God’s Covenant With David^(A)

7 Now when the king settled into his house and the Lord had given him rest from all of his enemies on all sides, ² the king said to Nathan the prophet, “I am dwelling in a cedar house, but the ark of God is sitting in a tent.”

³ Nathan said to the king, “Go, do all that is in your heart because the Lord is with you.”

⁴ That night the word of the Lord came to Nathan:

⁵ Go and say to My servant David: Thus says the Lord: Do you intend to build a house for Me in which I will dwell? ⁶ I have not dwelt in a house since the day I brought the sons of Israel from Egypt until this day. I have been moving about with a tent as My dwelling. ⁷ Wherever I have moved with all the sons of Israel, have I ever spoken a word to anyone from the tribes of Israel, whom I commanded to shepherd My people Israel, saying, “Why have you not built Me a house of cedar?”

⁸ Now therefore, you will say to My servant David: Thus says the Lord of Hosts: I took you from the pasture, from following after the sheep, to be ruler over My people Israel. ⁹ I have been with you wherever you have gone, and I have cut off all of your enemies before you. I will make your name great, like the great ones across the land. ¹⁰ Moreover, I will appoint a place for My people Israel. I will plant them, and they will dwell in that very place. They will be restless no longer, and the unjust will no longer oppress them, as in former times, ¹¹ ever since the day in which I appointed judges over My people Israel. I will give you rest from all of your enemies.

The Lord declares to you that He will instead bring about a house for you. ¹² When your days are complete and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up after you an offspring from your body, and I will establish his rule. ¹³ He will build a house for My name, and I will establish his royal throne forever. ¹⁴ I will be a father to him, and he will be a son to Me. When he goes astray, I will correct him with the rod of men and afflictions of the sons of men. ¹⁵ My commitment will not abandon him, as I removed it from Saul, whom I deposed before you. ¹⁶ Your house and dominion will endure before Me forever, and your throne will be established by the Lord forever.

¹⁷ So Nathan spoke to David in accordance with all of these words and the entirety of this vision.

The Prayer of David^(B)

¹⁸ Then King David went in and sat before the Lord. He said,

“Who am I, O Lord God, and what is my house that You have brought me this far? ¹⁹ Yet this was comparatively insignificant in Your sight, Lord God, for You have also spoken about Your servant’s house into the distant future. Is this Your manner with man, Lord God?

²⁰ “What more can David say to You? You know Your servant, Lord God. ²¹ Because of Your word, according to Your will, You have done all of this greatness to inform Your servant.

²² “Therefore You are great, Lord God. There is none like You, and there is no God except You, according to everything that we have heard with our ears. ²³ And who is like Your people, like Israel—a single nation in the land, whom God went to redeem as a people for Himself, making a name for Himself by doing great and awesome things for Your land, before Your people whom You redeemed for Yourself from Egypt, a nation and its gods. ²⁴ You established Your people Israel as Your own people forever, and You, Lord, became their God.

²⁵ “Now, Lord God, confirm forever the word that You spoke regarding Your servant and his house and do as You have spoken. ²⁶ May Your name be magnified forever by saying, ‘The Lord of Hosts is God over Israel,’ and may the house of Your servant David be established before You.

²⁷ “For You, O Lord of Hosts, God of Israel, have revealed a word to Your servant, saying, ‘I will build you a house.’ Therefore, Your servant has found the courage to pray this prayer to You. ²⁸ Now, Lord God, You are God, and Your words are true. You have spoken this good message to Your servant. ²⁹ Now, be resolved and bless Your servant’s dynastic house, so that it may stand before You forever. You, Lord God, have spoken, and with Your blessing, the house of Your servant will be blessed forever.”