2 Samuel 7:1-29
7 And when the king was settled in his house and Jehovah had given him rest on all sides from all his enemies,
2 the king said to the prophet Nathan “See here, I am living in a cedar house, but the ark of God stands with a curtain around it.”
3 And Nathan said to the king “Whatever you have in mind go and do: for Jehovah is with you.”
4 But that night Jehovah’s word came to Nathan,
5 “Go and say to my servant David ‘Says Jehovah, Are you to build me a house to live in?
6 for I have never lived in a house from the day of my bringing the sons of Israel up out of Egypt to this day, but have gone in a tent and a tabernacle.
7 * In all my going about among all the sons of Israel did I ever speak with one of the judges of Israel whom I commissioned to be shepherds of my people Israel to say “Why have you not built me a cedar house?”’
8 And now you are to say to my servant David ‘Says Jehovah of Armies, I took you from the pasture, from following the sheep, to be warden over my people Israel,
9 * and I was with you wherever you went and exterminated all your enemies before you; and I will make you a name like the names of the great of the earth,
10 and will fix a place for my people Israel and plant them, and they shall dwell in one spot and never be disturbed again, and no longer shall the men of foul play grind them down as they formerly did,
11 ever since the day that I commissioned judges over my people Israel; and I will give you rest from all your enemies. And Jehovah tells you that Jehovah will build you a house:
12 when your days are full and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up after you your issue who shall come out of your body, and I will establish his kingship.
13 * He shall build me a house, and I will make his throne firm forever.
14 I will be father to him and he shall be son to me, so that when he does wrong I will correct him with a human rod and human strokes,
15 but my friendship I will never withdraw from him as I withdrew it from the one that was before you.
16 And your house and your kingship shall be secure forever before me; your throne shall be firm forever.’”
17 Just these words, just this vision, Nathan spoke to David.
18 And King David went in and sat down before Jehovah and said “Who am I, Lord Jehovah, and who are my house, that you have brought me so far as this?
19 * And this has seemed to you a little thing too, Lord Jehovah, and you have also made promises about your servant’s house to distant times, and I am to see the generations of mankind, Lord Jehovah!
20 And what more should David say to you? you know your servant, Lord Jehovah.
21 * For the sake of your own promise, and in accordance with your own will, you have done all this great work, to let your servant know.
22 Therefore are you great, Lord Jehovah, because there is none like you and no God but you, as in everything that we have heard with our ears;
23 and who is like your people Israel, a single nation on earth which a God has gone to redeem for a people of his own to make a name for himself, and to do great and terrible things for them, driving out before your people whom you redeemed out of Egypt nations and gods
24 and establishing your people Israel as your people forever, and you, Jehovah, becoming their God!
25 * And now, Lord Jehovah, make good forever the promise you have given about your servant and his house, and do as you have promised;
26 and your name will be great forever, men saying ‘Jehovah of Armies is God over Israel’; and your servant David’s house will be firm before you;
27 because you, Jehovah of Armies, God of Israel, have made this disclosure to your servant, ‘I will build you a house’—this is why your servant has found heart to offer this prayer to you.
28 And now, Lord Jehovah, you are God, and your word shall be truth; and you have promised to your servant this much good;
29 now stand to it and bless your servant’s house that it may be forever before you, because you have spoken, Lord Jehovah, and from your blessing your servant’s house is to be blessed forever.”
Footnotes
^ 7:7 Var. one of the tribes of Israel
^ 7:9 Var. a great name like
^ 7:13 Var. build a house for my name
^ 7:19 Codd. distant times; and this is the rule of mankind
^ 7:21-22 Or to let your servant know (therefore are you great), Lord Jehovah, that there is none
^ 7:25 Codd. omit either Lord or Jehovah or read Jehovah God for Lord Jehovah
