2.Chronik 6,3 | New International Reader’s Version

1 Then Solomon said, ‘LORD, you have said you would live in a dark cloud. 2 I’ve built a beautiful temple for you. You can live in it for ever.’ 3 The whole community of Israel was standing there. The king turned round and gave them his blessing. 4 Then he said, ‘I praise the LORD. He is the God of Israel. With his mouth he made a promise to my father David. With his powerful hands he made it come true. He said, 5 “I brought my people out of Egypt. Since then, a temple for my Name has not been built. I have not chosen a city in any tribe of Israel for that purpose. And I have not chosen anyone to be ruler over my people Israel. 6 But now I have chosen Jerusalem. I will put my Name there. And I have chosen David to rule over my people Israel.” 7 ‘With all his heart my father David wanted to build a temple. He wanted to do it so the Name of the LORD could be there. The LORD is the God of Israel. 8 But the LORD spoke to my father David. He said, “With all your heart you wanted to build a temple for my Name. It is good that you wanted to do that. 9 But you will not build the temple. Instead, your son will build the temple for my Name. He is your own flesh and blood.” 10 ‘The LORD has kept the promise he made. I’ve become the next king after my father David. Now I’m sitting on the throne of Israel. That’s exactly what the LORD promised would happen. I’ve built the temple for the Name of the LORD. He is the God of Israel. 11 I’ve placed the ark there. The tablets of the LORD’s covenant are inside it. He made that covenant with the people of Israel.’

Solomon prays to set the temple apart to the Lord

12 Then Solomon stood in front of the LORD’s altar. He stood in front of the whole community of Israel. He spread out his hands to pray. 13 He had made a bronze stage. It was 2.5 metres long and wide. It was 1.5 metres high. He had placed it in the centre of the outer courtyard. He stood on the stage. Then he got down on his knees in front of the whole community of Israel. He spread out his hands towards heaven. 14 He said, ‘LORD, you are the God of Israel. There is no God like you in heaven or on earth. You keep the covenant you made with us. You show us your love. You do that when we follow you with all our hearts. 15 You have kept your promise to my father David. He was your servant. With your mouth you made a promise. With your powerful hand you have made it come true. And today we can see it. 16 ‘LORD, you are the God of Israel. Keep the promises you made to my father David. Do it for him. He was your servant. You said to him, “You will always have a son from your family line to sit on Israel’s throne. He will sit in front of the Most Holy Room, where my own throne is. That will be true only if your children after you are careful in everything they do. They must live the way my law tells them to. That is the way you have lived.” 17 LORD, you are the God of Israel. So let your promise to your servant David come true. 18 ‘But will God really live on earth with human beings? After all, the heavens can’t hold you. In fact, even the highest heavens can’t hold you. So this temple I’ve built certainly can’t hold you! 19 But please pay attention to my prayer. LORD my God, be ready to help me as I make my appeal to you. Listen to my cry for help. Hear the prayer I’m praying to you. 20 Let your eyes look towards this temple day and night. You said you would put your Name here. Listen to the prayer I’m praying towards this place. 21 Hear me when I ask you to help us. Listen to your people Israel when they pray towards this place. Listen to us from heaven. It’s the place where you live. When you hear us, forgive us. 22 ‘Suppose someone does something wrong to their neighbour. And the person who has done something wrong is required to give their word. They must tell the truth about what they have done. They must come and do it in front of your altar in this temple. 23 When they do, listen to them from heaven. Take action. Judge between the person and their neighbour. Pay back the guilty one. Do to them what they have done to their neighbour. Deal with the one who isn’t guilty in a way that shows they are free from blame. That will prove they aren’t guilty. 24 ‘Suppose your people Israel have lost the battle against their enemies. And suppose they’ve sinned against you. But they turn back to you and praise your name. They pray to you in this temple. And they ask you to help them. 25 Then listen to them from heaven. Forgive the sin of your people Israel. Bring them back to the land you gave to them and their people who lived long ago. 26 ‘Suppose your people have sinned against you. And because of that, the sky is closed up and there isn’t any rain. But your people pray towards this place. They praise you by admitting they’ve sinned. And they turn away from their sin because you have made them suffer. 27 Then listen to them from heaven. Forgive the sin of your people Israel. Teach them the right way to live. Send rain on the land you gave them as their share. 28 ‘Suppose there isn’t enough food in the land. And a plague strikes the land. The hot winds completely dry up our crops. Or locusts or grasshoppers come and eat them up. Or enemies surround one of our cities and get ready to attack it. Or trouble or disease comes. 29 But suppose one of your people prays to you. They ask you to help them. They are aware of how much they are suffering. And they spread out their hands towards this temple to pray. 30 Then listen to them from heaven. It’s the place where you live. Forgive them. Deal with everyone in keeping with everything they do. You know their hearts. In fact, you are the only one who knows every human heart. 31 Your people will have respect for you. They will live the way you want them to. They’ll live that way as long as they are in the land you gave our people long ago. 32 ‘Suppose an outsider who doesn’t belong to your people Israel has come from a land far away. They have come because they’ve heard about your great name. They have heard that you reached out your mighty hand and powerful arm. So they come and pray towards this temple. 33 Then listen to them from heaven. It’s the place where you live. Do what that outsider asks you to do. Then all the nations on earth will know you. They will have respect for you. They’ll respect you just as your own people Israel do. They’ll know that your Name is in this house I’ve built. 34 ‘Suppose your people go to war against their enemies. It doesn’t matter where you send them. And suppose they pray to you towards this city you have chosen. They pray towards the temple I’ve built for your Name. 35 Then listen to them from heaven. Listen to their prayer. Listen to them when they ask you to help them. Stand up for them. 36 ‘Suppose they sin against you. After all, there isn’t anyone who doesn’t sin. And suppose you get angry with them. You hand them over to their enemies. They take them as prisoners to another land. It doesn’t matter whether that land is near or far away. 37 But suppose your people change their ways in the land where they are held as prisoners. They turn away from their sins. They beg you to help them in the land where they are prisoners. They say, “We have sinned. We’ve done what is wrong. We’ve done what is evil.” 38 And they turn back to you with all their heart and soul. Suppose it happens in the land where they were taken as prisoners. There they pray towards the land you gave their people long ago. They pray towards the city you have chosen. And they pray towards the temple I’ve built for your Name. 39 Then listen to them from heaven. It’s the place where you live. Listen to their prayer. Listen to them when they ask you to help them. Stand up for them. Your people have sinned against you. Please forgive them. 40 ‘My God, let your eyes see us. Let your ears pay attention to the prayers offered in this place. 41 ‘LORD God, rise up and come to your resting place. Come in together with the ark. It’s the sign of your power. LORD God, may your priests put on salvation as if it were their clothes. May your faithful people be glad because you are so good. 42 LORD God, don’t turn your back on your anointed king. Remember the great love you promised to your servant David.’

English Standard Version

Solomon Blesses the People

1 Then Solomon said, “The Lord has said that he would dwell in thick darkness. 2 But I have built you an exalted house, a place for you to dwell in forever.” 3 Then the king turned around and blessed all the assembly of Israel, while all the assembly of Israel stood. 4 And he said, “Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, who with his hand has fulfilled what he promised with his mouth to David my father, saying, 5 ‘Since the day that I brought my people out of the land of Egypt, I chose no city out of all the tribes of Israel in which to build a house, that my name might be there, and I chose no man as prince over my people Israel; 6 but I have chosen Jerusalem that my name may be there, and I 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 the Lord, the God of Israel. 8 But the Lord said to David my father, ‘Whereas it was in your heart to build a house for my name, you did well that it was in your heart. 9 Nevertheless, it is not you who shall build the house, but your son who shall be born to you shall build the house for my name.’ 10 Now the Lord has fulfilled his promise that he made. For I have risen in the place of David my father and sit on the throne of Israel, as the Lord promised, and I have built the house for the name of the Lord, the God of Israel. 11 And there I have set the ark, in which is the covenant of the Lord that he made with the people of Israel.”

Solomon’s Prayer of Dedication

12 Then Solomon stood before the altar of the Lord in the presence of all the assembly of Israel and spread out his hands. 13 Solomon had made a bronze platform five cubits* long, five cubits wide, and three cubits high, and had set it in the court, and he stood on it. Then he knelt on his knees in the presence of all the assembly of Israel, and spread out his hands toward heaven, 14 and said, “O Lord, God of Israel, there is no God like you, in heaven or on earth, keeping covenant and showing steadfast love to your servants who walk before you with all their heart, 15 who have kept with your servant David my father what you declared to him. You spoke with your mouth, and with your hand have fulfilled it this day. 16 Now therefore, O Lord, God of Israel, keep for your servant David my father what you have promised him, saying, ‘You shall not lack a man to sit before me on the throne of Israel, if only your sons pay close attention to their way, to walk in my law as you have walked before me.’ 17 Now therefore, O Lord, God of Israel, let your word be confirmed, which you have spoken to your servant David. 18 “But will God indeed dwell with man on the earth? Behold, heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain you, how much less this house that I have built! 19 Yet have regard to the prayer of your servant and to his plea, O Lord my God, listening to the cry and to the prayer that your servant prays before you, 20 that your eyes may be open day and night toward this house, the place where you have promised to set your name, that you may listen to the prayer that your servant offers toward this place. 21 And listen to the pleas of your servant and of your people Israel, when they pray toward this place. And listen from heaven your dwelling place, and when you hear, forgive. 22 “If a man sins against his neighbor and is made to take an oath and comes and swears his oath before your altar in this house, 23 then hear from heaven and act and judge your servants, repaying the guilty by bringing his conduct on his own head, and vindicating the righteous by rewarding him according to his righteousness. 24 “If your people Israel are defeated before the enemy because they have sinned against you, and they turn again and acknowledge your name and pray and plead with you in this house, 25 then hear from heaven and forgive the sin of your people Israel and bring them again to the land that you gave to them and to their fathers. 26 “When heaven is shut up and there is no rain because they have sinned against you, if they pray toward this place and acknowledge your name and turn from their sin, when you afflict* them, 27 then hear in heaven and forgive the sin of your servants, your people Israel, when you teach them the good way* in which they should walk, and grant rain upon your land, which you have given to your people as an inheritance. 28 “If there is famine in the land, if there is pestilence or blight or mildew or locust or caterpillar, if their enemies besiege them in the land at their gates, whatever plague, whatever sickness there is, 29 whatever prayer, whatever plea is made by any man or by all your people Israel, each knowing his own affliction and his own sorrow and stretching out his hands toward this house, 30 then hear from heaven your dwelling place and forgive and render to each whose heart you know, according to all his ways, for you, you only, know the hearts of the children of mankind, 31 that they may fear you and walk in your ways all the days that they live in the land that you gave to our fathers. 32 “Likewise, when a foreigner, who is not of your people Israel, comes from a far country for the sake of your great name and your mighty hand and your outstretched arm, when he comes and prays toward this house, 33 hear from heaven your dwelling place and do according to all for which the foreigner calls to you, in order that all the peoples of the earth may know your name and fear you, as do your people Israel, and that they may know that this house that I have built is called by your name. 34 “If your people go out to battle against their enemies, by whatever way you shall send them, and 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 plea, and maintain their cause. 36 “If they sin against you—for there is no one who does not sin—and you are angry with them and give them to an enemy, so that they are carried away captive to a land far or near, 37 yet if they turn their heart in the land to which they have been carried captive, and repent and plead with you in the land of their captivity, saying, ‘We have sinned and have acted perversely and wickedly,’ 38 if they repent with all their heart and with all their soul in the land of their captivity to which they were carried captive, and pray toward their land, which you gave to their fathers, the city that you have chosen and the house that I have built for your name, 39 then hear from heaven your dwelling place their prayer and their pleas, and maintain their cause and forgive your people who have sinned against you. 40 Now, O my God, let your eyes be open and your ears attentive to the prayer of this place. 41 “And now arise, O Lord God, and go to your resting place, you and the ark of your might. Let your priests, O Lord God, be clothed with salvation, and let your saints rejoice in your goodness. 42 O Lord God, do not turn away the face of your anointed one! Remember your steadfast love for David your servant.”

2.Chronik 6,3 | New International Reader’s Version English Standard Version

Solomon prays to set the temple apart to the Lord

Solomon Blesses the People

Solomon’s Prayer of Dedication