2 Samuel 7:13-8:6

English Standard Version

^13 (A)He shall build a house for my name, and ^(B)I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. ^14 (C)I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son. When he commits iniquity, ^(D)I will discipline him with the rod of men, with the stripes of the sons of men, ^15 (E)but my steadfast love will not depart from him, ^(F)as I took it from Saul, whom I put away from before you. ^16 (G)And your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me.^{[a] (H)}Your throne shall be established forever.’” 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, ^(I)“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. ^(J)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? ^(K)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 (L)Therefore you are great, O Lord God. ^(M)For there is none like you, and there is no God besides you, according to all that we have heard with our ears. ^23 (N)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 ^(O)and doing for them^[b] great and awesome things by driving out before your people,^[c] whom ^(P)you redeemed for yourself from Egypt, a nation and its gods? ^24 (Q)And you established for yourself your people Israel to be your people forever. And you, O Lord, became their God. ²⁵ And now, O Lord God, confirm forever 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 forever, 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 ^(R)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 forever before you. For you, O Lord God, have spoken, ^(S)and with your blessing shall the house of your servant be blessed forever.”

David's Victories

8 ^(T)After this David defeated the Philistines and subdued them, and David took ^(U)Metheg-ammah out of the hand of the Philistines.

^2 (V)And he defeated Moab and he measured them with a line, making them lie down on the ground. Two lines he measured to be put to death, and one full line to be spared. And the Moabites ^(W)became servants to David and ^(X)brought tribute.

³ David also defeated ^(Y)Hadadezer the son of Rehob, king of ^(Z)Zobah, as he went to restore his power at the river Euphrates. ^4 (AA)And David took from him 1,700 horsemen, and 20,000 foot soldiers. And David ^(AB)hamstrung all the chariot horses but left enough for 100 chariots. ^5 (AC)And when the ^(AD)Syrians of Damascus came to help ^(AE)Hadadezer king of ^(AF)Zobah, David struck down 22,000 men of the Syrians. ⁶ Then David put garrisons in Aram of Damascus, and the Syrians ^(AG)became servants to David and brought tribute. ^(AH)And the Lord gave victory to David wherever he went.