God’s Promise to David

17 After David had moved into his palace, he said to Nathan the prophet, “Look, I am living in this nice palace made of cedar, but the Box of the Lord’s Agreement sits in a tent.”

² Nathan answered David, “You may do what you want to do. God is with you.”

³ But that night the word of God came to Nathan. ⁴ God said,

“Go and tell this to my servant David: The Lord says, ‘David, you are not the one to build a house for me to live in. ^5-6 Since the time I brought Israel out of Egypt until now, I have not lived in a house. I have moved around in a tent. I chose people to be special leaders for the Israelites. They were like shepherds for my people. While I was going around in Israel to different places, I never said to any of them: Why haven’t you built a house of cedar wood for me?’

⁷ “Now, tell this to my servant David: The Lord All-Powerful says, ‘I took you from the fields and from taking care of the sheep. I made you king of my people Israel. ⁸ I have been with you everywhere you went. I went ahead of you and I killed your enemies. Now I will make you one of the most famous men on earth. ⁹ I am giving this place to my people Israel. They will plant their trees, and they will sit in peace under those trees. They will not be bothered anymore. Evil people will not hurt them as they did at first. ¹⁰ Those bad things happened, but I chose leaders to care for my people Israel. And I will also defeat all your enemies.

“‘I tell you that the Lord will build a house for you.^{[a] 11} When you die, and you join your ancestors, then I will let your own son be the new king. The new king will be one of your sons, and I will make his kingdom strong. ¹² Your son will build a house for me. I will make your son’s family rule forever. ¹³ I will be his father, and he will be my son. Saul was the king before you, and I took away my support from Saul. But I will never stop loving your son. ¹⁴ I will put him in charge of my house and kingdom forever. His rule will continue forever!’”

¹⁵ Nathan told David about the vision and everything God had said.

David’s Prayer

¹⁶ Then King David went to the Holy Tent and sat before the Lord. David said,

“Lord God, you have done so much for me and my family. And I don’t understand why. ¹⁷ Besides all these things, God, you let me know what will happen to my family in the future. Lord God, you have treated me like a very important man. ¹⁸ What more can I say? You have done so much for me. And I am only your servant. You know that. ¹⁹ Lord, you have done this wonderful thing for me and because you wanted to. ²⁰ There is no one like you, Lord. There is no God except you. We have never heard of any god doing wonderful things like those! ²¹ Is there any other nation like Israel? No, Israel is the only nation on earth that you have done these wonderful things for. You took us out of Egypt and you made us free. You made yourself famous. You went in front of your people, and forced other people to leave their land for us. ²² You took Israel to be your people forever, and you, Lord, became their God!

²³ “Lord, you made this promise to me and my family. Now, keep your promise forever. Do what you said you would. ²⁴ Keep your promise so that people will honor your name forever. Then people will say, ‘The Lord All-Powerful is Israel’s God!’ I am your servant. Please let my family be strong and continue to serve you.

²⁵ “My God, you spoke to me, your servant. You made it clear that you would make my family a family of kings. That is why I am being so bold—that is why I am asking you to do these things. ²⁶ Lord, you are God, and you yourself promised to do these good things for me. ²⁷ You have been kind enough to bless my family. You were kind enough to promise that my family will serve you forever. Lord, you yourself blessed my family, so my family really will be blessed forever.”

David Wins Over Different Nations

18 Later, David attacked the Philistines and defeated them. He took the town of Gath and the other small towns around it from the Philistines.

² Then David defeated the country of Moab. The Moabites became David’s servants and brought tribute to him.

³ David also fought against Hadadezer’s army. Hadadezer was the king of Zobah. David fought against that army all the way to the town of Hamath. David did this when he went to set up a monument for himself at the Euphrates River.^{[b] 4} David took 1000 chariots, 7000 chariot drivers, and 20,000 soldiers from Hadadezer. David also crippled most of Hadadezer’s horses that were used for pulling chariots. But David saved enough horses to pull 100 chariots.

⁵ The Arameans from the city of Damascus came to help King Hadadezer of Zobah. But David defeated and killed 22,000 Aramean soldiers. ⁶ Then David put fortresses in the city of Damascus in Aram. The Arameans became David’s servants and brought tribute to him. So the Lord gave victory to David everywhere he went.

⁷ David took the gold shields from Hadadezer’s army leaders and brought them to Jerusalem. ⁸ David also took much bronze from the towns of Tebah and Cun. These towns belonged to Hadadezer. Later, Solomon used this bronze to make the bronze tank,^[c] the bronze columns, and other things made from bronze for the Temple.

⁹ Tou was king of the city of Hamath. Hadadezer was the king of Zobah. Tou heard that David had defeated all of Hadadezer’s army. ¹⁰ So Tou sent his son Hadoram to King David to ask for peace and to bless him. He did this because David had fought against Hadadezer and defeated him. Hadadezer had been at war with Tou before. Hadoram gave David all kinds of things made of gold, silver, and bronze. ¹¹ King David made these things holy and gave them to the Lord. David did the same thing with all the silver and gold he had gotten from Edom, Moab, the Ammonites, the Philistines, and Amalekites.

¹² Abishai son of Zeruiah killed 18,000 Edomites in the Valley of Salt. ¹³ Abishai also put fortresses in Edom and all the Edomites became David’s servants. The Lord gave David victory everywhere he went.

David’s Important Officials

¹⁴ David was king over all Israel. He did what was right and fair for everyone. ¹⁵ Joab son of Zeruiah was the commander of David’s army. Jehoshaphat son of Ahilud wrote about the things David did. ¹⁶ Zadok and Abimelech were the priests. Zadok was Ahitub’s son, and Abimelech was Abiathar’s son. Shavsha was the scribe. ¹⁷ Benaiah was responsible for leading the Kerethites and Pelethites.^[d] Benaiah was Jehoiada’s son. And David’s sons were important officials. They served at King David’s side.