1Then Solomon said, "The LORD has said that he would live in the thick darkness."
2"But I have built a house for you to live in, a place for you to dwell in for ever."
3Then the king turned round and blessed the whole assembly of Israel, and all the assembly of Israel stood.
4He said, "Blessed be the LORD God of Israel. With his own hands he has carried out what he spoke with his mouth to my father David. He said,"
5"'Since the day I brought my people out of the land of Egypt, I chose no city out of all the tribes of Israel to build a house in, so that my name might be there. And I chose no man to be a ruler over my people Israel."
6"'But I have chosen Jerusalem, so that my name might be there, and I have chosen David to be over my people Israel.'"
7"Now my father David had it in his heart to build a house for the name of the LORD God of Israel."
8"But the LORD said to my father David, 'It was in your heart to build a house for my name. You did well that it was in your heart."
9"'Even so, you shall not build the house. Your son, who will come from your own body, he shall build the house for my name.'"
10"So the LORD has kept the word that he spoke. I have risen up in the place of my father David, 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"In it I have put the ark, and in the ark is the covenant of the LORD, which he made with the children of Israel."
12Then he stood in front of the altar of the LORD, before all the assembly of Israel, and spread out his hands.
13For Solomon had made a platform of bronze, five cubits long, five cubits wide and three cubits high, and had set it in the middle of the court. He stood on it, and knelt down on his knees in front of all the assembly of Israel, and spread out his hands towards heaven.
14He said, "LORD God of Israel, there is no God like you in heaven or on earth. You keep your covenant, and you show mercy to your servants who walk before you with all their hearts."
15"You have kept your promise to your servant David my father. You spoke it with your mouth, and you have carried it out with your hand, as it is today."
16"Now then, LORD God of Israel, keep what you promised your servant David my father, when you said, 'You shall never fail to have a man in my sight to sit on the throne of Israel, if only your children take care how they walk, and walk in my law, as you have walked before me.'"
17"Now then, LORD God of Israel, let your word come true, the word you spoke to your servant David."
18"But will God really live with people on the earth? Look, heaven and the highest heaven cannot hold you. How much less this house which I have built."
19"Yet give heed to the prayer of your servant, and to his plea, LORD my God. Listen to the cry and the prayer which your servant prays before you."
20"Let your eyes be open towards this house day and night, towards the place where you said you would put your name. Listen to the prayer which your servant prays towards this place."
21"So listen to the pleas of your servant and of your people Israel, when they pray towards this place. Hear from your dwelling place, from heaven. And when you hear, forgive."
22"If a man sins against his neighbour, and an oath is laid on him to make him swear, and he comes and swears before your altar in this house,"
23"then hear from heaven, and act, and judge your servants. Pay back the wicked man, and bring what he has done on his own head. Declare the righteous man to be right, and give him what his righteousness deserves."
24"If your people Israel are beaten by an enemy because they have sinned against you, and then they turn back and confess your name, and pray and plead before you in this house,"
25"then hear from the heavens, and forgive the sin of your people Israel, and bring them back to the land which you gave to them and to their fathers."
26"When the sky is shut up and there is no rain, because they have sinned against you, and then they pray towards this place, and confess your name, and turn from their sin because you have afflicted them,"
27"then hear from heaven and forgive the sin of your servants and of your people Israel. Teach them the good way in which they should walk, and send rain on your land, which you have given to your people as their inheritance."
28"If there is famine in the land, or plague, or blight, or mildew, or locusts, or caterpillars; if their enemies shut them in inside the cities of their land; whatever plague or whatever sickness there is,"
29"then whatever prayer or whatever plea is made by any one person, or by all your people Israel, when each one knows his own trouble and his own grief, and spreads out his hands towards this house,"
30"then hear from heaven, your dwelling place, and forgive. Give to every man what his ways deserve, for you know his heart. You alone know the hearts of the children of men."
31"Then they will fear you and walk in your ways, as long as they live in the land which you gave to our fathers."
32"And as for the stranger, who is not one of your people Israel, but has come from a far country because of your great name, and your mighty hand, and your outstretched arm - when he comes and prays in this house,"
33"then hear from the heavens, from your dwelling place, and do all that the stranger asks you for. Then all the peoples of the earth will know your name and fear you, as your people Israel do, and they will know that this house which I have built is called by your name."
34"If your people go out to war against their enemies by the way that you send them, and they pray to you towards this city which you have chosen, and towards the house which I have built for your name,"
35"then hear their prayer and their plea from the heavens, and uphold their cause."
36"If they sin against you, for there is no one who does not sin, and you are angry with them and hand them over to their enemies, and their enemies carry them away captive to a land far off or near,"
37"and if they come to their senses in the land where they have been carried captive, and turn and pray to you in the land of their captivity, saying, 'We have sinned, we have done wrong, and we have acted wickedly,'"
38"and if they return to you with all their heart and with all their soul in the land of their captivity, where they were carried away, and pray towards their land which you gave to their fathers, and towards the city which you have chosen, and towards the house which I have built for your name,"
39"then hear their prayer and their pleas from the heavens, from your dwelling place, and uphold their cause. Forgive your people who have sinned against you."
40"Now, my God, I beg you, let your eyes be open and your ears listen to the prayer that is made in this place."
41"Now rise up, LORD God, and come to your resting place, you and the ark of your strength. Let your priests, LORD God, be clothed with salvation, and let your holy ones rejoice in goodness."
42"LORD God, do not turn away the face of your anointed one. Remember the mercies shown to David your servant."