2 Samuel 7:20-29

7:20 What more can David say to you? You have given your servant special recognition,¹ O Lord God! 7:21 For the sake of your promise and according to your purpose² you have done this great thing in order to reveal it to your servant.³ 7:22 Therefore you are great, O Lord God, for there is none like you! There is no God besides you! What we have heard is true!⁴ 7:23 Who is like your people, Israel, a unique nation⁵ on the earth? Their God⁶ went⁷ to claim⁸ a nation for himself and to make a name for himself! You did great and awesome acts for your land,⁹ before your people whom you delivered for yourself from the Egyptian empire and its gods.¹⁰ 7:24 You made Israel your very own people for all time.¹¹ You, O Lord, became their God. 7:25 So now, O Lord God, make this promise you have made about your servant and his family a permanent reality.¹² Do as you promised,¹³ 7:26 so you may gain lasting fame,¹⁴ as people say,¹⁵ ‘The Lord of hosts is God over Israel!’ The dynasty¹⁶ of your servant David will be established before you, 7:27 for you, O Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, have told¹⁷ your servant, ‘I will build you a dynastic house.’¹⁸ That is why your servant has had the courage¹⁹ to pray this prayer to you. 7:28 Now, O sovereign Lord, you are the true God!²⁰ May your words prove to be true!²¹ You have made this good promise to your servant!²² 7:29 Now be willing to bless your servant’s dynasty²³ so that it may stand permanently before you, for you, O sovereign Lord, have spoken. By your blessing may your servant’s dynasty be blessed on into the future!”²⁴

¹tn Heb “and you know your servant.” The verb here refers to recognizing another in a special way and giving them special treatment (see 1 Chr 17:18). Some English versions take this to refer to the Lord’s knowledge of David himself: CEV “you know my thoughts”; NLT “know what I am really like.”

²tn Heb “for the sake of your word and according to your heart.”

³tn Heb “to make known, your servant.”

⁴tn Heb “in all which we heard with our ears.” The phrase translated “in all” בְּכֹל (bÿkhol) should probably be emended to “according to all” כְּכֹל (kÿkhol).

⁵tn Heb “a nation, one.”

⁶tn Heb “whose God” or “because God.” In the Hebrew text this clause is subordinated to what precedes. The clauses are separated in the translation for stylistic reasons.

⁷tn The verb is plural in Hebrew, agreeing grammatically with the divine name, which is a plural of degree.

⁸tn Heb “redeem.”

⁹tn Heb “and to do for you [plural form] the great [thing] and awesome [things] for your land.”

¹⁰tn Heb “from Egypt, nations and their gods.” The LXX has “nations and tents,” which reflects a mistaken metathesis of letters in אֶלֹהָיו (e’lohav, “its gods”) and אֹהָלָיו (’ohalav, “its tents”).

¹¹tn Heb “and you established for yourself your people Israel for yourself for a people permanently.”

¹²tn Heb “and now, O Lord God, the word which you spoke concerning your servant and concerning his house, establish permanently.”

¹³tn Heb “as you have spoken.”

¹⁴tn Heb “and your name might be great permanently.” Following the imperative in v. 23b, the prefixed verbal form with vav conjunctive indicates purpose/result.

¹⁵tn Heb “saying.” The words “as people” are supplied in the translation for clarification and stylistic reasons.

¹⁶tn Heb “the house.” See the note on “dynastic house” in the following verse.

¹⁷tn Heb “have uncovered the ear of.”

¹⁸tn Heb “a house.” This maintains the wordplay from v. 11 (see the note on the word “house” there) and is continued in v. 29.

¹⁹tn Heb “has found his heart.”

²⁰tn Heb “the God.” The article indicates uniqueness here.

²¹tn The translation understands the prefixed verb form as a jussive, indicating David’s wish/prayer. Another option is to take the form as an imperfect and translate “your words are true.”

²²tn Heb “and you have spoken to your servant this good thing.”

²³tn Heb “house” (again later in this verse). See the note on “dynastic house” in v. 27.

²⁴tn Or “permanently”; cf. NLT “it is an eternal blessing.”