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 said Solomon, The Lord said that he would dwell in thick darkness.
2 So I have made for you a living-place, a house in which you may be for ever present.
But I have built a house to your name, holy to you, and prepared [for you] to dwell in for ever.
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.
And the king turned his face, and blessed all the congregation of Israel: and all the congregation of Israel stood by.
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,
And he said, Blessed [be] the Lord God of Israel: he has even fulfilled with his hands as he spoke with his mouth to my father David, saying,
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 day when I brought up my people out of the land of Egypt, I chose no city of all the tribes of Israel, to build a house that my name should be there; neither did I choose a man to be a leader over my people Israel.
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 I chose Jerusalem that my name should be there; and I chose David to be over my people Israel.
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.
And it came into the heart of David my father, to build a house for the name of the Lord God of Israel.
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 the Lord said to my father David, Whereas it came into your heart to build a house for my name, you did well that it came into your heart.
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.
Nevertheless you shall not build the house; for your son who shall come forth out of your loins, he shall build the house for my name.
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 the Lord has confirmed this word, which he spoke; and I am raised up in the room of my father David, and I sit upon the throne of Israel as the Lord said, and I have built the house for the name of the Lord God of Israel:
11 And there I have put the ark, in which is the agreement of the Lord, which he made with the people of Israel.
and I have set there the ark in which [is] the covenant of the Lord, which he made with Israel.
12 Then he took his place in front of the altar of the Lord, all the men of Israel being present,
And he stood before the altar of the Lord in the presence of all the congregation of Israel, and spread out his hands.
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.)
For Solomon [had] made a brazen scaffold, and set it in the midst of the court of the sanctuary; the length of it [was] five cubits, and the breadth of it five cubits, and the height of it three cubits: and he stood upon it, and fell upon his knees before the whole congregation of Israel, and spread abroad his hands to 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 said, Lord God of Israel, there is no God like you in heaven, or on the earth; keeping covenant and mercy with your servants that walk before you with [their] whole heart.
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.
Even as you have kept [them] with your servant David my father, as you have spoken to him in words: —you have both spoken with your mouth, and have fulfilled [it] with your hands, as it is this day.
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.
and now, Lord God of Israel, keep with your servant David my father the things which you spoke to him, saying, There shall not fail you a man before me sitting on the throne of Israel, if only your sons will take heed to their way to walk in my law, as you did walk before me.
17 So now, O Lord, the God of Israel, make your word come true which you said to your servant David.
And now, Lord God of Israel, let, I pray you, your word be confirmed, which you have spoken to your servant David.
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:
For will God indeed dwell with men upon the earth? if the heaven and the heaven of heavens will not suffice you, what then is this house which I 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;
Yet you shall have respect to the prayer of your servant, and to my petition, O Lord God, so as to listen to the petition and the prayer which your servant prays before you this day:
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.
so that your eyes should be open over this house by day and by night, towards this place, whereon you said your name should be called, so as to hear the prayer which your servant prays towards this house.
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.
And you shall hear the supplication of your servant, and of your people Israel, whatever prayers they shall make towards this place: and you shall listen in your dwelling-place out of heaven, yes you shall hear, and be merciful.
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 a man sin against his neighbor, and he bring an oath upon him so as to make him swear, and he come and swear before the altar in this house;
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 shall you listen out of heaven, and do, and judge your servants, to recompense the transgressor, and to return his ways upon his head: and to justify the righteous, to recompense him according to his righteousness.
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 if your people Israel should be put to the worse before the enemy, if they should sin against you, and [then] turn and confess to your name, and pray and make supplication before you in this house;
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.
then shall you listen out of heaven and shall be merciful to the sins of your people Israel, and you shall restore them to the land which you gave to them and to their fathers.
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 heaven is restrained, and there is no rain, because they shall have sinned against you, and [when] they shall pray towards this place, and praise your name, and shall turn from their sins, because you shall afflict them;
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.
then shall you listen from heaven, and you shall be merciful to the sins of your servants, and of your people Israel; for you shall show them the good way in which they shall walk; and you shall send rain upon your land, which you gave to your people for an inheritance.
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:
If there should be famine upon the land, if there should be death, a pestilent wind an blight; if there should be locust and caterpiller, and if the enemy should harass them before their cities: in whatever plague and whatever distress [they may be];
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:
Then whatever prayer and whatever supplication shall be made by any man and all your people Israel, if a man should know his own plague and his own sickness, and should spread forth his hands toward this house;
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; )
then shall you hear from heaven, out of your prepared dwelling-place, and shall be merciful, and shall recompense to the man according to his ways, as you shall know his heart [to be]; for you alone know the heart of the children of men:
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.
that they may reverence all your ways all the days which they live upon the face of the land, which you gave to our fathers.
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:
And every stranger who is not himself of your people Israel, and who shall have come from a distant land because of your great name, and your mighty hand, and your high arm; when they shall come and worship toward this place; —
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.
then shall you listen out of heaven, out of your prepared dwelling-place, and shall do according to all that the stranger shall call upon you for; that all the nations of the earth may know your name, and that they may fear you, as your people Israel [do], and that they may know that your name is called upon this house which I have built.
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:
And if your people shall go forth to war against their enemies by the way by which you shall send them, and shall pray to you toward this city which you have chosen, and [toward] the house which I have built to your name;
35 Then give ear from heaven to their prayer and their cry for grace, and see right done to them.
then shall you hear out of heaven their prayer and their supplication, and maintain their cause.
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;
Whereas if they shall sin against you, (for there is no man who will not sin, ) and you shall strike them, and deliver them up before their enemies, and they that take them captive shall carry them away into a land of enemies, to a land far off or near;
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;
and [if] they shall repent in their land whither they were carried captive, and shall also turn and make supplication to you in their captivity, saying, We have sinned, we have transgressed, we have wrought unrighteously;
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:
and [if] they shall turn to you with all their heart and all their soul in the land of them that carried them captives, whither they carried them captives, and shall pray toward their land which you gave to their fathers, and the city which you did choose, and the house which I built to your name: —
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 shall you hear out of heaven, out of your prepared dwelling-place, their prayer and their supplication, and you shall execute justice, and shall be merciful to your people that sin against you.
40 Now, O my God, may your eyes be open and your ears awake to the prayers made in this place.
And now, Lord, let, I pray you, your eyes be opened, and your ears be attentive to the petition [made 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.
And now, O Lord God, arise into your resting-place, you, and the ark of your strength: let your priests, O Lord God, clothe themselves with salvation, and your sons rejoice in prosperity.
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.
O Lord God, turn not away the face of your anointed: remember the mercies of your servant David.
