1. When David moved into his palace, he said to Nathan the prophet, “Look, I am living in a palace made of cedar, but the Ark of the Agreement with the Lord sits in a tent.”
2. Nathan said to David, “Do what you want to do, because God is with you.”
3. But that night God spoke his word to Nathan, saying,
4. “Go and tell David my servant, ‘This is what the Lord says: You are not the person to build a house for me to live in.
5. From the time I brought Israel out of Egypt until now I have not lived in a house. I have moved from one tent site to another and from one place to another.
6. As I have moved with the Israelites to different places, I have never said to the leaders, whom I commanded to take care of my people, “Why haven’t you built me a house of cedar?” ’
7. “Now, tell my servant David: ‘This is what the Lord All-Powerful says: I took you from the pasture and from tending the sheep and made you king of my people Israel.
8. I have been with you everywhere you have gone. I have defeated your enemies for you. I will make you as famous as any of the great people on the earth.