1 Chronicles 17:10

(10) And since the time that I commanded judges.—Heb., from days that . . . Samuel, more definitely, “from the day that I appointed judges ever my people.” This whole clause should not have been separated from 1 Chronicles 17:9, which it properly concludes. The allusion is to the oppressions undergone in the period of the judges, and the troubles of the former reign.

Moreover (and) I will subdue all thine enemies.—A continuation of the promises at the beginning of 1 Chronicles 17:9. “I will subdue the foes of the king, as I subdued the foes of the shepherd and the outlaw.” (Comp. 1 Chronicles 17:8.) Instead of this, Samuel has, “And I will give thee rest from all thy enemies.”

Furthermore I tell thee . . .—Literally, And I have told thee, and a house will Jehovah build thee;” that is, I have foretold it. (Comp. Isaiah 40:21; Isaiah 45:21.) That which follows is a sort of ironical inversion of David’s wish to build a house for the Lord. The term “house” is figurative (offspring), as in Psalms 127:1. (Comp. Genesis 30:3.) The reading of Samuel is, “And Jehovah hath [now] told thee [by my mouth] that a house will Jehovah make for thee.” This looks original, with its rare construction of the perfect, which the chronicler has altered; its repetition of the most holy Name; and its less exact “make,” which Chronicles improves into “build,” with an eye to 1 Chronicles 17:4; 1 Chronicles 17:6, as well as to the play on the word (bânâh, build; bânîm, sons).