12 And he stood before the altar of Jehovah in the presence of the whole congregation of Israel, and spread forth his hands. 13 For Solomon had made a platform of bronze, five cubits long, and five cubits broad, and three cubits high, and had set it in the midst of the court; and upon it he stood, and he kneeled down on his knees before the whole congregation of Israel, and spread forth his hands toward the heavens, 14 and said, Jehovah, God of Israel! there is no God like thee, in the heavens or on the earth, who keepest covenant and mercy with thy servants that walk before thee with all their heart; 15 who hast kept with thy servant David my father that which thou didst promise him; thou spokest with thy mouth, and hast fulfilled [it] with thy hand as at this day. 16 And now, Jehovah, God of Israel, keep with thy servant David my father that which thou hast promised him saying, There shall not fail thee a man in my sight to sit on the throne of Israel, if only thy sons take heed to their way to walk in my law, as thou hast walked before me. 17 And now, Jehovah, God of Israel, let thy word be verified which thou hast spoken unto thy servant David. 18 But will God indeed dwell with man on the earth? behold, the heavens and the heaven of heavens cannot contain thee; how much less this house which I have built! 19 Yet have respect unto the prayer of thy servant, and to his supplication, Jehovah, my God, to hearken unto the cry and to the prayer which thy servant prayeth before thee; 20 that thine eyes may be open upon this house day and night, upon the place in which thou hast said thou wouldest put thy name: to hearken unto the prayer which thy servant prayeth toward this place. 21 And hearken unto the supplications of thy servant, and of thy people Israel, which they shall pray toward this place, and hear thou from thy dwelling-place, from the heavens, and when thou hearest, forgive. 22 If a man have sinned against his neighbour, and an oath be laid upon him to adjure him, and the oath come before thine altar in this house; 23 then hear thou from the heavens, and do, and judge thy servants, requiting the wicked, to bring his way upon his own head; and justifying the righteous, giving him according to his righteousness. 24 And if thy people Israel be put to the worse before the enemy, because they have sinned against thee, and shall turn again and confess thy name, and pray, and make supplication before thee in this house; 25 then hear thou from the heavens, and forgive the sin of thy people Israel, and bring them again unto the land that thou gavest to them and to their fathers. 26 When the heavens are shut up, and there is no rain, because they have sinned against thee; if they pray toward this place, and confess thy name, and turn from their sin, because thou hast afflicted them; 27 then hear thou in the heavens, and forgive the sin of thy servants, and of thy people Israel, when thou teachest them the good way wherein they should walk; and give rain upon thy land, which thou hast given to thy people for an inheritance. 28 If there be famine in the land, if there be pestilence, if there be blight or mildew, locust or caterpillar; if their enemies besiege them in the land of their gates; whatever plague or whatever sickness there be: 29 what prayer, what supplication soever be made by any man, or by all thy people Israel, when they shall know every man his own plague, and his own grief, and shall spread forth his hands toward this house; 30 then hear thou from the heavens, the settled place of thy dwelling, and forgive, and render unto every man according to all his ways, whose heart thou knowest (for thou, thou only, knowest the hearts of the children of men), 31 that they may fear thee, to walk in thy ways, all the days that they live upon the land which thou gavest unto our fathers. 32 And as to the stranger also, who is not of thy people Israel, but cometh out of a far country for thy great name's sake, and thy mighty hand and thy stretched-out arm; when they shall come and pray toward this house, 33 then hear thou from the heavens, the settled place of thy dwelling, and do according to all that the stranger calleth to thee for; in order that all peoples of the earth may know thy name, and may fear thee as do thy people Israel, and may know that this house which I have built is called by thy name. 34 If thy people go out to battle against their enemies by the way that thou shalt send them, and they pray unto thee toward this city that thou hast chosen, and the house that I have built unto thy name; 35 then hear thou from the heavens their prayer and their supplication, and maintain their right. 36 If they have sinned against thee (for there is no man that sinneth not), and thou be angry with them, and give them up to the enemy, and they have carried them away captives unto a land far off or near; 37 and if they shall take it to heart in the land whither they were carried captive, and repent, and make supplication unto thee in the land of their captivity, saying, We have sinned, we have done iniquity and have dealt perversely; 38 and if they return unto thee with all their heart and with all their soul in the land of their captivity, whither they have carried them captives, and pray toward their land which thou gavest unto their fathers, and the city that thou hast chosen, and the house that I have built unto thy name; 39 then hear thou from the heavens, from the settled place of thy dwelling, their prayer and their supplications, and maintain their right, and forgive thy people their sin against thee. 40 Now, my God, I beseech thee, let thine eyes be open and let thine ears be attentive unto the prayer [that is made] in this place. 41 And now, arise, Jehovah Elohim, into thy resting-place, thou and the ark of thy strength: let thy priests, Jehovah Elohim, be clothed with salvation, and let thy saints rejoice in [thy] goodness. 42 Jehovah Elohim, turn not away the face of thine anointed: remember mercies to David thy servant.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on 2 Chronicles 6:12-42
Chapter Contents
Solomon's prayer at the dedication of the temple.
The order of Solomon's prayer is to be observed. First and chiefly, he prays for repentance and forgiveness, which is the chief blessing, and the only solid foundation of other mercies: he then prays for temporal mercies; thereby teaching us what things to mind and desire most in our prayers. This also Christ hath taught us in his perfect pattern and form of prayer, where there is but one prayer for outward, and all the rest are for spiritual blessings. The temple typified the human nature of Christ, in whom dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. The ark typified his obedience and sufferings, by which repenting sinners have access to a reconciled God, and communion with him. Jehovah has made our nature his resting-place for ever, in the person of Emmanuel, and through him he dwells with, and delights in his church of redeemed sinners. May our hearts become his resting-place; may Christ dwell therein by faith, consecrating them as his temples, and shedding abroad his love therein. May the Father look upon us in and through his Anointed; and may he remember and bless us in all things, according to his mercy to sinners, in and through Christ.