God's Covenant with David

7 ^(A)Now when the king lived in his house and the Lord ^(B)had given him rest from all his surrounding enemies, ² the king said to ^(C)Nathan the prophet, “See now, I dwell ^(D)in a house of cedar, but the ark of God dwells ^(E)in a tent.” ³ And Nathan said to the king, ^(F)“Go, do all that is in your heart, for the Lord is with you.”

⁴ But that same night the word of the Lord came to Nathan, ⁵ “Go and tell my servant David, ‘Thus says the Lord: ^(G)Would you build me a house to dwell in? ⁶ I have not lived in a house ^(H)since the day I brought up the people of Israel from Egypt to this day, but I have been moving about ^(I)in a tent for my dwelling. ⁷ In all places where ^(J)I have moved with all the people of Israel, did I speak a word with ^(K)any of the judges^[a] of Israel, whom I commanded ^(L)to shepherd my people Israel, saying, “Why have you not built me a house of cedar?”’ ⁸ Now, therefore, thus you shall say to my servant David, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, ^(M)I took you from the pasture, from following the sheep, that you should be prince over my people Israel. ^9 (N)And I have been with you wherever you went and have cut off all your enemies from before you. And I will make for you a great name, like the name of the great ones of the earth. ¹⁰ And I will appoint a place for my people Israel ^(O)and will plant them, so that they may dwell in their own place ^(P)and be disturbed no more. ^(Q)And violent men shall afflict them no more, as formerly, ^11 (R)from the time that I appointed judges over my people Israel. And ^(S)I will give you rest from all your enemies. Moreover, the Lord declares to you that ^(T)the Lord will make you a house. ^12 (U)When your days are fulfilled and ^(V)you lie down with your fathers, ^(W)I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. ^13 (X)He shall build a house for my name, and ^(Y)I will establish the throne of his kingdom for ever. ^14 (Z)I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son. When he commits iniquity, ^(AA)I will discipline him with the rod of men, with the stripes of the sons of men, ^15 (AB)but my steadfast love will not depart from him, ^(AC)as I took it from Saul, whom I put away from before you. ^16 (AD)And your house and your kingdom shall be made sure for ever before me.^{[b] (AE)}Your throne shall be established for ever.’” ¹⁷ In accordance with all these words, and in accordance with all this vision, Nathan spoke to David.

David's Prayer of Gratitude

¹⁸ Then King David went in and sat before the Lord and said, ^(AF)“Who am I, O Lord God, and what is my house, that you have brought me thus far? ¹⁹ And yet this was a small thing in your eyes, O Lord God. ^(AG)You have spoken also of your servant's house for a great while to come, and this is instruction for mankind, O Lord God! ²⁰ And what more can David say to you? ^(AH)For you know your servant, O Lord God! ²¹ Because of your promise, and according to your own heart, you have brought about all this greatness, to make your servant know it. ^22 (AI)Therefore you are great, O Lord God. ^(AJ)For there is none like you, and there is no God besides you, according to all that we have heard with our ears. ^23 (AK)And who is like your people Israel, the one nation on earth whom God went to redeem to be his people, making himself a name ^(AL)and doing for them^[c] great and awesome things by driving out^[d] before your people, whom ^(AM)you redeemed for yourself from Egypt, a nation and its gods? ^24 (AN)And you established for yourself your people Israel to be your people for ever. And you, O Lord, became their God. ²⁵ And now, O Lord God, confirm for ever the word that you have spoken concerning your servant and concerning his house, and do as you have spoken. ²⁶ And your name will be magnified for ever, saying, ‘The Lord of hosts is God over Israel’, and the house of your servant David will be established before you. ²⁷ For you, O Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, have made this revelation to your servant, saying, ‘I will build you a house.’ Therefore your servant has found courage to pray this prayer to you. ²⁸ And now, O Lord God, you are God, and ^(AO)your words are true, and you have promised this good thing to your servant. ²⁹ Now therefore may it please you to bless the house of your servant, so that it may continue for ever before you. For you, O Lord God, have spoken, ^(AP)and with your blessing shall the house of your servant be blessed for ever.”

Greeting

1 Paul, ^(A)an apostle of Christ Jesus ^(B)by the will of God, and ^(C)Timothy our brother,

To the church of God that is at Corinth, ^(D)with all the saints who are in the whole of Achaia:

^2 (E)Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

God of All Comfort

^3 (F)Blessed be the ^(G)God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and ^(H)God of all comfort, ^4 (I)who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. ⁵ For as we share abundantly in ^(J)Christ's sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too.^{[a] 6 (K)}If we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; and if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which you experience when you patiently endure the same sufferings that we suffer. ⁷ Our hope for you is unshaken, for we know that as you ^(L)share in our sufferings, you will also share in our comfort.

⁸ For we do not want you to be ignorant, brothers,^[b] of ^(M)the affliction we experienced in Asia. For we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself. ⁹ Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death. But that was to make us ^(N)rely not on ourselves ^(O)but on God ^(P)who raises the dead. ^10 (Q)He delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. ^(R)On him we have set our hope that he will deliver us again. ^11 (S)You also must help us by prayer, so that many will give thanks on our behalf ^(T)for the blessing granted us through the prayers of many.

Paul's Change of Plans

¹² For our boast is this, ^(U)the testimony of our conscience, that we behaved in the world with simplicity^[c] and ^(V)godly sincerity, ^(W)not by earthly wisdom but by the grace of God, and supremely so towards you. ¹³ For we are not writing to you anything other than what you read and acknowledge^[d] and I hope you will fully acknowledge— ¹⁴ just as you did ^(X)partially acknowledge us—that ^(Y)on the day of our Lord Jesus ^(Z)you will boast of us as ^(AA)we will boast of you.

¹⁵ Because I was sure of this, ^(AB)I wanted to come to you first, so that you might have ^(AC)a second ^(AD)experience of grace. ¹⁶ I wanted to visit you ^(AE)on my way to Macedonia, and to come back to you from Macedonia and have you send me on my way to Judea. ¹⁷ Was I vacillating when I wanted to do this? Do I make my plans ^(AF)according to the flesh, ready to say “Yes, yes” and “No, no” at the same time? ¹⁸ As surely as ^(AG)God is faithful, ^(AH)our word to you has not been Yes and No. ¹⁹ For ^(AI)the Son of God, Jesus Christ, whom we proclaimed among you, ^(AJ)Silvanus and Timothy and I, was not Yes and No, but ^(AK)in him it is always Yes. ²⁰ For ^(AL)all the promises of God find their Yes in him. That is why it is through him that we utter our ^(AM)Amen to God for his glory. ²¹ And it is God who establishes us with you in Christ, and ^(AN)has anointed us, ²² and who has also ^(AO)put his seal on us and ^(AP)given us his Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee.^[e]

²³ But ^(AQ)I call God to witness against me—it was ^(AR)to spare you that I refrained from coming again to Corinth. ²⁴ Not that we ^(AS)lord it over your faith, but we work with you for your joy, for you stand firm ^(AT)in your faith.

Jerusalem, a Useless Vine

15 And the word of the Lord came to me: ^2 (A)“Son of man, how does ^(B)the wood of the vine surpass any wood, the vine branch that is among the trees of the forest? ³ Is wood taken from it to make anything? Do people take ^(C)a peg from it to hang any vessel on it? ^4 (D)Behold, it is given to the fire for fuel. When the fire has consumed both ends of it, and the middle of it is charred, is it useful for anything? ^5 (E)Behold, when it was whole, it was used for nothing. How much less, when the fire has consumed it and it is charred, can it ever be used for anything! ⁶ Therefore thus says the Lord God: ^(F)Like the wood of the vine among the trees of the forest, ^(G)which I have given to the fire for fuel, so have I given up the inhabitants of Jerusalem. ^7 (H)And I will set my face against them. Though ^(I)they escape from the fire, the fire shall yet consume them, ^(J)and you will know that I am the Lord, ^(K)when I set my face against them. ^8 (L)And I will make the land desolate, because ^(M)they have acted faithlessly, declares the Lord God.”