2 Samuel 7:5-11

7:5 “Go, tell my servant David: ‘This is what the Lord says: Do you really intend to build a house for me to live in? 7:6 I have not lived in a house from the time I brought the Israelites up from Egypt to the present day. Instead, I was traveling with them and living in a tent. ¹  7:7 Wherever I moved among all the Israelites, I did not say ²  to any of the leaders ³  whom I appointed to care for ⁴  my people Israel, “Why have you not built me a house made from cedar?”’

7:8 “So now, say this to my servant David: ‘This is what the Lord of hosts says: I took you from the pasture and from your work as a shepherd ⁵  to make you leader of my people Israel. 7:9 I was with you wherever you went, and I defeated ⁶  all your enemies before you. Now I will make you as famous as the great men of the earth. ⁷  7:10 I will establish a place for my people Israel and settle ⁸  them there; they will live there and not be disturbed ⁹  any more. Violent men ¹⁰  will not oppress them again, as they did in the beginning 7:11 and during the time when I appointed judges to lead my people Israel. Instead, I will give you relief ¹¹  from all your enemies. The Lord declares ¹²  to you that he himself ¹³  will build a dynastic house ¹⁴  for you.

2 Samuel 7:1

The Lord Establishes a Covenant with David

7:1 The king settled into his palace, ¹⁵  for the Lord gave him relief ¹⁶  from all his enemies on all sides. ¹⁷ 

2 Samuel 22:4-6

22:4 I called ¹⁸  to the Lord, who is worthy of praise, ¹⁹ 

and I was delivered from my enemies.

22:5 The waves of death engulfed me;

the currents ²⁰  of chaos ²¹  overwhelmed me. ²² 

22:6 The ropes of Sheol ²³  tightened around me; ²⁴ 

the snares of death trapped me. ²⁵ 

2 Samuel 22:2

22:2 He said:

“The Lord is my high ridge, ²⁶  my stronghold, ²⁷  my deliverer.

2 Samuel 6:6-8

6:6 When they arrived at the threshing floor of Nacon, ²⁸  Uzzah reached out and grabbed hold of ²⁹  the ark of God, ³⁰  because the oxen stumbled. 6:7 The Lord was so furious with Uzzah, ³¹  he ³²  killed him on the spot ³³  for his negligence. ³⁴  He died right there beside the ark of God.

6:8 David was angry because the Lord attacked ³⁵  Uzzah; so he called that place Perez Uzzah, ³⁶  which remains its name to this very day.

[7:6]  ¹ tn Heb “in a tent and in a dwelling.” The expression is a hendiadys, using two terms to express one idea.

[7:7]  ² tn Heb “Did I speak a word?” In the Hebrew text the statement is phrased as a rhetorical question.

[7:7]  ³ tn Heb “tribes” (so KJV, NASB, NCV), but the parallel passage in 1 Chr 17:6 has “judges.”

[7:7]  ⁴ tn Heb “whom I commanded to shepherd” (so NIV, NRSV).

[7:8]  ⁵ tn Heb “and from after the sheep.”

[7:9]  ⁶ tn Heb “cut off.”

[7:9]  ⁷ tn Heb “and I will make for you a great name like the name of the great ones who are in the earth.”

[7:10]  ⁸ tn Heb “plant.”

[7:10]  ⁹ tn Heb “shaken.”

[7:10]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “the sons of violence.”

[7:11]  ¹¹ tn Or “rest.”

[7:11]  ¹² tn In the Hebrew text the verb is apparently perfect with vav consecutive, which would normally suggest a future sense (“he will declare”; so the LXX, ἀπαγγελεῖ [apangelei]). But the context seems instead to call for a present or past nuance (“he declares” or “he has declared”). The synoptic passage in 1 Chr 17:10 has וָאַגִּד (va’aggid, “and I declared”). The construction used in 2 Sam 7:11 highlights this important statement.

[7:11]  ¹³ tn Heb “the Lord.”

[7:11]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “house,” but used here in a metaphorical sense, referring to a royal dynasty. Here the Lord’s use of the word plays off the literal sense that David had in mind as he contemplated building a temple for the Lord. To reflect this in the English translation the adjective “dynastic” has been supplied.

[7:1]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “house” (also in the following verse).

[7:1]  ¹⁶ tn Or “rest.”

[7:1]  ¹⁷ tn The translation understands the disjunctive clause in v. 1b as circumstantial-causal.

[22:4]  ¹⁸ tn In this song of thanksgiving, where David recalls how the Lord delivered him, the prefixed verbal form is best understood as a preterite indicating past tense (cf. CEV “I prayed”), not an imperfect (as in many English versions).

[22:4]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “worthy of praise, I cried out [to] the Lord.” Some take מְהֻלָּל (mÿhullal, “worthy of praise”) with what precedes and translate, “the praiseworthy one,” or “praiseworthy.” However, the various epithets in vv. 1-2 have the first person pronominal suffix, unlike מְהֻלָּל. If one follows the traditional verse division and takes מְהֻלָּל with what follows, it is best understood as substantival and as appositional to יְהוָה (yÿhvah, “Yahweh”), resulting in “[to the] praiseworthy one I cried out, [to the] Lord.”

[22:5]  ²⁰ tn The noun נַחַל (nakhal) usually refers to a river or stream, but in this context the plural form likely refers to the currents of the sea (see vv. 15-16).

[22:5]  ²¹ tn The noun בְלִיַּעַל (bÿliyya’al) is used here as an epithet for death. Elsewhere it is a common noun meaning “wickedness, uselessness” (see HALOT 133-34 s.v. בְּלִיַּעַל). It is often associated with rebellion against authority and other crimes that result in societal disorder and anarchy. The phrase “man/son of wickedness” refers to one who opposes God and the order he has established. The term becomes an appropriate title for death, which, through human forces, launches an attack against God’s chosen servant.

[22:5]  ²² tn In this poetic narrative context the prefixed verbal form is best understood as a preterite indicating past tense, not an imperfect. (Note the perfect verbal form in the parallel/preceding line.) The verb בָּעַת (ba’at) sometimes by metonymy carries the nuance “frighten,” but the parallelism (note “engulfed” in the preceding line) favors the meaning “overwhelm” here.

[22:6]  ²³ tn “Sheol,” personified here as David’s enemy, is the underworld, place of the dead in primitive Hebrew cosmology.

[22:6]  ²⁴ tn Heb “surrounded me.”

[22:6]  ²⁵ tn Heb “confronted me.”

[22:2]  ²⁶ tn Traditionally “is my rock”; CEV “mighty rock”; TEV “is my protector.” This metaphor pictures God as a rocky, relatively inaccessible summit, where one would be able to find protection from enemies. See 1 Sam 23:25, 28.

[22:2]  ²⁷ tn Traditionally “my fortress”; TEV “my strong fortress”; NCV “my protection.”

[22:2]  sn My stronghold. David often found safety in such strongholds. See 1 Sam 22:4-5; 24:22; 2 Sam 5:9, 17; 23:14.

[6:6]  ²⁸ tn 1 Chr 13:9 has “Kidon.”

[6:6]  ²⁹ tn Or “steadied.”

[6:6]  ³⁰ tn Heb “and Uzzah reached out toward the ark of God and grabbed it.”

[6:7]  ³¹ tn Heb “and the anger of the Lord burned against Uzzah.”

[6:7]  ³² tn Heb “God.”

[6:7]  ³³ tc Heb “there.” Since this same term occurs later in the verse it is translated “on the spot” here for stylistic reasons.

[6:7]  ³⁴ tc The phrase “his negligence” is absent from the LXX.

[6:8]  ³⁵ tn Heb “because the Lord broke out [with] a breaking out [i.e., an outburst] against Uzzah.”

[6:8]  ³⁶ sn The name Perez Uzzah means in Hebrew “the outburst [against] Uzzah.”