Study Desk

Now it was in the heart of David my father to build a house for the name of the LORD God of Israel:

But the LORD said to David my father, Forasmuch as it was in thy heart to build a house for my name, thou didst well in that it was in thy heart;

Notwithstanding thou shalt not build the house; but thy son who shall come forth out of thy loins, he shall build the house for my name.

The LORD therefore hath performed his word that he hath spoken; for I am raised 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.

(For Solomon had made a brazen 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 upon his knees before all the congregation of Israel, and spread forth his hands towards heaven,)

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 in which they should walk; and send rain upon thy land, which thou hast given to thy people for an inheritance.

Then hear thou from heaven thy dwelling-place, and forgive, and render to every man according to all his ways, whose heart thou knowest (for thou only knowest the hearts of the children of men:)

Moreover concerning the stranger, who is not of thy people Israel, but hath come from a distant country for thy great name's sake, and thy mighty hand, and thy out-stretched arm; if they come and pray in this house;

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 [do] thy people Israel, and may know that this house which I have built is called by thy name.

If thy people go out to war against their enemies by the way that thou shalt send them, and they pray to thee towards this city which thou hast chosen, and the house which I have built for thy name;

If they sin against thee, (for [there is] no man who sinneth not,) and thou be angry with them, and deliver them over before [their] enemies, and they carry them away captives to a land far off or near;

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 towards their land which thou gavest to their fathers, and [towards] the city which thou hast chosen, and towards the house which I have built for thy name:

And when all the children of Israel saw how the fire came down, and the glory of the LORD upon the house, they bowed themselves with their faces to the ground upon the pavement, and worshiped, and praised the LORD, [saying], For [he is] good; for his mercy [endureth] for ever.

And the priests waited on their offices: the Levites also with instruments of music of the LORD, which David the king had made to praise the LORD, because his mercy [endureth] for ever, when David praised by their ministry; and the priests sounded trumpets before them, and all Israel stood.

Moreover Solomon hallowed the middle of the court that [was] before the house of the LORD: for there he offered burnt-offerings, and the fat of the peace-offerings, because the brazen altar which Solomon had made was not able to receive the burnt-offerings, and the meat-offerings, and the fat.

And on the eighth day they made a solemn assembly: for they kept the dedication of the altar seven days, and the feast seven days.

And on the three and twentieth day of the seventh month he sent the people away to their tents, glad and merry in heart for the goodness that the LORD had shown to David, and to Solomon, and to Israel his people.

And the LORD appeared to Solomon by night, and said to him, I have heard thy prayer, and have chosen this place to myself for a house of sacrifice.

For now have I chosen and sanctified this house, that my name may be there for ever: and my eyes and my heart shall be there perpetually.

And as for thee, if thou wilt walk before me, as David thy father walked, and do according to all that I have commanded thee, and shalt observe my statutes and my judgments;