2 Chronicles 6

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

² But I have built you an exalted house,
a place for you to dwell in forever."

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

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

⁵ 'Since the day I brought my people out of the land of Egypt, I chose no city out of all the tribes of Israel to build a house for my name to be there, and I chose no one as ruler over my people Israel.

⁶ But 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 David my father to build a house for the name of the LORD, the God of Israel.

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

⁹ Nevertheless, you shall not build the house, but your son who will be born to you—he will build the house for my name.'

¹⁰ Now the LORD has fulfilled his promise that he made. I have risen in 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.

¹¹ There I have placed the ark, in which is the covenant of the LORD that he made with the people of Israel."

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

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

¹⁴ He said, "O LORD, God of Israel, there is no God like you in heaven or on earth—you who keep your covenant and show faithful love to your servants who walk before you with all their heart.

¹⁵ You have kept your promise to your servant David my father. What you spoke with your mouth, you have fulfilled with your hand, as it is this day.

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

¹⁷ Now, O LORD, God of Israel, let your word that you spoke to your servant David be confirmed.

¹⁸ "But will God indeed dwell with mankind on the earth? Look, heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain you—how much less this house that I have built!

¹⁹ Yet turn toward the prayer of your servant and his plea, O LORD my God, to listen to the cry and the prayer that your servant prays before you,

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

²¹ Hear the pleas 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 required to take an oath, and he comes and swears before your altar in this house,

²³ then hear from heaven and act. 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 "If your people Israel are defeated before an enemy because they have sinned against you, and they turn back and confess your name and pray and plead 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 to them and to their ancestors.

²⁶ "When the heavens are shut up and there is no rain because they have sinned against you, and they pray toward this place and confess your name and turn from their sin because you have afflicted them,

²⁷ then hear in heaven and forgive the sin of your servants, 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, mildew, locust, or grasshopper, if their enemies besiege them in the land of their cities—whatever plague, whatever sickness—

²⁹ whatever prayer or plea is made by anyone or by all your people Israel—each knowing his own affliction and his own pain, and spreading out his hands toward this house—

³⁰ then hear from heaven, your dwelling place, and forgive. Render to each according to all his ways, since you know his heart—for you alone know the hearts of the children of mankind—

³¹ so that they may fear you, to walk in your ways all the days that they live on the face of the land you gave to our ancestors.

³² "Also concerning 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 your outstretched arm—when he comes and prays toward this house,

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

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

³⁵ then hear from heaven their prayer and their plea, and uphold their cause.

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

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

³⁸ if they turn back to you with all their heart and all their soul in the land of their captivity where they were taken captive, and pray toward their land that you gave to their ancestors, the city you have chosen, and the house I have built for your name—

³⁹ then hear from heaven, your dwelling place, their prayer and their pleas, and uphold their cause. Forgive your people who have sinned against you.

⁴⁰ "Now, my God, let your eyes be open and your ears attentive to the prayer made in this place.

⁴¹ "Now arise, O LORD God, to your resting place,
you and the ark of your might.
Let your priests, O LORD God, be clothed with salvation,
and let your faithful ones rejoice in your goodness.

⁴² O LORD God, do not turn away the face of your anointed one.
Remember the faithful acts of David your servant."