1 Chronicles 16

1 Then they took in the ark of God and put it inside the tent which David had put up for it; and they made offerings, burned offerings and peace-offerings before God.

They brought the Ark of God and placed it in the tent that David had prepared for it. They presented burnt offerings and friendship offerings to God.

2 And when David had come to an end of making the burned offerings and peace-offerings, he gave the people a blessing in the name of the Lord.

Once David had finished presenting the burnt offerings and friendship offerings, he blessed the people in the name of the Lord.

3 And he gave to everyone, every man and woman of Israel, a cake of bread, some meat, and a cake of dry grapes.

Then he shared out to every Israelite, to every man and woman, a loaf of bread, a date cake, and a raisin cake.

4 And he put some of the Levites before the ark of the Lord as servants, to keep the acts of the Lord in memory, and to give worship and praise to the Lord, the God of Israel:

David assigned some of the Levites to serve as ministers before the Ark of the Lord, to remember, to thank, and to praise the Lord, the God of Israel.

5 Asaph the chief, and second to him Zechariah, Uzziel and Shemiramoth and Jehiel and Mattithiah and Eliab and Benaiah and Obed-edom and Jeiel, with corded instruments of music; and Asaph, with brass instruments sounding loudly;

Asaph was the one in charge, Zechariah was second, then Jeiel, Shemiramoth, Jehiel, Mattithiah, Eliab, Benaiah, Obed-edom, and Jeiel. They played harps and lyres, and Asaph struck the cymbals,

6 And Benaiah and Jahaziel the priests, blowing horns all the time before the ark of the agreement of God.

and the priests Benaiah and Jahaziel blew the trumpets continually in front of the Ark of God's Agreement.

7 Then on that day David first made the giving of praise to the Lord the work of Asaph and his brothers.

This was the day that David first instructed Asaph and his relatives to express thanks to the Lord in this way:

8 O give praise to the Lord; give honour to his name, talking of his doings among the peoples.

Give the Lord thanks, worship his wonderful nature, let people know what he's done!

9 Let your voice be sounded in songs and melody; let all your thoughts be of the wonder of his works.

Sing to him, sing his praises; tell everyone the great things he's done!

10 Have glory in his holy name; let the hearts of those who are searching after the Lord be glad.

Be proud of his holy character; be happy, all who come to the Lord!

11 Let your search be for the Lord and for his strength; let your hearts ever be turned to him.

Look for the Lord, and his strength; always look to be with him.

12 Keep in mind the great works which he has done; his wonders, and the decisions of his mouth;

Remember all the wonderful things he's done, the miracles he's performed, and the judgments he's carried out,

13 O you seed of Israel his servant, you children of Jacob, his loved ones.

descendants of Israel, children of Jacob, his chosen people.

14 He is the Lord our God: he is judge of all the earth.

He is the Lord, our God, his judgments cover the whole earth.

15 He has kept his agreement in mind for ever, the word which he gave for a thousand generations;

He remembers his agreement forever, the promise he made lasts for a thousand generations;

16 The agreement which he made with Abraham, and his oath to Isaac;

the agreement he made with Abraham, the vow he gave to Isaac.

17 And he gave it to Jacob for a law, and to Israel for an eternal agreement;

The Lord legally confirmed it with Jacob, he made this everlasting agreement with Israel:

18 Saying, To you will I give the land of Canaan, the measured line of your heritage:

saying, “I will give the land of Canaan to you for you to possess.”

19 When you were still small in number, and strange in the land;

He said this when there were only a few of you, just a small group of foreigners in the land.

20 When they went about from one nation to another, and from one kingdom to another people;

They wandered from country to country, from one kingdom to the next.

21 He would not let anyone do them wrong; he even kept back kings because of them,

He didn't let anyone one treat them badly; warning kings to leave them alone:

22 Saying, Put not your hand on those who have been marked with my holy oil, and do my prophets no wrong.

“Don't touch my chosen people; don't harm my prophets!”

23 Make songs to the Lord, all the earth; give the good news of his salvation day by day.

Sing to the Lord, all the earth, sing to the Lord! Each day let everyone know of his salvation!

24 Make clear his glory to the nations, and his wonders to all the peoples.

Declare his glorious acts among the nations, the wonderful things he does among all peoples.

25 For the Lord is great, and greatly to be praised; and he is more to be feared than all other gods.

For the Lord is great, and deserves the best praise! He is to be respected with awe above all gods.

26 For all the gods of the nations are false gods; but the Lord made the heavens.

For all the gods of other nations are idols; but the Lord made the heavens!

27 Honour and glory are before him: strength and joy are in his holy place.

Splendor and majesty are his; power and glory are in his sanctuary.

28 Give to the Lord, O you families of the peoples, give to the Lord glory and strength.

Give the Lord credit, nations of the world, credit him with glory and strength.

29 Give to the Lord the glory of his name; take with you an offering and come before him; give worship to the Lord in holy robes.

Give the Lord the glory he deserves; bring an offering and come before him. Worship the Lord in his magnificent holiness.

30 Be in fear before him, all the earth: the world is ordered so that it may not be moved.

Let everyone on earth tremble in his presence. The world is held together firmly—it cannot be broken apart.

31 Let the heavens have joy and let the earth be glad; let them say among the nations, The Lord is King.

Let the heavens sing for joy, let the earth be happy. Tell the nations, “The Lord is in charge!”

32 Let the sea be thundering with all its waters; let the field be glad, and everything which is in it;

Let the sea and everything in it shout with praise! Let the fields and everything there celebrate;

33 Then let all the trees of the wood be sounding with joy before the Lord, for he is come to be the judge of the earth.

Let all the trees in the forest sing for joy, for he is coming to judge the earth.

34 O give praise to the Lord, for he is good: for his mercy is unchanging for ever.

Say thank you to the Lord, for he is good! His trustworthy love continues forever!

35 And say, Be our saviour, O God of our salvation, and let us come back, and give us salvation from the nations, so that we may give honour to your holy name and have glory in your praise.

Shout out, “Save us, Lord, our God! Bring us back together from among the nations, rescue us, so we can thank you and praise how magnificent and holy you are.”

36 Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, for ever and for ever. And all the people said, So be it; and gave praise to the Lord.

How wonderful is the Lord, the God of Israel, who lives forever and ever! Then all the people said, “Amen!” and “Praise the Lord!”

37 So he made Asaph and his brothers keep their places there before the ark of the agreement of the Lord, to do whatever had to be done before the ark at all times day by day:

Then David made sure Asaph and his brothers would minister continually before the Ark of the Lord's Agreement, performing whatever services were needed every day,

38 And Obed-edom, the son of Jeduthun, and Hosah, with their brothers, sixty-eight of them, to be door-keepers:

as well as Obed-edom and his sixty-eight relatives. Obed-edom, son of Jeduthun, and Hosah, were gatekeepers.

39 And Zadok the priest, with his brothers the priests, before the House of the Lord in the high place at Gibeon;

David put Zadok the priest and his fellow priests in charge of the Ark of the Lord at the high place in Gibeon

40 To give burned offerings to the Lord on the altar of burned offerings morning and evening, every day, as it is ordered in the law of the Lord which he gave to Israel;

to present burnt offerings to the Lord on the altar of burnt offerings, morning and evening, according to all that was written in the law of the Lord which he had ordered Israel to follow.

41 And with them Heman and Jeduthun, and the rest who were marked out by name to give praise to the Lord, for his mercy is unchanging for ever;

They were accompanied by Heman, Jeduthun, and the rest of those chosen and identified by name to give thanks to the Lord, for “His trustworthy love lasts forever.”

42 And Heman and Jeduthun had horns and brass instruments sounding loudly, and instruments of music for the songs of God; and the sons of Jeduthun were to be at the door.

Heman and Jeduthun used their trumpets and cymbals to make music to accompany the songs of God. The sons of Jeduthun guarded the gate.

43 And all the people went away, every man to his house; and David went back to give a blessing to his family.

Then all the people went home, and David went to bless his family.