1 Kings 8:24-60

²⁴who hast kept for Thy servant David my father that which Thou spakest to him; yea, Thou speakest with Thy mouth, and with Thy hand hast fulfilled it, as at this day.

²⁵'And now, Jehovah, God of Israel, keep for Thy servant David my father that which Thou spakest to him, saying, There is not cut off to thee a man from before Me, sitting on the throne of Israel — only, if thy sons watch their way, to walk before Me as thou hast walked before Me.

²⁶'And now, O God of Israel, let it be established, I pray Thee, Thy word which Thou hast spoken to Thy servant, David my father.

²⁷But, is it true? — God dwelleth on the earth! lo, the heavens, and the heavens of the heavens do not contain Thee, how much less this house which I have builded!

²⁸'Then thou hast turned unto the prayer of Thy servant, and unto his supplication, O Jehovah my God, to hearken unto the cry and unto the prayer which Thy servant is praying before Thee to-day,

²⁹for Thine eyes being open towards this house night and day, towards the place of which Thou hast said, My Name is there; to hearken unto the prayer which Thy servant prayeth towards this place.

³⁰'Then Thou hast hearkened unto the supplication of Thy servant, and of Thy people Israel, which they pray towards this place; yea, Thou dost hearken in the place of Thy dwelling, in the heavens — and Thou hast hearkened, and hast forgiven,

³¹that which a man sinneth against his neighbour, and he hath lifted up upon him an oath to cause him to swear, and the oath hath come in before Thine altar in this house,

³²then Thou dost hear in the heavens, and hast done, and hast judged Thy servants, to declare wicked the wicked, to put his way on his head, and to declare righteous the righteous, to give him according to his righteousness.

³³'In Thy people Israel being smitten before an enemy, because they sin against Thee, and they have turned back unto Thee, and have confessed Thy name, and prayed, and made supplication unto Thee in this house,

³⁴then thou dost hear in the heavens, and hast forgiven the sin of Thy people Israel, and brought them back unto the ground that Thou gavest to their fathers.

³⁵'In the heavens being restrained, and there is no rain, because they sin against Thee, and they have prayed towards this place, and confessed Thy name, and from their sin turn back, for Thou dost afflict them,

³⁶then Thou dost hear in the heavens, and hast forgiven the sin of Thy servants, and of Thy people Israel, for Thou directest them the good way in which they go, and hast given rain on Thy land which Thou hast given to Thy people for inheritance.

³⁷'Famine — when it is in the land; pestilence — when it is; blasting, mildew, locust; caterpillar — when it is; when its enemy hath distressed it in the land in its gates, any plague, any sickness, —

³⁸any prayer, any supplication that is of any man of all Thy people Israel, who know each the plague of his own heart, and hath spread his hands towards this house,

³⁹then Thou dost hear in the heavens, the settled place of Thy dwelling, and hast forgiven, and hast done, and hast given to each according to all his ways, whose heart Thou knowest, (for Thou hast known — Thyself alone — the heart of all the sons of man),

⁴⁰so that they fear Thee all the days that they are living on the face of the ground that Thou hast given to our fathers.

⁴¹'And also, unto the stranger who is not of Thy people Israel, and hath come from a land afar off for Thy name's sake —

⁴²(for they hear of Thy great name, and of Thy strong hand, and of Thy stretched-out arm) — and he hath come in and prayed towards this house,

⁴³Thou dost hear in the heavens, the settled place of Thy dwelling, and hast done according to all that the stranger calleth unto Thee for, in order that all the peoples of the earth may know Thy name, to fear Thee like Thy people Israel, and to know that Thy name hath been called on this house which I have builded.

⁴⁴'When Thy people doth go out to battle against its enemy, in the way that Thou dost send them, and they have prayed unto Jehovah the way of the city which thou hast fixed on, and of the house which I have builded for Thy name;

⁴⁵then Thou hast heard in the heavens their prayer and their supplication, and hast maintained their cause.

⁴⁶'When they sin against Thee (for there is not a man who sinneth not), and Thou hast been angry with them, and hast given them up before an enemy, and they have taken captive their captivity unto the land of the enemy far off or near;

⁴⁷and they have turned it back unto their heart in the land whither they have been taken captive, and have turned back, and made supplication unto Thee, in the land of their captors, saying, We have sinned and done perversely — we have done wickedly;

⁴⁸yea, they have turned back unto Thee, with all their heart, and with all their soul, in the land of their enemies who have taken them captive, and have prayed unto Thee the way of their land, which Thou gavest to their fathers, the city which Thou hast chosen, and the house which I have builded for Thy name:

⁴⁹'Then Thou hast heard in the heavens, the settled place of Thy dwelling, their prayer and their supplication, and hast maintained their cause,

⁵⁰and hast forgiven Thy people who have sinned against Thee, even all their transgressions which they have transgressed against Thee, and hast given them mercies before their captors, and they have had mercy on them —

⁵¹(for Thy people and Thy inheritance are they, whom Thou didst bring out of Egypt, out of the midst of the furnace of iron) —

⁵²for Thine eyes being open unto the supplication of Thy servant, and unto the supplication of Thy people Israel, to hearken unto them in all they call unto Thee for;

⁵³for Thou hast separated them to Thyself for an inheritance, out of all the peoples of the earth, as Thou didst speak by the hand of Moses Thy servant, in Thy bringing out our fathers from Egypt, O Lord Jehovah.'

⁵⁴And it cometh to pass, at Solomon's finishing to pray unto Jehovah all this prayer and supplication, he hath risen from before the altar of Jehovah, from bending on his knees, and his hands spread out to the heavens,

⁵⁵and he standeth and blesseth all the assembly of Israel with a loud voice, saying,

⁵⁶'Blessed is Jehovah who hath given rest to His people Israel, according to all that He hath spoken; there hath not fallen one word of all His good word, which He spake by the hand of Moses his servant.

⁵⁷'Jehovah our God is with us as He hath been with our fathers; He doth not forsake us nor leave us;

⁵⁸to incline our heart unto Himself, to walk in all His ways, and to keep His commands, and His statutes, and His judgments, which He commanded our fathers;

⁵⁹and these my words with which I have made supplication before Jehovah, are near unto Jehovah our God by day and by night, to maintain the cause of His servant, and the cause of His people Israel, the matter of a day in its day;

⁶⁰for all the peoples of the earth knowing that Jehovah, He is God; there is none else;