II Chronicles Chapter 6

II Chronicles 6 — English translation

Translation: THE JPS TANAKH: Gender-Sensitive Edition. Verse numbers match the Hebrew text below.

1. 1Then Solomon declared: “G OD has chosen To abide in a thick cloud;
2. 2I have built for You A stately House, And a place where You May dwell forever.”
3. 3Then, as the whole congregation of Israel stood, the king turned and blessed the whole congregation of Israel.
4. 4He said, “Blessed is the E TERNAL God of Israel, who made a promise to my father David and fulfilled it—after having said,
5. 5‘From the time I brought My people out of the land of Egypt, I never chose a city from among all the tribes of Israel to build a House where My name might abide; nor did I choose anyone to be the leader of My people Israel.
6. 6But then I chose Jerusalem for My name to abide there, and I chose David to rule My people Israel.’
7. 7“Now my father David had wanted to build a House for the name of the E TERNAL God of Israel.
8. 8But G OD said to my father David, ‘As for your wanting to build a House for My name, you do well to want that.
9. 9However, you shall not build the House; your son, the issue of your loins, he shall build the House for My name.’
10. 10Now G OD has fulfilled the promise that was made. I have succeeded my father David and have ascended the throne of Israel, as G OD promised. I have built the House for the name of the E TERNAL God of Israel,
11. 11and there I have set the Ark containing the Covenant that G OD made with the Israelites.”
12. 12Then, standing before the altar of G OD in front of the whole congregation of Israel, he spread forth his hands.
13. 13Solomon had made a bronze platform and placed it in the midst of the Great Court; it was 5 cubits long and 5 cubits wide and 3 cubits high. He stood on it; then, kneeling in front of the whole congregation of Israel, he spread forth his hands to heaven
14. 14and said, “O E TERNAL God of Israel, there is no god like You in the heavens and on the earth, You who steadfastly maintain the Covenant with Your servants who walk before You with all their heart;
15. 15You who have kept the promises You made to Your servant, my father David; You made a promise and have fulfilled it—as is now the case.
16. 16And now, O E TERNAL God of Israel, keep that promise that You made to Your servant, my father David, ‘You shall never lack a descendant in My sight sitting on the throne of Israel if only your children will look to their way and walk in the [path] of My teachings as you have walked before Me.’
17. 17Now, therefore, O God of Israel, let the promise that You made to Your servant, my father David, be confirmed.
18. 18“Does God really dwell with mortals on earth? Even the heavens to their uttermost reaches cannot contain You; how much less this House that I have built!
19. 19Yet turn, O E TERNAL One my God, to the prayer and supplication of Your servant, and hear the cry and the prayer that Your servant offers to You.
20. 20May Your eyes be open day and night toward this House, toward the place where You have resolved to make Your name abide; may You heed the prayers that Your servant offers toward this place.
21. 21And when You hear the supplications that Your servant and Your people Israel offer toward this place, give heed in Your heavenly abode—give heed and pardon.
22. 22“If one person commits an offense against another and is made to take an oath and utter a self-imprecation and, with that imprecation, comes before Your altar in this House,
23. 23may You hear in heaven and take action to judge Your servants, requiting the one who is in the wrong by bringing down the punishment of their conduct on their head—while vindicating the other, who is in the right, by rewarding them according to their righteousness.
24. 24“Should Your people Israel be defeated by an enemy because they have sinned against You, and then once again acknowledge Your name and offer prayer and supplication to You in this House,
25. 25may You hear in heaven and pardon the sin of Your people Israel, and restore them to the land that You gave to them and to their ancestors.
26. 26“Should the heavens be shut up and there be no rain because they have sinned against You, and then they pray toward this place and acknowledge Your name and repent of their sins, because You humbled them,
27. 27may You hear in heaven and pardon the sin of Your servants, Your people Israel, when You have shown them the proper way in which they are to walk, and send down rain upon the land that You gave to Your people as their heritage.
28. 28So, too, if there is a famine in the land, if there is pestilence, blight, mildew, locusts, or caterpillars, or if an enemy oppresses them in any of the settlements of their land. “In any plague and in any disease,
29. 29any prayer or supplication offered by any person among all Your people Israel—each of whom knows their own affliction and pain—when they spread forth their hands toward this House,
30. 30may You hear in Your heavenly abode, and pardon. Deal with that individual according to their ways, as You know their heart to be—for You alone know every human heart.
31. 31Thus may Your people revere You all the days that they live on the land that You gave to our ancestors.
32. 32“Or if a foreigner who is not of Your people Israel comes from a distant land for the sake of Your great name, Your mighty hand, and Your outstretched arm—and if this person comes to pray toward this House,
33. 33may You hear in Your heavenly abode and grant whatever the foreigner appeals to You for. Thus all the peoples of the earth will know Your name and revere You, as does Your people Israel; and they will recognize that Your name is attached to this House that I have built.
34. 34“When Your people take the field against their enemies in a campaign on which You send them, and they pray to You in the direction of the city that You have chosen and the House that I have built to Your name,
35. 35may You hear in heaven their prayer and supplication and uphold their cause.
36. 36“When they sin against You—for there is no mortal who does not sin—and You are angry with them and deliver them to the enemy, and their captors carry them off to an enemy land, near or far;
37. 37and they take it to heart in the land to which they have been carried off, and repent and make supplication to You in the land of their captivity, saying, ‘We have sinned, we have acted perversely, we have acted wickedly,’
38. 38and they turn back to You with all their heart and soul, in the land of their captivity where they were carried off, and pray in the direction of their land that You gave to their ancestors and the city that You have chosen, and toward the House that I have built for Your name—
39. 39may You hear their prayer and supplication in Your heavenly abode, uphold their cause, and pardon Your people who have sinned against You.
40. 40Now My God, may Your eyes be open and Your ears attentive to prayer from this place;
41. 41and now, Advance, O E TERNAL God, to your resting-place, You and Your mighty Ark. Your priests, O E TERNAL God, are clothed in triumph; Your loyal ones will rejoice in [Your] goodness.
42. 42O E TERNAL God, do not reject Your anointed one; remember the loyalty of Your servant David.”

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