1 Chronicles 13; 1 Chronicles 14; 1 Chronicles 15; John 7:1-27

1 Chronicles 13

1 King David consulted with all the officers in command of units of a thousand men and units of a hundred men.

2 Then he announced to all the people of Israel, "If you give your approval and if it is the will of the Lord our God, let us send messengers to the rest of our people and to the priests and Levites in their towns, and tell them to assemble here with us.

3 Then we will go and get God's Covenant Box, which was ignored while Saul was king."

4 The people were pleased with the suggestion and agreed to it.

5 So David assembled the people of Israel from all over the country, from the Egyptian border in the south to Hamath Pass in the north, in order to bring the Covenant Box from Kiriath Jearim to Jerusalem.

6 David and the people went to the city of Baalah, that is, to Kiriath Jearim, in the territory of Judah, to get the Covenant Box of God, which bears the name of the Lord enthroned above the winged creatures.

7 At Abinadab's house they brought out the Covenant Box and put it on a new cart. Uzzah and Ahio guided the cart,

8 while David and all the people danced with all their might to honor God. They sang and played musical instruments - harps, drums, cymbals, and trumpets.

9 As they came to the threshing place of Chidon, the oxen stumbled, and Uzzah reached out and took hold of the Covenant Box.

10 At once the Lord became angry with Uzzah and killed him for touching the Box. He died there in God's presence,

11 and so that place has been called Perez Uzzah ever since. David was furious because the Lord had punished Uzzah in anger.

12 Then David was afraid of God and said, "How can I take the Covenant Box with me now?"

13 So David did not take it with him to Jerusalem. Instead, he left it at the house of a man named Obed Edom, a native of the city of Gath.

14 It stayed there three months, and the Lord blessed Obed Edom's family and everything that belonged to him.

1 Chronicles 14

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,

6 Nogah, Nepheg, Japhia,

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 Chronicles 15

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.

John 7:1-27

1 After this, Jesus traveled in Galilee; he did not want to travel in Judea, because the Jewish authorities there were wanting to kill him.

2 The time for the Festival of Shelters was near,

3 so Jesus' brothers said to him, "Leave this place and go to Judea, so that your followers will see the things that you are doing.

4 People don't hide what they are doing if they want to be well known. Since you are doing these things, let the whole world know about you!

5 (Not even his brothers believed in him.)

6 Jesus said to them, "The right time for me has not yet come. Any time is right for you.

7 The world cannot hate you, but it hates me, because I keep telling it that its ways are bad.

8 You go on to the festival. I am not going to this festival, because the right time has not come for me."

9 He said this and then stayed on in Galilee.

10 After his brothers had gone to the festival, Jesus also went; however, he did not go openly, but secretly.

11 The Jewish authorities were looking for him at the festival. "Where is he?" they asked.

12 There was much whispering about him in the crowd. "He is a good man," some people said. "No," others said, "he fools the people."

13 But no one talked about him openly, because they were afraid of the Jewish authorities.

14 The festival was nearly half over when Jesus went to the Temple and began teaching.

15 The Jewish authorities were greatly surprised and said, "How does this man know so much when he has never been to school?"

16 Jesus answered, "What I teach is not my own teaching, but it comes from God, who sent me.

17 Whoever is willing to do what God wants will know whether what I teach comes from God or whether I speak on my own authority.

18 Those who speak on their own authority are trying to gain glory for themselves. But he who wants glory for the one who sent him is honest, and there is nothing false in him.

19 Moses gave you the Law, didn't he? But not one of you obeys the Law. Why are you trying to kill me?"

20 "You have a demon in you!" the crowd answered. "Who is trying to kill you?"

21 Jesus answered, "I performed one miracle, and you were all surprised.

22 Moses ordered you to circumcise your sons (although it was not Moses but your ancestors who started it), and so you circumcise a boy on the Sabbath.

23 If a boy is circumcised on the Sabbath so that Moses' Law is not broken, why are you angry with me because I made a man completely well on the Sabbath?

24 Stop judging by external standards, and judge by true standards."

25 Some of the people of Jerusalem said, "Isn't this the man the authorities are trying to kill?

26 Look! He is talking in public, and they say nothing against him! Can it be that they really know that he is the Messiah?

27 But when the Messiah comes, no one will know where he is from. And we all know where this man comes from."