Kings III 8:14-39

¹⁴And the king turned his face, and the king blessed all Israel, (and the whole assembly of Israel stood:)

¹⁵and he said, Blessed be the Lord God of Israel to-day, who spoke by his mouth concerning David my father, and has fulfilled it with his hands, saying,

¹⁶From the day that I brought out my people Israel out of Egypt, I have not chosen a city in any one tribe of Israel to build a house, so that my name should be there: but I chose Jerusalem that my name should be there, and I chose David to be over my people Israel.

¹⁷And it was in the heart of my father to build a house to the name of the Lord God of Israel.

¹⁸And the Lord said to David my father, Forasmuch as it came into thine heart to build a house to my name, thou didst well that it came upon thine heart.

¹⁹Nevertheless thou shalt not build the house, but thy son that has proceeded out of thy bowels, he shall build the house to my name.

²⁰And the Lord has confirmed the word that he spoke, and I am risen up in the place of my father David, and I have sat down on the throne of Israel, as the Lord spoke, and I have built the house to the name of the Lord God of Israel.

²¹And I have set there a place for the ark, in which is the covenant of the Lord, which the Lord made with our fathers, when he brought them out of the land of Egypt.

²²And Solomon stood up in front of the altar before all the congregation of Israel; and he spread out his hands toward heaven:

²³and he said, Lord God of Israel, there is no God like thee in heaven above and on the earth beneath, keeping covenant and mercy with thy servant who walks before thee with all his heart;

²⁴which thou hast kept toward thy servant David my father: for thou hast spoken by thy mouth and thou hast fulfilled it with thine hands, as at this day.

²⁵And now, O Lord God of Israel, keep for thy servant David my father, the promises which thou hast spoken to him, saying, There shall not be taken from thee a man sitting before me on the throne of Israel, provided only thy children shall take heed to their ways, to walk before me as thou hast walked before me.

²⁶And now, O Lord God of Israel, let, I pray thee, thy word to David my father be confirmed.

²⁷But will God indeed dwell with men upon the earth? if the heaven and heaven of heavens will not suffice thee, how much less even this house which I have built to thy name?

²⁸Yet, O Lord God of Israel, thou shalt look upon my petition, to hear the prayer which thy servant prays to thee in thy presence this day,

²⁹that thine eyes may be open toward this house day and night, even toward the place of which thou saidst, My name shall be there, to hear the prayer which thy servant prays at this place day and night.

³⁰And thou shalt hearken to the prayer of thy servant, and of thy people Israel, which they shall pray toward this place; and thou shalt hear in thy dwelling-place in heaven, and thou shalt do and be gracious.

³¹Whatsoever trespasses any one shall commit against his neighbour,—and if he shall take upon him an oath so that he should swear, and he shall come and make confession before thine altar in this house,

³²then shalt thou hear from heaven, and do, and thou shalt judge thy people Israel, that the wicked should be condemned, to recompense his way upon his head; and to justify the righteous, to give to him according to his righteousness.

³³When thy people Israel falls before enemies, because they shall sin against thee, and they shall return and confess to thy name, and they shall pray and supplicate in this house,

³⁴then shalt thou hear from heaven, and be gracious to the sins of thy people Israel, and thou shalt restore them to the land which thou gavest to their fathers.

³⁵When the heaven is restrained, and there is no rain, because they shall sin against thee, and they shall pray toward this place, and shall make confession to thy name, and shall turn from their sins when thou shalt have humbled them,

³⁶then thou shalt hear from heaven, and be merciful to the sins of thy servant and of thy people Israel; for thou shalt shew them the good way to walk in it, and thou shalt give rain upon the earth which thou hast given to thy people for an inheritance.

³⁷If there should be famine, if there should be death, because there should be blasting, locust, or if there be mildew, and if their enemy oppress them in any one of their cities, with regard to every calamity, every trouble,

³⁸every prayer, every supplication whatever shall be made by any man, as they shall know each the plague of his heart, and shall spread abroad his hands to this house,

³⁹then shalt thou hearken from heaven, out of thine established dwelling-place, and shalt be merciful, and shalt do, and recompense to every man according to his ways, as thou shalt know his heart, for thou alone knowest the heart of all the children of men: