2 Chronicles
Chapter 6
1 Then Solomon said, “God has stated that he would live in deep darkness.”
2 I have built a house for you to live in, and a place where you can stay forever.
3 The king turned to the people, blessed everyone in Israel, and they all stood up.
4 He said, “Praise be to God of Israel, who has with His hands completed what He promised my father David with His words, saying,”
5 Since the day I led my people out of Egypt, I did not pick any city from all the tribes of Israel to build a house for my name, nor did I choose anyone to be the leader over my people Israel.
6 I have picked Jerusalem for my name to be there and chosen David to rule my people Israel.
7 David my father wanted to build a house for the name of God of Israel.
8 But God told David my father, “Because you wanted to build a house for my name, you did well to have this desire.”
9 Even though you won’t build the temple, your son that will be born to you, he will build the temple for my honor.
10 God has done what he said: for I took my father David’s place and became king of Israel, just as God promised, and I built a temple for God’s name.
11 I have placed the chest in it, which contains the agreement God made with the people of Israel.
12 He stood in front of God’s altar with all of Israel’s people watching and spread out his hands.
13 Solomon built a brass platform five cubits long, five cubits wide, and three cubits tall, and placed it in the center of the courtyard. He stood on it, knelt down on his knees before all of Israel’s people, and raised his hands to the sky.
14 And said, O God of Israel, there is no God like you in heaven or on earth; you keep your promise and show kindness to your servants who follow you with all their hearts.
15 You have kept your promise to my father David, what you told him you did by your power, just as it is today.
16 So now, God of Israel, keep the promise you gave to my father David, telling him, “You will always have a descendant to rule over Israel, if your sons are careful to live by my teachings as you have.”
17 Now then, O God of Israel, let your word come true, which you have spoken to your servant David.
18 Can God really live with people on Earth? Even the highest heavens cannot hold you, so how can this temple I built be enough?
19 Please listen to your servant’s prayer and his plea for help, my God, and hear the cry and the prayer that your servant is making before you.
20 Let your eyes always be open and watch this house day and night, where you said you would be honored; listen to the prayers your servant offers toward this place.
21 Listen to the prayers of your servant and your people Israel when they pray toward this place. Hear from your home in heaven, and when you hear, forgive.
22 If someone does wrong to another person and has to take an oath, and they take that oath at your altar in this temple;
23 Listen from heaven, act and judge your servants. Punish the wicked by making them face their own actions and declare the good people right by rewarding them for their goodness.
24 If the people of Israel are defeated by their enemies because they have sinned against you, and if they turn back, admit your name, pray, and ask for mercy in this temple;
25 Listen from heaven, forgive Israel’s sin, and let them return to the land you gave them and their ancestors.
26 When the sky closes and there is no rain because they have sinned against you; if they pray towards this place, admit your name, and stop sinning when you make them suffer;
27 Listen from heaven and forgive the sins of your servants and your people Israel when you have shown them the right path to follow; and give rain to the land you have given to your people as their inheritance.
28 If there is famine in the land, if there is disease, if there is crop damage, or rot, locusts, or caterpillars; if their enemies surround them in their land’s cities; whatever pain or whatever illness there is:
29 Whenever someone or any of your people Israel knows their own pain and sadness, and they reach out their hands in this place, listen to their prayer and plea.
30 Listen from heaven, your home, forgive, and treat everyone based on their actions because you know their hearts; only you understand people’s hearts.
31 Let them respect you and follow your paths all their days living in the land you gave our ancestors.
32 About the foreigner, not from your people Israel, who comes from a distant land because of your great name, powerful hand, and extended arm; if they come and pray in this temple;
33 Listen from heaven, your home, and do what the foreigner asks of you, so that everyone on earth may know your name and respect you, just like your people Israel, and know that this house I have built is named after you.
34 If your people go to war against their enemies on the path you send them, and they pray to you facing the city you have chosen and the temple I have built for your name;
35 Listen to their prayer and plea from heaven, and uphold their cause.
36 If they sin against you, (since no one is without sin,) and you become angry with them, and let their enemies defeat them, and their enemies take them as prisoners to a land far away or close by;
37 But if they realize their wrongs in the country where they are prisoners, and turn back and pray to you in that land, saying, “We have sinned, we have done wrong, and we have acted badly”;
38 If they come back to you with all their heart and soul in the land where they are captives, and pray facing their land that you gave to their ancestors, the city you chose, and the temple I built for your name:
39 Then listen from heaven, your home, to their prayers and pleas, help them, and forgive your people who have sinned against you.
40 Now, my God, please let your eyes be open and your ears listen to the prayer made here.
41 Now get up, God, to your resting place, you and the ark of your power. May your priests, God, be dressed in salvation, and let your holy people be happy with goodness.
42 God, do not turn away from your chosen one; remember the kindness you showed to your servant David.