1. Now it came to pass, as Dovid sat in his bais, that Dovid said to Natan HaNavi, Hinei, I dwell in a bais ha'arazim (a palace of cedars) but the Aron Brit Hashem [dwelleth] under tent curtains.
2. Then Natan said to Dovid, Do all that is in thine levav; for HaElohim is with thee.
3. And it came to pass the same lailah, that the Devar Elohim came to Natan, saying,
4. Go and tell Dovid Avdi, Thus saith Hashem, Thou shalt not build Me HaBayit to dwell in,
5. For I have not dwelt in a Bayit since the day that I brought up Yisroel until this day, but have gone from ohel to ohel, and from one mishkan to another.
6. Wheresoever I have walked with kol Yisroel, spoke I a word to any of the Shofetim of Yisroel, whom I commanded to shepherd My people, saying, Why have ye not built me a Bais Arazim?
7. Now therefore thus shalt thou say unto Avdi Dovid, Thus saith Hashem Tzva'os, I took thee from the naveh, even from following the tzon, that thou shouldest be Nagid over My people Yisroel;
8. And I have been with thee whithersoever thou hast walked, and have cut off all thine oyevim from before thee, and have made thee a shem like the shem of the gedolim that are in ha'aretz.