2 Chronicles 6

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

2 But I have built for thee a house of habitation, and a place for thee to dwell in forever.

3 And the king turned his face, and blessed all the assembly of Israel. And all the assembly of Israel stood.

4 And he said, Blessed be LORD, the God of Israel, who spoke with his mouth to David my father, and has with his hands fulfilled it, saying,

5 Since the day that I brought forth my people out of the land of Egypt, I chose no city out of all the tribes of Israel to build a house in that my name might be there. Neither did I choose any man to be 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 a house for the name of LORD, the God of Israel.

8 But LORD said to David my father, Whereas it was in thy heart to build a house for my name, thou did well that it was in thy heart.

9 Nevertheless thou shall not build the house, but thy son who shall come forth out of thy loins, he shall build the house for my name.

10 And LORD has performed his word that he spoke. For I have risen up in the place of David my father, and sit on the throne of Israel, as LORD promised, and have built the house for the name of LORD, the God of Israel.

11 And there I have set the ark in which is the covenant of LORD, which he made with the sons of Israel.

12 And he stood before the altar of LORD in the presence of all the assembly of Israel, and spread forth his hands.

13 For Solomon had made a brazen scaffold, five cubits long, and five cubits broad, and three cubits high, and had set it in the midst of the court. And upon it he stood, and knelt down upon his knees before all the assembly of Israel, and spread forth his hands toward heaven.

14 And he said, O LORD, the God of Israel, there is no God like thee, in heaven, or on earth, who keep covenant and loving kindness with thy servants, who walk before thee with all their heart,

15 who have kept with thy servant David my father that which thou promised him. Yea, thou spoke with thy mouth, and have fulfilled it with thy hand, as it is this day.

16 Now therefore, O LORD, the God of Israel, keep with thy servant David my father that which thou have promised him, saying, There shall not fail thee a man in my sight to sit on the throne of Israel, if only thy sons take heed to their way, to walk in my law as thou have walked before me.

17 Now therefore, O LORD, the God of Israel, let thy word be verified, which thou spoke to thy servant David.

18 But will God in very deed dwell with men on the earth? Behold, heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain thee. How much less this house which I have built!

19 Yet have thou respect to the prayer of thy servant, and to his supplication, O LORD my God, to hearken to the cry and to the prayer which thy servant prays before thee,

20 that thine eyes may be open toward this house day and night, even toward the place of which thou have said that thou would put thy name there, to hearken to the prayer which thy servant shall pray toward this place.

21 And hearken thou to the supplications of thy servant, and of thy people Israel, when they shall pray toward this place. Yea, hear thou from thy dwelling-place, even from heaven, and when thou hear forgive.

22 If a man sins against his neighbor, and an oath be laid upon him to cause him to swear, and he comes and swears before thine altar in this house,

23 then hear thou from heaven, and do, and judge thy servants, requiting the wicked, to bring his way upon his own head, and justifying the righteous, to give him according to his righteousness.

24 And if thy people Israel be smitten down before the enemy because they have sinned against thee, and shall turn again and confess thy name, and pray and make supplication before thee in this house,

25 then hear thou from heaven, and forgive the sin of thy people Israel, and bring them again to the land which thou gave to them and to their fathers.

26 When the heavens are shut up, and there is no rain, because they have sinned against thee, if they pray toward this place, and confess thy name, and turn from their sin when thou do afflict them,

27 then hear thou in heaven, and forgive the sin of thy servants, and of thy people Israel, when thou teach them the good way wherein they should walk, and send rain upon thy land, which thou have given to thy people for an inheritance.

28 If there be in the land famine, if there be pestilence, if there be blight or mildew, locust or caterpillar, if their enemies besiege them in the land of their cities, whatever plague or whatever sickness there be,

29 whatever prayer and supplication be made by any man, or by all thy people Israel, who shall know every man his own plague and his own sorrow, and shall spread forth his hands toward this house,

30 then hear thou from heaven thy dwelling-place and forgive, and render to every man according to all his ways, whose heart thou know, (for thou, even thou only, know the hearts of the sons of men),

31 that they may fear thee, to walk in thy ways so long as they live in the land which thou gave to our fathers.

32 Moreover concerning the foreigner, who is not of thy people Israel, when he shall come from a far country for thy great name's sake, and thy mighty hand, and thine outstretched arm, when they shall come and pray toward this house,

33 then hear thou from heaven, even from thy dwelling-place, and do according to all that the foreigner calls to thee for, that all the peoples of the earth may know thy name, and fear thee, as do thy people Israel, and that they may know that this house which I have built is called by thy name.

34 If thy people go out to battle against their enemies, by whatever way thou shall send them, and they pray to thee toward this city which thou have chosen, and the house which I have built for thy name,

35 then hear thou from heaven their prayer and their supplication, and maintain their cause.

36 If they sin against thee (for there is no man that sins not), and thou be angry with them, and deliver them to the enemy, so that they carry them away captive to a land far off or near,

37 yet if they shall rethink themselves in the land where they are carried captive, and turn again, and make supplication to thee in the land of their captivity, saying, We have sinned, we have done perversely, and have dealt wickedly,

38 if they return to thee with all their heart and with all their soul in the land of their captivity where they have carried them captive, and pray toward their land, which thou gave to their fathers, and the city which thou have chosen, and toward the house which I have built for thy name,

39 then hear thou from heaven, even from thy dwelling-place, their prayer and their supplications, and maintain their case, and forgive thy people who have sinned against thee.

40 Now, O my God, let, I beseech thee, thine eyes be open, and let thine ears be attendant to the prayer that is made in this place.

41 Now therefore arise, O LORD God, into thy resting-place, thou, and the ark of thy strength. Let thy priests, O LORD God, be clothed with salvation, and let thy sanctified rejoice in goodness.

42 O LORD God, do not turn away the face of thine anointed. Remember thy loving kindnesses to David thy servant.