Solomon’s Prayer of Dedication

22And Solomon stood before the altar of the Lord in the presence of all the congregation of Israel, and spread forth his hands toward heaven:

23And he said, Lord God of Israel, there is no God like You, in heaven above, or on earth beneath, who keeps covenant and mercy with Your servants that walk before You with all their heart:

24Who have kept with Your servant David my father that You promised him: You spoke also with Your mouth, and have fulfilled it with Your hand, as it is this day.

25Therefore now, Lord God of Israel, keep with Your servant David my father that You promised him, saying, There shall not fail you a man in My sight to sit on the throne of Israel; so that your children take heed to their way, that they walk before Me as you have walked before Me.

26And now, O God of Israel, let Your word, I pray You, be verified, which You spoke to Your servant David my father.

27But will God indeed dwell on the earth? behold, the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain You; how much less this house that I have built?

28Yet have You respect to the prayer of Your servant, and to his supplication, O Lord my God, to hearken to the cry and to the prayer, which Your servant prays before You to day:   regard; appeal; listen

29That Your eyes may be open toward this house night and day, even toward the place of which You have said, My name shall be there: that You may hearken to the prayer which Your servant shall make toward this place.

30And hearken You to the supplication of Your servant, and of Your people Israel, when they shall pray toward this place: and hear You in heaven Your dwelling place: and when You hear, forgive.

31If any man trespass against his neighbor, and an oath be laid upon him to cause him to swear, and the oath come before Your altar in this house:   promise

32Then hear You in heaven, and do, and judge Your servants, condemning the wicked, to bring his way upon his head; and justifying the righteous, to give him according to his righteousness.

33When Your people Israel be smitten down before the enemy, because they have sinned against You, and shall turn again to You, and confess Your name, and pray, and make supplication to You in this house:   struck

34Then hear You in heaven, and forgive the sin of Your people Israel, and bring them again to the land which You gave to their fathers.

35When heaven is shut up, and there is no rain, because they have sinned against You; if they pray toward this place, and confess Your name, and turn from their sin, when You afflict them:

36Then hear You in heaven, and forgive the sin of Your servants, and of Your people Israel, that You teach them the good way wherein they should walk, and give rain upon Your land, which You have given to Your people for an inheritance.

37If there be in the land famine, if there be pestilence, blasting, mildew, locust, or if there be caterpillar; if their enemy besiege them in the land of their cities; whatsoever plague, whatsoever sickness there be;   disease; blight

38What prayer and supplication soever be made by any man, or by all Your people Israel, which shall know every man the plague of his own heart, and spread forth his hands toward this house:

39Then hear You in heaven Your dwelling place, and forgive, and do, and give to every man according to his ways, whose heart You know; (for You, even You only, know the hearts of all the children of men;)

40That they may fear You all the days that they live in the land which You gave to our fathers.   revere

41Moreover concerning a stranger, that is not of Your people Israel, but come out of a far country for Your name’s sake;

42(For they shall hear of Your great name, and of Your strong hand, and of Your stretched out arm;) when he shall come and pray toward this house;

43Hear You in heaven 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, to fear You, as do Your people Israel; and that they may know that this house, which I have built, is called by Your name.

44If Your people go out to battle against their enemy, wherever You shall send them, and shall pray to the Lord toward the city which You have chosen, and toward the house that I have built for Your name:

45Then hear You in heaven their prayer and their supplication, and maintain their cause.

46If they sin against You, (for there is no man that sins not,) and You be angry with them, and deliver them to the enemy, so that they carry them away captives to the land of the enemy, far or near;

47Yet if they shall bethink themselves in the land where they were carried captives, and repent, and make supplication to You in the land of them that carried them captives, saying, We have sinned, and have done perversely, we have committed wickedness;   wickedly; change their minds

48And so return to You with all their heart, and with all their soul, in the land of their enemies, which led them away captive, and pray to You toward their land, which You gave to their fathers, the city which You have chosen, and the house which I have built for Your name:

49Then hear You their prayer and their supplication in heaven Your dwelling place, and maintain their cause,

50And forgive Your people that have sinned against You, and all their transgressions wherein they have transgressed against You, and give them compassion before them who carried them captive, that they may have compassion on them:

51For they be Your people, and Your inheritance, which You brought forth out of Egypt, from the midst of the furnace of iron:

52That Your eyes may be open to the supplication of Your servant, and to the supplication of your people Israel, to hearken to them in all that they call for to You.

53For You did separate them from among all the people of the earth, to be Your inheritance, as You spoke by the hand of Moses Your servant, when You brought our fathers out of Egypt, O Lord God.   Adonai^p.f. Jehovah^s.f.