2 Chronicles 6

Then spoke Sulayman, Allah has said that he would dwell in the thick darkness. ²But I have built you a house of dwelling, and a place for you to dwell in forever. ³The king turned his face, and blessed all the assembly of Israel: and all the assembly of Israel stood. ⁴He said, Praise be to Allah, the God of Israel, who spoke with his mouth to Dawud my father, and has with his hands fulfilled it, saying, ⁵Since the day that I brought forth my people out of the land of Egypt, I chose no city out of all the tribes of Israel to build a house in, that my name might be there; neither chose I any man to be prince over my people Israel: ⁶but I have chosen Jerusalem, that my name might be there; and have chosen Dawud to be over my people Israel. ⁷Now it was in the heart of Dawud my father to build a house for the name of Allah, the God of Israel. ⁸But Allah said to Dawud my father, Whereas it was in your heart to build a house for my name, you did well that it was in your heart: ⁹nevertheless you shall not build the house; but your son who shall come forth out of your loins, he shall build the house for my name. ¹⁰Allah has performed his word that he spoke; for I am risen up in the room of Dawud my father, and sit on the throne of Israel, as Allah promised, and have built the house for the name of Allah, the God of Israel. ¹¹There have I set the ark, in which is the covenant of Allah, which he made with Bani-Israel. ¹²He stood before the altar of Allah in the presence of all the assembly of Israel, and spread forth his hands ¹³(for Sulayman had made a bronze scaffold, five cubits long, and five cubits broad, and three cubits high, and had set it in the midst of the court; and on it he stood, and kneeled down on his knees before all the assembly of Israel, and spread forth his hands toward heaven;) ¹⁴and he said, Allah, the God of Israel, there is no God like you, in heaven, or on earth; who keep covenant and loving kindness with your servants, who walk before you with all their heart; ¹⁵who have kept with your servant Dawud my father that which you did promise him: yes, you spoke with your mouth, and have fulfilled it with your hand, as it is this day. ¹⁶Now therefore, Allah, the God of Israel, keep with your servant Dawud my father that which you have promised him, saying, There shall not fail you a man in my sight to sit on the throne of Israel, if only your children take heed to their way, to walk in my Taurat as you have walked before me. ¹⁷Now therefore, Allah, the God of Israel, let your word be verified, which you spoke to your servant Dawud. ¹⁸But will God in very deed dwell with men on the earth? Behold, heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain you; how much less this house which I have built! ¹⁹Yet have you respect to the prayer of your servant, and to his supplication, Allah my God, to listen to the cry and to the prayer which your servant prays before you; ²⁰that your eyes may be open toward this house day and night, even toward the place of which you have said that you would put your name there; to listen to the prayer which your servant shall pray toward this place. ²¹Listen to the petitions of your servant, and of your people Israel, when they shall pray toward this place: yes, hear from your dwelling-place, even from heaven; and when you hear, forgive. ²²If a man sin against his neighbour, and an oath is laid on him to cause him to swear, and he comes and swears before your altar in this house; ²³then hear from heaven, and do, and judge your servants, requiting the wicked, to bring his way on his own head; and justifying the righteous, to give him according to his righteousness. ²⁴If your people Israel be struck down before the enemy, because they have sinned against you, and shall turn again and confess your name, and pray and make supplication before you in this house; ²⁵then hear from heaven, and forgive the sin of your people Israel, and bring them again to the land which you gave to them and to their fathers. ²⁶When the sky is shut up, and there is no rain, because they have sinned against you; if they pray toward this place, and confess your name, and turn from their sin, when you do afflict them: ²⁷then hear in heaven, and forgive the sin of your servants, and of your people Israel, when you teach them the good way in which they should walk; and send rain on your land, which you have given to your people for an inheritance. ²⁸If there be in the land famine, if there be pestilence, if there be blasting or mildew, locust or caterpillar; if their enemies besiege them in the land of their cities; whatever plague or whatever sickness there be; ²⁹whatever prayer and supplication be made by any man, or by all your people Israel, who shall know every man his own plague and his own sorrow, and shall spread forth his hands toward this house: ³⁰then hear from heaven, your dwelling-place and forgive, and render to every man according to all his ways, whose heart you know; (for you, even you only, know the hearts of the children of men;) ³¹that they may fear you, to walk in your ways, so long as they live in the land which you gave to our fathers. ³²Moreover concerning the foreigner, who is not of your people Israel, when he shall come from a far country for your great name's sake, and your mighty hand, and your outstretched arm; when they shall come and pray toward this house: ³³then hear from heaven, even from your dwelling-place, and do according to all that the foreigner calls to you for; that all the peoples of the earth may know your name, and fear you, as does your people Israel, and that they may know that this house which I have built is called by your name. ³⁴If your people go out to battle against their enemies, by whatever way you shall send them, and they pray to you toward this city which you have chosen, and the house which I have built for your name; ³⁵then hear from heaven their prayer and their supplication, and maintain their cause. ³⁶If they sin against you (for there is no man who does not sin), and you are angry with them, and deliver them to the enemy, so that they carry them away captive to a land far off or near; ³⁷yet if they shall repent in the land where they are carried captive, and turn again, and make supplication to you in the land of their captivity, saying, We have sinned, we have done perversely, and have dealt wickedly; ³⁸if they return to you with all their heart and with all their soul in the land of their captivity, where they have carried them captive, and pray toward their land, which you gave to their fathers, and the city which you have chosen, and toward the house which I have built for your name: ³⁹then hear from heaven, even from your dwelling-place, their prayer and their petitions, and maintain their cause, and forgive your people who have sinned against you. ⁴⁰Now, my God, let, I beg you, your eyes be open, and let your ears be attentive, to the prayer that is made in this place. ⁴¹Now therefore arise, Allah Ta'ala, into your resting-place, you, and the ark of your strength: let your priests, Allah Ta'ala, be clothed with salvation, and let your saints rejoice in goodness. ⁴²Allah Ta'ala, do not turn away the face of your anointed: remember your loving kindnesses to Dawud your servant.