Solomon’s Prayer of Dedication
Solomon stands before the altar and, with uplifted hands, praises the God who has kept His promise to David. He asks that God confirm the rest of that promise and hear prayers directed toward this house, even though no temple can contain Him.
T12hen Solomon stood before the altar of the LORD in front of the whole assembly of Israel and spread out his hands. 13Now Solomon had made a bronze platform five cubits long, five cubits wide, and three cubits high and had placed it in the middle of the courtyard. He stood on it, knelt down before the whole assembly of Israel, spread out his hands toward heaven, 14and said: 15“O LORD, God of Israel, there is no God like You in heaven or on earth, keeping Your covenant of loving devotion with Your servants who walk before You with all their hearts. You have kept Your promise to Your servant, my father David. What You spoke with Your mouth You have fulfilled with Your hand this day. 16Therefore now, O LORD, God of Israel, keep for Your servant, my father David, what You promised when You said: ‘You will never fail to have a man to sit before Me on the throne of Israel, if only your descendants guard their way to walk in My law as you have walked before Me.’ 17And now, O LORD, God of Israel, please confirm what You promised to Your servant David. 18But will God indeed dwell with man upon the earth? The heavens, even the highest heavens, cannot contain You, much less this temple I have built. 19Yet regard the prayer and plea of Your servant, O LORD my God, so that You may hear the cry and the prayer that Your servant is praying before You. 20May Your eyes be open toward this temple day and night, toward the place where You said You would put Your Name, so that You may hear the prayer that Your servant prays toward this place. 21Hear the plea of Your servant and of Your people Israel when they pray toward this place. May You hear from heaven, Your dwelling place. May You hear and forgive.
Solomon asks that when an oath is taken before the altar, God would hear from heaven and judge truly, condemning the wicked and vindicating the righteous.
22When a man sins against his neighbor and is required to take an oath, and he comes to take an oath before Your altar in this temple, 23then may You hear from heaven and act. May You judge Your servants, condemning the wicked man by bringing down on his own head what he has done, and justifying the righteous man by rewarding him according to his righteousness.
If Israel is defeated because of sin and then returns in confession and prayer, Solomon asks God to forgive and restore them to their land.
24When Your people Israel are defeated before an enemy because they have sinned against You, and they return to You and confess Your name, praying and pleading before You in this temple, 25then may You hear from heaven and forgive the sin of Your people Israel. May You restore them to the land You gave to them and their fathers.
If the skies are shut because of Israel's sin, Solomon asks that prayer, confession, and turning would be met by forgiveness, instruction, and rain.
26When the skies are shut and there is no rain because Your people have sinned against You, and they pray toward this place and confess Your name, and they turn from their sins because You have afflicted them, 27then may You hear from heaven and forgive the sin of Your servants, Your people Israel, so that You may teach them the good way in which they should walk. May You send rain on the land that You gave Your people as an inheritance.
In famine, plague, siege, or any affliction, Solomon asks that each person's prayer toward this house be heard by the God who alone knows every heart. He asks for forgiveness and fitting response, so that the people may fear God and walk in His ways.
28When famine or plague comes upon the land, or blight or mildew or locusts or grasshoppers, or when their enemies besiege them in their cities, whatever plague or sickness may come, 29then may whatever prayer or plea Your people Israel make— each knowing his own afflictions and spreading out his hands toward this temple— 30be heard by You from heaven, Your dwelling place. And may You forgive and repay each man according to all his ways, since You know his heart — for You alone know the hearts of men — 31so that they may fear You and walk in Your ways all the days they live in the land that You gave to our fathers.
Solomon includes the foreigner who comes because of the LORD's great name, asking that such prayers also be heard. In this way the nations too may know God's name and recognize this house as belonging to Him.
32And as for the foreigner who is not of Your people Israel but has come from a distant land because of Your great name and Your mighty hand and outstretched arm — when he comes and prays toward this temple, 33then may You hear from heaven, Your dwelling place, and do according to all for which the foreigner calls to You. Then all the peoples of the earth will know Your name and fear You, as do Your people Israel, and they will know that this house I have built is called by Your Name.
When Israel goes to battle at God's sending and prays toward the chosen city and house, Solomon asks God to hear and uphold their cause.
34When Your people go to war against their enemies, wherever You send them, and when they pray to You in the direction of this city You have chosen and the house I have built for Your Name, 35then may You hear from heaven their prayer and their plea, and may You uphold their cause.
Knowing that all people sin, Solomon imagines Israel carried away captive and asks that if they repent from exile and pray toward the land, city, and house, God would hear, uphold them, and forgive.
36When they sin against You— for there is no one who does not sin— and You become angry with them and deliver them to an enemy who takes them as captives to a land far or near, 37and when they come to their senses in the land to which they were taken, and they repent and plead with You in the land of their captors, saying, ‘We have sinned and done wrong; we have acted wickedly,’ 38and when they return to You with all their heart and soul in the land of the enemies who took them captive, and when they pray in the direction of the land that You gave to their fathers, the city You have chosen, and the house I have built for Your Name, 39then may You hear from heaven, Your dwelling place, their prayer and pleas, and may You uphold their cause. May You forgive Your people who sinned against You.
Solomon closes by asking God to attend to prayer in this place, to arise into His resting place with the ark, to receive His priests and saints with blessing, and not to reject His anointed one.
40Now, my God, may Your eyes be open and Your ears attentive to the prayer offered in this place. 41Now therefore, arise, O LORD God, and enter Your resting place, 42O LORD God, do not reject Your anointed one.