Chapter 17

  And it came to pass, when David dwelt in his house, that David said to Nathan the prophet, Lo, I dwell in a house of cedar, but the ark of the covenant of Jehovah [dwelleth] under curtains.  

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  And Nathan said unto David, Do all that is in thy heart; for God is with thee.  

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  And it came to pass the same night, that the word of God came to Nathan, saying,  

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  Go and tell David my servant, Thus saith Jehovah, Thou shalt not build me a house to dwell in:  

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

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  In all places wherein I have walked with all Israel, spake I a word with any of the judges of Israel, whom I commanded to be shepherd of my people, saying, Why have ye not built me a house of cedar?  

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  Now therefore thus shalt thou say unto my servant David, Thus saith Jehovah of hosts, I took thee from the sheepcote, from following the sheep, that thou shouldest be prince over my people Israel:  

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  and I have been with thee whithersoever thou hast gone, and have cut off all thine enemies from before thee; and I will make thee a name, like unto the name of the great ones that are in the earth.  

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  And I will appoint a place for my people Israel, and will plant them, that they may dwell in their own place, and be moved no more; neither shall the children of wickedness waste them any more, as at the first,  

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  and [as] from the day that I commanded judges to be over my people Israel; and I will subdue all thine enemies. Moreover I tell thee that Jehovah will build thee a house.  

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  And it shall come to pass, when thy days are fulfilled that thou must go to be with thy fathers, that I will set up thy seed after thee, who shall be of thy sons; and I will establish his kingdom.  

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  He shall build me a house, and I will establish his throne for ever.  

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  I will be his father, and he shall be my son: and I will not take my lovingkindness away from him, as I took it from him that was before thee;  

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  but I will settle him in my house and in my kingdom for ever; and his throne shall be established for ever.  

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  According to all these words, and according to all this vision, so did Nathan speak unto David.  

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  Then David the king went in, and sat before Jehovah; and he said, Who am I, O Jehovah God, and what is my house, that thou hast brought me thus far?  

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  And this was a small thing in thine eyes, O God; but thou hast spoken of thy servant's house for a great while to come, and hast regarded me according to the estate of a man of high degree, O Jehovah God.  

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  What can David [say] yet more unto thee concerning the honor which is done to thy servant? for thou knowest thy servant.  

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  O Jehovah, for thy servant's sake, and according to thine own heart, hast thou wrought all this greatness, to make known all [these] great things.  

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  O Jehovah, there is none like thee, neither is there any God besides thee, according to all that we have heard with our ears.  

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  And what one nation in the earth is like thy people Israel, whom God went to redeem unto himself for a people, to make thee a name by great and terrible things, in driving out nations from before thy people, whom thou redeemest out of Egypt?  

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  For thy people Israel didst thou make thine own people for ever; and thou, Jehovah, becamest their God.  

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  And now, O Jehovah, let the word that thou hast spoken concerning thy servant, and concerning his house, be established for ever, and do as thou hast spoken.  

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  And let thy name be established and magnified for ever, saying, Jehovah of hosts is the God of Israel, even a God to Israel: and the house of David thy servant is established before thee.  

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  For thou, O my God, hast revealed to thy servant that thou wilt build him a house: therefore hath thy servant found [in his heart] to pray before thee.  

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  And now, O Jehovah, thou art God, and hast promised this good thing unto thy servant:  

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  and now it hath pleased thee to bless the house of thy servant, that it may continue for ever before thee: for thou, O Jehovah, hast blessed, and it is blessed for ever.  

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