You have kept with your servant David my father what you promised him; you said to him, 'There shall not fail you a man before me to sit on the throne of Israel, if only your children keep to their way, to walk before me as you have walked before me' — The prayer notes the Davidic covenant's fulfillment (שׁמַרְתָּ לְעַבְדְּךָ דָּוִד, you kept for your servant David). God promised that David's line would never lack a successor (לֹא־יִכָּרֵת לְךָ אִישׁ מִלְּפָנַי יוֹשֵׁב עַל־כִּסְאָהּ יִשְׂרָאֵל) on Israel's throne. The condition was crucial: continuity was contingent on the descendants' faithfulness—'if only your children keep to their way, to walk before me' (אִם־יִשְׁמְרוּ בָנֶיךָ אֶת־דַּרְכָּם). David himself walked before God ('as you have walked before me,' כַּאֲשֶׁר הָלַכְתָּ לְפָנַי); his descendants must continue that pattern. The prayer acknowledges the conditional nature of the covenant: promise is unconditional, but future fulfillment depends on the covenanted people's obedience.

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