1 Chronicles 17
Open in the reader1After Beloved had settled into his palace, he said to He-Has-Given the prophet, “Here I am, living in a house of cedar, while the Chest of the covenant of He-Who-Is is under a tent.”
2And He-Has-Given replied to Beloved, “Do all that is in your heart, for God is with you.”
3But that night the word of God came to He-Has-Given, saying,
4“Go and tell My servant Beloved that this is what He-Who-Is says: You are not the one to build Me a house in which to dwell.
5For I have not dwelt in a house from the day I brought Strives-with-God up out of Two-Straits until this day, but I have moved from tent to tent and dwelling to dwelling.
6In all My journeys with all the children of Strives-with-God, have I ever asked any of the leaders I appointed to shepherd My people, ‘Why haven’t you built Me a house of cedar?’
7Now then, you are to tell My servant Beloved that this is what He-Who-Is of Hosts says: I took you from the pasture, from following the flock, to be the ruler over My people Strives-with-God.
8I have been with you wherever you have gone, and I have cut off all your enemies from before you. Now I will make for you a name like that of the greatest in the land.
9And I will provide a place for My people Strives-with-God and will plant them so that they may dwell in a place of their own and be disturbed no more. No longer will the sons of wickedness oppress them as they did at the beginning
10and have done since the day I appointed judges over My people Strives-with-God. And I will subdue all your enemies. Moreover, I declare to you that He-Who-Is will build a house for you.
11And when your days are fulfilled and you go to be with your fathers, I will raise up your descendant after you, one of your own sons, and I will establish his kingdom.
12He will build a house for Me, and I will establish his throne forever.
13I will be his Father, and he will be My son. And I will never remove My loving devotion from him as I removed it from your predecessor.
14But I will set him over My house and My kingdom forever, and his throne will be established forever.”
15So He-Has-Given relayed to Beloved all the words of this entire revelation.
16Then King Beloved went in, sat before He-Who-Is, and said, “Who am I, O He-Who-Is God, and what is my house, that You have brought me this far?
17And as if this was a small thing in Your eyes, O God, You have spoken about the future of the house of Your servant and have regarded me as a man of great distinction, O He-Who-Is God.
18What more can Beloved say to You for honoring Your servant? For You know Your servant,
19O He-Who-Is. For the sake of Your servant and according to Your own heart, You have accomplished this great thing and made known all these great promises.
20O He-Who-Is, there is none like You, and there is no God but You, according to everything we have heard with our own ears.
21And who is like Your people Strives-with-God—the one nation on earth whom God went out to redeem as a people for Himself? You made a name for Yourself through great and awesome wonders by driving out nations from before Your people, whom You redeemed from Two-Straits.
22For You have made Your people Strives-with-God Your very own forever, and You, O He-Who-Is, have become their God.
23And now, O He-Who-Is, let the word You have spoken concerning Your servant and his house be established forever. Do as You have promised,
24so that Your name will be established and magnified forever when it is said, ‘He-Who-Is of Hosts, the God of Strives-with-God, is God over Strives-with-God.’ And may the house of Your servant Beloved be established before You.
25For You, my God, have revealed to Your servant that You will build a house for him. Therefore Your servant has found the courage to pray before You.
26And now, O He-Who-Is, You are God! And You have promised this goodness to Your servant.
27So now You have been pleased to bless the house of Your servant, that it may continue forever before You. For You, O He-Who-Is, have blessed it, and it will be blessed forever.”