1 Kings 8:22-53 - Solomon's Prayer To Yahweh
22 And Solomon stood before the altar of Yahweh, in the presence of all the convocation of Israel, - and spread forth his hands towards the heavens; 23 and said - O Yahweh, God of Israel! Not like thee, is there a God, in the heavens above, or upon the earth beneath, - keeping Covenant and Lovingkindness for thy servants who are walking before thee, with all their heart; 24 who hast kept for thy servant David my father, that which thou didst promise him, - in that thou didst promise with thy mouth, and, with thy hand, hast fulfilled, as it is this day. 25 Now, therefore, O Yahweh, God of Israel, keep thou for thy servant David my father, that which thou didst promise him, saying, There shall not be cut off to thee a man from before me, to sit upon the throne of Israel, - if only, thy sons take heed to their way, by walking before me, as thou hast walked before me. 26 Now, therefore, O God of Israel, - verified be thy word, I pray thee, which thou didst speak to thy servant, David my father. 27 But, in very deed, will God dwell, upon the earth? Lo! the heaven, yea the heaven of heavens, cannot contain thee, how much less this house which I have built? 28 Yet wilt thou turn unto the prayer of thy servant, and unto his supplication, O Yahweh my God, - to hearken unto the cry, and unto the prayer, wherewith thy servant doth pray before thee to-day; 29 that thine eye may be opened toward this house, night and day, toward the place of which thou hast said, My Name shall be, there; hearkening unto the prayer which thy servant shall offer toward this place. 30 Wilt, thou, therefore, hearken unto the supplication of thy servant, and of thy people Israel, whensoever they shall pray toward this place, - yea wilt, thou thyself, hear, in thine own dwelling-place, in the heavens, and, when thou hearest, then wilt thou forgive? 31 When a man shall sin against his neighbour, and there shall be taken up against him an oath, to put him on oath, - and he shall come in and swear before thine altar, in this house, 32 then wilt, thou thyself, hear in the heavens, and act, and judge thy servants, condemning the lawless, by setting his way upon his own head, - and justifying the righteous, by giving to him, according to his righteousness? 33 When thy people Israel are smitten before an enemy, because they have been sinning against thee, - and they turn again unto thee, and confess thy Name, and pray and make supplication unto thee, in this house, 34 then wilt, thou thyself, hear in the heavens, and forgive the sin of thy people Israel, and bring them back unto the soil, which thou gavest unto their fathers? 35 When the heavens are shut up, and there is no rain, because they have been sinning against thee, - and they shall pray toward this place, and confess thy Name, and, from their sin, shall return, because thou hast been afflicting them, 36 then wilt, thou thyself, hear in the heavens and forgive the sin of thy servants, and of thy people Israel, that thou mayest teach them the good way, wherein they should walk, - and give rain upon thy land, which thou hast given unto thy people, for an inheritance? 37 When there shall be, famine, in the land, when there shall be, pestilence, when there shall be, blasting, mildew locust, caterpillar, when their enemy shall besiege them in one of their own gates, - whatsoever plague, whatsoever sickness; 38 any prayer, any supplication which, any son of earth, may have, of all thy people Israel, - who will certainly know every man the plague of his own heart, and so he shall spread abroad his hands towards this house, 39 then wilt, thou thyself, hear in the heavens, in the settled place of thine abode, and forgive and act, and give unto every man according to all his ways, whose heart thou wilt know, - for, thou thyself alone, knowest the heart of all the sons of men; 40 to the end they may revere thee, all the days which they do live, upon the face of the soil, - which thou gavest unto our fathers? 41 Moreover also, unto the stranger, who is, not of thy people Israel, - but hath come in out of a far country, for the sake of thy Name, - 42 (for they will certainly hear of thy great Name, and of thy strong hand, and of thy stretched-out arm, - and so will come in and pray towards this house), 43 wilt, thou thyself, hear in the heavens, the settled place of thine abode, and act, according to all for which, the stranger, shall cry unto thee, - to the end that all the peoples of the earth may truly know thy Name, so as to revere thee, like thy people Israel, and to know that, thine own Name, hath been given unto this house, which I have built? 44 When thy people go forth to war against their enemy, whithersoever thou mayest send them, - and shall pray unto Yahweh, in the direction of the city which thou hast chosen, and the house which I have built for thy Name, 45 then wilt thou hear, in the heavens, their prayer and their supplication, - and maintain their cause? 46 When they sin against thee - for there is, no son of earth, that sinneth not, and thou shalt be angry with them, and deliver them up before an enemy, - who shall carry them away as their captives, into the land of the enemy, far or near; 47 and they come back to their right mind, in the land whither they have been taken captive, - and so turn and make supplication unto thee, in the land of their captors, saying, We have sinned and done perversely, we have been lawless; 48 and so they turn unto thee with all their heart, and with all their soul, in the land of their enemies, who have carried them away captive, - and pray unto thee in the direction of their own land, which thou gavest unto their fathers, the city which thou hast chosen, and the house which I have built for thy Name, 49 then wilt thou hearken in the heavens, the settled place of thine abode, unto their prayer, and unto their supplication, - and maintain their cause; 50 and grant forgiveness to thy people, who have sinned against thee, even as to all their transgressions wherein they have transgressed against thee, - and grant them compassion before their captors, so that they may have compassion upon them; 51 because, thy people and thine inheritance, they are, - whom thou didst bring forth out of Egypt, out of the midst of the smelting-pot of iron; 52 that thine eyes may be open unto the supplication of thy servant, and unto the supplication of thy people Israel, - to hearken unto them, in all their crying unto thee; 53 because, thou thyself, didst separate them unto thee, for an inheritance, out of all the peoples of the earth, - as thou spakest by the hand of Moses thy servant, when thou broughtest forth our fathers out of Egypt, O Lord Yahweh.