2 Chronicles 6

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

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

3 And as the whole assembly of Israel stood there, the king turned around and blessed them all

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,

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.

6 But now I have chosen Jerusalem for My Name to be there, and I have chosen 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.

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.

9 Nevertheless, you are not the one to build it; but your son, your own offspring, will 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.

11 And there I have placed the ark, which contains the covenant of the LORD that He made with the children of Israel.”

12 Then Solomon stood before the altar of the LORD in front of the whole assembly 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,

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.

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.

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.’

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

18 But will God indeed dwell with man upon the earth? The heavens, even the highest heavens, cannot contain You, much less this temple 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.

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.

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.

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,

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.

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,

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.

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,

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.

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,

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

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—

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.

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,

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.

34 When Your people go to war against their enemies, wherever You send them, and when they pray to You in the direction of this city You have chosen and the house I have built for Your Name,

35 then may You hear from heaven their prayer and their plea, and may You uphold 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,

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,’

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,

39 then may You hear from heaven, Your dwelling place, their prayer and pleas, and may You uphold their cause. May You forgive Your people who sinned against You.

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

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

1 ¶ Then said Solomon, The LORD hath said that he would dwell in the thick darkness.

2 But I have built an house of habitation for thee, and a place for thy dwelling for ever.

3 And the king turned his face, and blessed the whole congregation of Israel: and all the congregation of Israel stood.

4 And he said, Blessed [be] the LORD God of Israel, who hath with his hands fulfilled [that] which he spake with his mouth to my father David, saying,

5 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 I have chosen Jerusalem, that my name might be there; and have chosen David to be over my people Israel.

7 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 said to David my father, Forasmuch as it was in thine heart to build an house for my name, thou didst well in that it was in thine heart:

9 Notwithstanding thou shalt not build the house; but thy son which shall come forth out of thy loins, he shall build the house for my name.

10 The LORD therefore hath performed his word that he hath 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 And in it have I put the ark, wherein [is] the covenant of the LORD, that he made with the children of Israel.

12 ¶ And he stood before the altar of the LORD in the presence of all the congregation of Israel, and spread forth his hands:

13 For Solomon had made a brasen scaffold, of five cubits long, and five cubits broad, and three cubits high, and had set it in the midst of the court: and upon it he stood, and kneeled down upon his knees before all the congregation of Israel, and spread forth his hands toward heaven,

14 And said, O LORD God of Israel, [there is] no God like thee in the heaven, nor in the earth; which keepest covenant, and [shewest] mercy unto thy servants, that walk before thee with all their hearts:

15 Thou which hast kept with thy servant David my father that which thou hast promised him; and spakest with thy mouth, and hast fulfilled [it] with thine hand, as [it is] this day.

16 Now therefore, O LORD God of Israel, keep with thy servant David my father that which thou hast promised him, saying, There shall not fail thee a man in my sight to sit upon the throne of Israel; yet so that thy children take heed to their way to walk in my law, as thou hast walked before me.

17 Now then, O LORD God of Israel, let thy word be verified, which thou hast spoken unto thy servant David.

18 But will God in very deed dwell with men on the earth? behold, heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain thee; how much less this house which I have built!

19 Have respect therefore to the prayer of thy servant, and to his supplication, O LORD my God, to hearken unto the cry and the prayer which thy servant prayeth before thee:

20 That thine eyes may be open upon this house day and night, upon the place whereof thou hast said that thou wouldest put thy name there; to hearken unto the prayer which thy servant prayeth toward this place.

21 Hearken therefore unto the supplications of thy servant, and of thy people Israel, which they shall make toward this place: hear thou from thy dwelling place, [even] from heaven; and when thou hearest, forgive.

22 If a man sin against his neighbour, and an oath be laid upon him to make him swear, and the oath come before thine altar in this house;

23 Then hear thou from heaven, and do, and judge thy servants, by requiting the wicked, by recompensing his way upon his own head; and by justifying the righteous, by giving him according to his righteousness.

24 And if thy people Israel be put to the worse before the enemy, because they have sinned against thee; and shall return and confess thy name, and pray and make supplication before thee in this house;

25 Then hear thou from the heavens, and forgive the sin of thy people Israel, and bring them again unto the land which thou gavest to them and to their fathers.

26 When the heaven is shut up, and there is no rain, because they have sinned against thee; [yet] if they pray toward this place, and confess thy name, and turn from their sin, when thou dost afflict them;

27 Then hear thou from heaven, and forgive the sin of thy servants, and of thy people Israel, when thou hast taught them the good way, wherein they should walk; and send rain upon thy land, which thou hast given unto thy people for an inheritance.

28 If there be dearth in the land, if there be pestilence, if there be blasting, or mildew, locusts, or caterpillers; if their enemies besiege them in the cities of their land; whatsoever sore or whatsoever sickness [there be]:

29 [Then] what prayer [or] what supplication soever shall be made of any man, or of all thy 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 thou from heaven thy dwelling place, and forgive, and render unto every man according unto all his ways, whose heart thou knowest; (for thou only knowest the hearts of the children of men:)

31 That they may fear thee, to walk in thy ways, so long as they live in the land which thou gavest unto our fathers.

32 Moreover concerning the stranger, which is not of thy people Israel, but is come from a far country for thy great name's sake, and thy mighty hand, and thy stretched out arm; if they come and pray in this house;

33 Then hear thou from the heavens, [even] from thy dwelling place, and do according to all that the stranger calleth to thee for; that all people of the earth may know thy name, and fear thee, as [doth] thy people Israel, and may know that this house which I have built is called by thy name.

34 If thy people go out to war against their enemies by the way that thou shalt send them, and they pray unto thee toward this city which thou hast chosen, and the house which I have built for thy name;

35 Then hear thou from the heavens their prayer and their supplication, and maintain their cause.

36 If they sin against thee, (for [there is] no man which sinneth not,) and thou be angry with them, and deliver them over before [their] enemies, and they carry them away captives unto a land far off or near;

37 Yet [if] they bethink themselves in the land whither they are carried captive, and turn and pray unto thee in the land of their captivity, saying, We have sinned, we have done amiss, and have dealt wickedly;

38 If they return to thee with all their heart and with all their soul in the land of their captivity, whither they have carried them captives, and pray toward their land, which thou gavest unto their fathers, and [toward] the city which thou hast chosen, and toward the house which I have built for thy name:

39 Then hear thou from the heavens, [even] from thy dwelling place, their prayer and their supplications, and maintain their cause, and forgive thy people which have sinned against thee.

40 Now, my God, let, I beseech thee, thine eyes be open, and [let] thine ears [be] attent unto the prayer [that is made] in this place.

41 Now therefore arise, O LORD God, into thy resting place, thou, and the ark of thy strength: let thy priests, O LORD God, be clothed with salvation, and let thy saints rejoice in goodness.

42 O LORD God, turn not away the face of thine anointed: remember the mercies of David thy servant.

1 Then said Solomon, The LORD hath spoken to dwell in darkness.

2 For I have built thee an house for thy dwelling, and a tabernacle for thy everlasting habitation.

3 And the king turned his face, and blessed all the congregation of Israel: for all the congregation of Israel stood.

4 And he said, Blessed be the LORD God of Israel, which spake by his mouth unto David my father, and filled it with his hand, saying:

5 Since the time that I brought my people up out of the land of Egypt, I have not chosen a city in all the tribes of Israel to build an house for my name, neither have I chosen a man to be ruler over my people Israel;

6 But Jerusalem have I chosen, that my name should be there; and David have I chosen, that he should be over my people Israel.

7 And it was in the mind of David my father to build an house unto the name of the LORD God of Israel,

8 And the LORD said unto David my father, Thou hast done well to think to build an house for my name.

9 Yet thou shalt not build the house: but thy son, which shall come out of thy loins, shall build the house for my name.

10 Now therefore the LORD hath confirmed his word which he spake: for I am risen up in the stead of David my father, and sit upon the throne of Israel, as the LORD spake, and have built an house unto the name of the LORD God of Israel,

11 And I have put therein the ark, wherein is the covenant of the LORD, which he made with the children of Israel.

12 And he stood before the altar of the LORD in the sight of all the congregation of Israel, and spread forth his hands.

13 For Solomon had made a pulpit of brass, and set it in the midst of the bars, five cubits long and broad, and three cubits high: and he stood upon it, and bowed himself on his knees before all the congregation of Israel, and stretched forth his hands toward heaven.

14 And said, O LORD God of Israel, there is no God like unto thee, in heaven, or in earth; who keepest covenant and mercy unto thy servants that walk before thee with all their heart.

15 Thou hast kept that which thou spakest unto thy servant David my father; with thy mouth hast thou spoken it, and with thine hand hast thou performed it, as it is this day.

16 Now therefore, O LORD God of Israel, keep unto thy servant David my father that which thou hast spoken unto him, saying, There shall not fail thee a man before me to sit on the throne of Israel: but if thy children keep their way, to walk in my law, as thou hast walked before me.

17 Now therefore, O LORD God of Israel, let thy word come to pass, which thou hast spoken unto thy servant David.

18 For thinkest thou that God dwelleth with men upon the earth? Behold, the heavens and all the heavens cannot provide for thee: how then shall the house which I have built?

19 But turn, O LORD my God, unto the prayer of thy servant, and to his supplications, that thou mayest hear the supplication and the prayer which thy servant maketh before thee,

20 That thine eyes may be open upon this house day and night, upon the place where thou hast spoken thy name to set it; that thou mayest hear the prayer which thy servant shall make in this place.

21 Hear therefore the supplication of thy servant, and of thy people Israel, which they shall make in this place: hear thou it from the place of thy dwelling from heaven, and when thou hearest it, be gracious.

22 If a man sin against his neighbour, and an oath be laid upon him, which he shall swear: and the oath shall be before thine altar in this house,

23 Then hear thou from heaven, and do justice unto thy servant, to recompense the wicked, and to give his way upon his head, and to justify the righteous, and to give him according to his righteousness.

24 When thy people Israel are smitten before their enemies, because they have sinned against thee, and are converted, and confess thy name, pray and make supplication before thee in this house,

25 Then hear thou from heaven, and be merciful to the sin of thy people Israel, and bring them again into the land which thou gavest them and their fathers.

26 When the heaven is shut up, that it rain not, because they have sinned against thee, and pray in this place, confessing thy name, and turning from their sins, because thou hast humbled them,

27 Then hear thou in heaven, and be merciful to the sin of thy servants, and of thy people Israel, to teach them the good way wherein they should walk, and to rain upon thy land, which thou hast given to thy people to possess.

28 If there be a famine in the land, or pestilence, or drought, or blight, or locusts, or caterpillars; or if his enemy besiege his gates in the land, or any plague or disease:

29 Then whosoever shall ask or make supplication among all men, and among all thy people Israel, if any man feel his affliction or his pain, and spread out his hands unto this house,

30 Then hear thou from heaven, from thy dwelling place, and be gracious, and give to every man according to all his ways, by which thou knowest his heart (for thou only knowest the heart of the children of men),

31 That they may fear thee, and walk in thy ways all the days that they live in the land which thou gavest unto our fathers.

32 Though a stranger, which is not of thy people Israel, come from a far country for thy great name, and for thy mighty hand, and for thine outstretched arm, and pray unto this house,

33 Then hear thou from heaven, from thy dwelling place, and do according to all that he calleth unto thee, that all people of the earth may know thy name, and fear thee, as do thy people Israel, and know that this house which I have built is called by thy name.

34 When thy people go out to battle against their enemies by the way which thou shalt send them, and pray unto thee by the way of this city which thou hast chosen, and of the house which I have built for thy name,

35 Then hear thou their prayer and their supplication from heaven, and restore them to their right.

36 If they sin against thee, (for there is no man that sinneth not,) and thou be angry with them, and deliver them up before their enemies, that they may carry them away captives into a far country, or into a near country,

37 And they turn in their hearts in the land wherein they are captives within, and turn and cry unto thee in the land of their captivity, and say: We have sinned, and transgressed, and been ungodly,

38 And they shall turn unto thee with all their heart and with all their soul in the land of their captivity, where they are carried captive, and shall pray toward the way of their land, which thou gavest unto their fathers, and toward the city which thou hast chosen, and toward the house which I have built for thy name,

39 Then hear thou their prayer and their supplication from heaven, from thy dwelling place, and restore them to their right, and have mercy on thy people which have sinned against thee.

40 Therefore, O my God, let your eyes be open and your ears attentive to the prayer in this place.

41 Therefore arise, O LORD God, to your rest, you and the ark of your power! Let your priests, O LORD God, be clothed with salvation, and your saints rejoice in the good!

42 Thou, O LORD GOD, turn not away the face of thine anointed; remember the mercy promised to thy servant David.