1 Chronicles 17
Evangelical Heritage Version
The Lord’s Covenant With David
17 After David was living in his own house, he said to Nathan the prophet, “Look! I am living in a house of cedar, but the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord sits under tent curtains.”
2 Nathan said to David, “Do everything that is in your heart, because God is with you.”
3 But that night the word of God came to Nathan. 4 “Go and tell David my servant these things.”
This is what the Lord says. You will not be the one to build a house for me to live in, 5 for I have not lived in a house from the day when I caused Israel to go up from Egypt until this day, but I have been in a moving tent as my dwelling place.[a] 6 In all my traveling about with all the Israelites, did I ever speak a word with one of the judges of Israel, whom I commanded to shepherd my people, or ask, “Why have you not built a house of cedar for me?”
7 Now you are also to say the following to my servant David:
This is what the Lord of Armies says. I took you from the pastures, from following the sheep, to be ruler over my people Israel. 8 I have been with you wherever you went. I have cut off all your enemies before you. I will make a reputation for you like the reputation of the great ones in the earth. 9 I will establish a place for my people Israel, and I will plant them there. They will dwell there, and they will not be disturbed anymore. I will not allow wicked men to devastate them again as I did in the beginning, 10 and as it happened during the times when I commanded judges over my people Israel, but I will subdue all your enemies.
I declare to you that the Lord will build a house for you. 11 When your days are completed, you will go to be with your fathers. I will raise up your seed[b] after you from among your sons, and I will establish his kingdom. 12 He will build a house for me. I will establish his throne forever. 13 I will be his father, and he will be my son. My mercy I will not take away from him as I took it from the one who was before you. 14 I will cause him to stand in my house and in my kingdom forever. His throne will be established forever.
15 Nathan told David all the words that had been revealed in this vision.
David’s Response to the Covenant
16 Then King David went and sat before the Lord and said:
Who am I, Lord God, and what is my house that you have brought me to this point? 17 Yet this was a small thing in your eyes, God! You have spoken about the house of your servant for a long time into the future. You have revealed to me the course for the man who will arise, Lord God.[c]
18 What more can David add to you for honoring your servant? You know your servant.
19 Lord, for the sake of your servant and according to the plan of your heart, you have carried out this great thing by making known all these great promises. 20 Lord, there is none like you, and there is no God besides you, as is apparent from everything which our ears have heard.
21 Who is like your people Israel? It is the one nation on earth for whom God went out to redeem a people to himself, to make for yourself a great name, by doing great and awe-inspiring things in order to drive out nations in front of your people, whom you redeemed from Egypt. 22 You adopted Israel as your people forever. You, O Lord, became their God.
23 Now, Lord, the word which you have spoken about your servant and about his house will stand firm forever. Do as you have spoken. 24 It will stand firm. Your name will be great forever. It will be said: The Lord of Armies is the God of Israel.[d] The house of David your servant will be established before you.
25 For you, my God, have whispered into the ear[e] of your servant that you would build a house for him. That is why your servant has dared to pray before you. 26 Now, Lord, you are God and have said these good things concerning your servant. 27 Now you have been pleased to bless the house of your servant to be forever before you. For what you, Lord, have blessed is blessed forever.
Footnotes
- 1 Chronicles 17:5 Or been moving from tent to tent and dwelling place. The verse may allude to the many different sites where the Dwelling had been set up in the wilderness, but it may also allude to the fact that the original home of the Dwelling at Shiloh had been destroyed by the Philistines and since that time the ark had been in temporary quarters. The parallel in 2 Samuel 7:6 supports the first option.
- 1 Chronicles 17:11 Or your offspring or your descendent. The literal term seed is retained to point out the continuity of the messianic promises from Eve, through Abraham, David, and the kings of Judah, until they reach their fulfillment in Christ, the Seed of the Woman. To agree with the singular number of the word seed, the pronouns are singular (he not they) throughout. Unlike the parallel in 2 Samuel, Chronicles does not mention the unfaithful descendants of Solomon but only Christ, the true fulfillment.
- 1 Chronicles 17:17 The text is cryptic. Literally it reads and you see me like the turn of the man which is upward Lord God. (The word translated turn is the Hebrew word tor. The parallel word in 2 Samuel 7:19 is torah, which means law, so it is possible that there is a copying error here.) Most translations interpret this as a general reference to the honor given to David or as a statement that God has revealed the future to David. Martin Luther understood it as a direct reference to Christ: You have looked upon me in the form of a man who is in the highest, the Lord God.
- 1 Chronicles 17:24 God of Israel is written twice in the Hebrew text.
- 1 Chronicles 17:25 Literally you have uncovered the ear, which can mean you have revealed into the ear
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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