1 Chronicles 17
The full text of 1 Chronicles 17 in the Trinity Bible Version — clear modern English, translated from the original Hebrew. Free to read.
1 When David had settled in his palace, he said to Nathan the prophet, 'Here I am living in a house of cedar, while the ark of the covenant of the LORD is under a tent.'
2 Nathan replied to David, 'Whatever is in your heart, do it, for God is with you.'
3 But that night the word of God came to Nathan, saying:
4 Go and tell my servant David, This is what the LORD says: You are not the one to build me a house to dwell in.
5 For I have not dwelt in a house from the day I brought Israel up until this day, but I have moved from tent to tent and from dwelling to dwelling.
6 Wherever I have moved about with all Israel, did I ever ask any of the judges I commanded to shepherd my people, Why have you not built me a house of cedar?
7 Now then, tell my servant David, This is what the LORD of hosts says: I took you from the pasture, from tending the flock, and appointed you ruler over my people Israel.
8 I have been with you wherever you have gone, and I have cut off all your enemies before you. Now I will make your name like the names of the greatest men on earth.
9 And I will provide a place for my people Israel and will plant them so that they can have a home of their own and no longer be disturbed. Wicked people will not oppress them anymore,
10 as they were in the beginning and also since the time I appointed judges over my people Israel. I will also subdue all your enemies. I declare to you that the LORD will build you a house.
11 When your days are over and you go to be with your ancestors, I will raise up your offspring to succeed you, one of your own sons, and I will establish his kingdom.
12 He is the one who will build a house for me, and I will establish his throne forever.
13 I will be his father, and he will be my son. I will never take my love away from him, as I took it away from your predecessor.
14 I will set him over my house and my kingdom forever; his throne will be established forever.
15 Nathan reported to David all the words of this entire revelation.
16 Then King David went in and sat before the LORD, and he said: Who am I, LORD God, and what is my family, that you have brought me this far?
17 And as if this were not enough in your sight, God, you have spoken about the future of the house of your servant. You have looked on me as though I were the most exalted of men, LORD God.
18 What more can David say to you for honoring your servant? For you know your servant, LORD.
19 For the sake of your servant, LORD, and according to your will, you have done this great thing and made known all these great promises.
20 There is no one like you, LORD, and there is no God but you, according to all that we have heard with our own ears.
21 And who is like your people Israel — the one nation on earth whose God went out to redeem a people for himself, and to make a name for yourself, and to perform great and awesome wonders by driving out nations from before your people, whom you redeemed from Egypt?
22 You made your people Israel your very own forever, and you, LORD, have become their God.
23 And now, LORD, let the promise you have made concerning your servant and his house be established forever. Do as you promised.
24 Let it be established so that your name will be great forever. Then people will say, The LORD of hosts is God over Israel! And the house of your servant David will be established before you.
25 You, my God, have revealed to your servant that you will build a house for him. So your servant has found courage to pray to you.
26 LORD, you are God! You have promised these good things to your servant.
27 Now you have been pleased to bless the house of your servant, that it may continue forever in your sight; for you, LORD, have blessed it, and it will be blessed forever.
Translation notes (7)
- 1 Chronicles 17:4a Hebrew lo attah tivneh-li ha-bayit places the negative directly before the pronoun attah, 'you', literally 'not you shall build me the house', stressing the builder rather than the building: the temple will come, but by another hand. The parallel at 2 Samuel 7:5 frames the same oracle as a question; the Chronicler states it as a plain denial, with the definite article anticipating Solomon's temple.
- 1 Chronicles 17:6a The Hebrew here reads shophetei (שֹׁפְטֵי), 'judges of', where the parallel in 2 Samuel 7:7 has shivtei (שִׁבְטֵי), 'tribes of'; the two words differ by a single consonant. Since judges, not tribes, were commanded to shepherd Israel, many text critics regard the reading in Chronicles as the earlier one.
- 1 Chronicles 17:10a The Hebrew verb banah, 'to build', is here a wordplay on bayit, 'house'. The Lord promises to build David a house, meaning a dynasty, in contrast to David's desire to build God a house, meaning a temple.
- 1 Chronicles 17:13a The parallel promise at 2 Samuel 7:14 continues, 'When he does wrong, I will punish him with the rod of men.' Chronicles omits that clause. The omission is consistent throughout this book, which passes over the failures of David and Solomon that Samuel and Kings record.
- 1 Chronicles 17:14a Hebrew v'ha'amadtihu, literally 'I will cause him to stand', frames the promise in the Chronicler's distinctive terms: the house and kingdom belong to God ('my house and my kingdom'), whereas the parallel in 2 Samuel 7:16 speaks of David's own house and kingdom. The shift makes the Davidic heir a steward over God's own realm.
- 1 Chronicles 17:17a The Hebrew tor ha-adam hama'ala, literally 'the rank of exalted man', is a unique idiom describing David's elevated standing, rendered here as 'looked on me as though I were the most exalted of men'.
- 1 Chronicles 17:21a The clause 'to make a name for yourself' takes up the language of the exodus, where God's acts against Egypt establish his renown (compare Exodus 9:16; Isaiah 63:12, 14; Nehemiah 9:10). Israel is here called goy (גּוֹי), 'nation', a term Hebrew more commonly applies to the surrounding peoples; the parallel prayer in 2 Samuel 7:23 shares this striking usage.
About this translation
The Trinity Bible Version (TBV) is Trinity Bible's own translation of Scripture, made directly from the original Hebrew. Completed in 2026, it is the most modern English Bible translation available, and it is exclusive to Trinity Bible. Reading the TBV here on the web is free — the full study edition, with original-language tools and translator’s notes, lives in the Trinity Bible app.
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