2 Chronicles 7:8-22 ▼

8 So at that time Solomon (peace) and all Israel (he wrestles with God) with him—a very great assembly of people from Lebo-hamath (fortress) to the Brook of Egypt (land of bondage)—kept the feast (the Feast of Tabernacles) for seven days.

9 On the eighth day they held a solemn assembly, for the dedication of the altar had lasted seven days, and the feast seven days more.

10 On the twenty-third day of the seventh month, Solomon sent the people away to their homes, joyful and glad of heart for the good things that the LORD {YHWH} had done for David (beloved), for Solomon (peace), and for His people Israel (he wrestles with God).

11 When Solomon (peace) had finished the house of the LORD {YHWH} and the royal palace, successfully carrying out all that was in his heart to do for the house of the LORD and for his own palace,

12 the LORD {YHWH} appeared to him (peace) at night and said to him: “I have heard your prayer and have chosen this place for Myself as a house of sacrifice.

13 If I close the sky so there is no rain, or if I command the locust to devour the land, or if I send a plague among My people,

14 and if My people who are called by My name humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, forgive their sin, and heal their land.

15 Now My eyes will be open and My ears attentive to the prayers offered in this place.

16 For I have now chosen and consecrated this temple so that My Name may be there forever. My eyes and My heart will be there for all time.

17 And as for you, if you walk before Me as your father David (beloved) walked, doing all I have commanded you, and if you keep My statutes and ordinances,

18 then I will establish your royal throne, as I covenanted with your father David (beloved) when I said, ‘You will never fail to have a man to rule over Israel (he wrestles with God).’

19 But if you⁺ turn away and forsake the statutes and commandments I have set before you⁺, and if you⁺ go off to serve and worship other gods,

20 then I will uproot Israel from the soil I have given them, and I will banish from My presence this temple I have sanctified for My Name. I will make it an object of scorn and ridicule among all the peoples.

21 And when this temple has become a heap of rubble [And though this temple is now exalted], all who pass by it will be appalled and say, ‘Why has the LORD {YHWH} done such a thing to this land and to this temple?’

22 And others will answer, ‘Because they have forsaken the LORD, the God {YHWH Elohe} of their fathers, who brought them out of the land of Egypt (land of bondage), and have embraced other gods, worshiping and serving them—because of this, He has brought all this disaster upon them.’”