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Then King David rose to his feet and said, “Listen to me, my brothers and my people. It was in my heart to build a house as a resting place for the ark of the covenant of the LORD and as a footstool for our God. I had made preparations to build it,
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but God said to me, ‘You are not to build a house for My Name, because you are a man of war who has shed blood.’
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Yet the LORD, the God of Israel, chose me out of all my father’s house to be king over Israel forever. For He chose Judah as leader, and from the house of Judah He chose my father’s household, and from my father’s sons He was pleased to make me king over all Israel.
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And of all my sons—for the LORD has given me many sons—He has chosen Solomon my son to sit on the throne of the kingdom of the LORD over Israel.
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And He said to me, ‘Solomon your son is the one who will build My house and My courts, for I have chosen him as My son, and I will be his Father.
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I will establish his kingdom forever, if he resolutely carries out My commandments and ordinances, as is being done this day.’
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So now in the sight of all Israel, the assembly of the LORD, and in the hearing of our God, keep and seek out all the commandments of the LORD your God, so that you may possess this good land and leave it as an inheritance to your descendants forever.