CHAPTER 17
1 Forsooth when David dwelled in his house, he said to Nathan, the prophet, Lo! I dwell in an house of cedars; and the ark of [the] bond of peace of the Lord is under skins.
2 And Nathan said to David, Do thou all things that be in thine heart, for God is with thee.
3 Therefore in that night, the word of the Lord was made to Nathan, and said,
4 Go thou, and speak to David, my servant, The Lord saith these things, Thou shalt not build to me an house to dwell in;
5 certainly I have not dwelled in an house, from that time in which I led Israel out of the land of Egypt till to this day, but ever[more] I have changed places of the tabernacle, and have dwelled in a tent with all Israel.
6 Whether I have spoken namely to one of the judges of Israel, to which I commanded that they should feed my people, and said, Why hast thou not builded to me an house of cedar?
7 Now therefore thou shalt speak thus to my servant David, The Lord of hosts saith these things, I took thee, when thou pursuedest [or followedest] the flock in the pastures, that thou shouldest be duke upon my people Israel;
8 and I was with thee whither ever thou wentest, and I killed all thine enemies before thee, and I made to thee a name, as of one of the great men that be made worshipful, either famous, in [the] earth.
9 And I gave a place to my people Israel; it shall be planted, and shall dwell therein, and it shall no more be moved, and the sons of wickedness shall not defoul them, as from the beginning,
10 from the days in which I gave judges to my people Israel; and I made low all thine enemies. There-fore I tell to thee, that the Lord shall build an house to thee.
11 And when thou hast fulfilled thy days, that thou go to thy fathers, I shall raise up thy seed after thee, that shall be of thy sons, and I shall stablish his realm;
12 he shall build to me an house, and I shall make steadfast his seat into without end.
13 I shall be to him into a father, and he shall be to me into a son; and I shall not do away my mercy from him, as I took it away from him that was before thee;
14 and I shall ordain him in mine house and in my realm into without end; and his throne shall be most steadfast without end.
15 By all these words, and by all this revelation, so Nathan spake to David.
16 And when king David had come, and had set before the Lord, he said, Lord God, who am I, and what is mine house, that thou shouldest give such things to me?
17 But also this is seen little in thy sight, and therefore thou hast spoken of the house of thy servant, yea, into time to coming [or to come]; and thou hast made me worthy to be beholden over all men. My Lord God,
18 what may David add more, since thou hast so glorified thy servant, and hast known him?
19 Lord, for thy servant, thou hast done by thine heart all this great doing, and thou wouldest that all great things be known.
20 Lord, none is like thee, and none other God is without thee, of all which we have heard with our ears.
21 For who is another as thy people Israel, one folk in [the] earth, to whom God went, to deliver and make a people to himself, and to cast out by his greatness and dreads nations from the face thereof, the which people he delivered from Egypt?
22 And thou hast set thy people Israel into a people to thee into without end, and thou, Lord, art made the God thereof.
23 Now therefore, Lord, the word which thou hast spoken to thy servant, and on his house, be it confirmed with-out end, and do, as thou hast spoken;
24 and thy name dwell, and be magnified without end; and be it said, The Lord of hosts is God of Israel, and the house of David, his servant, dwelling before him.
25 For thou, my Lord God, hast made revelation in the ear of thy servant, that thou wouldest build to him an house; and therefore thy servant hath found trust, that he pray before thee.
26 Now therefore, Lord, thou art God, and hast spoken to thy servant so great benificences [or benefits];
27 and thou hast begun to bless the house of thy servant, that it be ever-[more] before thee; for, Lord, for thou blessest, it shall be blessed without end.