¹⁹ The woman said to him, “Sir, I perceive that ^(A)you are ^(B)a prophet. ^20 (C)Our fathers worshiped on ^(D)this mountain, but you say that ^(E)in Jerusalem is ^(F)the place where people ought to worship.”

²⁹ And when the Lord your God brings you into the land that you are entering to take possession of it, you shall set ^(A)the blessing on Mount Gerizim and the curse on Mount Ebal. ³⁰ Are they not beyond the Jordan, west of the road, toward the going down of the sun, in the land of the Canaanites who live in the ^(B)Arabah, opposite Gilgal, beside ^(C)the oak^[a] of Moreh? ³¹ For you are ^(D)to cross over the Jordan to go in to take possession of the land that the Lord your God is giving you. And when you possess it and live in it, ³² you shall be careful ^(E)to do all the statutes and the rules that I am setting before you today.

⁵ But you shall seek ^(A)the place that the Lord your God will choose out of all your tribes to put his name and make his habitation^[a] there. There you shall go, ⁶ and there you shall bring your burnt offerings and your sacrifices, ^(B)your tithes and the contribution that you present, your vow offerings, your freewill offerings, and the ^(C)firstborn of your herd and of your flock. ⁷ And ^(D)there you shall eat before the Lord your God, and ^(E)you shall rejoice, you and your households, in all that you undertake, in which the Lord your God has blessed you.

Solomon Blesses the People

6 ^(A)Then Solomon said, “The Lord has said that he would dwell in thick darkness. ² But I have built you ^(B)an exalted house, a place for you to dwell in forever.” ³ Then the king turned around and blessed all the assembly of Israel, while all the assembly of Israel stood. ⁴ And he said, “Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, who with his hand has fulfilled what he promised with his mouth to David my father, saying, ⁵ ‘Since the day that I brought my people out of the land of Egypt, I chose no city out of all the tribes of Israel in which to build a house, that my name might be there, and I chose no man as prince over my people Israel; ^6 (C)but I have chosen Jerusalem that my name may be there, ^(D)and I have chosen David to be over my people Israel.’