|
Chapter 6 |
| 1 | Then said
Solomon, The LORD hath said that he would dwell in the thick darkness.
|
| 2 | But I have built an house of habitation for thee, and a place for thy
dwelling for ever. |
| 3 | And the king turned his face, and blessed the
whole congregation of Israel: and all the congregation of Israel stood.
|
| 4 | And he said, Blessed be the LORD God of Israel, who hath with his hands
fulfilled that which he spake with his mouth to my father David, saying,
|
| 5 | Since the day that I brought forth my people out of the land of Egypt I
chose no city among all the tribes of Israel to build an house in, that my name
might be there; neither chose I any man to be a ruler over my people
Israel: |
| 6 |
But I have chosen Jerusalem, that my name might be there; and
have chosen David to be over my people Israel. |
| 7 | Now it was in
the heart of David my father to build an house for the name of the LORD God of
Israel. |
| 8 |
But the LORD said to David my father, Forasmuch as it was in
thine heart to build an house for my name, thou didst well in that it was in
thine heart: |
| 9
| Notwithstanding thou shalt not build the house; but thy
son which shall come forth out of thy loins, he shall build the house for my
name. |
| 10 |
The LORD therefore hath performed his word that he hath
spoken: for I am risen up in the room of David my father, and am set on the
throne of Israel, as the LORD promised, and have built the house for the name
of the LORD God of Israel. |
|
11 | And in it have I put the ark, wherein
is the covenant of the LORD, that he made with the children of Israel.
|
| 12 | And he stood before the altar of the LORD in the presence of all the
congregation of Israel, and spread forth his hands: |
| 13 | For Solomon
had made a brazen scaffold of five cubits long, and five cubits broad, and
three cubits high, and had set it in the midst of the court: and upon it he
stood, and kneeled down upon his knees before all the congregation of Israel,
and spread forth his hands toward heaven. |
|
14 | And said, O LORD God of
Israel, there is no God like thee in the heaven, nor in the earth; which
keepest covenant, and showest mercy unto thy servants, that walk before thee
with all their hearts: |
| 15 | Thou which hast kept with thy servant David
my father that which thou hast promised him; and spakest with thy mouth, and
hast fulfilled it with thine hand, as it is this day. |
| 16 | Now
therefore, O LORD God of Israel, keep with thy servant David my father that
which thou hast promised him, saying, There shall not fail thee a man in my
sight to sit upon the throne of Israel; yet so that thy children take heed to
their way to walk in my law, as thou hast walked before me. |
| 17 | Now
then, O LORD God of Israel, let thy word be verified, which thou hast spoken
unto thy servant David. |
| 18 | But will God in very deed dwell with men on
the earth? behold, heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain thee; how
much less this house which I have built! |
|
19 | Have respect therefore to
the prayer of thy servant, and to his supplication, O LORD my God, to hearken
unto the cry and the prayer which thy servant prayeth before thee: |
| 20 |
That thine eyes may be open upon this house day and night, upon the place
whereof thou hast said that thou wouldest put thy name there; to hearken unto
the prayer which thy servant prayeth toward this place. |
| 21 | Hearken
therefore unto the supplications of thy servant, and of thy people Israel,
which they shall make toward this place: hear thou from thy dwelling place,
even from heaven; and when thou hearest, forgive. |
| 22 | If a man sin
against his neighbor, and an oath be laid upon him to make him swear, and the
oath come before thine altar in this house; |
|
23 | Then hear thou from
heaven, and do, and judge thy servants, by requiting the wicked, by
recompensing his way upon his own head; and by justifying the righteous, by
giving him according to his righteousness. |
|
24 | And if thy people
Israel be put to the worse before the enemy, because they have sinned against
thee; and shall return and confess thy name, and pray and make supplication
before thee in this house; |
|
25 | Then hear thou from the heavens, and
forgive the sin of thy people Israel, and bring them again unto the land which
thou gavest to them and to their fathers. |
|
26 | When the heaven is shut
up, and there is no rain, because they have sinned against thee; yet if they
pray toward this place, and confess thy name, and turn from their sin, when
thou dost afflict them; |
| 27 | Then hear thou from heaven, and forgive the
sin of thy servants, and of thy people Israel, when thou hast taught them the
good way, wherein they should walk; and send rain upon thy land, which thou
hast given unto thy people for an inheritance. |
| 28 | If there be
dearth in the land, if there be pestilence, if there be blasting, or mildew,
locusts, or caterpillars; if their enemies besiege them in the cities of their
land; whatsoever sore or whatsoever sickness there be: |
| 29 | Then what
prayer or what supplication soever shall be made of any man, or of all thy
people Israel, when every one shall know his own sore and his own grief, and
shall spread forth his hands in this house: |
|
30 | Then hear thou from
heaven thy dwelling place, and forgive, and render unto every man according
unto all his ways, whose heart thou knowest; (for thou only knowest the hearts
of the children of men:) |
|
31 | That they may fear thee, to walk in
thy ways, so long as they live in the land which thou gavest unto our
fathers. |
| 32
| Moreover concerning the stranger, which is not of thy
people Israel, but is come from a far country for thy great name's sake, and
thy mighty hand, and thy stretched out arm; if they come and pray in this
house; |
| 33
| Then hear thou from the heavens, even from thy dwelling
place, and do according to all that the stranger calleth to thee for; that all
people of the earth may know thy name, and fear thee, as doth thy people
Israel, and may know that this house which I have built is called by thy
name. |
| 34 |
If thy people go out to war against their enemies by the way
that thou shalt send them, and they pray unto thee toward this city which thou
hast chosen, and the house which I have built for thy name; |
| 35 | Then
hear thou from the heavens their prayer and their supplication, and maintain
their cause. |
|
36 | If they sin against thee, (for there is no man
which sinneth not,) and thou be angry with them, and deliver them over before
their enemies, and they carry them away captives unto a land far off or
near; |
| 37 |
Yet if they bethink themselves in the land whither they are
carried captive, and turn and pray unto thee in the land of their captivity,
saying, We have sinned, we have done amiss, and have dealt wickedly; |
| 38 |
If they return to thee with all their heart and with all their soul in the land
of their captivity, whither they have carried them captives, and pray toward
their land, which thou gavest unto their fathers, and toward the city which
thou hast chosen, and toward the house which I have built for thy name:
|
| 39 | Then hear thou from the heavens, even from thy dwelling place, their
prayer and their supplications, and maintain their cause, and forgive thy
people which have sinned against thee. |
| 40 | Now, my God, let, I beseech
thee, thine eyes be open, and let thine ears be attent unto the prayer that is
made in this place. |
| 41 | Now therefore arise, O LORD God, into thy
resting place, thou, and the ark of thy strength: let thy priests, O LORD God,
be clothed with salvation, and let thy saints rejoice in goodness. |
| 42 |
O LORD God, turn not away the face of thine anointed: remember the mercies of
David thy servant. |
