1Kings:8:22-61

---

Seeker Overlay ON

* And Solomon stood before the altar of Jehovah in the presence of the whole congregation of Israel , and spread forth his hands toward the heavens . * And he said , Jehovah , God of Israel ! there is no God like thee , in the heavens above , or on the earth beneath , who keepest covenant and mercy with thy servants that walk before thee with all their heart ; * who hast kept with thy servant David my father that which thou didst promise him ; thou spokest with thy mouth , and hast fulfilled [it ] with thy hand , as at this day . * And now , Jehovah , 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 on the throne of Israel , if only thy sons take heed to their way , to walk before me as thou hast walked before me . * And now , O God of Israel , let thy words , I pray thee , be verified , which thou hast spoken unto thy servant David my father . * But will God indeed dwell on the earth ? Behold , the heavens , and the heaven of heavens , cannot contain thee ; how much less this house which I have built ! * Yet have respect unto the prayer of thy servant , and to his supplication , Jehovah , my God , to hearken unto the cry and to the prayer which thy servant prayeth before thee this day ; * that thine eyes may be open upon this house night and day , upon the place of which thou hast said , My name shall be there : to hearken unto the prayer which thy servant prayeth toward this place . * And hearken unto the supplication of thy servant , and of thy people Israel , when they shall pray toward this place , and hear thou in thy dwelling-place , in the heavens , and when thou hearest , forgive . * If a man have sinned against his neighbour , and an oath be laid upon him to adjure him , and the oath come before thine altar in this house ; * then hear thou in the heavens , and do , and judge thy servants , condemning the wicked , to bring his way upon his own head ; and justifying the righteous , giving him according to his righteousness . * When thy people Israel are put to the worse before the enemy , because they have sinned against thee , and shall turn again to thee , and confess thy name , and pray , and make supplication unto thee in this house ; * then hear thou in the heavens , and forgive the sin of thy people Israel , and bring them again unto the land that thou gavest unto their fathers . * When the heavens are shut up , and there is no rain , because they have sinned against thee ; if they pray toward this place , and confess thy name , and turn from their sin , because thou hast afflicted them ; * then hear thou in the heavens , and forgive the sin of thy servants , and of thy people Israel , when thou teachest them the good way wherein they should walk ; and give rain upon thy land , which thou hast given to thy people for an inheritance . * If there be famine in the land , if there be pestilence , if there be blight , mildew , locust , caterpillar ; if their enemy besiege them in the land of their gates ; whatever plague , whatever sickness there be : * what prayer , what supplication soever be made by any man , of all thy people Israel , when they shall know every man the plague of his own heart , and shall spread forth his hands toward this house ; * then hear thou in the heavens , the settled place of thy dwelling , and forgive , and do , and render unto every man according to all his ways , whose heart thou knowest (for thou , thou only , knowest the hearts of all the children of men ), * that they may fear thee all the days that they live upon the land which thou gavest unto our fathers . * And as to the stranger also , who is not of thy people Israel , but cometh out of a far country for thy name 's sake * (for they shall hear of thy great name , and of thy mighty hand , and of thy stretched-out arm ); when he shall come and pray toward this house , * hear thou in the heavens thy dwelling-place , and do according to all that the stranger calleth to thee for ; in order that all peoples of the earth may know thy name , [and ] that they may fear thee as do thy people Israel ; and that they may know that this house which I have built is called by thy name . * If thy people go out to battle against their enemy , by the way that thou shalt send them , and they pray to Jehovah toward the city that thou hast chosen , and the house that I have built unto thy name ; * then hear thou in the heavens their prayer and their supplication , and maintain their right . * If they have sinned against thee , (for there is no man that sinneth not ,) and thou be angry with them , and give them up to the enemy , and they have carried them away captives unto the enemy 's land , far or near ; * and if they shall take it to heart in the land whither they were carried captive , and repent , and make supplication unto thee in the land of them that carried them captive , saying , We have sinned , and have done iniquity , we have dealt perversely ; * and if they return unto thee with all their heart and with all their soul , in the land of their enemies who led them away captive , and pray unto thee toward their land which thou gavest unto their fathers , the city that thou hast chosen , and the house that I have built unto thy name ; * then hear thou in the heavens , the settled place of thy dwelling , their prayer and their supplication , and maintain their right ; * and forgive thy people their sin against thee , and all their transgressions whereby they have transgressed against thee , and give them to find compassion with those who carried them captive , that they may have compassion on them * (for they are thy people , and thine inheritance , which thou broughtest forth out of Egypt , from the midst of the furnace of iron ) -- * thine eyes being open unto the supplication of thy servant , and unto the supplication of thy people Israel , to hearken unto them in all that they call for unto thee . * For thou hast separated them from among all peoples of the earth , to be thine inheritance , as thou spokest through Moses thy servant , when thou broughtest our fathers out of Egypt , O Lord Jehovah . * And it was so , that when Solomon had ended praying all this prayer and supplication to Jehovah , he arose from before the altar of Jehovah , from kneeling on his knees with his hands spread forth to the heavens , * and he stood and blessed the whole congregation of Israel with a loud voice , saying , * Blessed be Jehovah , who has given rest to his people Israel , according to all that he promised : there has not failed one word of all his good promises which he spoke through Moses his servant ! * Jehovah our God be with us , as he was with our fathers ; let him not forsake us nor cast us off : * that he may incline our hearts to him , to walk in all his ways , and to keep his commandments and his statutes and his ordinances , which he commanded our fathers . * And let these my words , with which I have made supplication before Jehovah , be nigh to Jehovah our God day and night , that he maintain the right of his servant , and the right of his people Israel , as the matter of each day shall require ; * that all peoples of the earth may know that Jehovah is God , that there is none else ; * and that your heart may be perfect with Jehovah our God , to walk in his statutes and to keep his commandments , as at this day .

---