CHAPTER 6

¹Then did Solomon say:

“The LORD meant to abide in thick fog.

²As for me, I have built You a lofty house,

and a firm place for Your dwelling forever.”

³And the king turned his face and blessed all the assembly of Israel with all the assembly of Israel standing. ⁴And he said: “Blessed is the LORD God of Israel Who spoke with His own mouth to David my father and with His own hands has fulfilled it, saying, ⁵‘From the day that I brought out My people Israel from the land of Egypt, I have not chosen a town from all the tribes of Israel to build a house for My name to be there, and I have not chosen a man to be prince over My people Israel. ⁶But I chose Jerusalem for My name to be there, and I chose David to be over My people Israel.’ ⁷And it was in the heart of David my father to build a house for the name of the LORD God of Israel. ⁸And the LORD said to David my father, ‘Inasmuch as it was in your heart to build a house for My name, you have done well, for it was in your heart. ⁹Only you will not build the house, but your son who issues from your loins, he will build the house for My name.’ ¹⁰And the LORD has fulfilled His word that He spoke, and I arose in place of David my father and 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. ¹¹And I have set there the Ark in which is the Covenant of the LORD that He sealed with the Israelites.” ¹²And he stood before the LORD’s altar over against all the assembly of Israel and spread his palms. ¹³For Solomon had made a bronze stand five cubits in width and three cubits in height, and he stood on it and he kneeled over against all the assembly of Israel and spread his hands to the heavens. ¹⁴And he said, “LORD God of Israel: There is no god like you in the heavens and on the earth, keeping the covenant and the kindness for Your servants who walk before You with all their heart, ¹⁵which You kept for Your servant David my father, what You spoke to him, and You spoke to him with Your own mouth, and with Your own hand You fulfilled it as on this day. ¹⁶And now, LORD God of Israel, keep for Your servant David my father what You spoke to him, saying, ‘No man of yours will be cut off from before Me, sitting on the throne of Israel, if only your sons will keep their way to walk in My teaching as you have walked before Me.’ ¹⁷And now, LORD God of Israel, may Your words be shown true that You spoke to Your servant, to David. ¹⁸But can God really dwell on earth with humankind? Look, the heavens and the heavens beyond the heavens cannot contain You. How much less this house that I have built. ¹⁹Yet turn to the prayer of Your servant and to his plea, LORD my God, to hearken to the glad song and to the prayer that Your servant prays before You, ²⁰so that Your eyes be open to this house day and night, to this place of which You said to set Your name there, to hearken to the prayer that Your servant prays in this place. ²¹And may You hearken to the pleas of Your servant and of Your people Israel, to which they will pray in this place, and You, may You hearken in Your dwelling place in the heavens and hearken and forgive. ²²Should a man offend against his fellow and bear an oath against him to bring a curse on him, and the oath come before Your altar in this house, ²³You will hearken in the heavens and judge Your servants to condemn the guilty, to bring down his way on his head, and to vindicate him who is right to mete out to him according to his righteousness. ²⁴And if Your people Israel are routed by an enemy, for they will have offended against You, and they turn back and acclaim Your name and pray and plead before You in this house, ²⁵You will hearken from the heavens and forgive the offense of Your people Israel and bring them back to the land that You gave to them and to their fathers. ²⁶When the heavens are shut up and there is no rain, for the Israelites will have offended against You, and they pray and plead before You in this house and acclaim Your name, they will turn back from their offense, for You will answer them. ²⁷You will hearken in the heavens and forgive the offense of Your servants, Your people Israel, for You will teach them the good way in which they should go, and You will give them rain upon Your land that You have given to Your people in estate. ²⁸Should there be famine in the land, should there be plague, blight, or mildew, locusts, caterpillars, should his enemy besiege him in the land in his gates, any affliction or any disease, ²⁹any prayer, any plea that any man have in all Your people Israel, that every man know his affliction and his pain, he shall spread his palms in this house, ³⁰and You shall hearken from the heavens, the firm place of Your dwelling, and You shall forgive and grant to a man according to all his ways, as You alone know the heart of humankind. ³¹So that they may fear You to walk in Your ways all the days that they live upon the land that You gave to their fathers. ³²And to the foreigner, too, who is not from Your people Israel and has come from a distant land for the sake of Your name and Your strong hand and Your outstretched arm and comes and prays in this house, ³³You will hearken from the heavens, from the firm place of Your dwelling, and do as all that the foreigner will call out to You, so that all the peoples of the earth may know Your name to fear You as does Your people Israel and to know that Your name has been called on this house that I have built. ³⁴Should Your people go out to battle against its enemies on a way that You sent them, they shall pray to You through this city that You have chosen and the house that I have built for Your name. ³⁵And You shall hearken from the heavens to their prayer and to their plea, and You shall do justice for them. ³⁶Should they offend against You, for there is no man who does not offend, and You are furious with them and give them to the enemy and their captors take them off to a distant or nearby land, ³⁷but they turn back their heart in the land where they were brought captive and turn back and plead to You in the land of their captivity, saying, ‘We have offended and have done wrong and have been evil,’ ³⁸and they turn back to You with all their heart and all their being in the land of their captivity where they were taken captive, and they pray to You through the land that You gave to their fathers and the city that You chose and the house that I have built for Your name, ³⁹You shall hearken from the heavens, from the firm place of Your dwelling, to their prayers and to their pleas and do justice for them and forgive Your people who have offended against You. ⁴⁰Now, my God, may Your eyes, pray, be open and Your ears attentive to the prayer of this place.

⁴¹‘And now rise, O LORD God, to Your resting place,

You and the Ark of Your strength.

Let Your priests don victory

and Your faithful ones rejoice in what is good.

⁴²LORD, God, do not turn away Your anointed ones.

Recall the faithful acts of David, Your servant.’ “