Chapter 17

  Now it came to pass, as David sat in his house, that David said to Nathan the prophet, Lo, I dwell in a house of cedars, but the ark of the covenant of the LORD remaineth under curtains.  

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  Then Nathan said to 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 the LORD, 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 to this day; but have gone from tent to tent, and from one tabernacle to another.  

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  Wherever I have walked with all Israel, have I spoken a word to any of the judges of Israel, whom I commanded to feed my people, saying, Why have ye not built me a house of cedars?  

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  Now therefore thus shalt thou say to my servant David, Thus saith the LORD of hosts, I took thee from the sheep-cote, even from following the sheep, that thou shouldst be ruler over my people Israel:  

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  And I have been with thee whithersoever thou hast walked, and have cut off all thy enemies from before thee, and have made thee a name like the name of the great men that are in the earth.  

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  Also I will ordain a place for my people Israel, and will plant them, and they shall dwell in their place, and shall be moved no more; neither shall the children of wickedness waste them any more, as at the beginning.  

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  And since the time that I commanded judges to be over my people Israel. Moreover, I will subdue all thy enemies. Furthermore, I tell thee that the LORD will build thee a house.  

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  And it shall come to pass, when thy days shall be ended that thou must go to be with thy fathers, that I will raise 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 mercy 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 evermore.  

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

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  And David the king came and sat before the LORD, and said, Who am I, O LORD God, and what is my house, that thou hast brought me hitherto?  

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  And yet this was a small thing in thy eyes, O God; for thou hast also 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 LORD God.  

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  What can David speak more to thee for the honor of thy servant? for thou knowest thy servant.  

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  O LORD, for thy servant's sake, and according to thy own heart, hast thou done all this greatness, in making known all these great things.  

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  O LORD, 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 to be his own people, to make thee a name of greatness and terribleness, by driving out nations from before thy people, whom thou hast redeemed out of Egypt?  

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

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  Therefore now, LORD, Let the thing that thou hast spoken concerning thy servant and concerning his house be established for ever, and do as thou hast said.  

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  Let it even be established, that thy name may be magnified for ever, saying, The LORD of hosts is the God of Israel, even a God to Israel: and let the house of David thy servant be established before thee.  

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

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  And now, LORD, thou art God, and hast promised this goodness to thy servant:  

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  Now therefore let it please thee to bless the house of thy servant, that it may be before thee for ever: for thou blessest, O LORD, and it shall be blessed for ever.  

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