2 Chronicles 6

1 Then spoke Shlomo, the LORD has said that he would dwell in the thick darkness.
2 But I have built you a house of habitation, and a place for you to dwell in forever.
3 The king turned his face, and blessed all the assembly of Yisra'el: and all the assembly of Yisra'el stood.
4 He said, Blessed be the LORD, the God of Yisra'el, who spoke with his mouth to David my father, and has with his hands fulfilled it, saying,
5 Since the day that I brought forth my people out of the land of Mitzrayim, I chose no city out of all the tribes of Yisra'el to build a house in, that my name might be there; neither chose I any man to be prince over my people Yisra'el:
6 but I have chosen Yerushalayim, that my name might be there; and have chosen David to be over my people Yisra'el.
7 Now it was in the heart of David my father to build a house for the name of the LORD, the God of Yisra'el.
8 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:
9 nevertheless you shall not build the house; but your son who shall come forth out of your loins, he shall build the house for my name.
10 The LORD has performed his word that he spoke; for I am risen up in the room of David my father, and sit on the throne of Yisra'el, as the LORD promised, and have built the house for the name of the LORD, the God of Yisra'el.
11 There have I set the ark, in which is the covenant of the LORD, which he made with the children of Yisra'el.
12 He stood before the altar of the LORD in the presence of all the assembly of Yisra'el, and spread forth his hands
13 (for Shlomo had made a brazen scaffold, five cubits long, and five cubits broad, and three cubits high, and had set it in the midst of the court; and on it he stood, and kneeled down on his knees before all the assembly of Yisra'el, and spread forth his hands toward heaven;)
14 and he said, LORD, the God of Yisra'el, there is no God like you, in heaven, or on eretz; who keep covenant and lovingkindness with your servants, who walk before you with all their heart;
15 who have kept with your servant David my father that which you did promise him: yes, you spoke with your mouth, and have fulfilled it with your hand, as it is this day.
16 Now therefore, LORD, the God of Yisra'el, keep with your servant David my father that which you have promised him, saying, There shall not fail you a man in my sight to sit on the throne of Yisra'el, if only your children take heed to their way, to walk in my law as you have walked before me.
17 Now therefore, LORD, the God of Yisra'el, let your word be verified, which you spoke to your servant David.
18 But will God in very deed dwell with men on the eretz? behold, heaven and the heaven of heavens can't contain you; how much less this house which I have built!
19 Yet have you respect to the prayer of your servant, and to his supplication, LORD my God, to listen to the cry and to the prayer which your servant prays before you;
20 that your eyes may be open toward this house day and night, even toward the place whereof you have said that you would put your name there; to listen to the prayer which your servant shall pray toward this place.
21 Listen you to the petitions of your servant, and of your people Yisra'el, when they shall pray toward this place: yes, hear from your dwelling-place, even from heaven; and when you hear, forgive.
22 If a man sin against his neighbor, and an oath is laid on him to cause him to swear, and he comes and swears before your altar in this house;
23 then hear from heaven, and do, and judge your servants, requiting the wicked, to bring his way on his own head; and justifying the righteous, to give him according to his righteousness.
24 If your people Yisra'el be struck down before the enemy, because they have sinned against you, and shall turn again and confess your name, and pray and make supplication before you in this house;
25 then hear from heaven, and forgive the sin of your people Yisra'el, and bring them again to the land which you gave to them and to their fathers.
26 When the sky is shut up, and there is no rain, because they have sinned against you; if they pray toward this place, and confess your name, and turn from their sin, when you do afflict them:
27 then hear in heaven, and forgive the sin of your servants, and of your people Yisra'el, when you teach them the good way in which they should walk; and send rain on your land, which you have given to your people for an inheritance.
28 If there be in the land famine, if there be pestilence, if there be blasting or mildew, arbeh or caterpillar; if their enemies besiege them in the land of their cities; whatever plague or whatever sickness there be;
29 whatever prayer and supplication be made by any man, or by all your people Yisra'el, who shall know every man his own plague and his own sorrow, and shall spread forth his hands toward this house:
30 then hear from heaven, your dwelling-place and forgive, and render to every man according to all his ways, whose heart you know; (for you, even you only, know the hearts of the children of men;)
31 that they may fear you, to walk in your ways, so long as they live in the land which you gave to our fathers.
32 Moreover concerning the foreigner, who is not of your people Yisra'el, when he shall come from a far country for your great name's sake, and your mighty hand, and your outstretched arm; when they shall come and pray toward this house:
33 then hear from heaven, even from your dwelling-place, and do according to all that the foreigner calls to you for; that all the peoples of the eretz may know your name, and fear you, as does your people Yisra'el, and that they may know that this house which I have built is called by your name.
34 If your people go out to battle against their enemies, by whatever way you shall send them, and they pray to you toward this city which you have chosen, and the house which I have built for your name;
35 then hear from heaven their prayer and their supplication, and maintain their cause.
36 If they sin against you (for there is no man who doesn't sin), and you are angry with them, and deliver them to the enemy, so that they carry them away captive to a land far off or near;
37 yet if they shall repent themselves in the land where they are carried captive, and turn again, and make supplication to you in the land of their captivity, saying, We have sinned, we have done perversely, 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 captive, and pray toward their land, which you gave to their fathers, and the city which you have chosen, and toward the house which I have built for your name:
39 then hear from heaven, even from your dwelling-place, their prayer and their petitions, and maintain their cause, and forgive your people who have sinned against you.
40 Now, my God, let, I beg you, your eyes be open, and let your ears be attentive, to the prayer that is made in this place.
41 Now therefore arise, LORD God, into your resting-place, you, and the ark of your strength: let your Kohanim, LORD God, be clothed with yeshu`ah, and let your holy ones rejoice in goodness.
42 LORD God, don't turn away the face of your anointed: remember [your] lovingkindnesses to David your servant.

2 Chronicles 6 Commentary

Chapter 6

Solomon's prayer at the dedication of the temple.

- The order of Solomon's prayer is to be observed. First and chiefly, he prays for repentance and forgiveness, which is the chief blessing, and the only solid foundation of other mercies: he then prays for temporal mercies; thereby teaching us what things to mind and desire most in our prayers. This also Christ hath taught us in his perfect pattern and form of prayer, where there is but one prayer for outward, and all the rest are for spiritual blessings. The temple typified the human nature of Christ, in whom dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. The ark typified his obedience and sufferings, by which repenting sinners have access to a reconciled God, and communion with him. Jehovah has made our nature his resting-place for ever, in the person of Emmanuel, and through him he dwells with, and delights in his church of redeemed sinners. May our hearts become his resting-place; may Christ dwell therein by faith, consecrating them as his temples, and shedding abroad his love therein. May the Father look upon us in and through his Anointed; and may he remember and bless us in all things, according to his mercy to sinners, in and through Christ.

Chapter Summary

INTRODUCTION TO LEVITICUS 21

This chapter respects the priests, the sons of Aaron, and forbids their mourning for the dead, unless in some cases, Le 21:1-6; or their marriage with an whore or a divorced woman, Le 21:7,8; and the daughters of any of them to commit fornication, which is made punishable with death, Le 21:9; and it contains particular laws for the high priest to observe, who was not to mourn for any, even for his parents, Le 21:10,11; nor to go out of the sanctuary, Le 21:12; nor to marry any woman but a virgin, Le 21:13-15; and it also directs, that none of the priests having any blemish in them should be employed in divine service, though they might eat of the holy things, Le 21:16-24.

2 Chronicles 6 Commentaries

The Hebrew Names Version is in the public domain.