Solomon Blesses the People

6 ^(A)Then Solomon said, “The Lord has said that he would dwell in thick darkness. ² But I have built you ^(B)an exalted house, a place for you to dwell in forever.” ³ Then the king turned around and blessed all the assembly of Israel, while all the assembly of Israel stood. ⁴ And he said, “Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, who with his hand has fulfilled what he promised with his mouth to David my father, saying,

^13 (A)Solomon had made a bronze platform five cubits^[a] long, five cubits wide, and three cubits high, and had set it in the court, and he stood on it. ^(B)Then he knelt on his knees in the presence of all the assembly of Israel, and spread out his hands toward heaven, ¹⁴ and said, “O Lord, God of Israel, ^(C)there is no God like you, in heaven or on earth, ^(D)keeping covenant and showing steadfast love to your servants who walk before you with all their heart, ^15 (E)who have kept with your servant David my father what you declared to him. You spoke with your mouth, and with your hand have fulfilled it this day. ¹⁶ Now therefore, O Lord, God of Israel, keep for your servant David my father what you have promised him, saying, ^(F)‘You shall not lack a man to sit before me on the throne of Israel, ^(G)if only your sons pay close attention to their way, to walk in my law as you have walked before me.’ ¹⁷ Now therefore, O Lord, God of Israel, let your word be confirmed, which you have spoken to your servant David.

¹⁸ “But will God indeed dwell with man on the earth? Behold, ^(H)heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain you, how much less this house that I have built! ¹⁹ Yet have regard to the prayer of your servant and to his plea, O Lord my God, listening to the cry and to the prayer that your servant prays before you, ^20 (I)that your eyes may be open day and night toward this house, the place where you have promised to set your name, that you may listen to the prayer that your servant offers toward this place. ²¹ And listen to the pleas of your servant and of your people Israel, when they pray toward this place. And listen from heaven your dwelling place, ^(J)and when you hear, forgive.

³⁶ “If they sin against you—^(A)for there is no one who does not sin—and you are angry with them and give them to an enemy, so that they are carried away captive to a land far or near, ³⁷ yet if they turn their heart in the land to which they have been carried captive, and repent and plead with you in the land of their captivity, saying, ‘We have sinned and have acted perversely and wickedly,’ ³⁸ if they repent with all their heart and with all their soul in the land of their captivity to which they were carried captive, and pray toward their land, which you gave to their fathers, the city that you have chosen and the house that I have built for your name, ³⁹ then hear from heaven your dwelling place their prayer and their pleas, and maintain their cause and forgive your people who have sinned against you. ⁴⁰ Now, O my God, ^(B)let your eyes be open ^(C)and your ears attentive to the prayer of this place.

Fire from Heaven

7 ^(A)As soon as Solomon finished his prayer, ^(B)fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices, ^(C)and the glory of the Lord filled the temple. ² And the priests could not enter the house of the Lord, because the glory of the Lord filled the Lord's house. ³ When all the people of Israel saw the fire come down and the glory of the Lord on the temple, they bowed down with their faces to the ground on the pavement and worshiped and gave thanks to the Lord, saying, “For he is good, ^(D)for his steadfast love endures forever.”

¹² Then the Lord appeared to Solomon in the night and said to him: “I have heard your prayer ^(A)and have chosen this place for myself as a house of sacrifice. ^13 (B)When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command the locust to devour the land, or send pestilence among my people, ¹⁴ if my people who are called by my name ^(C)humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land. ^15 (D)Now my eyes will be open and my ears attentive to the prayer that is made in this place.