“What more can I say to you? You know what your servant is really like, Sovereign Lord.
Parallel translations
- WEB What more can David say to you? For you know your servant, Lord Yahweh.
- KJV And what can David say more unto thee? for thou, Lord GOD, knowest thy servant.
- BSB What more can David say to You? For You know Your servant, O Lord GOD.
- NKJV Now what more can David say to You? For You, Lord God, know Your servant.
- NASB Again what more can David say to You? For You know Your servant, Lord God!
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
David confessed he had no more to say, since the LORD already knew His servant fully. Humble dependence replaces any attempt to add to God's grace.
Overview
Words fail David before such generosity; he rests in the fact that God knows him completely. This expresses childlike trust: there is nothing to negotiate or earn, only to receive with gratitude. True prayer often ends not in eloquence but in quiet confidence that God knows and cares for His servants.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 7
- 1 Sam 16:7But Yahweh said to Samuel, “Don’t look on his face, or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for I don’t see as man sees. For man looks at the outward appearance, but Yahweh looks at the heart.”
- John 21:17He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of Jonah, do you have affection for me?” Peter was grieved because he asked him the third time, “Do you have affection for me?” He said to him, “Lord, you know everything. You know that I have affection for you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep.
- Ps 139:1For the Chief Musician. A Psalm by David. Yahweh, you have searched me, and you know me.
- Rev 2:23I will kill her children with Death, and all the assemblies will know that I am he who searches the minds and hearts. I will give to each one of you according to your deeds.
- John 2:25and because he didn’t need for anyone to testify concerning man; for he himself knew what was in man.
- Heb 4:13There is no creature that is hidden from his sight, but all things are naked and laid open before the eyes of him to whom we must give an account.
- Gen 18:19For I have known him, to the end that he may command his children and his household after him, that they may keep the way of Yahweh, to do righteousness and justice; to the end that Yahweh may bring on Abraham that which he has spoken of him.”
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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 7:20 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
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.