| NET Bible | New International Version |
| 1Then Solomon said, "The LORD has said that he lives in thick darkness. | 1Then Solomon said, "The LORD has said that he would dwell in a dark cloud; |
| 2O LORD, I have built a lofty temple for you, a place where you can live permanently." | 2I have built a magnificent temple for you, a place for you to dwell forever." |
| 3Then the king turned around and pronounced a blessing over the whole Israelite assembly as they stood there. | 3While the whole assembly of Israel was standing there, the king turned around and blessed them. |
| 4He said, "The LORD God of Israel is worthy of praise because he has fulfilled what he promised my father David. | 4Then he said: "Praise be to the LORD, the God of Israel, who with his hands has fulfilled what he promised with his mouth to my father David. For 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. | 5Since the day I brought my people out of Egypt, I have not chosen a city in any tribe of Israel to have a temple built so that my Name might be there, nor have I chosen anyone to be ruler 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 now I have chosen Jerusalem for my Name to be there, and I have chosen David to rule 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 had it in his heart to build a temple for the Name of the LORD, the 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. | 8But the LORD said to my father David, 'You did well to have it in your heart to build a temple for my Name. |
| 9But you will not build the temple; your very own son will build the temple for my honor.' | 9Nevertheless, you are not the one to build the temple, but your son, your own flesh and blood--he is the one who will build the 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 kept the promise he made. I have succeeded David my father and now I sit on the throne of Israel, just as the LORD promised, and I have built the temple for the Name of the LORD, the God of Israel. |
| 11and set up in it a place for the ark containing the covenant the LORD made with the Israelites." | 11There I have placed the ark, in which is the covenant of the LORD that he made with the people of Israel." |
| 12He stood before the altar of the LORD in front of the entire assembly of Israel and spread out his hands. | 12Then Solomon stood before the altar of the LORD in front of the whole assembly 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, | 13Now he had made a bronze platform, five cubits long, five cubits wide and three cubits high, and had placed it in the center of the outer court. He stood on the platform and then knelt down before the whole assembly of Israel and 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. | 14He said: "LORD, the God of Israel, there is no God like you in heaven or on earth--you who keep your covenant of love with your servants who continue wholeheartedly in your way. |
| 15You have kept your word to your servant, my father David; this very day you have fulfilled what you promised. | 15You have kept your promise to your servant David my father; with your mouth you have promised and with your hand you have fulfilled it--as it is 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, LORD, the God of Israel, keep for your servant David my father the promises you made to him when you said, 'You shall never fail to have a successor to sit before me on the throne of Israel, if only your descendants are careful in all they do to walk before me according to my law, as you have done.' |
| 17Now, O LORD God of Israel, may the promise you made to your servant David be realized. | 17And now, LORD, the God of Israel, let your word that you promised your servant David come true. |
| 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! | 18"But will God really dwell on earth with humans? The heavens, even the highest heavens, cannot contain you. How much less this temple 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. | 19Yet, LORD my God, give attention to your servant's prayer and his plea for mercy. Hear the cry and the 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. | 20May your eyes be open toward this temple day and night, this place of which you said you would put your Name there. May you hear the prayer your servant prays toward this place. |
| 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. | 21Hear the supplications of your servant and of your people Israel when they pray toward this place. Hear from heaven, your dwelling place; and when you hear, 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"When anyone wrongs their neighbor and is required to take an oath and they come and swear the oath before 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 hear from heaven and act. Judge between your servants, condemning the guilty and bringing down on their heads what they have done, and vindicating the innocent by treating them in accordance with their innocence. |
| 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"When your people Israel have been defeated by an enemy because they have sinned against you and when they turn back and give praise to your name, praying and making supplication before you in this temple, |
| 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 and forgive the sin of your people Israel and bring them back to the land you gave to them and 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 heavens are shut up and there is no rain because your people have sinned against you, and when they pray toward this place and give praise to your name and turn from their sin because you have afflicted 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 from heaven and forgive the sin of your servants, your people Israel. Teach them the right way to live, and send rain on the land you gave your people for 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"When famine or plague comes to the land, or blight or mildew, locusts or grasshoppers, or when enemies besiege them in any of their cities, whatever disaster or disease may come, |
| 29When all your people Israel pray and ask for help, as they acknowledge their intense pain and spread out their hands toward this temple, | 29and when a prayer or plea is made by anyone among your people Israel--being aware of their afflictions and pains, and spreading 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, your dwelling place. Forgive, and deal with everyone according to all they do, since you know their hearts (for you alone know the human heart), |
| 31Then they will honor you by obeying you throughout their lifetimes as they live on the land you gave to our ancestors. | 31so that they will fear you and walk in obedience to you all the time they live in the land you gave 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"As for the foreigner who does not belong to your people Israel but has come from a distant land because of your great name and your mighty hand and your outstretched arm--when they come and pray toward 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, your dwelling place. Do whatever the foreigner asks of you, so that all the peoples of the earth may know your name and fear you, as do your own people Israel, and may know that this house I have built bears 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 to war against their enemies, wherever you send them, and when they pray to you toward this city you have chosen and the temple I have built for your Name, |
| 35then listen from heaven to their prayers for help and vindicate them. | 35then hear from heaven their prayer and their plea, and uphold 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--for there is no one who does not sin--and you become angry with them and give them over to the enemy, who takes them captive to a land far away or near; |
| 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!' | 37and if they have a change of heart in the land where they are held captive, and repent and plead with you in the land of their captivity and say, 'We have sinned, we have done wrong and acted wickedly'; |
| 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, | 38and if they turn back to you with all their heart and soul in the land of their captivity where they were taken, and pray toward the land you gave their ancestors, toward the city you have chosen and toward the temple 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 from heaven, your dwelling place, hear their prayer and their pleas, and uphold their cause. And forgive 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"Now, my God, may your eyes be open and your ears attentive to the prayers offered 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"Now arise, LORD God, and come to your resting place, you and the ark of your might. May your priests, LORD God, be clothed with salvation, may your faithful people rejoice in your goodness. |
| 42O LORD God, do not reject your chosen ones! Remember the faithful promises you made to your servant David!" | 42LORD God, do not reject your anointed one. Remember the great love promised to David your servant." |
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