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David’s Prayer of Thanks

16 Then King David went in and sat before the Lord and prayed,

“Who am I, O Lord God, and what is my family, that you have brought me this far? 17 And now, O God, in addition to everything else, you speak of giving your servant a lasting dynasty! You speak as though I were someone very great,[a] O Lord God!

18 “What more can I say to you about the way you have honored me? You know what your servant is really like. 19 For the sake of your servant, O Lord, and according to your will, you have done all these great things and have made them known.

20 “O Lord, there is no one like you. We have never even heard of another God like you! 21 What other nation on earth is like your people Israel? What other nation, O God, have you redeemed from slavery to be your own people? You made a great name for yourself when you redeemed your people from Egypt. You performed awesome miracles and drove out the nations that stood in their way. 22 You chose Israel to be your very own people forever, and you, O Lord, became their God.

23 “And now, O Lord, I am your servant; do as you have promised concerning me and my family. May it be a promise that will last forever. 24 And may your name be established and honored forever so that everyone will say, ‘The Lord of Heaven’s Armies, the God of Israel, is Israel’s God!’ And may the house of your servant David continue before you forever.

25 “O my God, I have been bold enough to pray to you because you have revealed to your servant that you will build a house for him—a dynasty of kings! 26 For you are God, O Lord. And you have promised these good things to your servant. 27 And now, it has pleased you to bless the house of your servant, so that it will continue forever before you. For when you grant a blessing, O Lord, it is an eternal blessing!”

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Footnotes

  1. 17:17 The meaning of the Hebrew is uncertain.

16 Then King David went in and sat before the Lord and said, “Who am I, O Lord God, and what is my family that you have given me all this? 17 For all the great things you have already done for me are nothing in comparison to what you have promised to do in the future! For now, O Lord God, you are speaking of future generations of my children being kings too! You speak as though I were someone very great. 18 What else can I say? You know that I am but a dog, yet you have decided to honor me! 19 O Lord, you have given me these wonderful promises just because you want to be kind to me, because of your own great heart. 20 O Lord, there is no one like you—there is no other God. In fact, we have never even heard of another god like you!

21 “And what other nation in all the earth is like Israel? You have made a unique nation and have redeemed it from Egypt so that the people could be your people. And you made a great name for yourself when you did glorious miracles in driving out the nations from before your people. 22 You have declared that your people Israel belong to you forever, and you have become their God.

23 “And now I accept your promise, Lord, that I and my children will always rule this nation. 24 And may this bring eternal honor to your name as everyone realizes that you always do what you say. They will exclaim, ‘The Lord of heaven is indeed the God of Israel!’ And Israel shall always be ruled by my children and their posterity! 25 Now I have the courage to pray to you, for you have revealed this to me. 26 God himself has promised this good thing to me! 27 May this blessing rest upon my children forever, for when you grant a blessing, Lord, it is an eternal blessing!”

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