The account of YHWH’s dynastic promise to David in 2 Sam 7 (= 1 Chr 17) is a watershed moment in salvation history and a focal point in biblical theology. Understandably, most interpreters give special attention to YHWH’s oracle in vv. 4–17 (= 1 Chr 17:4–15). However, the response in vv. 18–29 (= 1 Chr 17:16–27) indicates how David himself understood the promise. This provides us with a context for determining its place in salvation history and a check against reading into the promise things that David and his contemporaries did not necessarily perceive. Unfortunately, the Hebrew of the psalm is difficult. Common interpretations of a few verses are open to question. For example, in v. 19, does לְמֵרָחוֹק mean that YHWH has spoken “about the future” of David’s house? Also, there are several significant textual problems in the psalm. In v. 23, David asks, “Who is like your people… whom gods went (הָלְכוּ־אֱלֹהִים) to redeem as a people for himself?” The parallel in 1 Chr 17:21 reads “God went” (הָלַךְ הָאֱלֹהִים). This seems reasonable, but is it possible that the Samuel version preserves the original, and if so, what does it mean? Most perplexing is David’s declaration in v. 19, וְזֹאת תּוֹרַת הָאָדָם, a clause that is subject to many diverse interpretations (e.g., the NIV: “and this decree… is for a mere human!”). In this case, the Chronicler’s version is radically different but equally obscure: וּרְאִיתַנִי כְּתוֹר הָאָדָם הַמַּעֲלָה (NIV: “You… have looked on me as though I were the most exalted of men”). This paper will argue that the translation problems are solvable. Working with the proposed translation, I will explore how David understood and theologically situated YHWH’s promise.