1 And it came to pass, when David dwelt in his house, that David said to Nathan the prophet, Lo, I dwell in a house of cedar, but the ark of the covenant of LORD [dwells] under curtains.
2 And Nathan said to 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 servant, Thus says LORD, Thou shall not build for me a house to dwell in.
5 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 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 have ye not built for me a house of cedar?
7 Now therefore thus thou shall say to my servant David, Thus says LORD of hosts, I took thee from the sheepfold, from following the sheep, that thou should be prince over my people Israel.
8 And I have been with thee wherever thou have gone, and have cut off all thine enemies from before thee. And I will make thee a name like the name of the great ones who are on 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 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 LORD will build for thee a house.
11 And it shall come to pass, when thy days are fulfilled that thou must go to be with thy fathers, that I will set up thy seed after thee, who shall be of thy sons. And I will establish his kingdom.
12 He shall build for 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 who was before thee.
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 LORD. And he said, Who am I, O LORD God, and what is my house, that thou have brought me thus far?
17 And this was a small thing in thine eyes, O God. But thou have spoken of thy servant's house for a great while to come, and have regarded me according to the estate of a man of high degree, O LORD God.
18 What can David [say] yet more to thee concerning the honor which is done to thy servant? For thou know thy servant.
19 O LORD, for thy servant's sake, and according to thine own heart, thou have wrought all this greatness, to make known all [these] great things.
20 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 what one nation on the earth is like thy people Israel, whom God went to redeem to himself for a people, to make thee a name by great and awesome things, in driving out nations from before thy people whom thou redeemed out of E
22 For thy people Israel thou made thine own people forever. And thou, LORD, became their God.
23 And now, O LORD, let the word that thou have spoken concerning thy servant, and concerning his house, be established forever, and do as thou have spoken.
24 And let thy name be established and magnified forever, saying, 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, have revealed to thy servant that thou will build him a house. Therefore thy servant has found [in his heart] to pray before thee.
26 And now, O LORD, thou are God, and have promised this good thing to thy servant,
27 and now it has pleased thee to bless the house of thy servant, that it may continue for ever before thee; for thou, O LORD, have blessed, and it is blessed forever.