When David had settled into his palace, ¹  he ²  said to Nathan the prophet, “Look, I am living in a palace ³  made from cedar, while the ark of the Lord’s covenant is under a tent.” ⁴ 

“So now, say this to my servant David: ‘This is what the Lord who commands armies ¹  says: “I took you from the pasture and from your work as a shepherd ²  to make you a leader of my people Israel.

David went in, sat before the Lord, and said: “Who am I, O Lord God, and what is my family, ¹  that you should have brought me to this point?

so ¹  it may become a reality ²  and you may gain lasting fame, ³  as people say, ⁴  ‘The Lord who commands armies is the God of Israel.’ ⁵  David’s dynasty ⁶  will be established before you,

From Tibhath ¹  and Kun, ²  Hadadezer’s cities, David took a great deal of bronze. (Solomon used it to make the big bronze basin called “The Sea,” ³  the pillars, and other bronze items.

King David dedicated these things to the Lord, ¹  along with the silver and gold which he had carried off from all the nations, including ²  Edom, ³  Moab, the Ammonites, the Philistines, and Amalek.

So Hanun seized David’s servants and shaved their beards off. ¹  He cut off the lower part of their robes so that their buttocks were exposed ²  and then sent them away.

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.”

When the Ammonites realized that David was disgusted with them, ¹  Hanun and the Ammonites sent 1,000 talents ²  of silver to hire chariots and charioteers from Aram Naharaim, Aram Maacah, and Zobah. ³ 

When Hadadezer’s subjects saw they were defeated by Israel, they made peace with David and became his subjects. The Arameans were no longer willing to help the Ammonites.

David took the crown from the head of their king ¹  and wore it ²  (its weight was a talent ³  of gold and it was set with precious stones). He took a large amount of plunder from the city.

He removed the city’s residents and made them do hard labor with saws, iron picks, and axes. ¹  This was his policy ²  with all the Ammonite cities. Then David and all the army returned to Jerusalem.

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 

Joab reported to David the number of warriors. ¹  In all Israel there were 1,100,000 ²  sword-wielding soldiers; Judah alone had 470,000 sword-wielding soldiers. ³ 

David said to Gad, “I am very upset! I prefer to be attacked by the Lord, for his mercy is very great; I do not want to be attacked by men!” ¹ 

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.

David said to Ornan, “Sell me the threshing floor ¹  so I can build ²  on it an altar for the Lord – I’ll pay top price ³  – so that the plague may be removed ⁴  from the people.”

King David replied to Ornan, “No, I insist on buying it for top price. ¹  I will not offer to the Lord what belongs to you or offer a burnt sacrifice ²  that cost me nothing. ³ 

David built there an altar to the Lord and offered burnt sacrifices and peace offerings. ¹  He called out to the Lord, and the Lord ²  responded by sending fire from the sky and consuming the burnt sacrifice on the altar.

David ordered the resident foreigners in the land of Israel to be called together. He appointed some of them to be stonecutters to chisel stones for the building of God’s temple.