| New International Version | New Living Translation |
| 1Then Solomon said, "The LORD has said that he would dwell in a dark cloud; | 1Then Solomon prayed, “O LORD, you have said that you would live in a thick cloud of darkness. |
| 2I have built a magnificent temple for you, a place for you to dwell forever." | 2Now I have built a glorious Temple for you, a place where you can live forever!” |
| 3While the whole assembly of Israel was standing there, the king turned around and blessed them. | 3Then the king turned around to the entire community of Israel standing before him and gave this blessing: |
| 4Then he said: "Praise be to the LORD, the God of Israel, who with his hands has fulfilled what he promised with his mouth to my father David. For he said, | 4“Praise the LORD, the God of Israel, who has kept the promise he made to my father, David. For he told my father, |
| 5Since the day I brought my people out of Egypt, I have not chosen a city in any tribe of Israel to have a temple built so that my Name might be there, nor have I chosen anyone to be ruler over my people Israel. | 5‘From the day I brought my people out of the land of Egypt, I have never chosen a city among any of the tribes of Israel as the place where a Temple should be built to honor my name. Nor have I chosen a king to lead my people Israel. |
| 6But now I have chosen Jerusalem for my Name to be there, and I have chosen David to rule my people Israel.' | 6But now I have chosen Jerusalem as the place for my name to be honored, and I have chosen David to be king over my people Israel.’” |
| 7"My father David had it in his heart to build a temple for the Name of the LORD, the God of Israel. | 7Then Solomon said, “My father, David, wanted to build this Temple to honor the name of the LORD, the God of Israel. |
| 8But the LORD said to my father David, 'You did well to have it in your heart to build a temple for my Name. | 8But the LORD told him, ‘You wanted to build the Temple to honor my name. Your intention is good, |
| 9Nevertheless, you are not the one to build the temple, but your son, your own flesh and blood--he is the one who will build the temple for my Name.' | 9but you are not the one to do it. One of your own sons will build the Temple to honor me.’ |
| 10"The LORD has kept the promise he made. I have succeeded David my father and now I sit on the throne of Israel, just as the LORD promised, and I have built the temple for the Name of the LORD, the God of Israel. | 10“And now the LORD has fulfilled the promise he made, for I have become king in my father’s place, and now I sit on the throne of Israel, just as the LORD promised. I have built this Temple to honor the name of the LORD, the God of Israel. |
| 11There I have placed the ark, in which is the covenant of the LORD that he made with the people of Israel." | 11There I have placed the Ark, which contains the covenant that the LORD made with the people of Israel.” Solomon’s Prayer of Dedication |
| 12Then Solomon stood before the altar of the LORD in front of the whole assembly of Israel and spread out his hands. | 12Then Solomon stood before the altar of the LORD in front of the entire community of Israel, and he lifted his hands in prayer. |
| 13Now he had made a bronze platform, five cubits long, five cubits wide and three cubits high, and had placed it in the center of the outer court. He stood on the platform and then knelt down before the whole assembly of Israel and spread out his hands toward heaven. | 13Now Solomon had made a bronze platform 7 1/2 feet long, 7 1/2 feet wide, and 4 1/2 feet high and had placed it at the center of the Temple’s outer courtyard. He stood on the platform, and then he knelt in front of the entire community of Israel and lifted his hands toward heaven. |
| 14He said: "LORD, the God of Israel, there is no God like you in heaven or on earth--you who keep your covenant of love with your servants who continue wholeheartedly in your way. | 14He prayed, “O LORD, God of Israel, there is no God like you in all of heaven and earth. You keep your covenant and show unfailing love to all who walk before you in wholehearted devotion. |
| 15You have kept your promise to your servant David my father; with your mouth you have promised and with your hand you have fulfilled it--as it is today. | 15You have kept your promise to your servant David, my father. You made that promise with your own mouth, and with your own hands you have fulfilled it today. |
| 16"Now, LORD, the God of Israel, keep for your servant David my father the promises you made to him when you said, 'You shall never fail to have a successor to sit before me on the throne of Israel, if only your descendants are careful in all they do to walk before me according to my law, as you have done.' | 16“And now, O LORD, God of Israel, carry out the additional promise you made to your servant David, my father. For you said to him, ‘If your descendants guard their behavior and faithfully follow my Law as you have done, one of them will always sit on the throne of Israel.’ |
| 17And now, LORD, the God of Israel, let your word that you promised your servant David come true. | 17Now, O LORD, God of Israel, fulfill this promise to your servant David. |
| 18"But will God really dwell on earth with humans? The heavens, even the highest heavens, cannot contain you. How much less this temple I have built! | 18“But will God really live on earth among people? Why, even the highest heavens cannot contain you. How much less this Temple I have built! |
| 19Yet, LORD my God, give attention to your servant's prayer and his plea for mercy. Hear the cry and the prayer that your servant is praying in your presence. | 19Nevertheless, listen to my prayer and my plea, O LORD my God. Hear the cry and the prayer that your servant is making to you. |
| 20May your eyes be open toward this temple day and night, this place of which you said you would put your Name there. May you hear the prayer your servant prays toward this place. | 20May you watch over this Temple day and night, this place where you have said you would put your name. May you always hear the prayers I make toward this place. |
| 21Hear the supplications 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. | 21May you hear the humble and earnest requests from me and your people Israel when we pray toward this place. Yes, hear us from heaven where you live, and when you hear, forgive. |
| 22"When anyone wrongs their neighbor and is required to take an oath and they come and swear the oath before your altar in this temple, | 22“If someone wrongs another person and is required to take an oath of innocence in front of your altar at this Temple, |
| 23then hear from heaven and act. Judge between your servants, condemning the guilty and bringing down on their heads what they have done, and vindicating the innocent by treating them in accordance with their innocence. | 23then hear from heaven and judge between your servants—the accuser and the accused. Pay back the guilty as they deserve. Acquit the innocent because of their innocence. |
| 24"When your people Israel have been defeated by an enemy because they have sinned against you and when they turn back and give praise to your name, praying and making supplication before you in this temple, | 24“If your people Israel are defeated by their enemies because they have sinned against you, and if they turn back and acknowledge your name and pray to you here in this Temple, |
| 25then hear from heaven and forgive the sin of your people Israel and bring them back to the land you gave to them and their ancestors. | 25then hear from heaven and forgive the sin of your people Israel and return them to this land you gave to them and to their ancestors. |
| 26"When the heavens are shut up and there is no rain because your people have sinned against you, and when they pray toward this place and give praise to your name and turn from their sin because you have afflicted them, | 26“If the skies are shut up and there is no rain because your people have sinned against you, and if they pray toward this Temple and acknowledge your name and turn from their sins because you have punished them, |
| 27then hear from heaven and forgive the sin of your servants, your people Israel. Teach them the right way to live, and send rain on the land you gave your people for an inheritance. | 27then hear from heaven and forgive the sins of your servants, your people Israel. Teach them to follow the right path, and send rain on your land that you have given to your people as their special possession. |
| 28"When famine or plague comes to the land, or blight or mildew, locusts or grasshoppers, or when enemies besiege them in any of their cities, whatever disaster or disease may come, | 28“If there is a famine in the land or a plague or crop disease or attacks of locusts or caterpillars, or if your people’s enemies are in the land besieging their towns—whatever disaster or disease there is— |
| 29and when a prayer or plea is made by anyone among your people Israel--being aware of their afflictions and pains, and spreading out their hands toward this temple-- | 29and if your people Israel pray about their troubles or sorrow, raising their hands toward this Temple, |
| 30then hear from heaven, your dwelling place. Forgive, and deal with everyone according to all they do, since you know their hearts (for you alone know the human heart), | 30then hear from heaven where you live, and forgive. Give your people what their actions deserve, for you alone know each human heart. |
| 31so that they will fear you and walk in obedience to you all the time they live in the land you gave our ancestors. | 31Then they will fear you and walk in your ways as long as they live in the land you gave to our ancestors. |
| 32"As for the foreigner who does not belong to your people Israel but has come from a distant land because of your great name and your mighty hand and your outstretched arm--when they come and pray toward this temple, | 32“In the future, foreigners who do not belong to your people Israel will hear of you. They will come from distant lands when they hear of your great name and your strong hand and your powerful arm. And when they pray toward this Temple, |
| 33then hear from heaven, your dwelling place. Do whatever the foreigner asks of you, so that all the peoples of the earth may know your name and fear you, as do your own people Israel, and may know that this house I have built bears your Name. | 33then hear from heaven where you live, and grant what they ask of you. In this way, all the people of the earth will come to know and fear you, just as your own people Israel do. They, too, will know that this Temple I have built honors your name. |
| 34"When your people go to war against their enemies, wherever you send them, and when they pray to you toward this city you have chosen and the temple I have built for your Name, | 34“If your people go out where you send them to fight their enemies, and if they pray to you by turning toward this city you have chosen and toward this Temple I have built to honor your name, |
| 35then hear from heaven their prayer and their plea, and uphold their cause. | 35then hear their prayers from heaven and 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 give them over to the enemy, who takes them captive to a land far away or near; | 36“If they sin against you—and who has never sinned?—you might become angry with them and let their enemies conquer them and take them captive to a foreign land far away or near. |
| 37and if they have a change of heart in the land where they are held captive, and repent and plead with you in the land of their captivity and say, 'We have sinned, we have done wrong and acted wickedly'; | 37But in that land of exile, they might turn to you in repentance and pray, ‘We have sinned, done evil, and acted wickedly.’ |
| 38and if they turn back to you with all their heart and soul in the land of their captivity where they were taken, and pray toward the land you gave their ancestors, toward the city you have chosen and toward the temple I have built for your Name; | 38If they turn to you with their whole heart and soul in the land of their captivity and pray toward the land you gave to their ancestors—toward this city you have chosen, and toward this Temple I have built to honor your name— |
| 39then from heaven, your dwelling place, hear their prayer and their pleas, and uphold their cause. And forgive your people, who have sinned against you. | 39then hear their prayers and their petitions from heaven where you live, and uphold their cause. Forgive your people who have sinned against you. |
| 40"Now, my God, may your eyes be open and your ears attentive to the prayers offered in this place. | 40“O my God, may your eyes be open and your ears attentive to all the prayers made to you in this place. |
| 41"Now arise, LORD God, and come to your resting place, you and the ark of your might. May your priests, LORD God, be clothed with salvation, may your faithful people rejoice in your goodness. | 41“And now arise, O LORD God, and enter your resting place, along with the Ark, the symbol of your power. May your priests, O LORD God, be clothed with salvation; may your loyal servants rejoice in your goodness. |
| 42LORD God, do not reject your anointed one. Remember the great love promised to David your servant." | 42O LORD God, do not reject the king you have anointed. Remember your unfailing love for your servant David.” |
| New International Version (NIV) Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. | Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved. |
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