1 Kings 8:14-61

14Then the king 1faced about and 2blessed all the assembly of Israel, while all the assembly of Israel was standing. 15He said, “3Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, 4who spoke with His mouth to my father David and has fulfilled it with His hand, saying, 16‘5Since the day that I brought My people Israel from Egypt, I did not choose a city out of all the tribes of Israel in which to build a house that 6My name might be there, but 7I chose David to be over My people Israel.’ 178Now it was 9in the heart of my father David to build a house for the name of the Lord, the God of Israel. 18But the Lord said to my father David, ‘Because it was 10in your heart to build a house for My name, you did well that it was 11in your heart. 1912Nevertheless you shall not build the house, but your son who 13will be born to you, he will build the house for My name.’ 20Now the Lord has fulfilled His word which He spoke; for 14I have risen in place of my father David and sit on the throne of Israel, as the Lord 15promised, and have built the house for the name of the Lord, the God of Israel. 21There I have set a place for the ark, 16in which is the covenant of the Lord, which He made with our fathers when He brought them from the land of Egypt.”

22Then 17Solomon stood before the altar of the Lord in the presence of all the assembly of Israel and 18spread out his hands toward heaven. 23He said, “O Lord, the God of Israel, 19there is no God like You in heaven above or on earth beneath, 20keeping covenant and showing lovingkindness to Your servants who walk before You with all their heart, 24who have kept with Your servant, my father David, that which You have 21promised him; indeed, You have spoken with Your mouth and have fulfilled it with Your hand as it is this day. 25Now therefore, O Lord, the God of Israel, keep with Your servant David my father that which You have 22promised him, saying, ‘2324You shall not lack a man to sit on the throne of Israel, if only your sons take heed to their way to walk before Me as you have walked.’ 26Now therefore, O God of Israel, let Your word, I pray, be confirmed 25which You have spoken to Your servant, my father David.

27“But will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold, 26heaven and the 27highest heaven cannot contain You, how much less this house which I have built! 28Yet have regard to the 28prayer of Your servant and to his supplication, O Lord my God, to listen to the cry and to the prayer which Your servant prays before You today; 2929that Your eyes may be open toward this house night and day, toward 30the place of which You have said, ‘My name shall be there,’ to listen to the prayer which Your servant shall pray toward this place. 3031Listen to the supplication of Your servant and of Your people Israel, 32when they pray toward this place; hear in heaven Your dwelling place; hear and 33forgive.

31“34If a man sins against his neighbor and is made to take an oath, and he comes and takes an oath before Your altar in this house, 32then hear in heaven and act and judge Your servants, 35condemning the wicked by bringing his way on his own head and justifying the righteous by giving him according to his righteousness.

33“36When Your people Israel are 37defeated before an enemy, because they have sinned against You, 38if they turn to You again and confess Your name and pray and make supplication to You in this house, 34then hear in heaven, and forgive the sin of Your people Israel, and bring them back to the land which You gave to their fathers.

35“39When the heavens are shut up and there is no rain, because they have sinned against You, and they pray toward this place and confess Your name and turn from their sin when You afflict them, 36then hear in heaven and forgive the sin of Your servants and of Your people Israel, 40indeed, teach them the good way in which they should walk. And 41send rain on Your land, which You have given Your people for an inheritance.

37“42If there is famine in the land, if there is pestilence, if there is blight or mildew, locust or grasshopper, if their enemy besieges them in the land of their 43cities, whatever plague, whatever sickness there is, 38whatever prayer or supplication is made by any man or by all Your people Israel, 44each knowing the 45affliction of his own heart, and spreading his 46hands toward this house; 39then hear in heaven Your dwelling place, and forgive and act and render to each according to all his ways, 47whose heart You know, for 48You alone know the hearts of all the sons of men, 40that they may 49fear You all the days that they live 50in the land which You have given to our fathers.

41“Also concerning the foreigner who is not of Your people Israel, when he comes from a far country for Your name’s sake 42(for they will hear of Your great name 51and Your mighty hand, and of Your outstretched arm); when he comes and prays toward this house, 43hear in heaven Your dwelling place, and do according to all for which the foreigner calls to You, in order 52that all the peoples of the earth may know Your name, to 53fear You, as do Your people Israel, and that they may know that 54this house which I have built is called by Your name.

44“When Your people go out to battle against 55their enemy, by whatever way You shall send them, and 56they pray to the Lord 57toward the city which You have chosen and the house which I have built for Your name, 45then hear in heaven their prayer and their supplication, and maintain their 58cause.

46“When they sin against You (for 59there is no man who does not sin) and You are angry with them and deliver them to an enemy, so that 60they take them away captive 61to the land of the enemy, far off or near; 4762if they 63take thought in the land where they have been taken captive, and repent and make supplication to You in the land of those who have taken them captive, saying, ‘64We have sinned and have committed iniquity, we have acted wickedly’; 4865if they return to You with all their heart and with all their soul in the land of their enemies who have taken them captive, and 66pray to You toward their land which You have given to their fathers, the city which You have chosen, and the house which I have built for Your name; 49then hear their prayer and their supplication in heaven Your dwelling place, and maintain their 67cause, 50and forgive Your people who have sinned against You and all their transgressions which they have transgressed against You, and 68make them objects of compassion before those who have taken them captive, that they may have compassion on them 51(69for they are Your people and Your inheritance which You have brought forth from Egypt, 70from the midst of the iron furnace), 5271that Your eyes may be open to the supplication of Your servant and to the supplication of Your people Israel, to listen to them whenever they call to You. 53For You have separated them from all the peoples of the earth as Your inheritance, 72as You spoke through Moses Your servant, when You brought our fathers forth from Egypt, O Lord 73God.”

5474When Solomon had finished praying this entire prayer and supplication to the Lord, 75he arose from before the altar of the Lord, from kneeling on his knees with his 76hands spread toward heaven. 55And he stood and 77blessed all the assembly of Israel with a loud voice, saying:

56“Blessed be the Lord, who has given rest to His people Israel, 78according to all that He 79promised; 80not one word has 81failed of all His good 82promise, which He 83promised through Moses His servant. 57May the Lord our God be with us, as He was with our fathers; 84may He not leave us or forsake us, 58that 85He may incline our hearts to Himself, to walk in all His ways and to keep His commandments and His statutes and His ordinances, which He commanded our fathers. 59And may these words of mine, with which I have made supplication before the Lord, be near to the Lord our God day and night, that He may maintain the 86cause of His servant and the 87cause of His people Israel, 88as each day requires, 60so 89that all the peoples of the earth may know that 90the Lord is God; there is no one else. 6191Let your heart therefore be 92wholly devoted to the Lord our God, to walk in His statutes and to keep His commandments, as at this day.”