2 And when David had finished offering the burnt offerings and the peace offerings, ahe blessed the people in the name of the Lord.
3 Then he distributed to everyone of Israel, both man and woman, to everyone a loaf of bread, a piece ofmeat, and a cake of raisins.
4 And he appointed some of the Levites to minister before the ark of the Lord, to acommemorate, to thank, and to praise the Lord God of Israel:
5 Asaph the chief, and next to him Zechariah, thenaJeiel, Shemiramoth, Jehiel, Mattithiah, Eliab, Benaiah, and Obed-Edom: Jeiel with stringed instruments and harps, but Asaph made music with cymbals;
6 Benaiah and Jahaziel the priests regularly blew the trumpets before the ark of the covenant of God.
David’s Song of Thanksgiving
7 On that day aDavid bfirst delivered thispsalm into the hand of Asaph and his brethren, to thank the Lord:
8aOh, give thanks to the Lord! Call upon His name; Make known His deeds among the peoples!
9 Sing to Him, sing psalms to Him; Talk of all His wondrous works!
10 Glory in His holy name; Let the hearts of those rejoice who seek the Lord!
11 Seek the Lord and His strength; Seek His face evermore!
12 Remember His marvelous works which He has done, His wonders, and the judgments of His mouth,
13 O seed of Israel His servant, You children of Jacob, His chosen ones!
14 He is the Lord our God; His ajudgments are in all the earth.
15 Remember His covenant forever, The word which He commanded, for a thousand generations,
16Theacovenant which He made with Abraham, And His oath to Isaac,
17 And aconfirmed it to bJacob for a statute, To Israel for an everlasting covenant,
18 Saying, “To you I will give the land of Canaan As the allotment of your inheritance,”
19 When you were afew in number, Indeed very few, and strangers in it.
20 When they went from one nation to another, And from one kingdom to another people,
21 He permitted no man to do them wrong; Yes, He arebuked kings for their sakes,
22Saying,a“Do not touch My anointed ones, And do My prophets no harm.”
23aSing to the Lord, all the earth; Proclaim the good news of His salvation from day to day.
24 Declare His glory among the nations, His wonders among all peoples.
25 For the Lordis great and greatly to be praised; He is also to be feared above all gods.
26 For all the gods aof the peoples are idols, But the Lord made the heavens.
27 Honor and majesty are before Him; Strength and gladness are in His place.
28 Give to the Lord, O families of the peoples, Give to the Lord glory and strength.
29 Give to the Lord the glory due His name; Bring an offering, and come before Him. Oh, worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness!
30 Tremble before Him, all the earth. The world also is firmly established, It shall not be moved.
31 Let the heavens rejoice, and let the earth be glad; And let them say among the nations, “The Lord reigns.”
32 Let the sea roar, and all its fullness; Let the field rejoice, and all that is in it.
33 Then the atrees of the woods shall rejoice before the Lord, For He is bcoming to judge the earth.
34aOh, give thanks to the Lord, for Heis good! For His mercy endures forever.
35aAnd say, “Save us, O God of our salvation; Gather us together, and deliver us from the Gentiles, To give thanks to Your holy name, To triumph in Your praise.”
36aBlessed be the Lord God of Israel From everlasting to everlasting! And all bthe people said, “Amen!” and praised the Lord.
Regular Worship Maintained
37 So he left aAsaph and his brothers there before the ark of the covenant of the Lord to minister before the ark regularly, as every day’s work brequired;
38 and aObed-Edom with his sixty-eight brethren, including Obed-Edom the son of Jeduthun, and Hosah, tobe gatekeepers;
39 and Zadok the priest and his brethren the priests, abefore the tabernacle of the Lordbat the high place that was at Gibeon,
40 to offer burnt offerings to the Lord on the altar of burnt offering regularly amorning and evening, and todo according to all that is written in the Law of the Lord which He commanded Israel;
41 and with them Heman and Jeduthun and the rest who were chosen, who were designated by name, to give thanks to the Lord, abecause His mercy endures forever;
42 and with them Heman and Jeduthun, to sound aloud with trumpets and cymbals and the musical instruments of God. Now the sons of Jeduthun were gatekeepers.
43aThen all the people departed, every man to his house; and David returned to bless his house.
THE FIRST AND SECOND BOOKS OF CHRONICLES were also considered as one by the ancient Jews, who called them "words of days," that is, diaries or journals, being probably compiled from those registers that were kept by the king's historiographers of passing occurrences. In the Septuagint the title given them is Paraleipomenon, "of things omitted," that is, the books are supplementary because many things unnoticed in the former books are here recorded; and not only the omissions are supplied, but some narratives extended while others are added. The authorship is commonly ascribed to Ezra, whose leading object seems to have been to show the division of families, possessions, etc., before the captivity, with a view to the exact restoration of the same order after the return from Babylon. Although many things are restated and others are exact repetitions of what is contained in Kings, there is so much new and important information that, as JEROME has well said, the Chronicles furnish the means of comprehending parts of the New Testament, which must have been unintelligible without them. They are frequently referred to by Christ and the Apostles as forming part of "the Word of God" (see the genealogies in Mat. 1:1-16; Luk. 3:23-38; compare II Chronicles 19:7 with I Peter 1:17; II Chronicles 24:19-21 with Matthew 23:32-35).
