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Then said
Solomon, The Lord hath said that he would dwell
in the thick darkness.
02 But I have built an house of habitation for
thee, and a place for thy dwelling for ever.
03 And the king turned his face, and blessed the
whole congregation of Israel: and all the
congregation of Israel stood.
04 And he said, Blessed be the Lord God of
Israel, who hath with his hands fulfilled that
which he spake with his mouth to my father David,
saying,
05 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:
06 But I have chosen Jerusalem, that my name
might be there; and have chosen David to be over
my people Israel.
07 Now it was in the heart of David my father to
build an house for the name of the Lord God of
Israel.
08 But the Lord said to David my father,
Forasmuch as it was in thine heart to build an
house for my name, thou didst well in that it was
in thine heart:
09 Notwithstanding thou shalt not build the
house; but thy son which shall come forth out of
thy loins, he shall build the house for my name.
10 The Lord therefore hath performed his word
that he hath 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.
11 And in it have I put the ark, wherein is the
covenant of the Lord, that he made with the
children 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:
13 For Solomon had made a brasen scaffold of 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 kneeled down
upon his knees before all the congregation of
Israel, and spread forth his hands toward heaven.
14 And said, O Lord God of Israel, there is no
God like thee in the heaven, nor in the earth;
which keepest covenant, and shewest mercy unto
thy servants, that walk before thee with all
their hearts:
15 Thou which hast kept with thy servant David my
father that which thou hast promised him; and
spakest with thy mouth, and hast fulfilled it
with thine hand, as it is this day.
16 Now therefore, O Lord God of Israel, keep with
thy servant David my father that which thou hast
promised him, saying, There shall not fail thee a
man in my sight to sit upon the throne of Israel;
yet so that thy children take heed to their way
to walk in my law, as thou hast walked before me.
17 Now then, O Lord God of Israel, let thy word
be verified, which thou hast spoken unto 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 Have respect therefore to the prayer of thy
servant, and to his supplication, O Lord my God,
to hearken unto the cry and the prayer which thy
servant prayeth before thee:
20 That thine eyes may be open upon this house
day and night, upon the place whereof thou hast
said that thou wouldest put thy name there; to
hearken unto the prayer which thy servant prayeth
toward this place.
21 Hearken therefore unto the supplications of
thy servant, and of thy people Israel, which they
shall make toward this place: hear thou from thy
dwelling place, even from heaven; and when thou
hearest, forgive.
22 If a man sin against his neighbour, and an
oath be laid upon him to make him swear, and the
oath come before thine altar in this house;
23 Then hear thou from heaven, and do, and judge
thy servants, by requiting the wicked, by
recompensing his way upon his own head; and by
justifying the righteous, by giving him according
to his righteousness.
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24 And if thy people Israel be put to the worse
before the enemy, because they have sinned
against thee; and shall return and confess thy
name, and pray and make supplication before thee
in this house;
25 Then hear thou from the heavens, and forgive
the sin of thy people Israel, and bring them
again unto the land which thou gavest to them and
to their fathers.
26 When the heaven is shut up, and there is no
rain, because they have sinned against thee; yet
if they pray toward this place, and confess thy
name, and turn from their sin, when thou dost
afflict them;
27 Then hear thou from heaven, and forgive the
sin of thy servants, and of thy people Israel,
when thou hast taught them the good way, wherein
they should walk; and send rain upon thy land,
which thou hast given unto thy people for an
inheritance.
28 If there be dearth in the land, if there be
pestilence, if there be blasting, or mildew,
locusts, or caterpillers; if their enemies
besiege them in the cities of their land;
whatsoever sore or whatsoever sickness there be:
29 Then what prayer or what supplication soever
shall be made of any man, or of all thy people
Israel, when every one shall know his own sore
and his own grief, and shall spread forth his
hands in this house:
30 Then hear thou from heaven thy dwelling place,
and forgive, and render unto every man according
unto all his ways, whose heart thou knowest; (for
thou only knowest the hearts of the children of
men:)
31 That they may fear thee, to walk in thy ways,
so long as they live in the land which thou
gavest unto our fathers.
32 Moreover concerning the stranger, which is not
of thy people Israel, but is come from a far
country for thy great name's sake, and thy mighty
hand, and thy stretched out arm; if they come and
pray in this house;
33 Then hear thou from the heavens, even from thy
dwelling place, and do according to all that the
stranger calleth to thee for; that all people of
the earth may know thy name, and fear thee, as
doth thy people Israel, and may know that this
house which I have built is called by thy name.
34 If thy people go out to war against their
enemies by the way that thou shalt send them, and
they pray unto thee toward this city which thou
hast chosen, and the house which I have built for
thy name;
35 Then hear thou from the heavens their prayer
and their supplication, and maintain their cause.
36 If they sin against thee, (for there is no man
which sinneth not,) and thou be angry with them,
and deliver them over before their enemies, and
they carry them away captives unto a land far off
or near;
37 Yet if they bethink themselves in the land
whither they are carried captive, and turn and
pray unto thee in the land of their captivity,
saying, We have sinned, we have done amiss, 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, whither they have carried them
captives, and pray toward their land, which thou
gavest unto their fathers, and toward the city
which thou hast chosen, and toward the house
which I have built for thy name:
39 Then hear thou from the heavens, even from thy
dwelling place, their prayer and their
supplications, and maintain their cause, and
forgive thy people which have sinned against
thee.
40 Now, my God, let, I beseech thee, thine eyes
be open, and let thine ears be attent unto 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 saints rejoice in
goodness.
42 O Lord God, turn not away the face of thine
anointed: remember the mercies of David thy
servant.
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