22Then Solomon stood in front of the altar in the presence of the whole congregation of Israel and spread out his hands toward heaven.[] 23He said: O Lord, God of Israel, there is no God like you in the heavens above or on the earth below. You keep the covenant of mercy and faithfulness with your servants who walk before you with all their heart. 24You have kept the word which you spoke to your servant, my father David. What you have said with your mouth you have fulfilled with your hand, as it is today.
25Now, Lord God of Israel, guard for your servant, my father David, the promise you made to him when you said, “You will never fail to have a man sitting on the throne of Israel in my presence, if your sons guard their ways by walking in my law just as you have walked before me.”
26Now, O God of Israel, let the words which you spoke to your servant, my father David, be confirmed.
27But will God really dwell on the earth? In truth, the heavens, even the highest heaven, cannot contain you. How much less this house, which I have built! 28But turn your face toward the prayer of your servant and toward his plea for mercy. O Lord my God, listen to the cry and the prayer which your servant offers before you today.
29Let your eyes be open toward this house night and day, toward this place where you said, “My Name will be there,” to hear the prayer which your servant offers toward this place.
30When you hear the plea for mercy of your servant and of your people Israel, which they pray toward this place, then hear in your dwelling place in heaven—hear and forgive.
46When they sin against you (for there is no one who does not sin) and you become angry with them, and you give them up to their enemies, and their captors exile them to an enemy land, whether distant or near, 47when they are in the land where they were exiled and they turn their hearts back, and they repent and pray to you in the land of their exile and say, “We have sinned and become guilty and done evil,” 48when they return to you with all their heart and with all their soul in the land of their enemies where they were exiled, and they pray in the direction of their land, which you gave to their fathers, toward the city which you chose and toward the house which I have built for your Name, 49then hear their prayers and their plea for mercy from heaven, your dwelling place, and provide justice for them. 50Pardon your people who have sinned against you and all their rebellious deeds that they have committed against you. Have compassion by causing their enemies to show them compassion. 51For they are your people and your possession, which you brought out of Egypt, from the midst of the iron-smelting furnace.
52Let your eyes be open to the plea for mercy from your servant and to the plea for mercy from your people Israel. Hear them whenever they cry out to you. 53For you singled them out for yourself as your possession from all the peoples of the earth, just as you said through Moses your servant when you brought our fathers out of Egypt, O Lord God.
The Dedication of the Temple
54When Solomon finished offering all these prayers and pleas for mercy to the Lord, he got up from the altar of the Lord, where he had been kneeling with his hands spread out toward heaven. 55Then he stood and blessed the whole congregation of Israel with a loud voice:
56Blessed be the Lord, who has given rest to his people Israel, just as he said he would. Not one word has failed[] from all his good words which he spoke through Moses his servant. 57May the Lord our God be with us, just as he was with our fathers. May he never leave us or abandon us. 58May he turn our hearts to him, to walk in all his ways and to listen to his commands, regulations, and ordinances, which he commanded to our fathers. 59May these words which I have prayed before the Lord be near the Lord our God day and night so that he provides justice for his servant and for his people Israel forever, 60so that all the peoples of the earth may know that the Lord is God. There is no other. 61May your hearts be fully committed to the Lord our God, in order to walk in his regulations and to keep his commands, just as is the case today. 62Then the king and all Israel with him offered sacrifices before the Lord. 63Solomon sacrificed fellowship offerings to the Lord: twenty-two thousand cattle and one hundred twenty thousand sheep. So the king and all the people of Israel dedicated the House of the Lord.
