Dual Panel1Then Solomon said: “The LORD has caused the sun to shine in the heavens; but he has said he would dwell in thick darkness.
2I have built you a lofty house, a dwelling-place for you to occupy for ever.”
3While the whole assembly of Israelites stood, the king turned and blessed them.
4“Blessed be the LORD the God of Israel who spoke directly to my father David and has himself fulfilled his promise. For he said,
5‘From the day when I brought my people out of Egypt, I chose no city out of all the tribes of Israel where I should build a house for my name to be, nor did I choose any man to be prince over my people Israel.
6But I chose Jerusalem where my name should be, and David to be over my people Israel.’
7“My father David had it in mind to build a house for the name of the LORD the God of Israel,
8but the LORD said to him, ‘You purposed to build a house for my name, and your purpose was good.
9Nevertheless you are not to build it; but the son who is to be born to you, he is to build the house for my name.’
10The LORD has now fulfilled his promise: I have succeeded my father David and taken his place on the throne of Israel, as the LORD promised; and I have built the house for the name of the LORD the God of Israel.
11I have installed there the Ark containing the covenant of the LORD, which he made with Israel.”
12Standing in front of the altar of the LORD in the presence of the whole assembly of Israel, Solomon spread out his hands.
13He had made a bronze platform, five cubits long, five cubits broad, and three cubits high, and had placed it in the centre of the precinct. He mounted it and knelt down in the presence of the assembly and, spreading out his hands towards heaven,
14he said, “LORD God of Israel, there is no God like you in heaven or on earth, keeping covenant with your servants and showing them constant love while they continue faithful to you with all their heart.
15You have kept your promise to your servant David my father; by your deeds this day you have fulfilled what you said to him in words.
16Now, therefore, LORD God of Israel, keep this promise of yours to your servant David my father, when you said: ‘You will never want for a man appointed by me to sit on the throne of Israel, if only your sons look to their ways and conform to my law, as you have walked before me.’
17LORD God of Israel, let the promise which you made to your servant David be now confirmed.
18“But can God indeed dwell with mortals on earth? Heaven itself, the highest heaven, cannot contain you; how much less this house that I have built!
19Yet attend, LORD my God, to the prayer and the supplication of your servant; listen to the cry and the prayer which your servant makes before you,
20that your eyes may ever be on this house day and night, this place where you said you would set your name. Hear your servant when he prays towards this place.
21Hear the supplications of your servant and of your people Israel when they pray towards this place. Hear from heaven your dwelling and, when you hear, forgive.
22“Should anyone wrong a neighbour and be adjured to take an oath, and come to take the oath before your altar in this house,
23then hear from heaven and take action: be your servants” judge, requiting the guilty person and bringing his deeds on his own head, acquitting the innocent and rewarding him as his innocence may deserve.
24“Should your people Israel be defeated by an enemy because they have sinned against you, and then turn back to you, confessing your name and making their prayer and supplication before you in this house,
25hear from heaven; forgive the sin of your people Israel and restore them to the land which you gave to them and to their forefathers.
26“Should the heavens be shut up and there be no rain, because your servant and your people Israel have sinned against you, and they then pray towards this place, confessing your name and forsaking their sin when they feel your punishment,
27hear in heaven and forgive their sin; so teach them the good way which they are to follow, and grant rain on your land which you have given to your people as their own possession.
28“Should there be famine in the land, or pestilence, or black blight or red, or locusts developing or fully grown, or should their enemies besiege them in any of their cities, or plague or sickness befall them,
29then hear the prayer or supplication of everyone among your people Israel, as each, prompted by his own suffering and misery, spreads out his hands towards this house;
30hear it from heaven your dwelling-place and forgive. As you know a person's heart, reward him according to his deeds, for you alone know the hearts of all;
31and so they will fear and obey you throughout their lives in the land you gave to our forefathers.
32“The foreigner too, anyone who does not belong to your people Israel, but has come from a distant land because of your great fame and your strong hand and out-stretched arm, when such a one comes and prays towards this house,
33hear from heaven your dwelling-place and respond to the call which the foreigner makes to you, so that like your people Israel all the peoples of the earth may know your fame and fear you, and learn that this house which I have built bears your name.
34“When your people go to war against their enemies, wherever you send them, and when they pray to you, turning towards this city which you have chosen and towards this house which I have built for your name,
35then hear from heaven their prayer and supplication, and maintain their cause.
36“Should they sin against you (and who is free from sin?) and should you in your anger give them over to an enemy who carries them captive to a land far or near;
37and should they then in the land of their captivity have a change of heart and turn back and make supplication to you there and say, ‘We have sinned and acted perversely and wickedly,’
38and turn back to you wholeheartedly in the land of their captivity to which they have been taken, and pray, turning towards their land which you gave to their forefathers and towards this city which you chose and this house which I have built for your name;
39then from heaven your dwelling-place hear their prayer and supplications and maintain their cause. Forgive your people their sins against you.
40Now, my God, let your eyes be open and your ears attentive to the prayer made in this place.
41“Arise now, LORD God, and come to your resting-place, you and your powerful Ark. Let your priests, LORD God, be clothed with salvation and your loyal servants rejoice in prosperity.
42LORD God, do not reject your anointed one; remember the loyal service of David your servant.”