December 26 Reading

17:1 Now when David lived in his house, David said to Nathan the prophet, “Behold, I dwell in a house of cedar, but the ark of the covenant of the LORD is under a tent.” And Nathan said to David, “Do all that is in your heart, for God is with you.”

But that same night the word of the LORD came to Nathan, “Go and tell my servant David, ‘Thus says the LORD: It is not you who will build me a house to dwell in. For I have not lived in a house since the day I brought up Israel to this day, but I have gone from tent to tent and from dwelling to dwelling. In all places where I have moved with all Israel, did I speak a word with any of the judges of Israel, whom I commanded to shepherd my people, saying, “Why have you not built me a house of cedar?”’ Now, therefore, thus shall you say to my servant David, ‘Thus says the LORD of hosts, I took you from the pasture, from following the sheep, to be prince over my people Israel, and I have been with you wherever you have gone and have cut off all your enemies from before you. And I will make for you a name, like the name of the great ones of the earth. And I will appoint a place for my people Israel and will plant them, that they may dwell in their own place and be disturbed no more. And violent men shall waste them no more, as formerly, from the time that I appointed judges over my people Israel. And I will subdue all your enemies. Moreover, I declare to you that the LORD will build you a house. When your days are fulfilled to walk with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, one of your own sons, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for me, and I will establish his throne forever. I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son. I will not take my steadfast love from him, as I took it from him who was before you, but I will confirm him in my house and in my kingdom forever, and his throne shall be established forever.’” In accordance with all these words, and in accordance with all this vision, Nathan spoke to David.

Then King David went in and sat before the LORD and said, “Who am I, O LORD God, and what is my house, that you have brought me thus far? And this was a small thing in your eyes, O God. You have also spoken of your servant’s house for a great while to come, and have shown me future generations, O LORD God! And what more can David say to you for honoring your servant? For you know your servant. For your servant’s sake, O LORD, and according to your own heart, you have done all this greatness, in making known all these great things. There is none like you, O LORD, and there is no God besides you, according to all that we have heard with our ears. And who is like your people Israel, the one nation on earth whom God went to redeem to be his people, making for yourself a name for great and awesome things, in driving out nations before your people whom you redeemed from Egypt? And you made your people Israel to be your people forever, and you, O LORD, became their God. And now, O LORD, let the word that you have spoken concerning your servant and concerning his house be established forever, and do as you have spoken, and your name will be established and magnified forever, saying, ‘The LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, is Israel’s God,’ and the house of your servant David will be established before you. For you, my God, have revealed to your servant that you will build a house for him. Therefore your servant has found courage to pray before you. And now, O LORD, you are God, and you have promised this good thing to your servant. Now you have been pleased to bless the house of your servant, that it may continue forever before you, for it is you, O LORD, who have blessed, and it is blessed forever.”

To the choirmaster: according to Muth-labben. A Psalm of David.

9:1   I will give thanks to the LORD with my whole heart;
    I will recount all of your wonderful deeds.
  I will be glad and exult in you;
    I will sing praise to your name, O Most High.
  When my enemies turn back,
    they stumble and perish before your presence.
  For you have maintained my just cause;
    you have sat on the throne, giving righteous judgment.
  You have rebuked the nations; you have made the wicked perish;
    you have blotted out their name forever and ever.
  The enemy came to an end in everlasting ruins;
    their cities you rooted out;
    the very memory of them has perished.
  But the LORD sits enthroned forever;
    he has established his throne for justice,
  and he judges the world with righteousness;
    he judges the peoples with uprightness.
  The LORD is a stronghold for the oppressed,
    a stronghold in times of trouble.
  And those who know your name put their trust in you,
    for you, O LORD, have not forsaken those who seek you.
  Sing praises to the LORD, who sits enthroned in Zion!
    Tell among the peoples his deeds!
  For he who avenges blood is mindful of them;
    he does not forget the cry of the afflicted.
  Be gracious to me, O LORD!
    See my affliction from those who hate me,
    O you who lift me up from the gates of death,
  that I may recount all your praises,
    that in the gates of the daughter of Zion
    I may rejoice in your salvation.
  The nations have sunk in the pit that they made;
    in the net that they hid, their own foot has been caught.
  The LORD has made himself known; he has executed judgment;
    the wicked are snared in the work of their own hands. Higgaion. Selah
  The wicked shall return to Sheol,
    all the nations that forget God.
  For the needy shall not always be forgotten,
    and the hope of the poor shall not perish forever.
  Arise, O LORD! Let not man prevail;
    let the nations be judged before you!
  Put them in fear, O LORD!
    Let the nations know that they are but men! Selah