2 Samuel 7:1-17

Modern English Version

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.