2 Chronicles 6
Hear Also the Foreigner Who Prays Toward This House
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Solomon Blesses the Assembly
6:1Then Solomon said, “The Lord said that He would dwell in thick darkness.
6:2I have built a house for Your name, holy to You and ready for dwelling throughout the ages.”
6:3The king turned his face and blessed all Israel’s assembly, while all Israel’s assembly stood by.
6:4He said, “Blessed be the Lord, Israel’s God, who spoke with His mouth to David my father and fulfilled it with His hands, saying,
6:5‘Since the day I brought My people up from Egypt’s land, I chose no city from all Israel’s tribes in which to build a house for My name to be there, and I chose no man to be leader over My people Israel.
6:6But I chose Jerusalem for My name to be there, and I chose David to be over My people Israel.’
6:7It came upon the heart of David my father to build a house for the name of the Lord, Israel’s God.
6:8The Lord said to David my father, ‘Because it came upon your heart to build a house for My name, you did well that it came upon your heart.
6:9Nevertheless, you will not build the house. Your son who will come from your loins—he will build the house for My name.’
6:10The Lord has established the word He spoke. I have come to be in place of David my father and sat on Israel’s throne, as the Lord spoke, and I have built the house for the name of the Lord, Israel’s God.
6:11I placed there the ark, in which is the Lord’s covenant that He made with Israel.”
The Prayer of Dedication
6:12He stood before the Lord’s altar, opposite all Israel’s assembly, and spread out his hands.
6:13For Solomon had made a bronze base and put it in the middle of the temple court, five cubits long, five cubits wide, and three cubits high. He stood on it, fell on his knees opposite all Israel’s assembly, and spread out his hands toward heaven.
6:14He said, “Lord, Israel’s God, there is no god like You in heaven or on earth, keeping covenant and mercy for Your servants who walk before You with their whole heart.
6:15You have kept for Your servant David my father the things You spoke to him, saying them. You spoke with Your mouth and fulfilled them with Your hands, as on this day.
6:16Now, Lord, Israel’s God, keep for Your servant David my father what You spoke to him: ‘You will never lack a man before Me sitting on Israel’s throne, provided your sons guard their way, walking in My law as you walked before Me.’
6:17Now, Lord, Israel’s God, let Your utterance that You spoke to Your servant David indeed be confirmed.
6:18But will God truly dwell with human beings on earth? If heaven and the heaven of heaven will not suffice for You, what is this house that I have built?
6:19Yet look upon Your servant’s prayer and my supplication, Lord God, to hear the supplication and prayer that Your servant prays before You today.
6:20Let Your eyes be open toward this house day and night, toward this place where You said Your name would be invoked, to hear the prayer that Your servant prays toward this place.
6:21Hear the supplication of Your servant and Your people Israel, whatever they pray toward this place. Hear in Your dwelling place, from heaven; hear and be propitious.
When a Man Sins Against His Neighbor
6:22If a man sins against his neighbor and takes upon himself an oath-curse to bind himself by it, and comes and swears before the altar in this house,
6:23then hear from heaven, act, and judge Your servants, repaying the lawless and returning his ways upon his own head, and justifying the righteous, giving him according to his righteousness.
When Israel Is Crushed Before the Enemy
6:24If Your people Israel are crushed before the enemy, if they sin against You, and they return, confess Your name, and pray and supplicate before You in this house,
6:25then hear from heaven and be propitious toward the sins of Your people Israel. Return them to the land You gave to them and their fathers.
When Heaven Is Shut and Famine Comes
6:26When heaven is shut and there is no rain because they will sin against You, and they pray toward this place, praise Your name, and turn from their sins because You humble them,
6:27then hear from heaven and be propitious toward the sins of Your servants and Your people Israel, for You will make known to them the good way in which they should walk. Give rain upon Your land that You gave Your people as an inheritance.
6:28If there is famine upon the land, if there is death, damage from wind or yellowing, locust or consuming locust; if the enemy oppresses them before their cities; in every plague and every suffering,
6:29and every prayer and every supplication that comes to any person or to all Your people Israel, if a person knows his own affliction and weakness and spreads out his hands toward this house,
6:30then hear from heaven, from Your prepared dwelling place, and be propitious. Give to a man according to his ways, as You know his heart, for You alone know the heart of human beings,
6:31so that they may fear Your ways all the days they live upon the land You gave our fathers.
Concerning the Foreigner
6:32And every foreigner who is not of Your people Israel, who comes from a distant land because of Your great name, Your mighty hand, and Your uplifted arm—when they come and pray toward this place,
6:33then hear from heaven, from Your prepared dwelling place, and do everything for which the foreigner invokes You, so that all earth’s peoples may know Your name and fear You as Your people Israel do, and know that Your name has been invoked over this house that I have built.
When They Go Out to War
6:34If Your people go out to war against their enemies by the way You send them, and pray to You toward this city You have chosen and the house I have built for Your name,
6:35then hear from heaven their supplication and prayer and uphold their right.
When They Are Carried into Captivity
6:36For they will sin against You—for there will be no human being who will not sin—and You will strike them and hand them over before enemies, and their captors will carry them captive to an enemy land, a land far away or near,
6:37and they turn their heart in their land where they were deported, and indeed return and supplicate You in their captivity, saying, ‘We have sinned, done wrong, and acted lawlessly,’
6:38and return to You with all their heart and all their soul in the land of those who took them captive, and pray toward their land that You gave their fathers, the city You chose, and the house I built for Your name,
6:39then hear from heaven, from Your prepared dwelling place, their prayer and supplication, execute judgments, and be propitious toward the people who sinned against You.
Arise, Lord God, to Your Rest
6:40Now, Lord, please let Your eyes be open and Your ears attentive to the supplication of this place.
6:41Now arise, Lord God, to Your rest, You and the ark of Your strength. May Your priests, Lord God, clothe themselves with salvation, and let Your sons rejoice in good things.
6:42Lord God, do not turn away the face of Your anointed one. Remember the mercies of David Your servant.”
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Saints Translation · Liturgical reading edition · V1 · working draft awaiting specialist review.