2 Chronicles 6

All 42 verses in the Clear Bible Translation. Tap a verse to compare the KJV and read what it means.

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  1. 1Then Solomon declared, "The LORD has said that he would dwell in thick darkness."
  2. 2"But I have built a house for you — a place for you to live forever."
  3. 3Then the king turned to face the entire assembly of Israel and blessed them while they all stood.
  4. 4He said, "Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel, who has fulfilled with his hands what he spoke with his mouth to my father David, saying,
  5. 5'From the day I brought my people out of Egypt, I never chose a city from any tribe of Israel as the place to build a house where my name would dwell. And I never chose anyone to be ruler over my people Israel.
  6. 6But I have chosen Jerusalem for my name to be there, and I have chosen David to be over my people Israel.
  7. 7My father David had it in his heart to build a house for the name of the LORD, the God of Israel.
  8. 8But the LORD told my father David, 'It was good that you wanted to build a house for my name. You did well to have that desire in your heart.
  9. 9However, you will not be the one to build the house; instead, your son, who will come from your own body, will build the house for my name.
  10. 10The LORD has kept the promise he made. I have taken my father David's place and now sit on the throne of Israel, just as the LORD promised. And I have built this house for the name of the LORD, the God of Israel.
  11. 11Inside it I have placed the ark, which contains the covenant the LORD made with the children of Israel.
  12. 12Solomon stood before the LORD's altar in front of the entire assembly of Israel and stretched out his hands.
  13. 13He had built a bronze platform five cubits long, five cubits wide, and three cubits high, and placed it in the center of the courtyard. He stood on it, then knelt down on his knees before the whole assembly of Israel and spread out his hands toward heaven.
  14. 14He prayed, "LORD, God of Israel, there is no God like you in heaven or on earth. You keep your covenant and show mercy to your servants who follow you wholeheartedly.
  15. 15You kept the promise you made to your servant David, my father. What you spoke with your mouth, you have fulfilled with your hand — and we can see it today.
  16. 16Now therefore, O LORD God of Israel, fulfill the promise you made to my father David, saying, 'There shall not fail you a man in my sight to sit upon the throne of Israel, provided your children are careful to walk in my law, as you have walked before me.'
  17. 17So now, LORD, God of Israel, let the word you spoke to your servant David come true.
  18. 18"But will God really live with people on earth? Even heaven — the highest heavens — cannot contain you. How much less this house I have built!
  19. 19Yet please pay attention to your servant's prayer and plea, LORD my God. Hear the cry and the prayer your servant is praying before you.
  20. 20Let your eyes be open toward this house day and night — this place where you said you would put your name — and listen to the prayer your servant offers toward this place.
  21. 21Hear the prayers of your servant and your people Israel when they pray toward this place. Hear from heaven, your dwelling place, and when you hear, forgive.
  22. 22"When someone sins against another person and is required to take an oath, and that person comes and swears before your altar in this house —
  23. 23Then hear from heaven, act, and judge your 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.
  24. 24"When your people Israel are defeated by an enemy because they have sinned against you, and then they turn back, confess your name, and pray and plead before you in this house —
  25. 25then hear from heaven, forgive the sin of your people Israel, and bring them back to the land you gave to them and their ancestors.
  26. 26"When the sky is shut and there is no rain because they have sinned against you, and then they pray toward this place, confess your name, and turn from their sin because you have humbled them —
  27. 27then hear from heaven and forgive the sin of your servants, your people Israel. Teach them the right way to live, and send rain on the land you gave your people as their inheritance.
  28. 28"When there is famine in the land, or plague, or crop disease, or mildew, or swarms of locusts or caterpillars — or when enemies lay siege to any of their cities — whatever disaster or sickness strikes —
  29. 29then whatever prayer or plea is made by any person or by all your people Israel — each one aware of their own suffering and grief — when they stretch out their hands toward this house,
  30. 30hear from heaven, your dwelling place. Forgive, and deal with each person according to all their ways, since you know their heart. You alone know the hearts of the children of men.
  31. 31Do this so they will fear you and walk in your ways for as long as they live in the land you gave our ancestors.
  32. 32"As for the foreigner who doesn't belong to your people Israel but has come from a distant land because of your great name, your mighty hand, and your outstretched arm — when they come and pray toward this house,
  33. 33hear from heaven, your dwelling place, and do whatever the foreigner asks of you. Do this so that all the peoples of the earth may know your name and fear you, just as your people Israel do, and so they may know that this house I have built bears your name.
  34. 34"When your people go out to war against their enemies, wherever you send them, and they pray to you facing this city you have chosen and the house I have built for your name —
  35. 35then hear their prayer and their plea from heaven, and uphold their cause.
  36. 36"When they sin against you — and there is no one who doesn't sin — and you become angry with them and hand them over to their enemies, who carry them away as captives to a land far or near,
  37. 37and if they come to their senses in the land where they are held captive, and they repent and cry out to you saying, 'We have sinned, we have done wrong, we have been wicked' —
  38. 38if they return to you with all their heart and soul in the land of their captivity, and pray facing the land you gave their ancestors, facing the city you have chosen, and facing the house I have built for your name —
  39. 39then hear from heaven, your dwelling place, hear their prayer and their pleas, uphold their cause, and forgive your people who have sinned against you.
  40. 40"Now, my God, I beg you — let your eyes be open and your ears attentive to every prayer made in this place.
  41. 41Rise up now, LORD God, and come to your resting place — you and the ark of your strength. Let your priests, LORD God, be clothed with salvation, and let your faithful people rejoice in your goodness.
  42. 42O LORD God, do not turn away from your anointed one. Remember the mercies of your servant David.
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