King James Version · The united kingdom
2 Chronicles 6
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Then said , hath said that he would in the thick . But I have built an house of habitation for thee, and a place for thy dwelling for ever. And the king turned , and the whole of Israel: and all of Israel stood. And he said, be of Israel, who hath with his hands fulfilled that which he spake with his to , saying, Since the day that I brought forth my people out of the land of I chose no city among all the tribes of Israel to build an house in, that my name might be there; neither chose I any man to be a ruler over my people Israel: But I have chosen , that my name might be there; and have chosen to be over my people Israel. Now it was in of to build an house for the name of of Israel. But said to , Forasmuch as it was in thine to build an house for my name, thou didst well in that it was in thine : Notwithstanding thou shalt not build the house; but thy son which shall come forth out of thy loins, he shall build the house for my name. therefore hath performed his word that he hath spoken: for I am up in the room of , and am set on of Israel, as promised, and have built the house for the name of of Israel. And in it have I put the ark, wherein is of , that he made with the . And he stood before the of in the of all of Israel, and spread forth his hands: For had made a brasen scaffold, of five long, and five broad, and three high, and had set it in the midst of the court: and upon it he stood, and kneeled down upon his knees before all of Israel, and spread forth his hands toward , And said, O of Israel, there is no like thee in the , nor in the earth; which keepest , and shewest mercy unto thy servants, that walk before thee with all their : Thou which hast kept with thy servant that which thou hast promised him; and spakest with thy , and hast fulfilled it with thine hand, as it is this day. Now therefore, O of Israel, keep with thy servant that which thou hast promised him, saying, There shall not fail thee a man in my sight to sit upon of Israel; yet so that thy children take heed to their way to walk in , as thou hast walked before me. Now then, O of Israel, let thy word be verified, which thou hast spoken unto thy servant . But will in very deed with men on the earth? behold, and the cannot contain thee; how much less this house which I have built! Have respect therefore to the of thy servant, and to his , O my , to unto the cry and the which thy servant prayeth before thee: That thine eyes may be open upon this house day and night, upon the place whereof thou hast said that thou wouldest put thy name there; to unto the which thy servant prayeth toward this place. therefore unto the supplications of thy servant, and of thy people Israel, which they shall make toward this place: hear thou from thy , even from ; and when thou hearest, forgive. If a man against his neighbour, and an be laid upon him to make him , and the come before thine in this house; Then hear thou from , and do, and judge thy servants, by requiting , by recompensing his way upon his own head; and by justifying , by giving him according to his . And if thy people Israel be put to the worse before , because they have against thee; and shall return and thy name, and and make before thee in this house; Then hear thou from , and forgive the of thy people Israel, and bring them again unto the land which thou gavest to them and to their fathers. When the is shut up, and there is no , because they have against thee; yet if they toward this place, and thy name, and turn from their , when thou dost afflict them; Then hear thou from , and forgive the of thy servants, and of thy people Israel, when thou hast taught them the good way, wherein they should walk; and send upon thy land, which thou hast given unto thy people for an . If there be dearth in the land, if there be pestilence, if there be blasting, or mildew, , or caterpillers; if their besiege them in the cities of their land; whatsoever sore or whatsoever sickness there be: Then what or what soever shall be made of any man, or of all thy people Israel, when every one shall know his own sore and his own grief, and shall spread forth his hands in this house: Then hear thou from thy , and forgive, and render unto every man according unto all his ways, whose thou knowest; (for thou only knowest the of the children of men:) That they may fear thee, to walk in thy ways, so long as they live in the land which thou gavest unto our fathers. Moreover concerning the , which is not of thy people Israel, but is come from a far country for thy great name’s sake, and thy mighty hand, and thy stretched out arm; if they come and in this house; Then hear thou from , even from thy , and do according to all that the calleth to thee for; that all people of the earth may know thy name, and fear thee, as doth thy people Israel, and may know that this house which I have built is called by thy name. If thy people go out to war against their by that thou shalt send them, and they unto thee toward this city which thou hast chosen, and the house which I have built for thy name; Then hear thou from their and their , and maintain their cause. If they against thee, (for there is no man which sinneth not,) and thou be angry with them, and them over before their , and they carry them away unto a land far off or near; Yet if they bethink themselves in the land whither they are carried , and turn and unto thee in the land of their , saying, We have , we have done amiss, and have dealt wickedly; If they return to thee with all their and with all their in the land of their , whither they have carried them , and toward their land, which thou gavest unto their fathers, and toward the city which thou hast chosen, and toward the house which I have built for thy name: Then hear thou from , even from thy , their and their supplications, and maintain their cause, and forgive thy people which have against thee. Now, my , let, I beseech thee, thine eyes be open, and let thine ears be attent unto the that is made in this place. Now therefore arise, O , into thy , thou, and the ark of thy strength: let thy priests, O , be clothed with , and let thy rejoice in goodness. O , turn not away the of thine : remember the of thy servant.
The 1611 translation, public domain. Its original printing included the Apocrypha, which is why the deuterocanonical books can be read here. Notes and cards are EKLI’s own.
The world at this moment · The united kingdom, 1050 BC to 931 BC ›
Saul, David, and Solomon. A rare window when both Egypt and Mesopotamia are weak, which is how a small kingdom in the corridor between them could briefly become a regional power.
- The power vacuum
- This is the whole political explanation for the united kingdom. Egypt is fragmented, Assyria is recovering but still local, the Hittites are gone, and nobody is in a position to object to a strong state in the corridor. It lasts about a century, and Israel's golden age fits exactly inside it.
- Phoenicia
- Tyre under Hiram is the commercial power of the coast, and supplies the cedar, the craftsmen, and the shipping for Solomon's building programme. The alliance is trade, not charity: Israel had grain and a land route, Tyre had timber and ships.
- Egypt
- Weak enough that a pharaoh gives a daughter in marriage to an Israelite king, which is the opposite of Egyptian practice in stronger centuries. Late in the era it recovers under a new house, and Shishak will invade within five years of Solomon's death.
- Further afield
- Greece is still in its dark age but beginning to recover, and will adopt the Phoenician alphabet within a century or two. Carthage is founded by settlers from Tyre by tradition in 814 BC. In the Americas the Olmec centre shifts to La Venta.