1 Chronicles 17
Christian Standard Bible
The Lord’s Covenant with David
17 When David(A) had settled into his palace, he said to the prophet Nathan, “Look! I am living in a cedar house while the ark of the Lord’s covenant is under tent curtains.”(B)
2 So Nathan told David, “Do all that is on your mind, for God is with you.”
3 But that night(C) the word of God came to Nathan: 4 “Go to David my servant and say, ‘This is what the Lord says: You are not the one to build me a house to dwell in.(D) 5 From the time I brought Israel out of Egypt until today I have not dwelt in a house; instead, I have moved from one tent site to another, and from one tabernacle location to another.[a](E) 6 In all my journeys throughout Israel, have I ever spoken a word to even one of the judges of Israel, whom I commanded to shepherd my people, asking: Why haven’t you built me a house of cedar?’ (F)
7 “So now this is what you are to say to my servant David: ‘This is what the Lord of Armies says: I took you from the pasture, from tending the flock, to be ruler over my people Israel.(G) 8 I have been with you wherever you have gone, and I have destroyed all your enemies before you. I will make a name for you like that of the greatest on the earth. 9 I will designate a place for my people Israel and plant them,(H) so that they may live there and not be disturbed again. Evildoers will not continue to oppress them as they have done 10 ever since the day I ordered judges to be over my people Israel. I will also subdue all your enemies.
“‘Furthermore, I declare to you that the Lord himself will build a house for you. 11 When your time comes to be with your ancestors, I will raise up after you your descendant, who is one of your own sons, and I will establish his kingdom. 12 He is the one who will build a house for me,(I) and I will establish his throne forever. 13 I will be his father, and he will be my son.(J) I will not remove my faithful love from him as I removed it from the one who was before you.(K) 14 I will appoint him over my house and my kingdom forever, and his throne will be established forever.’”(L)
15 Nathan reported all these words and this entire vision to David.
David’s Prayer of Thanksgiving
16 Then(M) King David went in, sat in the Lord’s presence, and said,
Who am I, Lord God, and what is my house that you have brought me this far? 17 This was a little thing to you,[b] God, for you have spoken about your servant’s house in the distant future. You regard me as a man of distinction,[c] Lord God. 18 What more can David say to you for honoring your servant? You know your servant. 19 Lord, you have done this whole great thing, making known all these great promises for the sake of your servant and according to your will.(N) 20 Lord, there is no one like you, and there is no God besides you, as all we have heard confirms. 21 And who is like your people Israel? God, you came to one nation on earth to redeem a people for yourself, to make a name for yourself through great and awesome works by driving out nations before your people you redeemed from Egypt.(O) 22 You made your people Israel your own people forever, and you, Lord, have become their God.(P)
23 Now, Lord, let the word that you have spoken concerning your servant and his house be confirmed forever, and do as you have promised. 24 Let your name be confirmed and magnified forever in the saying, “The Lord of Armies, the God of Israel, is God over Israel.” May the house of your servant David be established before you. 25 Since you, my God, have revealed to[d](Q) your servant that you will build him a house, your servant has found courage to pray in your presence. 26 Lord, you indeed are God, and you have promised this good thing to your servant. 27 So now, you have been pleased to bless your servant’s house that it may continue before you forever. For you, Lord, have blessed it, and it is blessed forever.
1 Chronicles 17
Amplified Bible, Classic Edition
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.
Footnotes
- 1 Chronicles 17:14 The “house” or “kingdom of God,” in which this preservation or confirming of the seed of David is to take place, has two points of reference: first, the Old Testament theocracy [government of a state by the immediate direction of God], and second, the Messianic kingdom of the new covenant. The text of II Sam. 7:16 (kjv) differs: “And thine house and thy kingdom shall be established forever before thee, and thy throne shall be established forever.” The sense of both is Messianic [though the writer in earlier verses definitely referred not to Christ but to Solomon (I Chron. 17:11-13 and II Sam. 7:13, 14)] (J.P. Lange, A Commentary). “The reference in this prophecy looks beyond Solomon to Him of Whom the greatest princes of the house of David were but imperfect types” (Charles Ellicott, A Bible Commentary).
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