2 Chronicles 6

1Then Solomon said, “Yahweh has said that he would dwell in the thick darkness.”

2But I have built for you a lofty house, a place for you to dwell forever.

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

4And he said, “Blessed be Yahweh, the God of Israel, who spoke with his mouth to David my father and has fulfilled it by his hand, saying,”

5From the day that I brought my people out of the land of Egypt, I have not chosen a city from any of the tribes of Israel to build a house for my name to be there, nor have I chosen a man to be ruler over my people Israel.

6But I have chosen Jerusalem for my name to be there, and I have chosen David to be over my people Israel.

7It was in the heart of David my father to build a house for the name of Yahweh, the God of Israel.

8But Yahweh said to David my father, ‘Because it was in your heart to build a house for my name, you did well that it was in your heart.’

9Yet you shall not build the house; rather, your son, who will come from your own body, shall build the house for my name.

10And Yahweh has fulfilled his word that he spoke, and I have risen in the place of David my father and sit on the throne of Israel, as Yahweh spoke, and I have built the house for the name of Yahweh, the God of Israel.

11And there I have placed the ark, in which is the covenant of Yahweh, which he made with the sons of Israel.

12Then he stood before the altar of Yahweh in front of all the assembly of Israel and spread out his hands.

13For Solomon had made a bronze platform and set it in the midst of the court; it was five cubits long, five cubits wide, and three cubits high. He stood on it, then knelt on his knees before all the assembly of Israel and spread out his hands toward heaven.

14And he said, “O Yahweh, God of Israel, there is no God like you in heaven or on earth, keeping the covenant and the steadfast love for your servants who walk before you with all their heart.”

15You have kept for your servant David my father what you spoke to him; with your mouth you have spoken, and with your hand you have fulfilled it, as it is this day.

16And now, LORD, God of Israel, keep for your servant David my father what you spoke to him, saying, ‘A man to sit on the throne of Israel before me shall not be cut off from you, if only your sons keep their way by walking in my law, as you have walked before me.’

17Now, Yahweh, God of Israel, let your word that you spoke to your servant David be confirmed.

18But will God indeed dwell with man on the earth? Behold, heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain you, much less this house that I have built.

19Yet turn toward the prayer of your servant and his plea for favor, O Yahweh my God, to hear the cry and the prayer that your servant is praying before you.

20that your eyes may be open toward this house day and night, toward the place where you said you would put your name, to hear the prayer that your servant prays toward this place.

21And hear the pleas of your servant and of your people Israel when they pray toward this place. And may you hear from your dwelling place, from heaven, and when you hear, forgive.

22If a man sins against his neighbor, and an oath is laid on him to make him swear, and he comes and the oath is before your altar in this house,

23then hear from heaven and act, and judge your servants, repaying the wicked by bringing his way upon his own head, and vindicating the righteous by giving to him according to his righteousness.

24If your people Israel are struck down before an enemy because they have sinned against you, and they turn back and confess your name, and pray and plead for favor before you in this house,

25then you will hear from heaven, and forgive the sin of your people Israel, and bring them back to the land that you gave to them and to their fathers.

26When the heavens are shut up and there is no rain because they have sinned against you, and they pray toward this place and confess your name and turn from their sin because you answer them,

27then may you hear in heaven and forgive the sin of your servants and of your people Israel, when you teach them the good way in which they should walk, and give rain on your land that you have given to your people as an inheritance.

28If there is famine in the land, if there is plague, blight, mildew, locust, or caterpillar; if his enemies besiege him in the land of his gates; whatever plague and whatever sickness there may be—

29whatever prayer, whatever plea may be made by any man or by all your people Israel, each knowing his own affliction and his own pain, and spreading out his hands toward this house—

30then may you hear from heaven, the place of your dwelling, and forgive, and give to each man according to all his ways, whose heart you know—for you alone know the heart of the sons of man—

31so that they may fear you and walk in your ways all the days that they live on the face of the land that you gave to our fathers.

32And also concerning the foreigner, who is not from your people Israel, but comes from a distant land because of your great name and your mighty hand and your outstretched arm, when they come and pray toward this house,

33then hear from heaven, from your dwelling place, and do according to all that the foreigner calls to you for, so that all the peoples of the earth may know your name and fear you, as your people Israel do, and may know that your name is called upon this house that I have built.

34If your people go out to battle against their enemies by the way that you send them, and they pray to you toward this city that you have chosen and the house that I have built for your name,

35then hear from heaven their prayer and their plea for favor, and maintain their cause.

36When they sin against you—for there is no one who does not sin—and you are angry with them and give them over to an enemy, and their captors carry them away to a land far or near,

37and if they come to their senses in the land where they were taken captive, and turn back and plead with you in the land of their captivity, saying, ‘We have sinned, we have acted perversely, and we have acted wickedly,’

38and they return to you with all their heart and with all their soul in the land of their captivity, where they were taken captive, and pray toward their land that you gave to their fathers, and toward the city that you have chosen, and toward the house that I have built for your name,

39then hear from heaven, from the place where you dwell, their prayer and their pleas, and maintain their cause, and forgive your people who have sinned against you.

40Now, my God, please let your eyes be open and your ears attentive to the prayer of this place.

41And now arise, O Yahweh God, to your resting place, you and the ark of your strength. Let your priests, O Yahweh God, be clothed with salvation, and let your faithful ones rejoice in what is good.

42O Yahweh God, do not turn away the face of your anointed one; remember the steadfast love shown to David your servant.