1 Kings 8
8
Solomon’s Dedication of the Temple
1At that time Solomon assembled the elders#Ex 3:16; Nm 11:16 of Israel,#2Ch 5:2–14 all the tribal heads#Nm 1:5–16; 7:2 and the ancestral leaders of the Israelites before him at Jerusalem in order to bring the ark of the Lord’s covenant from the city of David,#2Sm 5:7 that is Zion.#2Sm 6:12–15,17 2So all the men of Israel were assembled in the presence of King Solomon in the month of Ethanim, which is the seventh month,#8:2 = September–October at the festival.#Lv 23:34; Dt 16:13–15; 1Kg 8:65
3All the elders#Nm 11:16 of Israel came, and the priests#Dt 31:9; Jos 3:3,6 picked up the ark.#2Sm 6:12,17 4The priests and the Levites brought the ark of the Lord, the tent of meeting,#2Ch 1:3 and the holy utensils that were in the tent.#2Ch 5:4–5 5King Solomon and the entire congregation of Israel, who had gathered around him and were with him in front of the ark, were sacrificing sheep, goats, and cattle that could not be counted or numbered, because there were so many.#2Ch 1:6; 30:24 6The priests brought the ark of the Lord’s covenant to its place, into the inner sanctuary of the temple, to the most holy place#1Kg 6:19 beneath the wings of the cherubim. 7For the cherubim were spreading their wings over#8:7 LXX; MT reads toward the place of the ark, so that the cherubim covered the ark and its poles from above.#1Kg 6:23–28 8The poles were so long that their ends were seen from the holy place in front of the inner sanctuary, but they were not seen from outside the sanctuary; they are still there today.#Ex 25:13–15; 37:4–5 9Nothing was in the ark except the two stone tablets that Moses had put there at Horeb,#8:9 = Sinai#Ex 25:21; Dt 10:5 where the Lord made a covenant with the Israelites when they came out of the land of Egypt.#Ex 24:7–8; Dt 4:13
10When the priests came out of the holy place, the cloud filled the Lord’s temple,#Ex 40:34–35; 2Ch 7:1 11and because of the cloud, the priests were not able to continue ministering, for the glory#2Ch 7:2; Ezk 10:4,18–19; 43:4–5 of the Lord filled the temple.
12Then Solomon said:
The Lord said that he would dwell in total darkness.#Ex 20:21; Lv 16:2; Dt 5:22
13I have indeed built an exalted temple#2Sm 7:13 for you,
a place for your dwelling forever.#Ps 132:14
14The king turned around and blessed#Ex 39:43; 2Sm 6:18; 1Kg 8:55 the entire congregation of Israel while they were standing. 15He said:
Blessed be the Lord God of Israel!
He spoke directly to my father David,
and he has fulfilled the promise#2Sm 7:15–16,25 by his power.
He said,
16“Since the day I brought my people Israel out of Egypt,#2Sm 7:6; 1Ch 17:5
I have not chosen a city to build a temple in
among any of the tribes of Israel,
so that my name#Dt 12:5,11 would be there.
But I have chosen David to rule my people Israel.”#1Sm 16:1; 2Sm 7:8
17My father David had his heart set
on building a temple for the name of the Lord, the God of Israel.#2Sm 7:2–3; 1Ch 22:7
18But the Lord said to my father David,
“Since your heart was set on building a temple for my name,
you have done well to have this desire.#8:18 Lit well because it was with your heart#2Ch 6:8
19Yet you are not the one to build it;
instead, your son, your own offspring,
will build it for my name.”#2Sm 7:12–13; 1Kg 5:5; Ac 7:47
20The Lord has fulfilled what he promised.
I have taken the place of my father David,#2Sm 7:12
and I sit on the throne of Israel, as the Lord promised.#1Ch 28:5–6
I have built the temple for the name of the Lord, the God of Israel.
21I have provided a place there for the ark,
where the Lord’s covenant is
that he made with our ancestors
when he brought them out of the land of Egypt.#Dt 31:26; 1Kg 8:9
Solomon’s Prayer
22Then Solomon stood#2Ch 6:12–42 before the altar of the Lord in front of the entire congregation of Israel and spread out his hands toward heaven.#1Kg 8:54; 2Ch 6:12 23He said:
Lord God of Israel,
there is no God like you
in heaven above or on earth below,#1Sm 2:2; 2Sm 7:22
who keeps the gracious covenant
with your servants who walk before you
with all their heart.#Dt 7:16; Neh 1:5; Dn 9:4
24You have kept what you promised
to your servant, my father David.
You spoke directly to him
and you fulfilled your promise by your power
as it is today.#2Sm 7:15–16
25Therefore, Lord God of Israel,
keep what you promised
to your servant, my father David:
You will never fail to have a man
to sit before me on the throne of Israel,#1Kg 2:4; 9:5
if only your sons take care to walk before me
as you have walked before me.#1Kg 9:4–9; 2Ch 7:17–22
26Now Lord#8:26 Some Hb mss, LXX, Syr, Tg, Vg, 2Ch 6:16; other Hb mss omit Lord God of Israel,
please confirm what you promised
to your servant, my father David.#2Sm 7:25
27But will God indeed live on earth?
Even heaven, the highest heaven, cannot contain you,
much less this temple I have built.#2Ch 2:6; Ac 7:47; 17:24
28Listen#8:28 Lit Turn to your servant’s prayer and his petition,#Php 4:6
Lord my God,
so that you may hear the cry and the prayer
that your servant prays before you today,
29so that your eyes may watch over this temple night and day,#2Ch 7:15; Neh 1:6
toward the place where you said,
“My name will be there,”#Dt 12:11
and so that you may hear the prayer
that your servant prays toward this place.
30Hear the petition of your servant#Neh 1:6; Dn 9:4
and your people Israel,
which they pray toward this place.#Dn 6:10
May you hear in your dwelling place in heaven.
May you hear and forgive.
31When a man sins against his neighbor
and is forced to take an oath,#8:31 Lit and he lifts a curse against him to curse him#Ex 22:11; Jos 7:19; Jn 9:24
and he comes to take an oath
before your altar in this temple,
32may you hear in heaven and act.
May you judge your servants,
condemning the wicked man by bringing
what he has done on his own head
and providing justice for the righteous
by rewarding him according to his righteousness.#Dt 25:1
33When your people Israel are defeated before an enemy,
because they have sinned against you,#Lv 26:17,25,39
and they return to you and praise your name,
and they pray and plead with you
for mercy in this temple,
34may you hear in heaven
and forgive the sin of your people Israel.
May you restore them to the land
you gave their ancestors.#Lv 26:40–42
35When the skies are shut and there is no rain,
because they have sinned against you,#Dt 28:23–24
and they pray toward this place
and praise your name,
and they turn from their sins
because you are afflicting them,#Dt 30:1–3; Am 4:7–8
36may you hear in heaven
and forgive the sin of your servants
and your people Israel,
so that you may teach them to walk on the good way.#1Sm 12:23
May you send rain on your land
that you gave your people for an inheritance.#Dt 11:14; Jl 2:23
37When there is famine in the land,
when there is pestilence,
when there is blight or mildew, locust or grasshopper,#Lv 26:16,25–26
when their enemy besieges them
in the land and its cities,#8:37 Lit land of its gates
when there is any plague or illness,
38every prayer or petition
that any person or that all your people Israel may have —
they each know their own affliction#8:38 Lit know in his heart of a plague#2Ch 6:29 —
as they spread out their hands toward this temple,#Ex 9:29; 2Ch 6:29
39may you hear in heaven, your dwelling place,
and may you forgive, act, and give to everyone
according to all their ways, since you know each heart,
for you alone know every human heart,#1Sm 16:7; 1Ch 28:9
40so that they may fear#Dt 6:13 you
all the days they live on the land#Dt 12:1
you gave our ancestors.
41Even for the foreigner who is not of your people Israel
but has come from a distant land#Lv 24:22; Dt 10:18–19
because of your name —
42for they will hear of your great name,
strong hand,#Dt 3:24 and outstretched arm,
and will come#1Kg 10:1 and pray toward this temple —
43may you hear in heaven, your dwelling place,
and do according to all the foreigner asks.
Then all peoples of earth will know#Jos 4:24; 1Sm 17:46 your name,
to fear you as your people Israel do
and to know that this temple I have built
bears your name.
44When your people go out to fight against their enemies,#8:44 Some Hb mss, some ancient versions, 2Ch 6:34; other Hb mss read enemy
wherever you send them,
and they pray to the Lord
in the direction of the city you have chosen#Dt 12:11; 1Ch 5:20; 2Ch 14:11
and the temple I have built for your name,
45may you hear their prayer and petition in heaven
and uphold their cause.#Ps 9:4; 140:12
46When they sin against you —
for there is no one who does not sin#Rm 3:10,23; 1Jn 1:8 —
and you are angry with them
and hand them over to the enemy,
and their captors deport them to the enemy’s country#Lv 26:33–34 —
whether distant or nearby —
47and when they come to their senses#8:47 Lit they return to their heart
in the land where they were deported
and repent and petition you in their captors’ land:
“We have sinned and done wrong;
we have been wicked,”#Lv 26:40–42; Neh 1:6; Dn 9:5
48and when they return to you with all their heart and all their soul
in the land of their enemies who took them captive,#Jr 29:10–14
and when they pray to you in the direction of their land
that you gave their ancestors,
the city you have chosen,#Dn 6:10
and the temple I have built for your name,
49may you hear in heaven, your dwelling place,
their prayer and petition and uphold their cause.
50May you forgive your people
who sinned against you
and all their rebellions#8:50 Lit rebellions that they have rebelled against you,
and may you grant them compassion
before their captors,
so that they may treat them compassionately.#2Kg 25:28; 2Ch 30:9
51For they are your people and your inheritance;#Ex 32:11; Dt 9:26,29
you brought them out of Egypt,
out of the middle of an iron furnace.#Dt 4:20
52May your eyes be open to your servant’s petition
and to the petition of your people Israel,
listening to them whenever they call to you.
53For you, Lord God, have set them apart as your inheritance
from all peoples of the earth,
as you spoke through your servant Moses
when you brought our ancestors out of Egypt.#Ex 19:5–6; Dt 9:26–29
Solomon’s Blessing
54When Solomon finished praying this entire prayer and petition to the Lord, he got up from kneeling before the altar of the Lord, with his hands spread out toward heaven,#2Ch 6:12–13 55and he stood and blessed the whole congregation of Israel#Nm 6:23–26; 2Sm 6:18 with a loud voice: 56“Blessed be the Lord! He has given rest#Dt 12:10; 1Ch 22:18; Heb 3:18–19 to his people Israel according to all he has said. Not one of all the good promises he made through his servant Moses has failed.#Jos 21:45; 23:15 57May the Lord our God be with us as he was with our ancestors. May he not abandon us or leave us#Dt 31:6; Jos 1:5; Heb 13:5 58so that he causes us to be devoted#8:58 Lit causes our hearts to be inclined to him,#Jos 24:23; Jr 31:33; Php 2:13 to walk in all his ways, and to keep his commands, statutes, and ordinances, which he commanded our ancestors. 59May my words with which I have made my petition before the Lord be near the Lord our God day and night. May he uphold his servant’s cause and the cause of his people Israel, as each day requires.#Pr 30:8; Mt 6:11 60May all the peoples of the earth know that the Lord is God. There is no other!#Dt 6:4; Jos 4:24; Mk 12:32 61Be wholeheartedly devoted to the Lord our God#Dt 6:5; 1Kg 9:4; 11:4 to walk in his statutes and to keep his commands, as it is today.”
62The king and all Israel with him were offering sacrifices in the Lord’s presence. 63Solomon offered a sacrifice of fellowship offerings to the Lord: twenty-two thousand cattle and one hundred twenty thousand sheep and goats.#1Ch 29:21; 2Ch 7:4–5; Ezr 6:16–17 In this manner the king and all the Israelites dedicated#Dt 20:5; Ezr 6:16; Neh 12:27 the Lord’s temple.#2Ch 7:5
64On the same day, the king consecrated the middle of the courtyard that was in front of the Lord’s temple because that was where he offered the burnt offering, the grain offering, and the fat of the fellowship offerings,#Lv 6–7 since the bronze altar before the Lord was too small to accommodate the burnt offerings, the grain offerings, and the fat of the fellowship offerings.#2Ch 7:7
65Solomon and all Israel with him — a great assembly, from the entrance of Hamath#8:65 Or from Lebo-hamath#Nm 13:21; 34:8 to the Brook of Egypt#Gn 15:18 — observed the festival at that time#Lv 23:36; 1Kg 8:2 in the presence of the Lord our God, seven days, and seven more days — fourteen days.#8:65 Temple dedication lasted seven days, and the Festival of Shelters lasted seven days.#2Ch 7:9 66On the fifteenth day#8:66 Lit the eighth day he sent the people away. So they blessed the king and went to their homes#8:66 Lit tents rejoicing and with happy hearts for all the goodness that the Lord had done for his servant David and for his people Israel.#2Ch 7:10
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1 Kings 8: CSB
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© 2017 Holman Bible Publishers
1 Kings 8
8
The Covenant Box is Brought to the Temple
(2 Chr 5.2—6.2)
1 #
2 Sam 6.12–16; 1 Chr 15.25–29 Then King Solomon summoned all the leaders of the tribes and clans of Israel to come to him in Jerusalem in order to take the LORD's Covenant Box from Zion, David's City, to the Temple. 2#Lev 23.24They all assembled during the Festival of Shelters in the seventh month, in the month of Ethanim. 3When all the leaders had gathered, the priests lifted the Covenant Box 4and carried it to the Temple. The Levites and the priests also moved the Tent of the LORD's presence and all its equipment to the Temple. 5King Solomon and all the people of Israel assembled in front of the Covenant Box and sacrificed a large number of sheep and cattle — too many to count. 6Then the priests carried the Covenant Box into the Temple and put it in the Most Holy Place, beneath the winged creatures. 7Their outstretched wings covered the box and the poles it was carried by. 8The ends of the poles could be seen by anyone standing directly in front of the Most Holy Place, but from nowhere else. (The poles are still there today.) 9#Deut 10.5There was nothing inside the Covenant Box except the two stone tablets which Moses had placed there at Mount Sinai, when the LORD made a covenant with the people of Israel as they were coming from Egypt.
10 #
Ex 40.34–35
As the priests were leaving the Temple, it was suddenly filled with a cloud 11shining with the dazzling light of the LORD's presence, and they could not go back in to perform their duties. 12#Ps 18.11; 97.2Then Solomon prayed:
“You, LORD, have placed the sun in the sky,#8.12 One ancient translation You… sky; Hebrew does not have these words.
yet you have chosen to live in clouds and darkness.
13Now I have built a majestic temple for you,
a place for you to live in for ever.”
Solomon's Address to the People
(2 Chr 6.3–11)
14As the people stood there, King Solomon turned to face them, and he asked God's blessing on them. 15He said, “Praise the LORD God of Israel! He has kept the promise he made to my father David, when he said, 16#2 Sam 7.4–11; 1 Chr 17.3–10‘From the time I brought my people out of Egypt, I have not chosen any city in all the land of Israel in which a temple should be built where I would be worshipped. But I chose you, David, to rule my people.’ ”
17 #
2 Sam 7.1–3; 1 Chr 17.1–2 And Solomon continued, “My father David planned to build a temple for the worship of the LORD God of Israel, 18but the LORD said to him, ‘You were right in wanting to build a temple for me, 19#2 Sam 7.12–13; 1 Chr 17.11–12but you will never build it. It is your son, your own son, who will build my temple.’
20“And now the LORD has kept his promise. I have succeeded my father as king of Israel, and I have built the Temple for the worship of the LORD God of Israel. 21I have also provided a place in the Temple for the Covenant Box containing the stone tablets of the covenant which the LORD made with our ancestors when he brought them out of Egypt.”
Solomon's Prayer
(2 Chr 6.12–42)
22Then in the presence of the people Solomon went and stood in front of the altar, where he raised his arms 23and prayed, “LORD God of Israel, there is no god like you in heaven above or on earth below! You keep your covenant with your people and show them your love when they live in wholehearted obedience to you. 24You have kept the promise you made to my father David; today every word has been fulfilled. 25#1 Kgs 2.4And now, LORD God of Israel, I pray that you will also keep the other promise you made to my father when you told him that there would always be one of his descendants ruling as king of Israel, provided they obeyed you as carefully as he did. 26So now, O God of Israel, let everything come true that you promised to my father David, your servant.
27 #
2 Chr 2.6
“But can you, O God, really live on earth? Not even all heaven is large enough to hold you, so how can this Temple that I have built be large enough? 28LORD my God, I am your servant. Listen to my prayer, and grant the requests I make to you today. 29#Deut 12.11Watch over this Temple day and night, this place where you have chosen to be worshipped. Hear me when I face this Temple and pray. 30Hear my prayers and the prayers of your people when they face this place and pray. In your home in heaven hear us and forgive us.
31“When a person is accused of wronging another and is brought to your altar in this Temple to take an oath that he is innocent, 32O LORD, listen in heaven and judge your servants. Punish the guilty one as he deserves, and acquit the one who is innocent.
33“When your people Israel are defeated by their enemies because they have sinned against you, and then when they turn to you and come to this Temple, humbly praying to you for forgiveness, 34listen to them in heaven. Forgive the sins of your people, and bring them back to the land which you gave to their ancestors.
35“When you hold back the rain because your people have sinned against you, and then when they repent and face this Temple, humbly praying to you, 36listen to them in heaven. Forgive the sins of the king and of the people of Israel. Teach them to do what is right. Then, O LORD, send rain on this land of yours, which you gave to your people as a permanent possession.
37“When there is famine in the land or an epidemic, or the crops are destroyed by scorching winds or swarms of locusts, or when your people are attacked by their enemies, or when there is disease or sickness among them, 38listen to their prayers. If any of your people Israel, out of heartfelt sorrow, stretch out their hands in prayer towards this Temple, 39hear their prayer. Listen to them in your home in heaven, forgive them, and help them. You alone know the thoughts of the human heart. Deal with each person as he deserves, 40so that your people may obey you all the time they live in the land which you gave to our ancestors.
41-42“When a foreigner who lives in a distant land hears of your fame and of the great things you have done for your people, and comes to worship you and to pray at this Temple, 43listen to his prayer. In heaven, where you live, hear him and do what he asks you to do, so that all the peoples of the world may know you and obey you, as your people Israel do. Then they will know that this Temple I have built is the place where you are to be worshipped.
44“When you command your people to go into battle against their enemies and they pray to you, wherever they are, facing this city which you have chosen and this Temple which I have built for you, 45listen to their prayers. Hear them in heaven, and give them victory.
46“When your people sin against you — and there is no one who does not sin — and in your anger you let their enemies defeat them and take them as prisoners to some other land, even if that land is far away, 47listen to your people's prayers. If there in that land they repent and pray to you, confessing how sinful and wicked they have been, hear their prayers, O LORD. 48If in that land they truly and sincerely repent, and pray to you as they face towards this land which you gave to our ancestors, this city which you have chosen, and this Temple which I have built for you, 49then listen to their prayers. In your home in heaven hear them and be merciful to them. 50Forgive all their sins and their rebellion against you, and make their enemies treat them with kindness. 51They are your own people, whom you brought out of Egypt, that blazing furnace.
52“Sovereign LORD, may you always look with favour on your people Israel and their king, and hear their prayer whenever they call to you for help. 53You chose them from all the peoples to be your own people, as you told them through your servant Moses when you brought our ancestors out of Egypt.”
The Final Prayer
54After Solomon had finished praying to the LORD, he stood up in front of the altar, where he had been kneeling with uplifted hands. 55In a loud voice he asked God's blessings on all the people assembled there. He said, 56#Deut 12.10; Josh 21.44–45“Praise the LORD who has given his people peace, as he promised he would. He has kept all the generous promises he made 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 make us obedient to him, so that we will always live as he wants us to live, and keep all the laws and commands he gave our ancestors. 59May the LORD our God remember at all times this prayer and these petitions I have made to him. May he always be merciful to the people of Israel and to their king, according to their daily needs. 60And so all the nations of the world will know that the LORD alone is God — there is no other. 61May you, his people, always be faithful to the LORD our God, obeying all his laws and commands, as you do today.”
The Dedication of the Temple
(2 Chr 7.4–10)
62Then King Solomon and all the people there offered sacrifices to the LORD. 63He sacrificed 22,000 head of cattle and 120,000 sheep as fellowship offerings. And so the king and all the people dedicated the Temple. 64That same day he also consecrated the central part of the courtyard, the area in front of the Temple, and then he offered there the sacrifices burnt whole, the grain offerings, and the fat of the animals for the fellowship offerings. He did this because the bronze altar was too small for all these offerings.
65There at the Temple, Solomon and all the people of Israel celebrated the Festival of Shelters for seven#8.65 One ancient translation seven; Hebrew fourteen. days. There was a huge crowd of people from as far away as Hamath Pass in the north and the Egyptian border in the south. 66On the eighth day Solomon sent the people home. They all praised him and went home happy because of all the blessings that the LORD had given his servant David and his people Israel.
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Good News Bible. Scripture taken from the Good News Bible (r) (Today's English Version Second Edition, UK/British Edition). Copyright © 1992 British & Foreign Bible Society. Used by permission.