1 Kings 8
8
The Ark Brought to the Temple
1Solomon then summoned to Jerusalem the elders of Israel and all the heads of the tribes—the leaders of the ancestral families of the Israelites. They were to bring the Ark of the Lord’s Covenant to the Temple from its location in the City of David, also known as Zion. 2So all the men of Israel assembled before King Solomon at the annual Festival of Shelters, which is held in early autumn in the month of Ethanim.#8:2 Hebrew at the festival in the month Ethanim, which is the seventh month. The Festival of Shelters began on the fifteenth day of the seventh month of the ancient Hebrew lunar calendar. This day occurred in late September, October, or early November.
3When all the elders of Israel arrived, the priests picked up the Ark. 4The priests and Levites brought up the Ark of the Lord along with the special tent#8:4 Hebrew the Tent of Meeting; i.e., the tent mentioned in 2 Sam 6:17 and 1 Chr 16:1. and all the sacred items that had been in it. 5There, before the Ark, King Solomon and the entire community of Israel sacrificed so many sheep, goats, and cattle that no one could keep count!
6Then the priests carried the Ark of the Lord’s Covenant into the inner sanctuary of the Temple—the Most Holy Place—and placed it beneath the wings of the cherubim. 7The cherubim spread their wings over the Ark, forming a canopy over the Ark and its carrying poles. 8These poles were so long that their ends could be seen from the Holy Place, which is in front of the Most Holy Place, but not from the outside. They are still there to this day. 9Nothing was in the Ark except the two stone tablets that Moses had placed in it at Mount Sinai,#8:9 Hebrew at Horeb, another name for Sinai. where the Lord made a covenant with the people of Israel when they left the land of Egypt.
10When the priests came out of the Holy Place, a thick cloud filled the Temple of the Lord. 11The priests could not continue their service because of the cloud, for the glorious presence of the Lord filled the Temple of the Lord.
Solomon Praises the Lord
12Then Solomon prayed, “O Lord, you have said that you would live in a thick cloud of darkness. 13Now I have built a glorious Temple for you, a place where you can live forever!#8:13 Some Greek texts add the line Is this not written in the Book of Jashar?”
14Then the king turned around to the entire community of Israel standing before him and gave this blessing: 15“Praise the Lord, the God of Israel, who has kept the promise he made to my father, David. For he told my father, 16‘From the day I brought my people Israel out of Egypt, I have never chosen a city among any of the tribes of Israel as the place where a Temple should be built to honor my name. But I have chosen David to be king over my people Israel.’”
17Then Solomon said, “My father, David, wanted to build this Temple to honor the name of the Lord, the God of Israel. 18But the Lord told him, ‘You wanted to build the Temple to honor my name. Your intention is good, 19but you are not the one to do it. One of your own sons will build the Temple to honor me.’
20“And now the Lord has fulfilled the promise he made, for I have become king in my father’s place, and now I sit on the throne of Israel, just as the Lord promised. I have built this Temple to honor the name of the Lord, the God of Israel. 21And I have prepared a place there for the Ark, which contains the covenant that the Lord made with our ancestors when he brought them out of Egypt.”
Solomon’s Prayer of Dedication
22Then Solomon stood before the altar of the Lord in front of the entire community of Israel. He lifted his hands toward heaven, 23and he prayed,
“O Lord, God of Israel, there is no God like you in all of heaven above or on the earth below. You keep your covenant and show unfailing love to all who walk before you in wholehearted devotion. 24You have kept your promise to your servant David, my father. You made that promise with your own mouth, and with your own hands you have fulfilled it today.
25“And now, O Lord, God of Israel, carry out the additional promise you made to your servant David, my father. For you said to him, ‘If your descendants guard their behavior and faithfully follow me as you have done, one of them will always sit on the throne of Israel.’ 26Now, O God of Israel, fulfill this promise to your servant David, my father.
27“But will God really live on earth? Why, even the highest heavens cannot contain you. How much less this Temple I have built! 28Nevertheless, listen to my prayer and my plea, O Lord my God. Hear the cry and the prayer that your servant is making to you today. 29May you watch over this Temple night and day, this place where you have said, ‘My name will be there.’ May you always hear the prayers I make toward this place. 30May you hear the humble and earnest requests from me and your people Israel when we pray toward this place. Yes, hear us from heaven where you live, and when you hear, forgive.
31“If someone wrongs another person and is required to take an oath of innocence in front of your altar in this Temple, 32then hear from heaven and judge between your servants—the accuser and the accused. Punish the guilty as they deserve. Acquit the innocent because of their innocence.
33“If your people Israel are defeated by their enemies because they have sinned against you, and if they turn to you and acknowledge your name and pray to you here in this Temple, 34then hear from heaven and forgive the sin of your people Israel and return them to this land you gave their ancestors.
35“If the skies are shut up and there is no rain because your people have sinned against you, and if they pray toward this Temple and acknowledge your name and turn from their sins because you have punished them, 36then hear from heaven and forgive the sins of your servants, your people Israel. Teach them to follow the right path, and send rain on your land that you have given to your people as their special possession.
37“If there is a famine in the land or a plague or crop disease or attacks of locusts or caterpillars, or if your people’s enemies are in the land besieging their towns—whatever disaster or disease there is— 38and if your people Israel pray about their troubles, raising their hands toward this Temple, 39then hear from heaven where you live, and forgive. Give your people what their actions deserve, for you alone know each human heart. 40Then they will fear you as long as they live in the land you gave to our ancestors.
41“In the future, foreigners who do not belong to your people Israel will hear of you. They will come from distant lands because of your name, 42for they will hear of your great name and your strong hand and your powerful arm. And when they pray toward this Temple, 43then hear from heaven where you live, and grant what they ask of you. In this way, all the people of the earth will come to know and fear you, just as your own people Israel do. They, too, will know that this Temple I have built honors your name.
44“If your people go out where you send them to fight their enemies, and if they pray to the Lord by turning toward this city you have chosen and toward this Temple I have built to honor your name, 45then hear their prayers from heaven and uphold their cause.
46“If they sin against you—and who has never sinned?—you might become angry with them and let their enemies conquer them and take them captive to their land far away or near. 47But in that land of exile, they might turn to you in repentance and pray, ‘We have sinned, done evil, and acted wickedly.’ 48If they turn to you with their whole heart and soul in the land of their enemies and pray toward the land you gave to their ancestors—toward this city you have chosen, and toward this Temple I have built to honor your name— 49then hear their prayers and their petition from heaven where you live, and uphold their cause. 50Forgive your people who have sinned against you. Forgive all the offenses they have committed against you. Make their captors merciful to them, 51for they are your people—your special possession—whom you brought out of the iron-smelting furnace of Egypt.
52“May your eyes be open to my requests and to the requests of your people Israel. May you hear and answer them whenever they cry out to you. 53For when you brought our ancestors out of Egypt, O Sovereign Lord, you told your servant Moses that you had set Israel apart from all the nations of the earth to be your own special possession.”
The Dedication of the Temple
54When Solomon finished making these prayers and petitions to the Lord, he stood up in front of the altar of the Lord, where he had been kneeling with his hands raised toward heaven. 55He stood and in a loud voice blessed the entire congregation of Israel:
56“Praise the Lord who has given rest to his people Israel, just as he promised. Not one word has failed of all the wonderful promises he gave through his servant Moses. 57May the Lord our God be with us as he was with our ancestors; may he never leave us or abandon us. 58May he give us the desire to do his will in everything and to obey all the commands, decrees, and regulations that he gave our ancestors. 59And may these words that I have prayed in the presence of the Lord be before him constantly, day and night, so that the Lord our God may give justice to me and to his people Israel, according to each day’s needs. 60Then people all over the earth will know that the Lord alone is God and there is no other. 61And may you be completely faithful to the Lord our God. May you always obey his decrees and commands, just as you are doing today.”
62Then the king and all Israel with him offered sacrifices to the Lord. 63Solomon offered to the Lord a peace offering of 22,000 cattle and 120,000 sheep and goats. And so the king and all the people of Israel dedicated the Temple of the Lord.
64That same day the king consecrated the central area of the courtyard in front of the Lord’s Temple. He offered burnt offerings, grain offerings, and the fat of peace offerings there, because the bronze altar in the Lord’s presence was too small to hold all the burnt offerings, grain offerings, and the fat of the peace offerings.
65Then Solomon and all Israel celebrated the Festival of Shelters#8:65a Hebrew the festival; see note on 8:2. in the presence of the Lord our God. A large congregation had gathered from as far away as Lebo-hamath in the north and the Brook of Egypt in the south. The celebration went on for fourteen days in all—seven days for the dedication of the altar and seven days for the Festival of Shelters.#8:65b Hebrew seven days and seven days, fourteen days; compare parallel text at 2 Chr 7:8-10. 66After the festival was over,#8:66 Hebrew On the eighth day, probably referring to the day following the seven-day Festival of Shelters; compare parallel text at 2 Chr 7:9-10. Solomon sent the people home. They blessed the king and went to their homes joyful and glad because the Lord had been good to his servant David and to his people Israel.
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1 Kings 8: NLT
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Melaḵim Aleph (1 Kings) 8
8
1Then Shelomoh assembled the elders of Yisra’ĕl and all the heads of the tribes, the chief fathers of the children of Yisra’ĕl, to Sovereign Shelomoh in Yerushalayim, to bring up the ark of the covenant of יהוה from the City of Dawiḏ, which is Tsiyon.
2And all the men of Yisra’ĕl assembled to Sovereign Shelomoh at the festival in the month of Ěythanim, which is the seventh new moon.
3And all the elders of Yisra’ĕl came, and the priests took up the ark,
4and brought up the ark of יהוה, and the Tent of Appointment, and all the set-apart utensils that were in the Tent. And the priests and the Lĕwites brought them up,
5and Sovereign Shelomoh, and all the congregation of Yisra’ĕl who had assembled with him, were with him before the ark, slaughtering so many sheep and cattle, that they could not be counted or numbered.
6And the priests brought in the ark of the covenant of יהוה to its place, into the Speaking Place of the House, to the Most Set-apart Place, under the wings of the keruḇim,
7for the keruḇim spread two wings over the place of the ark, and the keruḇim covered over the ark and its poles.
8And the poles extended so that the ends of the poles were seen from the set-apart place, in front of the Speaking Place, but they were not seen from outside. And they are there to this day.
9There was naught in the ark, only the two tablets of stone which Mosheh put there at Ḥorĕḇ, where יהוה made a covenant with the children of Yisra’ĕl, when they came out of the land of Mitsrayim.
10And it came to be, when the priests came out of the Set-apart Place, that the cloud filled the House of יהוה,
11so that the priests were unable to stand and perform the service because of the cloud, for the esteem of יהוה filled the House of יהוה.
12And Shelomoh said, “יהוה has said He would dwell in the dark cloud.
13I have indeed built You an exalted house, an established place for You to dwell in forever.”
14And the sovereign turned around and blessed all the assembly of Yisra’ĕl, while all the assembly of Yisra’ĕl was standing.
15And he said, “Blessed be יהוה Elohim of Yisra’ĕl, who spoke with His mouth to my father Dawiḏ, and with His hand has filled it, saying,
16Since the day I brought My people Yisra’ĕl out of Mitsrayim, I have chosen no city from any tribe of Yisra’ĕl in which to build a house for My Name to be there, but I chose Dawiḏ to be over My people Yisra’ĕl.’
17“And it was in the heart of my father Dawiḏ to build a house for the Name of יהוה Elohim of Yisra’ĕl.
18“But יהוה said to my father Dawiḏ, ‘Because it has been in your heart to build a house for My Name, you did well that it was in your heart.
19Only, you do not build the house, but your son, who is coming from your loins, he does build the house for My Name.’
20“Now יהוה has established His word which He spoke, and I have been raised up instead of my father Dawiḏ, and sit on the throne of Yisra’ĕl, as יהוה promised, and built a house for the Name of יהוה Elohim of Yisra’ĕl,
21and have appointed there a place for the ark, wherein is the covenant of יהוה which He made with our fathers, when He brought them out of the land of Mitsrayim.”
22And Shelomoh stood before the slaughter-place of יהוה in front of all the assembly of Yisra’ĕl, and spread out his hands toward the heavens,
23and said, “יהוה Elohim of Yisra’ĕl, there is no Elohim in the heavens above or on earth below like You, guarding Your covenant and loving-commitment with Your servants who walk before You with all their heart,
24who has guarded that which You did promise Your servant Dawiḏ my father. Indeed, You have both spoken with Your mouth and have filled it with Your hand, as it is this day.
25“And now, יהוה Elohim of Yisra’ĕl, guard what You promised Your servant Dawiḏ my father, saying, ‘There is not to cease a man of yours before Me, sitting on the throne of Yisra’ĕl – only, if your sons guard their way, to walk before Me as you have walked before Me.’
26“And now, O Elohim of Yisra’ĕl, please let Your word come true which You have spoken to Your servant Dawiḏ my father.
27“For is it true: Elohim dwells on the earth? See, the heavens and the heavens of the heavens are unable to contain You, how much less this House which I have built!
28“Yet, shall You turn to the prayer of Your servant and his supplication, O יהוה my Elohim, and listen to the cry and the prayer which Your servant is praying before You today?
29“For Your eyes to be open toward this House night and day, toward the place of which You said, ‘My Name is there,’ to listen to the prayer which Your servant makes toward this place.
30“Then, shall You hear the supplication of Your servant and of Your people Yisra’ĕl when they pray toward this place, when You hear in Your dwelling place, in the heavens? And shall You hear, and forgive?
31“If anyone sins against his neighbour, and he has lifted up an oath on him, to cause him to swear, and comes and swears before Your slaughter-place in this House,
32then hear in the heavens, and act and rightly rule Your servants, declaring the wrongdoer wrong, bringing his way on his head, and declaring the righteous right by giving him according to his righteousness.
33“When Your people Yisra’ĕl are smitten before an enemy, because they have sinned against You, and they shall turn back to You and confess Your Name, and pray and make supplication to You in this House,
34then hear in the heavens, and forgive the sin of Your people Yisra’ĕl, and bring them back to the land which You gave to their fathers.
35“When the heavens are shut up and there is no rain because they sin against You, when they pray toward this place and confess Your Name, and turn from their sin because You afflict them,
36then hear in the heavens, and forgive the sin of Your servants, Your people Yisra’ĕl – for You teach them the good way in which they should walk – and shall give rain on Your land which You have given to Your people as an inheritance.
37“When there is scarcity of food in the land; when there is pestilence, blight, mildew, locusts, grasshoppers; when their enemy distresses them in the land of their cities; any plague, any sickness,
38whatever prayer, whatever supplication made by anyone of all Your people Yisra’ĕl, each knowing the plague of his own heart, and shall spread out his hands toward this House,
39then hear in the heavens, Your dwelling place, and forgive, and act, and render unto everyone according to all his ways, whose heart You know. Because You – You alone – know the hearts of all the sons of men,
40so that they fear You all the days that they live in the land which You gave to our fathers.
41“Also, concerning a foreigner, who is not of Your people Yisra’ĕl, but has come from a far land for Your Name’s sake –
42since they hear of Your great Name and Your strong hand and Your outstretched arm – and he shall come and pray toward this House,
43hear in the heavens Your dwelling place, and do according to all for which the foreigner calls to You, so that all peoples of the earth know Your Name and fear You, as do Your people Yisra’ĕl, and know that this House which I have built is called by Your Name.
44“When Your people go out to battle against their enemy, in the way that You send them, and they shall pray to יהוה toward the city which You have chosen and toward the House which I have built for Your Name,
45then shall You hear in the heavens their prayer and their supplication, and maintain their cause?
46“When they sin against You – for there is no one who does not sin – and You become enraged with them and give them to the enemy, and they take them captive to the land of the enemy, far or near;
47and they shall turn back unto their heart in the land where they have been taken captive, and shall turn, and make supplication to You in the land of those who took them captive, saying, ‘We have sinned and acted crookedly, we have committed wrong,’
48and they shall turn back to You with all their heart and with all their being in the land of their enemies who led them away captive, and shall pray to You toward their land which You gave to their fathers, the city which You have chosen and the House which I have built for Your Name,
49then shall You hear in the heavens Your dwelling place their prayer and their supplication, and maintain their cause,
50and forgive Your people who have sinned against You, and all their transgressions which they have transgressed against You? And give them compassion before those who took them captive, and they shall have compassion on them.
51For they are Your people and Your inheritance, whom You brought out of Mitsrayim, out of the iron furnace.
52“Let Your eyes be open to the supplication of Your servant and the supplication of Your people Yisra’ĕl, to listen to them whenever they call to You.
53“For You have separated them unto Yourself for an inheritance, out of all the peoples of the earth, as You spoke by the hand of Your servant Mosheh, when You brought our fathers out of Mitsrayim, O Master יהוה.”
54And it came to be, when Shelomoh had ended praying all this prayer and supplication to יהוה, that he rose up from before the slaughter-place of יהוה, from kneeling on his knees with his hands spread up to the heavens.
55And he stood and blessed all the assembly of Yisra’ĕl with a loud voice, saying,
56“Blessed be יהוה, who has given rest to His people Yisra’ĕl, according to all that He promised. There has not failed one word of all His good word, which He promised through His servant Mosheh.
57“יהוה our Elohim is with us as He was with our fathers – He does not leave us nor forsake us –
58to incline our hearts to Himself, to walk in all His ways, and to guard His commands and His laws and His right-rulings, which He commanded our fathers.
59“And let these words of mine, with which I have made supplication before יהוה, be near יהוה our Elohim day and night, to maintain the cause of His servant and the cause of His people Yisra’ĕl, the matter of each day in its day,
60so that all the peoples of the earth might know that יהוה is Elohim, there is no one else.
61“Let your heart therefore be perfect to יהוה our Elohim, to walk in His laws and guard His commands, as at this day.”
62And the sovereign and all Yisra’ĕl with him slaughtered slaughterings before יהוה.
63And Shelomoh slaughtered slaughterings of peace offerings, which he slaughtered to יהוה, twenty-two thousand bulls and one hundred and twenty thousand sheep. Thus the sovereign and all the children of Yisra’ĕl dedicated the House of יהוה.
64On that day the sovereign set apart the middle of the courtyard that was in front of the House of יהוה, for there he made ascending offerings, and the grain offerings, and the fat of the peace offerings, because the bronze slaughter-place that was before יהוה was too small to contain the ascending offerings, and the grain offerings, and the fat of the peace offerings.
65And Shelomoh at that time performed the Festival, and all Yisra’ĕl with him, a great assembly from the entrance of Ḥamath to the wadi of Mitsrayim, before יהוה our Elohim, seven days and seven days – fourteen days.#It seems that the first seven were the Festival of Ḥanukkah (Dedication), and the last seven the Festival of Sukkot (Booths).
66On the eighth day he sent the people away. And they blessed the sovereign, and went to their tents rejoicing and glad of heart for all the goodness that יהוה had done for His servant Dawiḏ, and for Yisra’ĕl His people.
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