1Then Solomon said,
            “The LORD has said that He would dwell in the thick cloud.

     2“I have built Thee a lofty house,
            And a place for Thy dwelling forever.”

3Then the king faced about and blessed all the assembly of Israel, while all the assembly of Israel was standing.

     4And he said, “Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel, who spoke with His mouth to my father David and has fulfilled it with His hands, saying, 5‘Since the day that I brought My people from the land of Egypt, I did not choose a city out of all the tribes of Israel in which to build a house that My name might be there, nor did I choose any man for a leader over My people Israel; 6but I have chosen Jerusalem that My name might be there, and I have chosen David to be over My people Israel.’ 7“Now it was in the heart of my father David to build a house for the name of the LORD, the God of Israel. 8“But the LORD said to my father David, ‘Because it was in your heart to build a house for My name, you did well that it was in your heart. 9‘Nevertheless you shall not build the house, but your son who shall be born to you, he shall build the house for My name.’ 10“Now the LORD has fulfilled His word which He spoke; for I have risen in the place of my father David and sit on the throne of Israel, as the LORD promised, and have built the house for the name of the LORD, the God of Israel. 11“And there I have set the ark, in which is the covenant of the LORD, which He made with the sons of Israel.”

Solomon’s Prayer of Dedication

     12Then he stood before the altar of the LORD in the presence of all the assembly of Israel and spread out his hands. 13Now Solomon had made a bronze platform, five cubits long, five cubits wide, and three cubits high, and had set it in the midst of the court; and he stood on it, knelt on his knees in the presence of all the assembly of Israel, and spread out his hands toward heaven. 14And he said, “O LORD, the God of Israel, there is no god like Thee in heaven or on earth, keeping covenant and showing lovingkindness to Thy servants who walk before Thee with all their heart; 15who has kept with Thy servant David, my father, that which Thou hast promised him; indeed, Thou hast spoken with Thy mouth, and hast fulfilled it with Thy hand, as it is this day. 16“Now therefore, O LORD, the God of Israel, keep with Thy servant David, my father, that which Thou hast promised him, saying, ‘You shall not lack a man to sit on the throne of Israel, if only your sons take heed to their way, to walk in My law as you have walked before Me.’ 17“Now therefore, O LORD, the God of Israel, let Thy word be confirmed which Thou hast spoken to Thy servant David.

     18“But will God indeed dwell with mankind on the earth? Behold, heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain Thee; how much less this house which I have built. 19“Yet have regard to the prayer of Thy servant and to his supplication, O LORD my God, to listen to the cry and to the prayer which Thy servant prays before Thee; 20that Thine eyes may be open toward this house day and night, toward the place of which Thou hast said that Thou wouldst put Thy name there, to listen to the prayer which Thy servant shall pray toward this place. 21“And listen to the supplications of Thy servant and of Thy people Israel, when they pray toward this place; hear Thou from Thy dwelling place, from heaven; hear Thou and forgive.

     22“If a man sins against his neighbor, and is made to take an oath, and he comes and takes an oath before Thine altar in this house, 23then hear Thou from heaven and act and judge Thy servants, punishing the wicked by bringing his way on his own head and justifying the righteous by giving him according to his righteousness.

     24“And if Thy people Israel are defeated before an enemy, because they have sinned against Thee, and they return to Thee and confess Thy name, and pray and make supplication before Thee in this house, 25then hear Thou from heaven and forgive the sin of Thy people Israel, and bring them back to the land which Thou hast given to them and to their fathers.

     26“When the heavens are shut up and there is no rain because they have sinned against Thee, and they pray toward this place and confess Thy name, and turn from their sin when Thou dost afflict them; 27then hear Thou in heaven and forgive the sin of Thy servants and Thy people Israel, indeed, teach them the good way in which they should walk. And send rain on Thy land, which Thou hast given to Thy people for an inheritance.

     28“If there is famine in the land, if there is pestilence, if there is blight or mildew, if there is locust or grasshopper, if their enemies besiege them in the land of their cities, whatever plague or whatever sickness there is, 29whatever prayer or supplication is made by any man or by all Thy people Israel, each knowing his own affliction and his own pain, and spreading his hands toward this house, 30then hear Thou from heaven Thy dwelling place, and forgive, and render to each according to all his ways, whose heart Thou knowest for Thou alone dost know the hearts of the sons of men, 31that they may fear Thee, to walk in Thy ways as long as they live in the land which Thou hast given to our fathers.

     32“Also concerning the foreigner who is not from Thy people Israel, when he comes from a far country for Thy great name’s sake and Thy mighty hand and Thine outstretched arm, when they come and pray toward this house, 33then hear Thou from heaven, from Thy dwelling place, and do according to all for which the foreigner calls to Thee, in order that all the peoples of the earth may know Thy name, and fear Thee, as do Thy people Israel, and that they may know that this house which I have built is called by Thy name.

     34“When Thy people go out to battle against their enemies, by whatever way Thou shalt send them, and they pray to Thee toward this city which Thou hast chosen, and the house which I have built for Thy name, 35then hear Thou from heaven their prayer and their supplication, and maintain their cause.

     36“When they sin against Thee (for there is no man who does not sin) and Thou art angry with them and dost deliver them to an enemy, so that they take them away captive to a land far off or near, 37if they take thought in the land where they are taken captive, and repent and make supplication to Thee in the land of their captivity, saying, ‘We have sinned, we have committed iniquity, and have acted wickedly’; 38if they return to Thee with all their heart and with all their soul in the land of their captivity, where they have been taken captive, and pray toward their land which Thou hast given to their fathers, and the city which Thou hast chosen, and toward the house which I have built for Thy name, 39then hear from heaven, from Thy dwelling place, their prayer and supplications, and maintain their cause, and forgive Thy people who have sinned against Thee.

     40“Now, O my God, I pray Thee, let Thine eyes be open, and Thine ears attentive to the prayer offered in this place. 41“Now therefore arise, O LORD God, to Thy resting place, Thou and the ark of Thy might; let Thy priests, O LORD God, be clothed with salvation, and let Thy godly ones rejoice in what is good. 42“O LORD God, do not turn away the face of Thine anointed; remember Thy lovingkindness to Thy servant David.”