And it came to pass, when David sat in his house, and the LORD had given him rest round about from all his enemies; That the king said unto Nathan the prophet, "See now, I live in a house of cedar, but the ark of God sits within curtains."

And it came to pass that night, that the word of the LORD came unto Nathan, saying, "In all the places where I have walked with all the children of Israel spoke I a word with any of them of Israel, whom I commanded to feed my people Israel, saying, ‘Why didn’t you build me a house of cedar?’

"Now therefore so shall you say unto my servant David, this says the LORD of hosts, I took you…from following the sheep, to be ruler over my people…. And I was with you wherever you went, and have cut off all your enemies out of your sight, and have made you a great name, like unto the name of the great men that are in the earth.

"Furthermore I will appoint a place for my people Israel, and will plant them, that they may settle in a place of their own, and move no more; neither shall the children of wickedness afflict them anymore, as before….

"Also the LORD tells you that he will make you a house. And when your days be fulfilled, and you shall sleep with your fathers, I will set up your seed after you, which shall proceed out of your body…. He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be his father, and he shall be my son.

If he commit sin, I will correct him with the rod of men, and with the stripes of the children of men: But my mercy shall not depart away from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away before you. And your house and your kingdom shall be established forever…." According to all these words, and according to all this vision, so did Nathan speak unto David.

…The word of the LORD came to David…, "You have shed blood abundantly, and have made great wars: you shall not build a house unto my name, because you have shed much blood upon the earth in my sight.

"Look, a son shall be born to you, who shall be a man of rest…for his name shall be Solomon, and I will give peace and quietness unto Israel in his days. He shall build a house for my name; and he shall be my son, and I will be his father; and I will establish the throne of his kingdom over Israel forever."

…And David said, "Who am I, O Lord GOD? And what is my house that you have brought me here? And this was yet a small thing in your sight, O Lord GOD; but you have spoken also of your servant's house for a great while to come. …Is this the manner of man, O Lord GOD?

"What can David say more to you? For you, Lord GOD, know your servant. For your word's sake, and according to your own heart, have you done all these great things, to make your servant know them.

"Therefore you are great, O LORD God: for there is none like you, neither is there any God beside you, according to all that we have heard with our ears. For you have confirmed to yourself your people Israel to be a people unto you forever: and you, LORD, have become their God.

"Let your name be magnified forever, saying, ‘The LORD of hosts is the God over Israel’: and let the house of your servant David be established before you."

-Psalms-

"Rejoice in the LORD, O you righteous: for praise is beautiful for the upright. For the word of the LORD is right, and all his works are done in truth. He loves righteousness and judgment: the earth is full of the goodness of the LORD.

"God stands in the congregation of the mighty; he judges among the gods. ‘How long will you judge unjustly, and accept the persons of the wicked? …Defend the poor and fatherless: do justice to the afflicted and needy.

‘"I have said, you are gods; and all of you are children of the most High. But you shall die like men, and fall like one of the princes.’"

"Arise, O God, judge the earth: for you shall inherit all nations. O LORD God of hosts, who is a strong LORD like unto you…or to your faithfulness round about you? You rule the raging of the sea: when the waves of it arise, you still them.

"Oh that men would praise the LORD for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men! He sent his word, and healed them, and delivered them from their destructions. …Let them sacrifice the sacrifices of thanksgiving, and declare his works with rejoicing."

-Psalms of the Messiah-

"Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD, and against his anointed, saying, ‘Let us break their bands apart, and cast away their cords from us.’ He that sits in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision.
"Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion. I will declare the decree: the LORD has said unto me, ‘you are my Son; this day have I fathered you. Ask of me, and I shall give you the heathen for your inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for your possession.’

"…The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The LORD is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid? Deliver me not over unto the will of my enemies: for false witnesses are raised up against me, and such as breathe out cruelty. I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living. Wait on the LORD: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen your heart: wait, I say, on the LORD.

"Many are the afflictions of the righteous: but the LORD delivers him out of them all. He keeps all his bones: not one of them is broken. Evil shall slay the wicked: and they that hate the righteous shall be desolate. The LORD redeems the soul of his servants: and none of them that trust in him shall be held guilty.

-The Messiah’s Experience-

"Plead my cause, O LORD, with them that strive with me: fight against them that fight against me. For without cause have they hid for me their net in a pit, which without cause they have dug for my soul.

"False witnesses did rise up; they laid to my charge things that I knew not. They rewarded me evil for good to the bereavement of my soul. Let not them that are my enemies wrongfully rejoice over me: neither let them wink with the eye that hates me without a cause. This you have seen, O LORD: keep not silence: O Lord, be not far from me. …Blessed is that man that makes the LORD his trust, and respects not the proud, nor such as turn aside to lies.

"Many, O LORD my God, are your wonderful works which you have done, and your thoughts which are toward us: they cannot be reckoned up in order unto you: if I would declare and speak of them, they are more than can be numbered. Then said I, Lo, I come: in the volume of the book it is written of me, I delight to do your will, O my God: yes, your law is within my heart.

"I have preached righteousness in the great congregation: lo, I have not refrained my lips, O LORD, you know. Withhold not… your tender mercies from me, O LORD: let your loving kindness and your truth continually preserves me. For innumerable evils have surrounded me about: my iniquities have taken hold upon me, so that I am not able to look up; they are more than the hairs of my head: therefore my heart fails me.

"Be pleased, O LORD, to deliver me: O LORD, make haste to help me. Let them be ashamed and confounded together that seeks after my soul to destroy it; let them be driven backward and put to shame that wish me evil.

"Yes, my own familiar friend, in whom I trusted, which did eat of my bread, has lifted up his heel against me. Let his days be few; and let another take his office. But you, O LORD, be merciful unto me, and raise me up, that I may be at peace with them.

"As the dear pants after the water brooks, so pants my soul after you, O God.

My soul thirsts for God, for the living God: when shall I come and appear before God? My tears have been my meat day and night, while they continually say unto me, ‘Where is your God?’

"When I remember these things, I pour out my soul in me: for I had gone with the multitude, I went with them to the house of God, with the voice of joy and praise, with a multitude that kept holyday.

"O my God, my soul is cast down within me: therefore will I remember you…. I will say unto God my rock, why have you forgotten me? Why go I mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?

"Why are you cast down, O my soul? And why are you raging within me? Hope you in God: for I shall yet praise him, who is the health of my countenance, and my God.

"Judge me, O God, and plead my cause against an ungodly nation: O deliver me from the deceitful and unjust man. For you are the God of my strength: why do you cast me off? Why go I mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?

"Your throne, O God, is forever and ever: the scepter of your kingdom is a right scepter. You love righteousness, and hate wickedness: therefore God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness above your fellows.

"You have ascended on high, you have led captivity captive: you have received gifts for men; yes, for the rebellious also, that the LORD God might live among them.

"…The LORD said unto my Lord, ‘Sit you at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool.’ The LORD shall send the rod of your strength out of Zion: rule …in the midst of your enemies.

"The Lord at your right hand shall strike through kings in the day of his wrath. He shall judge among the heathen, he shall fill the places with the dead bodies; he shall wound the heads over many countries.

"I will praise you: for you have heard me, and are become my salvation. The stone which the builders refused is become the head stone of the corner. This is the LORD'S doing; it is marvelous in our eyes.

"Save now, I implore you, O LORD: O LORD, I implore you, send now prosperity. Blessed be he that comes in the name of the LORD…."

…A Psalm of David

-The Messiah’s cry of distress-

"Save me, O God.… I am weary of my crying: my throat is dried: my eyes fail while I wait for my God. They that hate me without a cause are more than the hairs of my head: they that would destroy me, being my enemies wrongfully, are mighty: then I restored that which I took not away. Because for your sake I have borne reproach; shame has covered my face.

"I am become a stranger unto my brothers, and an alien unto my mother's children. For the zeal of your house has eaten me up; and the reproaches of them that reproached you are fallen upon me.
"Hear me, O LORD; for your loving kindness is good: turn unto me according to the multitude of your tender mercies. And hide not your face from your servant; for I am in trouble: hear me speedily. Draw near unto my soul, and redeem it: deliver me because of my enemies.

"You have known my reproach, and my shame, and my dishonor: my adversaries are all before you. Reproach has broken my heart; and I am full of heaviness: and I looked for some to take pity, but there was none; and for comforters, but I found none. They gave me also poison for my food; and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink. Let their table become a snare before them: and that which should have been for their welfare, let it become a trap. Let them be blotted out of the book of the living, and not be written with the righteous. But I am poor and sorrowful….

"Let your salvation, O God, set me up on high. I will praise the name of God with a song, and will magnify him with thanksgiving. This also shall please the LORD better than an ox or bullock that has horns and hoofs. The humble shall see this, and be glad: and your heart shall live that seek God.

"For the LORD hears the poor, and despises not his prisoners. Let the heaven and earth praise him, the seas, and everything that moves there. For God will save Zion, and will build the cities of Judah: that they may live there, and have it in possession. The seed also of his servants shall inherit it: and they that love his name shall live there."

…A Psalm of David

-The Messiah’s Cry of Anguish and Song of Praise-

"My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from helping me, and from the words of my roaring? O my God, I cry in the daytime, but you hear not; and in the night season, and am not silent. But you are holy, O you that inhabit the praises of Israel.

"Our fathers trusted in you: they trusted, and you did deliver them. They cried unto you, and were delivered: they trusted in you, and were not confounded. But I am a worm, and no man; a reproach of men, and despised of the people. All they that see me laugh me to scorn: they shoot out the lip, they shake the head, saying, ‘He trusted on the LORD that he would deliver him: let him deliver him, seeing he delighted in him.’

But you are he that took me out of the womb: you did make me hope when I was upon my mother's breasts. I was cast upon you from the womb: you are my God from my mother's womb. Be not far from me; for trouble is near; for there is none to help.

"Many bulls have surrounded me: strong bulls of Bashan have encircled me round. They gaped upon me with their mouths, as a ravening and a roaring lion. I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint: my heart is like wax; it is melted in the midst of my bowels. My strength is dried up like a piece of clay pot; and my tongue cleaves to my jaws….

"…You have brought me into the dust of death. For dogs have surrounded me: the assembly of the wicked has enclosed me: they pierced my hands and my feet. I may count all my bones: they look and stare upon me. They part my garments among them, and cast lots upon my clothing.

"But be not…far from me, O LORD: O my strength, hurry…to help me. Deliver my soul from the sword; my darling from the power of the dog. Save me from the lion's mouth: for you have heard me.…

"I will declare your name unto my brothers: in the midst of the congregation will I praise you. You that fear the LORD, praise him; all you the seed of Jacob, glorify him; and stand in awe of him, all you the seed of Israel. For he has not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted; neither has he hid his face from him; but when he cried unto him, he heard.

"My praise shall be of you in the great congregation: I will pay my vows before them that fear him. The meek shall eat and be satisfied: they shall praise the LORD that seek him: your heart shall live forever. All the ends of the world shall remember and turn unto the LORD: and all the kindred of the nations shall worship before you. For the kingdom is the LORD'S: and he is the governor among the nations. All they that be fat upon earth shall eat and worship: all they that go down to the dust shall bow before him: and none can keep alive his own soul. A seed shall serve him; it shall be accounted to the Lord for a generation. They shall come, and shall declare his righteousness unto a people that shall be born, that he has done this."

Then David put garrisons in Syria of Damascus: and the Syrians became servants to David, and brought gifts. And the LORD preserved David wherever he went.

And David took the shields of gold that were on the servants of Hadadezer, and brought them to Jerusalem. And from Betah, and from Berothai, cities of Hadadezer, King David took exceeding much brass. Which also he did dedicate unto the LORD, with the silver and gold that he had dedicated of all nations which he subdued; And David put garrisons in Edom…and all they of Edom became David's servants. And the LORD preserved David wherever he went. And he reigned over all Israel; and David executed judgment and justice unto all his people.

And …David said, "Is there not yet any of the house of Saul, that I may show the kindness of God unto him?"

And there was of the house of Saul a servant whose name was Ziba. And Ziba said unto the king, "Jonathan has yet a son, which is lame on his feet." Then king David sent, and fetched him out of the house of Machir…from Lodebar.

Now when Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan, the son of Saul, was come unto David, he fell on his face, and did reverence. And David said, "Mephibosheth." And he answered, "Behold your servant!" And David said unto him, "Fear not: for I will surely show you kindness for Jonathan your father's sake, and will restore you all the land of Saul your father; and you shall eat bread at my table continually. So Mephibosheth lived in Jerusalem: for he did eat continually at the king's table….

And David spoke unto the LORD the words of this song in the day that the LORD had delivered him out of the hand of all his enemies, and out of the hand of Saul: And he said, "The LORD is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; The God of my rock; in him will I trust: he is my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my high tower, and my refuge, my savior; you saved me from violence. I will call on the LORD, who is worthy to be praised: so shall I be saved from my enemies.

"In my distress I called upon the LORD, and cried to my God: and he did hear my voice out of his temple, and my cry did enter into his ears. He delivered me from my strong enemy, and from them that hated me: for they were too strong for me. They confronted me in the day of my calamity: but the LORD was my stay. For I have kept the ways of the LORD, and have not wickedly departed from my God. For all his judgments were before me: and as for his statutes, I did not depart from them. I was also upright before him, and have kept myself from my iniquity.

"For you are my lamp, O LORD: and the LORD will lighten my darkness. For by you I have run through a troop: by my God have I leaped over a wall.

"As for God, his way is perfect; the word of the LORD is tried: he is a defensive wall to all them that trust in him. For who is God, save the LORD? And who is a rock, save our God? God is my strength and power: and he makes my way perfect. He makes my feet like deer feet: and sets me upon my high places.

"The LORD lives; and blessed be my rock; and exalted be the God of the rock of my salvation. Therefore I will give thanks unto you, O LORD, among the heathen, and I will sing praises unto your name. He is the tower of salvation for his king: and shows mercy to his anointed, unto David, and to his seed forever more."

REFERENCES

2 Samuel 7:1-2,4, 7-18a; 1 Chronicles 22:8-10a; 2 Samuel 7: 18b-22, 24, 26; Psalms 33:1, 4-5; Psalms 82:1-3, 6-8; Psalms 89:8-9; Psalms 107:8, 20, 22; Psalms 2:1-4, 6-8; Psalms 27:1, 12-14; Psalms 34:19-22; Psalms 35:1,7,11-12, 19, 22; Psalms 40:4-5, 7-9, 11-14; Psalms 41:9-10; Psalms 109:8; Psalms 42:1-4, 6a, 9, 11; Psalms 43:1-2; Psalms 45:6-7; Psalms 68:18; Psalms 110:1-2; Psalms 110:5-6; Psalms 118:21-23, 25-26; Psalms 69:1-4, 7-9, 16-22, 28-36; Psalms 22:1-31; 2 Samuel 8:6; 2 Samuel 8:7-8, 11, 14-15; 2 Samuel 9:3a; 2 Samuel 9:2; 2 Samuel 9:3b, 5-7, 13; 2 Samuel 22:1-4, 7, 18-19, 22-24, 29-34, 47, 50-51.

CHAPTER 26