1 ARST Then Solomon prayed, “Yahweh, you said that you would live in a dark cloud. BSB BSB: Then Solomon declared: “The LORD has said that He would dwell in the thick cloud.
2 ARST But now I have built a glorious temple for you to live in forever!” BSB BSB: But I have built You an exalted house, a place for You to dwell forever.”
3 ARST Then while all the people stood there, Solomon turned toward the people and asked God to bless them. BSB BSB: And as the whole assembly of Israel stood there, the king turned around and blessed them all
4 ARST He said to them, “Let us praise Yahweh, the God to whom we Israelites belong, who has caused to happen what he promised to my father David. What he said to David was this: BSB BSB: and said: “Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel, who has fulfilled with His own hand what He spoke with His mouth to my father David, saying,
5 ARST ‘From the time that I brought my people out of Egypt, I have never chosen a city in Israel in which a temple should be built for people to worship me there. Nor did I choose anyone to be the leader of my Israelite people. BSB BSB: ‘Since the day I brought My people out of the land of Egypt, I have not chosen a city from any tribe of Israel in which to build a house so that My Name would be there, nor have I chosen anyone to be ruler over My people Israel.
6 ARST But now I have chosen Jerusalem to be the place for people to worship me, and I have chosen you, David, to rule my Israelite people.’” BSB BSB: But now I have chosen Jerusalem for My Name to be there, and I have chosen David to be over My people Israel.’
7 ARST Then Solomon said further, “My father David wanted to build a temple for Yahweh, the God to whom we Israelites belong. BSB BSB: 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 ARST But Yahweh said to him, ‘It is good that you wanted to build a house for me. BSB BSB: But the LORD said to my father David, ‘Since it was in your heart to build a house for My Name, you have done well to have this in your heart.
9 ARST However, you are not the one who I want to build the temple, It is one of your own sons who will build it.’ BSB BSB: Nevertheless, you are not the one to build it; but your son, your own offspring, will build the house for My Name.’
10 ARST And Yahweh has done what he promised to do. I have become the king of Israel to rule after my father, and I am ruling the people, as Yahweh promised, and I have arranged for this temple to be built for us to worship Yahweh, the God to whom we Israelites belong. BSB BSB: Now the LORD has fulfilled the word that He spoke. I have succeeded my father David, and I sit on the throne of Israel, as the LORD promised. I have built the house for the Name of the LORD, the God of Israel.
11 ARST I have put the sacred chest in the temple, in which are the stone tablets showing the covenant that Yahweh made with us Israelite people.” BSB BSB: And there I have placed the ark, which contains the covenant of the LORD that He made with the children of Israel.”
12 ARST Then Solomon stood in front of the altar that was in front of the people of Israel who had gathered there. He spread out his hands as he began to pray. BSB BSB: Then Solomon stood before the altar of the LORD in front of the whole assembly of Israel and spread out his hands.
13 ARST Now His workers had built a bronze platform there for him to stand on, which was two and one-third meters square and one and one-half meters high. They had put it in the outer courtyard. Solomon mounted that platform and then knelt down in front of all the people of Israel who had gathered there, and he spread out his arms toward heaven. BSB BSB: Now Solomon had made a bronze platform five cubits long, five cubits wide, and three cubits high and had placed it in the middle of the courtyard. He stood on it, knelt down before the whole assembly of Israel, spread out his hands toward heaven,
14 ARST Then he prayed, “Yahweh, the God to whom we Israelite people belong, there is no God like you in heaven or on the earth. You solemnly promised in your covenant that you would faithfully love us, and that is what you have done for us who earnestly do what you want us to do. BSB BSB: and said: “O LORD, God of Israel, there is no God like You in heaven or on earth, keeping Your covenant of loving devotion with Your servants who walk before You with all their hearts.
15 ARST You have done the things that you promised my father David, who served you very well, that you would do. Truly, you promised to do those things for him, and today we see that by your power you have caused it all to happen. BSB BSB: You have kept Your promise to Your servant, my father David. What You spoke with Your mouth You have fulfilled with Your hand this day.
16 ARST So now, Yahweh, the God we Israelites worship Israel, as you promised your servant David, my father, please make sure that he will always have a descendant who will be king of Israel. For you promise you would do this if his descendants were faithful to you. BSB BSB: Therefore now, O LORD, God of Israel, keep for Your servant, my father David, what You promised when You said: ‘You will never fail to have a man to sit before Me on the throne of Israel, if only your descendants guard their way to walk in My law as you have walked before Me.’
17 ARST So now, God of us Israelite people, cause what you promised David, who served you well, to become true. BSB BSB: And now, O LORD, God of Israel, please confirm what You promised to Your servant David.
18 ARST But, my God, will you really live on earth among us? This temple I have built cannot contain you; not even the universe and heaven itself can contain you. BSB BSB: But will God indeed dwell with man upon the earth? The heavens, even the highest heavens, cannot contain You, much less this temple I have built.
19 ARST But Yahweh, my God, please listen to my prayer, while I am pleading with this day and do what I am requesting. BSB BSB: Yet regard the prayer and plea of Your servant, O LORD my God, so that You may hear the cry and the prayer that Your servant is praying before You.
20 ARST Always protect this temple, this place where you said you would be present, in order that you might always hear me when I pray, for I am your servant. BSB BSB: May Your eyes be open toward this temple day and night, toward the place where You said You would put Your Name, so that You may hear the prayer that Your servant prays toward this place.
21 ARST Listen to me when I pray, and listen to your Israelite people when they pray, whether we are here, or even if we just face in this direction. Listen from heaven, where you live; and when you hear us pray, forgive us. BSB BSB: Hear the plea of Your servant and of Your people Israel when they pray toward this place. May You hear from heaven, Your dwelling place. May You hear and forgive.
22 ARST If people accuse someone of doing something wrong to another person, and if they bring him in front of your altar outside this holy temple, and if he says, ‘I did not do that; may God punish me if I am not telling the truth,’ BSB BSB: When a man sins against his neighbor and is required to take an oath, and he comes to take an oath before Your altar in this temple,
23 ARST then please listen from heaven and decide who is telling the truth. Then punish the person who is guilty as he deserves to be punished, and do good to the other person as a reward for his innocence. BSB BSB: then may You hear from heaven and act. May You judge Your servants, condemning the wicked man by bringing down on his own head what he has done, and justifying the righteous man by rewarding him according to his righteousness.
24 ARST And suppose that your Israelite people are defeated by their enemies because they sinned against you, and forced to go to some distant country. Suppose further that they turn away from their sinful behavior and face in the direction of this temple and acknowledge that you have justly punished them; and suppose that they beg you to forgive them. BSB BSB: When Your people Israel are defeated before an enemy because they have sinned against You, and they return to You and confess Your name, praying and pleading before You in this temple,
25 ARST Then please listen to them from heaven and forgive your them for the sins that they have committed, and bring them back to this land that you gave to our ancestors. BSB BSB: then may You hear from heaven and forgive the sin of Your people Israel. May You restore them to the land You gave to them and their fathers.
26 ARST When you do not allow any rain to fall because the people have sinned against you—then, if they stop acting sinfully and humbly pray to you, you who are present in this place, BSB BSB: When the skies are shut and there is no rain because Your people have sinned against You, and they pray toward this place and confess Your name, and they turn from their sins because You have afflicted them,
27 ARST then listen from heaven and forgive the sins of your people. Teach them the right way to conduct their lives. Then send rain on the land that you gave to your people forever. BSB BSB: then may You hear from heaven and forgive the sin of Your servants, Your people Israel, so that You may teach them the good way in which they should walk. May You send rain on the land that You gave Your people as an inheritance.
28 ARST And when the people of this land experience famines, or if there is a plague or mildew or locusts or grasshoppers, or when their enemies surround any of their cities in order to attack them—if any of these disaster happens to them— BSB BSB: When famine or plague comes upon the land, or blight or mildew or locusts or grasshoppers, or when their enemies besiege them in their cities, whatever plague or sickness may come,
29 ARST and then if your Israelite people earnestly plead, or if even just one person does so—if they stretch out their hands toward this temple and pray to you because they know the weakness and sorrow in their own hearts— BSB BSB: then may whatever prayer or plea Your people Israel make—each knowing his own afflictions and spreading out his hands toward this temple—
30 ARST then listen from your home in heaven and forgive them. You alone know what each person is thinking, so reward each person according to everything that he does. BSB BSB: be heard by You from heaven, Your dwelling place. And may You forgive and repay each man according to all his ways, since You know his heart—for You alone know the hearts of men—
31 ARST Do this in order that they might honor you and conduct their lives as you want them to, all the time that they live in this land that you gave to our ancestors. BSB BSB: so that they may fear You and walk in Your ways all the days they live in the land that You gave to our fathers.
32 ARST There will be some foreigners who do not belong to your Israelite people who have come here from countries far away because they have heard that you are very great and powerful. If they turn toward this temple and pray, BSB BSB: And as for the foreigner who is not of Your people Israel but has come from a distant land because of Your great name and Your mighty hand and outstretched arm—when he comes and prays toward this temple,
33 ARST then from your home in heaven please listen to their prayer and do for them what they request you to do. Do that in order that all the people groups in the world will honor and obey you, as your people of Israel do. And do this so that they will know that you are present in this temple that I have built. BSB BSB: then may You hear from heaven, Your dwelling place, and do according to all for which the foreigner calls to You. Then all the peoples of the earth will know Your name and fear You, as do Your people Israel, and they will know that this house I have built is called by Your Name.
34 ARST When you send your people to go and attack their enemies, if they pray to you, no matter where they are, and if they turn toward this city that you have chosen and toward this temple that I have caused to be built to honor you, BSB BSB: When Your people go to war against their enemies, wherever You send them, and when they pray to You in the direction of this city You have chosen and the house I have built for Your Name,
35 ARST then will you please listen from heaven to their prayers. Listen to what they plead for you to do, and give them help. BSB BSB: then may You hear from heaven their prayer and their plea, and may You uphold their cause.
36 ARST It is true that everyone sins. So when your people sin against you, and you become angry with them, you might allow their enemies to capture them and take them to their countries, even to countries that are far away. BSB BSB: When they sin against You—for there is no one who does not sin—and You become angry with them and deliver them to an enemy who takes them as captives to a land far or near,
37 ARST When that happens, while they are in those distant countries, if they say ‘We have sinned; we have done things that are wrong and have done things that are very wicked,’ BSB BSB: and when they come to their senses in the land to which they were taken, and they repent and plead with You in the land of their captors, saying, ‘We have sinned and done wrong; we have acted wickedly,’
38 ARST suppose that they repent very sincerely and pray facing this land that you gave their ancestors, and facing this city that you chose, and facing this temple that I have built for you to be present in. BSB BSB: and when they return to You with all their heart and soul in the land of the enemies who took them captive, and when they pray in the direction of the land that You gave to their fathers, the city You have chosen, and the house I have built for Your Name,
39 ARST Then from your home in heaven listen to their prayer, and listen to them while they plead for your help, and do what they ask you to do, and forgive your people who have sinned against you. BSB BSB: then may You hear from heaven, Your dwelling place, their prayer and pleas, and may You uphold their cause. May You forgive Your people who sinned against You.
40 ARST Now, my God, look at us as we pray to you in this place, and please listen to us. BSB BSB: Now, my God, may Your eyes be open and Your ears attentive to the prayer offered in this place.
41 ARST Yahweh our God, come and stay in this place with the sacred chest, the chest that shows that you are powerful. Yahweh God, cause your priests to know clearly that you have rescued them. Cause us your people to rejoice because of all the good things that you do for us. BSB BSB: Now therefore, arise, O LORD God, and enter Your resting place, You and the ark of Your might. May Your priests, O LORD God, be clothed with salvation, and may Your godly ones rejoice in goodness.
42 ARST Yahweh God, do not reject me, the king whom you have appointed to be the king of Israel; do not forget how faithfuly were to David, your servant, because of your covenant with him.” BSB BSB: O LORD God, do not reject Your anointed one. Remember Your loving devotion to Your servant David.”
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