¹ And it happened as David sat in his house, David said to Nathan the prophet, Lo, I dwell in a house of cedars, but the ark of the covenant of the LORD is under curtains.

² And Nathan said to David, Do all that is in your heart, for God is with you.

³ And it happened the same night the word of God came to Nathan, saying,

⁴ Go and tell David My servant, So says the LORD, You shall not build Me a house to dwell in.

⁵ For I have not dwelt in a house since the day that I brought up Israel until today, but have gone from tent to tent, and from one tabernacle to another.

⁶ Wherever I have walked with all Israel, did I speak a word to any of the judges of Israel, whom I commanded to feed My people, saying, Why have you not built Me a house of cedars?

⁷ And now you shall say this to My servant David, So says the LORD of hosts, I took you from the pasture, from following the sheep, so that you should be ruler over My people Israel.

⁸ And I have been with you wherever you have walked, and have cut off all your enemies from before you, and have made you a name like the name of the great men in the earth.

⁹ And I will set a place for My people Israel, and will plant them, and they shall live in their place and shall be moved no more; nor shall the sons of wickedness waste them any more, as at the beginning,

¹⁰ and since the time that I commanded judges to be over My people Israel. And I will subdue all your enemies. And I declare to you that the LORD will build you a house.

¹¹ And it will be, when your days have ended so that you must go to be with your fathers, I will raise up your seed after you, who shall be from your sons. And I will make his kingdom sure.

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 mercy away from him as I took it from him who was before you.

¹⁴ And 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 And David the king came and sat before the LORD, and said, Who am I, O, LORD God, and what is my house, that You have brought me here?

¹⁷ And this was a small thing in Your eyes, O God, for You have also spoken of Your 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 more to You for the honor of Your servant? For You know Your servant!

¹⁹ O LORD, for Your servant's sake, and according to Your own heart, You have done all this greatness, in making known all these great things.

²⁰ O LORD, there is none like You, neither any God besides You, according to all that we have heard with our ears.

²¹ And what one nation in the earth is like Your people Israel, whom God went to redeem to be His own people, to make You a name of greatness and terribleness, by driving out nations from before Your people whom You have redeemed out of Egypt?

²² And You have chosen Your people Israel for Yourself, for a people forever. And You, LORD, became their God.

²³ And now, O LORD, let the thing which You have spoken concerning Your servant and concerning his house be established forever, and do as You have said.

²⁴ Let it even be established, so that Your name may be magnified forever, saying, The LORD of hosts is the God of Israel, a God to Israel. And let the house of David Your servant be established before You.

²⁵ For You, O my God, have told Your servant that You will build him a house. Therefore Your servant has found in his heart to pray before You.

²⁶ And now, LORD, You are God, and have promised this goodness to Your servant.

²⁷ And now let it please You to bless the house of Your servant so that it may be before You forever. For You have blessed, O LORD, and it is blessed forever.