2 Chronicles 6:1-19
6:1 Then Solomon said, “The Lord has said that he lives in thick darkness.
6:2 O Lord, I have built a lofty temple for you, a place where you can live permanently.”
6:3 Then the king turned around and pronounced a blessing over the whole Israelite assembly as they stood there.
6:4 He said, “The Lord God of Israel is worthy of praise because he has fulfilled what he promised my father David.
6:5 He told David, ‘Since the day I brought my people out of the land of Egypt, I have not chosen a city from all the tribes of Israel to build a temple in which to live. Nor did I choose a man as leader of my people Israel.
6:6 But now I have chosen Jerusalem as a place to live, and I have chosen David to lead my people Israel.’
6:7 Now my father David had a strong desire to build a temple to honor the Lord God of Israel.
6:8 The Lord told my father David, ‘It is right for you to have a strong desire to build a temple to honor me.
6:9 But you will not build the temple; your very own son will build the temple for my honor.’
6:10 The Lord has kept the promise he made. I have taken my father David’s place and have occupied the throne of Israel, as the Lord promised. I have built this temple for the honor of the Lord God of Israel
6:11 and set up in it a place for the ark containing the covenant the Lord made with the Israelites.”
6:12 He stood before the altar of the Lord in front of the entire assembly of Israel and spread out his hands.
6:13 Solomon had made a bronze platform and had placed it in the middle of the enclosure. It was seven and one-half feet long, seven and one-half feet wide, and four and one-half feet high. He stood on it and then got down on his knees in front of the entire assembly of Israel. He spread out his hands toward the sky,
6:14 and prayed: “O Lord God of Israel, there is no god like you in heaven or on earth! You maintain covenantal loyalty to your servants who obey you with sincerity.
6:15 You have kept your word to your servant, my father David; this very day you have fulfilled what you promised.
6:16 Now, O Lord God of Israel, keep the promise you made to your servant, my father David, when you said, ‘You will never fail to have a successor ruling before me on the throne of Israel, provided that your descendants watch their step and obey my law as you have done.’
6:17 Now, O Lord God of Israel, may the promise you made to your servant David be realized.
6:18 “God does not really live with humankind on the earth! Look, if the sky and the highest heaven cannot contain you, how much less this temple I have built!
6:19 But respond favorably to your servant’s prayer and his request for help, O Lord my God. Answer the desperate prayer your servant is presenting to you.