2 Samuel 7:1-10

The Lord Establishes a Covenant with David

7:1 The king settled into his palace, ¹  for the Lord gave him relief ²  from all his enemies on all sides. ³  7:2 The king said to Nathan the prophet, “Look! I am living in a palace made from cedar, while the ark of God sits in the middle of a tent.” 7:3 Nathan replied to the king, “You should go ⁴  and do whatever you have in mind, ⁵  for the Lord is with you.” 7:4 That night the Lord told Nathan, ⁶  7:5 “Go, tell my servant David: ‘This is what the Lord says: Do you really intend to build a house for me to live in? 7:6 I have not lived in a house from the time I brought the Israelites up from Egypt to the present day. Instead, I was traveling with them and living in a tent. ⁷  7:7 Wherever I moved among all the Israelites, I did not say ⁸  to any of the leaders ⁹  whom I appointed to care for ¹⁰  my people Israel, “Why have you not built me a house made from cedar?”’

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

[7:1]  ¹ tn Heb “house” (also in the following verse).

[7:1]  ² tn Or “rest.”

[7:1]  ³ tn The translation understands the disjunctive clause in v. 1b as circumstantial-causal.

[7:3]  ⁴ tc Several medieval Hebrew mss and the Syriac Peshitta lack this word.

[7:3]  ⁵ tn Heb “all that is in your heart.”

[7:4]  ⁶ tn Heb “the word of the Lord was [i.e., came] to Nathan.”

[7:6]  ⁷ tn Heb “in a tent and in a dwelling.” The expression is a hendiadys, using two terms to express one idea.

[7:7]  ⁸ tn Heb “Did I speak a word?” In the Hebrew text the statement is phrased as a rhetorical question.

[7:7]  ⁹ tn Heb “tribes” (so KJV, NASB, NCV), but the parallel passage in 1 Chr 17:6 has “judges.”

[7:7]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “whom I commanded to shepherd” (so NIV, NRSV).

[7:8]  ¹¹ tn Heb “and from after the sheep.”

[7:9]  ¹² tn Heb “cut off.”

[7:9]  ¹³ tn Heb “and I will make for you a great name like the name of the great ones who are in the earth.”

[7:10]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “plant.”

[7:10]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “shaken.”

[7:10]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “the sons of violence.”