2 Chronicles 6

1 Then Solomon declared: “The LORD has said that He would dwell in the thick cloud;

Then Solomon said: “The Lord has promised that he would dwell in a cloud.

2 and I have built You an exalted house, a place for You to dwell forever.”

But I have built a house to his name, so that he may dwell there forever.”

3 And as the whole assembly of Israel stood there, the king turned around and blessed them all

And the king turned his face, and he blessed the entire multitude of Israel, (for the whole crowd was standing and attentive) and he said:

4 and said: “Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel, who has fulfilled with His own hand what He spoke with His mouth to my father David, saying,

“Blessed is the Lord, the God of Israel, who has completed the work that he spoke to David my father, saying:

5 ‘Since the day I brought My people out of the land of Egypt, I have not chosen a city from any tribe of Israel in which to build a house so that My Name would be there, nor have I chosen anyone to be ruler over My people Israel.

‘From the day when I led my people away from the land of Egypt, I did not choose a city from all the tribes of Israel, so that a house would be built in it to my name. And I did not choose any other man, so that he would be the ruler of my people Israel.

6 But now I have chosen Jerusalem for My Name to be there, and I have chosen David to be over My people Israel.’

But I chose Jerusalem, so that my name would be in it. And I chose David, so that I might appoint him over my people Israel.’

7 Now it was in the heart of my father David to build a house for the Name of the LORD, the God of Israel.

And though David, my father, had decided that he would build a house to the name of the Lord God of Israel,

8 But the LORD said to my father David, ‘Since it was in your heart to build a house for My Name, you have done well to have this in your heart.

the Lord said to him: ‘In so far as it was your will that you build a house to my name, certainly you have done well in having such a will.

9 Nevertheless, you are not the one to build it; but your son, your own offspring, will build the house for My Name.’

But you shall not build the house. Truly, your son, who will go forth from your loins, shall build a house to my name.’

10 Now the LORD has fulfilled the word that He spoke. I have succeeded my father David, and I sit on the throne of Israel, as the LORD promised. I have built the house for the Name of the LORD, the God of Israel.

Therefore, the Lord has accomplished his word, which he had spoken. And I have risen up in place of my father David, and I sit upon the throne of Israel, just as the Lord spoke. And I have built a house to the name of the Lord, the God of Israel.

11 And there I have provided a place for the ark, which contains the covenant of the LORD that He made with the children of Israel.”

And I have placed in it the ark, in which is the covenant of the Lord that he formed with the sons of Israel.”

12 Then Solomon stood before the altar of the LORD in front of the whole assembly of Israel and spread out his hands.

Then he stood before the altar of the Lord, facing the entire multitude of Israel, and he extended his hands.

13 Now Solomon had made a bronze platform five cubits long, five cubits wide, and three cubits high, and had placed it in the middle of the courtyard. He stood on it, knelt down before the whole assembly of Israel, spread out his hands toward heaven,

For indeed, Solomon had made a bronze base, and he had positioned it in the midst of the hall; it held five cubits in length, and five cubits in width, and three cubits in height. And he stood upon it. And next, kneeling down while facing the entire multitude of Israel, and lifting up his palms towards heaven,

14 and said: “O LORD, God of Israel, there is no God like You in heaven or on earth, keeping Your covenant of loving devotion with Your servants who walk before You with all their hearts.

he said: “O Lord God of Israel, there is no god like you in heaven or on earth. You preserve covenant and mercy with your servants, who walk before you with all their hearts.

15 You have kept Your promise to Your servant, my father David. What You spoke with Your mouth You have fulfilled with Your hand this day.

You fulfilled for your servant David, my father, whatsoever you had said to him. And you carried out the deed that you promised with your mouth, just as the present time proves.

16 Therefore now, O LORD, God of Israel, keep for Your servant, my father David, what You promised when You said: ‘You will never fail to have a man to sit before Me on the throne of Israel, if only your descendants guard their way to walk in My law as you have walked before Me.’

Now then, O Lord God of Israel, fulfill for your servant David, my father, whatsoever you said to him, saying: ‘There shall not fail to be a man from you before me, who will sit upon the throne of Israel, yet only if your sons will guard their ways, and will walk in my law, just as you also have walked before me.’

17 And now, O LORD, God of Israel, please confirm what You promised to Your servant David.

And now, O Lord God of Israel, let your word be confirmed that you spoke to your servant David.

18 But will God indeed dwell with man upon the earth? Even heaven, the highest heaven, cannot contain You, much less this temple I have built.

How then is it to be believed that God would dwell with men upon the earth? If heaven and the heavens of the heavens do not contain you, how much less this house that I have built?

19 Yet regard the prayer and plea of Your servant, O LORD my God, so that You may hear the cry and the prayer that Your servant is praying before You.

But it has been done for this only, so that you may look with favor upon the prayer of your servant, and on his supplication, O Lord my God, and so that you may hear the prayers which your servant pours out before you,

20 May Your eyes be open toward this temple day and night, toward the place where You said You would put Your Name, so that You may hear the prayer that Your servant prays toward this place.

and so that you may open your eyes over this house, day and night, over the place where you promised that your name would be invoked,

21 Hear the plea of Your servant and of Your people Israel when they pray toward this place. May You hear from heaven, Your dwelling place. May You hear and forgive.

and so that you may heed the prayer which your servant is praying within it, and so that you may heed the prayers of your servant and of your people Israel. Whoever will pray in this place, listen from your habitation, that is, from heaven, and forgive.

22 When a man sins against his neighbor and is required to take an oath, and he comes to take an oath before Your altar in this temple,

If anyone will have sinned against his neighbor, and he arrives to swear against him, and to bind himself with a curse before the altar in this house,

23 then may You hear from heaven and act. May You judge Your servants, condemning the wicked man by bringing down on his own head what he has done, and justifying the righteous man by rewarding him according to his righteousness.

you will hear him from heaven, and you will execute justice for your servants, so that you return, to the iniquitous man, his own way upon his own head, and so that you vindicate the just man, repaying him according to his own justice.

24 When Your people Israel are defeated before an enemy because they have sinned against You, and they return to You and confess Your name, praying and pleading before You in this temple,

If your people Israel will have been overwhelmed by their enemies, (for they will sin against you) and having been converted will do penance, and if they will have beseeched your name, and will have prayed in this place,

25 then may You hear from heaven and forgive the sin of Your people Israel. May You restore them to the land You gave to them and their fathers.

you will heed them from heaven, and you will forgive the sin of your people Israel, and you will lead them back into the land that you gave to them and to their fathers.

26 When the skies are shut and there is no rain because Your people have sinned against You, and they pray toward this place and confess Your name, and they turn from their sins because You have afflicted them,

If the heavens have been closed, so that rain does not fall, because of the sin of the people, and if they will petition you in this place, and confess to your name, and be converted from their sins when you will afflict them,

27 then may You hear from heaven and forgive the sin of Your servants, Your people Israel, so that You may teach them the good way in which they should walk. May You send rain on the land that You gave Your people as an inheritance.

heed them from heaven, O Lord, and forgive the sins of your servants and of your people Israel, and teach them the good way, by which they may advance, and give rain to the land that you gave to your people as a possession.

28 When famine or plague comes upon the land, or blight or mildew or locusts or grasshoppers, or when their enemies besiege them in their cities, whatever plague or sickness may come,

If a famine will have risen up in the land, or pestilence, or fungus, or mildew, or locusts, or beetles, or if enemies will have laid waste to the countryside and will have besieged the gates of the cities, or whatever scourge or infirmity will have pressed upon them,

29 then may whatever prayer or petition Your people Israel make—each knowing his own afflictions and spreading out his hands toward this temple—

if anyone from your people Israel, knowing his own scourge and infirmity, will have made supplication and will have extended his hands in this house,

30 be heard by You from heaven, Your dwelling place. And may You forgive and repay each man according to all his ways, since You know his heart—for You alone know the hearts of men—

you will heed him from heaven, indeed from your sublime habitation, and you will forgive, and you will repay each one according to his ways, which you know him to hold in his heart. For you alone know the hearts of the sons of men.

31 so that they may fear You and walk in Your ways all the days they live in the land that You gave to our fathers.

So may they fear you, and so may they walk in your ways, during all the days that they live upon the face of the land, which you gave to our fathers.

32 And as for the foreigner who is not of Your people Israel but has come from a distant land because of Your great name and Your mighty hand and outstretched arm—when he comes and prays toward this temple,

Also, if the outsider, who is not from your people Israel, will have arrived from a far away land, because of your great name, and because of your robust hand and your outstretched arm, and if he will adore in this place,

33 then may You hear from heaven, Your dwelling place, and do according to all for which the foreigner calls to You. Then all the peoples of the earth will know Your name and fear You, as do Your people Israel, and they will know that this house I have built is called by Your Name.

you will heed him from heaven, your most firm habitation, and you will accomplish all the things about which this sojourner will have called out to you, so that all the people of the earth may know your name, and may fear you, just as your people Israel do, and so that they may know that your name is invoked over this house, which I have built.

34 When Your people go to war against their enemies, wherever You send them, and when they pray to You in the direction of the city You have chosen and the house I have built for Your Name,

If, having gone out to war against their adversaries along the way that you will send them, your people adore you facing in the direction of this city, which you have chosen, and of this house, which I have built to your name,

35 then may You hear from heaven their prayer and their plea, and may You uphold their cause.

you will heed their prayers from heaven, and their supplications, and you will vindicate them.

36 When they sin against You—for there is no one who does not sin—and You become angry with them and deliver them to an enemy who takes them as captives to a land far or near,

But if they will have sinned against you (for there is no man who does not sin) and you will have become angry against them, and if you will have delivered them to their enemies, and so they lead them away as captives to a far away land, or even to one that is near,

37 and when they come to their senses in the land to which they were taken, and they repent and plead with You in the land of their captors, saying, ‘We have sinned and done wrong; we have acted wickedly,’

and if, having been converted in their heart in the land to which they had been led as captives, they will do penance, and beseech you in the land of their captivity, saying, ‘We have sinned; we have committed iniquity; we have acted unjustly,’

38 and when they return to You with all their heart and soul in the land of the enemies who took them captive, and when they pray in the direction of the land that You gave to their fathers, the city You have chosen, and the house I have built for Your Name,

and if they will have returned to you, with their whole heart and with their whole soul, in the land of their captivity to which they were led away, and if they will adore you in the direction of their own land, which you gave to their fathers, and of the city, which you have chosen, and of the house, which I have built to your name,

39 then may You hear from heaven, Your dwelling place, their prayer and petition, and may You uphold their cause. May You forgive Your people who sinned against You.

from heaven, that is, from your firm habitation, you will heed their prayers, and you will accomplish judgment, and you will forgive your people, even though they are sinners.

40 Now, my God, may Your eyes be open and Your ears attentive to the prayer offered in this place.

For you are my God. Let your eyes be open, I beg you, and let your ears be attentive to the prayer that is made in this place.

41 Now therefore, arise, O LORD God, and enter Your resting place, You and the ark of Your might. May Your priests, O LORD God, be clothed with salvation, and may Your godly ones rejoice in goodness.

Now therefore, rise up, O Lord God, to your resting place, you and the ark of your strength. Let your priests, O Lord God, be clothed with salvation, and let your holy ones rejoice in what is good.

42 O LORD God, do not reject Your anointed one. Remember Your loving devotion to Your servant David.”

O Lord God, may you not turn away from the face of your Christ. Remember the mercies of your servant, David.”