God’s Promise to David
1The king moved into his palace. The Lord had given him peace and rest from all his enemies around him. 2Then the king spoke to Nathan the prophet. He said, “Here I am, living in a house that has beautiful cedar walls. But the ark of God remains in a tent.”
3Nathan replied to the king, “Go ahead and do what you want to. The Lord is with you.”
4But that night the word of the Lord came to Nathan. The Lord said,
5“Go and speak to my servant David. Tell him, ‘The Lord says, “Are you the one to build me a house to live in? 6I brought the Israelites up out of Egypt. But I have not lived in a house from then until now. I have been moving from place to place. I have been living in a tent. 7I have moved from place to place with all the Israelites. I commanded their rulers to be shepherds over them. I never asked any of those rulers, ‘Why haven’t you built me a house that has beautiful cedar walls?’ ” ’
8“So tell my servant David, ‘The Lord who rules over all says, “I took you away from the grasslands. That’s where you were taking care of your father’s sheep and goats. I made you ruler over my people Israel. 9I have been with you everywhere you have gone. I have destroyed all your enemies. Now I will make you famous. Your name will be just as respected as the names of the most important people on earth. 10I will provide a place where my people Israel can live. I will plant them in the land. Then they will have a home of their own. They will not be bothered anymore. Evil people will no longer crush them, as they did at first. 11That is what your enemies have done ever since I appointed leaders over my people Israel. But I will give you peace and rest from all of them.
“ ‘ “I tell you that I, the Lord, will set up a royal house for you. 12Some day your life will come to an end. You will join the members of your family who have already died. Then I will make one of your own sons the next king after you. And I will make his kingdom secure. 13He is the one who will build a house where I will put my Name. I will set up the throne of his kingdom. It will last forever. 14I will be his father. And he will be my son. When he does what is wrong, I will use other men to beat him with rods and whips. 15I took my love away from Saul. I removed him from being king. You were there when I did it. But I will never take my love away from your son. 16Your royal house and your kingdom will last forever in my sight. Your throne will last forever.” ’ ”
17Nathan reported to David all the words that the Lord had spoken to him.
David’s Prayer to the Lord
18Then King David went into the holy tent. He sat down in front of the Lord. He said,
“Lord and King, who am I? My family isn’t important. So why have you brought me this far? 19I would have thought that you had already done more than enough for me. But now, Lord and King, you have also said what will happen to my royal house in days to come. And, my Lord and King, this promise is for a mere human being!
20“What more can I say to you? Lord and King, you know all about me. 21You have done a wonderful thing. You have made it known to me. You have done it because that’s what you said you would do. It’s exactly what you wanted to do for me.
22“Lord and King, how great you are! There isn’t anyone like you. There isn’t any God but you. We have heard about it with our own ears. 23Who is like your people Israel? God, we are the one nation on earth you have saved. You have set us free for yourself. Your name has become famous. You have done great and wonderful things. You have driven out nations and their gods to make room for your people. You saved us when you set us free from Egypt. 24You made Israel your very own people forever. Lord, you have become our God.
25“And now, Lord God, keep forever the promise you have made to me and my royal house. Do exactly as you promised. 26Then your name will be honored forever. People will say, ‘The Lord rules over all. He is God over Israel.’ My royal house will be made secure in your sight.
27“Lord who rules over all, you are the God of Israel. Here’s what you have shown me. You told me, ‘I will build you a royal house.’ So I can boldly pray this prayer to you. 28Lord and King, you are God! Your covenant can be trusted. You have promised many good things to me. 29Now please bless my royal house. Then it will continue forever in your sight. Lord and King, you have spoken. Because you have given my royal house your blessing, it will be blessed forever.”
እግዚአብሔር ለዳዊት የሰጠው ተስፋ
7፥1-17 ተጓ ምብ – 1ዜና 17፥1-15
1ንጉሡ በቤተ መንግሥቱ ተደላድሎ ከተቀመጠና እግዚአብሔርም በዙሪያው ካሉት ጠላቶቹ ሁሉ ካሳረፈው በኋላ፣ 2ነቢዩን ናታንን፣ “እነሆ፤ እኔ ከዝግባ በተሠራ ቤተ መንግሥት ውስጥ እኖራለሁ፤ የእግዚአብሔር ታቦት ግን በድንኳን ውስጥ ይኖራል” አለው።
3ናታንም፣ “እግዚአብሔር ካንተ ጋር ስለሆነ፣ ያሰብኸውን ሁሉ አድርግ” አለው።
4በዚያች ሌሊት የእግዚአብሔር ቃል እንዲህ ሲል ወደ ናታን መጣ፤
5“ሂድና ባሪያዬን ዳዊትን፣ ‘እግዚአብሔር እንዲህ ይላል፤ የምኖርበትን ቤት የምትሠራልኝ አንተ አይደለህም፤ 6እስራኤላውያንን ከግብፅ ምድር ካወጣሁበት ቀን አንሥቶ እስከ ዛሬ ድረስ ድንኳንን ማደሪያዬ አድርጌ ከቦታ ወደ ቦታ ተጓዝሁ እንጂ በቤት ውስጥ አልተቀመጥሁም። 7ከእስራኤላውያን ሁሉ ጋር በተጓዝሁበት ስፍራ ሁሉ ሕዝቤን እስራኤልን እንዲጠብቁ ካዘዝኋቸው መሪዎቻቸው አንዱን፣ “ከዝግባ ዕንጨት ለምን ቤት አልሠራህልኝም?” ያልሁት አለን?’
8“አሁንም ባሪያዬን ዳዊትን እንዲህ በለው፤ ‘የሠራዊት ጌታ እግዚአብሔር እንዲህ ይላል፤ በሕዝቤ በእስራኤል ላይ ገዥ እንድትሆን ከሜዳ አነሣሁህ፤ ከበግ ጥበቃም ወሰድሁህ፤ 9በሄድህበት ሁሉ እኔ ከአንተ ጋር ነበርሁ፤ ጠላቶችህንም ሁሉ ከፊትህ አጠፋሁልህ፤ አሁንም ስማቸው በምድር ላይ ከገነነው እጅግ ታላላቅ ሰዎች እንደ አንዱ ስምህን ገናና አደርገዋለሁ፤ 10የራሱ የሆነ መኖሪያ እንዲኖረውና ከእንግዲህ ወዲያ እንዳይናወጥ፣ ለሕዝቤ ለእስራኤል ቦታ እሰጠዋለሁ፤ አጸናዋለሁም። ከዚህ በፊት እንደ ሆነውም ከእንግዲህ ወዲህ ክፉ ሕዝብ አይጨቍነውም፤ 11ለሕዝቤ ለእስራኤልም መሪዎች7፥11 በትውፊት፣ መሳፍንት ይባላል ከሾምሁለት ጊዜ አንሥቶ እንዳደረጉበት ሁሉ ከእንግዲህ አያደርጉበትም፤ እንዲሁም ከጠላቶችህ ሁሉ እጠብቅሃለሁ።
“ ‘እግዚአብሔር ራሱ ቤት እንደሚሠራልህ ይነግርሃል፤ 12ዕድሜህን ጨርሰህ ከአባቶችህ ጋር በምታንቀላፋበት ጊዜ፣ በእግርህ እንዲተካ ከአብራክህ የተከፈለ ዘር አስነሣልሃለሁ፤ መንግሥቱንም አጸናለሁ። 13ለስሜ ቤት የሚሠራ እርሱ ነው፤ እኔም የመንግሥቱን ዙፋን ለዘላለም አጸናለሁ። 14አባት እሆነዋለሁ፤ እርሱም ልጄ ይሆናል። በደል ቢፈጽም ግን ሰዎች በሚቀጡበት በትር እቀጣዋለሁ፤ የሰው ልጆችም በዐለንጋ እንደሚገረፉ እገርፈዋለሁ። 15ምሕረቴን ከአንተ በፊት ካስወገድሁት ከሳኦል እንዳራቅሁ ሁሉ ከእርሱ አላርቅም። 16ቤትህና መንግሥትህ በፊቴ7፥16 አንዳንድ የዕብራይስጥ ቅጆችና የሰብዓ ሊቃናት ትርጕም ከዚህ ጋር ይስማማሉ፤ አብዛኞቹ የዕብራይስጥ ቅጆች ግን፣ በፊትህ ይላሉ። ለዘላለም ጸንቶ ይኖራል፤ ዙፋንህም እንደዚሁ ለዘላለም የጸና ይሆናል።’ ”
17ናታንም የዚህን የጠቅላላውን ራእይ ቃል በሙሉ፣ ለዳዊት ነገረው።
የዳዊት ጸሎት
7፥18-29 ተጓ ምብ – 1ዜና 17፥16-27
18ከዚያም ንጉሥ ዳዊት ገባ፤ በእግዚአብሔር ፊት ተቀምጦ እንዲህ አለ፤
“ልዑል እግዚአብሔር ሆይ፤ እስከዚህ ያደረስኸኝ ኧረ እኔ ማን ነኝ? ቤቴስ ምንድን ነው? 19ልዑል እግዚአብሔር ሆይ፤ ይህ በፊትህ ጥቂት ሆኖ ሳለ፤ አንተ ግን ስለ ወደ ፊቱ የባሪያህ ቤት ተናገርህ፤ ልዑል እግዚአብሔር ሆይ፤ ከሰው ጋር የምታደርገው ግንኙነት ለካ እንዲህ ነው?
20“ዳዊት ከዚህ በላይ ምን ሊልህ ይችላል? ልዑል እግዚአብሔር ሆይ፤ ባሪያህን አንተ ታውቀዋለህና! 21ስለ ቃልህና እንደ ልብህ ሐሳብ ይህን ታላቅ ነገር አድርገሃል፤ ባሪያህም እንዲያውቀው ገልጸህለታል።
22“ልዑል እግዚአብሔር ሆይ፤ እንዴት ታላቅ ነህ! ከቶ የሚመስልህ ማንም የለም፤ በጆሯችን እንደ ሰማነው ሁሉ፣ ከአንተ በቀር አምላክ የለም።
23“ለራሱ ሕዝብ ይሆን ዘንድ ሊታደገው፣ እግዚአብሔር በፊቱ እንደሄደለት ሕዝብ፣ ለራሱም ስም ያደርግ ዘንድ አሕዛብንና አማልክታቸውን ከፊቱ አሳድዶ ታላቅና አስፈሪ ታምራት እንዳደረገለትና ከግብፅም እንደ ተቤዠው እንደ ሕዝብህ እንደ እስራኤል ያለ በምድር ላይ ማን አለ? 24ሕዝብህን እስራኤልን ለዘላለሙ ያንተው የራስህ ሕዝብ አድርገህ አጽንተኸዋል፤ እግዚአብሔር ሆይ፤ አንተም አምላክ ሆነኸዋል።
25“አሁንም እግዚአብሔር አምላክ ሆይ፤ ለባሪያህና ለቤቱ የሰጠኸውን ተስፋ ለዘላለም ጠብቅለት፤ እንደተናገርኸውም ፈጽም፤ 26ስለዚህ ስምህ ለዘላለም ታላቅ ይሆናል፤ ሰዎችም፣ ‘የሰራዊት ጌታ እግዚአብሔር የእስራኤል አምላክ ነው!’ ይላሉ። የባሪያህ የዳዊትም ቤት በፊትህ የጸና ይሆናል።
27“አቤቱ የእስራኤል አምላክ የሰራዊት ጌታ እግዚአብሔር ሆይ፤ ‘እኔ ለአንተ ቤት እሠራልሃለሁ’ ብለህ ይህን ለባሪያህ ገልጸህለታል። ስለዚህ ባሪያህ ይህችን ጸሎት ወደ አንተ ለማቅረብ በልቡ ደፈረ። 28ልዑል እግዚአብሔር ሆይ፤ አንተ አምላክ ነህ፤ ቃልህም የታመነ ነው፤ ይህንም መልካም ነገር ለማድረግ ለባሪያህ ተስፋ ሰጥተኸዋል፤ 29በፊትህ ለዘላለም ጸንቶ እንዲኖር፣ አሁንም የባሪያህን ቤት እባክህ ባርክ። ልዑል እግዚአብሔር ሆይ፤ ይህን አንተው ራስህ ተናግረሃል፤ በበረከትህም የባሪያህ ቤት ለዘላለም ይባረካል።”
