1 Then said Solomon, The LORD has said that he would dwell in the thick darkness.
2 But I have built a house of habitation for you, and a place for your dwelling forever.
3 And the king turned his face, and blessed the whole congregation of Israel: and all the congregation of Israel stood.
4 And he said, Blessed be the LORD God of Israel, who has with his hands fulfilled that which he spoke with his mouth to my father David, saying,
5 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 a house in, that my name might be there; neither chose I any man to be a ruler over my people Israel:
6 But I have chosen Jerusalem, that my name might be there; and have chosen David to be over my people Israel.
7 Now it was in the heart of David my father to build a house for the name of the LORD God of Israel.
8 But the LORD said to David my father,
9 Nevertheless you shall not build the house; but your son who shall come forth out of your body, he shall build the house for my name.
10 The LORD therefore has performed his word that he has spoken: for I have risen up in the place of David my father, and sit on the throne of Israel, as the LORD promised, and have built the house for the name of the LORD God of Israel.
11 And in it have I put the ark, in which is the covenant of the LORD, that he made with the children of Israel.
12 And he stood before the altar of the LORD in the presence of all the congregation of Israel, and spread forth his hands:
13 For Solomon had made a bronze platform, five cubits long, and five cubits wide, 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,
14 And said, O LORD God of Israel, there is no God like you in the heaven, nor in the earth; who keeps covenant, and shows mercy unto your servants, that walk before you with all their hearts:
15 You who have kept with your servant David my father that which you have promised him; and spoke with your mouth, and have fulfilled it with your hand, as it is this day.
16 Now therefore, O LORD God of Israel, keep with your servant David my father that which you have promised him, saying,
17 Now then, O LORD God of Israel, let your word be verified, which you have spoken unto your servant David.
18 But will God indeed dwell with men on the earth? behold, heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain you; how much less this house which I have built!
19 Have respect therefore to the prayer of your servant, and to his supplication, O LORD my God, to hearken unto the cry and the prayer which your servant prays before you:
20 That your eyes may be open upon this house day and night, upon the place of which you have said that you would put your name there; to hearken unto the prayer which your servant prays toward this place.
21 Hearken therefore unto the supplications of your servant, and of your people Israel, which they shall make toward this place: hear you from your dwelling place, even from heaven; and when you hear, forgive.
22 If a man sins against his neighbor, and is made to take an oath, and the oath is made before your altar in this house;
23 Then hear from heaven, and act, and judge your servants, by requiting the wicked, by bringing his conduct upon his own head; and by justifying the righteous, by giving to him according to his righteousness.
24 And if your people Israel are defeated before the enemy, because they have sinned against you; and shall return and confess your name, and pray and make supplication before you in this house;
25 Then hear from the heavens, and forgive the sin of your people Israel, and bring them again unto the land which you gave to them and to their fathers.
26 When the heaven is shut up, and there is no rain, because they have sinned against you; yet if they pray toward this place, and confess your name, and turn from their sin, when you do afflict them;
27 Then hear from heaven, and forgive the sin of your servants, and of your people Israel, when you have taught them the good way, in which they should walk; and send rain upon your land, which you have given unto your people for an inheritance.
28 If there is famine in the land, if there is pestilence, if there is blight, or mildew, locusts, or caterpillars; if their enemies besiege them in the cities of their land; whatsoever plague or whatsoever sickness there is:
29 Then whatsoever prayer or whatsoever supplication shall be made by any man, or by all your people Israel, when each one shall know his own affliction and his own grief, and shall spread forth his hands in this house:
30 Then hear from heaven your dwelling place, and forgive, and render unto every man according unto all his ways, whose heart you know; (for you alone know the hearts of the children of men:)
31 That they may fear you, to walk in your ways, as long as they live in the land which you gave unto our fathers.
32 Moreover concerning the foreigner, who is not of your people Israel, but has come from a far country for your great name's sake, and your mighty hand, and your outstretched arm; if they come and pray in this house;
33 Then hear from the heavens, even from your dwelling place, and do according to all that the foreigner calls to you for; that all people of the earth may know your name, and fear you, as does your people Israel, and may know that this house which I have built is called by your name.
34 If your people go out to war against their enemies by the way that you shall send them, and they pray unto you toward this city which you have chosen, and the house which I have built for your name;
35 Then hear from the heavens their prayer and their supplication, and maintain their cause.
36 If they sin against you, (for there is no man who sins not,) and you are angry with them, and deliver them over to their enemies, and they carry them away captives unto a land far or near;
37 Yet if they come to themselves in the land where they are carried captive, and turn and pray unto you in the land of their captivity, saying, We have sinned, we have done wrong, and have dealt wickedly;
38 If they return to you with all their heart and with all their soul in the land of their captivity, where they have carried them captives, and pray toward their land, which you gave unto their fathers, and toward the city which you have chosen, and toward the house which I have built for your name:
39 Then hear from the heavens, even from your dwelling place, their prayer and their supplications, and maintain their cause, and forgive your people who have sinned against you.
40 Now, my God, let, I beseech you, your eyes be open, and let your ears be attentive unto the prayer that is made in this place.
41 Now therefore arise, O LORD God, to your resting place, you, and the ark of your strength: let your priests, O LORD God, be clothed with salvation, and let your saints rejoice in goodness.
42 O LORD God, turn not away the face of your anointed: remember the mercies of David your servant.