Study Desk

And it happened, as David sat in his house, that David said to Nathan the prophet, Behold, I am living in a house of cedars, and the ark of the covenant of Jehovah is under curtains.

And Nathan said to David, Do all that is in your heart, for God is with you.

And it happened on that night, the Word of God came to Nathan, saying,

Go, and you shall say to My servant David, So says Jehovah, You shall not build a house for Me to dwell in;

for I have not dwelt in a house from the day that I brought Israel up until this day, but I have gone from tent to tent, and from one tabernacle to another .

Wherever I have walked up and down among all Israel, have I spoken a word with any of the judges of Israel, whom I commanded to feed My people, saying, Why have you not built a house of cedars for Me?

And now you shall say this to My servant, to David, So says Jehovah of Hosts, I have taken you from the pasture from following the sheep, to be ruler over My people Israel;

and I have been with you wherever you have walked; and I have cut off all your enemies from before you; and have made for you a name like the name of the great ones in the earth.

And I will prepare a place for My people Israel, and he will plant, and he will dwell in his place, and shall not be made to tremble any more; nor shall the sons of wickedness waste him any more, as at the first;

yea, even from the day that I appointed judges over My people Israel. And I will humble all your enemies; and I declare to you that Jehovah shall build a house for you;

and it shall be, when your days have been fulfilled to go away with your fathers, that I shall raise up your seed after you, who shall be of your sons, and I shall establish his kingdom.

He shall build a house for Me, and I shall establish his throne forever;

I shall be a Father to him, and he shall be a son to Me; and I will not take My mercy away from him, as I took it away from him who was before you;

and I will make him stand in My house and in My kingdom forever; and his throne shall be made to stand forever.

According to all these words, and according to all this vision, so Nathan spoke to David.