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¹ And it came to pass, when David dwelt in his house, that David said to Nathan the prophet, Lo, I dwell in an house of cedar, but the ark of the covenant of the LORD [dwelleth] under curtains. ² And Nathan said unto David, Do all that is in thine 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 servant, Thus saith the LORD, Thou shalt not build me an house to dwell in: ⁵ for I have not dwelt in an 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 In all places wherein I have walked with all Israel, spake I a word with any of the judges of Israel, whom I commanded to feed my people, saying, Why have ye not built me an house of cedar? ⁷ Now therefore thus shalt thou say unto my servant David, Thus saith the LORD of hosts, I took thee from the sheepcote, from following the sheep, that thou shouldest be prince over my people Israel: ⁸ and I have been with thee whithersoever thou wentest, and have cut off all thine enemies from before thee; and I will make thee a name, like unto the name of the great ones that are in the earth. ⁹ And 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 and [as] from the day that I commanded judges to be over my people Israel; and I will subdue all thine enemies. Moreover I tell thee that the LORD will build thee an house. ¹¹ And it shall come to pass, when thy days be fulfilled that thou must go to be with thy fathers, that I will set up thy seed after thee, which shall be of thy sons; and I will establish his kingdom. ¹² He shall build me an house, and I will establish his throne for ever. 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 settle him in mine house and in my kingdom for ever: and his throne shall be established for ever. ¹⁵ According to all these words, and according to all this vision, so did Nathan speak unto David.

¹⁶ Then David the king went in, and sat before the LORD; and he said, Who am I, O LORD God, and what is my house, that thou hast brought me thus far? ¹⁷ And this was a small thing in thine eyes, O God; but thou hast spoken of thy servant’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 can David [say] yet more unto thee concerning the honour which is done to thy servant? for thou knowest thy servant. ¹⁹ O LORD, for thy servant’s sake, and according to thine own heart, hast thou wrought all this greatness, to make known all [these] 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 redeem unto himself for a people, to make thee a name by great and terrible things, in driving out nations from before thy people, which thou redeemedst out of Egypt? ²² For thy people Israel didst thou make thine own people for ever; and thou, LORD, becamest their God. ²³ And now, O LORD, let the word that thou hast spoken concerning thy servant, and concerning his house, be established for ever, and do as thou hast spoken. ²⁴ And let thy name be established and magnified for ever, saying, The LORD of hosts is the God of Israel, even a God to Israel: and the house of David thy servant is established before thee. ²⁵ For thou, O my God, hast revealed to thy servant that thou wilt build him an house: therefore hath thy servant found [in his heart] to pray before thee. ²⁶ And now, O LORD, thou art God, and hast promised this good thing unto thy servant: ²⁷ and now it hath pleased thee to bless the house of thy servant, that it may continue for ever before thee: for thou, O LORD, hast blessed, and it is blessed for ever.