| 1: Then said Solomon, The LORD hath said that he would dwell in
the thick darkness. |
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| 2: But I have built an house of habitation for thee, and a place
for thy dwelling for ever. |
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| 3:
And the king turned his face, and blessed the whole
congregation of Israel: and all the congregation of Israel stood. |
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| 4: And he said, Blessed be the LORD God of Israel, who hath with
his hands fulfilled that which he spake with his mouth to my father
David, saying, |
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| 5: Since the day that I brought forth my people out of the land
of Egypt I chose no city among all the tribes of Israel to build an
house in, that my name might be there; neither chose I any man to be a
ruler over my people Israel: |
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| 6: But I have chosen Jerusalem, that my name might be there; and
have chosen David to be over my people Israel. |
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| 7: Now it was in the heart of David my father to build an house
for the name of the LORD God of Israel. |
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| 8: But the LORD said to David my father, Forasmuch as it was in
thine heart to build an house for my name, thou didst well in that it
was in thine heart: |
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| 9: Notwithstanding thou shalt not build the house; but thy son
which shall come forth out of thy loins, he shall build the house for my
name. |
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| 10: The LORD therefore hath performed his word that he hath
spoken: for I am risen up in the room of David my father, and am set on
the throne of Israel, as the LORD promised, and have built the house for
the name of the LORD God of Israel. |
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| 11: And in it have I put the ark, wherein is the covenant of the
LORD, that he made with the children of Israel. |
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| 12: And he stood before the altar of the LORD in the presence of
all the congregation of Israel, and spread forth his hands: |
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| 13: For Solomon had made a brasen scaffold, of five cubits long,
and five cubits broad, and three cubits high, and had set it in the
midst of the court: and upon it he stood, and kneeled down upon his
knees before all the congregation of Israel, and spread forth his hands
toward heaven, |
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| 14: And said, O LORD God of Israel, there is no God like thee in
the heaven, nor in the earth; which keepest covenant, and shewest mercy
unto thy servants, that walk before thee with all their hearts: |
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| 15: Thou which hast kept with thy servant David my father that
which thou hast promised him; and spakest with thy mouth, and hast
fulfilled it with thine hand, as it is this day. |
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| 16: Now therefore, O LORD God of Israel, keep with thy servant
David my father that which thou hast promised him, saying, There shall
not fail thee a man in my sight to sit upon the throne of Israel; yet so
that thy children take heed to their way to walk in my law, as thou hast
walked before me. |
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| 17: Now then, O LORD God of Israel, let thy word be verified,
which thou hast spoken unto thy servant David. |
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| 18: But will God in very deed dwell with men on the earth?
behold, heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain thee; how much
less this house which I have built! |
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| 19: Have respect therefore to the prayer of thy servant, and to
his supplication, O LORD my God, to hearken unto the cry and the prayer
which thy servant prayeth before thee: |
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| 20: That thine eyes may be open upon this house day and night,
upon the place whereof thou hast said that thou wouldest put thy name
there; to hearken unto the prayer which thy servant prayeth toward this
place. |
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| 21: Hearken therefore unto the supplications of thy servant, and
of thy people Israel, which they shall make toward this place: hear thou
from thy dwelling place, even from heaven; and when thou hearest,
forgive. |
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| 22: If a man sin against his neighbour, and an oath be laid upon
him to make him swear, and the oath come before thine altar in this
house; |
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| 23: Then hear thou from heaven, and do, and judge thy servants,
by requiting the wicked, by recompensing his way upon his own head; and
by justifying the righteous, by giving him according to his
righteousness. |
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| 24: And if thy people Israel be put to the worse before the
enemy, because they have sinned against thee; and shall return and
confess thy name, and pray and make supplication before thee in this
house; |
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| 25: Then hear thou from the heavens, and forgive the sin of thy
people Israel, and bring them again unto the land which thou gavest to
them and to their fathers. |
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| 26: When the heaven is shut up, and there is no rain, because
they have sinned against thee; yet if they pray toward this place, and
confess thy name, and turn from their sin, when thou dost afflict them;
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| 27: Then hear thou from heaven, and forgive the sin of thy
servants, and of thy people Israel, when thou hast taught them the good
way, wherein they should walk; and send rain upon thy land, which thou
hast given unto thy people for an inheritance. |
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| 28: If there be dearth in the land, if there be pestilence, if
there be blasting, or mildew, locusts, or caterpillers; if their enemies
besiege them in the cities of their land; whatsoever sore or whatsoever
sickness there be: |
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| 29: Then what prayer or what supplication soever shall be made of
any man, or of all thy people Israel, when every one shall know his own
sore and his own grief, and shall spread forth his hands in this house:
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| 30: Then hear thou from heaven thy dwelling place, and forgive,
and render unto every man according unto all his ways, whose heart thou
knowest; (for thou only knowest the hearts of the children of men:) |
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| 31: That they may fear thee, to walk in thy ways, so long as they
live in the land which thou gavest unto our fathers. |
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| 32: Moreover concerning the stranger, which is not of thy people
Israel, but is come from a far country for thy great name's sake, and
thy mighty hand, and thy stretched out arm; if they come and pray in
this house; |
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| 33: Then hear thou from the heavens, even from thy dwelling
place, and do according to all that the stranger calleth to thee for;
that all people of the earth may know thy name, and fear thee, as doth
thy people Israel, and may know that this house which I have built is
called by thy name. |
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| 34: If thy people go out to war against their enemies by the way
that thou shalt send them, and they pray unto thee toward this city
which thou hast chosen, and the house which I have built for thy name;
|
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| 35: Then hear thou from the heavens their prayer and their
supplication, and maintain their cause. |
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| 36: If they sin against thee, (for there is no man which sinneth
not,) and thou be angry with them, and deliver them over before their
enemies, and they carry them away captives unto a land far off or near;
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| 37: Yet if they bethink themselves in the land whither they are
carried captive, and turn and pray unto thee in the land of their
captivity, saying, We have sinned, we have done amiss, and have dealt
wickedly; |
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| 38: If they return to thee with all their heart and with all
their soul in the land of their captivity, whither they have carried
them captives, and pray toward their land, which thou gavest unto their
fathers, and toward the city which thou hast chosen, and toward the
house which I have built for thy name: |
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| 39: Then hear thou from the heavens, even from thy dwelling
place, their prayer and their supplications, and maintain their cause,
and forgive thy people which have sinned against thee. |
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| 40: Now, my God, let, I beseech thee, thine eyes be open, and let
thine ears be attent unto the prayer that is made in this place. |
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| 41: Now therefore arise, O LORD God, into thy resting
place, thou, and the ark of thy strength: let thy priests, O
LORD God, be clothed with salvation, and let thy saints
rejoice in goodness. |
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| 42: O LORD God, turn not away the face of thine anointed:
remember the mercies of David thy servant. |
