6 ¶ Then Solomon said, The LORD has said that he would dwell in the thick darkness.

² I, therefore, have built a house of habitation for thee and a place for thy dwelling for ever.

³ And the king turned his face and blessed the whole congregation of Israel, and all the congregation of Israel was standing.

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

⁵ 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 a house in, that my name might be there; neither did I choose any man to be a prince 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 unto the name of the LORD God of Israel.

⁸ But the LORD said to David, my father, Forasmuch as it was in thy heart to build a house for my name, thou didst well in that it was in thy heart;

⁹ notwithstanding, thou shalt not build the house, but thy son which shall come forth out of thy loins, he shall build a house for my name.

¹⁰ The LORD, therefore, has performed his word that he has spoken, for I am risen up in the place of David, my father, and am set on the throne of Israel, as the LORD had said, and have built the house unto the name of the LORD God of Israel.

¹¹ And in it I have put the ark, in which is the covenant of the LORD that he made with the sons of Israel.

¹² ¶ Then 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, five cubits long and five cubits wide 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 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 who keeps covenant and shows mercy unto thy slaves that walk before thee with all their hearts;

¹⁵ who hast kept unto thy slave David, my father, that which thou hast promised him; thou didst say it with thy mouth and hast fulfilled it with thy hand, as it is this day.

¹⁶ Now, therefore, O LORD God of Israel, keep with thy slave 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, under the condition that thy sons keep their way, walking in my law, as thou hast walked before me.

¹⁷ Now then, O LORD God of Israel, let thy word stand firm, which thou hast spoken unto thy slave David.

¹⁸ Is it true that God is to 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 But thou shalt look upon the prayer of thy slave and upon his supplication, O LORD my God, to hearken unto the cry and the prayer with which thy slave prays before thee

²⁰ that thine eyes may be open upon this house day and night, upon the place of which thou hast said, My name shall be there, to hearken unto the prayer which thy slave prays in this place.

²¹ Hearken, likewise, unto the supplications of thy slave and of thy people Israel when they shall pray in this place; hear thou from the heavens, from thy dwelling place, even hear and forgive.

²² If a man sins against his neighbour and an oath is laid upon him to make him swear, and the oath comes before thy altar in this house,

²³ thou shalt hear from heaven and do right unto thy slaves, by requiting the wicked, by recompensing his way upon his own head, and by justifying the righteous, by giving him according to his righteousness.

²⁴ And if thy people Israel should fall before their enemies because they have sinned against thee and if they should convert and confess thy name and pray and make supplication before thee in this house,

²⁵ thou shalt hear 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 If the heavens should become shut up, that there be no rain because they have sinned against thee; yet if they pray in this place and confess thy name and become converted from their sins when thou dost afflict them,

²⁷ thou shalt hear them from heaven and forgive the sin of thy slaves and of thy people Israel, and thou shalt teach them the good way, that they may walk therein, and send rain upon thy land which thou hast given unto thy people for an inheritance.

²⁸ If there should be famine in the land, or if there should be pestilence, if there should be blasting, or mildew, locusts, or caterpillars; if their enemies besiege them in the cities of their land; whatever affliction or sickness there may be;

²⁹ every prayer and every supplication made of any man, or of all thy people Israel or of anyone who knows his affliction and his grief in his heart, if they shall extend their hands towards this house,

³⁰ thou shalt hear from the heavens, from the place of thy habitation, and forgive and render unto each one according to his ways, having known his heart (for thou only knowest the hearts of the sons of men),

³¹ that they may fear thee and walk in thy ways all the days that they live in the land which thou gavest unto our fathers.

³² And also unto the stranger, who 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 thou shalt hear from the heavens, from the habitation of thy dwelling place, and do according to all that the stranger calls unto thee for, that all the peoples of the earth may know thy name and fear thee, as do thy people Israel, and let them know that thy name is invoked upon this house which I have built.

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, toward the house which I have built for thy name,

³⁵ thou shalt hear from the heavens their prayer and their supplication and do them judgment.

³⁶ If they sin against thee (for there is no man who does not sin), and thou art angry with them and deliver them over before their enemies so that those that take them carry them away captives unto an enemy land far off or near,

³⁷ and they come into their right mind in the land where they are carried captive, if they convert and pray unto thee in the land of their captivity, saying, We have sinned, we have done iniquity and have dealt wickedly,

³⁸ if they convert unto thee with all their heart and with all their soul in the land of their captivity, where they have been carried captives and pray toward their land, which thou didst give unto their fathers, and toward the city which thou hast chosen and toward the house which I have built unto thy name,

³⁹ thou shalt hear from the heavens, from the dwelling place of thy habitation, their prayer and their supplications and do their judgment and forgive thy people who have sinned against thee.

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

⁴¹ Now, therefore, arise, O LORD God, to inhabit thy resting place, thou and the ark of thy strength; let thy priests, O LORD God, be clothed with salvation and let thy merciful ones rejoice in goodness.

⁴² O LORD God, do not turn away the face of thy anointed one; remember the mercies of David, thy slave.