HelpFinder Bible - Flipbook - Page 679
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father. You made that promise with your
own mouth, and with your own hands you
have fulfilled it today.
25 “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 me as you
have done, one of them will always sit on
the throne of Israel.’ 26 Now, O God of Israel,
fulfill this promise to your servant David,
my father.
27 “But will God really live on earth? Why,
even the highest heavens cannot contain
you. How much less this Temple I have
built! 28 Nevertheless, listen to my prayer
and my plea, O Lord my God. Hear the cry
and the prayer that your servant is making
to you today. 29 May you watch over this
Temple night and day, this place where you
have said, ‘My name will be there.’ May
you always hear the prayers I make toward
this place. 30 May 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.
31 “If someone wrongs another person
and is required to take an oath of innocence
in front of your altar in this Temple, 32 then
hear from heaven and judge between your
servants—the accuser and the accused.
Punish the guilty as they deserve. Acquit
the innocent because of their innocence.
33 “If your people Israel are defeated by
their enemies because they have sinned
against you, and if they turn to you and
acknowledge your name and pray to you
here in this Temple, 34 then hear from
heaven and forgive the sin of your people
Israel and return them to this land you
gave their ancestors.
35 “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, 36 then 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.
37 “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—38 and if your people Israel pray about
their troubles, raising their hands toward
1 KING S 8
this Temple, 39 then hear from heaven where
you live, and forgive. Give your people what
their actions deserve, for you alone know
each human heart. 40 Then they will fear you
as long as they live in the land you gave to
our ancestors.
41 “In the future, foreigners who do not
belong to your people Israel will hear of
you. They will come from distant lands
because of your name, 42 for they will hear
of your great name and your strong hand
and your powerful arm. And when they
pray toward this Temple, 43 then 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.
44 “If your people go out where you send
them to fight their enemies, and if they
pray to the Lord by turning toward this city
you have chosen and toward this Temple I
have built to honor your name, 45 then hear
their prayers from heaven and uphold their
cause.
46 “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 their land
far away or near. 47 But in that land of exile,
they might turn to you in repentance and
pray, ‘We have sinned, done evil, and acted
wickedly.’ 48 If they turn to you with their
whole heart and soul in the land of their
enemies 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—49 then
hear their prayers and their petition from
heaven where you live, and uphold their
cause. 50 Forgive your people who have
sinned against you. Forgive all the offenses
they have committed against you. Make
their captors merciful to them, 51 for they
are your people—your special possession—
whom you brought out of the iron-smelting
furnace of Egypt.
52 “May your eyes be open to my requests
and to the requests of your people Israel.
May you hear and answer them whenever
they cry out to you. 53 For when you brought
our ancestors out of Egypt, O Sovereign
Lord, you told your servant Moses that
you had set Israel apart from all the
nations of the earth to be your own special
possession.”
The Dedication of the Temple
54 When Solomon finished making these prayers
and petitions to the Lord, he stood up in front