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

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

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

4 Go and tell David my slave, Thus says Yahweh, You will not build me a house to dwell in:

5 for I haven't 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].

6 In all places in which I have walked with all Israel, did I speak a word with any of the judges of Israel, whom I commanded to be shepherd of my people, saying, Why haven't you{+} built me a house of cedar?

7 Now therefore thus you will say to my slave David, Thus says Yahweh of hosts, I took you from the sheepcote, from following the sheep, that you should be leader over my people Israel:

8 and I have been with you wherever you have gone, and have cut off all your enemies from before you; and I will make you a name, like the name of the great ones who are in the earth.

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

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

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

12 He will build me a house, and I will establish his throne forever.

13 I will be his father, and he will be my son: and I will not take my loving-kindness away from him, as I took it from him who was before you;

14 but I will settle him in my house and in my kingdom forever; and his throne will be established forever.

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

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

17 And this was a small thing in your eyes, O God; but you have spoken of your slave's house for a great while to come, and you see me according to the rank of man placed high, O Yahweh God.

18 What can David [say] yet more to you concerning the honor which is done to your slave? For you know your slave.

19 O Yahweh, for your slave's sake, and according to your own heart, you have wrought all this greatness, to make known all [these] great things.

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

21 And what other nation in the earth is like your people Israel, whom God went to redeem to himself for a people, to make yourself a name by great and awesome things, in driving out nations from before your people, whom you redeemed out of Egypt?

22 For you made your people Israel your own people forever; and you, Yahweh, became their God.

23 And now, O Yahweh, let the word that you have spoken concerning your slave, and concerning his house, be established forever, and do as you have spoken.

24 And let your name be established and magnified forever, saying, Yahweh of hosts is the God of Israel, even a God to Israel: and the house of David your slave is established before you.

25 For you, O my God, have revealed to your slave that you will build him a house: therefore your slave has found [in his heart] to pray before you.

26 And now, O Yahweh, you are God, and have promised this good thing to your slave:

27 and now it has pleased you to bless the house of your slave, that it may continue forever before you: for you, O Yahweh, have blessed, and it is blessed forever.