Study Desk

Then King David rose to his feet and said, "Listen to me, my brothers and my people; ^(F1)I ^(C1)had intended to build a ^(F2)permanent home for the ark of the covenant of the LORD and for ^(C2)the footstool of our God. So I had made preparations to build it.

"But God said to me, '^(C1)You shall not build a house for My name, because you are a man of war and have shed blood.'

"Yet, the LORD, the God of Israel, ^(C1)chose me from all the household of my father to be king over Israel ^(C2)forever. For ^(C3)He has chosen Judah to be a leader; and ^(C4)in the house of Judah, my father's house, and among the sons of my father He took pleasure in me to make me king over all Israel.

"^(C1)Of all my sons (for the LORD has given me many sons), ^(C2)He has chosen my son Solomon to sit on the throne of the kingdom of the LORD over Israel.

"He said to me, 'Your son ^(C1)Solomon is the one who shall build My house and My courtyards; for I have chosen him to be a son to Me, and I will be a Father to him.

'I will establish his kingdom forever ^(C1)if he resolutely performs My commandments and My ordinances, as ^(F1)is done now.'

"So now, in the sight of all Israel, the assembly of the LORD, and in the ^(F1)presence of our God, keep and seek after all the commandments of the LORD your God so that you may possess the good land and leave it as an inheritance to your sons after you forever.