| NET Bible | International Standard Version |
| 1Then Solomon said, "The LORD has said that he lives in thick darkness. | 1Then Solomon said, "The LORD has said that he lives shrouded in darkness. |
| 2O LORD, I have built a lofty temple for you, a place where you can live permanently." | 2Now I have constructed a magnificent temple dedicated to you that will serve as a place for you to inhabit forever." |
| 3Then the king turned around and pronounced a blessing over the whole Israelite assembly as they stood there. | 3Then the king turned to face the entire congregation of Israel while the congregation of Israel remained standing. |
| 4He said, "The LORD God of Israel is worthy of praise because he has fulfilled what he promised my father David. | 4Then Solomon prayed: "Blessed is the LORD God of Israel, who made a commitment to my father David and then personally fulfilled what he had promised when he said: |
| 5He told David, 'Since the day I brought my people out of the land of Egypt, I have not chosen a city from all the tribes of Israel to build a temple in which to live. Nor did I choose a man as leader of my people Israel. | 5From the day I brought out my people from the land of Egypt I never chose a city from all the tribes of Israel to build a temple where my name might reside. And I never chose any man to become Commander-in-Chief over my people Israel. |
| 6But now I have chosen Jerusalem as a place to live, and I have chosen David to lead my people Israel.' | 6But I have chosen Jerusalem, where my name will reside. And I have chosen David to be over my people Israel.' |
| 7Now my father David had a strong desire to build a temple to honor the LORD God of Israel. | 7"My father David wanted to build a temple for the name of the LORD God of Israel. |
| 8The LORD told my father David, 'It is right for you to have a strong desire to build a temple to honor me. | 8The LORD told my father David: 'Therefore, since you determined to build a temple for my name, you acted well, because it was your choice to do so. |
| 9But you will not build the temple; your very own son will build the temple for my honor.' | 9Nevertheless, you are not to build the Temple, but your son who will be born to you is to build a temple for my name.' |
| 10The LORD has kept the promise he made. I have taken my father David's place and have occupied the throne of Israel, as the LORD promised. I have built this temple for the honor of the LORD God of Israel | 10"The LORD has brought to fulfillment what he promised, and now here I stand, having succeeded my father David to sit on the throne of Israel, as the LORD promised. I have built the Temple for the name of the Lord GOD of Israel. |
| 11and set up in it a place for the ark containing the covenant the LORD made with the Israelites." | 11I have placed in it the ark in which the covenant that the LORD made with the Israelis is stored." |
| 12He stood before the altar of the LORD in front of the entire assembly of Israel and spread out his hands. | 12Then Solomon took his place in front of the LORD's altar in the presence of the entire congregation of Israel and spread out his hands. |
| 13Solomon had made a bronze platform and had placed it in the middle of the enclosure. It was seven and one-half feet long, seven and one-half feet wide, and four and one-half feet high. He stood on it and then got down on his knees in front of the entire assembly of Israel. He spread out his hands toward the sky, | 13Solomon had a bronze platform constructed five cubits square and three cubits high. He had it erected in the middle of the courtyard, and stood on it. Then he knelt down on his knees in front of the entire congregation of Israel, spread out his hands toward heaven, |
| 14and prayed: "O LORD God of Israel, there is no god like you in heaven or on earth! You maintain covenantal loyalty to your servants who obey you with sincerity. | 14and said: "LORD God of Israel, there is no one like you, God of heaven and earth, who watches over his covenant, showing gracious love to your servants who live their lives in your presence with all their hearts. |
| 15You have kept your word to your servant, my father David; this very day you have fulfilled what you promised. | 15It is you, LORD God, who has kept your promise to my father, your servant David, that you made to him. Indeed, you made a commitment to my father David and then personally fulfilled what you had promised today. |
| 16Now, O LORD God of Israel, keep the promise you made to your servant, my father David, when you said, 'You will never fail to have a successor ruling before me on the throne of Israel, provided that your descendants watch their step and obey my law as you have done.' | 16"Now therefore, LORD God of Israel, keep your promise that you made to my father, your servant David, when you said, 'You are to not lack a man to sit on the throne of Israel, if only your descendants will watch their lives, to live according to my Law, just as you have lived in my presence.' |
| 17Now, O LORD God of Israel, may the promise you made to your servant David be realized. | 17"Now therefore, LORD God of Israel, may your promise that you made to your servant David be fulfilled… |
| 18"God does not really live with humankind on the earth! Look, if the sky and the highest heaven cannot contain you, how much less this temple I have built! | 18and yet, will God truly reside on earth with human beings? Look! Neither the sky nor the highest heaven can contain you! How much less this Temple that I have built! |
| 19But respond favorably to your servant's prayer and his request for help, O LORD my God. Answer the desperate prayer your servant is presenting to you. | 19Pay attention to the prayer of your servant and to his request, LORD my God, and listen to the cry and prayer that your servant is praying in your presence. |
| 20Night and day may you watch over this temple, the place where you promised you would live. May you answer your servant's prayer for this place. | 20Let your eyes always look toward this Temple day and night, toward the location where you have said you would place your name. Listen to the prayer that your servant prays in this direction. |
| 21Respond to the requests of your servant and your people Israel for this place. Hear from your heavenly dwelling place and respond favorably and forgive. | 21Listen to the requests from your servant and from your people Israel as they pray in this direction, and listen from the place where you reside—from heaven!—then hear and forgive. |
| 22"When someone is accused of sinning against his neighbor and the latter pronounces a curse on the alleged offender before your altar in this temple, | 22"If a man sins against his neighbor and he is required to take an oath, and he then comes to take an oath in front of your altar in this Temple, |
| 23listen from heaven and make a just decision about your servants' claims. Condemn the guilty party, declare the other innocent, and give both of them what they deserve. | 23then listen from heaven, act, and judge your servants, recompensing the wicked by bringing back to him the consequences of his choices and by justifying the righteous by recompensing him according to his righteousness. |
| 24"If your people Israel are defeated by an enemy because they sinned against you, then if they come back to you, renew their allegiance to you, and pray for your help before you in this temple, | 24"If your people Israel are defeated in a battle with their enemy because they have sinned against you, when they return to you and confess to you, pray, and in this Temple they ask you to show grace to them, |
| 25then listen from heaven, forgive the sin of your people Israel, and bring them back to the land you gave to them and their ancestors. | 25then hear from heaven, forgive the sin of your people Israel, and return them to the soil that you gave to them and to their ancestors. |
| 26"The time will come when the skies are shut up tightly and no rain falls because your people sinned against you. When they direct their prayers toward this place, renew their allegiance to you, and turn away from their sin because you punish them, | 26"When the skies remain closed, and there is no rain because they have sinned against you, and they pray in the direction of this place, confessing your name and turning from their sin when you afflict them, |
| 27then listen from heaven and forgive the sin of your servants, your people Israel. Certainly you will then teach them the right way to live and send rain on your land that you have given your people to possess. | 27then hear in heaven and forgive the sin of your servants and of your people Israel. Indeed, teach them the best way to live and send rain on your land that you have given to your people as an inheritance. |
| 28"The time will come when the land suffers from a famine, a plague, blight, and disease, or a locust invasion, or when their enemy lays siege to the cities of the land, or when some other type of plague or epidemic occurs. | 28"If a famine comes to the land, or if there comes plant diseases, mildew, locusts, or grasshoppers, or if their enemies attack them in their settlements of the land, no matter what the epidemic or illness is, |
| 29When all your people Israel pray and ask for help, as they acknowledge their intense pain and spread out their hands toward this temple, | 29whatever prayer or request is made, no matter whether it's made by a single man or by all of your people Israel, each praying out of his own illness and anguish and stretching out their hands toward this Temple, |
| 30then listen from your heavenly dwelling place, forgive their sin, and act favorably toward each one based on your evaluation of their motives. (Indeed you are the only one who can correctly evaluate the motives of all people.) | 30then hear from heaven, the place where you reside, and forgive, repaying each person according to all of his ways, since you know their hearts—for you alone know the hearts of human beings— |
| 31Then they will honor you by obeying you throughout their lifetimes as they live on the land you gave to our ancestors. | 31so they will fear you and live life your way as long as they live in the land that you have given to our ancestors. |
| 32"Foreigners, who do not belong to your people Israel, will come from a distant land because of your great reputation and your ability to accomplish mighty deeds; they will come and direct their prayers toward this temple. | 32"Now concerning the foreigner who is not from your people Israel, when he comes from a land far away for the sake of your great name, your mighty acts, and your obvious power, when they come and pray in the direction of this Temple, |
| 33Then listen from your heavenly dwelling place and answer all the prayers of the foreigners. Then all the nations of the earth will acknowledge your reputation, obey you like your people Israel do, and recognize that this temple I built belongs to you. | 33then hear from heaven where you reside, and do whatever the foreigner asks of you, so that all the people of the earth may know your name, fear you as do your people Israel, and so they may know that this Temple that I have built is called by your name. |
| 34"When you direct your people to march out and fight their enemies, and they direct their prayers to you toward this chosen city and this temple I built for your honor, | 34"When your people go out to war against their enemies, no matter what way you send them, and they pray to you in the direction of this city that you have chosen and in the direction of the Temple that I have built for your name, |
| 35then listen from heaven to their prayers for help and vindicate them. | 35then hear their prayer and their request from heaven, and fight for their cause. |
| 36"The time will come when your people will sin against you (for there is no one who is sinless!) and you will be angry at them and deliver them over to their enemies, who will take them as prisoners to their land, whether far away or close by. | 36"When they sin against you—because there isn't a single human being who doesn't sin—and you become angry with them and deliver them over to their enemy, who takes them away captive to a land that's near or far away, |
| 37When your people come to their senses in the land where they are held prisoner, they will repent and beg for your mercy in the land of their imprisonment, admitting, 'We have sinned and gone astray, we have done evil!' | 37if they turn their hearts back to you in the land where they have been taken captive, repent, and pray to you—even if they do so in the land where they have been taken captive—confessing, 'We have sinned, we have committed abominations, and practiced wickedness,' |
| 38When they return to you with all their heart and being in the land where they are held prisoner and direct their prayers toward the land you gave to their ancestors, your chosen city, and the temple I built for your honor, | 38if they return to you with all of their heart and with all of their soul in the land where they have been taken captive, as they pray in the direction of their land that you have given to their ancestors and to the city that you have chosen, and to the Temple that I have built for your name, |
| 39then listen from your heavenly dwelling place to their prayers for help, vindicate them, and forgive your sinful people. | 39then hear their prayer and requests from heaven, where you reside, and fight for their cause, forgiving your people who have sinned against you. |
| 40"Now, my God, may you be attentive and responsive to the prayers offered in this place. | 40"And now, my God, please let your eyes be open and your ears attentive to the prayers that are uttered in this place. |
| 41Now ascend, O LORD God, to your resting place, you and the ark of your strength! May your priests, O LORD God, experience your deliverance! May your loyal followers rejoice in the prosperity you give! | 41"And now may the LORD God arise, to your place of rest, you, and the ark of your power! Let your priests, LORD God, be clothed with salvation, and cause your godly ones to find their joy in what is good. |
| 42O LORD God, do not reject your chosen ones! Remember the faithful promises you made to your servant David!" | 42"LORD God, do not turn your face away from your anointed one. Remember your gracious love to your servant David." |
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