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but I have chosen Jerusalem in order that my name may be there, and I have chosen David to be over my people Israel.'
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My father David had it in mind to build a house for the name of the Lord, the God of Israel.
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But the Lord said to my father David, "You did well to consider building a house for my name;
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nevertheless you shall not build the house, but your son who shall be born to you shall build the house for my name.'
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Now the Lord has fulfilled his promise that he made; for I have succeeded my father David, and sit on the throne of Israel, as the Lord promised, and have built the house for the name of the Lord, the God of Israel.
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There I have set the ark, in which is the covenant of the Lord that he made with the people of Israel."
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Then Solomon stood before the altar of the Lord in the presence of the whole assembly of Israel, and spread out his hands.
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Solomon had made a bronze platform five cubits long, five cubits wide, and three cubits high, and had set it in the court; and he stood on it. Then he knelt on his knees in the presence of the whole assembly of Israel, and spread out his hands toward heaven.
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He said, "O Lord, God of Israel, there is no God like you, in heaven or on earth, keeping covenant in steadfast love with your servants who walk before you with all their heart—
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you who have kept for your servant, my father David, what you promised to him. Indeed, you promised with your mouth and this day have fulfilled with your hand.
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Therefore, O Lord, God of Israel, keep for your servant, my father David, that which you promised him, saying, "There shall never fail you a successor before me to sit on the throne of Israel, if only your children keep to their way, to walk in my law as you have walked before me.'
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Therefore, O Lord, God of Israel, let your word be confirmed, which you promised to your servant David.
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"But will God indeed reside with mortals on earth? Even heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain you, how much less this house that I have built!
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Regard your servant's prayer and his plea, O Lord my God, heeding the cry and the prayer that your servant prays to you.
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May your eyes be open day and night toward this house, the place where you promised to set your name, and may you heed the prayer that your servant prays toward this place.
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And hear the plea of your servant and of your people Israel, when they pray toward this place; may you hear from heaven your dwelling place; hear and forgive.
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"If someone sins against another and is required to take an oath and comes and swears before your altar in this house,
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may you hear from heaven, and act, and judge your servants, repaying the guilty by bringing their conduct on their own head, and vindicating those who are in the right by rewarding them in accordance with their righteousness.
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"When your people Israel, having sinned against you, are defeated before an enemy but turn again to you, confess your name, pray and plead with you in this house,
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may you hear from heaven, and forgive the sin of your people Israel, and bring them again to the land that you gave to them and to their ancestors.
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"When heaven is shut up and there is no rain because they have sinned against you, and then they pray toward this place, confess your name, and turn from their sin, because you punish them,