1. THEN SOLOMON said, The Lord has said that He would dwell in the thick darkness;
2. I have built You a house, [in which the dark Holy of Holies seems] a [fitting] abode for You, a place for You to dwell in forever.
3. And the king turned his face and blessed all the assembly of Israel, and they all stood.
4. And he said, Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, Who has fulfilled with His hands what He promised with His mouth to David my father, saying,
5. Since the day that I brought My people out of the land of Egypt, I chose no city among all the tribes of Israel to build a house in, that My Name might be there, neither chose I any man to be a ruler over My people Israel;
6. But I have chosen Jerusalem, that My Name [and the symbol of My presence] might be there, and I have chosen David to be over My people Israel.
7. Now it was in the heart of David my father to build a house for the Name and renown of the Lord, the God of Israel.
8. But the Lord said to David my father, Since it was in your heart to build a house for My Name and renown, you did well that it was in your heart.
9. Yet you shall not build the house, but your son, who shall be born to you–he shall build the house for My Name.
10. The Lord therefore has performed His word that He has spoken, for I have risen up in the place of David my father and sit on the throne of Israel, as the Lord promised, and have built the house for the Name of the Lord, the God of Israel.
11. In it have I put the ark [the symbol of His presence], in which is the covenant of the Lord [the Ten Commandments] which He made with the people of Israel.
12. And Solomon stood before the altar of the Lord in the presence of all the assembly of Israel and spread forth his hands.
13. For he had made a bronze scaffold, five cubits square and three cubits high, and had set it in the midst of the court; upon it he stood, and he knelt upon his knees before all the assembly of Israel and spread forth his hands toward heaven,
14. And said, O Lord, God of Israel, there is no God like You in the heavens or in the earth, keeping covenant and showing mercy and loving-kindness to Your servants who walk before You with all their hearts,
15. You Who have kept Your promises to my father David and fulfilled with Your hand what You spoke with Your mouth, as it is today.
16. Now therefore, O Lord, God of Israel, keep with Your servant David my father that which You promised him, saying, There shall not fail a man in My sight to sit on the throne of Israel, provided your children are careful to walk in My law as you, David, have walked before Me.