2 Chronicles 6
Solomon blessed the multitude of Israel and acknowledged God's fulfillment of his promise to David, that his son would build a house for God's name. Solomon then stood before the altar and prayed, recognizing God's greatness and his covenant with his servants, and asking that God would hear the prayers of his people and forgive their sins. He also prayed for God's mercy on his people when they sinned, and for God to hear the prayers of outsiders who came to worship in the temple. Solomon concluded his prayer by asking God to remember his mercies to David and to not turn away from his Christ.
1Then Solomon said: "The Lord has promised that he would dwell in a cloud2But I have built a house to his name, so that he may dwell there forever.3And the king turned his face, and he blessed the entire multitude of Israel, (for the whole crowd was standing and attentive) and he said4"Blessed is the Lord, the God of Israel, who has completed the work that he spoke to David my father, saying5‘From the day when I led my people away from the land of Egypt, I did not choose a city from all the tribes of Israel, so that a house would be built in it to my name. And I did not choose any other man, so that he would be the ruler of my people Israel6But I chose Jerusalem, so that my name would be in it. And I chose David, so that I might appoint him over my people Israel.7And though David, my father, had decided that he would build a house to the name of the Lord God of Israel8the Lord said to him: ‘In so far as it was your will that you build a house to my name, certainly you have done well in having such a will9But you shall not build the house. Truly, your son, who will go forth from your loins, shall build a house to my name.10Therefore, the Lord has accomplished his word, which he had spoken. And I have risen up in place of my father David, and I sit upon the throne of Israel, just as the Lord spoke. And I have built a house to the name of the Lord, the God of Israel11And I have placed in it the ark, in which is the covenant of the Lord that he formed with the sons of Israel.12Then he stood before the altar of the Lord, facing the entire multitude of Israel, and he extended his hands13For indeed, Solomon had made a bronze base, and he had positioned it in the midst of the hall; it held five cubits in length, and five cubits in width, and three cubits in height. And he stood upon it. And next, kneeling down while facing the entire multitude of Israel, and lifting up his palms towards heaven14he said: "O Lord God of Israel, there is no god like you in heaven or on earth. You preserve covenant and mercy with your servants, who walk before you with all their hearts15You fulfilled for your servant David, my father, whatsoever you had said to him. And you carried out the deed that you promised with your mouth, just as the present time proves16Now then, O Lord God of Israel, fulfill for your servant David, my father, whatsoever you said to him, saying: ‘There shall not fail to be a man from you before me, who will sit upon the throne of Israel, yet only if your sons will guard their ways, and will walk in my law, just as you also have walked before me.17And now, O Lord God of Israel, let your word be confirmed that you spoke to your servant David18How then is it to be believed that God would dwell with men upon the earth? If heaven and the heavens of the heavens do not contain you, how much less this house that I have built19But it has been done for this only, so that you may look with favor upon the prayer of your servant, and on his supplication, O Lord my God, and so that you may hear the prayers which your servant pours out before you20and so that you may open your eyes over this house, day and night, over the place where you promised that your name would be invoked21and so that you may heed the prayer which your servant is praying within it, and so that you may heed the prayers of your servant and of your people Israel. Whoever will pray in this place, listen from your habitation, that is, from heaven, and forgive22If anyone will have sinned against his neighbor, and he arrives to swear against him, and to bind himself with a curse before the altar in this house23you will hear him from heaven, and you will execute justice for your servants, so that you return, to the iniquitous man, his own way upon his own head, and so that you vindicate the just man, repaying him according to his own justice24If your people Israel will have been overwhelmed by their enemies, (for they will sin against you) and having been converted will do penance, and if they will have beseeched your name, and will have prayed in this place25you will heed them from heaven, and you will forgive the sin of your people Israel, and you will lead them back into the land that you gave to them and to their fathers26If the heavens have been closed, so that rain does not fall, because of the sin of the people, and if they will petition you in this place, and confess to your name, and be converted from their sins when you will afflict them27heed them from heaven, O Lord, and forgive the sins of your servants and of your people Israel, and teach them the good way, by which they may advance, and give rain to the land that you gave to your people as a possession28If a famine will have risen up in the land, or pestilence, or fungus, or mildew, or locusts, or beetles, or if enemies will have laid waste to the countryside and will have besieged the gates of the cities, or whatever scourge or infirmity will have pressed upon them29if anyone from your people Israel, knowing his own scourge and infirmity, will have made supplication and will have extended his hands in this house30you will heed him from heaven, indeed from your sublime habitation, and you will forgive, and you will repay each one according to his ways, which you know him to hold in his heart. For you alone know the hearts of the sons of men31So may they fear you, and so may they walk in your ways, during all the days that they live upon the face of the land, which you gave to our fathers32Also, if the outsider, who is not from your people Israel, will have arrived from a far away land, because of your great name, and because of your robust hand and your outstretched arm, and if he will adore in this place33you will heed him from heaven, your most firm habitation, and you will accomplish all the things about which this sojourner will have called out to you, so that all the people of the earth may know your name, and may fear you, just as your people Israel do, and so that they may know that your name is invoked over this house, which I have built34If, having gone out to war against their adversaries along the way that you will send them, your people adore you facing in the direction of this city, which you have chosen, and of this house, which I have built to your name35you will heed their prayers from heaven, and their supplications, and you will vindicate them36But if they will have sinned against you (for there is no man who does not sin) and you will have become angry against them, and if you will have delivered them to their enemies, and so they lead them away as captives to a far away land, or even to one that is near37and if, having been converted in their heart in the land to which they had been led as captives, they will do penance, and beseech you in the land of their captivity, saying, ‘We have sinned; we have committed iniquity; we have acted unjustly,38and if they will have returned to you, with their whole heart and with their whole soul, in the land of their captivity to which they were led away, and if they will adore you in the direction of their own land, which you gave to their fathers, and of the city, which you have chosen, and of the house, which I have built to your name39from heaven, that is, from your firm habitation, you will heed their prayers, and you will accomplish judgment, and you will forgive your people, even though they are sinners40For you are my God. Let your eyes be open, I beg you, and let your ears be attentive to the prayer that is made in this place41Now therefore, rise up, O Lord God, to your resting place, you and the ark of your strength. Let your priests, O Lord God, be clothed with salvation, and let your holy ones rejoice in what is good42O Lord God, may you not turn away from the face of your Christ. Remember the mercies of your servant, David.
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