1 THEN Solomon said, O LORD, thou hast declared that thou wouldst dwell in the thick darkness.

2 But I have built a house of habitation for thee, and a place for thy dwelling for ever.

3 Then the king turned his face and blessed the whole congregation of Israel; and all the congregation of Israel stood.

4 And he said, Blessed be the LORD God of Israel, who spoke with his own mouth to David my father, and with his word has fulfilled that which he had promised, saying,

5 Since the day that I brought forth my people out of the land of Egypt, I chose no city among all the tribes of Israel to build a house in, that my name might be there;

6 But I have chosen Jerusalem that my name might be there; and I have chosen David to be king over my people Israel.

7 Now it was in the heart of David my father to build a house for the name of the LORD God of Israel.

8 But the LORD said to David my father, Forasmuch as it was in your heart to build a house for my name, you did well in that it was in your heart;

9 Nevertheless you shall not build the house for my name, but your son who shall come forth out of your loins, he shall build the house for my name.

10 The LORD therefore has performed his word that he has spoken; for I have risen up in the place of David my father, and I sit on the throne of Israel, as the LORD promised, and I have built the house for the name of the LORD God of Israel.

11 And I have prepared a place for the ark, wherein is the covenant of the LORD that he made with our fathers when he brought them forth out of the land of Egypt.

12 And Solomon stood up before the altar of the LORD in the presence of all the congregation of Israel, and spread forth his hands toward heaven;

13 For Solomon had made a bronze platform, five cubits long, five cubits wide, and two cubits high, and had set it in the midst of the court; and he went up and stood upon it, and knelt down upon his knees in the presence of all the people of Israel and spread forth his hands in prayer toward heaven,

14 And prayed and said, O LORD God of Israel, there is no one like thee; thou art the LORD who dwellest in heaven above, and thy will is carried out upon the earth below; who keepest covenant and showest mercy to thy servants who walk before thee uprightly with all their hearts;

15 Thou who hast kept with thy servant David my father that which thou hast promised him; and thou didst speak with thy mouth, and hast fulfilled it with thy will, as it is this day.

16 Now therefore, O LORD God of Israel, keep with thy servant David my father the promise which thou hast made to him, saying, There shall not fail you a son in my sight to sit upon the throne of Israel; if only your children take heed to their way to walk in my law, as you have walked before me.

17 Now then, O LORD God of Israel, let thy words be confirmed which thou hast spoken to thy servant David.

18 For in truth the LORD has made his dwelling place with his people Israel on the earth. Behold, heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain thee; how much less this house which I have built!

19 Have regard therefore to the prayer of thy servant and to his supplications, O LORD my God, to hearken to the prayer and the supplication which thy servant prayeth before thee this day;

20 That this house may remain in thy presence, that thou mayest hearken to the prayer of whosoever may come to pray before thee in this house day and night, the place of which thou hast said that thou wouldst put thy habitation there.

21 Hearken therefore to the prayer of thy servant, and of thy people Israel, which they shall pray before thee in this place; hear thou from thy dwelling place, even from heaven; and when thou hearest, forgive.

22 If a man should offend his neighbor, and it is decreed upon him that he should take an oath, and he should come and swear before thy altar in this house;

23 Then hear thou his prayer, even from heaven, and do, and judge thy servants, by requiting the wicked, by bringing his guilt upon his own head; and by justifying the righteous, by rewarding him according to his righteousness.

24 And if thy people Israel are defeated before the enemy because they have sinned against thee, and shall return to thee and confess thy great name, and pray and make supplication before thee in this house;

25 Then hear thou from the heavens and forgive the sins of thy people Israel and bring them again to the land which thou gavest to them and to their fathers.

26 And when the heaven is shut up and there is no rain, because they have sinned against thee; yet if they pray before thee in this place, and confess thy great name and turn from their sins when thou dost afflict them;

27 Then hear thou from heaven their prayer, and forgive the sins of thy servants and of thy people Israel when thou hast taught them the good way in which they should walk; and send rain of blessing upon the land which thou hast given to thy people for an inheritance.

28 If there is famine in the land, if there is pestilence or blasting or mildew or locusts or caterpillars; if their enemies besiege them in the cities of their land; whatsoever trouble or whatsoever sickness there be;

29 Then what prayer or what supplication soever shall be made of any man or of all thy people Israel, when every one shall declare his own grief, and shall come and spread forth his hands in this house;

30 Then hear thou from heaven their prayer and forgive their sins, and render to every man according to all his ways, whose heart thou knowest (for thou only knowest the hearts of all the children of men),

31 That they may revere thee, to walk before thee in thy ways so long as they live in the land which thou gavest to their fathers.

32 Moreover concerning the stranger who is not of thy people Israel, but comes from a far country for thy great name's sake and thy mighty hand and thy stretched out arm; if they come and pray before thee on that day in this house;

33 Then hear thou from thy dwelling place, even from heaven, and do according to all that the stranger prays before thee, so that all the peoples of the earth may know thy name and worship before thee, as do thy people Israel, and that they may know that this house which I have built is called by thy name.

34 If thy people go out to war against their enemies by the way that thou shalt send them, and they pray to thee towards this land which thou hast given to their fathers, or towards this city which thou hast chosen for thyself, or towards the house which I have built for thy name;

35 Then hear thou from the heavens their prayer and their supplication, and plead their cause.

36 If they sin against thee (for there is no man who does not sin), and thou be angry with them and deliver them over to their enemies, and they carry them away captives to a land far off or near;

37 Yet if they pray before thee, and repent in the land to which they were carried captive, saying, We have sinned, we have provoked thee to anger and have dealt wickedly;

38 If they return to thee with all their heart and with all their soul in the land of their captivity to which they were carried captive, and pray toward their land which thou gavest to their fathers and toward the city which thou hast chosen for thyself and toward the house which I have built for thy name;

39 Then hear thou from the heavens, even from thy dwelling place, their prayer and their supplication, and maintain their cause, and forgive thy people who have sinned against thee.

40 Now, O my God, let thy eyes 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, be clothed with salvation, and let thy righteous men rejoice in thy goodness.

42 O LORD God, turn not away the face of thy anointed one; remember the mercies of David thy servant.