2 Chronicles 6

6 ¹Then Solomon said, "Our Father has said that he would dwell in thick darkness. ²But I have built you an exalted house, a place for you to dwell in forever."

³Then the king turned and blessed the whole assembly of Israel as they all stood. ⁴He said, "Praise our Father, the God of Israel, whose hand has fulfilled what his mouth promised my father David, saying,

⁵'Since the day I brought my people out of Egypt, I chose no city from all the tribes of Israel to build a house for my name to be there, nor any man to rule my people Israel. ⁶But I chose Jerusalem for my name to be there, and I chose David to lead my people Israel.'

⁷David my father had it in his heart to build a house for the name of our Father, the God of Israel.

⁸But our Father told David my father, 'Because building a house for my name was in your heart, you did well to intend this.' ⁹But you will not build the house; your son, from your own body—he will build the house for my name.'

¹⁰Now our Father has fulfilled the word he spoke: I have succeeded David my father and sit on Israel's throne, as he promised, and I have built the house for the name of our Father, the God of Israel. ¹¹There I placed the ark, holding the covenant our Father made with the people of Israel."

Solomon Dedicates the Father's House in Prayer

¹²Then Solomon stood before our Father's altar in the presence of the whole assembly of Israel and spread out his hands. ¹³Solomon had made a bronze platform about seven and a half feet long, seven and a half feet wide, four and a half feet high, and set it in the middle of the court. He stood on it, knelt before the whole assembly of Israel, and spread his hands toward heaven. ¹⁴He said, "O my Father, God of Israel, no Father is like you in heaven or on earth, keeping covenant and showing loyal love to your servants who walk before you wholeheartedly. ¹⁵You kept your promise to your servant David my father; what you spoke with your mouth you fulfilled with your hand today.

¹⁶So now, my Father, God of Israel, keep for your servant David my father what you promised: 'You will never lack a man before me on Israel's throne, if only your sons watch their way to walk in my law, as you have walked before me.' ¹⁷And now, my Father, God of Israel, let the word you spoke to your servant David be confirmed.

¹⁸But will our Father really live with people on earth? The heavens and highest heavens can't hold you—how much less this house I built. ^a a v18 Solomon marvels that our Father would make his home with people on earth—a longing fully answered when the Son came to dwell among us, and finally when our Father dwells with his children forever. ¹⁹Yet hear the prayer of your servant and his plea, O my Father, and hear the cry and prayer your servant prays before you. ²⁰May your eyes be open toward this house day and night, toward the place where you said you'd put your name, to hear the prayer your servant prays toward this place. ²¹Hear your servant's and your people Israel's pleas when they pray toward this place. Hear from heaven, your dwelling; and when you hear, forgive.

²²If a man sins against his neighbor and must swear an oath, and he comes and swears his oath before your altar in this house, ²³then hear from heaven and act. Judge your servants: pay back the guilty for their deeds, and clear the righteous, rewarding them by their righteousness.

²⁴If your people Israel, defeated by enemies for sinning against you, turn back to praise your name, pray, and plead with you in this house, ²⁵then hear from heaven, forgive the sin of your people Israel, and bring them back to the land you gave to them and their ancestors.

²⁶When the sky is shut with no rain because they sinned against you, if they pray toward this place, praise your name, and turn from their sin when you make them suffer, ²⁷then hear from heaven, forgive your servants' sin, your people Israel, when you teach them the good path to walk, and send rain on your land, which you gave your people as their inheritance.

²⁸If famine, plague, blight, mildew, locust, or caterpillar strikes the land; if enemies besiege them in their towns—whatever plague or sickness comes, ²⁹whatever prayer or plea anyone or all your people Israel makes, each knowing his own suffering and pain and spreading his hands toward this house, ³⁰then hear from heaven, your home, and forgive, and repay each according to all his ways, since you know his heart—for you alone know every human heart, ³¹so they may fear you and walk in your ways as long as they live on the land you gave our ancestors.

³²Also, when a foreigner not of your people Israel comes from a distant land for your great name, your mighty hand, and your outstretched arm—when they come and pray toward this house, ³³then hear from heaven where you live, and do all the foreigner asks, so all the earth's peoples may know your name and fear you, as your people Israel do, and know this house I built bears your name.

³⁴If your people go to war against their enemies wherever you send them, and pray to you toward this city you have chosen and the house I built for your name, ³⁵then hear from heaven their prayer and their plea, and uphold their cause.

³⁶If they sin against you—for no one is without sin—and you are angry with them and hand them to an enemy who takes them captive to a land far or near, ³⁷yet if in the land of their captivity they take it to heart, and turn back and plead with you there, saying, 'We have sinned, we did wrong, we acted evilly,' ³⁸if they turn back to you with all their heart and soul in the land of their captivity where they were taken, and pray toward their land you gave their ancestors, the city you chose, and the house I built for your name, ³⁹then hear from heaven, your dwelling place, their prayer and pleas, uphold their cause, and forgive your people who sinned against you.

⁴⁰Now, my Father, let your eyes be open and your ears attentive to the prayer of this place. ⁴¹And now arise, my Father, and come to your resting place, you and the ark of your might. Let your priests, my Father, be clothed with salvation, and let your faithful ones rejoice in your goodness. ⁴²My Father, do not reject your anointed one. Remember your covenant love for David your servant."