2 Chronicles 6
1 Then Solomon said: “The Lord has promised that he would dwell in a cloud.
Then said Solomon, The Lord said that he would dwell in thick darkness.
2 But I have built a house to his name, so that he may dwell there forever.”
But I have built a house to your name, holy to you, and prepared [for you] to dwell in for ever.
3 And the king turned his face, and he blessed the entire multitude of Israel, (for the whole crowd was standing and attentive) and he said:
And the king turned his face, and blessed all the congregation of Israel: and all the congregation of Israel stood by.
4 “Blessed is the Lord, the God of Israel, who has completed the work that he spoke to David my father, saying:
And he said, Blessed [be] the Lord God of Israel: he has even fulfilled with his hands as he spoke with his mouth to my father David, saying,
5 ‘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 Israel.
From the day when I brought up my people out of the land of Egypt, I chose no city of all the tribes of Israel, to build a house that my name should be there; neither did I choose a man to be a leader over my people Israel.
6 But 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.’
But I chose Jerusalem that my name should be there; and I chose David to be over my people Israel.
7 And though David, my father, had decided that he would build a house to the name of the Lord God of Israel,
And it came into the heart of David my father, to build a house for the name of the Lord God of Israel.
8 the 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 will.
But the Lord said to my father David, Whereas it came into your heart to build a house for my name, you did well that it came into your heart.
9 But you shall not build the house. Truly, your son, who will go forth from your loins, shall build a house to my name.’
Nevertheless you shall not build the house; for your son who shall come forth out of your loins, he shall build the house for my name.
10 Therefore, 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 Israel.
And the Lord has confirmed this word, which he spoke; and I am raised up in the room of my father David, and I sit upon the throne of Israel as the Lord said, and I have built the house for the name of the Lord God of Israel:
11 And I have placed in it the ark, in which is the covenant of the Lord that he formed with the sons of Israel.”
and I have set there the ark in which [is] the covenant of the Lord, which he made with Israel.
12 Then he stood before the altar of the Lord, facing the entire multitude of Israel, and he extended his hands.
And he stood before the altar of the Lord in the presence of all the congregation of Israel, and spread out his hands.
13 For 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 heaven,
For Solomon [had] made a brazen scaffold, and set it in the midst of the court of the sanctuary; the length of it [was] five cubits, and the breadth of it five cubits, and the height of it three cubits: and he stood upon it, and fell upon his knees before the whole congregation of Israel, and spread abroad his hands to heaven,
14 he 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 hearts.
and said, Lord God of Israel, there is no God like you in heaven, or on the earth; keeping covenant and mercy with your servants that walk before you with [their] whole heart.
15 You 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 proves.
Even as you have kept [them] with your servant David my father, as you have spoken to him in words: —you have both spoken with your mouth, and have fulfilled [it] with your hands, as it is this day.
16 Now 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.’
and now, Lord God of Israel, keep with your servant David my father the things which you spoke to him, saying, There shall not fail you a man before me sitting on the throne of Israel, if only your sons will take heed to their way to walk in my law, as you did walk before me.
17 And now, O Lord God of Israel, let your word be confirmed that you spoke to your servant David.
And now, Lord God of Israel, let, I pray you, your word be confirmed, which you have spoken to your servant David.
18 How 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 built?
For will God indeed dwell with men upon the earth? if the heaven and the heaven of heavens will not suffice you, what then is this house which I have built?
19 But 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 you,
Yet you shall have respect to the prayer of your servant, and to my petition, O Lord God, so as to listen to the petition and the prayer which your servant prays before you this day:
20 and so that you may open your eyes over this house, day and night, over the place where you promised that your name would be invoked,
so that your eyes should be open over this house by day and by night, towards this place, whereon you said your name should be called, so as to hear the prayer which your servant prays towards this house.
21 and 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 forgive.
And you shall hear the supplication of your servant, and of your people Israel, whatever prayers they shall make towards this place: and you shall listen in your dwelling-place out of heaven, yes you shall hear, and be merciful.
22 If 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 house,
If a man sin against his neighbor, and he bring an oath upon him so as to make him swear, and he come and swear before the altar in this house;
23 you 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 justice.
then shall you listen out of heaven, and do, and judge your servants, to recompense the transgressor, and to return his ways upon his head: and to justify the righteous, to recompense him according to his righteousness.
24 If 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 place,
And if your people Israel should be put to the worse before the enemy, if they should sin against you, and [then] turn and confess to your name, and pray and make supplication before you in this house;
25 you 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 fathers.
then shall you listen out of heaven and shall be merciful to the sins of your people Israel, and you shall restore them to the land which you gave to them and to their fathers.
26 If 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 them,
When heaven is restrained, and there is no rain, because they shall have sinned against you, and [when] they shall pray towards this place, and praise your name, and shall turn from their sins, because you shall afflict them;
27 heed 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 possession.
then shall you listen from heaven, and you shall be merciful to the sins of your servants, and of your people Israel; for you shall show them the good way in which they shall walk; and you shall send rain upon your land, which you gave to your people for an inheritance.
28 If 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 them,
If there should be famine upon the land, if there should be death, a pestilent wind an blight; if there should be locust and caterpiller, and if the enemy should harass them before their cities: in whatever plague and whatever distress [they may be];
29 if anyone from your people Israel, knowing his own scourge and infirmity, will have made supplication and will have extended his hands in this house,
Then whatever prayer and whatever supplication shall be made by any man and all your people Israel, if a man should know his own plague and his own sickness, and should spread forth his hands toward this house;
30 you 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 men.
then shall you hear from heaven, out of your prepared dwelling-place, and shall be merciful, and shall recompense to the man according to his ways, as you shall know his heart [to be]; for you alone know the heart of the children of men:
31 So 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 fathers.
that they may reverence all your ways all the days which they live upon the face of the land, which you gave to our fathers.
32 Also, 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 place,
And every stranger who is not himself of your people Israel, and who shall have come from a distant land because of your great name, and your mighty hand, and your high arm; when they shall come and worship toward this place; —
33 you 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 built.
then shall you listen out of heaven, out of your prepared dwelling-place, and shall do according to all that the stranger shall call upon you for; that all the nations of the earth may know your name, and that they may fear you, as your people Israel [do], and that they may know that your name is called upon this house which I have built.
34 If, 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 name,
And if your people shall go forth to war against their enemies by the way by which you shall send them, and shall pray to you toward this city which you have chosen, and [toward] the house which I have built to your name;
35 you will heed their prayers from heaven, and their supplications, and you will vindicate them.
then shall you hear out of heaven their prayer and their supplication, and maintain their cause.
36 But 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 near,
Whereas if they shall sin against you, (for there is no man who will not sin, ) and you shall strike them, and deliver them up before their enemies, and they that take them captive shall carry them away into a land of enemies, to a land far off or near;
37 and 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,’
and [if] they shall repent in their land whither they were carried captive, and shall also turn and make supplication to you in their captivity, saying, We have sinned, we have transgressed, we have wrought unrighteously;
38 and 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 name,
and [if] they shall turn to you with all their heart and all their soul in the land of them that carried them captives, whither they carried them captives, and shall pray toward their land which you gave to their fathers, and the city which you did choose, and the house which I built to your name: —
39 from 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 sinners.
then shall you hear out of heaven, out of your prepared dwelling-place, their prayer and their supplication, and you shall execute justice, and shall be merciful to your people that sin against you.
40 For 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 place.
And now, Lord, let, I pray you, your eyes be opened, and your ears be attentive to the petition [made in] this place.
41 Now 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 good.
And now, O Lord God, arise into your resting-place, you, and the ark of your strength: let your priests, O Lord God, clothe themselves with salvation, and your sons rejoice in prosperity.
42 O Lord God, may you not turn away from the face of your Christ. Remember the mercies of your servant, David.”
O Lord God, turn not away the face of your anointed: remember the mercies of your servant David.
