American Standard Version of 1901
Versliste
And it came to pass, when David dwelt in his house, that David said to Nathan the prophet, Lo, I dwell in a house of cedar, but the ark of the covenant of Jehovah dwelleth under curtains.
And Nathan said unto David, Do all that is in thy heart; for God is with thee.
And it came to pass the same night, that the word of God came to Nathan, saying,
Go and tell David my servant, Thus saith Jehovah, Thou shalt not build me a house to dwell in:
for I have not dwelt in a house since the day that I brought up Israel, unto this day, but {Hebrew: have been.}have gone from tent to tent, and from one tabernacle to another.
In all places wherein I have walked with all Israel, spake I a word with any of the judges of Israel, whom I commanded to be shepherd of my people, saying, Why have ye not built me a house of cedar?
Now therefore thus shalt thou say unto my servant David, Thus saith Jehovah of hosts, I took thee from the {Or, pasture}sheepcote, from following the sheep, that thou shouldest be {Or, leader}prince over my people Israel:
and I have been with thee whithersoever thou hast gone, and have cut off all thine enemies from before thee; and I will make thee a name, like unto the name of the great ones that are in the earth.
And I will appoint a place for my people Israel, and will plant them, that they may dwell in their own place, and be moved no more; neither shall the children of wickedness waste them any more, as at the first,
and as from the day that I commanded judges to be over my people Israel; and I {Or, have subdued}will subdue all thine enemies. Moreover I tell thee that Jehovah will build thee a house.
And it shall come to pass, when thy days are fulfilled that thou must go to be with thy fathers, that I will set up thy seed after thee, who shall be of thy sons; and I will establish his kingdom.
He shall build me a house, and I will establish his throne for ever.
I will be his father, and he shall be my son: and I will not take my lovingkindness away from him, as I took it from him that was before thee;
but I will settle him in my house and in my kingdom for ever; and his throne shall be established for ever.
According to all these words, and according to all this vision, so did Nathan speak unto David.
Then David the king went in, and sat before Jehovah; and he said, Who am I, O Jehovah God, and what is my house, that thou hast brought me thus far?
And this was a small thing in thine eyes, O God; but thou hast spoken of thy servant's house for a great while to come, and hast regarded me according to the estate of a man of high degree, O Jehovah God.
What can David say yet more unto thee concerning the honor which is done to thy servant? for thou knowest thy servant.
O Jehovah, for thy servant's sake, and according to thine own heart, hast thou wrought all this greatness, to make known all these great things.
O Jehovah, there is none like thee, neither is there any God besides thee, according to all that we have heard with our ears.
{Or, And who is like thy people Israel, a nation that is alone in the earth &c.}And what one nation in the earth is like thy people Israel, whom God went to redeem unto himself for a people, to make thee a name by great and terrible things, in driving out nations from before thy people, whom thou redeemedest out of Egypt?
For thy people Israel didst thou make thine own people for ever; and thou, Jehovah, becamest their God.
And now, O Jehovah, let the word that thou hast spoken concerning thy servant, and concerning his house, be established for ever, and do as thou hast spoken.
{Or, Yea, let it be established, and let thy name be magnified &c.}And let thy name be established and magnified for ever, saying, Jehovah of hosts is the God of Israel, even a God to Israel: and the house of David thy servant is established before thee.
For thou, O my God, hast revealed to thy servant that thou wilt build him a house: therefore hath thy servant found in his heart to pray before thee.
And now, O Jehovah, thou art God, and hast promised this good thing unto thy servant:
and now it hath pleased thee to bless the house of thy servant, that it may continue for ever before thee: for thou, O Jehovah, hast blessed, and it is blessed for ever.
Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus through the will of God, and Timothy {Greek: the brother.}our brother,
{Or, to those that are at Colossae, holy and faithful brethren in Christ}to the saints and faithful brethren in Christ that are at Colossae: Grace to you and peace from God our Father.
We give thanks to God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you,
having heard of your faith in Christ Jesus, and of the love which ye have toward all the saints,
because of the hope which is laid up for you in the heavens, whereof ye heard before in the word of the truth of the {Greek: good tidings: and so elsewhere; see marginal note on Matthew 4:23.}gospel,
which is come unto you; even as it is also in all the world bearing fruit and increasing, as it doth in you also, since the day ye heard and knew the grace of God in truth;
even as ye learned of Epaphras our beloved fellow-servant, who is a faithful minister of Christ on {Many ancient authorities read your.}our behalf,
who also declared unto us your love in the Spirit.
For this cause we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray and make request for you, that ye may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding,
to walk worthily of the Lord {Or, unto all pleasing, in every good work, bearing fruit and increasing &c.}unto all pleasing, bearing fruit in every good work, and increasing {Or, by}in the knowledge of God;
{Greek: made powerful.}strengthened {Or, in}with all power, according to the might of his glory, unto all {Or, stedfastness}patience and longsuffering with joy;
giving thanks unto the Father, who made {Some ancient authorities read you.}us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light;
who delivered us out of the power of darkness, and translated us into the kingdom of the Son of his love;
in whom we have our redemption, the forgiveness of our sins:
who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation;
for in him were all things created, in the heavens and upon the earth, things visible and things invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers; all things have been created through him, and unto him;
and he is before all things, and in him all things {That is, hold together.}consist.
And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; {Or, that among all he might have &c.}that in all things he might have the preeminence.
{Or, For the whole fullness of God was pleased to dwell in him}For it was the good pleasure of the Father that in him should all the fulness dwell;
and through him to reconcile all things {Or, into him}unto {Or, him}himself, having made peace through the blood of his cross; through him, I say, whether things upon the earth, or things in the heavens.
And you, being in time past alienated and enemies in your mind in your evil works,
yet now {Some ancient authorities read ye have been reconciled.}hath he reconciled in the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and without blemish and unreproveable before him:
if so be that ye continue in the faith, grounded and stedfast, and not moved away from the hope of the {Greek: good tidings: and so elsewhere; see marginal note on Matthew 4:23.}gospel which ye heard, which was preached in all creation under heaven; whereof I Paul was made a minister.
Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and fill up on my part that which is lacking of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body's sake, which is the church;
whereof I was made a minister, according to the {Or, stewardship See 1 Corinthians 9:17}dispensation of God which was given me to you-ward, to fulfil the word of God,
even the mystery which hath been hid for {Or, from all the ages &c. Greek: from the ages and from the generations.}ages and generations: but now hath it been manifested to his saints,
to whom God was pleased to make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory:
whom we proclaim, admonishing every man and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man perfect in Christ;
whereunto I labor also, striving according to his working, which worketh in me {Or, in power}mightily.
and from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loveth us, and {Many authorities, some ancient, read washed. Hebrews 9:14; compare chapter 7:14.}loosed us from our sins {Greek: in.}by his blood;
and he made us to be a kingdom, to be priests unto {Or, God and his Father}his God and Father; to him be the glory and the dominion {Greek: unto the ages of the ages. Many ancient authorities omit of the ages.}for ever and ever. Amen.