2 Chronicles 6

Then Salomon said, The Lord said that he would dwell in thick darkness.

And I have built a house for your name, holy to you and prepared for you to dwell in forever.

And the king turned his face and blessed the whole assembly of Israel, and the whole assembly of Israel stood by.

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

From the day that I brought up my people out of the land of Egypt I did not choose a city from all the tribes of Israel to build a house for my name to be there, nor did I choose a man to be a leader over my people Israel.

But I chose Jerusalem for my name to be there, and I chose David to be over my people Israel.

And it came into the heart of David my father to build a house for the name of the Lord God of Israel.

And the Lord said to David my father, Because it came into your heart to build a house for my name, you did well that it came into your heart.

Only you shall not build the house; but your son who will come out of your loins, he shall build the house for my name.

And the Lord has established his word that he spoke, and I have arisen in place of David my father and have sat on the throne of Israel, as the Lord spoke, and I have built the house for the name of the Lord God of Israel.

And I have put the ark there, in which is the covenant of the Lord that he made with Israel.

And he stood before the altar of the Lord, in front of all the assembly of Israel, and spread out his hands.

For Salomon had made a bronze platform and set it in the middle of the court of the sanctuary, five cubits its length and five cubits its breadth and three cubits its height; and he stood upon it and fell on his knees before all the assembly of Israel and spread out his hands toward heaven.

and he said, O Lord God of Israel, there is no god like you in heaven or on the earth, keeping the covenant and the mercy for your servants who walk before you with a whole heart,

which you have kept for your servant David my father, which you spoke to him, saying — you spoke with your mouth and with your hands you have fulfilled it, as it is this day.

And now, O Lord God of Israel, keep for your servant David my father what you spoke to him, saying, There shall not fail you a man before me sitting on the throne of Israel, only if your sons keep their way, to walk in my law as you have walked before me.

And now, O Lord God of Israel, let your word that you spoke to your servant David be confirmed.

For will God indeed dwell with men on the earth? If the heaven and the heaven of heaven will not suffice you, what then is this house that I have built?

Yet may you look upon the prayer of your servant and upon my supplication, O Lord God, to hearken to the supplication and the prayer that your servant prays before you today,

that your eyes may be open toward this house day and night, toward this place of which you said that your name should be called upon there, to hear the prayer that your servant prays toward this place.

And you will hear the petition of your servant and of your people Israel, whatever they pray toward this place; and you will listen in the place of your dwelling, from heaven, and you will hear and be merciful.

If a man sins against his neighbor, and a curse is taken upon him to curse him, and he comes and utters the curse before the altar in this house,

then you will listen from heaven and will act and will judge your servants, repaying the lawless one and returning his ways upon his own head, justifying the righteous one, repaying him according to his righteousness.

And if your people Israel are shattered before the enemy, if they sin against you, and they turn back and acknowledge your name and pray and make supplication before you in this house,

then you will listen from heaven and be merciful toward the sins of your people Israel, and you will bring them back to the land that you gave to them and to their fathers.

When the heaven is shut up and no rain comes, because they will sin against you, and they pray toward this place and praise your name and turn from their sins, because you will humble them,

then you will listen from heaven and be merciful toward the sins of your servants and of your people Israel, for you will show them the good way in which they shall walk, and you will give rain upon your land that you gave to your people as an inheritance.

If famine comes upon the land, if death comes, blight by wind and mildew, locust and caterpillar, if it comes; if the enemy afflicts him before their cities, in any plague and any pain;

and every prayer and every supplication, whatever may arise from any person and from all your people Israel, if a person knows his own affliction and his own sickness and spreads out his hands toward this house,

then you will listen from heaven, from your established dwelling place, and you will be merciful, and you will give to each man according to his ways, as you know his heart, for you alone know the heart of the sons of men,

so that they may fear your ways all the days that they live upon the face of the land that you gave to our fathers.

And as for every foreigner who is not of your people Israel, and he comes from a land far off because of your great name and your mighty hand and your uplifted arm, and they come and pray toward this place,

then you will listen from heaven, from your established dwelling place, and you will do according to all that the foreigner calls upon you for, so that all the peoples of the earth may know your name and fear you as your people Israel do, and may know that your name has been called upon this house that I have built.

But if your people go out to war against their enemies by the way in which you send them, and they pray to you toward the way of this city that you chose, and of the house that I built for your name,

then you will hear from heaven their supplication and their prayer, and you will maintain their just cause.

For they will sin against you, for there will be no person who does not sin; and you will strike them and hand them over before enemies, and those who take them captive will carry them captive to a land of enemies, to a land far off or near;

and they turn their heart back in their land where they were carried away, and indeed they turn and make supplication to you in their captivity, saying, 'We have sinned, we have done wrong, we have acted lawlessly';

and they turn back to you with all their heart and with all their soul in the land of those who took them captive, and they pray toward the way of their land that you gave to their fathers, and of the city that you chose, and of the house that I built for your name,

then you will hear from heaven, from your established dwelling place, their prayer and their supplication, and you will execute judgments, and you will be merciful to the people that sinned against you.

Now, O Lord, let your eyes be open and your ears attentive to the supplication of this place.

And now arise, O Lord God, into your rest, you and the ark of your strength. Let your priests, O Lord God, be clothed with salvation, and let your sons rejoice in good things.

O Lord God, do not turn away the face of your anointed one; remember the mercies of David your servant.