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; 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 I have built for thy name; then hear thou their prayer and their supplication in heaven, thy dwelling-place, and maintain their cause; and forgive thy people that have sinned against thee, and all their transgressions wherein they have transgressed against thee, and give them compassion before them who carried them captive, that they may have compassion on them; for they be thy people and thine inheritance, which thou broughtest forth out of Egypt, from the midst of the furnace of iron, that thine eyes may be open unto the supplication of thy people Israel, to hearken unto them in all that they call for unto thee. 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.”[66] ----- Footnote 65: 2 Sam. xxiv. 16. Footnote 66: 1 Kings viii. ----- “Praise Jehovah,” said the old man, when Helon had finished, “for the blessing of a father who has so well instructed thee in the holy Scriptures. It becomes a young priest to be able to give an answer from them to every question that is put to him. Thou hast repeated Solomon’s dedication prayer: his temple was founded amidst acclamations, and destroyed amidst tears: this was founded amidst tears, but its glory shall surpass that of the first temple, when He comes, for whom we wait. He shall walk through this temple, stand in this porch of Solomon, pass through this Beautiful Gate, approach the altar of burnt-offering, and give this house its highest consecration. Helon, the whole earth lies under a curse; it bears thorns and thistles, and the ground is accursed on account of man, who has sinned thereon. Jehovah will take away the curse, when he comes to his temple, and from this spot the change is to begin. It has been for nearly a thousand years a holy land, free from the curse, a type of what the whole earth is one day to become. This Naaman the Syrian felt, when he had discovered, by the cleansing of his leprosy, that there was a prophet in Israel, as he showed by carrying away three mules’ burden of earth into his own country.[67] ----- Footnote 67: 2 Kings v. 17. -----