2 Chronicles 6

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

Then said Solomon, The Lord said that he would dwell in thick darkness.

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

But I have built a house to your name, holy to you, and prepared [for you] to dwell in for ever.

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 blessed all the congregation of Israel: and all the congregation of Israel stood by.

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,

And he said, Blessed [be] the Lord God of Israel: he has even fulfilled with his hands as he spoke with his mouth to my father David, 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 brought up my people out of the land of Egypt, I chose no city of all the tribes of Israel, to build a house that my name should be there; neither did I choose a man to be a leader over 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 that my name should be there; and I chose David to be 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 it came into the heart of David my father, to build a house for 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.

But the Lord said to my father David, Whereas it came into your heart to build a house for my name, you did well that it came into your heart.

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

Nevertheless you shall not build the house; for your son who shall come forth out of your loins, he shall build the house for 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.

And the Lord has confirmed this word, which he spoke; and I am raised up in the room of my father David, and I sit upon the throne of Israel as the Lord said, and I have built the house for the name of the Lord 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 set there the ark in which [is] the covenant of the Lord, which he made with Israel.

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

And he stood before the altar of the Lord in the presence of all the congregation of Israel, and spread out 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 Solomon [had] made a brazen scaffold, and set it in the midst of the court of the sanctuary; the length of it [was] five cubits, and the breadth of it five cubits, and the height of it three cubits: and he stood upon it, and fell upon his knees before the whole congregation of Israel, and spread abroad his hands to 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.

and said, Lord God of Israel, there is no God like you in heaven, or on the earth; keeping covenant and mercy with your servants that walk before you with [their] whole heart.

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.

Even as you have kept [them] with your servant David my father, as you have spoken to him in words: —you have both spoken with your mouth, and have fulfilled [it] with your hands, as it is this day.

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.’

and now, Lord God of Israel, keep with your servant David my father the things which you spoke to him, saying, There shall not fail you a man before me sitting on the throne of Israel, if only your sons will take heed to their way to walk in my law, as you did walk before me.

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

And now, Lord God of Israel, let, I pray you, your word be confirmed, which you have spoken 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.

For will God indeed dwell with men upon the earth? if the heaven and the heaven of heavens will not suffice you, what then is this house which 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.

Yet you shall have respect to the prayer of your servant, and to my petition, O Lord God, so as to listen to the petition and the prayer which your servant prays before you this day:

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.

so that your eyes should be open over this house by day and by night, towards this place, whereon you said your name should be called, so as to hear the prayer which your servant prays towards this house.

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 you shall hear the supplication of your servant, and of your people Israel, whatever prayers they shall make towards this place: and you shall listen in your dwelling-place out of heaven, yes you shall hear, and be merciful.

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 a man sin against his neighbor, and he bring an oath upon him so as to make him swear, and he come and swear 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.

then shall you listen out of heaven, and do, and judge your servants, to recompense the transgressor, and to return his ways upon his head: and to justify the righteous, to recompense him according to his righteousness.

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,

And if your people Israel should be put to the worse before the enemy, if they should sin against you, and [then] turn and confess to your name, and pray and make supplication before you in this house;

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.

then shall you listen out of heaven and shall be merciful to the sins of your people Israel, and you shall restore them to the land which 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,

When heaven is restrained, and there is no rain, because they shall have sinned against you, and [when] they shall pray towards this place, and praise your name, and shall turn from their sins, because you shall 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.

then shall you listen from heaven, and you shall be merciful to the sins of your servants, and of your people Israel; for you shall show them the good way in which they shall walk; and you shall send rain upon your land, which you gave to your people for an inheritance.

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 there should be famine upon the land, if there should be death, a pestilent wind an blight; if there should be locust and caterpiller, and if the enemy should harass them before their cities: in whatever plague and whatever distress [they may be];

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

Then whatever prayer and whatever supplication shall be made by any man and all your people Israel, if a man should know his own plague and his own sickness, and should spread forth his hands toward 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—

then shall you hear from heaven, out of your prepared dwelling-place, and shall be merciful, and shall recompense to the man according to his ways, as you shall know his heart [to be]; for you alone know the heart of the children 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.

that they may reverence all your ways all the days which 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,

And every stranger who is not himself of your people Israel, and who shall have come from a distant land because of your great name, and your mighty hand, and your high arm; when they shall come and worship toward 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.

then shall you listen out of heaven, out of your prepared dwelling-place, and shall do according to all that the stranger shall call upon you for; that all the nations of the earth may know your name, and that they may fear you, as your people Israel [do], and that they may know that your name is called upon 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,

And if your people shall go forth to war against their enemies by the way by which you shall send them, and shall pray to you toward this city which you have chosen, and [toward] the 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.

then shall you hear out of heaven their prayer and their supplication, and maintain their cause.

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,

Whereas if they shall sin against you, (for there is no man who will not sin, ) and you shall strike them, and deliver them up before their enemies, and they that take them captive shall carry them away into a land of enemies, to a land far off or 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] they shall repent in their land whither they were carried captive, and shall also turn and make supplication to you in their captivity, saying, We have sinned, we have transgressed, we have wrought unrighteously;

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 shall turn to you with all their heart and all their soul in the land of them that carried them captives, whither they carried them captives, and shall pray toward their land which you gave to their fathers, and the city which you did choose, and the house which I 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.

then shall you hear out of heaven, out of your prepared dwelling-place, their prayer and their supplication, and you shall execute justice, and shall be merciful to your people that sin against you.

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

And now, Lord, let, I pray you, your eyes be opened, and your ears be attentive to the petition [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.

And now, O Lord God, arise into your resting-place, you, and the ark of your strength: let your priests, O Lord God, clothe themselves with salvation, and your sons rejoice in prosperity.

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

O Lord God, turn not away the face of your anointed: remember the mercies of your servant David.