2 Chronicles 6:1-42
6 Then Solomon said
“Jehovah has listed to dwell in darkling air;
2 But I have built a hall for you,An abode for you forever.”
3 And the king turned around and blessed all the assembly of Israel, while all the assembly of Israel stood;
4 and he said “Blessed be Jehovah the God of Israel, who said with his mouth to my father David and has with his hands made it good,
5 ‘Since the day that I brought my people out of Egypt I had not chosen a city out of any of the tribes of Israel for building a house where my name should be, nor chosen a man to be warden over my people Israel;
6 but I have chosen Jerusalem where my name should be, and I have chosen David to be over my people Israel.’
7 And my father David had in mind to build a house for the name of Jehovah the God of Israel;
8 but Jehovah said to my father David ‘Whereas you had in mind to build a house for my name, you did well to have it in mind;
9 yet you shall not build the house, but your son, who comes out of your loins, he shall build the house for my name.’
10 And Jehovah has been as good as his word, and I have risen in place of my father David and have taken my seat on the throne of Israel as Jehovah promised, and have built the house for the name of Jehovah the God of Israel,
11 and have placed there the ark where Jehovah’s covenant is, which he made with the sons of Israel.”
12 And he stood before the altar of Jehovah in the presence of all the assembly of Israel, and spread out his hands
13 (for Solomon had made a bronze rostrum, and put it in the middle of the precinct, seven and a half feet long and seven and a half feet wide and four and a half feet high, and he stood on it and knelt down before all the assembly of Israel and spread out his hands to the sky)
14 and said “Jehovah, God of Israel, there is not a God like you in the heavens and on earth, keeping covenant and friendship with your servants who walk before you with all their hearts,
15 seeing you have kept your word with my father David and spoken with your mouth and made good with your hands as this day.
16 And now, Jehovah, God of Israel, keep with your servant my father David your word ‘You shall never be without a man before me who shall sit on the throne of Israel, if only your sons guard their ways, walking by my instructions as you did’;
17 now, Jehovah, God of Israel, let your word to your servant David prove true.
18 “But will God really live with men on earth? why, the skies and the skies of the skies cannot contain you, much less this house that I have built;
19 but turn to your servant’s prayer and petition, Jehovah my God, listening to the appeal and prayer that your servant is praying before you,
20 that your eyes be open toward this house day and night, toward the place where you have thought to place your name, listening to the prayer that your servant prays toward this place,
21 * and that you listen to the petitions of your servant and of your people Israel that they pray toward this place, and that you hear out of your dwelling-place heaven, and, listening, forgive.
22 “If a man does wrong by his neighbor, and he raises a curse on him, cursing him out, and comes and pronounces the curse before your altar in this house,
23 and you hear it out of heaven, act and judge your servants, requiting the knave, sending retribution upon his head, and vindicating the man who stands for his rights, sending to him what he deserves.
24 “And if your people Israel are beaten by an enemy because they sin against you, but they come back and confess your name and pray and beseech before you in this house,
25 and you hear it out of heaven, forgive the sin of your people Israel, and bring them back to the soil you gave to them and to their fathers.
26 “When the sky is barred and there is no rain, because they sin against you, and they pray toward this place and confess your name, coming back from their sin because you afflict them,
27 and you hear it in heaven, forgive the sin of your servants and your people Israel, when you guide them on the good path that they are to walk in, and give rain on your country which you give to your people as a domain.
28 “When famine there is in the country, when pestilence there is, when on the grain there is blasting or mildew, spring grasshoppers, fall grasshoppers, when their enemies beset them in any of their gates, in every calamity, in every malady,
29 whatever prayer or petition any man or all your people Israel may have, each feeling his own blow and pain and spreading out his hands toward this house,
30 and you hearing it out of heaven your dwelling-place, forgive and act and give to each as he deserves, as you know his heart (for you alone know the hearts of mankind),
31 that they may fear you, walking in your ways, all the time they live over the soil you gave their fathers.
32 * “And as to the foreigner too, who does not belong to your people Israel, but comes from a distant country drawn by your name (because they will hear of your great name and strong hand and outstretched arm and will come and pray toward this house,
33 and you will hear it out of heaven your dwelling-place), do as the foreigner may call on you to, in order that all the peoples of the earth may know your name, fearing you like your people Israel, and knowing that this house I have built wears your name.
34 “When your people go out to war against their enemies on a course you send them on, and pray to you toward this city which you have chosen and the house I have built for your name,
35 and you hear out of heaven their prayer and petition, do justice for them.
36 When they sin against you (for there is no man who does not sin) and you are angry with them and give them to be defeated before an enemy, and their captors carry them as slaves to a far country or a near, and in the country to which they are carried off
37 they bethink themselves and come back and beseech you in the country of their slavery, saying ‘We have sinned, we have offended and are guilty,’
38 and come back to you sincerely and wholeheartedly in the country of their captors who carried them off, and pray toward their country that you gave to their fathers and the city you have chosen and the house I have built for your name,
39 and you hear their prayer and petition out of heaven your dwelling-place, do justice for them and forgive your people who have sinned against you.
40 “Now, my God, let your eyes be open and your ears sharpened for prayer at this place.
41 “And now up, Jehovah, to come to your resting-place, you and your ark of might. Let your priests, Jehovah God, be robed in salvation, and your godly men glad by goodness.
42 * Jehovah God, do not refuse to listen to your anointed one; remember the piety of your servant David.”
Footnotes
^ 6:21 (first part) Susp.
^ 6:32 Codd. from a distant country on account of your great name and strong hand and outstretched arm, and they come and pray toward this house, and you hear it out of heaven your dwelling-place, do as
^ 6:42 Or remember your friendship with your
