1. AS DAVID sat in his house, he said to Nathan the prophet, Behold, I dwell in a house of cedars, but the ark of the covenant of the Lord remains under tent curtains.
2. Then Nathan said to David, Do all that is in your heart, for God is with you.
3. And that same night the word of God came to Nathan, saying,
4. Go and tell David My servant, Thus says the Lord: You shall not build Me a house to dwell in,
5. For I have not dwelt in a house since the day that I brought up Israel from Egypt until this day; but I have gone from tent to tent, and from one tabernacle to another.
6. Wherever I have walked with all Israel, did I say a word to any of the judges of Israel whom I commanded to feed My people, saying, Why have you not built Me a house of cedar?
7. Now therefore, thus shall you say to My servant David, Thus says the Lord of hosts: I took you from the sheepfold, from following the sheep, that you should be prince over My people Israel.
8. And I have been with you wherever you have gone, and I have cut off all your enemies from before you, and I will make your name like the name of the great ones of the earth.
9. Also I will appoint a place for My people Israel and will plant them, that they may dwell in their own place and be moved no more; neither shall the children of wickedness waste them any more, as at the first,
10. Since the time that I commanded judges to be over My people Israel. Moreover, I will subdue all your enemies. Furthermore, I foretell to you that the Lord will build you a house (a blessed posterity).
11. And it shall come to pass that when your days are fulfilled to go to be with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, one of your own sons, and I will establish his kingdom.
12. He shall build Me a house, and I will establish his throne forever. [I Chron. 28:7.]
13. I will be his father, and he shall be My son; and I will not take My mercy and steadfast love away from him, as I took it from him [King Saul] who was before you. [Heb. 1:5, 6.]
14. But I will settle him (Him) in My house and in My kingdom forever; and his (His) throne shall be established forevermore. [Isa. 9:7.]
15. According to all these words and according to all this vision, so Nathan spoke to David.
16. And David the king went in and sat before the Lord and said, Who am I, O Lord God, and what is my house and family, that You have brought me up to this?
17. And yet this was a small thing in Your eyes, O God; for You have spoken of Your servant's house for a great while to come, and have regarded me according to the estate of a man of high degree, O Lord God!
18. What more can David say to You for thus honoring Your servant? For You know Your servant.
19. O Lord, for Your servant's sake and in accord with Your own heart, You have wrought all this greatness, to make known all these great things.
20. O Lord, there is none like You, nor is there any God beside You, according to all that our ears have heard.
21. And what nation on the earth is like Your people Israel, whom God went to redeem to Himself as a people, making Yourself a name by great and terrible things, by driving out nations from before Your people, whom You redeemed out of Egypt?
22. You made Your people Israel Your own forever, and You, Lord, became their God.
23. Therefore now, Lord, let the word which You have spoken concerning Your servant and his house be established forever, and do as You have said.
24. Let it be established and let Your name [and the character that name denotes] be magnified forever, saying, The Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, is Israel's God; and the house of David Your servant will be established before You.
25. For You, O my God, have told Your servant that You will build for him a house (a blessed posterity); therefore Your servant has found courage and confidence to pray before You.
26. And now, Lord, You are God, and have promised this good thing to Your servant.
27. Therefore may it please You to bless the house (posterity) of Your servant, that it may continue before You forever; for what You bless, O Lord, is blessed forever.