2 Chronicles 6; 2 Chronicles 7; Psalms 136

1 Then Solomon said: The Lord promised that he would dwell in a cloud.

2 But I have built a house to his name, that he might dwell there for ever.

3 And the king turned his face, and blessed all the multitude of Israel for all the multitude stood attentive and he said:

4 Blessed be the Lord the God of Israel, who hath accomplished in deed that which he spoke to David my father, saying:

5 From the day that I brought my people out of the land of Egypt, I chose no city among all the tribes of Israel, for a house to be built in it to my name: neither chose I any other man, to be the ruler of my people Israel.

6 But I chose Jerusalem, that my name might be there: and I chose David to set him over my people Israel.

7 And whereas David my father had a mind to build a house to the name of the Lord the God of Israel,

8 The Lord said to him: Forasmuch as it was thy will to build a house to my name, thou hast done well indeed in having such a will:

9 But thou shalt not build the house, but thy son, who shall come out of thy loins, he shall build a house to my name.

10 The Lord therefore hath accomplished his word which he spoke: and I am risen up in the place of David my father, and sit upon the throne of Israel, as the Lord promised: and have built a house to the name of the Lord God of Israel.

11 And I have put in it the ark, wherein is the covenant of the Lord, which he made with the children of Israel.

12 And he stood before the altar of the Lord, in presence of all the multitude of Israel, and stretched forth his hands.

13 For Solomon had made a brazen scaffold, and had set it in the midst of the temple, which was five cubits long, and five cubits broad, and three cubits high: and he stood upon it: then kneeling down in the presence of all the multitude of Israel, and lifting up his hands towards heaven,

14 He said: O Lord God of Israel, there is no God like thee in heaven nor in earth: who keepest covenant and mercy with thy servants, that walk before thee with all their hearts:

15 Who hast performed to thy servant David my father all that thou hast promised him: and hast accomplished in fact, what thou hast spoken with thy mouth, as also the present time proveth.

16 Now then, O Lord God of Israel, fulfil to thy servant David my father, whatsoever thou hast promised him, saying: There shall not fail thee a man in my sight, to sit upon the throne of Israel: yet so that thy children take heed to their ways, and walk in my law, as thou hast walked before me.

17 And now, Lord God of Israel, let thy word be established which thou hast spoken to thy servant David.

18 Is it credible then that God should dwell with men on the earth? If heaven and the heavens of heavens do not contain thee, how much less this house, which I have built?

19 But to this end only it is made, that thou mayest regard the prayer of thy servant and his supplication, O Lord my God: and mayest hear the prayers which thy servant poureth out before thee.

20 That thou mayest open thy eyes upon this house day and night, upon the place wherein thou hast promised that thy name should be called upon,

21 And that thou wouldst hear the prayer which thy servant prayeth in it: hearken then to the prayers of thy servant, and of thy people Israel. Whosoever shall pray in its place, hear thou from thy dwelling place, that is, from heaven, and shew mercy.

22 If any man sin against his neighbour, and come to swear against him, and bind himself with a curse before the altar in this house:

23 Then hear thou from heaven, and do justice to thy servants, so to requite the wicked by making his wickedness fall upon his own head, and to revenge the just, rewarding him according to his justice.

24 If thy people Israel be overcome by their enemies, (for they will sin against thee,) and being converted shall do penance, and call upon thy name, and pray to thee in this place,

25 Then hear thou from heaven, and forgive the sin of thy people Israel and bring them back into the land which thou gavest to them, and their fathers.

26 If the heavens be shut up, and there fall no rain by reason of the sin of the people, and they shall pray to thee in this place, and confess to thy name, and be converted from their sins, where thou dost afflict them,

27 Then hear thou from heaven, O Lord, and forgive the sins of thy servants and of thy people Israel and teach them the good way in which they may walk: and give rain to thy land which thou hast given to thy people to possess.

28 If a famine arise in the land, or a pestilence or blasting, or mildew, or locusts, or caterpillars: or if their enemies waste the country, and besiege the cities, whatsoever scourge or infirmity shall be upon them:

29 Then if any of thy people Israel, knowing his own scourge and infirmity shall pray, and shall spread forth his hands in this house,

30 Hear thou from heaven, from thy high dwelling place, and forgive, and render to every one according to his ways, which thou knowest him to have in his heart: for thou only knowest the hearts of the children of men:

31 That they may fear thee, and walk in thy ways all the days that they live upon the face of the land, which thou hast given to our fathers.

32 If the stranger also, who is not of thy people Israel, come from a far country, for the sake of thy great name, and thy strong hand, and thy stretched out arm, and adore in this place:

33 Hear thou from heaven thy firm dwelling place, and do all that which that stranger shall call upon thee for: that all the people of the earth may know thy name, and may fear thee, as thy people Israel, and may know, that thy name is invoked upon this house, which I have built.

34 If thy people go out to war against their enemies, by the way that thou shalt send them, and adore thee towards the way of this city, which thou hast chosen, and the house which I have built to thy name:

35 Then hear thou from heaven their prayers, and their supplications, and revenge them.

36 And if they sin against thee (for there is no man that sinneth not) and thou be angry with them, and deliver them up to their enemies, and they lead them away captive to a land either afar off, or near at hand,

37 And if they be converted in their heart in the land to which they were led captive, and do penance, and pray to thee in the land of their captivity saying: We have sinned, we have done wickedly, we have dealt unjustly:

38 And return to thee with all their heart, and with all their soul, in the land of their captivity, to which they were led away, and adore thee towards the way of their own land which thou gavest their fathers, and of the city, which thou hast chosen, and the house which I have built to thy name:

39 Then hear thou from heaven, that is, from thy firm dwelling place, their prayers, and do judgment, and forgive thy people, although they have sinned:

40 For thou art my God: let thy eyes, I beseech thee, be open, and let thy ears be attentive to the prayer, that is made in this place.

41 Now therefore arise, O Lord God, into thy resting place, thou and the ark of thy strength: let thy priests, O Lord God, put on salvation, and thy saints rejoice in good things.

42 O Lord God, turn not away the face of thy anointed: remember the mercies of David thy servant.

1 And when Solomon had made an end of his prayer, fire came down from heaven, and consumed the holocausts and the victims: and the majesty of the Lord filled the house.

2 Neither could the priests enter into the temple of the Lord, because the majesty of the Lord had filled the temple of the Lord.

3 Moreover all the children of Israel saw the fire coming down, and the glory of the Lord upon the house: and falling down with their faces to the ground, upon the stone pavement, they adored and praised the Lord: because he is good, because his mercy endureth for ever.

4 And the king and all the people sacrificed victims before the Lord.

5 And king Solomon offered a sacrifice of twenty-two thousand oxen, and one hundred and twenty thousand rams: and the king and all the people dedicated the house of God.

6 And the priests stood in their offices: and the Levites with the instruments of music of the Lord, which king David made to praise the Lord: because his mercy endureth for ever, singing the hymns of David by their ministry: and the priests sounded with trumpets before them, and all Israel stood.

7 Solomon also sanctified the middle of the court before the temple of the Lord: for he offered there the holocausts, and the fat of the peace offerings: because the brazen altar, which he had made, could not hold the holocausts and the sacrifices and the fat:

8 And Solomon kept the solemnity at that time seven days, and all Israel with him, a very great congregation, from the entrance of Emath to the torrent of Egypt.

9 And he made on the eighth day a solemn assembly, because he had kept the dedication of the altar seven days, and had celebrated the solemnity seven days.

10 So on the three and twentieth day of the seventh month he sent away the people to their dwellings, joyful and glad for the good that the Lord had done to David, and to Solomon, and to all Israel his people.

11 And Solomon finished the house of the Lord, and the king’s house, and all that he had designed in his heart to do, in the house of the Lord, and in his own house, and he prospered.

12 And the Lord appeared to him by night, and said: I have heard thy prayer, and I have chosen this place to myself for a house of sacrifice.

13 If I shut up heaven, and there fall no rain, or if I give orders, and command the locust to devour the land, or if I send pestilence among my people:

14 And my people, upon whom my name is called, being converted, shall make supplication to me, and seek out my face, and do penance for their most wicked ways: then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sins and will heal their land.

15 My eyes also shall be open, and my ears attentive to the prayer of him that shall pray in this place.

16 For I have chosen, and have sanctified this place, that my name may be there for ever, and my eyes and my heart may remain there perpetually.

17 And as for thee, if thou walk before me, as David thy father walked, and do according to all that I have commanded thee, and keep my justices and my judgments:

18 I will raise up the throne of thy kingdom, as I promised to David thy father, saying: There shall not fail thee a man of thy stock to be ruler in Israel.

19 But if you turn away, and forsake my justices, and my commandments which I have set before you, and shall go and serve strange gods, and adore them,

20 I will pluck you up by the root out of my land which I have given you: and this house which I have sanctified to my name, I will cast away from before my face, and will make it a byword, and an example among all nations.

21 And this house shall be for a proverb to all that pass by, and they shall be astonished and say: Why hath the Lord done thus to this land, and to this house?

22 And they shall answer: Because they forsook the Lord the God of their fathers, who brought them out of the land of Egypt, and laid hold on strange gods, and adored them, and worshipped them: therefore all these evils are come upon them.

1 (135-1) Alleluia. Praise the Lord, for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever.

2 (135-2) Praise ye the God of gods: for his mercy endureth for ever.

3 (135-3) Praise ye the Lord of lords: for his mercy endureth for ever.

4 (135-4) Who alone doth great wonders: for his mercy endureth for ever.

5 (135-5) Who made the heavens in understanding: for his mercy endureth for ever.

6 (135-6) Who established the earth above the waters: for his mercy endureth for ever.

7 (135-7) Who made the great lights: for his mercy endureth for ever.

8 (135-8) The sun to rule the day: for his mercy endureth for ever.

9 (135-9) The moon and the stars to rule the night: for his mercy endureth for ever.

10 (135-10) Who smote Egypt with their firstborn: for his mercy endureth for ever.

11 (135-11) Who brought out Israel from among them: for his mercy endureth for ever.

12 (135-12) With a mighty hand and with a stretched out arm: for his mercy endureth for ever.

13 (135-13) Who divided the Red Sea into parts: for his mercy endureth for ever.

14 (135-14) And brought out Israel through the midst thereof: for his mercy endureth for ever.

15 (135-15) And overthrew Pharao and his host in the Red Sea: for his mercy endureth for ever.

16 (135-16) Who led his people through the desert: for his mercy endureth for ever.

17 (135-17) Who smote great kings: for his mercy endureth for ever.

18 (135-18) And slew strong kings: for his mercy endureth for ever.

19 (135-19) Sehon king of the Amorrhites: for his mercy endureth for ever.

20 (135-20) And Og king of Basan: for his mercy endureth for ever.

21 (135-21) And he gave their land for an inheritance: for his mercy endureth for ever.

22 (135-22) For an inheritance to his servant Israel: for his mercy endureth for ever.

23 (135-23) For he was mindful of us in our affliction: for his mercy endureth for ever.

24 (135-24) And he redeemed us from our enemies: for his mercy endureth for ever.

25 (135-25) Who giveth food to all flesh: for his mercy endureth for ever.

26 (135-26) Give glory to the God of heaven: for his mercy endureth for ever. (135-27) Give glory to the Lord of lords: for his mercy endureth for ever.