2 Samuel 7:22
in 2 Samuel 7How great You are, O Lord GOD! For there is none like You, and there is no God but You, according to everything we have heard with our own ears.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Wherefore thou art great, O Jehovah God: for there is none like thee, neither is there any God besides thee, according to all that we have heard with our ears.
KJV
Wherefore thou art great, O Lord God: for there is none like thee, neither is there any God beside thee, according to all that we have heard with our ears.
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This verse in 2 Samuel 7
Commentary
7 notes on this verseDAVID was overwhelmed with the mercy of God! Nathan's message was too much for him. He felt emotions in his bosom which he could not express. Like a wise man, he went at once, while under the impulse of gratitude, into the place of nearness to God.
This site's exposition
there is none like You
on 2 Samuel 7:22-24
David's praise widens from his own house to God himself: “there is none like You, and there is no God but You”. He asks “who is like Your people Israel”, tying the promise to his house to the redemption from Egypt named in the same breath.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
David, understanding this, says in the second book of Kings [Samuel] … "You did also speak of the house of your servant for a long time to come." And, further on, "And now begin and bless the house of your servant that it may endure forever," etc. At that time, David was about to beget his son through whom his lineage would be carried down to Christ; through whom, in turn, his house was to be everlasting—indeed, identified with the house of God. It was to be called the "house of David" because [it was] of David's stock and, simultaneously, the "house of God" because it was a temple to God made not of stones but of people. In this house God's people shall everlastingly dwell with their God and in their God, and God with his people and in his people, God filling his people, his people filled with their God, so that "God may be all in all"—the very same God being their prize in peace who was their strength in battle.It was with this in view that, when Nathan had said, "And the Lord said to you, that you shall build him a house," David said further on, "Because you, O Lord of hosts, God of Israel, have revealed to the ear of your servant, saying, 'I will build you a house.' " This is a house which we build by living virtuously and which God builds by helping us to live virtuously, for "unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain." Only, however, when this house receives its final consecration will the words God spoke by Nathan's lips come true: "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, from the day that I appointed judges over my people Israel."
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
): Thou art great, O Lord God! for there is none like thee. God's gracious condescension to him, and the honour he had put upon him, did not at all abate his awful veneration for the divine Majesty; for the nearer any are brought to God the more they see of his glory, and the dearer we are in his eyes the greater he should be in ours.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation+unbalanced-parens
Wherefore thou art great, O Lord God,....
And, in both these, there is an eye to the Messiah and his kingdom. 1 And it came to pass, when the king sat in his house, and the L ORD had given him rest round about from all his enemies;
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
DAVID was overwhelmed with the mercy of God! Nathan's message was too much for him. He felt emotions in his bosom which he could not express. Like a wise man, he went at once, while under the impulse of gratitude, into the place of nearness to God. It was not everyone who might go in and sit before the Lord as he did, but he felt he had a special call to draw near unto the Most High—and there he sat down in the posture of waiting to receive the fulfillment of what was promised, in the posture of rest—as one who had, now, all that he could desire and was pressed down under the weight of blessing. Yet the Psalmist's sitting was also a posture of worship and surely of all passages of Scripture none can be said to contain more true adoration than that which is now before us. The king sat, however, before the Lord. The mercy had all come from God and therefore to God all his praise was offered. His soul waited only upon the Lord, because his expectation was alone from Him. He was conscious of being in the sacred Presence and he sat there, feeling that by the Covenant Blessing he had been brought very near, and his spirit exulted in that nearness! Brothers and Sisters in Christ, the mercies which God has shown to us are as great as those which He manifested to His servant David! And if the Spirit of God has opened our eyes to see and understand them, we may, this morning, ardently wish to do precisely what David did.
The words behind it
15 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| עַל־ | ʾal- | there- | H5921 → | 5755 times |
| כֵּ֥ן | ken | -fore | H3651 → | 771 times |
| גָּדַ֖לְתָּ | gadalta | you are great | H1431 → | 117 times |
| אֲדֹנָ֣י | ʾadonai | O Lord | H136 → | 440 times |
| יְהוִ֑ה | yahweh | Yahweh | H3069 → | 306 times |
| כִּֽי־ | ki- | for | H3588 → | 4482 times |
| אֵ֣ין | ʾein | there not | H369 → | 789 times |
| כָּמ֗וֹךָ | kamokha | [is] like you | H3644 → | 143 times |
| וְאֵ֤ין | veein | and there not | H369 → | 789 times |
| אֱלֹהִים֙ | ʾelohim | [is] a God | H430 → | 2601 times |
| זֽוּלָתֶ֔ךָ | zulatekha | except you | H2108 → | |
| בְּכֹ֥ל | bekhol | in all | H3605 → | 5413 times |
| אֲשֶׁר־ | ʾasher- | that | H834 → | 5497 times |
| שָׁמַ֖עְנוּ | shama'nu | we have heard | H8085 → | 1159 times |
| בְּאָזְנֵֽינוּ׃ | beazeneinu | with ears our | H241 → | 187 times |
עַל־there-
ʾal-H5921 →5755 times
כֵּ֥ן-fore
kenH3651 →771 times
גָּדַ֖לְתָּyou are great
gadaltaH1431 →117 times
אֲדֹנָ֣יO Lord
ʾadonaiH136 →440 times
יְהוִ֑הYahweh
yahwehH3069 →306 times
כִּֽי־for
ki-H3588 →4482 times
אֵ֣יןthere not
ʾeinH369 →789 times
כָּמ֗וֹךָ[is] like you
kamokhaH3644 →143 times
וְאֵ֤יןand there not
veeinH369 →789 times
אֱלֹהִים֙[is] a God
ʾelohimH430 →2601 times
זֽוּלָתֶ֔ךָexcept you
zulatekhaH2108 →
בְּכֹ֥לin all
bekholH3605 →5413 times
אֲשֶׁר־that
ʾasher-H834 →5497 times
שָׁמַ֖עְנוּwe have heard
shama'nuH8085 →1159 times
בְּאָזְנֵֽינוּ׃with ears our
beazeneinuH241 →187 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Exodus 15:11Who among the gods is like You, O LORD? Who is like You—majestic in holiness, revered with praises, performing wonders?
it leads to
- 1 Kings 8:23
and said: “O LORD, God of Israel, there is no God like You in heaven above or on earth below, keeping Your covenant of loving devotion with Your servants who walk before You with…
- Psalms 89:5–8
The heavens praise Your wonders, O LORD— Your faithfulness as well— in the assembly of the holy ones.
- 1 Samuel 2:2
There is no one holy like the LORD. Indeed, there is no one besides You! And there is no Rock like our God.
- Revelation 4:8
And each of the four living creatures had six wings and was covered with eyes all around and within. Day and night they never stop saying: “Holy, Holy, Holy, is the Lord God Almighty,…
- Isaiah 6:3
And they were calling out to one another: “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of Hosts; all the earth is full of His glory.”
- 1 Kings 8:23
Through
Micah 7:18Who is a God like You, who pardons iniquity and passes over the transgression of the remnant of His inheritance—who does not retain His anger forever, because He delights in loving devotion?
it leads to
- Isaiah 43:25
I, yes I, am He who blots out your transgressions for My own sake and remembers your sins no more.
- Isaiah 44:22
I have blotted out your transgressions like a cloud, and your sins like a mist. Return to Me, for I have redeemed you.
- Ephesians 2:4–5
But because of His great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy,
- Isaiah 43:25
Where this verse is studied
On this page
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On this verse
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About 2 Samuel

This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Augustine of Hippo, City of God 17.12; Charles Spurgeon, The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 1166: “Marrow and Fatness” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition); Jamieson Fausset and Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.
