1 Kings 8:33–53

³³“^aWhen Your people Israel are ¹defeated before an enemy, because they have sinned against You, ^bif they turn to You again and confess Your name and pray and make supplication to You in this house,

³⁴then hear in heaven, and forgive the sin of Your people Israel, and bring them back to the land which You gave to their fathers.

³⁵“^aWhen the heavens are shut up and there is no rain, because they have sinned against You, and they pray toward this place and confess Your name and turn from their sin when You afflict them,

³⁶then hear in heaven and forgive the sin of Your servants and of Your people Israel, ^aindeed, teach them the good way in which they should walk. And ^bsend rain on Your land, which You have given Your people for an inheritance.

³⁷“^aIf there is famine in the land, if there is pestilence, if there is blight or mildew, locust or grasshopper, if their enemy besieges them in the land of their ¹cities, whatever plague, whatever sickness there is,

³⁸whatever prayer or supplication is made by any man or by all Your people Israel, ¹each knowing the ²affliction of his own heart, and spreading his ³hands toward this house;

³⁹then hear in heaven Your dwelling place, and forgive and act and render to each according to all his ways, ^awhose heart You know, for ^bYou alone know the hearts of all the sons of men,

⁴⁰that they may ¹fear You all the days that they live ²in the land which You have given to our fathers.

⁴¹“Also concerning the foreigner who is not of Your people Israel, when he comes from a far country for Your name’s sake

⁴²(for they will hear of Your great name ^aand Your mighty hand, and of Your outstretched arm); when he comes and prays toward this house,

⁴³hear in heaven Your dwelling place, and do according to all for which the foreigner calls to You, in order ^athat all the peoples of the earth may know Your name, to ¹fear You, as do Your people Israel, and that they may know that ²this house which I have built is called by Your name.

⁴⁴“When Your people go out to battle against ¹their enemy, by whatever way You shall send them, and ^athey pray to the Lord ²toward the city which You have chosen and the house which I have built for Your name,

⁴⁵then hear in heaven their prayer and their supplication, and maintain their ¹cause.

⁴⁶“When they sin against You (for ^athere is no man who does not sin) and You are angry with them and deliver them to an enemy, so that ¹they take them away captive ^bto the land of the enemy, far off or near;

^47aif they ¹take thought in the land where they have been taken captive, and repent and make supplication to You in the land of those who have taken them captive, saying, ‘^bWe have sinned and have committed iniquity, we have acted wickedly’;

^48aif they return to You with all their heart and with all their soul in the land of their enemies who have taken them captive, and ^bpray to You toward their land which You have given to their fathers, the city which You have chosen, and the house which I have built for Your name;

⁴⁹then hear their prayer and their supplication in heaven Your dwelling place, and maintain their ¹cause,

⁵⁰and forgive Your people who have sinned against You and all their transgressions which they have transgressed against You, and ^amake them objects of compassion before those who have taken them captive, that they may have compassion on them

⁵¹(^afor they are Your people and Your inheritance which You have brought forth from Egypt, ^bfrom the midst of the iron furnace),

^52athat Your eyes may be open to the supplication of Your servant and to the supplication of Your people Israel, to listen to them whenever they call to You.

⁵³“For You have separated them from all the peoples of the earth as Your inheritance, ^aas You spoke through Moses Your servant, when You brought our fathers forth from Egypt, O Lord ¹God.”