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¹ And it came to pass, when David dwelt in his house, that David said to Nathan the prophet, Look, I dwell in a house of cedar, but the ark of the covenant of Yahweh [dwells] under curtains.² And Nathan said to David, Do all that is in your heart; for God is with you.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 says Yahweh, You shall not build me a house to dwell in:⁵ for I haven't dwelt in a house since the day that I brought up Israel, to 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, did I speak a word with any of the judges of Israel, whom I commanded to be shepherd of my people, saying, Why haven't you built me a house of cedar?⁷ Now therefore thus you shall say to my slave David, Thus says Yahweh of hosts, I took you from the sheepcote, from following the sheep, that you should be leader over my people Israel:⁸ and I have been with you wherever you have gone, and have cut off all your enemies from before you; and I will make you a name, like 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 sons of wickedness waste them anymore, 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 your enemies. Moreover I tell you that Yahweh will build you a house.¹¹ And it shall come to pass, when your days are fulfilled that you must go to be with your fathers, that I will set up your seed after you, who shall be of your sons; and I will establish his kingdom.¹² He shall build me a house, and I will establish his throne forever.¹³ I will be his father, and he shall be my son: and I will not take my loving-kindness away from him, as I took it from him that was before you;¹⁴ but I will settle him in my house and in my kingdom forever; and his throne shall be established forever.¹⁵ According to all these words, and according to all this vision, so Nathan spoke to David.

¹⁶ Then David the king went in, and sat before Yahweh; and he said, Who am I, O Yahweh God, and what is my house, that you have brought me thus far?¹⁷ And this was a small thing in your eyes, O God; but you have spoken of your slave's house for a great while to come, and you see me according to the rank of man placed high, O Yahweh God.¹⁸ What can David [say] yet more to you concerning the honor which is done to your slave? for you know your slave.¹⁹ O Yahweh, for your slave's sake, and according to your own heart, you have wrought all this greatness, to make known all [these] great things.²⁰ O Yahweh, there is none like you, neither is there any God besides you, according to all that we have heard with our ears.²¹ And what other nation in the earth is like your people Israel, whom God went to redeem to himself for a people, to make yourself a name by great and awesome things, in driving out nations from before your people, whom you redeemed out of Egypt?²² For you made your people Israel your own people forever; and you, Yahweh, became their God.²³ And now, O Yahweh, let the word that you have spoken concerning your slave, and concerning his house, be established forever, and do as you have spoken.²⁴ And let your name be established and magnified forever, saying, Yahweh of hosts is the God of Israel, even a God to Israel: and the house of David your slave is established before you.²⁵ For you, O my God, have revealed to your slave that you will build him a house: therefore your slave has found [in his heart] to pray before you.²⁶ And now, O Yahweh, you are God, and have promised this good thing to your slave:²⁷ and now it has pleased you to bless the house of your slave, that it may continue forever before you: for you, O Yahweh, have blessed, and it is blessed forever.