17 As David sat in his house, he said to Nathan the prophet, Behold, I dwell in a house of cedars, but the ark of the covenant of the Lord remains under tent curtains.

² Then Nathan said to David, Do all that is in your heart, for God is with you.

³ And that same night the word of God came to Nathan, saying,

⁴ Go and tell David My servant, Thus says the Lord: You shall not build Me a house to dwell in,

⁵ For I have not dwelt in a house since the day that I brought up Israel from Egypt until this day; but I have gone from tent to tent, and from one tabernacle to another.

⁶ Wherever I have walked with all Israel, did I say a word to any of the judges of Israel whom I commanded to feed My people, saying, Why have you not built Me a house of cedar?

⁷ Now therefore, thus shall you say to My servant David, Thus says the Lord of hosts: I took you from the sheepfold, from following the sheep, that you should be prince over My people Israel.

⁸ And I have been with you wherever you have gone, and I have cut off all your enemies from before you, and I will make your name like the name of the great ones of the earth.

⁹ Also I will appoint a place for My people Israel and will plant them, that they may dwell in their own place and be moved no more; neither shall the children of wickedness waste them any more, as at the first,

¹⁰ Since the time that I commanded judges to be over My people Israel. Moreover, I will subdue all your enemies. Furthermore, I foretell to you that the Lord will build you a house (a blessed posterity).

¹¹ And it shall come to pass that when your days are fulfilled to go to be with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, one of your own sons, and I will establish his kingdom.

¹² He shall build Me a house, and I will establish his throne forever.^(A)

¹³ I will be his father, and he shall be My son; and I will not take My mercy and steadfast love away from him, as I took it from him [King Saul] who was before you.^(B)

¹⁴ But I will settle ^[a]him (Him) in My house and in My kingdom forever; and his (His) throne shall be established forevermore.^(C)

¹⁵ According to all these words and according to all this vision, so Nathan spoke to David.

¹⁶ And David the king went in and sat before the Lord and said, Who am I, O Lord God, and what is my house and family, that You have brought me up to this?

¹⁷ And yet this was a small thing in Your eyes, O God; for You have spoken of Your servant’s house for a great while to come, and have regarded me according to the estate of a man of high degree, O Lord God!

¹⁸ What more can David say to You for thus honoring Your servant? For You know Your servant.

¹⁹ O Lord, for Your servant’s sake and in accord with Your own heart, You have wrought all this greatness, to make known all these great things.

²⁰ O Lord, there is none like You, nor is there any God beside You, according to all that our ears have heard.

²¹ And what nation on the earth is like Your people Israel, whom God went to redeem to Himself as a people, making Yourself a name by great and terrible things, by driving out nations from before Your people, whom You redeemed out of Egypt?

²² You made Your people Israel Your own forever, and You, Lord, became their God.

²³ Therefore now, Lord, let the word which You have spoken concerning Your servant and his house be established forever, and do as You have said.

²⁴ Let it be established and let Your name [and the character that name denotes] be magnified forever, saying, The Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, is Israel’s God; and the house of David Your servant will be established before You.

²⁵ For You, O my God, have told Your servant that You will build for him a house (a blessed posterity); therefore Your servant has found courage and confidence to pray before You.

²⁶ And now, Lord, You are God, and have promised this good thing to Your servant.

²⁷ Therefore may it please You to bless the house (posterity) of Your servant, that it may continue before You forever; for what You bless, O Lord, is blessed forever.