2Chronicles:6-8

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* Then said Solomon , The LORD hath said that he would dwell in the thick darkness . * But I have built an house of habitation for thee , and a place for thy dwelling for ever . * And the king turned his face , and blessed the whole congregation of Israel : and all the congregation of Israel stood . * 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 , * 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 : * But I have chosen Jerusalem , that my name might be there ; and have chosen David to be over my people Israel . * Now it was in the heart of David my father to build an house for the name of the LORD God of Israel . * 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 : * 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 . * 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 . * And in it have I put the ark , wherein is the covenant of the LORD , that he made with the children of Israel . * And he stood before the altar of the LORD in the presence of all the congregation of Israel , and spread forth his hands : * For Solomon had made a brasen 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 , * And said , O LORD God of Israel , there is no God like thee in the heaven , nor in the earth ; which keepest covenant , and shewest mercy unto thy servants , that walk before thee with all their hearts : * 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 . * 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 . * Now then , O LORD God of Israel , let thy word be verified , which thou hast spoken unto thy servant David . * 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 ! * 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 : * 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 . * 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 . * If a man sin against his neighbour , and an oath be laid upon him to make him swear , and the oath come before thine altar in this house ; * 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 . * 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 ; * 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 . * 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 ; * 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 . * If there be dearth in the land , if there be pestilence , if there be blasting , or mildew , locusts , or caterpillers ; if their enemies besiege them in the cities of their land ; whatsoever sore or whatsoever sickness there be : * 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 : * 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 :) * That they may fear thee , to walk in thy ways , so long as they live in the land which thou gavest unto our fathers . * 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 ; * 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 . * 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 ; * Then hear thou from the heavens their prayer and their supplication , and maintain their cause . * 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 ; * 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 ; * 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 : * 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 . * 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 . * 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 . * O LORD God , turn not away the face of thine anointed : remember the mercies of David thy servant . * Now when Solomon had made an end of praying , the fire came down from heaven , and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices ; and the glory of the LORD filled the house . * And the priests could not enter into the house of the LORD , because the glory of the LORD had filled the LORD 'S house . * And when all the children of Israel saw how the fire came down , and the glory of the LORD upon the house , they bowed themselves with their faces to the ground upon the pavement , and worshipped , and praised the LORD , saying , For he is good ; for his mercy endureth for ever . * Then the king and all the people offered sacrifices before the LORD . * And king Solomon offered a sacrifice of twenty and two thousand oxen , and an hundred and twenty thousand sheep : so the king and all the people dedicated the house of God . * And the priests waited on their offices : the Levites also with instruments of musick of the LORD , which David the king had made to praise the LORD , because his mercy endureth for ever , when David praised by their ministry ; and the priests sounded trumpets before them , and all Israel stood . * Moreover Solomon hallowed the middle of the court that was before the house of the LORD : for there he offered burnt offerings , and the fat of the peace offerings , because the brasen altar which Solomon had made was not able to receive the burnt offerings , and the meat offerings , and the fat . * Also at the same time Solomon kept the feast seven days , and all Israel with him , a very great congregation , from the entering in of Hamath unto the river of Egypt . * And in the eighth day they made a solemn assembly : for they kept the dedication of the altar seven days , and the feast seven days . * And on the three and twentieth day of the seventh month he sent the people away into their tents , glad and merry in heart for the goodness that the LORD had shewed unto David , and to Solomon , and to Israel his people . * Thus Solomon finished the house of the LORD , and the king 's house : and all that came into Solomon 's heart to make in the house of the LORD , and in his own house , he prosperously effected . * And the LORD appeared to Solomon by night , and said unto him , I have heard thy prayer , and have chosen this place to myself for an house of sacrifice . * If I shut up heaven that there be no rain , or if I command the locusts to devour the land , or if I send pestilence among my people ; * If my people , which are called by my name , shall humble themselves , and pray , and seek my face , and turn from their wicked ways ; then will I hear from heaven , and will forgive their sin , and will heal their land . * Now mine eyes shall be open , and mine ears attent unto the prayer that is made in this place . * For now have I chosen and sanctified this house , that my name may be there for ever : and mine eyes and mine heart shall be there perpetually . * And as for thee , if thou wilt walk before me , as David thy father walked , and do according to all that I have commanded thee , and shalt observe my statutes and my judgments ; * Then will I stablish the throne of thy kingdom , according as I have covenanted with David thy father , saying , There shall not fail thee a man to be ruler in Israel . * But if ye turn away , and forsake my statutes and my commandments , which I have set before you , and shall go and serve other gods , and worship them ; * Then will I pluck them up by the roots out of my land which I have given them ; and this house , which I have sanctified for my name , will I cast out of my sight , and will make it to be a proverb and a byword among all nations . * And this house , which is high , shall be an astonishment to every one that passeth by it ; so that he shall say , Why hath the LORD done thus unto this land , and unto this house ? * And it shall be answered , Because they forsook the LORD God of their fathers , which brought them forth out of the land of Egypt , and laid hold on other gods , and worshipped them , and served them : therefore hath he brought all this evil upon them . * And it came to pass at the end of twenty years , wherein Solomon had built the house of the LORD , and his own house , * That the cities which Huram had restored to Solomon , Solomon built them , and caused the children of Israel to dwell there . * And Solomon went to Hamathzobah , and prevailed against it . * And he built Tadmor in the wilderness , and all the store cities , which he built in Hamath . * Also he built Bethhoron the upper , and Bethhoron the nether , fenced cities , with walls , gates , and bars ; * And Baalath , and all the store cities that Solomon had , and all the chariot cities , and the cities of the horsemen , and all that Solomon desired to build in Jerusalem , and in Lebanon , and throughout all the land of his dominion . * As for all the people that were left of the Hittites , and the Amorites , and the Perizzites , and the Hivites , and the Jebusites , which were not of Israel , * But of their children , who were left after them in the land , whom the children of Israel consumed not , them did Solomon make to pay tribute until this day . * But of the children of Israel did Solomon make no servants for his work ; but they were men of war , and chief of his captains , and captains of his chariots and horsemen . * And these were the chief of king Solomon 's officers , even two hundred and fifty , that bare rule over the people . * And Solomon brought up the daughter of Pharaoh out of the city of David unto the house that he had built for her : for he said , My wife shall not dwell in the house of David king of Israel , because the places are holy , whereunto the ark of the LORD hath come . * Then Solomon offered burnt offerings unto the LORD on the altar of the LORD , which he had built before the porch , * Even after a certain rate every day , offering according to the commandment of Moses , on the sabbaths , and on the new moons , and on the solemn feasts , three times in the year , even in the feast of unleavened bread , and in the feast of weeks , and in the feast of tabernacles . * And he appointed , according to the order of David his father , the courses of the priests to their service , and the Levites to their charges , to praise and minister before the priests , as the duty of every day required : the porters also by their courses at every gate : for so had David the man of God commanded . * And they departed not from the commandment of the king unto the priests and Levites concerning any matter , or concerning the treasures . * Now all the work of Solomon was prepared unto the day of the foundation of the house of the LORD , and until it was finished . So the house of the LORD was perfected . * Then went Solomon to Eziongeber , and to Eloth , at the sea side in the land of Edom . * And Huram sent him by the hands of his servants ships , and servants that had knowledge of the sea ; and they went with the servants of Solomon to Ophir , and took thence four hundred and fifty talents of gold , and brought them to king Solomon . * And when the queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon , she came to prove Solomon with hard questions at Jerusalem , with a very great company , and camels that bare spices , and gold in abundance , and precious stones : and when she was come to Solomon , she communed with him of all that was in her heart .

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