¹ 王住在自己宫中，耶和华使他安靖，不被四围的仇敌扰乱。

² 那时，王对先知拿单说：看哪，我住在香柏木的宫中，神的约柜反在幔子里。

³ 拿单对王说：你可以照你的心意而行，因为耶和华与你同在。

⁴ 当夜，耶和华的话临到拿单说：

⁵ 你去告诉我仆人大卫，说耶和华如此说：你岂可建造殿宇给我居住呢？

⁶ 自从我领以色列人出埃及直到今日，我未曾住过殿宇，常在会幕和帐幕中行走。

⁷ 凡我同以色列人所走的地方，我何曾向以色列一支派的士师，就是我吩咐牧养我民以色列的说：你们为何不给我建造香柏木的殿宇呢？

⁸ 现在，你要告诉我仆人大卫，说万军之耶和华如此说：我从羊圈中将你召来，叫你不再跟从羊群，立你作我民以色列的君。

⁹ 你无论往哪里去，我常与你同在，剪除你的一切仇敌。我必使你得大名，好像世上大大有名的人一样。

¹⁰ 我必为我民以色列选定一个地方，栽培他们，使他们住自己的地方，不再迁移；凶恶之子也不像从前扰害他们，

¹¹ 并不像我命士师治理我民以色列的时候一样。我必使你安靖，不被一切仇敌扰乱，并且我─耶和华应许你，必为你建立家室。

¹² 你寿数满足、与你列祖同睡的时候，我必使你的後裔接续你的位；我也必坚定他的国。

¹³ 他必为我的名建造殿宇；我必坚定他的国位，直到永远。

¹⁴ 我要作他的父，他要作我的子；他若犯了罪，我必用人的杖责打他，用人的鞭责罚他。

¹⁵ 但我的慈爱仍不离开他，像离开在你面前所废弃的扫罗一样。

¹⁶ 你的家和你的国必在我（原文是你）面前永远坚立。你的国位也必坚定，直到永远。

¹⁷ 拿单就按这一切话，照这默示，告诉大卫。

¹⁸ 於是大卫王进去，坐在耶和华面前，说：主耶和华啊，我是谁？我的家算甚麽？你竟使我到这地步呢？

¹⁹ 主耶和华啊，这在你眼中还看为小，又应许你仆人的家至於久远。主耶和华啊，这岂是人所常遇的事麽？

²⁰ 主耶和华啊，我还有何言可以对你说呢？因为你知道你的仆人。

²¹ 你行这大事使仆人知道，是因你所应许的话，也是照你的心意。

²² 主耶和华啊，你本为大，照我们耳中听见，没有可比你的；除你以外再无神。

²³ 世上有何民能比你的民以色列呢？你从埃及救赎他们作自己的子民，又在你赎出来的民面前行大而可畏的事，驱逐列邦人和他们的神，显出你的大名。

²⁴ 你曾坚立你的民以色列作你的子民，直到永远；你─耶和华也作了他们的神。

²⁵ 耶和华神啊，你所应许仆人和仆人家的话，求你坚定，直到永远；照你所说的而行。

²⁶ 愿人永远尊你的名为大，说：万军之耶和华是治理以色列的神。这样，你仆人大卫的家必在你面前坚立。

²⁷ 万军之耶和华─以色列的神啊，因你启示你的仆人说：我必为你建立家室，所以仆人大胆向你如此祈祷。

²⁸ 主耶和华啊，惟有你是神。你的话是真实的；你也应许将这福气赐给仆人。

²⁹ 现在求你赐福与仆人的家，可以永存在你面前。主耶和华啊，这是你所应许的。愿你永远赐福与仆人的家！

¹ There was a famine in the land, besides the first famine that was in the days of Abraham. Isaac went to Abimelech king of the Philistines, to Gerar.

² Yahweh appeared to him, and said, "Don't go down into Egypt. Live in the land I will tell you about.

³ Live in this land, and I will be with you, and will bless you. For to you, and to your seed, I will give all these lands, and I will establish the oath which I swore to Abraham your father.

⁴ I will multiply your seed as the stars of the sky, and will give to your seed all these lands. In your seed will all the nations of the earth be blessed,

⁵ because Abraham obeyed my voice, and kept my requirements, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws."

⁶ Isaac lived in Gerar.

⁷ The men of the place asked him about his wife. He said, "She is my sister," for he was afraid to say, "My wife," lest, he thought, "the men of the place might kill me for Rebekah, because she is beautiful to look at."

⁸ It happened, when he had been there a long time, that Abimelech king of the Philistines looked out at a window, and saw, and, behold, Isaac was caressing Rebekah, his wife.

⁹ Abimelech called Isaac, and said, "Behold, surely she is your wife. Why did you say, 'She is my sister?'" Isaac said to him, "Because I said, 'Lest I die because of her.'"

¹⁰ Abimelech said, "What is this you have done to us? One of the people might easily have lain with your wife, and you would have brought guilt on us!"

¹¹ Abimelech commanded all the people, saying, "He who touches this man or his wife will surely be put to death."

¹² Isaac sowed in that land, and reaped in the same year one hundred times what he planted. Yahweh blessed him.

¹³ The man grew great, and grew more and more until he became very great.

¹⁴ He had possessions of flocks, possessions of herds, and a great household. The Philistines envied him.

¹⁵ Now all the wells which his father's servants had dug in the days of Abraham his father, the Philistines had stopped, and filled with earth.

¹⁶ Abimelech said to Isaac, "Go from us, for you are much mightier than we."

¹⁷ Isaac departed from there, encamped in the valley of Gerar, and lived there.

¹⁸ Isaac dug again the wells of water, which they had dug in the days of Abraham his father. For the Philistines had stopped them after the death of Abraham. He called their names after the names by which his father had called them.

¹⁹ Isaac's servants dug in the valley, and found there a well of springing water.

²⁰ The herdsmen of Gerar argued with Isaac's herdsmen, saying, "The water is ours." He called the name of the well Esek, because they contended with him.

²¹ They dug another well, and they argued over that, also. He called its name Sitnah.

²² He left that place, and dug another well. They didn't argue over that one. He called it Rehoboth. He said, "For now Yahweh has made room for us, and we will be fruitful in the land."

²³ He went up from there to Beersheba.

²⁴ Yahweh appeared to him the same night, and said, "I am the God of Abraham your father. Don't be afraid, for I am with you, and will bless you, and multiply your seed for my servant Abraham's sake."

²⁵ He built an altar there, and called on the name of Yahweh, and pitched his tent there. There Isaac's servants dug a well.

²⁶ Then Abimelech went to him from Gerar, and Ahuzzath his friend, and Phicol the captain of his army.

²⁷ Isaac said to them, "Why have you come to me, since you hate me, and have sent me away from you?"

²⁸ They said, "We saw plainly that Yahweh was with you. We said, 'Let there now be an oath between us, even between us and you, and let us make a covenant with you,

²⁹ that you will do us no harm, as we have not touched you, and as we have done to you nothing but good, and have sent you away in peace.' You are now the blessed of Yahweh."

³⁰ He made them a feast, and they ate and drank.

³¹ They rose up some time in the morning, and swore one to another. Isaac sent them away, and they departed from him in peace.

³² It happened the same day, that Isaac's servants came, and told him concerning the well which they had dug, and said to him, "We have found water."

³³ He called it Shibah. Therefore the name of the city is Beersheba to this day.

³⁴ When Esau was forty years old, he took as wife Judith, the daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and Basemath, the daughter of Elon the Hittite.

³⁵ They grieved Isaac's and Rebekah's spirits.