Then Solomon said Since the House is full of smoke, I now know that the Shechinah is resting in the thick darkness therein, for so is His wont, as it is written (Exod. 20:18): “and Moses drew near to the thick darkness wherein God appeared.” [Therefore, I deduce that] He surely wishes to stay therein, and in Sifre it is explained: Then Solomon said - when he saw the cloud, he said, “Now I see that the Shechinah rests in the House that I have built, for He promised to come and dwell therein out of the midst of the cloud and the thick darkness.” Now where did He say this? (Lev. 16:2): “for in the cloud I shall appear on the Ark cover.”

a House to dwell in - Heb. בֵית זְבֻל a dwelling.

for You to dwell in forever For since it was selected, the Shechinah did not rest elsewhere, and the high places were prohibited.

and blessed all the congregation of Israel the blessing stated at the end of the episode.

Who spoke with His mouth that He would give him a son who would build Him a House.

has fulfilled He fulfilled His good word.

Since the day that I brought forth For this too You spoke to my father.

And I chose Jerusalem This refers to “I chose no city.”

and I chose David This refers back to “neither did I choose a man.”

you did well that it was in your heart i.e., I too choose the House that you thought to build, where My name shall dwell, as is stated above.

and he spread forth his hands Scripture should have said the following: “and he spread forth his hands toward heaven, and he said, etc.,” but it interrupted in between to inform [us] on what he stood, and so in I Kings (8:22f.): “and he spread forth his hands towards heaven, and he said.”

For Solomon had made This refers back to “opposite all the congregation of Israel,” i.e., how was he higher than all of them to make his words heard?

and he stood on it And now, all Israel could see him, and since he interrupted the topic, he had to repeat, “opposite all the congregation of Israel,” and so, “and he spread forth his hands toward heaven.”

there is no God like You insofar as You keep the covenant and the kindness that You decree from heaven to give to those who love You. You hide and conceal the covenant and the kindness to fulfill Your promise on earth.

who walk before You as my father David walked, and this is [the meaning of] For You have kept for Your servant David with an expression referring to the realization of a promise.

But will God indeed dwell with man on the earth? This is an expression of wonder. Is it possible for man to believe that God will dwell on the earth? For the heaven and the heaven of the heaven, etc. However, because of the kindness that You bestowed upon my father, David, You contracted Your Shechinah.

much less this House that I have built So why did I build it? To pray before God and so that He should turn to our prayers.

to the cry - Heb. הָרִנָּה. This is a cry, like (I Kings 22:36): “A cry (הָרִנָּה) passed through the camp.” Perforce, concerning the cry of any man who flees in distress, he will not pray but express his cry in secret. This is the sequence of the verses, and the conclusion of the topic proves it, for he says, “You shall hear from Your abode.” You have thus learned that he built it only with this intention to bring down the Shechinah therein, in order that He dwell on the earth, to hear “from Your abode” the prayer that they will pray therein.

That Your eyes may be open, etc. whenever they pray to You.

If a man sins This verse refers to all Israel; whoever exacts an oath from his neighbor - if he is adjuring him legitimately, and the one swearing is swearing falsely, You shall hear from heaven. If, on the other hand, justice is on the side of the one who swears, for the litigant exacts an oath from him for naught, even the one who exacts the oath is called wicked.

and to justify the righteous not to punish him for the oath, for he swore in truth. Tosefta of Sotah (1: 3) explains [this verse as referring to the rite of the sotah, the married woman accused of adultery Num. 5:11-30)]: If a man sins by being intimate with a married woman. and an oath be exacted of him and an oath makes him guilty, for just as the water tests her, so does the water test him. before Your altar - as it is written (Num. 5:18): “And the priest shall have the woman stand [before the Lord].”

to bring his way upon his head - as it is written (ibid. verse 27): “her belly will swell and her thigh will fall away.”

and to justify the righteous - (ibid. verse 28): “and she will be blessed with offspring.”

And if Your people...is struck down not because You have no power, but because they will sin against You.

and confess - Heb. וְהוֹדוּ. The meaning is: and they will confess their iniquity, and the latter verse proves this (verse 26): “and confess to Your name and repent of their sin, so that You may answer them.”

and bring them back to the land For when they fall and are struck down before their enemies, they [their enemies] will seize what they can and will bring them into captivity to another land.

When heaven is shut up as it is written (Deut. 11:17): “and He will shut up the heaven, and there will be no rain.”

for You will teach them the good way as You did when there was a famine in David’s time for three years (II Sam. 21:1), and You taught them and said to them, “(It is) for Saul and (also) for his bloody house.” Likewise, so shall You teach them which sin causes them [their distress], for what reason the heaven was shut up.

whatsoever plague, whatsoever sickness (there be) The meaning is: I have mentioned to You pestilence, blast and mildew, being struck down [in battle], and lack of rainfall, and what else can I include, but whatsoever plague, whatsoever sickness there may be, and he pray and spread forth his hands toward this House, and this is what it says.

Any prayer, any supplication that he will pray and supplicate about, concerning any of these matters.

every man shall know his plague i.e., if he pray about his affliction or about his sickness to remove it from him.

and forgive and give to each man according to his ways, etc. to the wicked according to his wickedness and to the righteous according to his righteousness. For if He does not repay the wicked according to his wickedness, he will speak insolently toward Heaven, and he will say, “There is no God.” Then [the thoughts of] his heart will be known, and there will be a profanation of the Name [of God]. Likewise shall You do to the righteous according to his righteousness, which You shall do for him when he prays to You.

That they may fear You and the wicked will repent of his way; therefore, I pray to give each man according to his ways.

and You shall do whatever the stranger calls upon You Concerning an Israelite, I pray to give him according to his ways, but concerning a heathen, according to all the stranger calls upon You, because Israelites recognize the Holy One, blessed be He, and they know that He has the ability to do, and if his prayer is not heard, he assigns the cause to himself, to his sins, and he searches his deeds, but the heathen will complain of injustice and say, “I heard His fame throughout the world, and I toiled on many roads until I came and prayed in this place, and I did not find reality in Him any more than the other deities.” Therefore, You shall do whatever the stranger calls upon You.

toward the city With their faces toward Jerusalem.

and maintain their cause their revenge from their enemies. Another meaning is: their necessities. A similar instance is (I Kings 8:59): “that He sustain the cause of His servant.”

that I built for Your name The meaning is: this House, which I built in order to aggrandize Your name, for when You accept their prayer, they will pray to You in this House; wherever they are, they will turn to this, Your House.

You shall hear, etc. And through this, Your name will be aggrandized in the world.

And now, arise, O Lord so as not to have to move as until now, from Shiloh to Nob and from Nob to Gibeon.

You and the Ark of Your might that it will no longer move from now on.

Your might Because of the following it is called “Your might”: because it performed wonders and mighty deeds among the Philistines. And so it is written above (I Chron 16:8-36): “Give thanks to the Lord,” “Search for the Lord and His might.” Our Sages stated further in Tractate Abodah Zarah 24b (I Sam. 6:12): “And the cows sang.” What song did they recite? They said, (Ps. 98:1) “His right hand and His holy arm have gained Him the victory.”

shall be attired with salvation because they will not wander from place to place, like (Isa. 11:5): “And righteousness shall be the girdle of his loins.”

and Your pious ones shall rejoice with the goodness with the abundance of goodness and tithes that will be given to the Levites as reward for guarding the Ark and singing before it.

do not turn back the face of Your anointed one by not treating me with goodness, and if not for my sake, do it for Your sake.