Knox Bible

1

When the ark had been brought into the city, they set it up in the midst of the tabernacle which David had spread out for it, and brought burnt-sacrifices and welcome-offerings into the Lord’s presence there.

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And David, when his offering was done, blessed the people in the Lord’s name,

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and gave to every Israelite, man or woman, a roll of bread and a piece of roast beef and a flour cake fried in oil.✻

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Then he arranged that the Levites should serve by courses before the Lord’s ark, by courses, too, should bear record of his great deeds, and honour the Lord God of Israel with hymns of praise.

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Asaph came first of all, and Zacharias second; then Jahiel, Semiramoth, Jehiel, Mathathias, Eliab, Banaias and Obededom. Harp and zither should be Jehiel’s province, Asaph should make the cymbals echo again;

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Banaias and Jaziel, that were priests, should ever be in attendance on the Lord’s ark to sound the trumpet there.

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It was then that David gave Asaph and his brethren their first lesson in offering thanks to the Lord.

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Praise the Lord, and call upon his name; tell the story of his doings for all the nations to hear;

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greet him with song and psalm, recount his acts of miracle.

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Triumph in that holy name; let every heart that longs for the Lord rejoice.

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To the Lord, to the Lord’s strength, have recourse; evermore court his presence.

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Remember the marvellous acts he did, his miracles, his sentences of doom;

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are you not the posterity of Israel, his own servant, sons of that Jacob on whom his choice fell?

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And he, the Lord, is our own God, wide though his writ runs through all the world.

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Keep in everlasting memory that covenant of his, that promise which a thousand generations might not cancel.

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He gave Abraham a promise, bound himself to Isaac by an oath;

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by that law Jacob should live, his Israel, engaged to him by an eternal covenant.

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To thee, he said, I will give the land of Chanaan, as the portion which thou and thine must one day inherit.

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So few they were in number, only a handful, living there as strangers!

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And ever they passed on from country to country, the guests of king or people;

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but he suffered none to harm them; to kings themselves the warning came,

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Lay no hand on them, never hurt them, servants anointed and true spokesmen of mine.✻

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In the Lord’s honour, let the whole earth make melody; never cease bearing record of his power to save.

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Publish his glory among the heathen, his wonderful acts for all the world to hear.

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How great is the Lord, how worthy of honour! What other god is to be feared as he?

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They are but false gods the heathen call divine; the Lord, not they, made the heavens.

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Honour and beauty wait on his presence; worship and magnificence are the attendants of his shrine.

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Lands of the heathen, make your offering to the Lord, an offering to the Lord of glory and praise,

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an offering of glory to the Lord’s name; bring sacrifice, come into his presence; with reverent grace worship the Lord.

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Before the Lord let the whole earth bow in awe; he has built the earth on foundations immovable.

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Rejoice, heaven, and let the earth be glad; tell the heathen, The Lord is king now.

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Let the sea, and all the sea contains, give thunderous applause; smiling the fields, and all the burden they bear;

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no tree in the forest but will sing for joy to greet its Lord’s coming. He comes to judge the earth.✻

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Praise the Lord, the Lord is gracious; his mercy endures for ever.

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Cry we to God, our deliverer, Deliver us now, gather us again in safety, scattered as we are among the heathen, to praise thy holy name, to triumph in thy renown.

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Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, from all eternity to all eternity; let all the people cry, Amen, hymning the Lord.✻

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So he left Asaph and his brethren there, with the ark that bears witness of the Lord’s covenant, to attend it by turns on their appointed days.

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Obededom and his brethren, sixty-eight of them …. And he made Obededom, son of Idithun, and Hosa door-keepers.

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Sadoc and the other priests, his brethren, were left with the tabernacle, at the hill-sanctuary of Gabaon,

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ever to offer the Lord victims on the altar of burnt-sacrifice, morning and evening; such was the charge the Lord had laid on Israel.

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And with Sadoc were Heman and Idithun, and others of less name, chosen to give the Lord thanks for his everlasting mercy;

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it was for Heman and Idithun to sound the trumpet and beat the cymbals at the divine music, and Idithun’s sons he made door-keepers.✻

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And so the people dispersed to their homes, and David himself went back to bless his own household.