1 Chronicles 22:8

But the word of the Lord came to me (upon me). — Literally, And a word of Jehovah became upon me. There is a partial correspondence between this “word of the Lord” and that which Nathan is represented as delivering (1 Chronicles 17:4). There, however, David is promised success in war, without any hint that warfare, as such, would unfit him for the sacred task which he longed to undertake. And in 1 Kings 5:3, Solomon implies that David’s wars left him no leisure for the work.

Thou hast shed blood. — The emphatic word is “blood.” Literally, Blood in abundance hast thou shed, and great wars hast thou made.

Because thou hast shed much blood. — Better. for torrents of blood (plural) hast thou shed earthward before me. The author of this narrative may well have remembered Genesis 9:5, and the denunciations of the prophets against men of blood. (Comp. especially Amos 1:3; Amos 1:13; Amos 2:1, with David’s treatment of the conquered Ammonites, 1 Chronicles 20:3. And see also Hosea’s denunciation of vengeance upon the house of Jehu for the bloodshed of Jezreel: Hosea 1:4; Hosea 7:7). Or the verse may express the interpretation which David’s own conscience put upon the oracle forbidding him to build the Temple.