2 Chronicles 6

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

2But I have built you an exalted house, a place for you to dwell forever.”

3Then the king turned around and blessed the whole assembly of Israel, while the whole assembly of Israel stood.

4He said, “Blessed be Yahweh, the God of Israel, who with his own hands has fulfilled what he promised with his own mouth to David my father, when he said,

5‘Since the day I brought my people out of the land of Egypt, I have not chosen a city from any of the tribes of Israel in which to build a house so that my name might be there, and I did not choose anyone to be leader over my people Israel.

6But I have chosen Jerusalem so that my name might 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 to have this in your heart.

9Nevertheless, you are not the one who will build the house. Your son, who will come from your own body, is the one who will build the house for my name.’

10Now Yahweh has fulfilled the promise he made. I have succeeded David my father and sit on the throne of Israel, just as Yahweh promised, and I have built the house for the name of Yahweh, the God of Israel.

11There I have placed the ark, in which is the covenant of Yahweh that he made with the Israelites.”

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

13For Solomon had made a bronze platform five cubits long, five cubits wide, and three cubits high, and had set it in the middle of the court. He stood on it, then knelt down in front of the whole assembly of Israel and spread out his hands toward heaven.

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

15You have kept what you promised to your servant David my father. You spoke with your mouth, and with your hand you have fulfilled it, as it is today.

16Now, Yahweh, God of Israel, keep what you promised to your servant David my father when you said, ‘You will never lack a man before me to sit on the throne of Israel, if only your sons are careful in their way, to walk 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 really dwell with humankind on the earth? Look, heaven, even the highest heaven, cannot contain you. How much less this house that I have built!

19Yet turn to your servant’s prayer and his plea for mercy, Yahweh my God, and listen to 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, and that you may listen to the prayer your servant prays toward this place.

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

22When someone sins against a neighbor and is required to swear an oath, and comes and swears the oath before your altar in this house,

23then listen from heaven and act. Judge your servants, repaying the guilty by bringing what they have done on their own heads, and vindicating the righteous by rewarding them according to their righteousness.

24When your people Israel are defeated before an enemy because they have sinned against you, and they turn back and acknowledge your name, and pray and plead for mercy before you in this house,

25then listen from heaven and forgive the sin of your people Israel, and bring them back to the land you gave to them and to their ancestors.

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

27then listen in heaven and forgive the sin of your servants, your people Israel, when you teach them the good way in which they should walk, and send rain on your land, which you gave to your people as an inheritance.

28When there is famine in the land, when there is plague, blight or mildew, locusts or grasshoppers, when their enemies besiege them in the land of their cities, whatever plague or whatever sickness there may be,

29whatever prayer, whatever plea for mercy is made by anyone or by all your people Israel, each of them knowing their own affliction and their own pain and spreading out their hands toward this house,

30then listen from heaven, your dwelling place, and forgive, and give to each person according to all their ways, since you know their heart—for you alone know the hearts of all people—

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

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

33then listen from heaven, from your dwelling place, and do all that the foreigner asks of you, so that all the peoples of the earth may know your name and fear you, as your people Israel do, and may know that this house I have built is called by your name.

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

35then listen from heaven to their prayer and their plea, and uphold their cause.

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

37if they have a change of heart in the land where they are held captive, and turn and plead with you in the land of their captivity, saying, ‘We have sinned, we have done wrong, and we have acted wickedly,’

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

39then listen from heaven, from your dwelling place, to their prayer and their pleas, uphold their cause, and forgive your people who have sinned against you.

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

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

42Yahweh God, do not turn away the face of your anointed one. Remember your steadfast love for David your servant.”