¹² Then Solomon said,

Solomon’s Speech

¹⁴ Then the king turned around and blessed all the assembly of Israel, while all the assembly of Israel stood.^{(C) 15} He said, “Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, who with his hand has fulfilled what he promised with his mouth to my father David, saying,^{(D) 16} ‘Since the day that I brought my people Israel out of Egypt, I have not chosen a city from any of the tribes of Israel in which to build a house, that my name might be there, nor did I choose anyone to be a ruler over my people Israel. But I have chosen Jerusalem in order that my name may be there,^[a] and I have chosen David to be over my people Israel.’^{(E) 17} My father David had it in mind to build a house for the name of the Lord, the God of Israel.^{(F) 18} But the Lord said to my father David, ‘You did well to consider building a house for my name; ¹⁹ nevertheless, you shall not build the house, but your son who shall be born to you shall build the house for my name.’^{(G) 20} Now the Lord has fulfilled the promise that he made, for I have risen in the place of my father David; I sit on the throne of Israel, as the Lord promised, and have built the house for the name of the Lord, the God of Israel.^{(H) 21} There I have provided a place for the ark, in which is the covenant of the Lord that he made with our ancestors when he brought them out of the land of Egypt.”^(I)

Solomon’s Prayer of Dedication

²² Then Solomon stood before the altar of the Lord in the presence of the whole assembly of Israel and spread out his hands to heaven.^{(J) 23} He said, “O Lord, God of Israel, there is no God like you in heaven above or on earth beneath, keeping covenant and steadfast love with your servants who walk before you with all their heart,^{(K) 24} the covenant that you kept for your servant my father David as you declared to him; you promised with your mouth and have this day fulfilled with your hand. ²⁵ Therefore, O Lord, God of Israel, keep for your servant my father David that which you promised him, saying, ‘There shall never fail you a successor before me to sit on the throne of Israel, if only your children look to their way, to walk before me as you have walked before me.’^{(L) 26} Therefore, O God of Israel, let your word be confirmed that you promised to your servant my father David.^(M)

²⁷ “But will God indeed dwell on the earth? Even heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain you, much less this house that I have built!^{(N) 28} Regard your servant’s prayer and his plea, O Lord my God, heeding the cry and the prayer that your servant prays to you today, ²⁹ that your eyes may be open night and day toward this house, the place of which you said, ‘My name shall be there,’ that you may heed the prayer that your servant prays toward this place.^{(O) 30} Hear the plea of your servant and of your people Israel when they pray toward this place; O hear in heaven your dwelling place; hear and forgive.^(P)

³¹ “If someone sins against a neighbor and is required to take an oath and comes and swears before your altar in this house,^{(Q) 32} then hear in heaven, and act, and judge your servants, condemning the guilty by bringing their conduct on their own heads and vindicating the righteous by rewarding them according to their righteousness.^(R)

³³ “When your people Israel, having sinned against you, are defeated before an enemy but turn again to you, confess your name, pray and plead with you in this house,^{(S) 34} then hear in heaven, forgive the sin of your people Israel, and bring them again to the land that you gave to their ancestors.

³⁵ “When heaven is shut up and there is no rain because they have sinned against you and then they pray toward this place, confess your name, and turn from their sin because you punish^[b] them,^{(T) 36} then hear in heaven and forgive the sin of your servants, your people Israel, when you teach them the good way in which they should walk, and grant rain on your land, which you have given to your people as an inheritance.^(U)

³⁷ “If there is famine in the land, if there is plague, blight, mildew, locust, or caterpillar; if their enemy besieges them in any^[c] of their cities; whatever suffering, whatever sickness there is;^{(V) 38} whatever prayer, whatever plea there is from any individual or from all your people Israel, all knowing the suffering of their own hearts so that they stretch out their hands toward this house; ³⁹ then hear in heaven your dwelling place, forgive, act, and render to all whose hearts you know—according to all their ways, for only you know the human heart^(W)— ⁴⁰ so that they may fear you all the days that they live in the land that you gave to our ancestors.^(X)

⁴¹ “Likewise when foreigners, who are not of your people Israel, come from a distant land because of your name ⁴² —for they shall hear of your great name, your mighty hand, and your outstretched arm—when foreigners come and pray toward this house,^{(Y) 43} then hear in heaven your dwelling place and do whatever the foreigners ask of you, so that all the peoples of the earth may know your name and fear you, as do your people Israel, and so they may know that your name has been invoked on this house that I have built.^(Z)

⁴⁴ “If your people go out to battle against their enemy, by whatever way you shall send them, and they pray to the Lord toward the city that you have chosen and the house that I have built for your name, ⁴⁵ then hear in heaven their prayer and their plea and maintain their cause.

⁴⁶ “If they sin against you—for there is no one who does not sin—and you are angry with them and give them to an enemy, so that they are carried away captive to the land of the enemy, far off or near,^{(AA) 47} then if they come to their senses in the land to which they have been taken captive and repent and plead with you in the land of their captors, saying, ‘We have sinned and have done wrong; we have acted wickedly,’^{(AB) 48} if they repent with all their heart and soul in the land of their enemies who took them captive and pray to you toward their land that you gave to their ancestors, the city that you have chosen, and the house that I have built for your name,^{(AC) 49} then hear in heaven your dwelling place their prayer and their plea, maintain their cause, ⁵⁰ and forgive your people who have sinned against you and all their transgressions that they have committed against you, and grant them compassion in the sight of their captors, so that they may have compassion on them^(AD)