Bible Strands
1 Chronicles 17:4
“Go and tell My servant David that this is what the LORD says: You are not the one to build Me a house in which to dwell.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — God speaks through the prophet Nathan to David during the night following David’s expressed desire to construct a temple. The words — The directive opens with לֵ֤ךְ (lekh), literally "go," commanding immediate action. The designation עַבְדִּי (ʿavdî), "My servant," establishes David’s position as the recipient of this specific decree. The thread — This same nighttime revelation appears in 2 Samuel 7:4 and is later clarified in 1 Kings 8:19 and 1 Chronicles 28:2 as a transfer of the building task to David’s offspring. Why it lands — The text explicitly states that David will not build the dwelling place and instead points to a future successor. It requires the reader to abandon self-driven religious projects and align with divine timing and authority.
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
Go and tell David my servant, Thus saith the Lord, Thou shalt not build me an house to dwell in:
Cross-references
- 1 Chronicles 28:2 Then King David rose to his feet and said, “Listen to me, my brothers and my people. It was in my heart to build a house as a resting place for the ark of the covenant of the LORD and as a footstool for our God. I had made preparations to build it,
- 2 Samuel 7:4 But that night the word of the LORD came to Nathan, saying,
- 1 Kings 8:19 Nevertheless, you are not the one to build it; but your son, your own offspring, will build the house for My Name.’
- Isaiah 55:8 “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways,” declares the LORD.
- 1 Chronicles 22:7 “My son,” said David to Solomon, “it was in my heart to build a house for the Name of the LORD my God,
- 2 Chronicles 6:8 But the LORD said to my father David, ‘Since it was in your heart to build a house for My Name, you have done well to have this in your heart.
- Romans 11:33 O, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments, and untraceable His ways!