If My People Pray

11 ^dThus Solomon finished the house of the Lord and the king’s house. All that Solomon had planned to do in the house of the Lord and in his own house he successfully accomplished. 12 Then the Lord appeared to Solomon in the night and said to him: “I have heard your prayer ^eand have chosen this place for myself as a house of sacrifice. 13 ^fWhen I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command the locust to devour the land, or send pestilence among my people, 14 if my people who are called by my name ^ghumble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land. 15 ^hNow my eyes will be open and my ears attentive to the prayer that is made in this place. 16 ^eFor now I have chosen and consecrated this house that my name may be there forever. My eyes and my heart will be there for all time. 17 And as for you, if you will walk before me as David your father walked, doing according to all that I have commanded you and keeping my statutes and my rules, 18 then I will establish your royal throne, as I covenanted with David your father, saying, ⁱ‘You shall not lack a man to rule Israel.’

19 ^j“But if you¹ turn aside and forsake my statutes and my commandments that I have set before you, and go and serve other gods and worship them, 20 ^kthen I will pluck you² up from my land that I have given you, and this house that I have consecrated for my name, I will cast out of my sight, and I will make it ^la proverb and a byword among all peoples. 21 And at this house, which was exalted, everyone passing by will be astonished and say, ^m‘Why has the Lord done thus to this land and to this house?’ 22 Then they will say, ‘Because they abandoned the Lord, the God of their fathers who brought them out of the land of Egypt, and laid hold on other gods and worshiped them and served them. Therefore he has brought all this disaster on them.’”

The Lord Appears to Solomon

1 ^jAs soon as Solomon had finished building the house of the Lord ^kand the king’s house and ^lall that Solomon desired to build, 2 ^mthe Lord appeared to Solomon a second time, as he had appeared to him at Gibeon. 3 And the Lord said to him, “I have heard your prayer and your plea, which you have made before me. I have consecrated this house that you have built, ⁿby putting my name there forever. ^oMy eyes and my heart will be there for all time. 4 And as for you, if you will ^pwalk before me, ^qas David your father walked, with integrity of heart and uprightness, doing according to all that I have commanded you, and keeping my statutes and my rules, 5 ^rthen I will establish your royal throne over Israel forever, as I promised David your father, saying, ‘You shall not lack a man on the throne of Israel.’ 6 ^sBut if you turn aside from following me, you or your children, and do not keep my commandments and my statutes that I have set before you, but go and serve other gods and worship them, 7 ^tthen I will cut off Israel from the land that I have given them, ^uand the house that I have consecrated for my name I will cast out of my sight, ^vand Israel will become a proverb and a byword among all peoples. 8 And this house will become a heap of ruins.¹ Everyone passing by it will be astonished and will hiss, and they will say, ^w‘Why has the Lord done thus to this land and to this house?’ 9 Then they will say, ‘Because ^xthey abandoned the Lord their God who brought their fathers out of the land of Egypt and laid hold on other gods and worshiped them and served them. Therefore the Lord has brought all this disaster on them.’”