2 Chronicles 6

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

Then Solomon said, O Lord, to the sun you have given the heaven for a living-place, but your living-place was not seen by men,

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

So I have made for you a living-place, a house in which you may be for ever present.

3 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:

Then, turning his face about, the king gave a blessing to all the men of Israel; and they were all on their feet together.

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

And he said, Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, who himself gave his word to my father David, and with his strong hand has made his word come true, saying,

5 ‘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.

From the day when I took my people out of the land of Egypt, no town in all the tribes of Israel has been marked out by me for the building of a house for the resting-place of my name; and I took no man to be a ruler over my people Israel;

6 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.’

But now I have made selection of Jerusalem, that my name might be there, and of David, to be over my people Israel.

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

Now it was in the heart of my father David to put up a house for the name of the Lord, the God of Israel.

8 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.

But the Lord said to David my father, You did well to have in your heart the desire to make a house for my name:

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

But you yourself will not be the builder of the house; but your son, the offspring of your body, he it is who will put up a house for my name.

10 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.

And the Lord has kept his word; for I have taken my father David's place on the seat of the kingdom of Israel, as the Lord gave his word; and I have made the house for the name of the Lord the God of Israel.

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

And there I have put the ark, in which is the agreement of the Lord, which he made with the people of Israel.

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

Then he took his place in front of the altar of the Lord, all the men of Israel being present,

13 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,

(For Solomon had made a brass stage, five cubits long, five cubits wide and three cubits high, and had put it in the middle of the open space; on this he took his place and went down on his knees before all the meeting of Israel, stretching out his hands to heaven.)

14 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.

And he said, O Lord, the God of Israel, there is no God like you in heaven or on earth; keeping faith and mercy unchanging for your servants, while they go in your ways with all their hearts;

15 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.

For you have kept the word which you gave to your servant David, my father; with your mouth you said it and with your hand you have made it come true this day.

16 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.’

So now, O Lord, the God of Israel, let your word to your servant David, my father, come true, when you said, You will never be without a man to take his place before me on the seat of the kingdom of Israel; if only your children give attention to their ways, walking in my law, as you have done before me.

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

So now, O Lord, the God of Israel, make your word come true which you said to your servant David.

18 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?

But is it truly possible that God may be housed with men on earth? see, heaven and the heaven of heavens are not wide enough to be your resting-place: how much less this house which I have made:

19 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,

Still, let your heart be turned to the prayer of your servant and to his prayer for grace, O Lord my God, and give ear to the cry and the prayer which your servant makes before you;

20 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,

That your eyes may be open to this house day and night, to this place of which you have said that you would put your name there; to give ear to the prayer which your servant may make, turning to this place.

21 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.

And give ear to the prayers of your servant and of your people Israel, when they make their prayers, turning to this place; give ear from heaven your living-place; and hearing have mercy.

22 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,

If a man does wrong to his neighbour and has to take an oath, and comes before your altar to take his oath in this house:

23 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.

Then let your ear be open in heaven, and be the judge of your servants, giving punishment to the wrongdoer, so that his sin may come on his head; and, by your decision, keeping from evil him who has done no wrong.

24 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,

And if your people Israel are overcome in war, because of their sin against you; if they are turned to you again, honouring your name, making prayers and requesting your grace in this house:

25 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.

Then give ear from heaven, and let the sin of your people Israel have forgiveness, and take them back again to the land which you gave to them and to their fathers.

26 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,

When heaven is shut up and there is no rain, because of their sin against you: if they make prayers with their faces turned to this place, honouring your name and turning away from their sin when you send trouble on them:

27 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.

Then give ear from heaven, so that the sin of your servants and the sin of your people Israel may have forgiveness, when you make clear to them the good way in which they are to go; and send rain on your land which you have given to your people for their heritage.

28 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,

If there is no food in the land, if there is disease, if the fruits of the earth are damaged by heat or water, locust or worm; if their towns are shut in by their attackers: whatever trouble or whatever disease there may be:

29 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,

Whatever prayer or request for your grace is made by any man, or by all your people Israel, whatever his trouble may be, whose hands are stretched out to this house:

30 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.

Then give ear from heaven your living-place, answering with forgiveness, and give to every man, whose secret heart is open to you, the reward of all his ways; (for you, and you only, have knowledge of the hearts of the children of men; )

31 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.

So that they may give you worship, walking in your ways, as long as they are living in the land which you gave to our fathers.

32 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,

And as for the man from a strange land, who is not of your people Israel but comes from a far country because of the glory of your name and your strong hand and your outstretched arm; when he comes to make his prayer, turning to this house:

33 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.

Then give ear from heaven your living-place, and give him his desire, whatever it may be; so that all the peoples of the earth may have knowledge of your name, worshipping you as do your people Israel, and may see that this house which I have made is truly named by your name.

34 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,

If your people go out to war against their attackers, by whatever way you may send them, if they make their prayers to you turning their faces to this town of yours and to this house which I have put up for your name:

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

Then give ear from heaven to their prayer and their cry for grace, and see right done to them.

36 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,

If they do wrong against you, (for no man is without sin, ) and you are angry with them, and give them up into the power of those who are fighting against them, so that they take them away prisoners to a land far off or near;

37 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,’

And if they take thought, in the land where they are prisoners, turning again to you, crying out in prayer to you in that land, and saying, We are sinners, we have done wrong, we have done evil;

38 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,

If with all their heart and soul they are turned again to you, in the land where they are prisoners, the land where they have been taken, and make their prayers, turning their eyes to their land which you gave to their fathers, and to the town which you took for yourself, and the house which I have made for your name:

39 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.

Then give ear from heaven your living-place to their prayer and their cry, and see right done to them, answering with forgiveness your people who have done wrong against you.

40 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.

Now, O my God, may your eyes be open and your ears awake to the prayers made in this place.

41 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.

Up! now, O Lord God, come back to your resting-place, you and the ark of your strength: let your priests, O Lord God, be clothed with salvation, and let your saints be glad in what is good.

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

O Lord God, let him whom you have taken for yourself never be given up by you: keep in mind your mercies to David your servant.