Yahweh’s Covenant with David

17 And as David lived in his house, David said to Nathan the prophet, “Look, I live in a house of cedar, but the ark of the covenant of Yahweh is under tent curtains.” ² And Nathan said to David, “Whatever is in your heart, do, for God is with you.”

³ And it happened that same night the word of God came to Nathan, saying, ⁴ “Go and say to David my servant, ‘Thus says Yahweh, “You are not to build a house for me to live in, ⁵ for I have not lived in a house from the day that I brought out Israel unto this day. I have been from tent to tent and from tabernacle to tabernacle. ⁶ In every place I have moved about, did I say one word with the judges of Israel I commanded to shepherd my people, saying, ‘Why have you not built for me a house of cedar?’”’ ⁷ So now, thus you shall say to my servant David, ‘Thus says Yahweh of hosts, “I took you from the pasture, from following the sheep, to be leader over my people Israel, ⁸ and I have been with you wherever you went and have cut down your enemies from before you and will make a name for you, like the name of the great ones on the earth. ⁹ And I will appoint a place for my people Israel, and I will plant them,^[a] and they^[b] shall dwell in their^[c] place and be in anguish no longer. And wicked men will no longer wear them down as before, ¹⁰ from the day that I commanded judges over my people Israel. And I will subdue your enemies, and I declare to you that Yahweh will build for you a house.^{[d] 11} And it shall be that when your days are fulfilled to go and sleep with your ancestors,^[e] then I will raise up your seed after you, who will be one of your sons, and I will establish his kingdom. ¹² He himself will build for me a house, and I will establish his throne forever. ¹³ I myself will be a father to him, and he himself will be a son to me. And I will not remove my steadfast love from him as I took it away from whoever was before you. ¹⁴ And I will establish him in my house and in my kingdom forever, and his throne will be established forever.”’” ¹⁵ According to all these words and according to all this revelation, thus did Nathan speak to David.

David’s Prayer

¹⁶ Then King David went and sat before Yahweh and said, “Who am I, O Yahweh God, and what is my house that you have brought me thus far? ¹⁷ And this was a small matter in your eyes, O God. And you have spoken concerning the house of your servant for a long time and have shown me future generations to come,^[f] O Yahweh God. ¹⁸ What more^[g] can David do to you for honoring your servant? Now you know your servant. ¹⁹ O Yahweh, for the sake of your servant and according to your heart you have done all this greatness, to make known all these great things. ²⁰ O Yahweh, there is none like you, and there is no God except you, according to all that we have heard with our ears. ²¹ And who is like your people Israel, the one nation upon earth whom God went to redeem for himself, to establish for you a reputation^[h] for great and awesome things, to drive out nations from before your people whom you redeemed from Egypt? ²² And you made your people Israel an everlasting nation for yourself. And you, O Yahweh, became their God. ²³ So now, O Yahweh, let the word that you spoke to your servant and to his house be established forever, that you might do what you have spoken. ²⁴ And let your name be established and be magnified forever, saying, ‘Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel, is Israel’s God, and may the house of David your servant be established before you.’ ²⁵ For you, my God, have informed^[i] your servant that you will build a house for him. Therefore, your servant has found courage to pray before you. ²⁶ So now, O Yahweh, you yourself are God, and you have spoken to your servant this good thing. ²⁷ And now may you begin to bless the house of your servant to continue forever^[j] before you, for you, O Yahweh, have blessed. And it will be blessed forever.”

The Example of Jesus’ Suffering

12 Therefore, since^[a] we also have such a great cloud of witnesses surrounding us, putting aside every weight and the sin that so easily ensnares us^[b], let us run with patient endurance the race that has been set before us, ² fixing our eyes on Jesus, the originator and perfecter of faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, disregarding the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. ³ For consider the one who endured such hostility by sinners against himself,^[c] so that you will not grow weary in your souls and give up. ⁴ You have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your^[d] blood as you^[e] struggle against sin. ⁵ And have you completely forgotten the exhortation which instructs you as sons?

⁷ Endure it for discipline. God is dealing with you as sons. For what son is there whom a father does not discipline? ⁸ But if you are without discipline, in which all legitimate sons^[g] have become participants, then you are illegitimate and not sons. ⁹ Furthermore, we have had our earthly fathers^[h] who disciplined us, and we respected them. Will we not much rather subject ourselves to the Father of spirits and live? ¹⁰ For they disciplined us for a few days according to what seemed appropriate to them, but he does so for our benefit, in order that we can have a share in his holiness. ¹¹ Now all discipline seems for the moment not to be joyful but painful, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness for those who are trained by it.

A Serious Warning Against Refusing God

¹² Therefore strengthen your slackened hands and your weakened knees, ¹³ and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame will not be dislocated, but rather be healed. ¹⁴ Pursue peace with everyone, and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord. ¹⁵ Take care that no one falls short of the grace of God; that no one growing up like a root of bitterness causes trouble, and by it many become defiled; ¹⁶ that no one be a sexually immoral or totally worldly person like Esau, who for one meal traded his own birthright. ¹⁷ For you know that also afterwards, when he^[i] wanted to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, because he did not find an occasion for repentance, although he sought it with tears.

¹⁸ For you have not come to something that can be touched, and to a burning fire, and to darkness, and to gloom, and to a whirlwind, ¹⁹ and to the noise of a trumpet, and to the sound of words which those who heard begged that not another word be spoken to them. ²⁰ For they could not endure what was commanded: “If even an animal touches the mountain, it must be stoned.”^{[j] 21} And the spectacle was so terrifying that Moses said, “I am terrified and trembling.”^{[k] 22} But you have come to Mount Zion, and to the city of the living God, to the heavenly Jerusalem, and to tens of thousands of angels, to the festal gathering ²³ and assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God the judge of all, and to the spirits of righteous people made perfect, ²⁴ and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood^[l] that speaks better than Abel’s does.

²⁵ Watch out that you do not refuse the one who is speaking! For if those did not escape when they^[m] refused the one who warned them on earth, much less will we escape,^[n] if we^[o] reject the one who warns from heaven, ²⁶ whose voice shook the earth at that time, but now he has promised, saying,

²⁷ Now the phrase “yet once more” indicates the removal of what is shaken, namely, things that have been created, in order that the things that are not shaken may remain. ²⁸ Therefore, since we^[q] are receiving an unshakable kingdom, let us be thankful, through which let us serve God acceptably, with awe and reverence. ²⁹ For indeed our God is a consuming fire.