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sacrificing sheep and oxen, that could not be told nor numbered for multitude.

6 And the priests brought in the ark of the covenant of the Lord unto his place into the oracle of the house, to the most holy place, even under the wings of the cherubim.

7 There was nothing in the ark save the two tables of stone which Moses put there at Horeb, when the Lord made a covenant with the children of Israel, when they came out of the land of Egypt.

8 And it came to pass as the trumpeters and singers were as one, to make one sound to be heard in praising and thanking the Lord, and when they lifted up their voice with the trumpets and cymbals and instruments of music, and praised the Lord, saying, For he is good; for his mercy endureth for ever; that then the house was filled with a cloud, even the house of the Lord;

9 So that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud for the glory of the Lord had filled the house of the Lord.

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10 Then spake Solomon: The Lord said that he would dwell in the thick darkness.

11 I have surely built thee an house to dwell in, a settled place for thee to abide in for ever.

12 And the king turned his face about, and blessed all the congregation of Israel: (and all the congregation of Israel stood;)

13 And he said, Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, which

spake with his mouth unto David my father, and hath with his hand fulfilled it, saying,

14 Since the day that I brought forth my people Israel out of Egypt, I chose no city out of all the tribes of Israel to build an house, that my name might be therein; but I chose David to be over my people Israel.

15 And it was in the heart of David my father to build an house for the name of the Lord God of Israel.

16 And the Lord said unto David my father, Whereas it was in thine heart to build an house unto my name, thou didst well that it was in thine heart.

17 Nevertheless thou shalt not build the house; but thy son that shall come forth out of thy loins, he shall build the house unto my name.

18 And the Lord hath performed his word that he spake, and I am risen up in the room of David my father, and sit on the throne of Israel, as the Lord promised, and have built an house for the name of the Lord God of Israel.

19 And I have set there a place for the ark, wherein is the covenant of the Lord, which he made with our fathers, when he brought them out of the land of Egypt.

¶20 And Solomon stood before the altar of the Lord in the presence of all the congregation of Israel, and spread forth his hands toward heaven:

21 And he said, Lord God of Israel, there is no God like thee, in heaven above, or on

earth beneath, who keepest covenant and mercy with thy servants that walk before thee with all their heart:

22 Who hast kept with thy servant David my father that thou promisedst him: thou spakest also with thy mouth, and hast fulfilled it with thine hand, as it is this day.

23 Therefore now, Lord God of Israel, keep with thy servant David my father that thou promisedst him, saying, There shall not fail thee a man in my sight to sit on the throne of Israel; so that thy children take heed to their way, that they walk before me as thou hast walked before me.

24 And now, O God of Israel, let thy word, I pray thee, be verified, which thou spakest unto thy servant David, my father.

25 But will God indeed dwell on the earth? behold, the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain thee; how much less this house that I have builded?

26 Yet have thou respect unto the prayer of thy servant, and to his supplication, O Lord my God, to hearken unto the cry and to the prayer, which thy servant prayeth before thee to-day :

27 That thine eyes may be open toward this house night and day, even toward the place of which thou hast said; My name shall be there: that thou mayest hearken unto the prayer which thy servant shall make toward this place.

28 And hearken thou to the supplication of thy servant, and of thy people Israel, when they shall pray toward this place: and hear thou in heaven thy dwelling-place; and when thou hearest, forgive.

29 If any man trespass against his neighbour, and an oath be laid upon him to cause him to swear, and the oath come before thine altar in this house :

30 Then hear thou in heaven, and do, and judge thy servants, condemning the wicked, to bring his way upon his head; and justifying the righteous, to give him according to his righteous

ness.

¶ 31 When thy people Israel be smitten down before the enemy, because they have sinned against thee, and shall turn again to thee, and confess thy name, and pray and make supplication unto thee in this house:

32 Then hear thou in heaven, and forgive the sin of thy people Israel, and bring them again unto the land which thou gavest unto their fathers.

¶ 33 When heaven is 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, when thou afflictest them :

34 Then hear thou in heaven, and forgive the sin of thy servants, and of thy people Israel, that thou teach them the good way wherein they should walk, and give rain upon thy land, which thou hast given to thy people for an inheritance.

35 If there be in the land famine, if there be pestilence, blasting, mildew, locust, or if there be caterpillar; if their enemy besiege them in the land of their cities; whatsoever plague, whatsoever sickness there be; 36 What prayer and supplication soever be made by any man, or by all thy people Israel, which shall know every man the plague of his own heart, and spread forth his hands toward this house:

37 Then hear thou in heaven thy dwelling-place, and forgive, and do, and give to every man according to his ways, whose heart thou knowest; (for thou, even thou only, knowest the hearts of all the children of men ;)

38 That they may fear thee all the days that they live in the land which thou gavest unto our fathers.

39 Moreover concerning a stranger that is not of thy people Israel, but cometh out of a far country for thy name's sake;

40 (For they shall hear of thy great name, and of thy strong hand, and of thy stretched-out arm;) when he shall come and pray toward this house;

41 Hear thou in heaven thy dwelling-place, and do according to all that the stranger calleth to thee for: that all people of the earth may know thy name, to fear thee, as do thy people Israel; and that they may know that this house, which I have builded, is called by thy name.

42 If thy people go out to battle against their enemy, whithersoever thou shalt send them, and shall pray unto the Lord toward the city which thou hast chosen, and toward the house that I have built for thy name;

43 Then hear thou in heaven their prayer and their supplication, and maintain their cause.

44 If they sin against thee, (for there is no man that sinneth not,) and thou be angry with them, and deliver them to the enemy, so that they carry them away captives unto the land of the enemy, far or near;

45 Yet if they shall bethink themselves in the land whither they were carried captives, and repent, and make supplication unto thee in the land of them that carried them captives, saying, We have sinned, and have done perversely, we have committed wickedness;

46 And so return unto thee with all their heart, and with all their soul, in the land of their enemies which led them away captive, and pray unto thee toward their land which thou gavest unto their fathers, the city which thou hast chosen, and the house which I have built for thy name;

47 Then hear thou their prayer and their supplication in heaven thy dwelling-place, and maintain their cause;

48 And forgive thy people that have sinned against thee, and all their transgressions wherein they have transgressed against thee, and give them

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compassion before them who carried them captive, that they may have compassion on them: 49 For they be thy people, and thine inheritance, which thou broughtest forth out of Egypt, from the midst of the furnace of iron:

50 That thine eyes may be open unto the supplication of thy servant, and unto the supplication of thy people Israel, to hearken unto them in all that they call for unto thee.

51 For thou didst separate them from among all the people of the earth, to be thine inheritance, as thou spakest by the hand of Moses thy servant, when thou broughtest our fathers out of Egypt, O Lord God.

52 Now, my God, let, I beseech thee, thine eyes be open, and let thine ears be attent unto the prayer that is made in this place.

53 Now therefore arise, O Lord God, into thy restingplace, thou and the ark of thy strength: let thy priests, O Lord God, be clothed with salvation, and let thy saints rejoice in goodness.

54 O Lord God, turn not away the face of thine anointed: remember the mercies of David thy servant.

¶55 And it was so, that when Solomon had made an end of praying all this prayer and supplication unto the Lord, he arose from before the altar of the Lord, from kneeling on his knees with his hands spread up to heaven.

56 And he stood, and blessed all the congregation of Israel, with a loud voice, saying,

¶57 Blessed be the Lord, that hath given rest unto his people Israel, according to all that he promised: there hath not failed one word of all his good promise, which he promised by the hand of Moses his servant.

58 The Lord our God be with us, as he was with our fathers! let him not leave us nor forsake us:

59 That he may incline our hearts unto him, to walk in all his ways, and to keep his commandments, and his statutes, and his judgements, which he commanded our fathers.

60 And let these my words, wherewith I have made supplication before the Lord, be nigh unto the Lord our God day and night, that he maintain the cause of his servant, and the cause of his people Israel at all times, as the matter shall require:

61 That all the people of the earth may know that the Lord is God, and that there is none else.

62 Let your heart therefore be perfect with the Lord our God, to walk in his statutes, and to keep his commandments, as at this day.

63 Now when Solomon had made an end of praying, the fire came down from heaven, and consumed the burnt-offering and the sacrifices; and the glory of the Lord filled the house.

64 And the priests could not enter into the house of the

Lord, because the glory of the Lord had filled the Lord's house.

65 And when all the children of Israel saw how the fire came down, and the glory of the Lord upon the house, they bowed themselves with their faces to the ground upon the pavement, and worshiped, and praised the Lord, saying, For he is good; for his mercy endureth for ever.

LESSON CXLIV. Destruction of Babylon. THE word that the Lord spake against Babylon and against the land of the Chaldeans by Jeremiah the prophet.

T2 Declare ye among the nations, and publish, and set up a standard; publish, and conceal not: say, Babylon is taken, Bel is confounded, Merodach is broken in pieces; her idols are confounded, her images are broken in pieces.

3 For, lo, I will raise and cause to come up against Babylon an assembly of great nations from the north country: and they shall set themselves in array against her; from thence she shall be taken: their arrows shall be as of a mighty expert man; none shall return in vain.

4 And Chaldea shall be a spoil; all that spoil her shall be satisfied, saith the Lord.

5 A sword is upon their horses, and upon their chariots, and upon all the mingled people that are in the midst of her;

and they shall become as women: a sword is upon her treasures, and they shall be robbed. 6 A drought is upon her waters, and they shall be dried up for it is the land of graven images, and they are mad upon their idols.

7 Therefore the wild beasts of the desert, with the wild beasts of the islands, shall dwell there, and the owls shall dwell therein: and it shall be no more inhabited for ever; neither shall it be dwelt in from generation to generation.

8 Behold, a people shall come from the north, and a great nation, and many kings shall be raised up from the coasts of the earth.

9 They shall hold the bow and the lance: they are cruel and will not shew mercy: their voice shall roar like the sea, and they shall ride upon horses, every one put in array, like a man to the battle, against thee, O daughter of Babylon!

10 For, lo, I will make thee small among the heathen, and despised among men.

11 Thy terribleness hath deceived thee, and the pride of thine heart, O thou that dwellest in the clefts of the rock, that holdest the height of the hill: though thou shouldest make thy nest as high as the eagle, I will bring thee down from thence, saith the Lord.

12 How is the hammer of the whole earth cut asunder and broken! how is Babylon become a desolation among the nations!

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