18. The Lord told my father David, ‘It is right for you to have a strong desire to build a temple to honor me.
19. But you will not build the temple; your very own son will build the temple for my honor.’
20. 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
21. and set up in it a place for the ark containing the covenant the Lord made with our ancestors when he brought them out of the land of Egypt.”
22. Solomon stood before the altar of the Lord in front of the entire assembly of Israel and spread out his hands toward the sky.
23. He prayed: “O Lord, God of Israel, there is no god like you in heaven above or on earth below! You maintain covenantal loyalty to your servants who obey you with sincerity.
24. You have kept your word to your servant, my father David; this very day you have fulfilled what you promised.
25. 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 serve me as you have done.’
26. Now, O God of Israel, may the promise you made to your servant, my father David, be realized.
27. “God does not really live on the earth! Look, if the sky and the highest heaven cannot contain you, how much less this temple I have built!
28. 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 today.
29. Night and day may you watch over this temple, the place where you promised you would live. May you answer your servant’s prayer for this place.
30. Respond to the request of your servant and your people Israel for this place. Hear from inside your heavenly dwelling place and respond favorably.
31. “When someone is accused of sinning against his neighbor and the latter pronounces a curse on the alleged offender before your altar in this temple, be willing to forgive the accused if the accusation is false.
32. Listen from heaven and make a just decision about your servants’ claims. Condemn the guilty party, declare the other innocent, and give both of them what they deserve.
33. “The time will come when your people Israel are defeated by an enemy because they sinned against you. If they come back to you, renew their allegiance to you, and pray for your help in this temple,
34. then listen from heaven, forgive the sin of your people Israel, and bring them back to the land you gave to their ancestors.
35. “The time will come when the skies are shut up tightly and no rain falls because your people sinned against you. When they direct their prayers toward this place, renew their allegiance to you, and turn away from their sin because you punish them,
36. then listen from heaven and forgive the sin of your servants, your people Israel. Certainly you will then teach them the right way to live and send rain on your land that you have given your people to possess.