1 When David had settled into his palace, he said to Nathan the prophet, “Look! I am living in a cedar house while the ark of the Lord’s covenant is under tent curtains.”
2 So Nathan told David, “Do all that is on your heart, for God is with you.”
3 But that night the word of God came to Nathan:
4 “Go to David My servant and say, ‘This is what the Lord says: You are not the one to build Me a house to dwell in.
5 From the time I brought Israel out of Egypt until today I have not lived in a house; instead, I have moved from tent to tent and from tabernacle to tabernacle.
6 In all My travels throughout Israel, have I ever spoken a word to even one of the judges of Israel, whom I commanded to shepherd My people, asking: Why haven’t you built Me a house of cedar? ’
7 “Now this is what you will say to My servant David: ‘This is what the Lord of Hosts says: I took you from the pasture and from following the sheep to be ruler over My people Israel.