2 Samuel 7 Free Bible Version
Audio: World English Bible (WEB), read by Winfred W. Henson · About the recordings
1 By now the king was comfortable in his palace and the Lord had given him peace from all the enemy nations around him.
1 When the king lived in his house, and Yahweh had given him rest from all his enemies all around,
2 So he said to Nathan the prophet, “Look at me—I live in a palace made of cedar, but the Ark of God is still in a tent.”
2 the king said to Nathan the prophet, “See now, I dwell in a house of cedar, but God’s ark dwells within curtains.”
3 “Go ahead, do whatever you want, for the Lord is with you,” Nathan told the king.
3 Nathan said to the king, “Go, do all that is in your heart, for Yahweh is with you.”
4 But that night the Lord spoke to Nathan and told him,
4 That same night, Yahweh’s word came to Nathan, saying,
5 “Go and tell my servant David, This is what the Lord says: Should you be the one to build a house for me to live in?
5 “Go and tell my servant David, ‘Yahweh says, “Should you build me a house for me to dwell in?
6 For I have never lived in a house, from the time I led the Israelites out of Egypt up till now. I have always moved from place to place, living in a tent and a Tabernacle.
6 For I have not lived in a house since the day that I brought the children of Israel up out of Egypt, even to this day, but have moved around in a tent and in a tabernacle.
7 But in all those travels with all of Israel did I ever ask any Israelite leader I'd ordered to take care of my people, ‘Why haven't you built a cedar house for me?’
7 In all places in which I have walked with all the children of Israel, did I say a word to anyone from the tribes of Israel whom I commanded to be shepherd of my people Israel, saying, ‘Why have you not built me a house of cedar?’”’
8 So then, tell my servant David this is what the Lord Almighty says. I was the one who took you from the fields, from looking after sheep, to become a leader of my people Israel.
8 Now therefore tell my servant David this: ‘Yahweh of Armies says, “I took you from the sheep pen, from following the sheep, to be prince over my people, over Israel.
9 I have been with you wherever you've gone. I have destroyed all your enemies right in front of you, and I will make your reputation as great as the most famous people on earth.
9 I have been with you wherever you went, and have cut off all your enemies from before you. I will make you a great name, like the name of the great ones who are on the earth.
10 I will choose a place for my people Israel. I will settle them there and they won't be disturbed anymore. Evil people won't persecute them as they used to,
10 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. The children of wickedness will not afflict them any more, as at the first,
11 from the time I placed judges in charge of my people. I will defeat all of your enemies. Also I want to make it clear that I the Lord will build a house for you.
11 and as from the day that I commanded judges to be over my people Israel. I will cause you to rest from all your enemies. Moreover Yahweh tells you that Yahweh will make you a house.
12 For when you come to the end of your life and join your ancestors in death, I will bring to power one of your descendants, one of your sons, and make sure his kingdom is successful.
12 When your days are fulfilled and you sleep with your fathers, I will set up your offspring after you, who will proceed out of your body, and I will establish his kingdom.
13 He will be the one to build me a house, and I will make sure his kingdom lasts forever.
13 He will build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.
14 I will be a father to him, and he will be a son to me. If he does wrong, I will discipline him with the rod like people do, like a parent punishing a child.
14 I will be his father, and he will be my son. If he commits iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men and with the stripes of the children of men;
15 But I will never take away my kindness and love from him, as I did in the case of Saul whom I removed before you.
15 but my loving kindness will not depart from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away before you.
16 Your house and your kingdom will last forever; your dynasty will be secure forever.”
16 Your house and your kingdom will be made sure forever before you. Your throne will be established forever.”’”
17 This is what Nathan explained to David—everything he was told in this divine revelation.
17 Nathan spoke to David all these words, and according to all this vision.
18 Then King David went and sat down in the presence of the Lord. He prayed, “Who am I, Lord God, and what is significant about my family, that you have brought me to this place?
18 Then David the king went in and sat before Yahweh; and he said, “Who am I, Lord Yahweh, and what is my house, that you have brought me this far?
19 God, you talk as if this was a small thing in your eyes, and you also have spoken about the future of my house, my family dynasty. Is this your usual way of dealing with human beings, Lord God?
19 This was yet a small thing in your eyes, Lord Yahweh, but you have spoken also of your servant’s house for a great while to come; and this among men, Lord Yahweh!
20 What more can I, David, tell you? You know exactly what your servant is like, Lord God.
20 What more can David say to you? For you know your servant, Lord Yahweh.
21 You're doing all this for me and you have explained it to me, your servant, because of your promise and because it's what you want to do.
21 For your word’s sake, and according to your own heart, you have worked all this greatness, to make your servant know it.
22 How great you are, Lord God! There really is no one like you; there is no other God, only you. We have never heard about anyone else.
22 Therefore you are great, Yahweh God. For there is no one like you, neither is there any God besides you, according to all that we have heard with our ears.
23 Who else is as fortunate as your people Israel? Who else on earth did God go and redeem to make his own people? You gained a wonderful reputation for yourself by all the tremendous, amazing things you did in driving out other nations and their gods before your people as you redeemed them from Egypt.
23 What one nation on the earth is like your people, even like Israel, whom God went to redeem to himself for a people, and to make himself a name, and to do great things for you, and awesome things for your land, before your people, whom you redeemed to yourself out of Egypt, from the nations and their gods?
24 You made your people Israel your own forever, and you, Lord, have become their God.
24 You established for yourself your people Israel to be your people forever; and you, Yahweh, became their God.
25 So now, Lord God, please ensure that what you have said about me and my house happens, and is confirmed forever. Please do as you have promised,
25 “Now, Yahweh God, the word that you have spoken concerning your servant, and concerning his house, confirm it forever, and do as you have spoken.
26 and may your true nature be honored forever, with people declaring, ‘The Lord Almighty is Israel's God!’ May the house of your servant David continue to be there in your presence.
26 Let your name be magnified forever, saying, ‘Yahweh of Armies is God over Israel; and the house of your servant David will be established before you.’
27 Lord Almighty, God of Israel, you have revealed this to me, your servant, telling me, ‘I will build a house for you.’ That's why your servant has had the courage to pray this prayer to you.
27 For you, Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel, have revealed to your servant, saying, ‘I will build you a house.’ Therefore your servant has found in his heart to pray this prayer to you.
28 Lord Almighty, you are God! Your words are truth, and you are the one who has promised these good things to your servant.
28 “Now, O Lord Yahweh, you are God, and your words are truth, and you have promised this good thing to your servant.
29 So now, please bless your servant's house that it may continue in your presence forever. For you have spoken, Lord God, and with your blessing the house of your servant will be blessed forever.”
29 Now therefore, let it please you to bless the house of your servant, that it may continue forever before you; for you, Lord Yahweh, have spoken it. Let the house of your servant be blessed forever with your blessing.”
People & places in this chapter
From this site's family tree and Bible maps, only where those guides cite this chapter.
People
David
The shepherd who became Israel's greatest king and a man after God's own heart.
Cited in the guide: 1 Sam. 16 - 1 Kings 2; 2 Sam. 7; 1 Chron. 2:15; Matt. 1:6
Nathan
The prophet to whom David confided his wish to build a house for the ark, who carried the LORD's promise of an enduring house to David, rebuked him with the parable of the ewe…
Cited in the guide: 2 Samuel 7:2; 2 Samuel 7:4; 2 Samuel 12:1
Cross references (29)
Related passages for each verse, from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge as collected and ranked by readers at OpenBible.info.
- 1 Proverbs 16:7; Luke 1:74–75; 1 Kings 5:4; 2 Chronicles 14:6; Daniel 4:29–30
- 2 2 Samuel 5:11; 1 Chronicles 16:1; 2 Samuel 12:1; Acts 7:46; Haggai 1:4
- 3 1 Chronicles 22:7; 1 Kings 8:17–18; 1 Chronicles 28:2; 2 Kings 4:27; Psalm 37:4
- 4 1 Chronicles 17:3; Numbers 12:6; Amos 3:7
- 5 1 Kings 5:3–4; 1 Chronicles 22:7–8; 1 Chronicles 23:3–32; 1 Kings 8:16–19; 1 Chronicles 17:4
- 6 1 Kings 8:16; Joshua 18:1; Exodus 40:18–19; Exodus 40:34–38; Deuteronomy 23:14
- 7 1 Chronicles 17:6; 2 Samuel 5:2; Leviticus 26:11–12; John 21:15–17; Psalm 78:71–72
- 8 Psalm 78:70–71; 1 Samuel 16:11–12; 2 Samuel 6:21; 1 Chronicles 17:7; 2 Samuel 12:7
- 9 2 Samuel 5:10; 1 Chronicles 17:8; 2 Samuel 8:6; 1 Samuel 18:14; Psalm 18:37–42
- 10 Amos 9:15; 1 Chronicles 17:9; Jeremiah 24:6; Isaiah 60:18; Ezekiel 37:25–27
- 11 2 Samuel 7:27; 1 Samuel 12:9–11; Judges 2:14–16; 2 Samuel 7:1; Psalm 89:3–4
- 12 Acts 2:30; 1 Kings 2:1; 1 Kings 8:20; Psalm 132:11–12; Acts 13:36
- 13 Luke 1:31–33; 1 Kings 8:19; 1 Kings 5:5; 2 Samuel 7:16; Psalm 89:4
- 14 Hebrews 1:5; Revelation 3:19; 1 Chronicles 28:6; 1 Chronicles 17:13; Deuteronomy 8:5
- 15 1 Samuel 15:23; 1 Samuel 15:28; Psalm 89:28; Isaiah 9:7; 1 Kings 11:13
- 16 Luke 1:32–33; Psalm 89:36–37; 2 Samuel 7:13; Isaiah 9:7; Daniel 2:44
- 17 1 Chronicles 17:15; 1 Corinthians 15:3; Acts 20:20; Acts 20:27
- 18 Psalm 8:4; 1 Chronicles 17:16; 1 Samuel 18:18; Genesis 32:10; Exodus 3:11
- 19 Isaiah 55:8–9; 1 Chronicles 17:17; Psalm 36:7; 2 Samuel 7:11–16; 2 Samuel 12:8
- 20 1 Samuel 16:7; John 21:17; Psalm 139:1; Revelation 2:23; Hebrews 4:13
- 21 Psalm 138:2; Psalm 115:1; Ephesians 3:11; Luke 12:32; Ephesians 1:9
- 22 Psalm 86:10; Exodus 15:11; Psalm 86:8; 1 Chronicles 16:25; Micah 7:18
- 23 Deuteronomy 9:26; Deuteronomy 10:21; Psalm 147:20; Nehemiah 1:10; Deuteronomy 15:15
- 24 Deuteronomy 26:18; 1 Peter 2:10; Psalm 48:14; Jeremiah 31:33; Isaiah 12:2
- 25 Psalm 119:49; Ezekiel 36:37; Genesis 32:12; Jeremiah 11:4–5
- 26 1 Chronicles 17:23–24; Psalm 72:18–19; Matthew 6:9; John 12:28; 1 Chronicles 29:10–13
- 27 1 Chronicles 17:25–26; Psalm 10:17; Ruth 4:4; 1 Samuel 9:15; Psalm 40:6
- 28 John 17:17; Numbers 23:19; Exodus 34:6; Titus 1:2
- 29 Numbers 6:24–26; 1 Chronicles 17:27; Psalm 115:12–15; 2 Samuel 22:51
Cross references: OpenBible.info (CC BY), drawn mainly from the public-domain Treasury of Scripture Knowledge. · Sources & licences
What the Fathers said
Passages from the Church Fathers that expound or quote this chapter, verbatim from the public-domain Schaff edition (19th-century English translations).
How these were chosen
“Commentary” is the opening of a homily or exposition on this chapter (John Chrysostom’s homilies, Augustine’s tractates, sermons and expositions of the Psalms). “Quotes” are sentences where the edition’s own footnotes identify a quotation of a verse here, kept only when the wording matches the verse. Only works whose authorship is not in doubt are used. Psalms follow the Hebrew/English numbering (Augustine numbers them as the Septuagint does: his Psalm 50 is Psalm 51 here).
And his house shall be faithful, and his kingdom even for evermore before me, and his throne shall be set up even for evermore." He who thinks this grand promise was fulfilled in Solomon greatly errs; for he attends to the saying, "He shall build me an house," but he does not attend to the saying, "His house shall be …
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 2 (1887)
For there, that is, in the Book of Samuel, he says, "And if he commit iniquity I will chasten him with the rod of men, and with the stripes of the sons of men; but my mercy will I not take away from him," meaning by stripes the strokes of correction.
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 2 (1887)
Therefore David understanding this, says in the second Book of Kings, in the passage from which we digressed to this psalm, "Thou hast spoken also for Thy servant's house for a great while to come." Therefore also a little after he says, "Now begin, and bless the house of Thy servant for evermore," etc., because the son was then about …
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 2 (1887)