Solomon Blesses the Lord
12 1Then Solomon said, "The LORD has said that he would dwell
2in thick darkness.
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3I have indeed built you an exalted house,
4a place for you to dwell in forever."
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Then the king turned around and
5blessed all the assembly of Israel, while all the assembly of Israel stood.
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And he said,
6"Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel, who with his hand has fulfilled
7what he promised with his mouth to David my father, saying,
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8'Since the day that I brought my people Israel out of Egypt, I chose no city out of all the tribes of Israel in which to build a house,
9that my name might be there.
10But I chose David to be over my people Israel.'
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11Now it was in the heart of David my father to build a house for the name of the LORD, the God of Israel.
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But the LORD said to David my father, 'Whereas it was in your heart to build a house for my name, you did well that it was in your heart.
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12Nevertheless, 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 risen in the place of David my father, and sit on the throne of Israel,
13as the LORD promised, and I have built the house for the name of the LORD, the God of Israel.
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And there I have provided a place for the ark,
14in which is the covenant of the LORD that he made with our fathers, when he brought them out of the land of Egypt."
Solomon's Prayer of Dedication
22 Then Solomon
15stood before the altar of the LORD in the presence of all the assembly of Israel and
16spread out his hands toward heaven,
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and said, "O LORD, God of Israel,
17there is no God like you, in heaven above or on earth beneath,
18keeping covenant and showing steadfast love to your servants who walk before you with all their heart,
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who have kept with your servant David my father what you declared to him.
19You spoke with your mouth, and with your hand have fulfilled it this day.
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Now therefore, O LORD, God of Israel, keep for your servant David my father what you have promised him, saying,
20'You shall not lack a man to sit before me on the throne of Israel, if only your sons pay close attention to their way, to walk before me as you have walked before me.'
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21Now therefore, O God of Israel, let your word be confirmed, which you have spoken to your servant David my father.
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"But will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold,
22heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain you; how much less this house that I have built!
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Yet have regard to the prayer of your servant and to his plea, O LORD my God, listening to the cry and to the prayer that your servant prays before you this day,
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23that your eyes may be open night and day toward this house, the place of which you have said,
24'My name shall be there,' that you may listen to the prayer that your servant offers toward this place.
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And listen to the plea of your servant and of your people Israel, when they pray toward this place. And listen in heaven your dwelling place, and when you hear, forgive.
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"If a man sins against his neighbor and is made to take
25an oath and comes and swears his oath before your altar in this house,
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then hear in heaven and act and judge your servants,
26condemning the guilty by bringing his conduct on his own head, and vindicating the righteous by rewarding him according to his righteousness.
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27"When your people Israel are defeated before the enemy because they have sinned against you, and
28if they turn again to you and acknowledge your name and pray and plead with you in this house,
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then hear in heaven and forgive the sin of your people Israel and bring them again to the land that you gave to their fathers.
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29"When heaven is shut up and there is no rain because they have sinned against you, if they pray toward this place and acknowledge your name and turn from their sin, when you afflict them,
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then hear in heaven and forgive the sin of your servants, your people Israel, when
30you teach them
31the good way in which they should walk, and grant rain upon your land, which you have given to your people as an inheritance.
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32"If there is famine in the land, if there is pestilence or blight or mildew or locust or caterpillar, if their enemy besieges them in the land at their gates, whatever plague, whatever sickness there is,
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whatever prayer, whatever plea is made by any man or by all your people Israel, each knowing the affliction of his own heart and stretching out his hands toward this house,
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then hear in heaven your dwelling place and forgive and act and render to each whose heart you know, according to all his ways (
33for you, you only, know the hearts of all the children of mankind),
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that they may fear you
34all the days that they live in the land that you gave to our fathers.
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"Likewise, when a foreigner, who is not of your people Israel, comes from a far country for your name's sake
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(for they shall hear of your great name
35and your mighty hand, and of your outstretched arm), when he comes and prays toward this house,
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hear in heaven your dwelling place and do according to all for which the foreigner calls to you, in order
36that all the peoples of the earth may know your name and
37fear you, as do your people Israel, and that they may know that this house that I have built is called by your name.
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"If your people go out to battle against their enemy, by whatever way you shall send them, and they pray to the LORD
38toward the city that you have chosen and the house that I have built for your name,
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then hear in heaven their prayer and their plea, and maintain their cause.
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"If they sin against you--
39for there is no one who does not sin--and you are angry with them and give them to an enemy, so that they are carried away captive
40to the land of the enemy, far off or near,
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yet
41if they turn their heart in the land to which they have been carried captive, and repent and plead with you in the land of their captors, saying,
42'We have sinned and have acted perversely and wickedly,'
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43if they repent with all their mind and with all their heart in the land of their enemies, who carried them captive, and pray to you
44toward their land, which you gave to their fathers, the city that you have chosen, and the house that I have built for your name,
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then hear in heaven your dwelling place their prayer and their plea, and maintain their cause
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and forgive your people who have sinned against you, and all their transgressions that they have committed against you, and
45grant them compassion in the sight of those who carried them captive, that they may have compassion on them