²King David stood up. He said, “All of you, listen to me. With all my heart I wanted to build a house for the Lord. I wanted it to be a place of peace and rest for the ark of the covenant of the Lord. The ark is the stool for our God’s feet. I made plans to build the Lord’s house. ³But God said to me, ‘You are not the one who will build a house for my Name. That is because you are a fighting man. You have spilled people’s blood.’

⁴“But the Lord chose me. He is the God of Israel. He chose me from my whole family to be king over Israel forever. He chose Judah to lead the tribes. From the families of Judah he chose my family. From my father’s sons he chose me. He was pleased to make me king over the whole nation of Israel.

⁵“The Lord has given me many sons. From all of them he has chosen my son Solomon. He wants Solomon to sit on the throne of the Lord’s kingdom. He wants him to rule over Israel. ⁶He said to me, ‘Your son Solomon is the one who will build my house and my courtyards. I have chosen him to be my son. And I will be his father. ⁷I will make his kingdom secure. It will last forever. That will happen if he does not turn away from my commands and laws. He must continue to obey them, just as he is doing now.’

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