1 Chroniques 17

God’s promise to David

¹When David was settled in his house, he said to Nathan the prophet, “Look, I live in a house of cedar, but the ark of the covenant of the LORD stays under tent curtains.”^{a 2}Nathan said to David, “Do all that you have in mind, for God is with you.”

³But that same night the word of God came to Nathan: ⁴“Go and tell my servant David, ‘The LORD says this: You are not the one who will build me the house to live in. ⁵I have not lived in a house from the day I brought Israel up until this day. I have moved from one tent to another and from one tabernacle to another. ⁶Wherever I have moved about among all Israel, did I ever say a word to any of the judges of Israel that I commanded to shepherd my people, asking, “Why have you not built me a house of cedar?”’^{b 7}Now then, say this to my servant David: ‘The LORD of Armies says this: I took you from the pasture, from following the sheep, to be ruler over my people Israel. ⁸Wherever you have gone, I have been with you, and I have cut off all your enemies in front of you. Now I will make you a name like the names of the greatest people on earth.^{c 9}I will appoint a place for my people Israel and plant them there, so that they may live in their own place and not be troubled anymore. Wicked people will no longer wear them down as they did at the beginning, ¹⁰ever since the time I set judges over my people Israel. I will also bring all your enemies low. And I declare to you that the LORD will build you a house.^{d 11}When your days are complete and you go to be with your ancestors, I will raise up your offspring after you, one of your own sons, and I will make his kingdom firm.^{e 12}He is the one who will build me a house, and I will make his throne firm forever. ¹³I will be a father to him, and he will be a son to me. I will not take my faithful love away from him, as I took it away from the one who was before you.^{f 14}I will keep him in place over my house and my kingdom forever, and his throne will stand firm for all time.’”^{gh 15}Nathan spoke to David in keeping with all these words and all this vision.

David’s prayer

¹⁶Then King David went in and sat down before the LORD and said, “LORD God, who am I, and what is my house, that you have brought me as far as this?^{i 17}And as if this were too little in your sight, God, you have also spoken about the house of your servant far into the future. You have regarded me as a man of high rank, LORD God.^{j 18}What more can David say to you about the honor you have shown your servant? You know your servant. ¹⁹LORD, for the sake of your servant and as your own heart chose, you have done this great thing, to make all these great things known. ²⁰LORD, there is no one like you, and there is no God but you, as all we have heard with our own ears tells us. ²¹Who is there like your people Israel, the one nation on earth that God went to redeem as his own people? You made a name for yourself by great and awesome deeds, driving out nations before your people, whom you redeemed from Egypt.^{k 22}You made your people Israel your own people forever, and you, LORD, have become their God. ²³And now, LORD, let the word you have spoken about your servant and about his house stand firm forever, and do as you have said. ²⁴Let it stand firm, and may your name be great forever, as people say, ‘The LORD of Armies, the God of Israel, is Israel’s God!’ And the house of your servant David will stand firm before you.^{l 25}For you, my God, have made it known to your servant that you will build him a house. That is why your servant has found the courage to pray before you. ²⁶And now, LORD, you are God, and you have promised this good thing to your servant. ²⁷So now it has pleased you to bless the house of your servant, so that it may last before you forever. For you, LORD, have blessed it, and it is blessed forever.”^m