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11 Thus Solomon finished Yahweh’s house and the king’s house; and he successfully completed all that came into Solomon’s heart to make in Yahweh’s house and in his own house.

12 Yahweh appeared to Solomon by night, and said to him, “I have heard your prayer, and have chosen this place for myself for a house of sacrifice.

13 “If I shut up the sky so that there is no rain, or if I command the locust to devour the land, or if I send pestilence among my people; 14 if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves, pray, seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin, and will heal their land. 15 Now my eyes will be open and my ears attentive to prayer that is made in this place. 16 For now I have chosen and made this house holy, that my name may be there forever; and my eyes and my heart will be there perpetually.

17 “As for you, if you will walk before me as David your father walked, and do according to all that I have commanded you, and will keep my statutes and my ordinances; 18 then I will establish the throne of your kingdom, according as I covenanted with David your father, saying, ‘There shall not fail you a man to be ruler in Israel.’

19 But if you turn away, and forsake my statutes and my commandments which I have set before you, and shall go and serve other gods, and worship them; 20 then I will pluck them up by the roots out of my land which I have given them; and this house, which I have made holy for my name, I will cast out of my sight, and I will make it a proverb and a byword among all peoples. 21 This house, which is so high, everyone who passes by it shall be astonished, and shall say, ‘Why has Yahweh done this to this land and to this house?’ 22 They shall answer, ‘Because they abandoned Yahweh, the God of their fathers, who brought them out of the land of Egypt, and took other gods, worshiped them, and served them. Therefore he has brought all this evil on them.’”

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11 So Solomon finished the Lord’s temple and the royal palace. Everything that had entered Solomon’s heart to do for the Lord’s temple and for his own palace succeeded.(A)

The Lord’s Response

12 Then the Lord appeared to Solomon at night and said to him:

I have heard your prayer and have chosen this place for myself as a temple of sacrifice.(B) 13 If I shut the sky so there is no rain, or if I command the grasshopper to consume the land, or if I send pestilence on my people,(C) 14 and my people, who bear my name, humble themselves, pray and seek my face, and turn from their evil ways, then I will hear from heaven, forgive their sin, and heal their land.(D) 15 My eyes will now be open and my ears attentive to prayer from this place.(E) 16 And I have now chosen and consecrated this temple so that my name may be there forever; my eyes and my heart will be there at all times.(F)

17 As for you, if you walk before me as your father David walked, doing everything I have commanded you, and if you keep my statutes and ordinances, 18 I will establish your royal throne, as I promised your father David: You will never fail to have a man ruling in Israel.(G)

19 However, if you turn away and abandon my statutes and my commands that I have set before you and if you go and serve other gods and bow in worship to them,(H) 20 then I will uproot Israel from the soil that I gave them, and this temple that I have sanctified for my name I will banish from my presence;(I) I will make it an object of scorn and ridicule among all the peoples.(J) 21 As for this temple, which was exalted, everyone who passes by will be appalled and will say,(K) “Why did the Lord do this to this land and this temple?” 22 Then they will say, “Because they abandoned the Lord God of their ancestors who brought them out of the land of Egypt. They clung to other gods and bowed in worship to them and served them. Because of this, he brought all this ruin on them.”

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