2 Samuel 7:6

6 "For ¹I have not dwelt in a house since the day I brought up the sons of Israel from Egypt, even to this day; but I have been moving about ²in a tent, even in a tabernacle.

2 Samuel 7:6 Meaning and Commentary

2 Samuel 7:6

Whereas I have not dwelt in [any] house
Fixed, stated, habitation:

since the time that I brought up the children of Israel out of Egypt,
even to this day;
a space of five or six hundred years, though he might before:

but have walked in a tent and in a tabernacle;
moving from place to place while in the wilderness, and since in the land of Canaan, first at Gilgal, then at Shiloh, afterwards at Nob, and now at Gibeon. "Tent" and "tabernacle" are distinguished, though they were but one building and habitation; the tent was the curtains of goats' hair, and the tabernacle the linen curtains, see ( Exodus 26:1 Exodus 26:6 Exodus 26:11-13 ) . In ( 1 Chronicles 17:5 ) it is "from tent to tent, and from [one] tabernacle [to another]"; which does not intend variety of tabernacles, but change of place.

2 Samuel 7:6 In-Context

4 But in the same night the word of the LORD came to Nathan, saying,

5 "Go and say to My servant David, 'Thus says the LORD , "Are you the one who should build Me a house to dwell in?

6 "For I have not dwelt in a house since the day I brought up the sons of Israel from Egypt, even to this day; but I have been moving about in a tent, even in a tabernacle.

7 "Wherever I have gone with all the sons of Israel, did I speak a word with one of the tribes of Israel, which I commanded to shepherd My people Israel, saying, 'Why have you not built Me a house of cedar?' "'

8 "Now therefore, thus you shall say to My servant David, 'Thus says the LORD of hosts, "I took you from the pasture, from following the sheep, to be ruler over My people Israel.

Cross References

• 1. Joshua 18:1; 1 Kings 8:16
• 2. Exodus 40:18, 34

Footnotes

• [a]. Lit "dwelling place"