1. When David was settled into his palace, he said to the prophet Nathan, "I’m living in a cedar palace while the chest containing the Lord’s covenant is under curtains."
2. Nathan replied, "Go ahead and do whatever you are thinking, because God is with you."
3. But that very night God’s word came to Nathan:
4. Go to my servant David and tell him, This is what the Lord says: You are not the one to build the temple for me to live in.
5. In fact, I haven’t lived in a temple from the day I brought Israel out until this very day. I’ve been traveling from tent to tent and from dwelling to dwelling.
6. Throughout my traveling with the Israelites, did I ever ask one of Israel’s tribal leaders, whom I appointed to shepherd my people, Why haven’t you built me a cedar temple?