Bible Strands
1 Chronicles 17:1
After David had settled into his palace, he said to Nathan the prophet, “Here I am, living in a house of cedar, while the ark of the covenant of the LORD is under a tent.”
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — David speaks to the prophet Nathan immediately after he has settled into his own palace. The moment captures his observation of the disparity between his permanent residence and the mobile sanctuary of the covenant.
The words — The verb יָשַׁב (ya.shav) indicates David’s established dwelling in his house, while the conjunction כַּאֲשֶׁר (ka.'a.sher) marks this settled state as the direct occasion for his speech.
The thread — The contrast between a cedar house and a tented ark reappears in 1 Chronicles 17:5 and 2 Chronicles 6:7, where David’s intention to construct a permanent dwelling for God is explicitly recorded.
Why it lands — The text requires a reader to note the structural imbalance David identifies between his fixed home and God’s temporary shelter, which prompts a direct inquiry into divine will rather than an assumption of religious obligation.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
Now it came to pass, as David sat in his house, that David said to Nathan the prophet, Lo, I dwell in an house of cedars, but the ark of the covenant of the Lord remaineth under curtains.
Cross-references
- 1 Chronicles 15:1 David constructed buildings for himself in the City of David, and he prepared a place for the ark of God and pitched a tent for it.
- 1 Chronicles 17:5 For I have not dwelt in a house from the day I brought Israel up out of Egypt until this day, but I have moved from tent to tent and dwelling to dwelling.
- 2 Chronicles 6:7 Now it was in the heart of my father David to build a house for the Name of the LORD, the God of Israel.
- Exodus 40:19 Then he spread the tent over the tabernacle and put the covering over the tent, just as the LORD had commanded him.
- 2 Samuel 6:17 So they brought the ark of the LORD and set it in its place inside the tent that David had pitched for it. Then David offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before the LORD.
- Psalms 132:5 until I find a place for the LORD, a dwelling for the Mighty One of Jacob.”
- Jeremiah 22:15 Does it make you a king to excel in cedar? Did not your father have food and drink? He administered justice and righteousness, and so it went well with him.
- Daniel 4:4 I, Nebuchadnezzar, was at ease in my house and flourishing in my palace.
- Daniel 4:29 Twelve months later, as he was walking on the roof of the royal palace of Babylon,
- Haggai 1:4 “Is it a time for you yourselves to live in your paneled houses, while this house lies in ruins?”