17 ¶ Now it came to pass, as David dwelt in his house, that David said to Nathan, the prophet, Behold, I dwell in a house of cedars, and the ark of the covenant of the LORD under curtains.

² Then Nathan said unto David, Do all that is in thy heart for God is with thee.

³ And it came to pass the same night that the word of God came to Nathan, saying,

⁴ Go and tell David my slave, Thus hath the LORD said, Thou shalt 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 unto this day, but have gone from tent to tent, and from one tabernacle to another.

⁶ Wherever I have walked with all Israel, did I speak a word to any of the judges of Israel, whom I commanded to feed my people, saying, Why have ye not built me a house of cedars?

⁷ Now, therefore, thus shalt thou say unto my slave David, Thus hath the LORD of the hosts said, I took thee from the sheepfold, from following the sheep that thou should be ruler over my people Israel;

⁸ and I have been with thee wherever thou hast walked and have cut off all thy enemies from before thee and have made thee a name like the name of the great men that are in the earth.

⁹ Likewise I have ordained a place for my people Israel and have planted him that he dwell by himself and no longer be moved; neither shall the sons of iniquity waste them any more, as before,

¹⁰ since the time that I commanded judges to be over my people Israel. I have humbled all thy enemies and announce unto thee that the LORD will build thee a house.

¹¹ And it shall come to pass, when thy days are fulfilled to go to be with thy fathers, that I will raise up thy seed after thee, which shall be of thy sons; and I will establish his kingdom.

¹² He shall build me a house, and I will establish his throne eternally.

¹³ I will be his father, and he shall be my son; and I will not take my mercy away from him, as I took it from him that was before thee;

¹⁴ but I will confirm him in my house and in my kingdom for ever, and his throne shall be established for evermore.

¹⁵ According to all these words, and according to all this vision, so did Nathan speak unto David.

¹⁶ ¶ And David, the king, came and sat before the LORD and said, Who am I, O LORD God, and what is my house, that thou hast brought me here?

¹⁷ And yet this was a small thing in thy eyes, O God, for thou hast also spoken of thy slave’s house for a great while to come and hast regarded me according to the estate of a man of high degree, O LORD God.

¹⁸ What more can David add asking thee to glorify thy slave? For thou knowest thy slave.

¹⁹ O LORD, for thy slave’s sake and according to thy own heart, thou hast done all this greatness, in making known all thy great things.

²⁰ O LORD, there is none like thee, neither is there any God beside thee, according to all that we have heard with our ears.

²¹ And what one nation in the earth is like thy people Israel, whom God went to ransom to be his own people, to make thee a name of greatness and terribleness, by driving out the Gentiles from before thy people, whom thou didst redeem out of Egypt?

²² For thy people Israel didst thou make thy own people for ever, and thou, LORD, didst become their God.

²³ Therefore, now, LORD, let the thing that thou hast spoken concerning thy slave and concerning his house be established for ever and do as thou hast said.

²⁴ Let it even be established, that thy name may be magnified for ever, that it may be said, The LORD of the hosts, God of Israel, is God unto Israel; and let the house of David thy slave be established before thee.

²⁵ For thou, O my God, hast told thy slave that thou wilt build him a house; therefore, thy slave has found in his heart to pray before thee.

²⁶ And now, LORD, thou art God and hast promised this goodness unto thy slave;

²⁷ now it has pleased thee to bless the house of thy slave, that it may be before thee for ever; for thou, O LORD, hast blessed it, and it shall be blessed for ever.