But the word of the Lord came to me, saying: Thou hast shed much blood, and fought many battles, so thou canst not build a house to my name, after shedding so much blood before me:

and the word of Jehovah is against me, saying, Blood in abundance thou hast shed, and great wars thou hast made: thou dost not build a house to My name, for much blood thou hast shed to the earth before Me.

But the word of the Lord came to me saying, You have taken lives without number and made great wars; I will not let you be the builder of a house for my name, because of the lives you have taken on the earth before my eyes.

But the word of the Lord came to me, saying: 'You have shed much blood, and you have battled in many wars. You are not able to build a house to my name, so great was the shedding of blood before me.

The word of the Lord came to me - Not by Nathan 1-Chronicles 17:4-15, but on some other occasion 1-Chronicles 28:3. On the bloody character of David's wars, see 2-Samuel 8:2, 2-Samuel 8:5; 2-Samuel 10:18; 2-Samuel 12:31; and 1-Kings 11:16.

Thou hast shed blood abundantly - Heathens, Jews, and Christians, have all agreed that soldiers of any kind should have nothing to do with Divine offices. Shedding of human blood but ill comports with the benevolence of God or the spirit of the Gospel.
Aeneas, overpowered by his enemies, while fighting for his parents, his family, and his country, finding farther resistance hopeless, endeavors to carry off his aged father, his wife, young son, and his household gods; but as he was just come from slaughter, he would not even handle these objects of superstition, but confided them to his father, whom he took on his shoulders, and carried out of the burning of Troy.
Tu, genitor, cape sacra manu, patriosque penates:
Me bello tanto digressum, et caede recenti,
Attrectare nefas; donec me flumine vivo Abluero.
Aen. ii., ver. 717.
"Our country gods, our relics, and the bands,
Hold you, my father, in your guiltless hands:
In me 'tis impious holy things to bear,
Red as I am with slaughter, new from war;
Till, in some living stream, I cleanse the guilt
Of dire debate, and blood in battle spilt."
Dryden.
See the note at the end of 2-Samuel 7:25 (note).

But the word of the LORD came to me, saying, (d) Thou hast shed blood abundantly, and hast made great wars: thou shalt not build an house unto my name, because thou hast shed much blood upon the earth in my sight.
(d) This declares how greatly God detests the shedding of blood, seeing David for this cause is prevented from building the temple of the Lord, though he enterprised no war, but by God's command and against his enemies.

But the word of the Lord came to me,.... The word of prophecy, as the Targum, by the mouth of Nathan the prophet:
saying; as follows, which though not expressed in the book of Samuel before referred to, is here recorded by divine inspiration:
thou hast shed blood abundantly; Kimchi thinks this refers to the blood of Uriah, and those gallant men that were slain with him, and to the priests slain by the order of Saul, which David was the occasion of, or accidental cause of, 1-Samuel 22:22 and to many good men among the Gentiles; though it was the intention of the Lord to consume the wicked among them, that they might not prevail over Israel:
and hast made great wars: with the Philistines, Moabites, &c.
thou shall not build an house unto my name, because thou hast shed much blood upon the earth in my sight; an intimation this, that the church of God, of which this house was a type, was to be built by Christ, the Prince of peace, and to be supported and maintained not by force of arms, and by spilling of blood, as the religion of Mahomet, but by the preaching of the Gospel of peace.

Shed blood - Not that wars are simply unlawful, but to teach us that the church (whereof the temple was an illustrious type) should be built by Christ, the prince of peace, Isaiah 9:6, and that it should be gathered and built up, not by might or power but by God's spirit, Zac 4:6, and by the preaching the Gospel of peace. David therefore was less fit for that service, than one who had not been called to such bloody work. Likewise by setting him aside for this reason, God shewed how precious human life is to him.