2 Chronicles 6

SOLOMON’S DEDICATION OF THE TEMPLE
Then Solomon said:

The Lord said he would dwell in total darkness,

2 but I have built an exalted temple for you,

a place for your dwelling forever.

3 Then the king turned and blessed the entire congregation of Israel while they were standing. 4 He said:

Blessed be the Lord God of Israel!

He spoke directly to my father David,

and he has fulfilled the promise

by his power.

He said,

5 “Since the day I brought my people Israel

out of the land of Egypt,

I have not chosen a city to build a temple in

among any of the tribes of Israel,

so that my name would be there,

and I have not chosen a man

to be ruler over my people Israel.

6 But I have chosen Jerusalem

so that my name will be there,

and I have chosen David

to be over my people Israel.”

7 My father David had his heart set

on building a temple for the name of the Lord, the God of Israel.

8 However, the Lord said to my father David,

“Since it was your desire to build a temple for my name,

you have done well to have this desire.

9 Yet, you are not the one to build the temple,

but your son, your own offspring,

will build the temple for my name.”

10 So the Lord has fulfilled what he promised.

I have taken the place of my father David

and I sit on the throne of Israel, as the Lord promised.

I have built the temple for the name of the Lord, the God of Israel.

11 I have put the ark there,

where the Lord’s covenant is

that he made with the Israelites.

SOLOMON’S PRAYER
12 Then Solomon stood before the altar of the Lord in front of the entire congregation of Israel and spread out his hands. 13 For Solomon had made a bronze platform 7 1/2 feet long, 7 1/2 feet wide, and 4 1/2 feet high and put it in the court. He stood on it, knelt down in front of the entire congregation of Israel, and spread out his hands toward heaven. 14 He said:

Lord God of Israel,

there is no God like you

in heaven or on earth,

who keeps his gracious covenant

with your servants who walk before you

with all their heart.

15 You have kept what you promised

to your servant, my father David.

You spoke directly to him,

and you fulfilled your promise by your power,

as it is today.

16 Therefore, Lord God of Israel,

keep what you promised

to your servant, my father David:

“You will never fail to have a man

to sit before me on the throne of Israel,

if only your sons take care to walk in my Law

as you have walked before me.”

17 Now, Lord God of Israel, please confirm

what you promised to your servant David.

18 But will God indeed live on earth with humans?

Even heaven, the highest heaven, cannot contain you,

much less this temple I have built.

19 Listen to your servant’s prayer and his petition,

Lord my God,

so that you may hear the cry and the prayer

that your servant prays before you,

20 so that your eyes watch over this temple

day and night,

toward the place where you said

you would put your name;

and so that you may hear the prayer

your servant prays toward this place.

21 Hear the petitions of your servant

and your people Israel,

which they pray toward this place.

May you hear in your dwelling place in heaven.

May you hear and forgive.

22 If a man sins against his neighbor

and is forced to take an oath

and he comes to take an oath

before your altar in this temple,

23 may you hear in heaven and act.

May you judge your servants,

condemning the wicked man by bringing

what he has done on his own head

and providing justice for the righteous

by rewarding him according to his righteousness.

24 If your people Israel are defeated before an enemy,

because they have sinned against you,

and they return to you and praise your name,

and they pray and plead for mercy

before you in this temple,

25 may you hear in heaven

and forgive the sin of your people Israel.

May you restore them to the land

you gave them and their ancestors.

26 When the skies are shut and there is no rain

because they have sinned against you,

and they pray toward this place

and praise your name,

and they turn from their sins

because you are afflicting them,

27 may you hear in heaven

and forgive the sin of your servants

and your people Israel,

so that you may teach them the good way

they should walk in.

May you send rain on your land

that you gave your people for an inheritance.

28 When there is famine in the land,

when there is pestilence,

when there is blight or mildew, locust or grasshopper,

when their enemies besiege them

in the land and its cities,

when there is any plague or illness,

29 every prayer or petition

that any person or that all your people Israel may have —

they each know their own affliction and suffering —

as they spread out their hands toward this temple,

30 may you hear in heaven, your dwelling place,

and may you forgive and give to everyone

according to all their ways, since you know each heart,

for you alone know the human heart,

31 so that they may fear you

and walk in your ways

all the days they live on the land

you gave our ancestors.

32 Even for the foreigner who is not of your people Israel

but has come from a distant land

because of your great name

and your strong hand and outstretched arm:

when he comes and prays toward this temple,

33 may you hear in heaven in your dwelling place,

and do all the foreigner asks you.

Then all the peoples of the earth will know your name,

to fear you as your people Israel do

and know that this temple I have built

bears your name.

34 When your people go out to fight against their enemies,

wherever you send them,

and they pray to you

in the direction of this city you have chosen

and the temple that I have built for your name,

35 may you hear their prayer and petition in heaven

and uphold their cause.

36 When they sin against you —

for there is no one who does not sin —

and you are angry with them

and hand them over to the enemy,

and their captors deport them

to a distant or nearby country,

37 and when they come to their senses

in the land where they were deported

and repent and petition you in their captors’ land,

saying, “We have sinned and done wrong;

we have been wicked,”

38 and when they return to you with all their mind and all their heart

in the land of their captivity where they were taken captive,

and when they pray in the direction of their land

that you gave their ancestors,

and the city you have chosen,

and toward the temple I have built for your name,

39 may you hear their prayer and petitions in heaven,

your dwelling place,

and uphold their cause.

May you forgive your people

who sinned against you.

40 Now, my God,

please let your eyes be open

and your ears attentive

to the prayer of this place.

41 Now therefore:

Arise, Lord God, come to your resting place,
you and your powerful ark.
May your priests, Lord God, be clothed with salvation,
and may your faithful people rejoice in goodness.
42 Lord God, do not reject your anointed one;
remember your servant David’s acts of faithful love.

1 John 5

Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the Father also loves the one born of him.
2 This is how we know that we love God’s children: when we love God and obey his commands. 3 For this is what love for God is: to keep his commands. And his commands are not a burden, 4 because everyone who has been born of God conquers the world. This is the victory that has conquered the world: our faith.

THE CERTAINTY OF GOD’S TESTIMONY
5 Who is the one who conquers the world but the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God? 6 Jesus Christ ​— ​he is the one who came by water and blood, not by water only, but by water and by blood. And the Spirit is the one who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth. 7 For there are three that testify: 8 the Spirit, the water, and the blood ​— ​and these three are in agreement. 9 If we accept human testimony, God’s testimony is greater, because it is God’s testimony that he has given about his Son. 10 The one who believes in the Son of God has this testimony within himself. The one who does not believe God has made him a liar, because he has not believed in the testimony God has given about his Son. 11 And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. 12 The one who has the Son has life. The one who does not have the Son of God does not have life. 13 I have written these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life.

EFFECTIVE PRAYER
14 This is the confidence we have before him: If we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. 15 And if we know that he hears whatever we ask, we know that we have what we have asked of him.

16 If anyone sees a fellow believer committing a sin that doesn’t lead to death, he should ask, and God will give life to him ​— ​to those who commit sin that doesn’t lead to death. There is sin that leads to death. I am not saying he should pray about that. 17 All unrighteousness is sin, and there is sin that doesn’t lead to death.

CONCLUSION
18 We know that everyone who has been born of God does not sin, but the one who is born of God keeps him, and the evil one does not touch him. 19 We know that we are of God, and the whole world is under the sway of the evil one. 20 And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding so that we may know the true one. We are in the true one ​— ​that is, in his Son, Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life.

21 Little children, guard yourselves from idols.

Habakkuk 1

The pronouncement that the prophet Habakkuk saw.

HABAKKUK’S FIRST PRAYER
2 How long, Lord, must I call for help
and you do not listen
or cry out to you about violence
and you do not save?
3 Why do you force me to look at injustice?
Why do you tolerate wrongdoing?
Oppression and violence are right in front of me.
Strife is ongoing, and conflict escalates.
4 This is why the law is ineffective
and justice never emerges.
For the wicked restrict the righteous;
therefore, justice comes out perverted.
GOD’S FIRST ANSWER
5 Look at the nations and observe —
be utterly astounded!
For I am doing something in your days
that you will not believe
when you hear about it.
6 Look! I am raising up the Chaldeans,
that bitter, impetuous nation
that marches across the earth’s open spaces
to seize territories not its own.
7 They are fierce and terrifying;
their views of justice and sovereignty
stem from themselves.
8 Their horses are swifter than leopards
and more fierce than wolves of the night.
Their horsemen charge ahead;
their horsemen come from distant lands.
They fly like eagles, swooping to devour.
9 All of them come to do violence;
their faces are set in determination.
They gather prisoners like sand.
10 They mock kings,
and rulers are a joke to them.
They laugh at every fortress
and build siege ramps to capture it.
11 Then they sweep by like the wind
and pass through.
They are guilty; their strength is their god.
HABAKKUK’S SECOND PRAYER
12 Are you not from eternity, Lord my God?
My Holy One, you will not die.
Lord, you appointed them to execute judgment;
my Rock, you destined them to punish us.
13 Your eyes are too pure to look on evil,
and you cannot tolerate wrongdoing.
So why do you tolerate those who are treacherous?
Why are you silent
while one who is wicked swallows up
one who is more righteous than himself?
14 You have made mankind
like the fish of the sea,
like marine creatures that have no ruler.
15 The Chaldeans pull them all up with a hook,
catch them in their dragnet,
and gather them in their fishing net;
that is why they are glad and rejoice.
16 That is why they sacrifice to their dragnet
and burn incense to their fishing net,
for by these things their portion is rich
and their food plentiful.
17 Will they therefore empty their net
and continually slaughter nations without mercy?

Psalm 116

THANKS TO GOD FOR DELIVERANCE
Ilove the Lord because he has heard
my appeal for mercy.
2 Because he has turned his ear to me,
I will call out to him as long as I live.
3 The ropes of death were wrapped around me,
and the torments of Sheol overcame me;
I encountered trouble and sorrow.
4 Then I called on the name of the Lord:
“Lord, save me! ”
5 The Lord is gracious and righteous;
our God is compassionate.
6 The Lord guards the inexperienced;
I was helpless, and he saved me.
7 Return to your rest, my soul,
for the Lord has been good to you.
8 For you, Lord, rescued me from death,
my eyes from tears,
my feet from stumbling.
9 I will walk before the Lord
in the land of the living.
10 I believed, even when I said,
“I am severely oppressed.”
11 In my alarm I said,
“Everyone is a liar.”
12 How can I repay the Lord
for all the good he has done for me?
13 I will take the cup of salvation
and call on the name of the Lord.
14 I will fulfill my vows to the Lord
in the presence of all his people.
15 The death of his faithful ones
is valuable in the Lord’s sight.
16 Lord, I am indeed your servant;
I am your servant, the son of your female servant.
You have loosened my bonds.
17 I will offer you a thanksgiving sacrifice
and call on the name of the Lord.
18 I will fulfill my vows to the Lord
in the presence of all his people,
19 in the courts of the Lord’s house —
within you, Jerusalem.
Hallelujah!

— 2 Chronicles 6, 1 John 5, Habakkuk 1, Psalm 116 (CSB)