2 Chronicles 6

¹Then Solomon said, 'The LORD said he would dwell in thick darkness.

²I have built a house of lofty abode for you, a place for you to dwell in forever.

³Then the king turned around and blessed all the assembly of Israel, while all the assembly of Israel was standing.

⁴He said, "Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, who with his mouth spoke to David my father, and with his hand has fulfilled it, saying,

⁵'From the day that I brought my people out of the land of Egypt, I chose no city from all the tribes of Israel in which to build a house, that my name might be there; and I chose no man to be a prince over my people Israel.

⁶but I chose Jerusalem that my name might be there, and I chose David to be over my people Israel.'

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

⁸the Lord said to David my father, 'Because it was in your heart to build a house for my name, you did well in that it was in your heart.

⁹but it is not you who shall build the house, but your son who shall come forth from your loins — he shall build the house for my name.'

¹⁰The Lord has fulfilled the word that he spoke. I have risen in the place of David my father and sit on the throne of Israel, as the Lord promised, and I have built the house for the name of the Lord, the God of Israel.

¹¹There I have placed the ark in which is the covenant of the Lord that he made with the Israelites."

¹²Then he stood before the altar of the LORD in the presence of all the assembly of Israel and spread out his hands.

¹³For Solomon had made a bronze platform and placed it in the middle of the court; it was five cubits long, five cubits wide, and three cubits high. He stood on it, then knelt on his knees before all the assembly of Israel, and spread out his hands toward heaven.

¹⁴and said, 'O LORD, God of Israel, there is no God like you, in heaven or on earth, keeping covenant and steadfast love with your servants who walk before you with all their heart;

¹⁵you who have kept for your servant David my father what you promised him. What you spoke with your mouth you have also fulfilled with your hand, as it is this day.

¹⁶Now therefore, O LORD, God of Israel, keep for your servant David my father what you promised him, saying, 'You shall never lack a man before me to sit on the throne of Israel, if only your sons pay close attention to their way, walking in my law as you have walked before me.'

¹⁷Now therefore, O Lord, God of Israel, let your word be confirmed, which you spoke to your servant David.

¹⁸But will God indeed dwell with mortals on earth? Behold, the highest heaven cannot contain you; how much less this house that I have built!

¹⁹Yet have regard for the prayer of your servant and his supplication, O Lord my God, listening to the cry and to the prayer that your servant is praying before you.

²⁰that your eyes may be open toward this house day and night, toward the place where you have said you would set your name, to hear the prayer that your servant prays toward this place.

²¹Hear the supplications of your servant and of your people Israel, when they pray toward this place. Hear from heaven your dwelling place, and when you hear, forgive.

²²'If a man sins against his neighbor and is made to take an oath, and comes to swear before your altar in this house,

²³then hear from heaven and act, and judge your servants, repaying the guilty by bringing his conduct on his own head, and vindicating the righteous by rewarding him according to his righteousness.

²⁴'And if your people Israel are defeated before an enemy because they have sinned against you, and they turn and acknowledge your name and pray and make supplication before you in this house,

²⁵then hear from heaven and forgive the sin of your people Israel, and bring them back to the land that you gave to them and to their fathers.

²⁶'When heaven is shut up and there is no rain because they have sinned against you, if they pray toward this place and acknowledge your name and turn from their sin, when you afflict them,

²⁷then hear in heaven and forgive the sin of your servants and of your people Israel, for you teach them the good way in which they should walk, and send rain on your land that you have given to your people as an inheritance.

²⁸'If there is famine in the land, if there is pestilence, blight, or mildew, if there are locusts or grasshoppers, if their enemies besiege them in any of their cities, whatever plague or sickness there may be,

²⁹whatever prayer and supplication is made by any one person or by all your people Israel, each knowing his own affliction and his own pain, when he spreads out his hands toward this house —

³⁰then hear from heaven your dwelling place and forgive, and render to each according to all his ways, whose heart you know, for you alone know the hearts of the children of men —

³¹so that they may fear you, walking in your ways all the days that they live upon the face of the land that you gave to our fathers.

³²'Also concerning the foreigner who is not from your people Israel, when he comes from a distant land for the sake of your great name and your mighty hand and your outstretched arm, when he comes and prays toward this house,

³³then hear from heaven your dwelling place and do all that the foreigner calls to you for, so that all the peoples of the earth may know your name and fear you, as does your people Israel, and so that they may know that this house I have built is called by your name.

³⁴When your people go out to battle against their enemies by the way that you send them, and they pray to you toward this city that you have chosen and the house that I built for your name,

³⁵then hear from the heavens their prayer and their supplication, and uphold their cause.

³⁶When they sin against you — for there is no one who does not sin — and you are angry with them and give them over before an enemy, and their captors carry them off to a land far away or near,

³⁷and they take it to heart in the land where they were taken captive, and turn and plead with you in the land of their captivity, saying, 'We have sinned, we have acted perversely, and we have acted wickedly,'

³⁸and they return to you with all their heart and with all their soul in the land of their captivity where they were taken captive, and they pray toward their land which you gave to their fathers and the city which you have chosen and the house which I have built for your name,

³⁹then hear from the heavens, from your dwelling place, their prayer and their supplications, and uphold their cause, and forgive your people who have sinned against you.

⁴⁰Now, O my God, may your eyes be open and your ears attentive to the prayer of this place.

⁴¹And now, arise, O Lord God, to your resting place, you and the ark of your strength; let your priests, O Lord God, be clothed with deliverance, and let your faithful ones rejoice in goodness.

⁴²O the Lord God, do not turn away the face of your anointed ones; remember the loyal love of David your servant.