# 2 Samuel 7.14 > I will be a father to him and he will be a son to Me; when he commits iniquity, I will correct him with the rod of men and the strokes of the sons of men (2 Samuel 7:14, NASB95) ## Immediate context (±2 verses) **ASV** ([ASV](/codex/asv/)) > 12. When thy days are fulfilled, and thou shalt sleep with thy fathers, I will set up thy seed after thee, that shall proceed out of thy bowels, and I will establish his kingdom. 13. He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom for ever. > > **14. I will be his father, and he shall be my son: if he commit iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men, and with the stripes of the children of men;** > > 15. but my lovingkindness shall not depart from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away before thee. 16. And thy house and thy kingdom shall be made sure for ever before thee: thy throne shall be established for ever. (2 Samuel 7:12-16, ASV) **WEB** ([WEB](/codex/web/)) > 12. 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. 13. He will build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. > > **14. I will be his father, and he will be my son. If he commits iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men, and with the stripes of the children of men;** > > 15. but my loving kindness will not depart from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away before you. 16. Your house and your kingdom will be made sure forever before you. Your throne will be established forever."' (2 Samuel 7:12-16, WEB) **KJV** ([KJV](/codex/kjv/)) > 12. 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. 13. He shall build an house for my name, and I will stablish the throne of his kingdom for ever. > > **14. I will be his father, and he shall be my son. If he commit iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men, and with the stripes of the children of men:** > > 15. But my mercy shall not depart away from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away before thee. 16. And thine house and thy kingdom shall be established for ever before thee: thy throne shall be established for ever. (2 Samuel 7:12-16, KJV) **YLT** ([YLT](/codex/ylt/)) > 12. 'When thy days are full, and thou hast lain with thy fathers, then I have raised up thy seed after thee which goeth out from thy bowels, and have established his kingdom; 13. He doth build a house for My Name, and I have established the throne of his kingdom unto the age. > > **14. I am to him for a father, and he is to Me for a son; whom in his dealings perversely I have even reproved with a rod of men, and with strokes of the sons of Adam,** > > 15. and My kindness doth not turn aside from him, as I turned it aside from Saul, whom I turned aside from before thee, 16. and stedfast [is] thy house and thy kingdom unto the age before thee, thy throne is established unto the age.' (2 Samuel 7:12-16, YLT) ## Setting - **Speaker:** YHWH speaking through the prophet Nathan to [David](/codex/david/) - **Audience:** David in his palace, after declining to build a temple - **Location:** Jerusalem, David's royal residence - **Time period:** events c. 1000 BC, during David's reign; composed c. 970-930 BC ## Theological reading 2 Samuel 7 is the **Davidic covenant** chapter (see [Davidic Covenant](/codex/2-samuel-7-14/)). David proposes to build a house (a temple) for YHWH; YHWH refuses and inverts the offer: He will build David a *house* (a dynasty, a royal line). Verse 14 supplies the covenant's **adoption formula**: *"I will be a father to him, and he will be a son to Me."* The formula reads on **two levels** in the canonical scope of the OT and NT. The two readings are not in competition; the NT writers explicitly hold both. **(1) Historical-Solomonic reference.** The immediate referent is Solomon, David's son who will build the temple v. 13 mentions ("he shall build a house for My name"). The conditional clause that follows ("when he commits iniquity, I will correct him") fits Solomon, who did commit iniquity (1 Kings 11) and whose kingdom was chastened by being divided after his death. The adoption-formula here is the dynastic-installation language by which YHWH binds Himself to the Davidic line. The parallel at [1 Chronicles 17.13](/codex/1-chronicles-17-13/) preserves the formula with the conditional clause omitted, foregrounding the unconditional promise dimension. **(2) Ultimate-Messianic reference.** The author of [Hebrews 1:5](/codex/hebrews-1-5/) quotes 2 Sam 7:14 directly as a Father-Son declaration about *Christ*, paired with [Psalm 2:7](/codex/psalms-2-7/) ("You are My Son, today I have begotten You"). The argument of Hebrews 1 is that the adoption-formula reaches its ultimate referent not in Solomon but in the eternal Son. The Davidic covenant's "your seed" (v. 12) is read by the NT as a near-far prophecy (see [Two-Stage Messianic Prophecy](/codex/two-stage-messianic-prophecy/)): Solomon is the near fulfillment; Jesus the [son of David](/codex/christs-deity/) is the far. The "throne established forever" clause of v. 13 is the load-bearing word for the dynastic-eternal reading: no Solomonic-only reading can support *forever*; the eternal son is required to fulfill the eternal throne. The verse is **load-bearing for the Davidic-messianic apologetic.** The NT's repeated identification of Jesus as "son of David" (Matt 1:1; Mark 10:47-48; Luke 1:32; Rom 1:3; Rev 22:16) draws its theological warrant from 2 Sam 7. The covenant's three guarantees, a *seed* (v. 12), a *house/temple* (v. 13), and an *everlasting throne* (vv. 13, 16), are the structural skeleton on which the entire messianic expectation hangs. Jesus' Davidic ancestry (Matt 1; Luke 3) is not genealogical trivia; it is the canonical fulfillment of v. 12. The temple-builder note of v. 13 is fulfilled in the *new-temple* sense at John 2:19-22 (Jesus' body as the temple). The eternal-throne note of vv. 13, 16 is fulfilled in the resurrection-installation of Romans 1:3-4 and Acts 13:33-34. The adoption-formula itself ("father... son") becomes the template for the believer's incorporation into Christ. Paul's "adoption as sons" (Eph 1:5; Rom 8:15) and 2 Cor 6:18's quotation of 2 Sam 7:14 ("I will be a Father to you, and you shall be sons and daughters to Me") extend the Davidic-covenant adoption-formula to all those in the messianic Son. The NT thus reads 2 Sam 7:14 in three concentric circles: Solomon (immediate), Christ (ultimate), and the church-in-Christ (derivative). ## Key words - [H0001 - ab](/codex/h0001-ab/), *ab* (H1), "father"; the adoption-formula's first half. - [H1121 - ben](/codex/h1121-ben/), *ben* (H1121), "son"; the adoption-formula's second half. - *zera* (H2233), "seed, offspring"; the load-bearing covenant-noun of v. 12, ambiguous between near (Solomon) and far (the Messianic seed) referents. - [H0120 - adam](/codex/h0120-adam/), *adam*; the "sons of men" clause that confines the chastening to ordinary-human means. ## Theological themes - **Davidic covenant.** The covenant's three guarantees (seed, temple, eternal throne) frame messianic expectation. - **Adoption formula.** "Father to him... son to Me" becomes the template for messianic identification and, derivatively, for believers' adoption. - **Two-stage fulfillment.** Solomon is the near referent; Christ the far. NT writers (Hebrews 1, 2 Cor 6) hold both. - **Conditional chastening within unconditional covenant.** The "when he commits iniquity" clause assumes failure of the immediate referent without forfeiting the unconditional dynastic promise. ## Cross-references - [Hebrews 1.5](/codex/hebrews-1-5/), the NT quotation that applies the formula to Christ. - [Psalms 2.7](/codex/psalms-2-7/), the paired royal-installation oracle ("You are My Son, today I have begotten You"). - [Psalms 89.27](/codex/psalms-89-27/), the Davidic-covenant rich-hub passage; "I shall make him My firstborn, the highest of the kings of the earth." - [1 Chronicles 17.13](/codex/1-chronicles-17-13/), the Chronicles parallel that omits the conditional clause. ## See also - [Davidic Covenant](/codex/2-samuel-7-14/), the covenant-theology hub. - [Two-Stage Messianic Prophecy](/codex/two-stage-messianic-prophecy/), the hermeneutic that organizes the Solomon-Christ near-far reading. - [Christs Deity](/codex/christs-deity/), the doctrine to which the eternal-throne clause contributes. ## Quoted in **Arguments and defeaters:** - [Argument from Prophecy Fulfillment](/codex/argument-from-prophecy-fulfillment/), via [2 Samuel 7.12-16](/codex/2-samuel-7-12-16/) - [Argument from the Costly-Signal Convergence](/codex/argument-from-the-costly-signal-convergence/), via [2 Samuel 7.12-14](/codex/2-samuel-7-12-14/) - [David Bathsheba Objection Defeater](/codex/david-bathsheba-objection-defeater/), via [2 Samuel 7.12-14](/codex/2-samuel-7-12-14/), [2 Samuel 7.12-16](/codex/2-samuel-7-12-16/), [2 Samuel 7.14-16](/codex/2-samuel-7-14-16/) **Concepts:** - [David and Bathsheba](/codex/2-samuel-11/) - [Davidic Covenant](/codex/2-samuel-7-14/) - [Failed Messianic Prophecy Objections](/codex/failed-messianic-prophecy-objections/) - [Mary's Lineage](/codex/marys-lineage/), via [2 Samuel 7.12-16](/codex/2-samuel-7-12-16/) - [Messianic Prophecy](/codex/messianic-prophecy/), via [2 Samuel 7.12-16](/codex/2-samuel-7-12-16/) - [Messianic Prophecy Probability](/codex/messianic-prophecy-probability/), via [2 Samuel 7.12-16](/codex/2-samuel-7-12-16/) - [Survivorship Bias](/codex/survivorship-bias/), via [2 Samuel 7.12-16](/codex/2-samuel-7-12-16/) - [Tel Dan Stele](/codex/tel-dan-stele/), via [2 Samuel 7.12-16](/codex/2-samuel-7-12-16/) - [Two Powers in Heaven](/codex/two-powers-in-heaven/) - [Two-Stage Messianic Prophecy](/codex/two-stage-messianic-prophecy/), via [2 Samuel 7.12-14](/codex/2-samuel-7-12-14/) **People:** - [David](/codex/david/), via [2 Samuel 7.12-16](/codex/2-samuel-7-12-16/) **Lexicon:** - [G3962 - pater](/codex/g3962-pater/) - [H0001 - ab](/codex/h0001-ab/) - [H1121 - ben](/codex/h1121-ben/) - [H4899 - mashiach](/codex/h4899-mashiach/), via [2 Samuel 7.12-16](/codex/2-samuel-7-12-16/) **Passages:** - [2 Samuel 7.12-14](/codex/2-samuel-7-12-14/) --- _Scripture quotations taken from the **New American Standard Bible®** (NASB), Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995 by **The Lockman Foundation**. Used by permission. All rights reserved. [www.lockman.org](https://www.lockman.org)_ ## Why these four translations ris3n chose ASV, WEB, KJV, and YLT for two reasons together. They are the **most literal English translations available** (formal-equivalence: word-for-word renderings that preserve the Hebrew and Greek grammar rather than smoothing it into modern dynamic-equivalence idiom). And they are in the **public domain in the United States**, which means fair-use quotation at any length requires no publisher license. Modern licensed translations (NASB95, ESV, NIV) restrict volume of quotation under their copyright terms, so they are not used at stub-level coverage here. NASB95 appears only on hand-curated rich passage hubs under Lockman Foundation's fair-use allowance. The four: - **[ASV](/codex/asv/)** (American Standard Version, 1901). The basis of the modern critical-text English tradition. - **[WEB](/codex/web/)** (World English Bible, contemporary). Public-domain revision in the ASV line, in current English. - **[KJV](/codex/kjv/)** (King James Version, 1611). Reformation-era, Textus Receptus base. - **[YLT](/codex/ylt/)** (Young's Literal Translation, Robert Young, 1862). Hyper-literal preservation of Hebrew and Greek grammar; useful for word-study work even where English reads stiff. See [Bibles](/codex/bibles/) for the full per-translation history, translators, textual basis, strengths, and weaknesses.