2 Chronicles 6
1 Then Solomon said, O Lord, to the sun you have given the heaven for a living-place, but your living-place was not seen by men,
Then Solomon said, “Yahweh, you said that you would live in a dark cloud.
2 So I have made for you a living-place, a house in which you may be for ever present.
But now I have built a glorious temple for you to live in forever!”
3 Then, turning his face about, the king gave a blessing to all the men of Israel; and they were all on their feet together.
Then while all the people stood there, Solomon turned toward the people and he [asked God to] bless them.
4 And he said, Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, who himself gave his word to my father David, and with his strong hand has made his word come true, saying,
He said to them, “Praise Yahweh, the God to whom we Israelis belong, who has caused to happen what he promised to my father David. What he said to David was this:
5 From the day when I took my people out of the land of Egypt, no town in all the tribes of Israel has been marked out by me for the building of a house for the resting-place of my name; and I took no man to be a ruler over my people Israel;
‘From the time that I brought my people out of Egypt, I have never chosen a city in Israel in which a temple should be built for people to [worship] me there. Nor did I choose anyone to be the leader of my Israeli people.
6 But now I have made selection of Jerusalem, that my name might be there, and of David, to be over my people Israel.
But now I have chosen Jerusalem to be the place for people to worship me, and I have chosen you to rule my Israeli people.’”
7 Now it was in the heart of my father David to put up a house for the name of the Lord, the God of Israel.
[Then Solomon said], “My father David wanted to build a temple for Yahweh, the God to whom we Israelis belong.
8 But the Lord said to David my father, You did well to have in your heart the desire to make a house for my name:
But Yahweh said to him, ‘You have wanted to build a temple for me, and what you wanted to do was good.
9 But you yourself will not be the builder of the house; but your son, the offspring of your body, he it is who will put up a house for my name.
However, you are not the one who I want to build the temple; it is one of your own sons who [I want to] build a temple for me.’
10 And the Lord has kept his word; for I have taken my father David's place on the seat of the kingdom of Israel, as the Lord gave his word; and I have made the house for the name of the Lord the God of Israel.
“And Yahweh has done what he promised to do. I have become the king of Israel to succeed my father, and I am ruling the people, like Yahweh promised, and I have arranged for this temple to be built for us to worship Yahweh, the God to whom we Israelis belong.
11 And there I have put the ark, in which is the agreement of the Lord, which he made with the people of Israel.
I have put the Sacred Chest in the temple, in which are the stone tablets [on which are engraved the Ten Commandments of] the agreement that Yahweh made with us Israeli people.”
12 Then he took his place in front of the altar of the Lord, all the men of Israel being present,
Then Solomon stood in front of the altar which was in front of the people of Israel who had gathered there.
13 (For Solomon had made a brass stage, five cubits long, five cubits wide and three cubits high, and had put it in the middle of the open space; on this he took his place and went down on his knees before all the meeting of Israel, stretching out his hands to heaven.)
His workers had built a bronze platform there [for him to stand on], which was 7-1/2 feet long and 7-1/2 feet wide and 4-1/2 feet high. They put it in the outer courtyard. Solomon stood on that platform and then knelt down in front of all the people of Israel who had gathered there, and he spread out his arms toward heaven,
14 And he said, O Lord, the God of Israel, there is no God like you in heaven or on earth; keeping faith and mercy unchanging for your servants, while they go in your ways with all their hearts;
and he prayed, “Yahweh, the God to whom we Israeli people belong, there is no God like you in heaven or on the earth. You solemnly promised that you would faithfully love us, and that is what you have done for us who earnestly do what you want us to do.
15 For you have kept the word which you gave to your servant David, my father; with your mouth you said it and with your hand you have made it come true this day.
“You have done the things that you promised my father David, who served you [very well], that you would do. Truly, you promised to do those things for him, and today we see that by your power you have caused it all to happen.
16 So now, O Lord, the God of Israel, let your word to your servant David, my father, come true, when you said, You will never be without a man to take his place before me on the seat of the kingdom of Israel; if only your children give attention to their ways, walking in my law, as you have done before me.
“So now, Yahweh, the God we Israelis belong to, please do the things that you promised to my father David that you would do. You said that there would always be some of his descendants to rule Israel, if they faithfully conduct their lives as he did.
17 So now, O Lord, the God of Israel, make your word come true which you said to your servant David.
So now, God of us Israeli people, cause what you promised David, who served you [well], to happen.
18 But is it truly possible that God may be housed with men on earth? see, heaven and the heaven of heavens are not wide enough to be your resting-place: how much less this house which I have made:
“But, my God, will you really live on earth among people? There is surely not enough space for you in the sky, or even in the heaven! So there is surely not enough space for you to live in this temple that my workers have built.
19 Still, let your heart be turned to the prayer of your servant and to his prayer for grace, O Lord my God, and give ear to the cry and the prayer which your servant makes before you;
But Yahweh, my God, please listen to my prayer, while I am pleading with you this day and do what I am requesting.
20 That your eyes may be open to this house day and night, to this place of which you have said that you would put your name there; to give ear to the prayer which your servant may make, turning to this place.
Please protect this temple day and night. This is the place about which you have said, ‘I will always be there.’ Please listen to my prayer about this place.
21 And give ear to the prayers of your servant and of your people Israel, when they make their prayers, turning to this place; give ear from heaven your living-place; and hearing have mercy.
Listen to me when I pray, and listen to your Israeli people when they pray. Listen from heaven, where you live; and when you hear us pray, forgive us.
22 If a man does wrong to his neighbour and has to take an oath, and comes before your altar to take his oath in this house:
“If someone is accused of doing something wrong to another person, and they bring him to testify in front of your altar outside this holy temple, and if he says, ‘I did not do that; may God punish me if I am not telling the truth,’
23 Then let your ear be open in heaven, and be the judge of your servants, giving punishment to the wrongdoer, so that his sin may come on his head; and, by your decision, keeping from evil him who has done no wrong.
then you listen from heaven, and you decide who is telling the truth. Then punish the person who is guilty as he deserves to be punished, and declare that the other person is innocent.
24 And if your people Israel are overcome in war, because of their sin against you; if they are turned to you again, honouring your name, making prayers and requesting your grace in this house:
“And when your Israeli people are defeated by their enemies because they sinned against you, [and forced to go to some distant country, ] if they turn away from their sinful behavior and turn toward this temple and admit [that] you [have justly punished them], and plead [that you will forgive them],
25 Then give ear from heaven, and let the sin of your people Israel have forgiveness, and take them back again to the land which you gave to them and to their fathers.
listen to them from heaven and forgive your Israeli people for the sins that they [have committed], and bring them back to this land that you gave to our ancestors.
26 When heaven is shut up and there is no rain, because of their sin against you: if they make prayers with their faces turned to this place, honouring your name and turning away from their sin when you send trouble on them:
“When you do not allow any rain to fall because your people have sinned against you, if they turn toward this temple and admit [that] you [have justly punished them], and turn away from their sinful behavior and humbly pray to you,
27 Then give ear from heaven, so that the sin of your servants and the sin of your people Israel may have forgiveness, when you make clear to them the good way in which they are to go; and send rain on your land which you have given to your people for their heritage.
hear from heaven and forgive the sins of your Israeli people. Teach them the right way to conduct their lives. Then cause it to rain here on the land that you gave to your people to belong to them [permanently].
28 If there is no food in the land, if there is disease, if the fruits of the earth are damaged by heat or water, locust or worm; if their towns are shut in by their attackers: whatever trouble or whatever disease there may be:
“And when the people of this land experience famines or if there is a plague, or when their crops are destroyed by very hot winds or by mildew or by locusts or grasshoppers, or when their enemies surround any of their cities [in order to attack them], if any of those bad things happen to them,
29 Whatever prayer or request for your grace is made by any man, or by all your people Israel, whatever his trouble may be, whose hands are stretched out to this house:
when your Israeli people earnestly plead with you, knowing in their inner beings that they are suffering [because they have sinned], if they stretch out their hands toward this temple and pray,
30 Then give ear from heaven your living-place, answering with forgiveness, and give to every man, whose secret heart is open to you, the reward of all his ways; (for you, and you only, have knowledge of the hearts of the children of men; )
hear from your home in heaven, and forgive them. You alone know what each person is thinking, so reward each person according to everything that he does,
31 So that they may give you worship, walking in your ways, as long as they are living in the land which you gave to our fathers.
in order that they will revere you and conduct their lives as you want them to, all the time that they live in this land that you gave to our ancestors.
32 And as for the man from a strange land, who is not of your people Israel but comes from a far country because of the glory of your name and your strong hand and your outstretched arm; when he comes to make his prayer, turning to this house:
“There will be some foreigners who do not belong to your Israeli people who have come here from countries far away because they have heard that you are very great and that you perform great miracles. If they turn toward this temple and pray,
33 Then give ear from heaven your living-place, and give him his desire, whatever it may be; so that all the peoples of the earth may have knowledge of your name, worshipping you as do your people Israel, and may see that this house which I have made is truly named by your name.
from your home in heaven listen to their prayer, and do for them what they request you to do. Do that in order that all the people-groups in the world will know about you and revere you, like we, your own Israeli people do. And then they will know that this is the temple that I have caused to be built for you.
34 If your people go out to war against their attackers, by whatever way you may send them, if they make their prayers to you turning their faces to this town of yours and to this house which I have put up for your name:
“When you send your people to go to places to attack their enemies, if they pray to you, wherever they are, if they turn toward this city that you have chosen and toward this temple that I have caused to be built to honor you,
35 Then give ear from heaven to their prayer and their cry for grace, and see right done to them.
listen in heaven to their prayers; listen to what they plead for you [to do], and assist them.
36 If they do wrong against you, (for no man is without sin, ) and you are angry with them, and give them up into the power of those who are fighting against them, so that they take them away prisoners to a land far off or near;
[“It is true that] everyone sins. So, when your people sin against you, and you become angry with them, you may allow their enemies to capture them and take them to their countries, even to countries that are far away.
37 And if they take thought, in the land where they are prisoners, turning again to you, crying out in prayer to you in that land, and saying, We are sinners, we have done wrong, we have done evil;
When that happens, while they are in the countries to which they were forced to go, if they are sorry for having sinned, if they say, ‘We have sinned; we have done things that are wrong and have done things that are very wicked,’
38 If with all their heart and soul they are turned again to you, in the land where they are prisoners, the land where they have been taken, and make their prayers, turning their eyes to their land which you gave to their fathers, and to the town which you took for yourself, and the house which I have made for your name:
if they repent very sincerely, and if they turn toward this land that you gave to our ancestors, and toward this city that you have chosen [to be the place where we should worship you], and toward this temple that I have caused to be built for you and pray,
39 Then give ear from heaven your living-place to their prayer and their cry, and see right done to them, answering with forgiveness your people who have done wrong against you.
then from your home in heaven hear their prayer, and listen to them while they plead [for your help], and do what they ask you to do, and forgive your people who have sinned against you.
40 Now, O my God, may your eyes be open and your ears awake to the prayers made in this place.
“Now, my God, look at us and listen to us as we pray to you in this place.
41 Up! now, O Lord God, come back to your resting-place, you and the ark of your strength: let your priests, O Lord God, be clothed with salvation, and let your saints be glad in what is good.
Yahweh our God, come and stay in this place with the Sacred Chest, the chest that shows that you are powerful. Yahweh God, cause your priests to know clearly that you have blessed them. Cause us your people to rejoice because of all the good things [that you do for us].
42 O Lord God, let him whom you have taken for yourself never be given up by you: keep in mind your mercies to David your servant.
Yahweh God, do not reject me [the king] whom you have appointed [to be the king of Israel]; do not forget that you greatly loved David, who served you [very well].”
