2 Chronicles 6
1 Then Solomon spoke, “The Lord said that he lives in deep darkness.
Then said Solomon, The LORD has said that he would dwell in the thick darkness.
2 However, I have built you a magnificent Temple, a place for you to live forever.”
But I have built an house of habitation for you, and a place for your dwelling for ever.
3 Then the king turned and blessed the whole assembly of Israel, as they all stood.
And the king turned his face, and blessed the whole congregation of Israel: and all the congregation of Israel stood.
4 He said, “Praise the Lord God of Israel, who has kept the promise he made to my father David when he said,
And he said, Blessed be the LORD God of Israel, who has with his hands fulfilled that which he spoke with his mouth to my father David, 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.
Since the day that I brought forth my people out of the land of Egypt I chose no city among all the tribes of Israel to build an house in, that my name might be there; neither chose I any man to be a ruler over 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 have chosen Jerusalem, that my name might be there; and have chosen David to be over my people Israel.
7 My father David really wanted to build this Temple to honor the Lord, the God of Israel.
Now it was in the heart of David my father to build an house for 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.
But the LORD said to David my father, For as much as it was in your heart to build an house for my name, you did well in that it was in your heart:
9 But you are not going to build the Temple. Your son, one of your children, will build the Temple to honor me.’
Notwithstanding you shall not build the house; but your son which shall come forth out of your loins, he shall build the house for 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.
The LORD therefore has performed his word that he has spoken: for I am risen up in the room of David my father, and am set on the throne of Israel, as the LORD promised, and have built the house for the name of the LORD 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 in it have I put the ark, wherein is the covenant of the LORD, that he made with the children 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.
And he stood before the altar of the LORD in the presence of all the congregation of Israel, and spread forth 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 Solomon had made a brazen scaffold of five cubits long, and five cubits broad, and three cubits high, and had set it in the middle of the court: and on it he stood, and kneeled down on his knees before all the congregation of Israel, and spread forth his hands toward 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.
And said, O LORD God of Israel, there is no God like you in the heaven, nor in the earth; which keep covenant, and show mercy to your servants, that 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 which have kept with your servant David my father that which you have promised him; and spoke with your mouth, and have fulfilled it with your hand, as it is this day.
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 therefore, O LORD God of Israel, keep with your servant David my father that which you have promised him, saying, There shall not fail you a man in my sight to sit on the throne of Israel; yet so that your children take heed to their way to walk in my law, as you have walked before me.
17 Now, Lord God of Israel, please fulfill this promise you made to your servant David.
Now then, O LORD God of Israel, let your word be verified, which you have spoken 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!
But will God in very deed dwell with men on the earth? behold, heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain you; how much less this house which 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.
Have respect therefore to the prayer of your servant, and to his supplication, O LORD my God, to listen to the cry and the prayer which your servant prays 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,
That your eyes may be open on this house day and night, on the place whereof you have said that you would put your name there; to listen to the prayer which your servant prays toward this place.
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.
Listen therefore to the supplications of your servant, and of your people Israel, which they shall make toward this place: hear you from your dwelling place, even from heaven; and when you hear, forgive.
22 When someone sins against another and is required to take an oath declaring the truth before your altar in this Temple,
If a man sin against his neighbor, and an oath be laid on him to make him swear, and the oath come before your altar in this house;
23 listen from heaven, act and judge your servants. Pay back the guilty; vindicate and reward those who do right.
Then hear you from heaven, and do, and judge your servants, by requiting the wicked, by recompensing his way on his own head; and by justifying the righteous, by giving him according to his righteousness.
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,
And if your people Israel be put to the worse before the enemy, because they have sinned against you; and shall return and confess your name, and pray and make supplication before you in this house;
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.
Then hear you from the heavens, and forgive the sin of your people Israel, and bring them again to the land which 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,
When the heaven is shut up, and there is no rain, because they have sinned against you; yet if they pray toward this place, and confess your name, and turn from their sin, when you do 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.
Then hear you from heaven, and forgive the sin of your servants, and of your people Israel, when you have taught them the good way, wherein they should walk; and send rain on your land, which you have given to your people for an inheritance.
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 there be dearth in the land, if there be pestilence, if there be blasting, or mildew, locusts, or caterpillars; if their enemies besiege them in the cities of their land; whatever sore or whatever sickness there be:
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,
Then what prayer or what supplication soever shall be made of any man, or of all your people Israel, when every one shall know his own sore and his own grief, and shall spread forth 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.
Then hear you from heaven your dwelling place, and forgive, and render to every man according to all his ways, whose heart you know; (for you only know the hearts of the children 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.
That they may fear you, to walk in your ways, so long as they live in 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,
Moreover concerning the stranger, which is not of your people Israel, but is come from a far country for your great name’s sake, and your mighty hand, and your stretched out arm; if they come and pray in this house;
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.
Then hear you from the heavens, even from your dwelling place, and do according to all that the stranger calls to you for; that all people of the earth may know your name, and fear you, as does your people Israel, and may know that this house which I have built is called by your name.
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 your people go out to war against their enemies by the way that you shall send them, and they pray to you toward this city which you have chosen, and the house which I have built for your name;
35 then hear from heaven what they are praying and asking for, and support their cause.
Then hear you from the heavens their prayer and their supplication, and maintain their cause.
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.
If they sin against you, (for there is no man which sins not, ) and you be angry with them, and deliver them over before their enemies, and they carry them away captives to a land far off or 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,’
Yet if they bethink themselves in the land where they are carried captive, and turn and pray to you in the land of their captivity, saying, We have sinned, we have done amiss, and have dealt wickedly;
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,
If they return to you with all their heart and with all their soul in the land of their captivity, where they have carried them captives, and pray toward their land, which you gave to their fathers, and toward the city which you have chosen, and toward the house which I have built for 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.
Then hear you from the heavens, even from your dwelling place, their prayer and their supplications, and maintain their cause, and forgive your people which have sinned against you.
40 Now my God, please open your eyes, and may your ears pay attention to the prayers offered in this place.
Now, my God, let, I beseech you, your eyes be open, 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 arise, O LORD God, into your resting place, you, and the ark of your strength: let your priests, O LORD God, be clothed with salvation, and let your saints rejoice in goodness.
42 Lord God, don't reject the king you have chosen. Remember your trustworthy love for your servant David.’”
O LORD God, turn not away the face of your anointed: remember the mercies of David your servant.
