1 Chronicles 17:1-12

God Makes a Promise to David

17:1 When David had settled into his palace, ¹  he ²  said to Nathan the prophet, “Look, I am living in a palace ³  made from cedar, while the ark of the Lord’s covenant is under a tent.” ⁴  17:2 Nathan said to David, “You should do whatever you have in mind, ⁵  for God is with you.”

17:3 That night God told Nathan the prophet, ⁶  17:4 “Go, tell my servant David: ‘This is what the Lord says: “You must not build me a house in which to live. 17:5 For I have not lived in a house from the time I brought Israel up from Egypt ⁷  to the present day. I have lived in a tent that has been in various places. ⁸  17:6 Wherever I moved throughout Israel, I did not say ⁹  to any of the leaders whom I appointed to care for my people Israel, ¹⁰  ‘Why have you not built me a house made from cedar?’”’

17:7 “So now, say this to my servant David: ‘This is what the Lord who commands armies ¹¹  says: “I took you from the pasture and from your work as a shepherd ¹²  to make you a leader of my people Israel. 17:8 I was with you wherever you went and I defeated ¹³  all your enemies before you. Now I will make you as famous as the great men of the earth. ¹⁴  17:9 I will establish a place for my people Israel and settle ¹⁵  them there; they will live there and not be disturbed ¹⁶  anymore. Violent men will not oppress them again, as they did in the beginning ¹⁷  17:10 and during the time when I appointed judges to lead my people Israel. I will subdue all your enemies.

“‘“I declare to you that the Lord will build a dynastic house ¹⁸  for you! 17:11 When the time comes for you to die, ¹⁹  I will raise up your descendant, ²⁰  one of your own sons, to succeed you, and I will establish his kingdom. 17:12 He will build me a house, and I will make his dynasty permanent. ²¹ 

[17:1]  ¹ tn Heb “house.”

[17:1]  ² tn Heb “David.” The pronoun “he” has been used in the translation here to avoid redundancy in keeping with contemporary English style.

[17:1]  ³ tn Heb “house.”

[17:1]  ⁴ tn Heb “tent curtains.”

[17:2]  ⁵ tn Heb “all which is in your heart.”

[17:3]  ⁶ tn Heb “the word of God was [i.e., came] to Nathan the prophet.”

[17:5]  ⁷ tn The words “from Egypt” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[17:5]  ⁸ tc Heb “and I was from tent to tent and from tabernacle.” The words אֶל־מִשְּׁכָּן (’el-mishÿkan, “to tabernacle”) should probably be added at the end of the sentence to complete this prepositional phrase and produce symmetry with the preceding prepositional phrase. The words probably fell from the text by homoioteleuton.

[17:6]  ⁹ tn In the Hebrew text the statement is phrased as a rhetorical question (“Did I say?”) meaning “I did not say.”

[17:6]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “to one of the judges of Israel whom I commanded to shepherd my people.”

[17:7]  ¹¹ tn Traditionally, “Lord of hosts.”

[17:7]  ¹² tn Heb “and from after sheep.”

[17:8]  ¹³ tn Heb “cut off.”

[17:8]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “and I will make for you a name like the name of the great men who are in the earth.”

[17:9]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “plant.”

[17:9]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “shaken.”

[17:9]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “and sons of violence will no longer consume them as in the beginning.”

[17:10]  ¹⁸ tn Here the word “house” is used in a metaphorical sense, referring to a royal dynasty. The Lord’s use of the word here plays off the literal sense that David had in mind as he contemplated building a temple (“house”) for the Lord. In the translation the adjective “dynastic” is supplied to indicate that the term is used metaphorically.

[17:11]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “and it will be when your days are full to go with your ancestors.”

[17:11]  ²⁰ tn Heb “your seed.”

[17:12]  ²¹ tn Heb “and I will establish his throne permanently.”