2 Chronicles 6

1 Then said Solomon, The LORD has said that he would dwell in the thick darkness.

Then Solomon said: “The Lord has promised that he would dwell in a cloud.

2 But I have built an house of habitation for you, and a place for your dwelling for ever.

But I have built a house to his name, so that he may dwell there forever.”

3 And the king turned his face, and blessed the whole congregation of Israel: and all the congregation of Israel stood.

And the king turned his face, and he blessed the entire multitude of Israel, (for the whole crowd was standing and attentive) and he said:

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,

“Blessed is the Lord, the God of Israel, who has completed the work that he spoke to David my father, 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:

‘From the day when I led my people away from the land of Egypt, I did not choose a city from all the tribes of Israel, so that a house would be built in it to my name. And I did not choose any other man, so that he would be the ruler of 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.

But I chose Jerusalem, so that my name would be in it. And I chose David, so that I might appoint him 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.

And though David, my father, had decided that he would build a house to 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:

the Lord said to him: ‘In so far as it was your will that you build a house to my name, certainly you have done well in having such a will.

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.

But you shall not build the house. Truly, your son, who will go forth from your loins, shall build a house to 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.

Therefore, the Lord has accomplished his word, which he had spoken. And I have risen up in place of my father David, and I sit upon the throne of Israel, just as the Lord spoke. And I have built a house to the name of the Lord, the 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.

And I have placed in it the ark, in which is the covenant of the Lord that he formed with the sons 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:

Then he stood before the altar of the Lord, facing the entire multitude of Israel, and he extended 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.

For indeed, Solomon had made a bronze base, and he had positioned it in the midst of the hall; it held five cubits in length, and five cubits in width, and three cubits in height. And he stood upon it. And next, kneeling down while facing the entire multitude of Israel, and lifting up his palms towards 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:

he said: “O Lord God of Israel, there is no god like you in heaven or on earth. You preserve covenant and mercy with your servants, who 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.

You fulfilled for your servant David, my father, whatsoever you had said to him. And you carried out the deed that you promised with your mouth, just as the present time proves.

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.

Now then, O Lord God of Israel, fulfill for your servant David, my father, whatsoever you said to him, saying: ‘There shall not fail to be a man from you before me, who will sit upon the throne of Israel, yet only if your sons will guard their ways, and will walk in my law, just as you also 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.

And now, O Lord God of Israel, let your word be confirmed that you spoke 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!

How then is it to be believed that God would dwell with men upon the earth? If heaven and the heavens of the heavens do not contain you, how much less this house that 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:

But it has been done for this only, so that you may look with favor upon the prayer of your servant, and on his supplication, O Lord my God, and so that you may hear the prayers which your servant pours out 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.

and so that you may open your eyes over this house, day and night, over the place where you promised that your name would be invoked,

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.

and so that you may heed the prayer which your servant is praying within it, and so that you may heed the prayers of your servant and of your people Israel. Whoever will pray in this place, listen from your habitation, that is, from heaven, and 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;

If anyone will have sinned against his neighbor, and he arrives to swear against him, and to bind himself with a curse before the 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.

you will hear him from heaven, and you will execute justice for your servants, so that you return, to the iniquitous man, his own way upon his own head, and so that you vindicate the just man, repaying him according to his own justice.

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;

If your people Israel will have been overwhelmed by their enemies, (for they will sin against you) and having been converted will do penance, and if they will have beseeched your name, and will have prayed in this place,

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.

you will heed them from heaven, and you will forgive the sin of your people Israel, and you will lead them back into the land that 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;

If the heavens have been closed, so that rain does not fall, because of the sin of the people, and if they will petition you in this place, and confess to your name, and be converted from their sins when you will 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.

heed them from heaven, O Lord, and forgive the sins of your servants and of your people Israel, and teach them the good way, by which they may advance, and give rain to the land that you gave to your people as a possession.

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:

If a famine will have risen up in the land, or pestilence, or fungus, or mildew, or locusts, or beetles, or if enemies will have laid waste to the countryside and will have besieged the gates of the cities, or whatever scourge or infirmity will have pressed upon them,

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:

if anyone from your people Israel, knowing his own scourge and infirmity, will have made supplication and will have extended 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: )

you will heed him from heaven, indeed from your sublime habitation, and you will forgive, and you will repay each one according to his ways, which you know him to hold in his heart. For you alone know the hearts of the sons 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.

So may they fear you, and so may they walk in your ways, during all the days that they live upon the face of 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’s sake, and your mighty hand, and your stretched out arm; if they come and pray in this house;

Also, if the outsider, who is not from your people Israel, will have arrived from a far away land, because of your great name, and because of your robust hand and your outstretched arm, and if he will adore in this place,

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.

you will heed him from heaven, your most firm habitation, and you will accomplish all the things about which this sojourner will have called out to you, so that all the people of the earth may know your name, and may fear you, just as your people Israel do, and so that they may know that your name is invoked over this house, which I have built.

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;

If, having gone out to war against their adversaries along the way that you will send them, your people adore you facing in the direction of this city, which you have chosen, and of this house, which I have built to your name,

35 Then hear you from the heavens their prayer and their supplication, and maintain their cause.

you will heed their prayers from heaven, and their supplications, and you will vindicate them.

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;

But if they will have sinned against you (for there is no man who does not sin) and you will have become angry against them, and if you will have delivered them to their enemies, and so they lead them away as captives to a far away land, or even to one that is 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;

and if, having been converted in their heart in the land to which they had been led as captives, they will do penance, and beseech you in the land of their captivity, saying, ‘We have sinned; we have committed iniquity; we have acted unjustly,’

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:

and if they will have returned to you, with their whole heart and with their whole soul, in the land of their captivity to which they were led away, and if they will adore you in the direction of their own land, which you gave to their fathers, and of the city, which you have chosen, and of the house, which I have built to 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.

from heaven, that is, from your firm habitation, you will heed their prayers, and you will accomplish judgment, and you will forgive your people, even though they are sinners.

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.

For you are my God. Let your eyes be open, I beg you, 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.

Now therefore, rise up, O Lord God, to your resting place, you and the ark of your strength. Let your priests, O Lord God, be clothed with salvation, and let your holy ones rejoice in what is good.

42 O LORD God, turn not away the face of your anointed: remember the mercies of David your servant.

O Lord God, may you not turn away from the face of your Christ. Remember the mercies of your servant, David.”