Solomon Blesses the LORD
(1 Kings 8:12–21)

1Then Solomon sayde: The Lord hath spoken, howe that he wil dwell in the darcke cloude.

2And I haue buylt thee an house of habitation for thee, and a place for thy dwelling for euer.

3And the king turned his face and blessed the whole congregation of Israel, & all the congregation of Israel stoode. 4And he sayde: Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, which hath with his handes fulfilled it that he spake with his mouth to my father Dauid, saying: 5Since the day that I brought my people out of the lande of Egypt, I chose no citie among all the tribes of Israel to buylde an house in, that my name might be there, neither chose I any man to be a ruler ouer my people Israel: 6Sauing that I haue chosen Hierusalem, that my name might be there, and haue chosen Dauid to be ouer my people Israel. 7And when it was in the heart of Dauid my father to buylde an house for the name of the Lorde God of Israel, 8The Lorde sayde to Dauid my father: Forasmuch as it was in thyne heart to buylde an house for my name, thou diddest well that thou thoughtest in thyne heart. 9Notwithstanding, thou shalt not buyld the house: but thy sonne which is proceeded out of thy loynes, he shall buylde an house for my name. 10The Lorde therefore hath made good his saying that he hath spoken: and I am rysen vp in the roome of Dauid my father, and am set on the seate of Israel, as the Lorde promised, and haue buylt an house for the name of the Lord God of Israel. 11And in it haue I put the arke wherein is the couenaunt of the Lorde that he made with the children of Israel.

Solomon’s Prayer of Dedication
(1 Kings 8:22–53)

12And the king stoode before the aulter of the Lorde in the presence of all the congregation of Israel, and stretched out his handes: 13(For now Solomon had made a brasen scaffold of fyue cubites long, and fyue cubites brode, and three of heyght, and had set it in the middes of the great courte, and vpon it he stoode and kneeled downe vpon his knees before al the congregation of Israel, and stretched out his handes towarde heauen,) 14And sayde: O Lorde God of Israel, there is no god like thee in heauen and earth, which kepest couenaunt & shewest mercie vnto thy seruauntes that walke before thee with al their heartes. 15Thou whiche hast kept with thy seruaunt Dauid my father the thinges that thou promisedst him, thou saydest it with thy mouth, & hast fulfilled it with thyne handes, as it is to see this day. 16And nowe Lorde God of Israel, kepe with thy seruaunt Dauid my father the thinges that thou promisedst him, saying, Thou shalt in my sight not be without a man that shall sit vpon the seate of Israel, so that thy children take heede to their wayes to walke in my lawe, as thou hast walked before me. 17And nowe Lord God of Israel, let thy saying be true whiche thou spakest vnto thy seruaunt Dauid.

18(And wil God in verie deede dwel with men on earth? Beholde, heauen and heauen aboue all heauens do not contayne thee, howe much lesse the house which I haue buylded?) 19Let it be thy pleasure therfore to turne to the prayer of thy seruaunt and to his supplication O Lorde my God, to hearken vnto the voyce and prayer whiche thy seruaunt prayeth before thee, 20And let thyne eyes be open towarde this house day & night, ouer this place wherof thou hast sayde that thou wouldest put thy name there, to hearken vnto the prayer whiche thy seruaunt prayeth in this place. 21Hearken vnto the prayers of thy seruaunt and of thy people Israel, which they pray in this place: heare thou I say, out of thy dwelling place, euen out of heauen, heare, and be mercifull.

22If a man sinne against his neyghbour, and take an oth agaynst hym and make him to sweare, and they both come before thyne aulter in this house: 23Then heare thou from heauen, and do and iudge thy seruauntes, that thou rewarde the vngodly & recompence hym his way vpon his head, and iustifie the righteous, and geue him according to his righteousnes.

24And if thy people Israel be put to the worse before the enemie, because they haue sinned against thee: Yet if they turne & geue thankes vnto thy name, and make intercession, and pray before thee in this house: 25Then heare thou from heauen, and be merciful vnto the sinne of thy people Israel, and bryng them againe vnto the lande which thou gauest to them and to their fathers.

26When heauen is shut vp, and there be no rayne, because they haue sinned against thee: yet if they pray in this place, and confesse thy name, and repent from their sinne for the which thou chastenest them: 27Then heare thou in heauen, and be merciful vnto the sinne of thy seruauntes & of thy people Israel, and guyde thou them into the good way to walke in, and send rayne vpon thy lande whiche thou hast geuen vnto thy people for an inheritaunce.

28And if ther be dearth in the land, or pestilence, corruption, or blasting of corne, grashoppers, or caterpillers, or that their enemies besiege them in the cities of their land, or whatsoeuer plage or sickenesse it be: 29Then what supplications and prayers soeuer shalbe made of any man and of all thy people Israel, which shall know euery man his owne sore, and his owne griefe, & shall stretche out their handes towarde this house: 30Thou shalt heare from heauen, euen from thy dwelling place, and shalt be mercifull, and geue euery man according vnto all his wayes, euen as thou doest know euery mans heart: (for thou only knowest the heartes of the children of men,) 31That they may feare thee, & walke in thy wayes as long as they liue, in ye land which thou gauest vnto our fathers.

32Moreouer, the straunger whiche is not of thy people Israel, if he come from a farre lande for thy great names sake, and thy mightie hande, and thy stretched outarme: If they come I say, and pray in this house: 33Thou shalt heare from heauen, euen from thy dwelling place, and shalt do according to all that the straunger calleth to thee for: That all people of the earth may knowe thy name, and feare thee as doth thy people Israel, and that they may knowe how that in this house whiche I haue buylt, thy name is called vpon.

34If thy people go out to warre against their enemies by the way that thou shalt sende them, and they pray to thee in the way towarde this citie whiche thou hast chosen, euen toward the house which I haue buylt for thy name: 35Then heare thou from heauen their supplication and prayer, and helpe them in their right.

36If they sinne against thee (as there is no man but he doth sinne) and thou be angry with them, and deliuer them ouer before their enemies, and they take them and carie them away captiues vnto a lande farre or neare: 37Yet if they repent in their heart in the lande where they be in captiuitie, and turne, and pray vnto thee in the land of their captiuitie, saying, We haue sinned, we haue done euyll and wickedly: 38And turne againe to thee with all their heart and all their soule in the lande of their captiuitie where they kepe them in bondage, and so pray towarde their land whiche thou gauest vnto their fathers, euen toward the citie which thou hast chosen, & toward the house whiche I haue buylt for my name: 39Then heare thou from heauen, euen from thy dwelling place, their supplication and their prayer, and iudge their cause, and be mercifull vnto thy people which haue sinned against thee.

40Now my God, let thine eyes be open, and thyne eares attent vnto the prayer that is made in this place.

41Nowe vp O Lorde God into thy resting place, thou and the arke of thy strength: O Lorde God, let thy priestes be clothed with health, & let thy sainctes reioyce in goodnesse.

42O Lord God, turne not away the face of thyne annoynted: remember the mercies whiche thou hast promised to Dauid thy seruaunt.