2 Samuel 7

And it came to pass, ^awhen the king sat in his house, and the Lord had given him rest round about from all his enemies; ²that the king said unto ^bNathan the prophet, See now, I dwell in ^ca house of cedar, but the ark of God dwelleth within ^dcurtains. ³And Nathan said to the king, Go, do all that is ^ein thine heart; for the Lord is with thee. ⁴And it came to pass that night, that the word of the Lord came unto Nathan, saying, ⁵Go and tell my servant David, Thus saith the Lord, ^fShalt thou build me a house for me to dwell in? ⁶Whereas I have not dwelt in any house ^gsince the time that I brought up the children of Israel out of Egypt, even to this day, but have walked in ^ha tent and in a tabernacle. ⁷In all the places wherein I have ⁱwalked with all the children of Israel spake I a word with any of the tribes of Israel, whom I commanded ^kto feed my people Israel, saying, Why build ye not me a house of cedar? ⁸Now therefore so shalt thou say unto my servant David, Thus saith the Lord of hosts, ^lI took thee from ^mthe sheepcote, from following the sheep, to be ruler over my people, over Israel: ⁹and ⁿI was with thee whithersoever thou wentest, and have cut off all thine enemies out of thy sight, and have made thee ^oa great name, like unto the name of the great men that are in the earth. ¹⁰Moreover I will appoint a place for my people Israel, and will ^pplant them, that they may dwell in a place of their own, and ^qmove no more; neither shall the children of wickedness afflict them any more, as beforetime, ¹¹and as ^rsince the time that I commanded judges to be over my people Israel, and have ^scaused thee to rest from all thine enemies. Also the Lord telleth thee ^tthat he will make thee a house. ¹²And ^uwhen thy days be fulfilled, and thou ^xshalt sleep with thy fathers, ^yI will set up thy seed after thee, which shall proceed out of thy bowels, and I will establish his kingdom. ^13zHe shall build a house for my name, and I will ^astablish the throne of his kingdom for ever. ^14bI will be his father, and he shall be my son. If he ^ccommit iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men, and with the stripes of the children of men: ¹⁵but my mercy shall not depart away from him, ^das I took it from Saul, whom I put away before thee. ¹⁶And thine house and thy kingdom shall be stablished for ever before thee: ^ethy throne shall be stablished for ever. ¹⁷According to all these words, and according to all this ^fvision, so did Nathan speak unto David.

¹⁸Then went king David in, and sat before the Lord, and he said, ^gWho am I, O Lord God? and what is my house, that thou hast brought me hitherto? ¹⁹And this was yet a small thing in thy sight, O Lord God; but thou hast spoken also of thy servant’s house for a great while to come. ^hAnd is this the manner of man, O Lord God? ²⁰And what can David say more unto thee? for thou, Lord God, ⁱknowest thy servant. ²¹For thy word’s sake, and according to thine own heart, hast thou done all these great things, to make thy servant know them. ²²Wherefore ^jthou art great, O Lord God: for ^kthere is none like thee, neither is there any God beside thee, according to all that we have heard with our ears. ²³And ^lwhat one nation in the earth is like thy people, even like Israel, whom God went to redeem for a people to himself, and to make him a name, and to do for you ^mgreat things and terrible, for thy land, before ⁿthy people, which thou redeemedst to thee from Egypt, from the nations and their gods? ²⁴For thou hast ^oconfirmed to thyself thy people Israel to be a people unto thee for ever; and thou, Lord, art become their God. ²⁵And now, O Lord God, the word that thou hast spoken concerning thy servant, and concerning his house, ^pestablish it for ever, and do as thou hast said. ²⁶And let thy name be magnified for ever, saying, The Lord of hosts is the God over Israel: and let the house of thy servant David be established before thee. ²⁷For thou, O Lord of hosts, God of Israel, hast revealed to thy servant, saying, I will build thee a house: therefore hath thy servant found in his heart to pray this prayer unto thee. ²⁸And now, O Lord God, thou art that God, and ^qthy words be true, and thou hast promised this goodness unto thy servant: ²⁹therefore now let it please thee to bless the house of thy servant, that it may continue for ever before thee: for thou, O Lord God, hast spoken it: and with thy blessing let the house of thy servant be blessed ^rfor ever.

VIII.