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New Testament
1 Kings 8:12-53
King Solomon's Prayer
12Then Solomon said, “The Lord has said that he dwells in thick darkness. 13I have truly built a majestic house for you, a place for you to dwell forever.”
14Then the king turned and blessed the whole congregation of Israel, while the whole congregation of Israel was standing there. 15Then Solomon said:
Blessed is the Lord, the God of Israel. What he said with his mouth to my father David, he has fulfilled with his hand.
The Lord said, 16“From the day I brought my people Israel out of Egypt, I did not choose a city from all the tribes of Israel in which to build a house for my Name to be there, ˻nor did I choose any man to be a leader over my people Israel; but now I have chosen Jerusalem for my Name to be there,˼[] and I have chosen David to be over my people Israel.”
17It was on my father David's heart to build a house for the Name of the Lord, the God of Israel.
18However, the Lord said to my father David, “It was on your heart to build a house for my Name. That was a good thing to desire. 19But you will not build the house. Your son, who will come from your own body, will build the house for my Name.”
20So the Lord kept his word which he had spoken, and I arose in the place of my father David. I am seated on the throne of Israel, just as the Lord said. I have built this house for the Name of the Lord, the God of Israel. 21I have established a place there for the Ark, which contains the covenant of the Lord, which he made with our fathers when he brought them out of the land of Egypt.
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.
The Seven Petitions
31When a man sins against his neighbor, and his neighbor places him under an oath, and the oath is presented before your altar in this house, 32then hear from heaven and take action. Provide justice for your servants by declaring the wicked person guilty and bringing his ways down on his own head, and by declaring the righteous person innocent and dealing with him according to his righteousness.
33When your people Israel are defeated by their enemies because they sinned against you, and when they return to you and praise your Name and pray and seek your favor in this house, 34then hear in heaven and forgive the sin of your people Israel and bring them back to the land which you gave to their fathers.
35When the heavens are shut up, and there is no rain because they sinned against you, and when they pray toward this place, and they praise your Name and turn from their sin because you have humbled them, 36then hear from heaven and forgive the sin of your servants, your people Israel. Yes, teach them the good way in which they are to walk, and provide rain for the land which you gave to your people as an inheritance.
37When there is famine in the land, when there is plague, when there is blight or mildew or locusts or grasshoppers, when their enemies are in the land besieging their gates, in every disease, in every sickness, 38hear every prayer and every plea for mercy which any individual presents or which your whole people Israel presents. When each one knows the affliction of his own heart, when he spreads out his hands toward this house, 39hear in heaven, your dwelling place, and forgive. Then act and give to each person according to all his ways, because you know his heart (yes, you alone know the heart of every human being), 40so that they may fear you all the days they live on the soil which you gave to our fathers.
41Also for the foreigner, who is not one of your people Israel, but who comes from a distant land because of your Name 42(for they will hear about your great Name, your mighty hand, and your outstretched arm, and they will come and pray toward this house), 43for that foreigner, hear in heaven, which is your dwelling place, and do everything for which that foreigner cries out to you, so that all the peoples of the earth may know your Name and fear you, just as your people Israel do, and because they know that your Name is proclaimed in this house which I have built.
44When your people go out for battle against their enemy on whatever way you send them, and when they pray to the Lord facing toward the city which you have chosen and toward the house which I have built for your Name, 45then from heaven hear their prayer and their plea for mercy, and provide justice for them.
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.
Footnotes
- 8:16 The words in half-brackets do not appear in the Hebrew text, but they are present in the Greek Old Testament and in 2 Chronicles 6:5–6. The additional words fall between two occurrences of for my Name to be there.
- 8:22 At this point the parallel account in 2 Chronicles 6:12–13 has the additional words marked by half-brackets: and spread out his hands. ˻Solomon had made a bronze platform and had placed it in the middle of the courtyard. It was seven and a half feet by seven and a half feet square, and four and a half feet tall. He stood on it. Then he knelt in the presence of the whole assembly of Israel and spread out his hands˼ toward heaven. These words fall between two occurrences of spread out his hands.