Solomon Speaks to the People
2 Chronicles 6, verse 1. Then Solomon said: “The Lord said He would dwell in the dark cloud. 2 Chronicles 6, verse 2. But I built a house to your name, a house holy to You, And prepared for You a place to dwell forever.” 2 Chronicles 6, verse 3. Then the king turned around and blessed the whole assembly of Israel, while all the assembly of Israel was standing. 2 Chronicles 6, verse 4. And he said, “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, who fulfilled with His hands what He spoke with His mouth to my father David, saying, 2 Chronicles 6, verse 5. ‘Since the day I brought My people out of the land of Egypt, I chose no city from any tribe of Israel in which to build a house, that My name might be there, nor did I choose any man to be a ruler over My people Israel; 2 Chronicles 6, verse 6. yet I chose Jerusalem so that My name may be there, and I chose David to be over My people Israel.’ 2 Chronicles 6, verse 7. “Now it was in the heart of my father David to build a house for the name of the Lord God of Israel; 2 Chronicles 6, verse 8. but the Lord said to my father David, ‘Whereas it was in your heart to build a house for My name, you did well by having it in your heart, 2 Chronicles 6, verse 9. but you shall not build the house, for your son who will come from your body, he shall build the house for My name.’ 2 Chronicles 6, verse 10. So the Lord fulfilled the word He spoke, and I took my father David's place and sat on the throne of Israel as the Lord said, and I built the house for the name of the Lord God of Israel. 2 Chronicles 6, verse 11. And there I put the ark containing the covenant which the Lord made with Israel.”
The King's Prayer of Dedication
2 Chronicles 6, verse 12. Then Solomon stood before the altar of the Lord in the presence of all the assembly of Israel and spread out his hands; 2 Chronicles 6, verse 13. for Solomon had made a bronze platform five cubits long, five cubits wide, and three cubits high, and had set it in the midst of the court. And he stood on it, knelt down on his knees before all the assembly of Israel, and spread out his hands toward heaven. 2 Chronicles 6, verse 14. And he said, “Lord God of Israel, there is no God in heaven or on earth like You, You who keep Your covenant and mercy with Your servants who walk before You with all their hearts. 2 Chronicles 6, verse 15. You held true to what You promised Your servant David, my father; You spoke with Your mouth and fulfilled it with Your hands, as it is this day. 2 Chronicles 6, verse 16. Now, Lord God of Israel, keep what You promised Your servant David, my father, saying, ‘You shall not fail to have a man sit before Me on the throne of Israel, if your sons guard the way they walk in My law, as you walked before Me.’ 2 Chronicles 6, verse 17. And now, Lord God of Israel, confirm the word You spoke to Your servant David. 2 Chronicles 6, verse 18. “Will God indeed dwell with men on the earth? Behold, heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain You. What is this house I built! 2 Chronicles 6, verse 19. Yet regard the prayer of Your servant and his supplication, Lord my God, and listen to the supplication and the prayer Your servant prays before You today, 2 Chronicles 6, verse 20. so day and night Your eyes may be open toward this house, toward the place where You said You would put Your name, that You may hear the prayer Your servant prays in this place. 2 Chronicles 6, verse 21. And may You hear the supplication of Your servant and Your people Israel when they pray in this place. Hear from Your dwelling place in heaven, and when You hear, be merciful. 2 Chronicles 6, verse 22. If anyone sins against his neighbor and takes an oath, and comes and takes an oath before Your altar in this temple, 2 Chronicles 6, verse 23. then from heaven hear and act and judge Your servants, bringing retribution on the wicked by bringing his way on his own head, and justifying the righteous by giving to him according to his righteousness. 2 Chronicles 6, verse 24. “Or if Your people Israel are defeated before an enemy because they sinned against You, and return and confess Your name, and pray and supplicate before You in this house, 2 Chronicles 6, verse 25. then hear from heaven and have mercy on the sins of Your people Israel and bring them back to the land You gave to them and their fathers. 2 Chronicles 6, verse 26. When the heavens are shut up and there is no rain because they sinned against You, when they pray in this place and confess Your name and turn from their sin because You afflict them, 2 Chronicles 6, verse 27. then hear in heaven and have mercy on the sins of Your servants and Your people Israel, so You may teach them the good way for them to walk and send rain on Your land, the land You gave as an inheritance to Your people. 2 Chronicles 6, verse 28. When there is famine in the land, death and blight and mildew and locusts and grasshoppers, when their enemies besiege their cities, whatever plague or whatever sickness there may be; 2 Chronicles 6, verse 29. whatever prayer, whatever supplication anyone makes, or all Your people Israel make, when each one knows his own burden and his own grief and spreads out his hands in this house; 2 Chronicles 6, verse 30. then hear from heaven, Your dwelling place, and forgive them. And give to everyone according to his ways, for You know his heart, since You alone know the hearts of the sons of men; 2 Chronicles 6, verse 31. so they may fear Your ways as long as they live in the land You gave our fathers. 2 Chronicles 6, verse 32. “And whenever a foreigner, not of Your people Israel, comes from a far country for the sake of Your great name, and for Your mighty hand and Your outstretched arm, and prays in this house, 2 Chronicles 6, verse 33. then hear from Your dwelling place in heaven. Do everything the foreigner calls to You to do, so all the peoples of the earth may know Your name and fear You, as do Your people Israel, so they may know this house I built is called by Your name. 2 Chronicles 6, verse 34. When Your people go to battle against their enemies, wherever You send them, when they pray to You in the city You choose and in the house I built in Your name, 2 Chronicles 6, verse 35. then hear their prayer and their supplication from heaven and sustain their cause. 2 Chronicles 6, verse 36. “When they sin against You—for there is no one who does not sin—and You strike them and deliver them to the enemy, and they are taken captive to a land far or near, 2 Chronicles 6, verse 37. when they turn their hearts back to You in the land where they were carried in captivity, and repent and supplicate You in the land of their captivity, saying, ‘We sinned, we have done wrong and committed wickedness,’ 2 Chronicles 6, verse 38. and when they return to You with all their heart and with all their soul in the land of their captivity where they were carried captive, and pray toward their land You gave their fathers, the city You chose, and the house I built for Your name, 2 Chronicles 6, verse 39. then hear their prayer and their supplications from Your dwelling place in heaven and sustain their cause, and be merciful to Your people who sinned against You. 2 Chronicles 6, verse 40. “My God, I pray, let Your eyes be open and let Your ears be attentive to the prayer made in this place. 2 Chronicles 6, verse 41. Now therefore: “Arise Lord God, to Your resting place, You and the ark of Your strength; Let Your priests, Lord God, be clothed with salvation; And let Your sons rejoice in goodness. 2 Chronicles 6, verse 42. Lord God, do not turn away the face of Your Anointed; Remember the mercies of Your servant David.”