The Lord's covenant with David
1 King David was living in his palace. One day, he said to Nathan the prophet, ‘Now I am living in a beautiful palace that is made of cedar wood. But the Lord's Covenant Box is still in a tent.’
2 Nathan replied to David, ‘Do what you think is right. God will help you.’
3 But that night God said to Nathan, 4 ‘Go and tell my servant David, “The Lord says this: You are not the right man to build a house for me to live in. 5 From the time that I brought the Israelites safely out of Egypt until now, I have never lived in a house. I have lived in a tent as my home as I travelled from place to place. 6 I have moved about to many different places with the Israelites. I chose leaders to take care of my people, like shepherds take care of their sheep. But I never said to any of them, ‘You should have built a beautiful house of cedar wood for me.’ ”
7 So tell my servant David that the Lord Almighty says this: “I took you from the fields where you were taking care of sheep. I took you from there to become the ruler of my people Israel. 8 I have been with you everywhere that you have gone. I destroyed all your enemies that were attacking you. Now I will make you famous. Your name will be as great as the names of the earth's greatest men. 9 I have chosen a place where my people Israel will live. I have put them in that place, were they can be safe. They will not be afraid of trouble from any enemy. Wicked people will not hurt them any more. That happened in the past, 10 from the time that I chose leaders to rule my people Israel. But now I will cause all your enemies to be weak.
I say to you, David: the Lord will give you descendants who will rule as kings after you. That will be the royal house that I build for you. 11 When you die, people will bury you in the grave of your ancestors. Then I will choose your descendant, one of your own sons, to become king. I will make his kingdom strong. 12 He is the man who will build a house for me. And I will cause his descendants to rule as kings for ever. 13 I will be his father and he will be my son. I will never remove my faithful love from him, as I took it away from the king who ruled before you. 14 I will cause him to rule my people and my kingdom for ever. Someone from his family will always be king.” ’
17:10David wanted to build a house for the Lord, but the Lord promised to build a ‘house’ for David. That meant that he would give David a family with many descendants who would rule as kings.
15 Nathan told David the whole message that the Lord had shown to him.
