| NET Bible | Christian Standard Bible |
| 1Then Solomon said, "The LORD has said that he lives in thick darkness. | 1Then Solomon said: The LORD said he would dwell in total darkness, |
| 2O LORD, I have built a lofty temple for you, a place where you can live permanently." | 2but I have built an exalted temple for you, a place for your residence forever. |
| 3Then the king turned around and pronounced a blessing over the whole Israelite assembly as they stood there. | 3Then the king turned and blessed the entire congregation of Israel while they were standing. |
| 4He said, "The LORD God of Israel is worthy of praise because he has fulfilled what he promised my father David. | 4He said: Blessed be the LORD God of Israel! He spoke directly to my father David, and he has fulfilled the promise by his power. 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. | 5"Since the day I brought my people Israel out of the land of Egypt, I have not chosen a city to build a temple in among any of the tribes of Israel, so that my name would be there, and I have not chosen a man 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 I have chosen Jerusalem so that my name will be there, 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. | 7My father David had his heart set on building 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. | 8However, the LORD said to my father David, "Since it was your desire to build a temple for my name, you have done well to have this desire. |
| 9But you will not build the temple; your very own son will build the temple for my honor.' | 9Yet, you are not the one to build the temple, but your son, your own offspring, 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 | 10So the LORD has fulfilled what he promised. I have taken the place of my father David and I sit on the throne of Israel, as the LORD promised. 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." | 11I have put the ark there, where the LORD's covenant is that he made with the Israelites. |
| 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 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, | 13For Solomon had made a bronze platform 7 1/2 feet long, 7 1/2 feet wide, and 4 1/2 feet high and put it in the court. He stood on it, knelt down in front of the entire congregation 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 God of Israel, there is no God like you in heaven or on earth, who keeps his gracious covenant with your servants who walk before you with all their heart. |
| 15You have kept your word to your servant, my father David; this very day you have fulfilled what you promised. | 15You have kept what you promised to your servant, my father David. You spoke directly to him, and you fulfilled your promise by your power, 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.' | 16Therefore, LORD God of Israel, keep what you promised to your servant, my father David: "You will never fail to have a man to sit before me on the throne of Israel, if only your sons guard their way to walk in my Law as you have walked before me." |
| 17Now, O LORD God of Israel, may the promise you made to your servant David be realized. | 17Now, LORD God of Israel, please confirm what you promised to your servant David. |
| 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! | 18But will God indeed live on earth with humans? Even heaven, the highest heaven, cannot contain you, 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. | 19Listen to your servant's prayer and his petition, LORD my God, so that you may hear the cry and the prayer that your servant prays before you, |
| 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. | 20so that your eyes watch over this temple day and night, toward the place where you said you would put your name; and so that you may 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 petitions of your servant and your people Israel, which they pray toward this place. May you hear in your dwelling place in heaven. May you 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, | 22If a man sins against his neighbor and is forced to take an oath and he comes to take an 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. | 23may you hear in heaven and act. May you judge your servants, condemning the wicked man by bringing what he has done on his own head and providing justice for the righteous by rewarding 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, | 24If your people Israel are defeated before an enemy, because they have sinned against you, and they return to you and praise your name, and they pray and plead for mercy 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. | 25may you hear in heaven and forgive the sin of your people Israel. May you restore them to the land you gave 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, | 26When the skies are shut and there is no rain because they have sinned against you, and they pray toward this place and praise your name, and they turn from their sins because you are afflicting 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. | 27may you hear in heaven and forgive the sin of your servants and your people Israel, so that you may teach them the good way they should walk in. May you send rain on your land that 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. | 28When there is famine in the land, when there is pestilence, when there is blight or mildew, locust or grasshopper, when their enemies besiege them in the land and its cities, when there is any plague or illness, |
| 29When all your people Israel pray and ask for help, as they acknowledge their intense pain and spread out their hands toward this temple, | 29every prayer or petition that any person or that all your people Israel may have--they each know their own affliction and suffering--as they spread 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.) | 30may you hear in heaven, your dwelling place, and may you forgive and give to everyone according to all their ways, since you know each heart, 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 may fear you and walk in your ways all the days they live on 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. | 32Even for the foreigner who is not of your people Israel but has come from a distant land because of your great name and your strong hand and outstretched arm: when he comes and prays 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. | 33may you hear in heaven in your dwelling place, and do all the foreigner asks you. Then all the peoples of the earth will know your name, to fear you as your people Israel do and know that this temple 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, | 34When your people go out to fight against their enemies, wherever you send them, and they pray to you in the direction of this city you have chosen and the temple that I have built for your name, |
| 35then listen from heaven to their prayers for help and vindicate them. | 35may you hear their prayer and petition in heaven 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. | 36When they sin against you--for there is no one who does not sin--and you are angry with them and hand them over to the enemy, and their captors deport them to a distant or nearby country, |
| 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 when they come to their senses in the land where they were deported and repent and petition you in their captors' land, saying: "We have sinned and done wrong; we have been wicked," |
| 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 when they return to you with all their mind and all their heart in the land of their captivity where they were taken captive, and when they pray in the direction of their land that you gave their ancestors, and 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. | 39may you hear their prayer and petitions in heaven, your dwelling place, and uphold their cause. May you forgive your people who sinned against you. |
| 40"Now, my God, may you be attentive and responsive to the prayers offered in this place. | 40Now, my God, please let your eyes be open and your ears attentive to the prayer of 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! | 41Now therefore: Arise, LORD God, come to your resting place, you and your powerful ark. May your priests, LORD God, be clothed with salvation, and may your faithful people rejoice in 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 promises to your servant David. |
|
