1 Chronicles 17:13
“I will be his father, and he shall be my son: and I will not take my mercy away from him, as I took it from him that was before thee.”
King James Version
The father-son pledge in the Chronicler's form, with the promise that God's mercy will never be taken from the coming king — unlike Saul. Applied to Christ with 2 Samuel 7:14 in Hebrews 1:5.
Fulfillment References
Hebrews 1:5 Luke 1:32-33
How Traditions Read This Prophecy
Apostolic (Oneness) PentecostalThe Son is the humanity God prepared for Himself (Heb. 10:5): not a second divine self but the one God's own visible self-disclosure taking covenant flesh in David's line — the unfailing mercy secured in His own blood.
JewishA dynastic assurance: God's chesed (covenant loyalty) stays with David's house permanently, in contrast to Saul's rejection.
CatholicThe unfailing mercy promised to David's son is realized in Christ, in whom the covenant cannot be broken.
ProtestantThe permanence of divine mercy toward this son distinguishes the ultimate heir from every failed king in David's line.
DispensationalThe unconditional character of the promise ('my mercy shall not depart') secures the future restoration of the Davidic throne.
AcademicThe verse exemplifies royal grant theology — an unconditional dynastic grant, a form paralleled in ancient Near Eastern covenants.
Scholarship & Sources
Moshe Weinfeld's work on the covenant of grant illuminates the unconditional form here; Hebrews 1:5 joins this text to Psalm 2:7 in its opening catena, as F. F. Bruce (Hebrews, NICNT) details.
Open the full interactive entry →Cross-references, Hebrew/Greek, Dead Sea Scrolls notes, study tools and multi-tradition analysis in the interactive explorer.
Bible Prophecy Explorer · based on J. Barton Payne’s Encyclopedia of Biblical Prophecy catalogue · an openly Apostolic (Oneness) Pentecostal study resource — all traditions presented fairly. Pastor: C. Myles Young, PhD · Bishop: Nathaniel J. Wilson, Ed.D.