⁵ ‘Go and tell my servant David,

“The Lord says this: Do not think that you are the right man to build a house for me to live in. ⁶ From the time that I brought Israel's people out of Egypt until now, I have never lived in a house. While my people moved from place to place, I travelled with them. I lived in a tent as my home. ⁷ I have moved about to many different places with the Israelite people. I chose leaders to take care of Israel's tribes, like shepherds for them. But in all that time, I never said to any of the leaders, ‘You should have built a beautiful house of cedar wood for me.’