Passage
Go, and say to my servant David: Thus saith the Lord: Shalt thou build me a house to dwell in?
2 Samuel 7:5 (DRB)
Nearby Context
2 Samuel 7:3 And Nathan said to the king: Go, do all that is in they heart: because the Lord is with thee.
2 Samuel 7:4 But it came to pass that night, that the word of the Lord came to Nathan, saying:
2 Samuel 7:5 Go, and say to my servant David: Thus saith the Lord: Shalt thou build me a house to dwell in?
2 Samuel 7:6 Whereas I have not dwelt in a house from the day that I brought the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt even to this day: but have walked in a tabernacle, and in a tent.
2 Samuel 7:7 In all the places that I have gone through with all the children of Israel, did ever I speak a word to any one of the tribes of Israel, whom I commanded to feed my people Israel, saying: Why have you not built me a house of cedar?
Study Lenses
The verse centers on "servant", "david", "thus", "saith", "lord", "shalt", "thou", and "build". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "servant" and "david", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.
The nearby context moves from verse 4's "But it came to pass that night..." into verse 6's "Whereas I have not dwelt in a...", so "servant" and "david" belong inside that flow. In 2 Samuel context, the local focus is covenant, worship, and faithfulness.
A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "servant" and "david" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.