15. saying, “Bless Israel’s God, the Lord, who spoke directly to my father David and now has kept his promise:
16. ‘From the day I brought my people Israel out of Egypt I haven’t selected a city from any Israelite tribe as a site for the building of a temple for my name. But now I have chosen David to be over my people Israel.’
17. My father David wanted to build a temple for the name of the Lord, Israel’s God.
18. "But the Lord said to my father David, ‘It is very good that you thought to build a temple for my name.
19. Nevertheless, you yourself won’t build that temple. Instead, your very own son will build the temple for my name.’
20. The Lord has kept his promise—I have succeeded my father David on Israel’s throne just as the Lord said, and I have built the temple for the name of the Lord, Israel’s God.
21. There I’ve placed the chest that contains the covenant that the Lord made with our ancestors when he brought them out of Egypt."
22. Solomon stood before the Lord’s altar in front of the entire Israelite assembly and, spreading out his hands toward the sky,
23. he said:Lord God of Israel, there’s no god like you in heaven above or on earth below. You keep the covenant and show loyalty to your servants who walk before you with all their heart.