 1 Solomon said, The Lord has said that He would live in the thick darkness. 2 I have built a house for you to live in, and a place for your dwelling forever. 3 The king turned his face and blessed the whole congregation of Israel. Then all the congregation of Israel stood. 4 He said, Blessed be the Lord God of Israel who has with His hands fulfilled what He spoke with His mouth to my father David saying, 5 From the day that I brought my people out of the land of Egypt I have not chosen any city among all the tribes of Israel to build a house in, so that my name might be there. Nor have I chosen any man to be a ruler over my people Israel. 6 But now I have chosen Jerusalem, so that my name might be there, and now I have chosen David to be over my people Israel. 7 It was in 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, Because it was in your heart to build a house for my name, you did well in that it was in your heart. 9 But you shall not build the house. But your son, who will come forth out of your body+ will build the house for my name. 10 The Lord has lifted up His Word that He has spoken. For I have risen up in place of David my father, and am set on the throne of Israel, as the Lord promised, and I have built the house for the name of the Lord God of Israel. 11 I have put the ark in it, in which is the covenant of the Lord that He made with the children of Israel. 12 He stood before the altar of the Lord in the presence of all the congregation of Israel, and spread forth his hands. 13 For Solomon had made a bronze scaffold, five cubits long and five cubits broad and three cubits high. And he had set it in the midst of the court. And he stood on it, and kneeled down on his knees before all the congregation of Israel, and spread forth his hands toward Heaven. 14 He said, O Lord God of Israel, there is no God like you in Heaven or in earth. You keep your covenant and show mercy to your servants who walk before you with all their hearts. 15 you have kept with your servant David my father what you have promised him. And you spoke with your mouth, and have fulfilled it with your hand, as it is this day. 16 Now, O Lord God of Israel, keep with your servant David my father what you have promised him saying, There will not fail you a man in my sight to sit on the throne of Israel if only your children take heed to their way to walk in my law as you have walked before me. 17 Now, O Lord God of Israel, let your word be proven true that you have spoken to your servant David. 18 But truly will God in deed live with men on the earth? Behold, Heavens and Heaven of the heavens cannot contain you. How much less this house that I have built? 19 You have turned toward the prayer of your servant, and to his cry, O Lord my God, to listen to the cry and the prayer that your servant prays before you. 20 I pray that your eyes may be open on this house day and night, on the place of that you have said that you would put your name there, to listen to the prayer that your servant prays toward this place. 21 You will listen to the cries of your servant, and of your people Israel that they shall pray toward this place, and you will hear from your dwelling place, from Heaven, and shall hear and forgive. 22 If a man sins against his neighbor, and if an oath is laid on him to make him swear, and if the oath comes before your altar in this house, 23 then hear from Heaven, and do, and judge your servants by repaying the wicked, by bringing his way back on his own head, and by justifying the righteous, by giving to him according to his righteousness. 24 If your people Israel be put to the worse before the enemy because they have sinned against you, and if they shall return and confess your name, and shall pray and cry before you in this house, 25 then hear from Heaven, and forgive the sin of your people Israel, and bring them again into the land that you give to them and to their fathers. 26 When the heavens shall be shut up, and there is no rain because they have sinned against you. If they pray toward this place, and confess your name, and turn from their sin when you afflict them, 27 then hear from Heaven and forgive the sin of your servants and of your people Israel, when you have taught them the good way in which they should walk. And send rain on your land that you have given to your people for an inheritance. 28 If there is famine in the land, if there is a plague, if blasting or mildew, locusts or ravagers, if their enemies have distressed them in the gates of their land, with any plague and any sickness; 29 whatever prayer, whatever cry shall be made by any man, or by all your people Israel, when everyone shall know his own plague and his own grief, and shall spread forth his hands in this house; 30 then hear from Heaven, your dwelling place, and forgive, and give to every man according to all his ways, whose heart you know. For you only know the hearts of the children of mankind. 31 Do this so that they may fear you, to walk in your ways, as long as they live in the land that you gave to our fathers. 32 Also to the stranger who is not of your people Israel, but has 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; 33 then hear from Heaven, from your dwelling place, and do according to all that the stranger calls to you for, so that all people of the earth may know your name, and fear you, as your people Israel, and may know that this house that I have built is called by your name. 34 If your people go out to war against their enemies by the way that you shall send them, and if they pray to you toward this city that you have chosen, and the house that I have built for your name, 35 then hear from Heaven their prayer and their cry and maintain their cause. 36 If they sin against you for there is no man who does not sin, and if you are angry with them and deliver them up before their enemies, and they carry them away captives to a land far off or near, 37 yet if they think within 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 wrong and have dealt wickedly 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 if they pray toward their land that you gave to their fathers and toward the city that you have chosen, and toward the house that I have built for your name; 39 then hear from Heaven, from your dwelling place, their prayer and their cries, and maintain their cause, and forgive your people who have sinned against you. 40 Now, my God, I beseech you, let your eyes be open and your ears hear the prayer made in this place. 41 Now 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. 42 O Lord God, do not turn away the face of your anointed. Remember the good deeds of David your servant.
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