2 Chronicles 6:1-29 ▼

1 Then Solomon said, “The LORD has said that He would dwell in the thick cloud.

2 “I have built You a lofty house, A place for You to dwell forever.”

3 Then the king turned around and blessed the entire assembly of Israel, while they were all standing.

4 And he said, “Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel, who spoke with His mouth to my father David and has fulfilled with His hands what He promised, saying,

5 ‘Since the day that I brought My people out of the land of Egypt, I did not choose a city among all the tribes of Israel in which to build a house so that My Name (Presence) might be there, nor did I choose any man to be a leader over My people Israel;

6 but I have chosen Jerusalem that My Name might be there, and I have chosen David to be over My people Israel.’

7 Now it was in the heart of my father David to build a house for the Name of the LORD, the God of Israel.

8 But the LORD said to my father David, ‘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 shall build the house for My Name.’

10 Now the LORD has fulfilled His word which He spoke; for I have risen in place of my father David and I sit on the throne of Israel, just as the LORD promised, and have built the house for the Name of the LORD, the God of Israel.

11 There I have placed the ark [the symbol of His Presence] in which is the covenant of the LORD [the Ten Commandments], which He made with the people (descendants) of Israel.”

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

13 For Solomon had made a bronze platform, five cubits square and three cubits high, and had set it in the midst of the courtyard; and he stood on it, and he knelt down on his knees in the presence of all the assembly of Israel and spread out his hands toward heaven,

14 and he said, “O LORD, God of Israel, there is no god like You in heaven or on the earth, keeping covenant and showing mercy and lovingkindness to Your servants who walk before You [in obedience] with all their heart,

15 [You] who have kept Your promise to Your servant David, my father, that which You told him; You have spoken with Your mouth and have fulfilled it with Your hand, as it is today.

16 Now therefore, O LORD, the God of Israel, keep with Your servant David, my father, that which You promised him, saying, ‘You shall not fail to have a man to sit on the throne of Israel, provided your sons are careful to walk in My law as you, [David,] have walked before Me.’

17 Now then, O LORD, the God of Israel, let Your word which You have spoken to Your servant David be confirmed (verified).

18 “But will God actually dwell with mankind on the earth? Behold, heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain You; how much less this house which I have built!

19 Yet have regard for the prayer of Your servant and for his supplication, O LORD my God, to listen to the cry and to the prayer which Your servant prays before You,

20 that Your eyes may be open toward this house day and night, toward the place in which You have said that You would put Your Name (Presence), to listen to the prayer which Your servant shall pray toward this place.

21 So listen to the requests of Your servant and Your people Israel when they pray toward this place. Hear from Your dwelling place, from heaven; and when You hear, forgive.

22 “If a man sins against his neighbor, and he is required to take an oath, and he comes and takes the oath before Your altar in this house,

23 then hear from heaven and act and judge Your servants, punishing the wicked by bringing his conduct on his own head, and providing justice to the righteous by giving to him in accordance with his righteousness (innocence).

24 “If Your people Israel have been defeated by an enemy because they have sinned against You, and they return to You and confess Your name, and pray and make supplication before You in this house,

25 then hear from heaven and forgive the sin of Your people Israel, and bring them again to the land which You gave to them and to their fathers.

26 “When the heavens are shut up and there is no rain because Your people have sinned against You, and they pray toward this place and confess Your name, and turn from their sin when You afflict and humble them;

27 then hear in heaven and forgive the sin of Your servants and Your people Israel, indeed, teach them the good way in which they should walk. And send rain on Your land which You have given to Your people as an inheritance.

28 “If there is famine in the land, if there is pestilence, if there is blight or mildew, if there are [migratory] locusts or grasshoppers, if their enemies besiege them in the land of their cities, whatever plague or whatever sickness there is,

29 then whatever prayer or request is made by any man or all of Your people Israel, each knowing his own suffering and his own pain, and stretching out his hands toward this house,