2 Chronicles 6:12–21

Solomon’s Prayer to Dedicate the Temple

¹²Then 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. ¹⁴And 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, ¹⁵that 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. ¹⁶And now, O Yahweh, God of Israel, keep for your servant David, my father, what you have spoken to him, saying, ‘You shall not lack^e 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.’ ¹⁷And 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^f cannot contain you! Surely then this house that I have built will not contain you! ¹⁹But 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, ²⁰that 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. ²¹And 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.