And when thy days be fulfilled, and thou shalt sleep with thy fathers, I will set up thy seed after thee, which shall proceed out of thy bowels, and I will establish his kingdom.
Parallel translations
- WEB When your days are fulfilled, and you sleep with your fathers, I will set up your offspring after you, who will proceed out of your body, and I will establish his kingdom.
- BSB And when your days are fulfilled and you rest with your fathers, I will raise up your descendant after you, who will come from your own body, and I will establish his kingdom.
- NKJV “When your days are fulfilled and you rest with your fathers, I will set up your seed after you, who will come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom.
- NASB When your days are finished and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your descendant after you, who will come from you, and I will establish his kingdom.
- NLT For when you die and are buried with your ancestors, I will raise up one of your descendants, your own offspring, and I will make his kingdom strong.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
God promised that after David's death He would raise up his offspring and establish his kingdom. This pledge secures David's dynasty beyond his own lifetime.
Overview
The immediate reference is to Solomon, who would succeed David and reign securely. Yet the language of an established kingdom reaches beyond Solomon toward an everlasting throne. The New Testament reads this 'offspring' as ultimately fulfilled in Christ, the risen Son of David whose kingdom never ends (Acts 13:23; 2:30).
Cross-references & the web
Theme
- CovenantThe everlasting covenant with David's house.
Cross-references · 17
- 1 Kgs 8:20And the LORD hath performed his word that he spake, and I am risen up in the room of David my father, and sit on the throne of Israel, as the LORD promised, and have built an house for the name of the LORD God of Israel.
- Acts 2:30Therefore being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him, that of the fruit of his loins, according to the flesh, he would raise up Christ to sit on his throne;
- 1 Kgs 2:1Now the days of David drew nigh that he should die; and he charged Solomon his son, saying,
- Acts 13:36For David, after he had served his own generation by the will of God, fell on sleep, and was laid unto his fathers, and saw corruption:
- 1 Chr 17:11And it shall come to pass, when thy days be expired that thou must go to be with thy fathers, that I will raise up thy seed after thee, which shall be of thy sons; and I will establish his kingdom.
- Ps 132:11–12The LORD hath sworn in truth unto David; he will not turn from it; Of the fruit of thy body will I set upon thy throne.
- Deut 31:16And the LORD said unto Moses, Behold, thou shalt sleep with thy fathers; and this people will rise up, and go a whoring after the gods of the strangers of the land, whither they go to be among them, and will forsake me, and break my covenant which I have made with them.
- Matt 22:42–44Saying, What think ye of Christ? whose son is he? They say unto him, The son of David.
- 1 Kgs 1:21Otherwise it shall come to pass, when my lord the king shall sleep with his fathers, that I and my son Solomon shall be counted offenders.
- Isa 9:7Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this.
- 1 Cor 15:51Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,
- 1 Th 4:14For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.
- Isa 11:10And in that day there shall be a root of Jesse, which shall stand for an ensign of the people; to it shall the Gentiles seek: and his rest shall be glorious.
- Gen 15:4And, behold, the word of the LORD came unto him, saying, This shall not be thine heir; but he that shall come forth out of thine own bowels shall be thine heir.
- Ps 89:29His seed also will I make to endure for ever, and his throne as the days of heaven.
- Dan 12:2And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.
- Isa 11:1–3And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots:
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Christ at the center
God's covenant with David — a son whose throne and kingdom would last forever (7:12–16) — finds its yes in Jesus, the Son of David who reigns without end.
How 2 Samuel 7:12 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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