| [an error occurred while processing this directive] | NET Bible |
| 1[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 1Then Solomon said, "The LORD has said that he lives in thick darkness. |
| 2[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 2O LORD, I have built a lofty temple for you, a place where you can live permanently." |
| 3[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 3Then the king turned around and pronounced a blessing over the whole Israelite assembly as they stood there. |
| 4[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 4He said, "The LORD God of Israel is worthy of praise because he has fulfilled what he promised my father David. |
| 5[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 5He told David, 'Since the day I brought my people out of the land of Egypt, I have not chosen a city from all the tribes of Israel to build a temple in which to live. Nor did I choose a man as leader of my people Israel. |
| 6[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 6But now I have chosen Jerusalem as a place to live, and I have chosen David to lead my people Israel.' |
| 7[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 7Now my father David had a strong desire to build a temple to honor the LORD God of Israel. |
| 8[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 8The LORD told my father David, 'It is right for you to have a strong desire to build a temple to honor me. |
| 9[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 9But you will not build the temple; your very own son will build the temple for my honor.' |
| 10[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 10The LORD has kept the promise he made. I have taken my father David's place and have occupied the throne of Israel, as the LORD promised. I have built this temple for the honor of the LORD God of Israel |
| 11[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 11and set up in it a place for the ark containing the covenant the LORD made with the Israelites." |
| 12[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 12He stood before the altar of the LORD in front of the entire assembly of Israel and spread out his hands. |
| 13[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 13Solomon had made a bronze platform and had placed it in the middle of the enclosure. It was seven and one-half feet long, seven and one-half feet wide, and four and one-half feet high. He stood on it and then got down on his knees in front of the entire assembly of Israel. He spread out his hands toward the sky, |
| 14[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 14and prayed: "O LORD God of Israel, there is no god like you in heaven or on earth! You maintain covenantal loyalty to your servants who obey you with sincerity. |
| 15[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 15You have kept your word to your servant, my father David; this very day you have fulfilled what you promised. |
| 16[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 16Now, O LORD God of Israel, keep the promise you made to your servant, my father David, when you said, 'You will never fail to have a successor ruling before me on the throne of Israel, provided that your descendants watch their step and obey my law as you have done.' |
| 17[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 17Now, O LORD God of Israel, may the promise you made to your servant David be realized. |
| 18[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 18"God does not really live with humankind on the earth! Look, if the sky and the highest heaven cannot contain you, how much less this temple I have built! |
| 19[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 19But respond favorably to your servant's prayer and his request for help, O LORD my God. Answer the desperate prayer your servant is presenting to you. |
| 20[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 20Night and day may you watch over this temple, the place where you promised you would live. May you answer your servant's prayer for this place. |
| 21[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 21Respond to the requests of your servant and your people Israel for this place. Hear from your heavenly dwelling place and respond favorably and forgive. |
| 22[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 22"When someone is accused of sinning against his neighbor and the latter pronounces a curse on the alleged offender before your altar in this temple, |
| 23[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 23listen from heaven and make a just decision about your servants' claims. Condemn the guilty party, declare the other innocent, and give both of them what they deserve. |
| 24[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 24"If your people Israel are defeated by an enemy because they sinned against you, then if they come back to you, renew their allegiance to you, and pray for your help before you in this temple, |
| 25[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 25then listen from heaven, forgive the sin of your people Israel, and bring them back to the land you gave to them and their ancestors. |
| 26[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 26"The time will come when the skies are shut up tightly and no rain falls because your people sinned against you. When they direct their prayers toward this place, renew their allegiance to you, and turn away from their sin because you punish them, |
| 27[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 27then listen from heaven and forgive the sin of your servants, your people Israel. Certainly you will then teach them the right way to live and send rain on your land that you have given your people to possess. |
| 28[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 28"The time will come when the land suffers from a famine, a plague, blight, and disease, or a locust invasion, or when their enemy lays siege to the cities of the land, or when some other type of plague or epidemic occurs. |
| 29[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 29When all your people Israel pray and ask for help, as they acknowledge their intense pain and spread out their hands toward this temple, |
| 30[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 30then listen from your heavenly dwelling place, forgive their sin, and act favorably toward each one based on your evaluation of their motives. (Indeed you are the only one who can correctly evaluate the motives of all people.) |
| 31[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 31Then they will honor you by obeying you throughout their lifetimes as they live on the land you gave to our ancestors. |
| 32[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 32"Foreigners, who do not belong to your people Israel, will come from a distant land because of your great reputation and your ability to accomplish mighty deeds; they will come and direct their prayers toward this temple. |
| 33[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 33Then listen from your heavenly dwelling place and answer all the prayers of the foreigners. Then all the nations of the earth will acknowledge your reputation, obey you like your people Israel do, and recognize that this temple I built belongs to you. |
| 34[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 34"When you direct your people to march out and fight their enemies, and they direct their prayers to you toward this chosen city and this temple I built for your honor, |
| 35[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 35then listen from heaven to their prayers for help and vindicate them. |
| 36[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 36"The time will come when your people will sin against you (for there is no one who is sinless!) and you will be angry at them and deliver them over to their enemies, who will take them as prisoners to their land, whether far away or close by. |
| 37[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 37When your people come to their senses in the land where they are held prisoner, they will repent and beg for your mercy in the land of their imprisonment, admitting, 'We have sinned and gone astray, we have done evil!' |
| 38[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 38When they return to you with all their heart and being in the land where they are held prisoner and direct their prayers toward the land you gave to their ancestors, your chosen city, and the temple I built for your honor, |
| 39[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 39then listen from your heavenly dwelling place to their prayers for help, vindicate them, and forgive your sinful people. |
| 40[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 40"Now, my God, may you be attentive and responsive to the prayers offered in this place. |
| 41[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 41Now ascend, O LORD God, to your resting place, you and the ark of your strength! May your priests, O LORD God, experience your deliverance! May your loyal followers rejoice in the prosperity you give! |
| 42[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 42O LORD God, do not reject your chosen ones! Remember the faithful promises you made to your servant David!" |
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