1. After David settled in his place, David said to Nathan the prophet, “Look! I am living in a house of cedar, while the Ark of the Covenant of Adonai is under a tent.”
2. Then Nathan said to David, “Do all that is in your heart, for God is with you.”
3. But that same night the word of God came to Nathan, saying:
4. “Go and tell David My servant, thus says Adonai, ‘You are not to build Me a house in which to dwell.
5. For I have not dwelt in a house from the day I brought Israel out to this day. I have gone from tent to tent, and from one dwelling to another.
6. Wherever I went throughout all Israel, did I ever speak a word to any of the judges of Israel whom I commanded to shepherd My people, saying, “Why have you not built Me a house of cedar?”’
7. “So now, say this to My servant David, ‘Thus says Adonai Tzva’ot, I took you from the pasture and from following the sheep, to be prince over My people Israel.