2 Chronicles 6:3-11

Contemporary English Version

Solomon Speaks to the People

(1 Kings 8.14-21)

³ Solomon turned toward the people standing there. Then he blessed them ^4-6 (A) and said:

Praise the Lord God of Israel! He brought his people out of Egypt long ago and later kept his promise to make my father David the king of Israel. The Lord also promised him that Jerusalem would be the city where his temple will be built, and now that promise has come true.

⁷ When my father wanted to build a temple for the Lord God of Israel, ⁸ the Lord said, “It's good that you want to build a temple where I can be worshiped. ⁹ But you're not the one to do it. Your son will build the temple to honor me.”

¹⁰ The Lord has done what he promised. I am now the king of Israel, and I've built a temple for the Lord our God. ¹¹ I've also put the sacred chest in the temple. And in that chest are the two flat stones on which is written the solemn agreement the Lord made with our ancestors when he rescued them from Egypt.