2 Samuel 7:21

21 Because of thy promise, and according to thy own heart, thou hast wrought all this greatness, to make thy servant know it.

2 Samuel 7:21 Meaning and Commentary

2 Samuel 7:21

For thy word's sake
For the sake of the promise he had made to him by Samuel, that he should be king, and his kingdom should be established; or for the sake of the Messiah, that should spring from him; the Memra, as the Targum, the essential Word of God; and so the Septuagint version, "because of thy servant", with which agrees the parallel text in ( 1 Chronicles 17:19 ) ;

and according to thine own heart;
of his own sovereign good will and pleasure, of his own grace, as the Arabic version, and not according to the merits and deserts of David:

hast thou done all these great things;
in making him king of Israel, and settling the kingdom in his posterity to the times of the Messiah, who should spring from him:

to make thy servant know [them];
as he now did by Nathan the prophet, what he and his should enjoy for time to come; so that it is not only a blessing to have favours designed, purposed, and promised, but to have the knowledge of them, to know the things that are freely given of God.

2 Samuel 7:21 In-Context

19 And yet this was a small thing in thy eyes, O Lord GOD; thou hast spoken also of thy servant's house for a great while to come, and hast shown me future generations, O Lord GOD!
20 And what more can David say to thee? For thou knowest thy servant, O Lord GOD!
21 Because of thy promise, and according to thy own heart, thou hast wrought all this greatness, to make thy servant know it.
22 Therefore thou art great, O LORD God; for there is none like thee, and there is no God besides thee, according to all that we have heard with our ears.
23 What other nation on earth is like thy people Israel, whom God went to redeem to be his people, making himself a name, and doing for them great and terrible things, by driving out before his people a nation and its gods?
Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright 1952 [2nd edition, 1971] by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.