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The Second Book of the Chronicles, Chapter 6
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1 |
Then said Solomon, The LORD hath said that he would dwell in the
thick darkness.
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2 |
But I have built an house of habitation for thee, and a place for
thy dwelling for ever.
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3 |
And the king turned his face, and blessed the whole congregation
of Israel: and all the congregation of Israel stood.
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4 |
And he said, Blessed be the LORD God of Israel, who hath with his
hands fulfilled that which he spake with his mouth to my father David,
saying,
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Since the day that I brought forth my people out of the
land of Egypt I chose no city among all the tribes of Israel to build
an house in, that my name might be there; neither chose I any man to
be a ruler over my people Israel:
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But I have chosen Jerusalem,
that my name might be there; and have chosen David to be over my
people Israel.
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Now it was in the heart of David my father to build an house for
the name of the LORD God of Israel.
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But the LORD said to David my father, Forasmuch as it was in thine
heart to build an house for my name, thou didst well in that it was in
thine heart:
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Notwithstanding thou shalt not build the house; but
thy son which shall come forth out of thy loins, he shall build the
house for my name.
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10 |
The LORD therefore hath performed his word that he hath spoken:
for I am risen up in the room of David my father, and am set on the
throne of Israel, as the LORD promised, and have built the house for
the name of the LORD God of Israel.
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And in it have I put the ark, wherein is the covenant of the
LORD, that he made with the children of Israel.
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And he stood before the altar of the LORD in the presence of all
the congregation of Israel, and spread forth his hands:
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For
Solomon had made a brasen scaffold of five cubits long, and five
cubits broad, and three cubits high, and had set it in the midst of
the court: and upon it he stood, and kneeled down upon his knees
before all the congregation of Israel, and spread forth his hands
toward heaven.
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And said, O LORD God of Israel, there is no God like thee in the
heaven, nor in the earth; which keepest covenant, and shewest mercy
unto thy servants, that walk before thee with all their hearts:
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Thou which hast kept with thy servant David my father that which thou
hast promised him; and spakest with thy mouth, and hast fulfilled it
with thine hand, as it is this day.
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16 |
Now therefore, O LORD God of Israel, keep with thy servant David
my father that which thou hast promised him, saying, There shall not
fail thee a man in my sight to sit upon the throne of Israel; yet so
that thy children take heed to their way to walk in my law, as thou
hast walked before me.
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Now then, O LORD God of Israel, let thy word be verified, which
thou hast spoken unto thy servant David.
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But will God in very deed dwell with men on the earth? behold,
heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain thee; how much less
this house which I have built!
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Have respect therefore to the
prayer of thy servant, and to his supplication, O LORD my God, to
hearken unto the cry and the prayer which thy servant prayeth before
thee:
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That thine eyes may be open upon this house day and night,
upon the place whereof thou hast said that thou wouldest put thy name
there; to hearken unto the prayer which thy servant prayeth toward
this place.
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Hearken therefore unto the supplications of thy servant, and of
thy people Israel, which they shall make toward this place: hear thou
from thy dwelling place, even from heaven; and when thou hearest,
forgive.
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22 |
If a man sin against his neighbour, and an oath be laid upon him
to make him swear, and the oath come before thine altar in this house;
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Then hear thou from heaven, and do, and judge thy servants, by
requiting the wicked, by recompensing his way upon his own head; and
by justifying the righteous, by giving him according to his
righteousness.
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And if thy people Israel be put to the worse before the enemy,
because they have sinned against thee; and shall return and confess
thy name, and pray and make supplication before thee in this house;
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Then hear thou from the heavens, and forgive the sin of thy
people Israel, and bring them again unto the land which thou gavest to
them and to their fathers.
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When the heaven is shut up, and there is no rain, because they
have sinned against thee; yet if they pray toward this place, and
confess thy name, and turn from their sin, when thou dost afflict
them;
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Then hear thou from heaven, and forgive the sin of thy
servants, and of thy people Israel, when thou hast taught them the
good way, wherein they should walk; and send rain upon thy land, which
thou hast given unto thy people for an inheritance.
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If there be dearth in the land, if there be pestilence, if there
be blasting, or mildew, locusts, or caterpillers; if their enemies
besiege them in the cities of their land; whatsoever sore or
whatsoever sickness there be:
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Then what prayer or what
supplication soever shall be made of any man, or of all thy people
Israel, when every one shall know his own sore and his own grief, and
shall spread forth his hands in this house:
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30 |
Then hear thou from
heaven thy dwelling place, and forgive, and render unto every man
according unto all his ways, whose heart thou knowest; (for thou only
knowest the hearts of the children of men:)
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That they may fear
thee, to walk in thy ways, so long as they live in the land which thou
gavest unto our fathers.
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Moreover concerning the stranger, which is not of thy people
Israel, but is come from a far country for thy great name's sake, and
thy mighty hand, and thy stretched out arm; if they come and pray in
this house;
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Then hear thou from the heavens, even from thy
dwelling place, and do according to all that the stranger calleth to
thee for; that all people of the earth may know thy name, and fear
thee, as doth thy people Israel, and may know that this house which I
have built is called by thy name.
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34 |
If thy people go out to war against their enemies by the way that
thou shalt send them, and they pray unto thee toward this city which
thou hast chosen, and the house which I have built for thy name;
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Then hear thou from the heavens their prayer and their supplication,
and maintain their cause.
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If they sin against thee, (for there is no man which sinneth
not,) and thou be angry with them, and deliver them over before their
enemies, and they carry them away captives unto a land far off or
near;
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Yet if they bethink themselves in the land whither they are
carried captive, and turn and pray unto thee in the land of their
captivity, saying, We have sinned, we have done amiss, and have dealt
wickedly;
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38 |
If they return to thee with all their heart and with
all their soul in the land of their captivity, whither they have
carried them captives, and pray toward their land, which thou gavest
unto their fathers, and toward the city which thou hast chosen, and
toward the house which I have built for thy name:
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39 |
Then hear thou
from the heavens, even from thy dwelling place, their prayer and their
supplications, and maintain their cause, and forgive thy people which
have sinned against thee.
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Now, my God, let, I beseech thee, thine eyes be open, and let
thine ears be attent unto the prayer that is made in this place.
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41 |
Now therefore arise, O LORD God, into thy resting place, thou,
and the ark of thy strength: let thy priests, O LORD God, be clothed
with salvation, and let thy saints rejoice in goodness.
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42 |
O LORD God, turn not away the face of thine anointed: remember
the mercies of David thy servant.
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