Translation & Sermon by Nate Wilson for Christ The Redeemer Church, Manhattan, KS, 13 Mar 2021
So far in 2 Samuel, we’ve followed David’s transfer of the ark in chapter 6 to his new capitol city of Jerusalem, but the story is not complete until a nice temple is built to house this ark,
So this story picks up after David had fought many wars and secured peace everywhere throughout Israel as king but before he had fathered Solomon (Goldman). He turns his attention to the great task of building a splendid temple fit for the glory of God. But God’s response through the prophet Nathan is surprising. He says, in effect, “Don’t you build a house for me; let me build a house for you!”
Read my translation of 2 Samuel 7:1-17 So it happened, once the king had settled down in his house and Yahweh had caused there to be rest for him from all his enemies round-about, that the king said to Nathan the prophet, “Look now, I have settled down in a house of cedar-panels, but the ark of God is settled in the middle of that tent-curtain!” And Nathan said to the king, “You should start doing everything that is on your heart, for Yahweh is with you!” Then it came about during that night that the word of Yahweh came to Nathan, saying, 5 “Go and speak to my servant {} David, ‘Thus Yahweh has spoken, “Is it you who should build for me a house to settle myself down in? [and if there’s any question about it, the parallel passage in 1 Chronicles 17 makes it clear, “David… You should NOT build the temple for me.”] 6 For I have not settled down in a house since the day I brought the children of Israel up out of Egypt even to this day. Indeed, I have been conducting myself around in a tent [“from tent to tent” ~ 1 Chron] – that is, in a tabernacle. 7 Everywhere that I have conducted myself among all the children of Israel, did I say a word to any of the tribes/judges/rulers of Israel that I commanded to shepherd my people Israel saying, ‘Why haven’t y’all built for me a house of cedar-panels?’”’ 8 So now, thus shall you say to my servant {} David, ‘Thus Yahweh of Army-hosts has spoken, “It was I who took you out of your home – from following the sheep – in order for you to become president/prince/ruler over my people – over Israel, 9 and I have been with you everywhere that you went, and I have cut off all your enemies from your presence, so I will make a great reputation for you, like the reputation of the great men who are on the earth. 10 I will also appoint a place for my people – for Israel, and I will plant them, and they will reside on it. And they will not tremble-with-fear again, and those who are characterized by wickedness [that is, the Philistines1] will not continue to afflict/oppress/subjugate/use them up, as was the case at their beginning – 11 {} back in the day when I commanded judges to be over my people Israel. Indeed, I will bring about rest for you from all your enemies [because, as the parallel passage in 1 Chronicles puts it, “I will make them all subordinated to you.”].” Yahweh also wants it communicated to you that Yahweh will make a house/dynasty for you: 12 “{So} when your days fill up, and you lie-buried with your forefathers, then I will cause an offspring of yours to get going after you who will come out from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. 13 It is he who will build a house for my name. Then I will establish the throne of his kingdom for ever. As for me, I will belong to him as a father, and, as for him, he will belong to me as a son, who, when he does wrong, I will then bring justice to bear on him using the rod of men and using blows from the sons of mankind, but, as for my lovingkindness, {I} will not turn it away from him like when I turned it away from being with Saul whom I turned away from before {my} presence [Many Bibles say “from your presence,” here and in v.16, but both are true, God turned away from Saul and replaced him with David]. So your dynasty and your kingdom will be secure for ever before {my} presence; your throne will be established for ever.”’” Nathan spoke all these words - and this entire vision - to David exactly like this.
In this oracle from Nathan the Prophet, David once again experiences the person of God exercising His will to actively advance His plan and purpose in history. David comes up with a plan that involves a task, a key player, and a certain time frame, but God knocks the props out from under each one and introduces His own Task, His own Person, and His own Timing.
In v.2, David’s thinking makes great sense to us: “I have settled down in a house of cedar-panels, but the ark of God is settled in the middle of that tent-curtain!” Let me therefore right this inequity and build a gold-paneled temple even more glorious than my palace because God should be recognized for how truly glorious He is!
Now, David’s sentiment that there was something wrong with enriching himself to the neglect of God was righteous. In 1 Kings 8:18 we read that God told David that it was “good” that this was in his heart2.
“When God, in his providence, has remarkably done much for us, it should put us upon contriving what we may do for him and his glory.” ~Matthew Henry
Later, after the Babylonian captivity, when it was time to rebuild the temple, “Then the word of the LORD came by Haggai the prophet, saying, ‘Is it time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses, and this temple to lie in ruins? Now therefore, thus says the LORD of hosts: Consider your ways! ...bring wood and build the temple, that I may take pleasure in it and be glorified,’ says the LORD.” (Haggai 1:3-8, NKJV) But they had the command to “arise and build” and they weren’t doing it, whereas God had not told David to build a temple, it was more his idea.
Also Nathan’s response in v.3 also makes great sense to us. “Hey David, God is with you. You’re a man of God. Great idea; Go for it!” 3
Even the prophets could get it wrong sometimes. (Remember Samuel thought David’s brother Eliab was the best candidate for king at first.)
But, as Nathan found out that night (and David the next day), that wasn’t what God was thinking. “Did I ever say, ‘Why haven’t you built me a cedar house?’ No, just let that idea go.”
The ways we and our culture feel about honor and appropriateness aren’t necessarily the way God thinks, so we need to discover what He thinks rather than doing what we think.
Isaiah 55:8-9 “For y’all’s thoughts are not my thoughts, and my way is not y’all’s way, declares Yahweh. As the heavens are exalted from the earth, thus my ways are exalted from y’all’s ways, and my thoughts from y’all’s thoughts.” (NAW)
On the mount of Transfiguration, Peter saw Jesus, Moses and Elijah, and he said, “Lord, It’s good for us to be here! If you don’t mind, let’s make three booths here: one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah!” But that wasn’t what God had in mind, so God corrected Peter, “While he was yet speaking... a voice out of the cloud was saying, “This One is my beloved Son in whom I delight; [just] keep listening to Him!” (Matt. 17:4-5, NAW)
You know, I thought I was going to serve the Lord as an electrical engineer. That fit my gifting and personality and interests; I never even dreamed of being a pastor.
But God redirected me, and when I was ready to be a pastor, I thought I was going to pastor a CREC church in Steamboat Springs. I had a great interview there; they were great people, I loved the location, so I prepared to be a pastor there!
Nope! God called me here instead to plant a church alongside our current elders, one of whom, stated to my wife back in 2005 (and I quote), “I’m not the church-planting type.”
We just don’t know what God might rather us do, so we need to be flexible and check in with Him and find out.
That’s what a servant does, right? The servant doesn’t tell the master what he wants to do; he asks the Master what the Master wants him to do and he does that.
By the same token, we need to pray first and make sure we’re aligned with God’s will instead of giving off-the-cuff advice to other people like the prophet Nathan did at first. Nathan provides the better example in v.17, saying no more (and no less) than exactly what God had said.
And not only do we need to know from God what the right task is, we also need to know from God who is...
Certain tasks are appropriate for certain persons. God tells David that He hand-picked him to be a king, not a temple-builder, and if God so meticulously prepared David for the military and civil duties of a king by being with him everywhere he went, cutting off all his enemies, and building up his reputation as king, it would be out of order for David to aspire to temple-building.
Back in the days of the judges, God commanded them to shepherd and defend and rule over Israel, not build a temple.
Likewise now, David’s calling was to secure the peace and stability upon which God would manifest the glory of His presence to the world. God, in effect, tells David to stay in his lane and fulfill the purpose for which God called him.4
Keep driving back the Philistines and the Moabites and Amonites and whoever threatens the future peace of the kingdom (we’ll see more of that in the next chapter!), in other words, make the kingdom even more secure,
And also, keep writing those psalms, so there will be a hymnbook when worship services start in the new temple, but let your son build the temple.
Do you know what God has prepared and gifted you to do?
1 Peter 4:10 “As each one has received a gift, minister it to one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.” (NKJV)
All of you who have been through my church orientation seminars have taken a spiritual gift survey which gives you some idea of what gifts God has given you to use in His kingdom. Are you staying in your lane and doing those things, or are you getting distracted with things God has not called you to do?
This promise to make a house – to make kingship hereditary to David’s descendants was a new thing not promised to the Judges or to Saul. David’s son and grandson and great-grandson would become king in succession all the way until the Messiah. This was a big new development in God’s covenants.
But God wanted the temple built by a certain person, and that person was not David. “[B]ecause the building of the Temple was a type of the spirituall building of the Church by Christ, the Prince of peace, it was requisite that the Temple should be built by peaceable Salomon, that the figure and shadow might be correspondent to the bodie.” ~ Andrew Willett
For a contemporary example, one of my missionary friends ministers to leaders in the Chinese house-churches, and he shared in a newsletter that he was encountering lots of church leaders on the verge of burnout and asking God how to help them. Then he began to notice a pattern: these leaders, every time they saw a need or a problem, assumed that they were responsible to deal with that need or that problem. No wonder they were getting burned out! So my friend started teaching them instead to respond to needs and problems with this prayer, “God how are you going to meet this need, and who do you want to do it?” This opened up the hearts of those Chinese leaders to realize that there are other members of the body of Christ whom God has equipped to meet those needs and deal with those problems, and the pastor doesn’t have to burn himself out feeling responsible to fix everything! That’s a good prayer to pray, “God, who do you want responding to this need?”
As God’s servants, we’ve got to be ready to jump on it if it is us He is calling to respond to it, but if He has us engaged in other things and unable to lift a finger to help, we just have to pray and trust in His ability to take care of everything. God is big. He can take care of His church with or without you. He’s all about building His kingdom, and He’ll get it done with the right person. He also will get it done at...
Now, the setting up of the temple in Jerusalem had been prophesied by Moses back in Deuteronomy 12:10-11 “But when you cross over the Jordan and dwell in the land which the LORD your God is giving you to inherit, and He gives you rest from all your enemies round about, so that you dwell in safety, then there will be the place where the LORD your God chooses to make His name abide. There you shall bring all that I command you: your burnt offerings, your sacrifices, your tithes, the heave offerings of your hand, and all your choice offerings which you vow to the LORD.” (NKJV)
David was sharp enough to recognize that the political climate which God had developed under him matched the conditions for building the temple prophesied in Deuteronomy, “rest from all your enemies round about.” Our passage in 2 Samuel 7 opens with the statement that under David where there was “rest on every side.”
It wasn’t so much a matter of whether this place of worship should be developed, but WHEN, and God’s direction through Nathan clarifies the timing: it will be built by David’s son after David dies.
v.12 “{So} when your days fill up, and you lie-buried with your forefathers, then I will cause an offspring of yours [“one of your sons” explains the parallel passage in 1 Chron.] to get going after you who will come out from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. 13 It is he who will build a house for my name. Then I will establish the throne of his kingdom for ever.
God’s work is over generations. You won’t see the fullness of God’s purposes in your lifetime. The Bible gives us perspective as we read the history of Israel over a thousand year period:
Israel was nomadic for a generation after slavery in Egypt,
then it was unstable for centuries under the Judges, slowly claiming the Promised Land from the Canaanites according to God’s “command,”
then it achieved “rest” during David’s rule,
then Solomon built the temple and the glory days commenced,
Keil & Delitzsch wrote an especially good commentary on this passage, explaining that, “As long as the quiet and full possession of the land of Canaan, which had been promised by the Lord to the people of God for their inheritance, was disputed by their enemies round about, even the dwelling-place of their God could not assume any other form than that of a wanderer's tent... David stood in a closer relation to the Lord than Solomon did, and the wars which he waged were wars of the Lord for the maintenance and defense of the kingdom of God. But inasmuch as these wars were necessary and inevitable, they were practical proofs that David's kingdom and government were not yet established, and therefore that the time for the building of the temple had not yet come, and the rest of peace was not yet secured.” ~Keil & Delitzsch
It is ironic that the God who stands outside of time is more aware of the best timing of things than we are, but it is true, and in His providence, timing is important.
The difference between the sin of fornication and the obedience of being fruitful and multiplying in marriage, is a matter of timing.
The Israelites back in Moses’ time tried to enter the Promised Land in Numbers chapter 14, after Moses had told them to enter it, but then they got punished for trying to enter it. Why? Because of timing. They had waited too long to obey God’s command to enter; they missed the deadline, and by that time God had already laid out a different plan that involved not going up, so when they tried to enter the Promised Land anyway, they got slaughtered. Timely obedience is important with God.
Among David’s retinue there were certain “sons of Issachar who had understanding of the times to know what Israel ought to do” (1 Chron. 12:32, NKJV); that’s what we should be like – people who have taken in God’s word and who operate under the control of the Holy Spirit so that we have an accurate sense of the timing of history and whether or not it is time to do something, so that we are quick to do God’s will when it is time to act.
Another point regarding timing is the future tense of the verb in verse 12 “offspring who will come out of your body” – this son who would carry on David’s kingdom and build Yahweh’s temple could not be any of David’s older sons who had already been born, he had to be one who was yet to be born. “He will come out of your body.” This explains why David departed from the tradition of crowning his firstborn son king and instead tapped Solomon, one of his youngest sons5 to be king.
Depending on how you cut it, in the last 5 verses of Nathan’s message, there are at least five promises6 from God to David commonly known as the “Davidic Covenant”:
vs.12-13 One of David’s own sons will build a house for God’s name.
v.13 God will establish the throne of his kingdom for ever.
v.14 God will belong to him as a father, and he will belong to God as a son,
and when he does wrong, God will chasten/correct/punish/discipline/bring justice to bear on him using the rod of men and using blows/floggings/stripes from the sons of mankind,
and v.15 God will not turn His lovingkindness away from him like he did with Saul.
v.16 recaps the message to David: “So your dynasty-house and your kingdom will be sure/enduring/established/secure for ever before {my} presence; your throne will be established for ever.”
God’s promise to David was a double-horizon one, first fulfilled by Solomon (and also in some sense by the Davidic kings after Solomon), then later fulfilled by Jesus:
Fulfillment in Solomon
Solomon was one of David’s sons by Bathsheba, and Solomon built an amazing temple for the LORD.
In 1 Chronicles 22, David commissioned Solomon for this very task, saying in v.11, “Now, my son, may the LORD be with you; and may you prosper, and build the house of the LORD your God, as He has said to you.”
1 Chronicles 28, David tells all the nobles to support Solomon in building the temple.
Then in 1 Kings 5, Solomon enlists the aid of Hiram king of Tyre and builds the temple.
In the N.T., Steven testified that “David... found favor before God and asked to find a dwelling for the God of Jacob. But Solomon built Him a house.” (Acts 7:46-47, NKJV)
Solomon also reigned for a good long while and passed his kingship down to his son, and his son to his son, for many generations, but it wasn’t “forever,” and that makes us look for fulfillment beyond Solomon.
Psalm 89:30-32 interprets this Davidic Covenant to include all of David’s kingly descendants: "If his sons forsake My law And do not walk in My judgments... Then I will punish their transgression with the rod, And their iniquity with stripes.”
The “rods of men” may refer to men like “Hadad the Edomite, Rezan the son of Eliadah, and Jeroboam the son of Nebat, by all whom [Solomon] was afflicted and distressed, after he fell into [the sin of] idolatry (1 Kings 11:14 [& ch. 12])” ~John Gill (quoting Andrew Willett)
Later prophets described the Babylonian captivity as God disciplining His people with a “rod”:
Isaiah 10:24 Yahweh of hosts in his anger would strike his people in Zion “with the rod” by means of the Assyrians,
Lamentations 3:1 “I am the man who has seen affliction by the rod of His wrath.”
But v.14 also focuses on God’s lovingkindness. David’s kingly descendants who wanted to be right with God and who yet experienced crises of various sorts may well have been tempted to worry that God had departed from them like He had departed from Saul.
This promise from God that He would never turn away from David’s kingly heirs and never forsake them was an important comfort for them,
just like God’s promise never to flood the earth again was an important comfort for Noah’s family after the flood, (Can you imagine every time it rained how nervous they would have gotten if they had not been able to see a rainbow and remember God’s promise?)
God also has a comforting promise for us in Hebrews 13:5, “I will never leave you or forsake you7” God’s loving-kindness allays the fears that well up in our hearts when we see things shaping up to be like a bad experience that we had before.
God fulfilled His Davidic Covenant promises in Solomon, but also in a second level of fulfillment through Jesus:
Jesus was a direct descendant of David, with his genealogy recorded in the Gospel of Luke. (Jesus, however, had the unique distinction of being born of a virgin and being both God and Man at the same time.) Jesus also built a temple for God’s glory, but it wasn’t a brick-and-mortar temple, it was an organic dwelling-place for God in the bodies of human beings who comprise the church, Himself being the cornerstone of that temple.
Long after Solomon was dead and gone, the prophets Isaiah and Jeremiah prophesied of Jesus’ coming as a descendant of David who would be king. “In those days and at that time I will cause to grow up to David A Branch of righteousness; He shall execute judgment and righteousness in the earth.”8
Then the angel Gabriel announced Jesus’ birth in Luke 1:32 "He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David.”
And in the Gospels9, Jesus called the attention of His disciples to Himself being the fulfillment of Psalm 118:22, “The stone which the builders rejected Has become the chief cornerstone,” leading Peter to proclaim to the unbelieving Jewish leaders in Acts 4:11 that “This [man Jesus] is the 'STONE WHICH WAS REJECTED BY YOU BUILDERS, WHICH HAS BECOME THE CHIEF CORNERSTONE.'” and then Peter proclaimed to believers in 1 Peter 2:5 “you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.” (NKJV)
Paul elaborated that “your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you” (1 Cor. 6:19).
God also enthroned Jesus to be king in an eternal kingdom based in heaven.
Daniel 2:44 prophesied, "...the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed… it shall stand forever.” (NKJV)
This is the ultimate fulfillment of the Davidic covenant: “the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ,” as the Apostle Peter put it in 2 Peter 1:11.
Jesus also related to God the Father as a son to a father
He often prayed, calling upon God as “Father” (viz. John 17),
And in Matt. 3:17, God the Father said aloud from heaven, "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased."
Unlike Solomon, however, Jesus, did no wrong, but yet He still suffered a flogging from human government and suffered an eternal death as God’s punishment for sin, as though He had committed crimes and sinned.
The Apostle Peter explained in his first epistle that Christ Jesus is the one "WHO COMMITTED NO SIN, NOR WAS DECEIT FOUND IN HIS MOUTH"... who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness—by whose stripes you were healed.” (1 Peter 2:22-24, NKJV)
And finally, God the Father also did not turn His lovingkindness away from Jesus like He did with Saul, He raised Jesus from the dead, seated Him at his right hand on the throne of heaven, and gave Him the name that is above all names. The apostles testified to this:
Peter in Acts 2:29-36 "Men and brethren, let me speak freely to you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. Therefore, being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that of the fruit of his body, according to the flesh, He would raise up the Christ to sit on his throne, he, foreseeing this, spoke concerning the resurrection of the Christ, that His soul was not left in Hades, nor did His flesh see corruption. This Jesus God has raised up, of which we are all witnesses. Therefore being exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit... let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ." (NKJV)
Likewise Paul preached in Acts 13:23&33 “From this man's seed, according to the promise, God raised up for Israel a Savior—Jesus… 33 As it is also written in the second Psalm: 'YOU ARE MY SON, TODAY I HAVE BEGOTTEN YOU.' And that He raised Him from the dead, no more to return to corruption, He has spoken thus: 'I WILL GIVE YOU THE SURE MERCIES OF DAVID.'” (NKJV)
The apostle in the book of Hebrews likewise declared that, “God… has in these last days spoken to us by His Son… [who] Himself purged our sins [and] sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high… [as it says] "I WILL BE TO HIM A FATHER, AND HE SHALL BE TO ME A SON"… [and] to the Son He says: "YOUR THRONE, O GOD, IS FOREVER AND EVER; A SCEPTER OF RIGHTEOUSNESS IS THE SCEPTER OF YOUR KINGDOM.” (NKJV)
This is the good news of Jesus, approached through God’s promises to David 3,000 years ago. Do you believe that Jesus fulfilled these promises? Will you submit yourself to God’s master-plan, and to Jesus as the right person to accomplish it? You are not building God’s house; Jesus is the one building God’s house and He will also build a house for all those who trust and obey Him!
“The earthly form is perishable, the essence eternal. This essence was the dwelling of God in the midst of His people, which did not cease with the destruction of the temple at Jerusalem, but culminated in the appearance of Jesus Christ, in whom Jehovah came to His people, and, as God the Word, made human nature His dwelling-place (ἐσκήνωσεν ἐν ἡμῖν, Joh_1:14) in the glory of the only-begotten Son of the Father; so that Christ could say to the Jews, “Destroy this temple (i.e., the temple of His body), and in three days I will build it up again” (Joh_2:19). It is with this building up of the temple destroyed by the Jews, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, that the complete and essential fulfilment of our promise begins. It is perpetuated with the Christian church in the indwelling of the Father and Son through the Holy Ghost in the hearts of believers (Joh_14:23; 1Co_6:19), by which the church of Jesus Christ is built up a spiritual house of God, composed of living stones (1Ti_3:15; 1Pe_2:5; compare 2Co_6:16; Heb_3:6); and it will be perfected in the completion of the kingdom of God at the end of time in the new Jerusalem, which shall come down upon the new earth out of heaven from God, as the true tabernacle of God with men (Rev. 21:1-3).” ~Keil & Delitzsch
LXX |
Brenton |
DRB |
KJV |
NAW |
MT |
MT/1Ch |
NAWB |
1
Καὶ ἐγένετο
ὅτε ἐκάθισεν
ὁ βασιλεὺς
ἐν τῷ οἴκῳ αὐτοῦ
καὶ κύριος
|
1
And it came to pass when the king sat
in his house, and the Lord had given him an |
1 And it came to pass when the king sat in his house, and the Lord had given him rest on every side from all his enemies, |
1 And it came to pass, when the king sat in his house, and the LORD had given him rest round about from all his enemies; |
1 So it happened, once the king had settled down in his house and Yahweh had caused there to be rest for him from all his enemies round-about, |
1 וַיְהִי כִּי-יָשַׁב הַמֶּלֶךְ בְּבֵיתוֹ וַיהוָה הֵנִיחַ-לוֹ מִסָּבִיב מִכָּל- אֹיְבָיו: |
17:1
וַיְהִי
כַּאֲשֶׁר
יָשַׁב
דָּוִיד
בְּבֵיתוֹ X
X X X X |
17:1 So it happened, once David had settled down in his house, that David said to Nathan the prophet, “Look, I have settled down in this house of cedar-panels, but there are nothing but tent-curtains for the ark of the covenant of Yahweh!” |
2 καὶ εἶπεν ὁ βασιλεὺς πρὸς Ναθαν τὸν προφήτην Ἰδοὺ δὴ ἐγὼ κατοικῶ ἐν οἴκῳ κεδρίνῳ, καὶ ἡ κιβωτὸς τοῦ θεοῦ κάθηται ἐν μέσῳ τῆς σκηνῆς. |
2
that the king said to Nathan the prophet, Behold now, I |
2 X X He said to Nathan the prophet: Dost thou see that I dwell in a house of cedar, and the ark of God is lodged within X skin[s]? |
2 That the king said unto Nathan the prophet, See now, I dwell in an house of cedar, but the ark of God dwelleth within X curtain[s]. |
2 that the king said to Nathan the prophet, “Look now, I have settled down in a house of cedar-panels, but the ark of God is settled in the middle of that tent-curtain!” |
2 וַיֹּאמֶר הַמֶּלֶךְ אֶל-נָתָן הַנָּבִיא רְאֵה נָא אָנֹכִי יוֹשֵׁב בְּבֵית אֲרָזִים וַאֲרוֹן הָאֱלֹהִים יֹשֵׁב בְּתוֹךְ הַיְרִיעָה: |
||
3 καὶ εἶπεν Ναθαν πρὸς τὸν βασιλέα Πάντα, ὅσα ἂν ἐν τῇ καρδίᾳ σου, βάδιζε [καὶ] ποίει, ὅτι κύριος μετὰ σοῦ. |
3 And Nathan said to the king, Go [and] do all that is in thine heart, for the Lord is with thee. |
3 And Nathan said to the king: Go, do all that is in thy heart: because the Lord is with thee. |
3 And Nathan said to the king, Go, do all that is in thine heart; for the LORD is with thee. |
3 And Nathan said to the king, “You should start doing everything that is on your heart, for Yahweh is with you!” |
3 וַיֹּאמֶר נָתָן אֶל-הַמֶּלֶךְ כֹּל אֲשֶׁר בִּלְבָבְךָ לֵךְ עֲשֵׂה כִּי יְהוָה עִמָּךְ: ס |
17:2 וַיֹּאמֶר נָתָן אֶל-דָּוִיד כֹּל אֲשֶׁר בִּלְבָבְךָ X עֲשֵׂה כִּי הָאֱלֹהִים עִמָּךְ:ס |
17:2 And Nathan said to David, “You should do everything that is on your heart, for God is with you!” |
4 καὶ ἐγένετο τῇ νυκτὶ ἐκείνῃ καὶ ἐγένετο ῥῆμα κυρίου πρὸς Ναθαν λέγων |
4 And it came to pass in that night, that the word of the Lord came to Nathan, saying, |
4 But it came to pass that night, that the word of the Lord came to Nathan, saying: |
4 And it came to pass that night, that the word of the LORD came unto Nathan, saying, |
4 Then it came about during that night that the word of Yahweh came to Nathan, saying, |
4 וַיְהִי בַּלַּיְלָה הַהוּא וַיְהִי דְּבַר-יְהוָה אֶל-נָתָן לֵאמֹר: |
17:3 וַיְהִי בַּלַּיְלָה הַהוּא וַיְהִי דְּבַר-אֱלֹהִים אֶל-נָתָן לֵאמֹר: |
17:3 Then it came about during that night that the word of God came to Nathan, saying, |
5
Πορεύου καὶ
εἰπὸν πρὸς τὸν
δοῦλόν μου
X
Δαυιδ
Τάδε λέγει
κύριος |
5
Go, and say to my servant X
David,
Thus says the Lord, Thou shalt |
5 Go, and say to my servant X David: Thus saith the Lord: Shalt thou build me a house to dwell in X? |
5 Go and tell X my servant X David, Thus saith the LORD, Shalt thou build me an house for me to dwell in? |
5 “Go and speak to my servant {} David, ‘Thus Yahweh has spoken, “Is it you who should build for me a house to settle myself down in? |
5 לֵךְ וְאָמַרְתָּ אֶל-עַבְדִּי Dאֶל- דָּוִד כֹּה אָמַר יְהוָה הַאַתָּהE תִּבְנֶה-לִּי בַיִת לְשִׁבְתִּי: |
17:4 לֵךְ וְאָמַרְתָּ אֶל-דָּוִיד X עַבְדִּי כֹּה אָמַר יְהוָה לֹא אַתָּה תִּבְנֶה-לִּי הַבַּיִת לָשָׁבֶתx: |
17:4 “Go and speak to David my servant, ‘Thus Yahweh has spoken, “You yourself should not build the house for me to settle down in. |
6 ὅτι οὐ κατῴκηκα ἐν οἴκῳ ἀφ᾿ ἧς ἡμέρας ἀνήγαγον ἐξ Αἰγύπτου τοὺς υἱοὺς Ισραηλ ἕως τῆς ἡμέρας ταύτης καὶ ἤμην ἐμπεριπατῶν ἐν καταλύματι καὶ ἐν σκηνῇ. |
6 For I have not dwelt in a house from the day that I brought up the children of Israel out of Egypt xto this day, but I have been walking in a lodge and in a tent, |
6 Whereas I have not dwelt in a house from the day that I brought the children of Israel out of the [land ofF] Egypt even to this day: but have walked in a tabernacle, and in a tent. |
6 Whereas I have not dwelt in any house since the time [that] I brought up the children of Israel out of Egypt, even to this day, but have walked in a tent and in a tabernacle. |
6 For I have not settled down in a house since the day I brought the children of Israel up out of Egypt even to this day. Indeed, I have been conducting myself around in a tent – that is , in a tabernacle. |
6 כִּי לֹא יָשַׁבְתִּי בְּבַיִת לְמִיּוֹם הַעֲלֹתִי אֶת-בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל מִמִּצְרַיִם וְעַד הַיּוֹם הַזֶּהG וָאֶהְיֶה מִתְהַלֵּךְ בְּאֹהֶל וּבְמִשְׁכָּןH: |
17:5 כִּי לֹא יָשַׁבְתִּי בְּבַיִת xמִן-הַיּוֹם אֲשֶׁר הֶעֱלֵיתִי אֶת- X יִשְׂרָאֵל x Xעַד הַיּוֹם הַזֶּה וָאֶהְיֶה מֵאֹהֶל אֶל-אֹהֶל וּמִמִּשְׁכָּן: |
17:5 For I have not settled down in a house from the day that I brought up Israel until this day. Indeed I have existed from tent to tent, that is, out of a tabernacle. |
7
ἐν πᾶσιν, οἷς
διῆλθον
ἐν παντὶ X
Ισραηλ,
εἰ λαλῶν ἐλάλησα
πρὸς μίαν φυλὴν
τοῦ Ισραηλ, ᾧ
ἐνετειλάμην
ποιμαίνειν τὸν
λαόν μου Ισραηλ,
λέγων Τί ὅτι οὐκ ᾠκοδομήκατέ μοι οἶκον κέδρινον; |
7
wheresoever I went
with all X
Israel. Have I ever spoken to any of the tribes
of Israel, which I commanded to tend my people Israel, saying,
Why have ye not built me a house of Cedar? |
7 In all [the places] that I have gone through with all the children of Israel, did [ever] I speak a word to [any] one of the tribes of Israel, whom I commanded to feed my people Israel, saying: Why have you not built me a house of cedar? |
7 In all the places wherein I have walked with all the children of Israel spake I a word with any of the tribes of Israel, whom I commanded to feed my people Israel, saying, Why build ye not me an house of cedar? |
7 Everywhere that I have conducted myself among all the children of Israel, did I say a word to any of the judges of Israel that I commanded to shepherd my people Israel saying, ‘Why haven’t y’all built for me a house of cedar-panels?’”’ |
7 בְּכֹל אֲשֶׁר- הִתְהַלַּכְתִּי בְּכָל- בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל הֲדָבָר דִּבַּרְתִּי אֶת-אַחַד שִׁבְטֵיI יִשְׂרָאֵל אֲשֶׁר צִוִּיתִי לִרְעוֹת אֶת-עַמִּי אֶת- יִשְׂרָאֵל לֵאמֹר לָמָּה לֹא-בְנִיתֶם לִי בֵּית אֲרָזִים: |
17:6 בְּכֹל אֲשֶׁר- הִתְהַלַּכְתִּי בְּכָל- X יִשְׂרָאֵל הֲדָבָר דִּבַּרְתִּי אֶת-אַחַד שֹׁפְטֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל אֲשֶׁר צִוִּיתִי לִרְעוֹת אֶת-עַמִּי X X לֵאמֹר לָמָּה לֹא-בְנִיתֶם לִי בֵּית אֲרָזִים: |
17:6 Everywhere that I have conducted myself among all of Israel, did I say a word to any of the judges of Israel that I commanded to shepherd my people saying, ‘Why haven’t y’all built for me a house of cedar-panels?’ |
8 καὶ νῦν τάδε ἐρεῖς τῷ δούλῳ μου X Δαυιδ Τάδε λέγει κύριος παντοκράτωρ X Ἔλαβόν σε ἐκ τῆς μάνδρας X X τῶν προβάτων τοῦ εἶναί σε [εἰς] ἡγούμενον ἐπὶ τὸν λαόν μου ἐπὶ τὸν Ισραηλ |
8 And now thus shalt thou say to my servant X David, Thus says the Lord Almighty, I X took thee from the sheep-cote X X, that thou shouldest be [ ] a prince over my people, over Israel. |
8 And now thus shalt thou speak to my servant X David: Thus saith the Lord of hosts: I took thee out of the pastures from following the sheep to be ruler over my people X Israel: |
8 Now therefore so shalt thou say unto my servant X David, Thus saith the LORD of hosts, I X took thee from the sheepcote, from following the sheep, to be ruler over my people, over Israel: |
8 So now, thus shall you say to my servant {} David, ‘Thus Yahweh of Army-hosts has spoken, “It was I who took you out of your home – from following the sheep – in order for you to become president over my people – over Israel, |
8 וְעַתָּה כֹּה- תֹאמַר לְעַבְדִּי Jלְדָוִד כֹּה אָמַר יְהוָה צְבָאוֹת אֲנִי לְקַחְתִּיךָ מִן-הַנָּוֶה מֵאַחַר הַצֹּאן לִהְיוֹת נָגִיד עַל-עַמִּי עַלK-יִשְׂרָאֵל: |
17:7
וְעַתָּה
כֹּה-
תֹאמַר
לְעַבְדִּי
Lלְדָוִיד
ס
כֹּה אָמַר
יְהוָה צְבָאוֹת
אֲנִי לְקַחְתִּיךָ
מִן-הַנָּוֶה
מִן-אַחֲרֵי
הַצֹּאן לִהְיוֹת
נָגִיד
עַל עַמִּי
|
17:7 So now, thus shall you say to my servant {} David, ‘Thus Yahweh of Army-hosts has spoken, “It was I who took you out of your home – from following the sheep – in order for you to become president over my people Israel, |
9
καὶ ἤμην μετὰ
σοῦ ἐν πᾶσιν,
οἷς ἐπορεύου,
καὶ ἐξωλέθρευσα
πάντας τοὺς
ἐχθρούς σου
ἀπὸ προσώπου
σου καὶ ἐποίησά
σε ὀνομαστὸν
X
κατὰ τὸ ὄνομα
τῶν μεγάλων
τῶν |
9
And I was with thee wheresoever thou wentest, and I destroyed
all thine enemies before thee, and I made thee renowned X
according
to the renown of the great ones |
9
And I have been with thee wheresoever thou hast walked, and have
slain
all thy enemies from [before]
thy face: and I have made thee a great |
9
And I was with thee whithersoever thou wentest, and have cut off
all thine enemies out of thy |
9 and I have been with you everywhere that you went, and I have cut off all your enemies from your presence, so I will make a great reputation for you, like the reputation of the great men who are on the earth. |
9 וָאֶהְיֶה עִמְּךָ בְּכֹל אֲשֶׁר הָלַכְתָּ וָאַכְרִתָה אֶת-כָּל-אֹיְבֶיךָ מִפָּנֶיךָ וְעָשִׂתִי לְךָ שֵׁם גָּדוֹל כְּשֵׁם הַגְּדֹלִים אֲשֶׁר בָּאָרֶץ: |
17:8 וָאֶהְיֶה עִמְּךָ בְּכֹל אֲשֶׁר הָלַכְתָּ וָאַכְרִית אֶת-כָּל-אוֹיְבֶיךָ מִפָּנֶיךָ וְעָשִׂיתִי לְךָ שֵׁם X כְּשֵׁם הַגְּדוֹלִים אֲשֶׁר בָּאָרֶץ: |
17:8 and I have been with you everywhere that you went, and I have cut off all your enemies from your presence, so I will make a reputation for you, like the reputation of the great men who are on the earth. |
10
καὶ θήσομαι
τόπον τῷ λαῷ
μου τῷ Ισραηλ
καὶ καταφυτεύσω
αὐτόν, καὶ κατασκηνώσει
καθ᾿
ἑαυτὸν
καὶ οὐ μεριμνήσει
οὐκέτι, καὶ
οὐ προσθήσει
υἱ |
10
And I will appoint a place for my people Israel, and will plant
them, and they shall dwell by
themselves,
and shall be no more distressed; and the sonx
of iniquity shall no more afflict them, as he has done |
10 And I will appoint a place for my people Israel, and I will plant them, and they shall dwell therein, and shall [be] disturb[ed] no more: neither shall the children of iniquity afflict them any more as [they did] X before, |
10 Moreover I will appoint a place for my people X Israel, and will plant them, that they may dwell in [a place of their] own, and move no more; neither shall the children of wickedness afflict them any more, as beforetime, |
10 I will also appoint a place for my people – for Israel, and I will plant them, and they will reside on it. And they will not tremble-with-fear again, and those who are characterized by wickedness will not continue to subjugate them, as was the case at their beginning – |
10 וְשַׂמְתִּי מָקוֹם לְעַמִּי לְיִשְׂרָאֵל וּנְטַעְתִּיו וְשָׁכַן תַּחְתָּיו וְלֹא יִרְגַּז עוֹד וְלֹא-יֹסִיפוּ בְנֵי-עַוְלָהO לְעַנּוֹתוֹ כַּאֲשֶׁר בָּרִאשׁוֹנָה: |
17:9 וְשַׂמְתִּי מָקוֹם לְעַמִּי xיִשְׂרָאֵל וּנְטַעְתִּיהוּ וְשָׁכַן תַּחְתָּיו וְלֹא יִרְגַּז עוֹד וְלֹא-יוֹסִיפוּ בְנֵי-עַוְלָה לְבַלֹּתוֹ כַּאֲשֶׁר בָּרִאשׁוֹנָה: |
17:9 And I will appoint a place for my people Israel, and I will plant them, and they will reside on it. And they will not tremble-with-fear again, and those who are characterized by wickedness will not use them up, as was the case at their beginning – |
11
X
ἀπὸ
τῶν ἡμερ |
11
X
from
the day[sP]
when I appointed judges over my people Israel: and I will give
thee rest from all thine enemies, and the Lord will tell thee that
thou shalt |
11 X From the day that I appointed judges over my people Israel: and I will give thee rest from all thy enemies. And the Lord foretelleth to thee, that the Lord will make thee a house. |
11 And as since the time that I commanded judges to be over my people Israel, and have caused thee to rest from all thine enemies. Also the LORD telleth thee that he will make thee an house. |
11 {} back in the day when I commanded judges to be over my people Israel. Indeed, I will bring about rest for you from all your enemies.” Yahweh also wants it communicated to you that Yahweh will make a dynasty for you: |
11 Qוּלְמִן-הַיּוֹם אֲשֶׁר צִוִּיתִי שֹׁפְטִים עַל-עַמִּי יִשְׂרָאֵל וַהֲנִיחֹתִי לְךָ מִכָּל-אֹיְבֶיךָ וְהִגִּיד לְךָ יְהוָה כִּי-בַיִת יַעֲשֶׂה- לְּךָ יְהוָה: |
17:10
וּלְמִיָּמִים
אֲשֶׁר צִוִּיתִי
שֹׁפְטִים
עַל-עַמִּי
יִשְׂרָאֵל
וְהִכְנַעְתִּי
X
אֶת-כָּל-אוֹיְבֶיךָ
וָאַגִּד
לָךְ X
|
17:10 that is, back in the days when I commanded judges to be over my people Israel. Indeed, I will make all your enemies subordinate. I also want it communicated to you that Yahweh will build a dynasty for you, |
12 [καὶ ἔσται] ἐὰν πληρωθῶσιν αἱ ἡμέραι σου καὶ κοιμηθήσῃ μετὰ τῶν πατέρων σου, καὶ ἀναστήσω τὸ σπέρμα σου μετὰ σέ, ὃς ἔσται ἐκ τῆς κοιλίας σου, καὶ ἑτοιμάσω τὴν βασιλείαν αὐτοῦ· |
12
[And
it shall come to pass]
when thy days shall have been fulfilled, and thou shalt sleep
with thy fathers, that I will raise up thy seed after thee, |
12 [And] when thy days shall be fulfilled, and thou shalt sleep with thy fathers, I will raise up thy seed after thee, which shall proceed out of theS bowels, and I will establish his kingdom. |
12 [And] when thy days be fulfilled, and thou shalt sleep with thy fathers, I will set up thy seed after thee, which shall proceed out of thy bowels, and I will establish his kingdom. |
12 “{So} when your days fill up, and you lie-buried with your forefathers, then I will cause an offspring of yours to get going after you who will come out from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. |
12 כִּי יִמְלְאוּ יָמֶיךָ וְשָׁכַבְתָּ אֶת-אֲבֹתֶיךָ וַהֲקִימֹתִי אֶת- זַרְעֲךָ אַחֲרֶיךָ אֲשֶׁר יֵצֵא מִמֵּעֶיךָ וַהֲכִינֹתִי אֶת-מַמְלַכְתּוֹ: |
17:11 וְהָיָה כִּי- מָלְאוּ יָמֶיךָ לָלֶכֶת עִם-אֲבֹתֶיךָ וַהֲקִימוֹתִי אֶת- זַרְעֲךָ אַחֲרֶיךָ אֲשֶׁר יִהְיֶה מִבָּנֶיךָ וַהֲכִינוֹתִי אֶת-מַלְכוּתוֹ: |
17:11 and it will happen when your days fill up to go with your forefathers, then I will cause an offspring of yours to get going after you who will be from among your sons, and I will establish his kingdom. |
13 αὐτὸς οἰκοδομήσει μοι οἶκον τῷ ὀνόματί μου, καὶ ἀνορθώσω τὸν θρόνον X αὐτοῦ ἕως εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα. |
13 He shall build for me a house to my name, and I will set up his X throne even for ever. |
13 He shall build a house to my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom for ever. |
13 He X shall build an house for my name, and I will stablish the throne of his kingdom for ever. |
13 It is he who will build a house for my name. Then I will establish the throne of his kingdom for ever. |
13 הוּא יִבְנֶה- בַּיִת לִשְׁמִי וְכֹנַנְתִּי אֶת-כִּסֵּא מַמְלַכְתּוֹ עַד-עוֹלָם: |
17:12 הוּא יִבְנֶה-לִּי בָּיִת וְכֹנַנְתִּי אֶת-כִּסְאוֹ עַד-עוֹלָם: |
17:12 It is he who will build for me a house. Then I will establish his throne for ever. |
14
ἐγὼ ἔσομαι
αὐτῷ εἰς πατέρα,
καὶ αὐτὸς ἔσται
μοι εἰς υἱόν·
[καὶ]
ἐὰν ἔλθῃ ἡ ἀδικία
αὐτοῦ, καὶ ἐλέγξω
αὐτὸν ἐν ῥάβδῳ
ἀνδρῶν καὶ ἐν
ἁφαῖς
υἱῶν ἀνθρώπ |
14
I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son. [And]
whenT
he happens to transgress, then will I chasten
him with the rod of men, and with the stripes
of the sons of |
14
I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son: [and]
if he commit any iniquity, I will correct
him with the rod of men, and with the stripes
of the children of |
14
I X
will
be X
his
father, and he X
shall
be X
my son. If he commit iniquity, I will chasten
him with the rod of men, and with the stripes
of the children of |
14 As for me, I will belong to him as a father, and, as for him, he will belong to me as a son, who, when he does wrong, I will then bring justice to bear on him using the rod of men and using blows from the sons of mankind, |
14 אֲנִי אֶהְיֶה- לּוֹ לְאָב וְהוּאU יִהְיֶה-לִּי לְבֵן אֲשֶׁר בְּהַעֲוֹתוֹ וְהֹכַחְתִּיו בְּשֵׁבֶט אֲנָשִׁים וּבְנִגְעֵי בְּנֵי אָדָם: |
17:13
אֲנִי
אֶהְיֶה-
לּוֹ
לְאָב וְהוּא
יִהְיֶה-לִּי
לְבֵן |
17:13
As for me, I will belong to him as a father, and as for him, he
will belong to me as a son. |
15
τὸ δὲ ἔλεός
μου οὐκ ἀποστή |
15
But my mercy |
15
But my mercy |
15 But my mercy shall not depart away from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away X before thee. |
15 but, as for my lovingkindness, {I} will not turn it away from him like when I turned it away from being with Saul whom I turned away from before {my} presence. |
15 וְחַסְדִּיW לֹא-יָסוּרX מִמֶּנּוּ כַּאֲשֶׁר הֲסִרֹתִי מֵעִם שָׁאוּל אֲשֶׁר הֲסִרֹתִי מִלְּפָנֶיךָ:Y |
||
16
καὶ πιστωθήσεται
ὁ οἶκος αὐτοῦ
καὶ ἡ βασιλεία
αὐτοῦ ἕως αἰῶνος
ἐνώπιον |
16
And his house shall be made sure,
and his kingdom for ever before |
16 And thy house shall be faithful, and thy kingdom for ever before thy face, and thy throne shall be firm for ever. |
16 And thine house and thy kingdom shall be established for ever before thee: thy throne shall be established for ever. |
16 So your dynasty and your kingdom will be secure for ever before {my} presence; your throne will be established for ever.”’” |
16
וְנֶאְמַן
|
17:14
וְהַעֲמַדְתִּיהוּ
בְּבֵיתִי
וּבְמַלְכוּתִי
עַד-הָעוֹלָם
|
17:14 Furthermore, I will cause him to stand in my house and in my kingdom for ever, so his throne will be established for ever.”’” |
17 κατὰ πάντας τοὺς λόγους τούτους καὶ κατὰ πᾶσαν τὴν ὅρασιν ταύτην, οὕτως ἐλάλησεν Ναθαν πρὸς Δαυιδ. -- |
17 According to all these words, and according to all this vision, so Nathan spoke to David. |
17 According to all these words and according to all this vision so did Nathan speak to David. |
17 According to all these words, and according to all this vision, so did Nathan speak unto David. |
17 Nathan spoke all these words - and this entire vision - to David exactly like this. |
17 כְּכֹל הַדְּבָרִים הָאֵלֶּה וּכְכֹל הַחִזָּיוֹן הַזֶּה כֵּן דִּבֶּר נָתָן אֶל-דָּוִד: ס |
17:15 כְּכֹל הַדְּבָרִים הָאֵלֶּה וּכְכֹל הֶחָזוֹן הַזֶּה כֵּן דִּבֶּר נָתָן אֶל-דָּוִיד: פ |
17:15 Nathan spoke all these words and this entire vision to David exactly like this. |
1Tsumura was the only commentator I found to the contrary stating it was not Philistines but wicked Israelites.
21 Kings 8:18 “But the LORD said to my father David, 'Whereas it was in your heart to build a temple for My name, you did well that it was in your heart.’” (NKJV)
3And at this point, it is thought (Gill) that David wrote Psalm 132.
4“reliquam partem offici exequere, execute the other part of thy office, Iun. thou hast other matters of the kingdome wherein thou maiest occupie thy selfe, be secure for this” ~Willett
5“It is customary for the oldest son born after the father’s succession to the throne to succeed him in his dignity as king. David had several sons by Bath-sheba born after his removal to Jerusalem (2Sa_5:14-16; compare 1Ch_3:5). But by a special ordinance and promise of God, his successor was to be a son born after this time; and the departure from the established usage of the East in fixing the succession, can be accounted for on no other known ground, except the fulfillment of the divine promise.” ~Robert Jamieson
6For an extensive study on the convoluted tenses of this passage, see Tsumura’s work in NICOT.
7quoting Deut. 31:6-8 “Be strong and of good courage, do not fear nor be afraid of them; for the LORD your God, He is the One who goes with you. He will not leave you nor forsake you… And the LORD, He is the One who goes before you. He will be with you, He will not leave you nor forsake you; do not fear nor be dismayed." (NKJV)
8Jer. 33:15 (cf. Jer. 23:5) Isaiah 11:1 There shall come forth a Rod from the stem of Jesse, And a Branch shall grow out of his roots… 9:7 Of the increase of His government and peace There will be no end, Upon the throne of David and over His kingdom, To order it and establish it with judgment and justice From that time forward, even forever…” (NKJV)
9Matthew 21:42, Mark 12:10, Luke 20:17
AMy
original chart includes the NASB and NIV, but their copyright
restrictions have forced me to remove them from the
publicly-available edition of this chart. I have included the ESV in
footnotes when it employs a word not already used by the KJV, NASB,
or NIV. (NAW is my translation.) When a translation adds words not
in the Hebrew text, but does not indicate it has done so by the use
of italics (or greyed-out text), I put the added words in [square
brackets]. When one version chooses a wording which is different
from all the other translations, I underline it. When a
version chooses a translation which, in my opinion, either departs
too far from the root meaning of the Hebrew word or departs too far
from the grammar form of the original text, I use strikeout.
And when a version omits a word which is in the original text, I
insert an X. (I also place an X at the end of a word if the original
word is plural but the English translation is singular.) I
occasionally use colors to help the reader see correlations between
the various editions and versions when there are more than two
different translations of a given word. The only known Dead Sea
Scroll containing 2 Samuel 7 is 4Q51Samuela, which
contains fragments of vs. 6-7 & 22-29, and which has been dated
between 50-25 B.C. Where the DSS is legible and in agreement with
the MT, the MT is colored purple. Where
the DSS supports the LXX (or Vulgate) with omissions or text not in
the MT, I have highlighted with
yellow the LXX and its translation into English, and where I
have accepted that into my NAW translation, I have marked it with
{pointed brackets}.
BI have marked up the parallel passage in the MT of 1 Chronicles by placing a capital X where a whole word found in the 2Sam text is not found in the 1Chr text, a lower case “x” when a letter of a word is in 2Sam but not 1Chr, grey text to indicate words in the 1Chr text not found in 2Sam, and orange text to indicate words where a synonym was substituted.
CVaticanus is in agreement with the LXX majority with “God,” Brenton apparently slipped up and translated “Lord.”
DLXX, Syriac, Vulgate, old Latin, and some Targums as well as multiple Hebrew manuscripts of 2 Samuel 7 as well as the MT of the parallel passage in 1 Chronicles omit the second “to.” It doesn’t change the meaning, it’s just the difference between “to my servant – to David” (MT), and “to my servant David” (LXX, Vulgate, Syriac, 1 Chron)
ESyriac and Greek of 2 Sam 7 read “not” instead of an interrogative here, as does the parallel passage in 1 Chron. It effectively means the same thing.
FThe Syriac and a couple of Hebrew manuscripts support this insertion “land of” before “Egypt,” but it makes no change in the meaning.
G“Christ, like the ark, when here on earth walked in a tent or tabernacle, for he went about doing good, and dwelt not in any house of his own, till he ascended on high, to the mansions above, in his Father's house, and there he sat down. The church, like the ark, in this world is ambulatory, dwells in a tent, because its present state is both pastoral and military; its continuing city is to come.” ~Matthew Henry
Hohel/tent and mishkan/dwelling were both frequently used in the Pentateuch to describe the O.T. tabernacle under Moses.
IThe
MT word here
(literally “branch/staff/tribe”) is ancient, since it is
in the Septuagint and Vulgate, but it simply doesn’t make
sense in parallel with “commanded to shepherd my people,”
whereas the parallel passage in 1 Chron uses a word here (“judge”)
that makes perfect
sense in parallel with the second half of the verse (“commanded
to shepherd my people”). The
two words are very
similar in sound: 2 Samuel reads sh_vtay (“tribe”)
and 1 Chron reads sh_ftay (“judge”), so
it seems quite possible that a scribe could have mis-heard.
Many
commentators refer the word to the concept of a scepter, but some
were adamantly against that idea. Keil & Delitzsch provide the
most cogent explanation in favor of translating it “tribes”
“referring to the tribes, which had supplied the nation with
judges and leaders before the tie of David, since the feeding, i.e.,
the government of Israel, which was in the hands of the judges, was
transferred to the tribes to which the judges belonged. This view is
confirmed by Psa_78:67-68, where the election of David as prince,
and of Zion as the site of the sanctuary, is described as the
election of the tribe of Judah and the rejection of the tribe of
Ephraim.”
Unfortunately, the DSS is obliterated at this
point. The DSS, however, seems to have more space than the wording
of the MT would fit, but no other manuscript has suggested
additional words here, the only variant being the LXX with one less
word than the MT, so the only conclusion we can draw for now is that
the DSS spacing doesn’t support the shorter text of the LXX in
this verse.
JThis preposition is omitted from the LXX, Vulgate, Syriac, and several Hebrew manuscripts, raising questions as to whether it was part of the original text. It doesn’t make a difference in meaning, however. Same as Endnote D above.
KSyriac, Targums and Vulgate, as well as several Hebrew manuscripts omit this, but it doesn’t change the meaning - cf. endnote D above.
LThis preposition is omitted from the LXX, Vulgate, Syriac, and several Hebrew manuscripts, raising questions as to whether it was part of the original text. It doesn’t make a difference in meaning, however. Same as Endnote D above.
MVulgate nomen (“name”) is an accurate translation of the MT and LXX.
NVulgate is actually more like the MT with “in”
OOutside of the parallel passage in 1 Chron, the only other place this phrase “sons of wickedness/iniquity” occurs in the Bible is in David’s lament over Abner in 2 Sam 3, which seems to refer to Philistines. The Philistines for years, even under Saul, had kept at least parts of Israel under their thumbs, using them up (as the parallel account in 1 Chronicles puts it) with oppression and affliction, as we saw in 1 Samuel primarily by regular raiding and looting of the Israelites.
PThe word “day” is singular in the MT of 2 Sam 7, but plural in the MT of the parallel passage in 1 Chron.
QThe oldest-known manuscripts (LXX, Syriac, Vulgate) omit the “and” at the beginning of this verse, as do a couple of other Hebrew manuscripts.
RBrenton’s translation is uncharacteristically periphrastic. The Greek is very literal to the MT: “who is out of your body”
SI believe Douay slipped up and wrote “the” instead of “thy” – the Latin is tuo.
TThe Greek is actually a 3rd class conditional: “if [not when] unrighteousness should happen to come of him…” The Syriac reads more like the LXX than the MT.
UPsalm 89:30-32 interprets the singular masculine “he” here as David’s plural kingly descendants, not at the singular Messiah: "If his sons forsake My law And do not walk in My judgments, If they break My statutes And do not keep My commandments, Then I will punish their transgression with the rod, And their iniquity with stripes.” The prophets also spoke of God disciplining humans with a rod (Psalm 2:5 the Messiah will break rebellious kings with a rod, Isa. 11:4 the Messiah will smite the wicked on the earth with the rod of his mouth, Isaiah 10:24 Yahweh of hosts in his anger would strike his people in Zion with the rod by means of the Assyrians, Lamentations 3:1 “I am the man who has seen affliction by the rod of His wrath.”)
VVulgate is tua, so I’m not sure how Douay arrived at “my.”
WDavid’s kingly descendants who wanted to be right with God and yet experienced crises of various sorts may well have been tempted to worry that God had departed from them like He had departed from Saul. This promise from God that He would never turn away from David’s kingly heirs and forsake them was an important comfort for them, just like God’s promise never to flood the earth again was an important comfort for Noah’s family after the flood, and God’s promise to us in Hebrews 13:5, “I will never leave you or forsake you” (quoting Deu_31:6-8 “Be strong and of good courage, do not fear nor be afraid of them; for the LORD your God, He is the One who goes with you. He will not leave you nor forsake you… And the LORD, He is the One who goes before you. He will be with you, He will not leave you nor forsake you; do not fear nor be dismayed.") carries on that kindness of God’s character to allay the fears that well up in our hearts when we see things shaping up to be like a bad experience that we had before and that we are afraid will happen again.
XThe oldest-known manuscripts of this verse (LXX, Syriac, and Vulgate), as well several Hebrew manuscripts and the parallel passage in 1 Chron all spell this verb in the 1st person (“I will not turn away…”). There is no known DSS of this verse for comparison.
YSyraic and LXX and DRB render this 1st (“my”) instead of 2nd person (“your”).
ZMany Hebrew manuscripts and ancient versions (Greek, Old Latin, and Syriac) read 1st (“my”) instead of 2nd person.
AATargums adds “of your kingdom,” and some Hebrew manuscripts insert “O God.” They don’t add any new information, and neither of these extra words are in the LXX or Vulgate.