You have shed much blood. We do not find that the Lord told [David] this. Rather, it was David who, in his heart, thought that God had prevented him from building the Temple because of this. Or the prophet Nathan told him so; for even though the text does not say that in the book of Samuel, we find many cases like this, [such as] “and you said: ‘Let us send men ahead’” (Deut 1:22). When the text then says “you have shed much blood on the earth before Me,” “before Me” seems to mean that among the blood that [David] shed was the blood of innocent people, such as that of Uriah (2 Samuel 11:14–17). He was also the cause of the deaths of the priests, as it says, “I then am the cause of all the deaths in your father’s house” (1 Samuel 22:22). It is also possible that among the gentiles he killed who were not engaging him in battle, there were good and righteous people, although he was not punished for this because his intent was to wipe out the wicked ones so that they not infiltrate Israel. [Similarly], when he was in the land of the Philistines, it was to save himself that “he would leave no man or woman alive” (1 Samuel 27:9). But because he ended up shedding a great deal of blood, [God] prevented him from building the Holy Temple, which is for peace, atonement for sins, and intense prayer. This is akin to the reason that He prohibited wielding an iron tool over the altar (Deut 27:5) and the Holy Temple (1 Kings 6:7): because weapons for killing are made of iron, one should not generally make from it objects designated for peaceful purposes.