2 King David rose to his feet and said: “Hear me, my kinsmen and my people. It was my purpose to build a house of repose myself for the ark of the covenant of the Lord, the footstool for the feet of our God; and I was preparing to build it.
3 But God said to me, You may not build a house for my name, for you are a man who waged wars and shed blood.
4 However, the Lord, the God of Israel, chose me from all my father’s family to be king over Israel forever. For he chose Judah as leader, then one family of Judah, that of my father; and finally, among all the sons of my father, it pleased him to make me king over all Israel.
5 And of all my sons—for the Lord has given me many sons—he has chosen my son Solomon to sit on the throne of the Lord’s kingship over Israel.
6 For he said to me: It is your son Solomon who shall build my house and my courts, for I have chosen him for my son, and I will be a father to him.
7 I will establish his kingdom forever, if he perseveres in carrying out my commandments and ordinances as he does now.
8 Therefore, in the sight of all Israel, the assembly of the Lord, and in the hearing of our God: keep and carry out all the commandments of the Lord, your God, that you may continue to possess this good land and afterward leave it as an inheritance to your children forever.