2Chronicles:6

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* Then said Solomon , The Lord said that he would dwell in thick darkness . * But I have built a house to thy name , holy to thee , and (note :)Gr . ready (:note ) prepared for thee to dwell in for ever . * And the king turned his face , and blessed all the congregation of Israel : and all the congregation of Israel stood by . * 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 , * 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 . * But I chose Jerusalem that my name should be there ; and I chose David to be over my people Israel . * And it came into the heart of David my father , to build a house for the name of the Lord God of Israel . * But the Lord said to my father David , Whereas it came into thy heart to build a house for my name , thou didst well that it came into thy heart . * Nevertheless thou shalt not build the house ; for thy son who shall come forth out of thy loins , he shall build the house for my name . * And the Lord has (note :)Gr . raised up (:note ) confirmed this word , which he spoke ; and I am Or , made or brought 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 : * and I have set there the ark in which is the covenant of the Lord , which he made with Israel . * And he stood before the altar of the Lord in the presence of all the congregation of Israel , and spread out his hands . * 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 , * and said , Lord God of Israel , there is no God like thee in heaven , or on the earth ; keeping covenant and mercy with thy servants that walk before thee with their whole heart . * Even as thou hast kept them with thy servant David my father , as thou hast spoken to him in words :—thou hast both spoken with thy mouth , and hast fulfilled it with thy hands , as it is this day . * and now , Lord God of Israel , keep with thy servant David my father the things which thou spokest to him , saying , There shall not fail thee a man before me sitting on the throne of Israel , if only thy sons will take heed to their way to walk in my law , as thou didst walk before me . * And now , Lord God of Israel , let , I pray thee , thy word be confirmed , which thou hast spoken to thy servant David . * For will God indeed dwell with men upon the earth ? if the heaven and the heaven of (note :)Gr . heaven (:note ) heavens will not suffice thee , what then is this house which I have built ? * Yet thou shalt have respect to the prayer of thy servant , and to my petition , O Lord God , so as to hearken to the petition and the prayer which thy servant prays before thee this day : * so that thine eyes should be open over this house by day and by night , towards this place , whereon thou saidst thy name should be called , so as to hear the prayer which thy servant prays towards this house . * And thou shalt hear the supplication of thy servant , and of thy people Israel , whatsoever prayers they shall make towards this place : and thou shalt hearken in thy dwelling-place out of heaven , yea thou shalt hear , and be merciful . * If a man sin against his neighbour , and he bring an oath upon him so as to make him swear , and he come and swear before the altar in this house ; * then shalt thou hearken out of heaven , and do , and judge thy 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 . * And if thy people Israel should be put to the worse before the enemy , if they should sin against thee , and then turn and confess to thy name , and pray and make supplication before thee in this house ; * then shalt thou hearken out of heaven and shalt be merciful to the sins of thy people Israel , and thou shalt restore them to the land which thou gavest to them and to their fathers . * When heaven is restrained , and (note :)Gr . there has not been (:note ) there is no rain , because they Gr . sin shall have sinned against thee , and when they shall pray Gr . to towards this place , and praise thy name , and shall turn from their sins , because thou shalt afflict them ; * then shalt thou hearken from heaven , and thou shalt be merciful to the sins of thy servants , and of thy people Israel ; for thou shalt shew them the good way in which they shall walk ; and thou shalt send rain upon thy land , which thou gavest to thy people for an inheritance . * If there should be famine upon the land , if there should be death , a pestilent wind an blight ; if there should be locust and (note :)Gr . blight , or itch (:note ) caterpiller , and if the enemy should harass them before their cities : in whatever plague and whatever distress they may be ; * Then whatever prayer and whatever supplication shall be made by any man and all thy people Israel , if a man should know his own plague and his own sickness , and should spread forth his hands toward this house ; * then shalt thou hear from heaven , out of thy prepared dwelling-place , and shalt be merciful , and shalt recompense to the man according to his ways , as thou shalt know his heart to be ; for thou alone knowest the heart of the children of men : * that they may reverence all thy ways all the days which they live upon the face of the land , which thou gavest to our fathers . * And every stranger who is not himself of thy people Israel , and who shall have come from a distant land because of thy great name , and thy mighty hand , and thy high arm ; when they shall come and worship (note :)Or , at (:note ) toward this place ; — * then shalt thou hearken out of heaven , out of thy prepared dwelling-place , and shalt do according to all that the stranger shall call upon thee for ; that all the nations of the earth may know thy name , and (note :)Gr . for the sake of fearing thee (:note ) that they may fear thee , as thy people Israel do , and that they may know that thy name is called upon this house which I have built . * And if thy people shall go forth to war against their enemies by the way by which thou shalt send them , and shall pray to thee toward this city which thou hast chosen , and toward the house which I have built to thy name ; * then shalt thou hear out of heaven their prayer and their supplication , and maintain their cause . * Whereas if they shall sin against thee , (for there is no man who will not sin ,) and thou shalt smite 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 ; * and if they shall (note :)Gr . turn their heart (:note ) repent in their land whither they were carried captive , and shall also turn and make supplication to thee in their captivity , saying , We have sinned , we have transgressed , we have wrought unrighteously ; * and if they shall turn to thee 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 thou gavest to their fathers , and the city which thou didst choose , and the house which I built to thy name :— * then shalt thou hear out of heaven , out of thy prepared dwelling-place , their prayer and their supplication , and thou shalt execute justice , and shalt be merciful to thy people that sin against thee . * And now , Lord , let , I pray thee , thine eyes be opened , and thine ears be attentive to the petition (note :)Gr . of (:note ) made in this place . * And now , O Lord God , arise into thy resting-place , thou , and the ark of thy strength : let thy priests , O Lord God , clothe themselves with salvation , and thy sons rejoice in prosperity . * O Lord God , turn not away the face of thine anointed : remember the mercies of thy servant David .

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