He told them: “You are the leaders of the Levites’ families. You and your relatives must consecrate yourselves and bring the ark of the Lord God of Israel up to the place I have prepared for it.

David told the leaders of the Levites to appoint some of their relatives as musicians; they were to play various instruments, including stringed instruments and cymbals, and to sing loudly and joyfully. ¹ 

Messengers ¹  came and told David what had happened to the men, so he summoned them, for the men were thoroughly humiliated. The king said, “Stay in Jericho ²  until your beards grow again; then you may come back.”

David told Joab and the leaders of the army, ¹  “Go, count the number of warriors ²  from Beer Sheba to Dan. Then bring back a report to me so I may know how many we have.” ³ 

So the Lord’s messenger told Gad to instruct David to go up and build ¹  an altar for the Lord on the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite.

He told them, ¹  “The Lord your God is with you! ²  He has made you secure on every side, ³  for he handed over to me the inhabitants of the region ⁴  and the region ⁵  is subdued before the Lord and his people.

David told the entire assembly: “Praise the Lord your God!” So the entire assembly praised the Lord God of their ancestors; they bowed down and stretched out flat on the ground before the Lord and the king.

He told the judges, “Be careful what you do, ¹  for you are not judging for men, but for the Lord, who will be with you when you make judicial decisions.

King Hezekiah and the officials told the Levites to praise the Lord, using the psalms ¹  of David and Asaph the prophet. ²  So they joyfully offered praise and bowed down and worshiped.

Hezekiah is the one who eliminated ¹  the Lord’s ²  high places and altars and then told Judah and Jerusalem, “At one altar you must worship and offer sacrifices.”

He erected the altar of the Lord and offered on it peace offerings and thank offerings. He told the people of ¹  Judah to serve the Lord God of Israel.

So they went, Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite, and did just as the Lord had told them; and the Lord had respect for Job. ¹ 

For the music director; by the Korahites, a well-written song. ²  O God, we have clearly heard; ³  our ancestors ⁴  have told us what you did ⁵  in their days, in ancient times. ⁶ 

For this is what the Lord has told me: “I will wait ¹  and watch from my place, like scorching heat produced by the sunlight, ²  like a cloud of mist ³  in the heat ⁴  of harvest.” ⁵ 

The Lord who commands armies told me this: ¹  “Certainly this sin will not be forgiven as long as you live,” ²  says the sovereign master, the Lord who commands armies.

Perhaps you will tell me, ‘We are trusting in the Lord our God.’ But Hezekiah is the one who eliminated his high places and altars and then told the people of Judah and Jerusalem, ‘You must worship at this altar.’

Furthermore it was by the command of the Lord that I marched up against this land to destroy it. The Lord told me, ‘March up against this land and destroy it!’”’” ¹ 

Do you not know? Do you not hear? Has it not been told to you since the very beginning? Have you not understood from the time the earth’s foundations were made?

you whom I am bringing back ¹  from the earth’s extremities, and have summoned from the remote regions – I told you, “You are my servant.” I have chosen you and not rejected you.

The Lord who rules over all ¹  told me to say to this people, ²  “Take note of what I say. ³  Call for the women who mourn for the dead! Summon those who are the most skilled at it!” ⁴