'hear from heaven your dwelling place, and do all that the foreigner asks of you; so that all the peoples of the earth may know your name and fear you, as do your people Israel, and that they may know that this house which I have built is called by your name — God's response to foreign prayer: 'hear from heaven your dwelling place' (שְׁמַע־מִן־הַשׁמַיִם מִמְּעוֹן שִׁבְתְּךָ) and 'do all that the foreigner asks' (וְעָשִׂיתָ אֶת־כָּל־אֲשֶׁר־יִקְרָא אֵלֶיךָ הַנׁוֹכְרִי). The ultimate goal: 'all the peoples of the earth may know your name and fear you' (לְמַעַן יֵדְעוּ כָּל־עַמֵּי הָאָרֶץ אֶת־שִׁמְךָ וִיְרֹאוּ אֹתְךָ). God's answering of foreign prayer witnesses to the world of Israel's God's reality and power. The temple thus becomes a missionary instrument: seeing their prayers answered, foreigners become witness to God's greatness. The phrase 'this house which I have built is called by your name' (הַבַּיִת הַזֶּה אֲשֶׁר־בָּנִיתִי נִקְרָא־שִׁמְךָ עָלָיו) emphasizes that the house belongs to God, not Solomon; it is God's house, built by Solomon but owned and named by God.

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