1 Solomon then said, "The LORD has declared that he would dwell in deep darkness.
2 Yet I have built you an exalted house, a fixed place for your dwelling forever."
3 The king turned around and blessed the whole assembly of Israel, as all the assembly of Israel stood there.
4 He said, "Blessed be the LORD God of Israel, who spoke with his own mouth to my father David and has fulfilled it with his own hands, when he said,
5 'From the day I brought my people out of the land of Egypt, I did not choose any city from all the tribes of Israel to build a house for my name to be there, nor did I choose any man as prince over my people Israel.
6 But I chose Jerusalem for my name to be there, and I chose David to be over my people Israel.'
7 My father David had it in his heart to build a house for the name of the LORD God of Israel.
8 But the LORD told my father David, 'You had it in your heart to build a house for my name, and you did well to have it in your heart.
9 Yet you will not be the one to build the house; your son, who will come out of your own body, is the one who will build the house for my name.'
10 And the LORD has kept the word he spoke: I have taken my father David's place and sit on Israel's throne, just as the LORD said, and I have built the house for the name of the LORD God of Israel.
11 There I have put the ark, which holds the covenant of the LORD that he made with the children of Israel."
12 He then stood before the LORD's altar in front of the whole assembly of Israel and stretched out his hands.
13 Solomon had made a bronze stand five cubits long, five cubits wide, and three cubits high and placed it in the middle of the court. He stood on it, then knelt down in front of the whole assembly of Israel, stretched out his hands toward the sky,
14 and prayed, "LORD God of Israel, there is no God like you in the heavens or on the earth, you who keep the covenant and steadfast love toward your servants who walk before you wholeheartedly,
15 who have kept your promise to your servant, my father David. With your mouth you spoke, and with your hand you have carried it out this very day.
16 So now, LORD God of Israel, keep what you promised your servant, my father David, when you said, 'You will never be without a man in my sight sitting on the throne of Israel, provided your sons take care in their way to walk in my law as you have walked before me.'
17 So now, LORD God of Israel, let the word you spoke to your servant David come true.
18 But can God truly dwell with man on the earth? See, the heavens and the highest heavens cannot hold you; how much less this house I have built!
19 Even so, LORD my God, give heed to your servant's prayer and his plea for mercy, and listen to the cry and the prayer your servant is praying before you,
20 so that your eyes may be open day and night toward this house, the place where you said you would set your name, and that you may listen to the prayer your servant prays toward this place.
21 Listen to the pleas of your servant and your people Israel when they pray toward this place. Hear from heaven, your dwelling place; hear and forgive.
22 When someone wrongs his neighbor and is made to take an oath, and he comes and swears before your altar in this house,
23 then hear from heaven, act, and judge your servants: pay back the guilty by bringing what he has done on his own head, and declare the innocent in the right by rewarding him for his innocence.
24 When your people Israel are beaten by an enemy because they sinned against you, and they turn back, acknowledge your name, and pray and plead before you in this house,
25 then hear from heaven, forgive the sin of your people Israel, and bring them back to the land you gave to them and their fathers.
26 When the sky is closed and there is no rain because they sinned against you, and they pray toward this place, acknowledge your name, and turn away from their sin because you humble them,
27 then hear in heaven and forgive the sin of your servants, your people Israel; teach them the good way they ought to walk, and give rain on your land, which you gave your people as their inheritance.
28 When there is famine in the land, or plague, or blight or mildew, or locusts or caterpillars; when their enemy lays siege to them in the land of their cities; whatever affliction or whatever disease there may be,
29 whatever prayer or plea any person or all your people Israel may make, each one knowing his own affliction and his own grief, and stretching out his hands toward this house,
30 then hear from heaven, the place where you dwell, and forgive, and give to each person according to all he does, since you know his heart (for you alone know the human heart),
31 so that they may fear you and walk in your ways as long as they live on the land you gave our fathers.
32 And when the foreigner, who does not belong to your people Israel, comes from a far land because of your great name, your strong hand, and your outstretched arm, and comes and prays toward this house,
33 then hear from heaven, the place where you dwell, and do all that the foreigner asks of you, so that every people on earth may know your name and fear you as your people Israel do, and may know that your name is called over this house that I have built.
34 When your people go out to fight their enemies by whatever road you send them, and they pray to you facing this city you have chosen and the house I have built for your name,
35 then hear their prayer and their plea from heaven and do justice for them.
36 When they sin against you (for no human being is without sin), and you become angry with them and hand them over to an enemy, and their captors take them away captive to a land far off or near,
37 and they come to their senses in the land where they are held captive, and turn and plead with you in the land of their captivity, saying, 'We have sinned, we have done wrong, we have acted wickedly,'
38 and they turn back to you with all their heart and all their soul in the land of their captivity where they were taken, and pray facing their land, which you gave their fathers, and the city you have chosen and the house I have built for your name,
39 then hear their prayer and their pleas from heaven, the place where you dwell; do justice for them, and forgive your people who sinned against you.
40 Now, my God, I pray, let your eyes be open and your ears attend to the prayer offered in this place.
41 And now rise up, LORD God, and come to your resting place, you and the ark of your might. May your priests, LORD God, be clothed with salvation, and may your faithful ones rejoice in goodness.
42 LORD God, do not reject your anointed one. Remember the steadfast love shown to David your servant."