had mercy on you.'
34
The king was very angry, and he sent the servant to jail to be punished until he should pay back the whole amount."
35
And Jesus concluded, "That is how my Father in heaven will treat every one of you unless you forgive your brother from your heart."
