1 Then Solomon said, "The LORD has said that he would dwell in a dark cloud;
2 I have built a magnificent temple for you, a place for you to dwell forever."
3 While the whole assembly of Israel was standing there, the king turned around and blessed them.
4 Then he said: "Praise be to the LORD, the God of Israel, who with his hands has fulfilled what he promised with his mouth to my father David. For he said,
5 'Since the day I brought my people out of Egypt, I have not chosen a city in any tribe of Israel to have a temple built so that my Name might be there, nor have I chosen anyone to be ruler over my people Israel.
6 But now I have chosen Jerusalem for my Name to be there, and I have chosen David to rule my people Israel.'
7 "My father David had it in his heart to build a temple for the Name of the LORD, the God of Israel.
8 But the LORD said to my father David, 'You did well to have it in your heart to build a temple for my Name.
9 Nevertheless, you are not the one to build the temple, but your son, your own flesh and blood —he is the one who will build the temple for my Name.'
10 "The LORD has kept the promise he made. I have succeeded David my father and now I sit on the throne of Israel, just as the LORD promised, and I have built the temple for the Name of the LORD, the God of Israel.
11 There I have placed the ark, in which is the covenant of the LORD that he made with the people of Israel."
12 Then Solomon stood before the altar of the LORD in front of the whole assembly of Israel and spread out his hands.
13 Now he had made a bronze platform, five cubits long, five cubits wide and three cubits high, "and had placed it in the center of the outer court. He stood on the platform and then knelt down before the whole assembly of Israel and spread out his hands toward heaven.
14 He said: "LORD, the God of Israel, there is no God like you in heaven or on earth —you who keep your covenant of love with your servants who continue wholeheartedly in your way.
15 You have kept your promise to your servant David my father; with your mouth you have promised and with your hand you have fulfilled it —as it is today.
16 "Now, LORD, the God of Israel, keep for your servant David my father the promises you made to him when you said, 'You shall never fail to have a successor to sit before me on the throne of Israel, if only your descendants are careful in all they do to walk before me according to my law, as you have done.'
17 And now, LORD, the God of Israel, let your word that you promised your servant David come true.
18 "But will God really dwell on earth with humans? The heavens, even the highest heavens, cannot contain you. How much less this temple I have built!
19 Yet, LORD my God, give attention to your servant's prayer and his plea for mercy. Hear the cry and the prayer that your servant is praying in your presence.
20 May your eyes be open toward this temple day and night, this place of which you said you would put your Name there. May you hear the prayer your servant prays toward this place.
21 Hear the supplications of your servant and of your people Israel when they pray toward this place. Hear from heaven, your dwelling place; and when you hear, forgive.
22 "When anyone wrongs their neighbor and is required to take an oath and they come and swear the oath before your altar in this temple,
23 then hear from heaven and act. Judge between your servants, condemning the guilty and bringing down on their heads what they have done, and vindicating the innocent by treating them in accordance with their innocence.
24 "When your people Israel have been defeated by an enemy because they have sinned against you and when they turn back and give praise to your name, praying and making supplication before you in this temple,
25 then hear from heaven and forgive the sin of your people Israel and bring them back to the land you gave to them and their ancestors.
26 "When the heavens are shut up and there is no rain because your people have sinned against you, and when they pray toward this place and give praise to your name and turn from their sin because you have afflicted them,
27 then hear from heaven and forgive the sin of your servants, your people Israel. Teach them the right way to live, and send rain on the land you gave your people for an inheritance.
28 "When famine or plague comes to the land, or blight or mildew, locusts or grasshoppers, or when enemies besiege them in any of their cities, whatever disaster or disease may come,
29 and when a prayer or plea is made by anyone among your people Israel —being aware of their afflictions and pains, and spreading out their hands toward this temple —
30 then hear from heaven, your dwelling place. Forgive, and deal with everyone according to all they do, since you know their hearts (for you alone know the human heart),
31 so that they will fear you and walk in obedience to you all the time they live in the land you gave our ancestors.
32 "As for the foreigner who does not belong to your people Israel but has come from a distant land because of your great name and your mighty hand and your outstretched arm —when they come and pray toward this temple,
33 then hear from heaven, your dwelling place. Do whatever the foreigner asks of you, so that all the peoples of the earth may know your name and fear you, as do your own people Israel, and may know that this house I have built bears your Name.
34 "When your people go to war against their enemies, wherever you send them, and when they pray to you toward this city you have chosen and the temple I have built for your Name,
35 then hear from heaven their prayer and their plea, and uphold their cause.
36 "When they sin against you —for there is no one who does not sin —and you become angry with them and give them over to the enemy, who takes them captive to a land far away or near;
37 and if they have a change of heart in the land where they are held captive, and repent and plead with you in the land of their captivity and say, 'We have sinned, we have done wrong and acted wickedly';
38 and if they turn back to you with all their heart and soul in the land of their captivity where they were taken, and pray toward the land you gave their ancestors, toward the city you have chosen and toward the temple I have built for your Name;
39 then from heaven, your dwelling place, hear their prayer and their pleas, and uphold their cause. And forgive your people, who have sinned against you.
40 "Now, my God, may your eyes be open and your ears attentive to the prayers offered in this place.
41 "Now arise, LORD God, and come to your resting place, you and the ark of your might. May your priests, LORD God, be clothed with salvation, may your faithful people rejoice in your goodness.
42 LORD God, do not reject your anointed one. Remember the great love promised to David your servant."
1 Then said Solomon, The LORD has said that he would dwell in the thick darkness.
2 But I have built an house of habitation for you, and a place for your dwelling for ever.
3 And the king turned his face, and blessed the whole congregation of Israel: and all the congregation of Israel stood.
4 And he said, Blessed be the LORD God of Israel, who has with his hands fulfilled that which he spoke with his mouth to my father David, saying,
5 Since the day that I brought forth my people out of the land of Egypt I chose no city among all the tribes of Israel to build an house in, that my name might be there; neither chose I any man to be a ruler over my people Israel:
6 But I have chosen Jerusalem, that my name might be there; and have chosen David to be over my people Israel.
7 Now it was in the heart of David my father to build an house for the name of the LORD God of Israel.
8 But the LORD said to David my father, For as much as it was in your heart to build an house for my name, you did well in that it was in your heart:
9 Notwithstanding you shall not build the house; but your son which shall come forth out of your loins, he shall build the house for my name.
10 The LORD therefore has performed his word that he has spoken: for I am risen up in the room of David my father, and am set on the throne of Israel, as the LORD promised, and have built the house for the name of the LORD God of Israel.
11 And in it have I put the ark, wherein is the covenant of the LORD, that he made with the children of Israel.
12 And he stood before the altar of the LORD in the presence of all the congregation of Israel, and spread forth his hands:
13 For Solomon had made a brazen scaffold of five cubits long, and five cubits broad, and three cubits high, and had set it in the middle of the court: and on it he stood, and kneeled down on his knees before all the congregation of Israel, and spread forth his hands toward heaven.
14 And said, O LORD God of Israel, there is no God like you in the heaven, nor in the earth; which keep covenant, and show mercy to your servants, that walk before you with all their hearts:
15 You which have kept with your servant David my father that which you have promised him; and spoke with your mouth, and have fulfilled it with your hand, as it is this day.
16 Now therefore, O LORD God of Israel, keep with your servant David my father that which you have promised him, saying, There shall not fail you a man in my sight to sit on the throne of Israel; yet so that your children take heed to their way to walk in my law, as you have walked before me.
17 Now then, O LORD God of Israel, let your word be verified, which you have spoken to your servant David.
18 But will God in very deed dwell with men on the earth? behold, heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain you; how much less this house which I have built!
19 Have respect therefore to the prayer of your servant, and to his supplication, O LORD my God, to listen to the cry and the prayer which your servant prays before you:
20 That your eyes may be open on this house day and night, on the place whereof you have said that you would put your name there; to listen to the prayer which your servant prays toward this place.
21 Listen therefore to the supplications of your servant, and of your people Israel, which they shall make toward this place: hear you from your dwelling place, even from heaven; and when you hear, forgive.
22 If a man sin against his neighbor, and an oath be laid on him to make him swear, and the oath come before your altar in this house;
23 Then hear you from heaven, and do, and judge your servants, by requiting the wicked, by recompensing his way on his own head; and by justifying the righteous, by giving him according to his righteousness.
24 And if your people Israel be put to the worse before the enemy, because they have sinned against you; and shall return and confess your name, and pray and make supplication before you in this house;
25 Then hear you from the heavens, 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 heaven is shut up, and there is no rain, because they have sinned against you; yet if they pray toward this place, and confess your name, and turn from their sin, when you do afflict them;
27 Then hear you from heaven, and forgive the sin of your servants, and of your people Israel, when you have taught them the good way, wherein they should walk; and send rain on your land, which you have given to your people for an inheritance.
28 If there be dearth in the land, if there be pestilence, if there be blasting, or mildew, locusts, or caterpillars; if their enemies besiege them in the cities of their land; whatever sore or whatever sickness there be:
29 Then what prayer or what supplication soever shall be made of any man, or of all your people Israel, when every one shall know his own sore and his own grief, and shall spread forth his hands in this house:
30 Then hear you from heaven your dwelling place, and forgive, and render to every man according to all his ways, whose heart you know; (for you only know the hearts of the children of men:)
31 That they may fear you, to walk in your ways, so long as they live in the land which you gave to our fathers.
32 Moreover concerning the stranger, which is not of your people Israel, but is come from a far country for your great name' sake, and your mighty hand, and your stretched out arm; if they come and pray in this house;
33 Then hear you from the heavens, even from your dwelling place, and do according to all that the stranger calls to you for; that all people of the earth may know your name, and fear you, as does your people Israel, and may know that this house which I have built is called by your name.
34 If your people go out to war against their enemies by the way that you shall send them, and they pray to you toward this city which you have chosen, and the house which I have built for your name;
35 Then hear you from the heavens their prayer and their supplication, and maintain their cause.
36 If they sin against you, (for there is no man which sins not,) and you be angry with them, and deliver them over before their enemies, and they carry them away captives to a land far off or near;
37 Yet if they bethink themselves in the land where they are carried captive, and turn and pray to you in the land of their captivity, saying, We have sinned, we have done amiss, and have dealt wickedly;
38 If they return to you with all their heart and with all their soul in the land of their captivity, where they have carried them captives, and pray toward their land, which you gave to their fathers, and toward the city which you have chosen, and toward the house which I have built for your name:
39 Then hear you from the heavens, even from your dwelling place, their prayer and their supplications, and maintain their cause, and forgive your people which have sinned against you.
40 Now, my God, let, I beseech you, your eyes be open, and let your ears be attentive to the prayer that is made in this place.
41 Now therefore arise, O LORD God, into your resting place, you, and the ark of your strength: let your priests, O LORD God, be clothed with salvation, and let your saints rejoice in goodness.
42 O LORD God, turn not away the face of your anointed: remember the mercies of David your servant.