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God's Promise to David

¹ After David had moved into his palace, he said to Nathan the prophet, "Look, I am living in this nice palace made of cedar, but the Box of the Lord's Agreement sits in a tent."

² Nathan answered David, "You may do what you want to do. God is with you."

³ But that night the word of God came to Nathan. ⁴ God said,

"Go and tell this to my servant David: The Lord says, ‘David, you are not the one to build a house for me to live in.^5-6 Since the time I brought Israel out of Egypt until now, I have not lived in a house. I have moved around in a tent. I chose people to be special leaders for the Israelites. They were like shepherds for my people. While I was going around in Israel to different places, I never said to any of them: Why haven't you built a house of cedar wood for me?'

⁷ "Now, tell this to my servant David: The Lord All-Powerful says, ‘I took you from the fields and from taking care of the sheep. I made you king of my people Israel. ⁸ I have been with you everywhere you went. I went ahead of you and I killed your enemies. Now I will make you one of the most famous men on earth. ⁹ I am giving this place to my people Israel. They will plant their trees, and they will sit in peace under those trees. They will not be bothered anymore. Evil people will not hurt them as they did at first. ¹⁰ Those bad things happened, but I chose leaders to care for my people Israel. And I will also defeat all your enemies.

"‘I tell you that the Lord will build a house for you.^{[a] 11} When you die, and you join your ancestors, then I will let your own son be the new king. The new king will be one of your sons, and I will make his kingdom strong. ¹² Your son will build a house for me. I will make your son's family rule forever. ¹³ I will be his father, and he will be my son. Saul was the king before you, and I took away my support from Saul. But I will never stop loving your son. ¹⁴ I will put him in charge of my house and kingdom forever. His rule will continue forever!'"

¹⁵ Nathan told David about the vision and everything God had said.

David's Prayer

¹⁶ Then King David went to the Holy Tent and sat before the Lord. David said,

"Lord God, you have done so much for me and my family. And I don't understand why. ¹⁷ Besides all these things, God, you let me know what will happen to my family in the future. Lord God, you have treated me like a very important man. ¹⁸ What more can I say? You have done so much for me. And I am only your servant. You know that. ¹⁹ Lord, you have done this wonderful thing for me and because you wanted to. ²⁰ There is no one like you, Lord. There is no God except you. We have never heard of any god doing wonderful things like those! ²¹ Is there any other nation like Israel? No, Israel is the only nation on earth that you have done these wonderful things for. You took us out of Egypt and you made us free. You made yourself famous. You went in front of your people, and forced other people to leave their land for us. ²² You took Israel to be your people forever, and you, Lord, became their God!

²³ "Lord, you made this promise to me and my family. Now, keep your promise forever. Do what you said you would. ²⁴ Keep your promise so that people will honor your name forever. Then people will say, ‘The Lord All-Powerful is Israel's God!' I am your servant. Please let my family be strong and continue to serve you.

²⁵ "My God, you spoke to me, your servant. You made it clear that you would make my family a family of kings. That is why I am being so bold—that is why I am asking you to do these things. ²⁶ Lord, you are God, and you yourself promised to do these good things for me. ²⁷ You have been kind enough to bless my family. You were kind enough to promise that my family will serve you forever. Lord, you yourself blessed my family, so my family really will be blessed forever."