2 Samuel 7:23-29

7:23 Who is like your people, Israel, a unique nation ¹  on the earth? Their God ²  went ³  to claim ⁴  a nation for himself and to make a name for himself! You did great and awesome acts for your land, ⁵  before your people whom you delivered for yourself from the Egyptian empire and its gods. ⁶  7:24 You made Israel your very own people for all time. ⁷  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. ⁸  Do as you promised, ⁹  7:26 so you may gain lasting fame, ¹⁰  as people say, ¹¹  ‘The Lord of hosts is God over Israel!’ The dynasty ¹²  of your servant David will be established before you, 7:27 for you, O Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, have told ¹³  your servant, ‘I will build you a dynastic house.’ ¹⁴  That is why your servant has had the courage ¹⁵  to pray this prayer to you. 7:28 Now, O sovereign Lord, you are the true God! ¹⁶  May your words prove to be true! ¹⁷  You have made this good promise to your servant! ¹⁸  7:29 Now be willing to bless your servant’s dynasty ¹⁹  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!” ²⁰ 

[7:23]  ¹ tn Heb “a nation, one.”

[7:23]  ² tn 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.

[7:23]  ³ tn The verb is plural in Hebrew, agreeing grammatically with the divine name, which is a plural of degree.

[7:23]  ⁴ tn Heb “redeem.”

[7:23]  ⁵ tn Heb “and to do for you [plural form] the great [thing] and awesome [things] for your land.”

[7:23]  ⁶ tn 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”).

[7:24]  ⁷ tn Heb “and you established for yourself your people Israel for yourself for a people permanently.”

[7:25]  ⁸ tn Heb “and now, O Lord God, the word which you spoke concerning your servant and concerning his house, establish permanently.”

[7:25]  ⁹ tn Heb “as you have spoken.”

[7:26]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “and your name might be great permanently.” Following the imperative in v. 23b, the prefixed verbal form with vav conjunctive indicates purpose/result.

[7:26]  ¹¹ tn Heb “saying.” The words “as people” are supplied in the translation for clarification and stylistic reasons.

[7:26]  ¹² tn Heb “the house.” See the note on “dynastic house” in the following verse.

[7:27]  ¹³ tn Heb “have uncovered the ear of.”

[7:27]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “a house.” This maintains the wordplay from v. 11 (see the note on the word “house” there) and is continued in v. 29.

[7:27]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “has found his heart.”

[7:28]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “the God.” The article indicates uniqueness here.

[7:28]  ¹⁷ tn 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.”

[7:28]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “and you have spoken to your servant this good thing.”

[7:29]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “house” (again later in this verse). See the note on “dynastic house” in v. 27.

[7:29]  ²⁰ tn Or “permanently”; cf. NLT “it is an eternal blessing.”