The feast in the City of David
1They put the covenant box of God down in the tent of the Lord that David had put up for it and then they sacrificed burnt-offerings and meal-offerings to God. 2After David had sacrificed burnt-offerings and meal-offerings he told the people that the Lord would bless them. 3He gave all the Israelites, every man and woman, a loaf of bread and dates and raisins. 4He also chose some Levites to work before the covenant box of the Lord. Their work was to sing to the Lord, the God of Israel, to thank Him and praise Him. 5Asaph was the leader of the Levites and the 2nd leader was Zechariah, then it was Jeiel, Shemiramoth, Jehiel, Mattithiah, Eliab, Benaiah, Obed-Edom and Jeiel. They played the harps and lyres and Asaph played the cymbals. 6The priests Benaiah and Jahaziel had to blow the trumpets in front of the covenant box of God every day.
David's song of praise to the Lord
(Also in Psalm 96:2-13, 105:1-15, 106:47-48)
7This was the first day when David told Asaph and his family to sing a song for the Lord. The name of the song was: ‘You must thank the Lord’. 8The words of the song were:
‘You must thank the Lord.
You must say his name,
and you must tell everyone what He has done.
9You must sing to Him,
and you must play music for Him.
You must think about all of his miracles.
10You must praise Him, because He is holy.
Everyone who serves the Lord
must show that he is happy.
11You must come and serve the Lord.
He is strong.
You must always want to be near Him.
12Remember the miracles that He has done,
and think about all the wonderful things He did
when He punished his enemies.
13You are the descendants of Israel, his servant,
the descendants of Jacob. God chose you.
14He is our God, the Lord. He judges everyone.
15He always remembers his covenant,
which He promised to 1 000 generations.
16He made this covenant with Abraham,
and He promised it to Isaac.
17He told Jacob that his covenant would not change.
It is a covenant with the Israelites,
a covenant that will be forever.
18The Lord said:
“I give you the land of Canaan,
and it will always belong to you.”
19They were only a few people, not many,
and they were strangers in the land.
20They walked from one nation to another nation,
from one land to another land.
21The Lord said no one could oppress his people,
and He punished the kings
because they oppressed his people.
22He said: “You must not hurt my people.
I have anointed them.
Don't do bad things to my prophets.”
23You must sing to the Lord.
Everyone on earth must sing to Him.
You must give people the good news every day,
and tell them that God saves people.
24You must tell all the nations on earth
that the Lord is King
and that He does wonderful things.
25Because the Lord is great,
people must praise Him all the time.
They must fear Him,
and they must not worship_idols.
26Because all the gods of the nations are worthless
and it is the Lord who made the heaven.
27Everyone who serves the Lord
knows that He is King,
and everyone in his temple is happy.
They know that He is the strong King.
28Every one of you, all the nations,
must praise the Lord.
You must praise Him because he is King,
and He is strong.
29You must praise the name of the Lord
and you must come to Him and bring Him gifts.
You must bow before the Lord, the holy King.
30All the people on earth
must fear Him and tremble.
He makes the earth stand strong like a rock,
and no one can move it.
31The heaven must be happy,
and the earth must rejoice.
They must tell all the nations:
“The Lord is King.”
32The sea and everything in the sea
must roar and make a noise.
The field and everything in the field
must be happy and rejoice.
33Then all the trees in the forest
will sing to the Lord
because He comes to rule over earth.
34You must thank the Lord
because He is good.
Yes, He always does what He has promised.
35You must say:
“O God who always saves us,
please save us now.
Free us and bring us back
from among all the nations
so that we can thank You
and worship your holy name.
We are happy when we praise You.”
36Everyone must praise the Lord,
the God of Israel.
They must always praise Him, forever.
And all his people must say: “Amen,”
and they must praise the Lord.’
David chooses worship leaders
37David told Asaph and the other Levites to stay where the covenant box of the Lord was and to do the work that they had to do every day. 38Obed-Edom and 68 men from his family had to help them. Obed-Edom, son of Jeduthun, and Hosah were the gatekeepers. 39The priest Zadok and the priests of his family had to work at the tent of the Lord at the places_of_sacrifice in the town of Gibeon. 40They had to sacrifice burnt-offerings on the altar every morning and every evening. They had to do it as it is written in the laws of the Lord that He had given the Israelites. 41David chose Heman, Jeduthun and the other Levites to work with them to thank the Lord. They had to sing and say: ‘Yes, the Lord always does what He has promised.’ 42Heman and Jeduthun had trumpets, cymbals and other musical_instruments to play music when they were singing this song to God. Jeduthun's sons were at the gate.
43Then all of the people went home and David went back to greet his family.
