2 Samuel 7:4

4 But it happened {that night}, the word of Yahweh came to Nathan, saying,

2 Samuel 7:4 Meaning and Commentary

2 Samuel 7:4

And it came to pass that night
The same night following the day in which David and Nathan had had the above conversation, that neither of them might continue long in their error and mistake, and especially lest David, in his great zeal and warm affection, should take an hasty and improper step:

that the word of the Lord came unto Nathan;
the word of prophecy, as the Targum; before he was not under a prophetic influence, but spoke in his own words, and had not the word of God; but now it came to him:

saying;
as follows.

2 Samuel 7:4 In-Context

2 And the king said to Nathan the prophet, "Look, please, I [am] living in a house of cedar, but the ark of God [is] staying in the middle of the tent."

3 Nathan said to the king, "Go and do all that [is] in your heart, for Yahweh [is] with you."

4 But it happened {that night}, the word of Yahweh came to Nathan, saying,

5 "Go and tell my servant David, 'Thus says Yahweh: "[Are] you the one to build for me a house for my dwelling?

6 For I have not dwelt in a house from the day I brought up the {Israelites} from Egypt until this day; [rather,] I [was] going about in a tent and in a tabernacle.

Footnotes

• [a]. Literally "in the night the that"
• [b]. Hebrew "was"