2 Chronicles 6
1 Then Solomon spoke, “The Lord said that he lives in deep darkness.
Then Solomon said: “The Lord has promised that he would dwell in a cloud.
2 However, I have built you a magnificent Temple, a place for you to live forever.”
But I have built a house to his name, so that he may dwell there forever.”
3 Then the king turned and blessed the whole assembly of Israel, as they all stood.
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 He said, “Praise the Lord God of Israel, who has kept the promise he made to my father David when he said,
“Blessed is the Lord, the God of Israel, who has completed the work that he spoke to David my father, saying:
5 ‘Ever since the day I brought my people out of the land of Egypt, I have not chosen a town from any tribe of Israel where a Temple could be built to honor me, and I have not 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 so that I will be honored there, and I have chosen David to rule 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 My father David really wanted to build this Temple to honor 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 told my father David, ‘You really wanted to build me a Temple to honor me—and it was good for you to want to do this.
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 But you are not going to build the Temple. Your son, one of your children, will build the Temple to honor me.’
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 kept the promise he made. For I have taken the place of my father, and I sit on the throne of Israel as the Lord said, and I have built the Temple to honor the Lord 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 I have placed the Ark there, which has inside it the agreement the Lord made with the sons 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 in front of the altar of the Lord before the whole assembly of Israel and spread out his hands in prayer.
Then he stood before the altar of the Lord, facing the entire multitude of Israel, and he extended his hands.
13 Solomon had made a bronze platform five cubits long, five cubits wide, and three cubits high. He had set it in the middle of the courtyard, and he was standing on it. Then he knelt down before the whole assembly of Israel, and 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 He said, “Lord God of Israel, there is no god like you in heaven or on earth, keeping your agreement of trustworthy love with your servants who follow you with complete devotion.
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 the promise you made to your servant, my father David. With your own mouth you made that promise, and with your own hands you have fulfilled it today.
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 So now, Lord God of Israel, please keep the promise you made to your servant David, my father, when you told him, ‘If your descendants pay close attention to follow my way, and to keep my law as you have done, you will never fail to have one of them to sit on the throne of Israel.’
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 Now, Lord God of Israel, please fulfill this promise you made 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 really live here on earth among people? The heavens, even 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 Please listen to the prayer of your servant and his request, Lord my God. Please hear the appeals and the prayers that your servant is presenting 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 you watch over this Temple day and night, caring for the place where you said you would be honored. May you hear the prayer 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 and hear the request of your servant and your people Israel when they pray toward this place. Please hear from heaven where you live. 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 someone sins against another and is required to take an oath declaring the truth 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 listen from heaven, act and judge your servants. Pay back the guilty; vindicate and reward those who do right.
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 by an enemy because they have sinned against you, and if they come back in repentance to you, praying for forgiveness 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 hear from heaven and forgive the sin of your people Israel, and bring them back to the land you gave them and their forefathers.
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 If the skies are closed shut and there is no rain because your people have sinned against you, if they pray toward this place and if they come back in repentance to you, turning away from their sin because you have punished 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 hear from heaven and forgive the sin of your servants, your people Israel. Teach them the good way so that they can walk on it, and send rain on the earth that you have given to your people as their possession.
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 If there is famine in the land, or disease, or blight or mildew on the crops, or if there are locusts or caterpillars, or if an enemy comes to lay siege to the towns in the land—it can be whatever kind of plague or whatever kind of disease—
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 whatever kind of prayer or whatever kind of appeal is made by anyone or all your people Israel, in fact anyone who, knowing their problems and pains, prays 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 then hear from heaven, the place where you live, and forgive. Give according to the way they live their lives, for you know what people are really like inside, and you alone know the true character of people.
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 Then they will respect you and follow your ways all the time they live in the land you gave to our forefathers.
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 As for the foreigners who do not belong to your people Israel but who come from a distant land, having heard of your great nature and power and ability to help, when they come and pray 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 hear from heaven, the place where you live, and give them what they're asking. That way, everyone on earth will come to know and respect you, just as your own people Israel do. They will also know that this Temple I have built honors you.
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 fight against their enemies, wherever you send them, and when they pray to you towards the city you have chosen and the house I have built to honor you,
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 hear from heaven what they are praying and asking for, and support their cause.
you will heed their prayers from heaven, and their supplications, and you will vindicate them.
36 If they sin against you—and there is nobody who does not sin—you may become angry with them and hand them over to an enemy who takes them away as prisoners to a foreign land, near or far.
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 But if they think again in their land of captivity and repent and plead for mercy from you, saying, ‘We have sinned, we have 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 they come back to you with complete sincerity in their thoughts and attitudes there in their land of captivity; and they pray towards the land you gave their forefathers and the city you chose and the Temple I have built to honor you,
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 hear from heaven, the place where you live, respond and support their cause. Forgive your people who have 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, please open your eyes, and may your ears pay attention to the prayers 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 ‘Come, Lord, and enter your home, together with your Ark of power. May your priests wear salvation like clothing; may your faithful people shout for joy in your 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 Lord God, don't reject the king you have chosen. Remember your trustworthy love for your servant David.’”
O Lord God, may you not turn away from the face of your Christ. Remember the mercies of your servant, David.”
