1. And so David called together all the leaders of Israel, the rulers of the tribes, and those in charge of the companies, who were ministering to the king, and also the tribunes and centurions, and those in charge of the substance and possessions of the king, and his sons, with the eunuchs and the powerful and those most experienced in the army, at Jerusalem.
2. And when the king had risen up and was standing, he said: "Listen to me, my brothers and my people. I thought that I would build a house, in which the ark of the covenant of the Lord, the footstool of our God, might rest. And so I prepared everything for its building.
3. But God said to me: 'You shall not build a house to my name, because you are a man of war, and have shed blood.'
4. Now the Lord God of Israel chose me, out of the entire house of my father, so that I would be king over Israel forever. For from Judah he chose leaders; then from the house of Judah he chose the house of my father; and from the sons of my father, it pleased him to choose me as king over all of Israel.
5. Then too, among my sons (for the Lord has given me many sons) he chose Solomon my son, so that he would sit upon the throne of the kingdom of the Lord, over Israel.
6. And he said to me: 'Solomon your son shall build my house and my courts. For I have chosen him to be to me as a son, and I will be to him as a father.
7. And I will make firm his kingdom, even unto eternity, if he will persevere in doing my precepts and judgments, as also today.'
8. Now therefore, before the entire assembly of Israel, in the hearing of our God, keep and seek all the commandments of the Lord our God, so that you may possess the good land, and may bequeath it to your sons after you, even forever.