Solomon’s Prayer to Dedicate the Temple

¹² Then Solomon stood before the altar of Yahweh before all the assembly of Israel and spread out his hands. ¹³ (For Solomon had made a platform of bronze five cubits long and five cubits wide and three cubits high, and placed it in the midst of the outer court.) And he stood upon it, then knelt down on his knees before the whole assembly of Israel and spread out his hands to heaven. ¹⁴ And he said, “O Yahweh, God of Israel, there is none like you, a God in the heavens and on the earth, keeping the covenant and loyal love with your servants who walk before you with all their heart, ¹⁵ that you have kept for your servant David my father what you spoke to him. You spoke with your mouth, and by your hand you have fulfilled it on this day. ¹⁶ And now, O Yahweh, God of Israel, keep for your servant David, my father, what you have spoken to him, saying, ‘You shall not lack^[a] a man to sit on the throne of Israel before me, if only your sons keep their way, to walk in my law as you have walked before me.’ ¹⁷ And now, O Yahweh, God of Israel, let your word that you have spoken to your servant David be confirmed.

¹⁸ “But will God indeed dwell with humankind upon the earth? Look, the heavens and the highest heavens^[b] cannot contain you! Surely then this house that I have built will not contain you! ¹⁹ But turn to the prayer of your servant and to his plea, O Yahweh my God, to hearken to the pleading and to the prayer that your servant is praying before you, ²⁰ that your eyes may be open day and night to this house, to the place that you have promised to place your name there, that you may hear the prayer that your servant has prayed to this place. ²¹ And listen to the pleas of your servant and your people Israel when they pray toward this place, that you yourself might hear from the place of your dwelling, from the heavens, that you might hear and forgive.

²² “If a man sins against his neighbor and makes him swear an oath^[c] and comes with an oath before your altar in this house, ²³ then may you yourself hear from the heavens and act and judge your servants, to repay the guilty by bringing his way upon his head and to vindicate the righteous by giving to him according to his righteousness.

²⁴ “And if your people Israel are defeated before an enemy because they have sinned against you and they repent and confess your name and pray and plead before you in this house, ²⁵ then may you yourself hear from the heavens and forgive the sin of your people Israel and again bring them back to the land that you gave to them and to their ancestors.^[d]

²⁶ “When the heavens are stopped up and there is no rain because they have sinned against you and they pray to this place and confess your name and turn back from their sin when you humble them, ²⁷ then may you yourself hear from the heavens and forgive the sin of your servants and your people Israel, when you teach them the good way in which they should walk, and give rain upon your land that you have given to your people as an inheritance.

²⁸ “If there is a famine in the land; if there is disease, blight, mildew, locust, and caterpillar; if it happens that his enemy lays siege to him in the land and his gates; any kind of plague, any kind of disease, ²⁹ then any prayer, any plea that is made by any person and by all your people Israel, each one who knows his own affliction and his own anguish and who spreads out his hands to this house, ³⁰ then may you yourself hear from the heavens, your dwelling place, and forgive and give to each according to all his ways, since you know the heart of the children of humankind, ³¹ that they may fear you and walk in your ways all the days that they are alive upon the face of the land that you have given to our ancestors.^[e]

³² “And also, with respect to the foreigner, he who is not of your people Israel, but comes from a distant land, for the sake of your great name and your powerful hand and outstretched arm, when he comes and prays to this house, ³³ then may you yourself hear from the heavens, from your dwelling place, and do according to all that the foreigner asks of you, so that all peoples of earth will know of your name and fear you, as do your people Israel, and that they may know that your name possesses^[f] this house that I have built.

³⁴ “When your people go out to battle against their enemy according to the way that you have sent them, and they pray to you toward this city that you have chosen and the house that I have built for your name, ³⁵ then may you hear their prayer and their pleas from the heavens and uphold their case. ³⁶ When they sin against you—for there is no person who does not sin—and you become angry with them and place them before their enemy that they carry them away as captives to a land far or near, ³⁷ but if they repent^[g] in the land where they were taken captive and repent^[h] and beg you for mercy in the land of their captivity, saying, ‘We have sinned and acted perversely and done wickedly, ³⁸ and we return to you,’ with their whole heart and with all their inmost being in the land of their captivity where they took them captive, and if they pray toward their land that you have given to their ancestors^[i] and the city that you have chosen and to the house that I have built for your name, ³⁹ then may you hear their prayer and their pleas from the heavens, from your dwelling place, and uphold their case and forgive your people who sinned against you. ⁴⁰ Now, O my God, please let your eyes be open and your ears attentive to the prayer of this place!

⁴¹ “And now arise, O Yahweh God, to your resting place, you and the ark of your strength! O Yahweh God, let the priests be clothed with salvation, and let your holy ones rejoice in your goodness! ⁴² O Yahweh God, do not turn away the face of your anointed one! Remember the loyal love of your servant, David!”