⁸ And when I beheld, lo, the sinews and the flesh came up upon them, and the skin covered them above: but there was no breath in them.

¹ My breath is corrupt, my days are extinct, the graves are ready for me.

² Are there not mockers with me? and doth not mine eye continue in their provocation?

³ Lay down now, put me in a surety with thee; who is he that will strike hands with me?

⁴ For thou hast hid their heart from understanding: therefore shalt thou not exalt them.

⁵ He that speaketh flattery to his friends, even the eyes of his children shall fail.

⁶ He hath made me also a byword of the people; and aforetime I was as a tabret.

⁷ Mine eye also is dim by reason of sorrow, and all my members are as a shadow.

⁸ Upright men shall be astonied at this, and the innocent shall stir up himself against the hypocrite.

⁹ The righteous also shall hold on his way, and he that hath clean hands shall be stronger and stronger.

¹⁰ But as for you all, do ye return, and come now: for I cannot find one wise man among you.

¹¹ My days are past, my purposes are broken off, even the thoughts of my heart.

¹² They change the night into day: the light is short because of darkness.

¹³ If I wait, the grave is mine house: I have made my bed in the darkness.

¹⁴ I have said to corruption, Thou art my father: to the worm, Thou are my mother, and my sister.

¹⁵ And where is now my hope? as for my hope, who shall see it?

¹⁶ They shall go down to the bars of the pit, when our rest together is in the dust.

¹ And it came to pass, when the king sat in his house, and the LORD had given him rest round about from all his enemies;

² That the king said unto Nathan the prophet, See now, I dwell in an house of cedar, but the ark of God dwelleth within curtains.

³ And Nathan said to the king, Go, do all that is in thine heart; for the LORD is with thee.

⁴ And it came to pass that night, that the word of the LORD came unto Nathan, saying,

⁵ Go and tell my servant David, Thus saith the LORD, Shalt thou build me an house for me to dwell in?

⁶ Whereas I have not dwelt in any house since the time that I brought up the children of Israel out of Egypt, even to this day, but have walked in a tent and in a tabernacle.

⁷ In all the places wherein I have walked with all the children of Israel spake I a word with any of the tribes of Israel, whom I commanded to feed my people Israel, saying, Why build ye not me an house of cedar?

⁸ Now therefore so shalt thou say unto my servant David, Thus saith the LORD of hosts, I took thee from the sheepcote, from following the sheep, to be ruler over my people, over Israel:

⁹ And I was with thee whithersoever thou wentest, and have cut off all thine enemies out of thy sight, and have made thee a great name, like unto the name of the great men that are in the earth.

¹⁰ Moreover I will appoint a place for my people Israel, and will plant them, that they may dwell in a place of their own, and move no more; neither shall the children of wickedness afflict them any more, as beforetime,

¹¹ And as since the time that I commanded judges to be over my people Israel, and have caused thee to rest from all thine enemies. Also the LORD telleth thee that he will make thee an house.

¹² And when thy days be fulfilled, and thou shalt sleep with thy fathers, I will set up thy seed after thee, which shall proceed out of thy bowels, and I will establish his kingdom.

¹³ He shall build an house for my name, and I will stablish the throne of his kingdom for ever.

¹⁴ I will be his father, and he shall be my son. If he commit iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men, and with the stripes of the children of men:

¹⁵ But my mercy shall not depart away from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away before thee.

¹⁶ And thine house and thy kingdom shall be established for ever before thee: thy throne shall be established for ever.

¹⁷ According to all these words, and according to all this vision, so did Nathan speak unto David.

¹⁸ Then went king David in, and sat before the LORD, and he said, Who am I, O Lord GOD? and what is my house, that thou hast brought me hitherto?

¹⁹ And this was yet a small thing in thy sight, O Lord GOD; but thou hast spoken also of thy servant's house for a great while to come. And is this the manner of man, O Lord GOD?

²⁰ And what can David say more unto thee? for thou, Lord GOD, knowest thy servant.

²¹ For thy word's sake, and according to thine own heart, hast thou done all these great things, to make thy servant know them.

²² Wherefore thou art great, O LORD God: for there is none like thee, neither is there any God beside thee, according to all that we have heard with our ears.

²³ And what one nation in the earth is like thy people, even like Israel, whom God went to redeem for a people to himself, and to make him a name, and to do for you great things and terrible, for thy land, before thy people, which thou redeemedst to thee from Egypt, from the nations and their gods?

²⁴ For thou hast confirmed to thyself thy people Israel to be a people unto thee for ever: and thou, LORD, art become their God.

²⁵ And now, O LORD God, the word that thou hast spoken concerning thy servant, and concerning his house, establish it for ever, and do as thou hast said.

²⁶ And let thy name be magnified for ever, saying, The LORD of hosts is the God over Israel: and let the house of thy servant David be established before thee.

²⁷ For thou, O LORD of hosts, God of Israel, hast revealed to thy servant, saying, I will build thee an house: therefore hath thy servant found in his heart to pray this prayer unto thee.

²⁸ And now, O Lord GOD, thou art that GOD, and thy words be true, and thou hast promised this goodness unto thy servant:

²⁹ Therefore now let it please thee to bless the house of thy servant, that it may continue for ever before thee: for thou, O Lord GOD, hast spoken it: and with thy blessing let the house of thy servant be blessed for ever.