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And it came to pass when the king sat in his house; and the Lord had given him an inheritance on every side free from all his enemies round about him; ²that the king said to Nathan the prophet, Behold now, I live in a house of cedar and the ark of the Lord dwells in the midst of a tent. ³And Nathan said to the king, Go and do all that is in thine heart, for the Lord is with thee.

⁴And it came to pass in that night, that the word of the Lord came to Nathan saying, ⁵Go, and say to my servant David, Thus says the Lord, Thou shalt not build me a house for me to dwell in. ⁶For I have not dwelt in a house from the day that I brought up the children of Israel out of Egypt to this day; but I have been walking in a lodge and in a tent, ⁷wheresoever I went with all Israel. Have I ever spoken to any of the tribes of Israel, which I commanded to tend my people Israel, saying, Why have ye not built me a house of cedar?

⁸And now thus shalt thou say to my servant David, Thus says the Lord Almighty, I took thee from the sheep-cote, that thou shouldest be a prince over my people, over Israel. ⁹And I was with thee wheresoever thou wentest, and I destroyed all thine enemies before thee and I made thee renowned according to the renown of the great ones of the earth. ¹⁰And I will appoint a place for my people Israel; and will plant ¹ them and they shall dwell by themselves, and shall be no more distressed; and the son of iniquity shall no more afflict them, as he has done from the beginning, ¹¹from the days when I appointed judges over my people Israel: and will give thee rest from all thine enemies, and the Lord will tell thee that thou shalt build a house to him. ¹²And it shall come to pass when thy days shall have been fulfilled and thou shall sleep with thy fathers, that l will-raise up thy seed after thee, even thine own issue, and l will establish his kingdom. ¹³He shall build for me a house to my name, and I will set up his throne for ever. ¹⁴I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son. And when he happens to transgress then will chasten him with the rod of men, and with the stripes of the sons of men. ¹⁵But my mercy I will not take from him, as I took it from those whom I removed from my presence. ¹⁶And his house shall be made sure, and his kingdom for ever

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before me, and his throne shall be set up for ever.

¹⁷According to all these words, and according to all this vision, so Nathan spoke to David. ¹⁸And king David came in, and sat before the Lord, and said, Who am I, O Lord, my Lord, and what is my house, that thou hast loved me ² hitherto? ¹⁹Whereas I was very little before thee, O Lord, my Lord, yet thou spokest concerning the house of thy servant for a long time to come. And is this the law of man, 0 Lord, my Lord? ²⁰And what shall David yet say to thee? and now thou knowest thy servant, O Lord, my Lord. ²¹And thou hast wrought for thy servant's sake, and according to thy heart thou hast wrought all this greatness, to make it known to thy servant, ²²that he may magnify thee, O my Lord; for there is no one ³ like thee, and there is no God but thou among all of whom we have heard with our ears. ²³And what other nation in the earth is as thy people Israel? whereas God was his guide, to redeem for himself a people to make thee a name, to do mightily and nobly, so that thou shouldest cast out nations and their tabernacles from the presence of thy people whom thou didst redeem for thyself out of Egypt? ²⁴And thou hast prepared for thyself thy people Israel to be a people for ever, and thou, Lord, art become their God. ²⁵And now, O my Lord the Almighty Lord God of Israel, confirm the word for ever which thou hast spoken concerning thy servant and his house: and now as thou hast said, ²⁶Let thy name be magnified for ever. ^{4 27}Almighty Lord God of Israel, thou hast uncovered the ear of thy servant, saying, I will build thee a house: therefore thy servant has found in his heart to pray this prayer to thee. ²⁸And now, O Lord my Lord, thou art God; and thy words will be true, and thou hast spoken these good things concerning thy servant. ²⁹And now begin and bless the house of thy servant, that it may continue for ever before them; for thou, O Lord my Lord, hast spoken, and the house of thy servant shall be blessed with thy blessing so as to continue for ever.