| New Living Translation | Berean Study Bible |
| 1Then Solomon prayed, “O LORD, you have said that you would live in a thick cloud of darkness. | 1Then Solomon declared: “The LORD has said that He would dwell in the thick cloud; |
| 2Now I have built a glorious Temple for you, a place where you can live forever!” | 2and I have built You an exalted house, a place for You to dwell forever.” |
| 3Then the king turned around to the entire community of Israel standing before him and gave this blessing: | 3And as the whole assembly of Israel stood there, the king turned around and blessed them all |
| 4“Praise the LORD, the God of Israel, who has kept the promise he made to my father, David. For he told my father, | 4and 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‘From the day I brought my people out of the land of Egypt, I have never chosen a city among any of the tribes of Israel as the place where a Temple should be built to honor my name. Nor have I chosen a king to lead my people Israel. | 5‘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. |
| 6But now I have chosen Jerusalem as the place for my name to be honored, and I have chosen David to be king over my people Israel.’” | 6But now I have chosen Jerusalem for My Name to be there, and I have chosen David to be over My people Israel.’ |
| 7Then Solomon said, “My father, David, wanted to build this Temple to honor the name of the LORD, the God of Israel. | 7Now it was in the heart of my father David to build a house for the Name of the LORD, the God of Israel. |
| 8But the LORD told him, ‘You wanted to build the Temple to honor my name. Your intention is good, | 8But 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. |
| 9but you are not the one to do it. One of your own sons will build the Temple to honor me.’ | 9Nevertheless, you are not the one to build it; but your son, your own offspring, will build the house for My Name.’ |
| 10“And now the LORD has fulfilled the promise he made, for I have become king in my father’s place, and now I sit on the throne of Israel, just as the LORD promised. I have built this Temple to honor the name of the LORD, the God of Israel. | 10Now 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. |
| 11There I have placed the Ark, which contains the covenant that the LORD made with the people of Israel.” Solomon’s Prayer of Dedication | 11And there I have provided a place for the ark, which contains the covenant of the LORD that He made with the children of Israel.” |
| 12Then Solomon stood before the altar of the LORD in front of the entire community of Israel, and he lifted his hands in prayer. | 12Then Solomon stood before the altar of the LORD in front of the whole assembly of Israel and spread out his hands. |
| 13Now Solomon had made a bronze platform 7 1/2 feet long, 7 1/2 feet wide, and 4 1/2 feet high and had placed it at the center of the Temple’s outer courtyard. He stood on the platform, and then he knelt in front of the entire community of Israel and lifted his hands toward heaven. | 13Now 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, |
| 14He prayed, “O LORD, God of Israel, there is no God like you in all of heaven and earth. You keep your covenant and show unfailing love to all who walk before you in wholehearted devotion. | 14and 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. |
| 15You have kept your promise to your servant David, my father. You made that promise with your own mouth, and with your own hands you have fulfilled it today. | 15You 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“And now, O LORD, God of Israel, carry out the additional promise you made to your servant David, my father. For you said to him, ‘If your descendants guard their behavior and faithfully follow my Law as you have done, one of them will always sit on the throne of Israel.’ | 16Therefore 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.’ |
| 17Now, O LORD, God of Israel, fulfill this promise to your servant David. | 17And now, O LORD, God of Israel, please confirm what You promised to Your servant David. |
| 18“But will God really live on earth among people? Why, even the highest heavens cannot contain you. How much less this Temple I have built! | 18But will God indeed dwell with man upon the earth? Even heaven, the highest heaven, cannot contain You, much less this temple I have built. |
| 19Nevertheless, listen to my prayer and my plea, O LORD my God. Hear the cry and the prayer that your servant is making to you. | 19Yet 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. |
| 20May you watch over this Temple day and night, this place where you have said you would put your name. May you always hear the prayers I make toward this place. | 20May 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. |
| 21May you hear the humble and earnest requests from me and your people Israel when we pray toward this place. Yes, hear us from heaven where you live, and when you hear, forgive. | 21Hear 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“If someone wrongs another person and is required to take an oath of innocence in front of your altar at this Temple, | 22When 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, |
| 23then hear from heaven and judge between your servants—the accuser and the accused. Pay back the guilty as they deserve. Acquit the innocent because of their innocence. | 23then 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“If your people Israel are defeated by their enemies because they have sinned against you, and if they turn back and acknowledge your name and pray to you here in this Temple, | 24When 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, |
| 25then hear from heaven and forgive the sin of your people Israel and return them to this land you gave to them and to their ancestors. | 25then 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“If the skies are shut up and there is no rain because your people have sinned against you, and if they pray toward this Temple and acknowledge your name and turn from their sins because you have punished them, | 26When 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, |
| 27then hear from heaven and forgive the sins of your servants, your people Israel. Teach them to follow the right path, and send rain on your land that you have given to your people as their special possession. | 27then 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“If there is a famine in the land or a plague or crop disease or attacks of locusts or caterpillars, or if your people’s enemies are in the land besieging their towns—whatever disaster or disease there is— | 28When 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, |
| 29and if your people Israel pray about their troubles or sorrow, raising their hands toward this Temple, | 29then may whatever prayer or petition Your people Israel make—each knowing his own afflictions and spreading out his hands toward this temple— |
| 30then hear from heaven where you live, and forgive. Give your people what their actions deserve, for you alone know each human heart. | 30be 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— |
| 31Then they will fear you and walk in your ways as long as they live in the land you gave to our ancestors. | 31so 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“In the future, foreigners who do not belong to your people Israel will hear of you. They will come from distant lands when they hear of your great name and your strong hand and your powerful arm. And when they pray toward this Temple, | 32And 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, |
| 33then hear from heaven where you live, and grant what they ask of you. In this way, all the people of the earth will come to know and fear you, just as your own people Israel do. They, too, will know that this Temple I have built honors your name. | 33then 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“If your people go out where you send them to fight their enemies, and if they pray to you by turning toward this city you have chosen and toward this Temple I have built to honor your name, | 34When Your people go to war against their enemies, wherever You send them, and when they pray to You in the direction of the city You have chosen and the house I have built for Your Name, |
| 35then hear their prayers from heaven and uphold their cause. | 35then may You hear from heaven their prayer and their plea, and may You uphold their cause. |
| 36“If they sin against you—and who has never sinned?—you might become angry with them and let their enemies conquer them and take them captive to a foreign land far away or near. | 36When 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, |
| 37But in that land of exile, they might turn to you in repentance and pray, ‘We have sinned, done evil, and acted wickedly.’ | 37and 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,’ |
| 38If they turn to you with their whole heart and soul in the land of their captivity and pray toward the land you gave to their ancestors—toward this city you have chosen, and toward this Temple I have built to honor your name— | 38and 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, |
| 39then hear their prayers and their petitions from heaven where you live, and uphold their cause. Forgive your people who have sinned against you. | 39then may You hear from heaven, Your dwelling place, their prayer and petition, and may You uphold their cause. May You forgive Your people who sinned against You. |
| 40“O my God, may your eyes be open and your ears attentive to all the prayers made to you in this place. | 40Now, my God, may Your eyes be open and Your ears attentive to the prayer offered in this place. |
| 41“And now arise, O LORD God, and enter your resting place, along with the Ark, the symbol of your power. May your priests, O LORD God, be clothed with salvation; may your loyal servants rejoice in your goodness. | 41Now 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. |
| 42O LORD God, do not reject the king you have anointed. Remember your unfailing love for your servant David.” | 42O LORD God, do not reject Your anointed one. Remember Your loving devotion to Your servant David.” |
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