2 Samuel 7:12-19

7:12 When the time comes for you to die, ¹  I will raise up your descendant, one of your own sons, to succeed you, ²  and I will establish his kingdom. 7:13 He will build a house for my name, and I will make his dynasty permanent. ³  7:14 I will become his father and he will become my son. When he sins, I will correct him with the rod of men and with wounds inflicted by human beings. 7:15 But my loyal love will not be removed from him as I removed it from Saul, whom I removed from before you. 7:16 Your house and your kingdom will stand before me ⁴  permanently; your dynasty ⁵  will be permanent.’” 7:17 Nathan told David all these words that were revealed to him. ⁶ 

David Offers a Prayer to God

7:18 King David went in, sat before the Lord, and said, “Who am I, O Lord God, and what is my family, ⁷  that you should have brought me to this point? 7:19 And you didn’t stop there, O Lord God! You have also spoken about the future of your servant’s family. ⁸  Is this your usual way of dealing with men, ⁹  O Lord God?

[7:12]  ¹ tn Heb, “when your days are full and you lie down with your ancestors.”

[7:12]  ² tn Heb “your seed after you who comes out from your insides.”

[7:13]  ³ tn Heb “and I will establish the throne of his kingdom permanently.”

[7:16]  ⁴ tc Heb “before you.” A few medieval Hebrew mss read instead “before me,” which makes better sense contextually. (See also the LXX and the Syriac Peshitta.) The MT reading is probably the result of dittography (note the כ [kaf] at the beginning of the next form), with the extra כ then being interpreted as a pronominal suffix.

[7:16]  ⁵ tn Heb “throne.”

[7:17]  ⁶ tn Heb “according to all these words and according to all this revelation, so Nathan said to David.”

[7:18]  ⁷ tn Heb “house.”

[7:19]  ⁸ tn Heb “and this was small in your eyes, O Lord God, so you spoke concerning the house of your servant for a distance.”

[7:19]  ⁹ tn Heb “and this [is] the law of man”; KJV “is this the manner of man, O Lord God?”; NAB “this too you have shown to man”; NRSV “May this be instruction for the people, O Lord God!” This part of the verse is very enigmatic; no completely satisfying solution has yet been suggested. The present translation tries to make sense of the MT by understanding the phrase as a question that underscores the uniqueness of God’s dealings with David as described here. The parallel passage in 1 Chr 17:17 reads differently (see the note there).