2 Samuel · 29 verses
2 Samuel 7
Every verse links to the people and places named in it, and to the passages readers connect it with.
The chapter
What happens here
Atlas's own reading, written from this chapter and nothing else, and published only once a person has approved it. Each scene names the verses it covers; the names inside it link to the people and places they name.
David suggests building a house for God; God replies by promising to build one for David, which is a splendid reversal of architectural plans.
A house for the ark, and another answervv. 1–17
David is settled in cedar, while the ark remains in a tent, and Nathan gives the proposal an immediate blessing. Then, with admirable nocturnal efficiency, the LORD sends Nathan back with a contrary message: David will not build the house, because the LORD has been moving in a tent without asking for cedar. Instead, the LORD recalls David from pasture and promises to establish David’s house, kingdom, and throne. A descendant will build a house for the LORD’s Name, while the promised house for David will endure forever.
David sits down before the LORDvv. 18–29
David goes in, sits before the LORD, and finds that the promised future has made him ask the oldest sensible question: who is he, and what is his house, that it has come this far? He praises the greatness of the LORD, recalls the redemption of Israel from Egypt, and asks that the word concerning his house be confirmed forever. Having received the promise, David has found the courage to pray for its blessing—a remarkably modest request after such a grand announcement.
The text
Read it
Berean Standard Bible, public domain. Names the Hebrew and Greek put in the verse link to the person, place or people they name; the address beside each verse is a link to that verse, which is what a reader copies and shares.
2 Sam 7:1After the king had settled into his palace and the LORD had given him rest from all his enemies around him,
2 Sam 7:2he said to Nathan the prophet, “Here I am, living in a house of cedar, while the ark of God remains in a tent.”
2 Sam 7:3And Nathan replied to the king, “Go and do all that is in your heart, for the LORD is with you.”
2 Sam 7:4But that night the word of the LORD came to Nathan, saying,
2 Sam 7:5“Go and tell My servant David that this is what the LORD says: Are you the one to build for Me a house to dwell in?
2 Sam 7:6For I have not dwelt in a house from the day I brought the Israelites up out of Egypt until this day, but I have moved about with a tent as My dwelling.
2 Sam 7:7In all My journeys with all the Israelites, have I ever asked any of the leaders I appointed to shepherd My people Israel, ‘Why haven’t you built Me a house of cedar?’
2 Sam 7:8Now then, you are to tell My servant David that this is what the LORD of Hosts says: I took you from the pasture, from following the flock, to be the ruler over My people Israel.
2 Sam 7:9I 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.
2 Sam 7:10And I will provide a place for My people Israel 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
2 Sam 7:11and have done since the day I appointed judges over My people Israel. I will give you rest from all your enemies. The LORD declares to you that He Himself will establish a house for you.
2 Sam 7:12And when your days are fulfilled and you rest with your fathers, I will raise up your descendant after you, who will come from your own body, and I will establish his kingdom.
2 Sam 7:13He will build a house for My Name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.
2 Sam 7:14I will be his Father, and he will be My son. When he does wrong, I will discipline him with the rod of men and with the blows of the sons of men.
2 Sam 7:15But My loving devotion will never be removed from him as I removed it from Saul, whom I removed from before you.
2 Sam 7:16Your house and kingdom will endure forever before Me, and your throne will be established forever.”
2 Sam 7:17So Nathan relayed to David all the words of this entire revelation.
2 Sam 7:18Then King David went in, sat before the LORD, and said, “Who am I, O Lord GOD, and what is my house, that You have brought me this far?
2 Sam 7:19And as if this was a small thing in Your eyes, O Lord GOD, You have also spoken about the future of the house of Your servant. Is this Your custom with man, O Lord GOD?
2 Sam 7:20What more can David say to You? For You know Your servant, O Lord GOD.
2 Sam 7:21For the sake of Your word and according to Your own heart, You have accomplished this great thing and revealed it to Your servant.
2 Sam 7:22How great You are, O Lord GOD! For there is none like You, and there is no God but You, according to everything we have heard with our own ears.
2 Sam 7:23And who is like Your people Israel—the one nation on earth whom God went out to redeem as a people for Himself and to make a name for Himself? You performed great and awesome wonders by driving out nations and their gods from before Your people, whom You redeemed for Yourself from Egypt.
2 Sam 7:24For You have established Your people Israel as Your very own forever, and You, O LORD, have become their God.
2 Sam 7:25And now, O LORD God, confirm forever the word You have spoken concerning Your servant and his house. Do as You have promised,
2 Sam 7:26so that Your name will be magnified forever when it is said, ‘The LORD of Hosts is God over Israel.’ And the house of Your servant David will be established before You.
2 Sam 7:27For You, O LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, have revealed this to Your servant when You said, ‘I will build a house for you.’ Therefore Your servant has found the courage to offer this prayer to You.
2 Sam 7:28And now, O Lord GOD, You are God! Your words are true, and You have promised this goodness to Your servant.
2 Sam 7:29Now therefore, may it please You to bless the house of Your servant, that it may continue forever before You. For You, O Lord GOD, have spoken, and with Your blessing the house of Your servant will be blessed forever.”
01 — Also here
Who else the chapter reaches
Names written in the English are linked in the text above. These are the ones that are not: an entity the Hebrew or Greek names under a spelling the translation does not use, or one reached only by an assertion about a verse of this chapter.
Named in the Hebrew or Greek somewhere in this chapter, under a form the English renders differently — the registry's Ludim against the translation's Ludites — so there is no word in the sentence to hang the link on.
Reached by an assertion Atlas extracted from a verse of this chapter rather than by a name written in it — a pronoun, a title, or a participant the sentence carries without naming. This layer is model-read and measured at 88.6–90.3% precision, and it is kept separate from the names above for that reason.
02 — Read alongside
Where this is echoed
Readers' own connections, from OpenBible's crowd-voted cross-references — agreement about relevance, and not scholarly confidence. 349 passages were voted onto 29 verses of this chapter; the 16 shown lead on votes, and each is listed at the verse it was voted onto most strongly.
- 18Psalms 8:4what is man that You are mindful of him, or the son of man that You care for him?
- 181 Chronicles 17:16Then King David went in, sat before the LORD, and said, “Who am I, O LORD God, and what is my house, that You have brought me this far?
- 181 Samuel 18:18And David said to Saul, “Who am I, and what is my family or my father’s clan in Israel, that I should become the son-in-law of the king?”
- 18Genesis 32:10I am unworthy of all the kindness and faithfulness You have shown Your servant. Indeed, with only my staff I came across the Jordan, but now I have become two camps.
- 18Exodus 3:11But Moses asked God, “Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?”
- 181 Samuel 15:17And Samuel said, “Although you were once small in your own eyes, have you not become the head of the tribes of Israel? The LORD anointed you king over Israel
- 18Ephesians 3:8Though I am less than the least of all the saints, this grace was given me: to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ,
- 18Judges 6:15“Please, my Lord,” Gideon replied, “how can I save Israel? Indeed, my clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the youngest in my father’s house.”
- 181 Samuel 9:21Saul replied, “Am I not a Benjamite from the smallest tribe of Israel, and is not my clan the least of all the clans of Benjamin? So why would you say such a thing to me?”
- 18Isaiah 37:14So Hezekiah received the letter from the messengers, read it, and went up to the house of the LORD and spread it out before the LORD.
- 22Psalms 86:10For You are great and perform wonders; You alone are God.
- 10Amos 9:15I will firmly plant them in their own land, never again to be uprooted from the land that I have given them,” says the LORD your God.
- 101 Chronicles 17:9And I will provide a place for My people Israel 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
- 22Exodus 15:11Who among the gods is like You, O LORD? Who is like You—majestic in holiness, revered with praises, performing wonders?
- 13Luke 1:31–33Behold, you will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to give Him the name Jesus.
- 14Hebrews 1:5For to which of the angels did God ever say: “You are My Son; today I have become Your Father”? Or again: “I will be His Father, and He will be My Son”?
Onward