17:1 When David had settled into his palace, 1 he 2 said to Nathan the prophet, “Look, I am living in a palace 3 made from cedar, while the ark of the Lord’s covenant is under a tent.” 4 17:2 Nathan said to David, “You should do whatever you have in mind, 5 for God is with you.”
17:3 That night God told Nathan the prophet, 6 17:4 “Go, tell my servant David: ‘This is what the Lord says: “You must not build me a house in which to live. 17:5 For I have not lived in a house from the time I brought Israel up from Egypt 7 to the present day. I have lived in a tent that has been in various places. 8
1 tn Heb “house.”
2 tn Heb “David.” The pronoun “he” has been used in the translation here to avoid redundancy in keeping with contemporary English style.
3 tn Heb “house.”
4 tn Heb “tent curtains.”
5 tn Heb “all which is in your heart.”
6 tn Heb “the word of God was [i.e., came] to Nathan the prophet.”
7 tn The words “from Egypt” are supplied in the translation for clarification.
8 tc Heb “and I was from tent to tent and from tabernacle.” The words אֶל־מִשְּׁכָּן (’el-mishÿkan, “to tabernacle”) should probably be added at the end of the sentence to complete this prepositional phrase and produce symmetry with the preceding prepositional phrase. The words probably fell from the text by homoioteleuton.
sn I have lived in a tent that has been in various places. The point here is that the Lord moved with the tabernacle as it moved from place to place; he did not confine himself to a particular location.