NRSV 1_Chronicles 17 Chapter
17:1
Now when David settled in his house, David said to the prophet Nathan, "I am living in a house of cedar, but the ark of the covenant of the LORD is under a tent."
17:2
Nathan said to David, "Do all that you have in mind, for God is with you."
17:3
But that same night the word of the LORD came to Nathan, saying:
17:4
Go and tell my servant David: Thus says the LORD: You shall not build me a house to live in.
17:5
For I have not lived in a house since the day I brought out Israel to this very day, but I have lived in a tent and a tabernacle.
17:6
Wherever I have moved about among all Israel, did I ever speak a word with any of the judges of Israel, whom I commanded to shepherd my people, saying, Why have you not built me a house of cedar?
17:7
Now therefore thus you shall say to my servant David: Thus says the LORD of hosts: I took you from the pasture, from following the sheep, to be ruler over my people Israel;
17:8
and I have been with you wherever you went, and have cut off all your enemies before you; and I will make for you a name, like the name of the great ones of the earth.
17:9
I will appoint a place for my people Israel, and will plant them, so that they may live in their own place, and be disturbed no more; and evildoers shall wear them down no more, as they did formerly,
17:10
from the time that I appointed judges over my people Israel; and I will subdue all your enemies. Moreover I declare to you that the LORD will build you a house.
17:11
When your days are fulfilled to go to be with your ancestors, I will raise up your offspring after you, one of your own sons, and I will establish his kingdom.
17:12
He shall build a house for me, and I will establish his throne forever.
17:13
I will be a father to him, and he shall be a son to me. I will not take my steadfast love from him, as I took it from him who was before you,
17:14
but I will confirm him in my house and in my kingdom forever, and his throne shall be established forever.
17:15
In accordance with all these words and all this vision, Nathan spoke to David.
17:16
Then King David went in and sat before the LORD, and said, "Who am I, O LORD God, and what is my house, that you have brought me thus far?
17:17
And even this was a small thing in your sight, O God; you have also spoken of your servant's house for a great while to come. You regard me as someone of high rank, O LORD God!
17:18
And what more can David say to you for honoring your servant? You know your servant.
17:19
For your servant's sake, O LORD, and according to your own heart, you have done all these great deeds, making known all these great things.
17:20
There is no one like you, O LORD, and there is no God besides you, according to all that we have heard with our ears.
17:21
Who is like your people Israel, one nation on the earth whom God went to redeem to be his people, making for yourself a name for great and terrible things, in driving out nations before your people whom you redeemed from Egypt?
17:22
And you made your people Israel to be your people forever; and you, O LORD, became their God.
17:23
"And now, O LORD, as for the word that you have spoken concerning your servant and concerning his house, let it be established forever, and do as you have promised.
17:24
Thus your name will be established and magnified forever in the saying, 'The LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, is Israel's God'; and the house of your servant David will be established in your presence.
17:25
For you, my God, have revealed to your servant that you will build a house for him; therefore your servant has found it possible to pray before you.
17:26
And now, O LORD, you are God, and you have promised this good thing to your servant;
17:27
therefore may it please you to bless the house of your servant, that it may continue forever before you. For you, O LORD, have blessed and are blessed forever."