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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© 2017 Holman Bible Publishers
1 Kings 8
8
Solomon Brings the Ark into the Temple
(2 Chronicles 5.2-14)
1 #
2 Sam 6.12-16; 1 Chr 15.25-29. Then Solomon assembled the elders of Israel, and all the heads of the tribes, the chief of the fathers of the children of Israel, unto king Solomon in Jerusalem, that they might bring up the ark of the covenant of the Lord out of the city of David, which is Zion. 2And all the men of Israel assembled themselves unto king Solomon at the feast in the month Eth´anim, which is the seventh month. 3And all the elders of Israel came, and the priests took up the ark. 4And they brought up the ark of the Lord, and the tabernacle of the congregation, and all the holy vessels that were in the tabernacle, even those did the priests and the Levites bring up. 5And king Solomon, and all the congregation of Israel, that were assembled unto him, were with him before the ark, sacrificing sheep and oxen, that could not be told nor numbered for multitude. 6And the priests brought in the ark of the covenant of the Lord unto his place, into the oracle of the house, to the most holy place, even under the wings of the cherubim. 7For the cherubim spread forth their two wings over the place of the ark, and the cherubim covered the ark and the staves thereof above. 8And they drew out the staves, that the ends of the staves were seen out in the holy place before the oracle, and they were not seen without: and there they are unto this day. 9#Deut 10.5. There was nothing in the ark save the two tables of stone, which Moses put there at Horeb, when the Lord made a covenant with the children of Israel, when they came out of the land of Egypt. 10#Exod 40.34,35. And it came to pass, when the priests were come out of the holy place, that the cloud filled the house of the Lord, 11so that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud: for the glory of the Lord had filled the house of the Lord.
The Dedication of the Temple
(2 Chronicles 6.1—7.10)
12Then spake Solomon, The Lord said that he would dwell in the thick darkness. 13I have surely built thee a house to dwell in, a settled place for thee to abide in for ever. 14And the king turned his face about, and blessed all the congregation of Israel: and all the congregation of Israel stood; 15and he said, Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, which spake with his mouth unto David my father, and hath with his hand fulfilled it, saying, 16#2 Sam 7.4-11; 1 Chr 17.3-10. Since the day that I brought forth my people Israel out of Egypt, I chose no city out of all the tribes of Israel to build a house, that my name might be therein; but I chose David to be over my people Israel. 17#2 Sam 7.1-3; 1 Chr 17.1,2. And it was in the heart of David my father to build a house for the name of the Lord God of Israel. 18And the Lord said unto David my father, Whereas it was in thine heart to build a house unto my name, thou didst well that it was in thine heart. 19#2 Sam 7.12,13; 1 Chr 17.11,12. Nevertheless thou shalt not build the house; but thy son that shall come forth out of thy loins, he shall build the house unto my name. 20And the Lord hath performed his word that he spake, and I am risen up in the room of David my father, and sit on the throne of Israel, as the Lord promised, and have built a house for the name of the Lord God of Israel. 21I have set there a place for the ark, wherein is the covenant of the Lord, which he made with our fathers, when he brought them out of the land of Egypt.
22And Solomon stood before the altar of the Lord in the presence of all the congregation of Israel, and spread forth his hands toward heaven: 23and he said, Lord God of Israel, there is no God like thee, in heaven above, or on earth beneath, who keepest covenant and mercy with thy servants that walk before thee with all their heart: 24who hast kept with thy servant David my father that thou promisedst him: thou spakest also with thy mouth, and hast fulfilled it with thine hand, as it is this day. 25#1 Kgs 2.4. Therefore now, Lord God of Israel, keep with thy servant David my father that thou promisedst him, saying, There shall not fail thee a man in my sight to sit on the throne of Israel; so that thy children take heed to their way, that they walk before me as thou hast walked before me. 26And now, O God of Israel, let thy word, I pray thee, be verified, which thou spakest unto thy servant David my father.
27 #
2 Chr 2.6. But will God indeed dwell on the earth? behold, the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain thee; how much less this house that I have builded? 28Yet have thou respect unto the prayer of thy servant, and to his supplication, O Lord my God, to hearken unto the cry and to the prayer, which thy servant prayeth before thee today: 29#Deut 12.11. that thine eyes may be open toward this house night and day, even toward the place of which thou hast said, My name shall be there: that thou mayest hearken unto the prayer which thy servant shall make toward this place. 30And hearken thou to the supplication of thy servant, and of thy people Israel, when they shall pray toward this place: and hear thou in heaven thy dwelling place: and when thou hearest, forgive.
31If any man trespass against his neighbor, and an oath be laid upon him to cause him to swear, and the oath come before thine altar in this house: 32then hear thou in heaven, and do, and judge thy servants, condemning the wicked, to bring his way upon his head; and justifying the righteous, to give him according to his righteousness.
33When thy people Israel be smitten down before the enemy, because they have sinned against thee, and shall turn again to thee, and confess thy name, and pray, and make supplication unto thee in this house: 34then hear thou in heaven, and forgive the sin of thy people Israel, and bring them again unto the land which thou gavest unto their fathers.
35When heaven is shut up, and there is no rain, because they have sinned against thee; if they pray toward this place, and confess thy name, and turn from their sin, when thou afflictest them: 36then hear thou in heaven, and forgive the sin of thy servants, and of thy people Israel, that thou teach them the good way wherein they should walk, and give rain upon thy land, which thou hast given to thy people for an inheritance.
37If there be in the land famine, if there be pestilence, blasting, mildew, locust, or if there be caterpillar; if their enemy besiege them in the land of their cities; whatsoever plague, whatsoever sickness there be; 38what prayer and supplication soever be made by any man, or by all thy people Israel, which shall know every man the plague of his own heart, and spread forth his hands toward this house: 39then hear thou in heaven thy dwelling place, and forgive, and do, and give to every man according to his ways, whose heart thou knowest; (for thou, even thou only, knowest the hearts of all the children of men;) 40that they may fear thee all the days that they live in the land which thou gavest unto our fathers.
41Moreover concerning a stranger, that is not of thy people Israel, but cometh out of a far country for thy name's sake; 42(for they shall hear of thy great name, and of thy strong hand, and of thy stretched out arm;) when he shall come and pray toward this house: 43hear thou in heaven thy dwelling place, and do according to all that the stranger calleth to thee for: that all people of the earth may know thy name, to fear thee, as do thy people Israel; and that they may know that this house, which I have builded, is called by thy name.
44If thy people go out to battle against their enemy, whithersoever thou shalt send them, and shall pray unto the Lord toward the city which thou hast chosen, and toward the house that I have built for thy name: 45then hear thou in heaven their prayer and their supplication, and maintain their cause.
46If they sin against thee, (for there is no man that sinneth not,) and thou be angry with them, and deliver them to the enemy, so that they carry them away captives unto the land of the enemy, far or near; 47yet if they 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; 48and 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 which I have built for thy name: 49then hear thou their prayer and their supplication in heaven thy dwelling place, and maintain their cause, 50and 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: 51for they be thy people, and thine inheritance, which thou broughtest forth out of Egypt, from the midst of the furnace of iron: 52that thine eyes may be open unto the supplication of thy servant, and unto the supplication of thy people Israel, to hearken unto them in all that they call for unto thee. 53For 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.
54And it was so, that when Solomon had made an end of praying all this prayer and supplication unto the Lord, he arose from before the altar of the Lord, from kneeling on his knees with his hands spread up to heaven. 55And he stood, and blessed all the congregation of Israel with a loud voice, saying, 56#Deut 12.10; Josh 21.44,45. Blessed be the Lord, that hath given rest unto his people Israel, according to all that he promised: there hath not failed one word of all his good promise, which he promised by the hand of Moses his servant. 57The Lord our God be with us, as he was with our fathers: let him not leave us, nor forsake us: 58that he may incline our hearts unto him, to walk in all his ways, and to keep his commandments, and his statutes, and his judgments, which he commanded our fathers. 59And let these my words, wherewith I have made supplication before the Lord, be nigh unto the Lord our God day and night, that he maintain the cause of his servant, and the cause of his people Israel at all times, as the matter shall require: 60that all the people of the earth may know that the Lord is God, and that there is none else. 61Let your heart therefore be perfect with the Lord our God, to walk in his statutes, and to keep his commandments, as at this day.
62And the king, and all Israel with him, offered sacrifice before the Lord. 63And Solomon offered a sacrifice of peace offerings, which he offered unto the Lord, two and twenty thousand oxen, and a hundred and twenty thousand sheep. So the king and all the children of Israel dedicated the house of the Lord. 64The same day did the king hallow the middle of the court that was before the house of the Lord: for there he offered burnt offerings, and meat offerings, and the fat of the peace offerings: because the brazen altar that was before the Lord was too little to receive the burnt offerings, and meat offerings, and the fat of the peace offerings.
65And at that time Solomon held a feast, and all Israel with him, a great congregation, from the entering in of Hamath unto the river of Egypt, before the Lord our God, seven days and seven days, even fourteen days. 66On the eighth day he sent the people away: and they blessed the king, and went unto their tents joyful and glad of heart for all the goodness that the Lord had done for David his servant, and for Israel his people.
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King James Version 1611, spelling, punctuation and text formatting modernized by ABS in 1962; typesetting © 2010 American Bible Society.