And it came to pass when the king sat in his house, and the Lord had given him rest on every side from all his enemies,2 He said to Nathan the prophet: Dost thou see that I dwell in a house of cedar, and the ark of God is lodged within skins?3 And Nathan said to the king: Go, do all that is in thy heart: because the Lord is with thee.4 But it came to pass that night, that the word of the Lord came to Nathan, saying:5 Go, and say to my servant David: Thus saith the Lord: Shalt thou build me a house to dwell in?8 And now thus shalt thou speak to my servant David: Thus saith the Lord of hosts: a I took thee out of the pastures from following the sheep to be ruler over my people Israel:9 And I have been with thee wheresoever thou hast walked, and have slain all thy enemies from before thy face: and I have made thee a great man, like unto the name of the great ones that are on the earth.10 And I will appoint a place for my people Israel, and I will plant them, and they shall dwell therein, and shall be disturbed no more: neither shall the children of iniquity afflict them any more as they did before,11 From the day that I appointed judges over my people Israel: and I will give thee rest from all thy enemies. And the Lord foretelleth to thee, that the Lord will make thee a house.12 And when thy days shall be fulfilled, and thou shalt sleep with thy fathers, I will raise up thy seed after thee, which shall proceed out of thy bowels, and I will establish his kingdom.14 I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son: and if he commit any iniquity, I will correct him with the rod of men, and with the stripes of the children of men.16 And thy house shall be faithful, and thy kingdom for ever before thy face, and thy throne shall be firm for ever.
So that you ought rather to desist from the love of strife, and repent before the great day of judgment come, wherein all those of your tribes who have pierced this Christ shall mourn as I have shown has been declared by the Scriptures. And I have explained that the Lord swore, "after the order of Melchizedek," and what this prediction means; and the prophecy of Isaiah which says, "His burial is taken away from the midst," I have already said, referred to the future burying and rising again of Christ; and I have frequently remarked that this very Christ is the Judge of all the living and the dead. And Nathan likewise, speaking to David about Him, thus continued: "I will be His Father, and He shall be my Son; and my mercy shall I not take away from Him, as I did from them that went before Him; and I will establish Him in my house, and in His kingdom for ever." And Ezekiel says, "There shall be no other prince in the house but He." For He is the chosen Priest and eternal King, the Christ, inasmuch as He is the Son of God; and do not suppose that Isaiah or the other prophets speak of sacrifices of blood or libations being presented at the altar on His second advent, but of true and spiritual praises and giving of thanks.
The mercies of the Lord I will sing for ever. I will shew forth thy truth with my mouth to generation and generation.3 For thou hast said: Mercy shall be built up for ever in the heavens: thy truth shall be prepared in them.4 I have made a covenant with my elect: I have sworn to David my servant:5 Thy seed will I settle for ever. And I will build up thy throne unto generation and generation.27 He shall cry out to me: Thou art my father: my God, and the support of my salvation.29 I will keep my mercy for him for ever: and my covenant faithful to him.
And Zachary his father was filled with the Holy Ghost; and he prophesied, saying:68 Blessed be the Lord God of Israel; because he hath visited and wrought the redemption of his people:69 And hath raised up an horn of salvation to us, in the house of David his servant:†70 As he spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets, who are from the beginning:71 Salvation from our enemies, and from the hand of all that hate us:72 To perform mercy to our fathers, and to remember his holy testament,73 The oath, which he swore to Abraham our father, that he would grant to us,74 That being delivered from the hand of our enemies, we may serve him without fear,75 In holiness and justice before him, all our days.76 And thou, child, shalt be called the prophet of the Highest: for thou shalt go before the face of the Lord to prepare his ways:77 To give knowledge of salvation to his people, unto the remission of their sins:78 Through the bowels of the mercy of our God, in which the Orient from on high hath visited us:†79 To enlighten them that sit in darkness, and in the shadow of death: to direct our feet into the way of peace.
Now Zacharias being filled with the Holy Spirit utters two prophecies, the first relating to Christ, the second to John. And this is plainly proved by those words in which he speaks of the Saviour as present and already going about in the world, saying, Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he hath visited, &c.
Because Christ was born of the seed of David, according to the flesh, it is said, A horn of salvation to us in the house of his servant David; as it has also elsewhere been said, A vineyard hath been planted in a horn, (Is. 5:1.) i. e. in Jesus Christ.
Let us not suppose that this refers to our bodily enemies, but our ghostly. For the Lord Jesus came mighty in battle (Ps. 24:8) to destroy all our enemies, that He might deliver us from their snares and temptation.
I think that at the coming of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, both Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, were partakers of His mercy. For it is not to be believed, that they who had before seen His day, and were glad, should afterwards derive no advantage from His coming, since it is written, Having made peace through the blood of his Cross, whether in earth or in heaven. (Coloss. 1:20.)
Or in another way; Frequently are men delivered from the hands of the enemy, but not without fear. For when fear and peril have gone before, and a man is then plucked from the enemies’ hand, he is delivered indeed, but not without fear. Therefore said he, that the coming of Christ caused us to be snatched from the enemies’ hands without fear. For we suffered not from their evil designs, but He suddenly parting us from them, hath led us out to our own allotted resting place.
The reason I suppose that Zacharias hastened to speak to his son, was because he knew that John was shortly about to be a sojourner in the wilderness, and that he himself should see him no more.
About CSB. A personal translation of the New Testament, rendered directly from the public-domain Greek in a literary style — not a scholarly critical edition, and not for liturgical or doctrinal authority. It is one reader's work, offered for enjoyment; where it matters, weigh it against an established translation. (Placeholder text — final wording to come.)