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1 Chronicles 17

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David Desires to Build the Temple 1–2

1
Now it came to pass, as David sat in his house, that David said to Nathan the prophet, Lo, I dwell in an house of cedars, but the ark of the covenant of the LORD remaineth under curtains. ​
2
Then Nathan said unto David, Do all that is in thine heart; for God is with thee. ​

God Rejects David's Offer 3–6

3
And it came to pass the same night, that the word of God came to Nathan, saying,
4
Go and tell David my servant, Thus saith the LORD, Thou shalt not build me an house to dwell in: ​
5
For I have not dwelt in an 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. ​
6
Wheresoever I have walked with all Israel, spake I a word to any of the judges of Israel, whom I commanded to feed my people, saying, Why have ye not built me an house of cedars?

God Promises David an Eternal Dynasty 7–15

7
Now therefore thus shalt thou say unto my servant David, Thus saith the LORD of hosts, I took thee from the sheepcote, even from following the sheep, that thou shouldest be ruler over my people Israel: ​
8
And I have been with thee whithersoever thou hast walked, and have cut off all thine enemies from before thee, and have made thee a name like the name of the great men that are in the earth.
9
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,
10
And since the time that I commanded judges to be over my people Israel. Moreover I will subdue all thine enemies. Furthermore I tell thee that the LORD will build thee an house. ​
11
And it shall come to pass, when thy days be expired that thou must go to be with thy fathers, that I will raise up thy seed after thee, which shall be of thy sons; and I will establish his kingdom. ​
12
He shall build me an house, and I will stablish his throne for ever. ​
13
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: ​
14
But I will settle him in mine house and in my kingdom for ever: and his throne shall be established for evermore. ​
15
According to all these words, and according to all this vision, so did Nathan speak unto David.

David’s Prayer of Thanksgiving 16–27

16
And David the king came and sat before the LORD, and said, Who am I, O LORD God, and what is mine house, that thou hast brought me hitherto? ​
17
And yet this was a small thing in thine 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. ​
18
What can David speak more to thee for the honour of thy servant? for thou knowest thy servant.
19
O LORD, for thy servant's sake, and according to thine own heart, hast thou done all this greatness, in making known all these great things. ​
20
O LORD, there is none like thee, neither is there any God beside thee, according to all that we have heard with our ears.
21
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? ​
22
For thy people Israel didst thou make thine own people for ever; and thou, LORD, becamest their God.
23
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.
24
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.
25
For thou, O my God, hast told thy servant that thou wilt build him an house: therefore thy servant hath found in his heart to pray before thee. ​
26
And now, LORD, thou art God, and hast promised this goodness unto thy servant:
27
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. ​

Bible text: King James Version (1769 Blayney text) · Public domain

Study Notes for 1 Chronicles 17

Verse 1

house of cedars — Cedar was the timber Hiram of Tyre sent David for his house (1 Chr 14:1). ‘Curtains’ (yeriah) is the word for the hangings of the tabernacle (Ex 26:1), so the ark still sat in the tent David had pitched for it (1 Chr 15:1).

Verse 2

Do all that is in thine heart — Nathan answers from what he can see: a king who wants to honour the ark. The word of God corrects him ‘the same night’ (v.3), and the prophet then carries the correction to David (v.4).

Verse 4

my servant — Ebed, the title God gives David here and again in v.7. The refusal is later explained in David’s own words: ‘Thou hast shed blood abundantly, and hast made great wars’ (1 Chr 22:8; cf. 28:3).

Verse 5

from tent to tent — Since the exodus the LORD had moved with a tent, a ‘tabernacle’ (mishkan, a dwelling), where ‘the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle’ (Ex 40:34). Stephen cites the same truth: ‘the most High dwelleth not in temples made with hands’ (Acts 7:48; Isa 66:1).

Verse 7

from the sheepcote — Naveh is a pasture or fold. David was taken ‘from following the sheep’ to be ‘ruler’ (nagid, a leader), the word used of Saul at 1 Sam 9:16. Ps 78:70–71 tells it again: ‘He chose David also his servant, and took him from the sheepfolds.’

Verse 10

the LORD will build thee an house — ‘House’ (bayith) changes sense here. David was not to build the LORD a house to dwell in (v.4); the LORD will build David a house, a line of kings. ‘Subdue’ (kana) is literally to bend the knee.

Verse 11

thy seed after thee — Near at hand the seed is Solomon, ‘of thy sons’. Peter says David knew that God ‘would raise up Christ to sit on his throne’ (Acts 2:30), and Gabriel’s words to Mary take up this promise (Luke 1:32–33).

Verse 12

stablish his throne for ever — Solomon built the house, and he cites this word as the reason (1 Kgs 5:5). ‘Stablish’ (kun) is to set firm. Isaiah gives the same words to the child born: ‘upon the throne of David… to establish it… even for ever’ (Isa 9:7).

Verse 13

I will be his father — Hebrews quotes the promise to show that it was never said of an angel: ‘I will be to him a Father, and he shall be to me a Son’ (Heb 1:5). ‘Mercy’ is chesed, covenant love, taken from Saul (2 Sam 7:15) but, as Ps 89:33 says, not ‘utterly’ from David’s line.

Verse 14

in mine house and in my kingdom — The kingdom stays the LORD’s own: Solomon later ‘sat on the throne of the LORD as king’ (1 Chr 29:23). ‘Settle’ (amad) is to cause to stand. Gabriel’s ‘of his kingdom there shall be no end’ (Luke 1:33) answers this verse.

Verse 16

Who am I, O LORD God — David answers the promise with a question about himself and ‘mine house’, which now means his family. ‘Hitherto’ (halom) means as far as this point. The same prayer stands in 2 Sam 7:18.

Verse 17

a man of high degree — What God had done already, taking him from the sheep (v.7), was ‘a small thing’ beside a promise for ‘a great while to come’ (rachoq, far off). ‘Estate’ is tor, a rank or manner, and ‘high degree’ is ma’alah, elevation.

Verse 19

according to thine own heart — David names two causes, ‘thy servant’s sake’ and the LORD’s own heart (lev), meaning his own purpose. ‘Greatness’ (gedulah) is the word of ‘a name of greatness’ in v.21. Isa 37:35 joins the same two: ‘for mine own sake, and for my servant David’s sake.’

Verse 21

redeem — Padah, to ransom: Israel is the people ‘whom thou hast redeemed out of Egypt’. David’s question has Moses’ own form: ‘Or hath God assayed to go and take him a nation from the midst of another nation…?’ (Deut 4:34).

Verse 25

hast told thy servant — Literally, hast uncovered the ear (galah, ozen), the idiom for a private disclosure, as in ‘the LORD had told Samuel in his ear’ (1 Sam 9:15). The prayer rests on that word: David asks for what God has already promised.

Verse 27

it shall be blessed for ever — One verb, barak, runs through the verse three times: ‘bless’, ‘blessest’, ‘blessed’. What the LORD blesses stays blessed, as Paul says of his gifts: ‘without repentance’ (Rom 11:29). ‘Let it please thee’ (yaal) is to be willing.