1 Chronicles 17
1 After David began to live in his palace, he said to the prophet Nathan, “[It does not seem right that] I am here living in a palace made of cedar [wood], but Yahweh’s Sacred Chest is kept inside a tent!”
Now it came to pass, as David sat in his house, that David said to Nathan the prophet, Lo, I dwell in a house of cedars, but the ark of the covenant of the LORD [remaineth] under curtains.
2 Nathan replied to David, “Whatever you are thinking about doing, do it, because God is with/guiding you.”
Then Nathan said to David, Do all that [is] in thy heart; for God [is] with thee.
3 But that night God spoke [MTY] to Nathan. He said,
And it came to pass the same night, that the word of God came to Nathan, saying,
4 “Go and tell my servant David that this is what I, Yahweh, am saying to him: ‘You are not the one who should build a temple for me to live in.
Go and tell David my servant, Thus saith the LORD, Thou shalt not build me a house to dwell in:
5 I have not lived in any building, from the day that I brought the people of Israel up [out of Egypt] until now. Instead, I have [lived in a tent], moving from one place to another with [the Israelis] when they moved to other places [DOU].
For I have not 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 Wherever I went with all the Israelis [as they traveled], I never [RHQ] said to any of their leaders whom I appointed to lead [MET] them, “Why have you not built me a temple made of cedar [wood]?”’
Wherever I have walked with all Israel, have I spoken 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 Therefore, this is what you should say to my servant David: ‘I, the Almighty Commander of the armies of angels, took you from a pasture where you were taking care of sheep, [and I appointed you] to be the ruler of my Israeli people.
Now therefore thus shalt thou say to my servant David, Thus saith the LORD of hosts, I took thee from the sheep-cote, [even] from following the sheep, that thou shouldst be ruler over my people Israel:
8 I have (been with/helped) you wherever you have gone, and I have gotten rid of all your enemies as you advanced. And now I will cause you to become very famous, as well-known as the names of the greatest men [who have ever lived] on the earth.
And I have been with thee whithersoever 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 Formerly, during the time that I appointed leaders for my Israeli people, many violent groups oppressed them. But this will not happen any more. I have chosen a place where my Israeli people can live [peacefully] and no one will disturb them any more. I will give not allow them to [be attacked by] their enemies. And I will defeat all your enemies. I declare to you that I, Yahweh, will enable your descendants to rule after you [die].
Also I will ordain a place for my people Israel, and will plant them, and they shall dwell in their place, and shall be moved no more; neither shall the children of wickedness waste them any more, as at the beginning.
And since the time that I commanded judges [to be] over my people Israel. Moreover, I will subdue all thy enemies. Furthermore, I tell thee that the LORD will build thee a house.
11 When your life ends [EUP], and you [die and] go to be with your ancestors [who have died], I will appoint one of your sons to become king, and I will enable his kingdom to (be strong/resist all their enemies).
And it shall come to pass, when thy days shall be ended that thou must go [to be] with thy fathers, that I will raise up thy seed after thee, who shall be of thy sons; and I will establish his kingdom.
12 He is the one who will [arrange for] a temple to be built for me. And I will enable his descendants to be kings [MTY] of Israel forever.
He shall build me a house, and I will establish his throne for ever.
13 I will be [like] a father to him, and [it will be as though] he [is] a son to me. I stopped loving [Saul, ] the one who was the king before you became king, but I will never stop loving your son.
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 I will cause him to rule over my people [MTY], and his kingdom will endure forever [DOU].’”
But I will settle him in my house and in my kingdom for ever: and his throne shall be established for evermore.
15 So Nathan reported to David everything that Yahweh had revealed to him.
According to all these words, and according to all this vision, so did Nathan speak to David.
16 Then David went [into the Sacred Tent] and sat in the presence of Yahweh, and prayed this: “Yahweh my God, I am certainly not [RHQ] worthy for you to have done all these things for me, and my family is not worthy, either.
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 hitherto?
17 “And O God, now, in addition to everything else, you have spoken about what will happen to my descendants in the future for many generations. Yahweh my God, you have acted toward me as though I was the most important man [on the earth]!
And [yet] this was a small thing in thy eyes, O God; for thou hast [also] 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 more can I, David, say to you [for honoring me]? Although you know very well what I am like,
What can David [speak] more to thee for the honor of thy servant? for thou knowest thy servant.
19 Yahweh, for my sake and because it is what you wanted to do, you have done these great things [for me], and you have revealed to me these things [that you are promising to do].
O LORD, for thy servant's sake, and according to thy own heart, hast thou done all this greatness, in making known all [these] great things.
20 “Yahweh, you are great. There is no one like you. Only you are God, which is what we have always heard.
O LORD, [there] is none like thee, neither [is there any] God besides thee, according to all that we have heard with our ears.
21 And there is no nation in the world like Israel [RHQ]. Israel is the only nation on the earth whose people you rescued. You performed great and awesome miracles, rescuing our ancestors from [being slaves in] Egypt, and expelling the people of other people-groups [who were in Canaan].
And what one nation in the earth [is] like thy people Israel, whom God went to redeem [to be] his own people, to make thee a name of greatness and terribleness, by driving out nations from before thy people, whom thou hast redeemed out of Egypt?
22 You have caused us your Israeli people to belong to you forever, and you, Yahweh, have become our God!
For thy people Israel didst thou make thy own people for ever; and thou, LORD, becamest their God.
23 “And now Yahweh, I pray that you will cause the things that you have promised to do for me and my descendants [MTY] to be fulfilled forever.
Therefore now, LORD, Let the thing that thou hast spoken concerning thy servant and concerning his house be established for ever, and do as thou hast said.
24 When that happens, you [MTY] will be famous forever. And people will exclaim, ‘The Almighty Commander of the armies of angels, is the God who rules Israel!’ And you will cause that forever there will be descendants [MTY] of mine who will rule.
Let it even be established, that thy name may be magnified for ever, saying, The LORD of hosts [is] the God of Israel, [even] a God to Israel: and [let] the house of David thy servant [be] established before thee.
25 “You, my God, have revealed to me that you will cause [some of] my descendants to become kings. So I am brave enough to pray like this to you.
For thou, O my God, hast told thy servant that thou wilt build him a house: therefore thy servant hath found [in his heart] to pray before thee.
26 Yahweh, you are God! You have promised to do these good things for me.
And now, LORD, thou art God, and hast promised this goodness to thy servant:
27 And now you, Yahweh, have [promised to] bless my descendants [MTY], in order that they will continue to rule forever. That will happen because you, Yahweh, are the one who has blessed them, and you will keep blessing them forever.”
Now therefore let it please thee to bless the house of thy servant, that it may be before thee for ever: for thou blessest, O LORD, and [it shall be] blessed for ever.
