2 Chronicles 7
7
Solomon Dedicates the Temple
(1 Kings 8.62-66)
1 #
Lv 9.23,24. As soon as Solomon finished praying, fire came down from heaven and burned up the offerings. The Lord's dazzling glory then filled the temple, 2and the priests could not go in.
3 #
1 Ch 16.34; 2 Ch 5.11-13; Ezra 3.11; Ps 100.5; 106.1; 107.1; 118.1; 136.1; Jr 33.11. When the crowd of people saw the fire and the Lord's glory, they knelt down and worshiped the Lord. They prayed:
“The Lord is good,
and his love never ends.”
4-5Solomon and the people dedicated the temple to the Lord by sacrificing 22,000 cattle and 120,000 sheep. 6Everybody stood up during the ceremony. The priests were in their assigned places, blowing their trumpets. And the Levites faced them, playing the musical instruments that David had made for them to use when they praised the Lord for his never-ending love.
7On that same day, Solomon dedicated the courtyard in front of the temple and got it ready to be used for worship. The bronze altar he had made was too small, so he used the courtyard to offer sacrifices to please the Lord#7.7 sacrifices to please the Lord: See the note at 1.6. and grain sacrifices, and also to send up in smoke the fat from the other offerings.
8For 7 days, Solomon and the crowd celebrated the Festival of Shelters, and people came from as far away as the Egyptian Gorge in the south and Lebo-Hamath in the north. 9Then on the next day, everyone came together for worship. They had celebrated a total of 14 days, 7 days for the dedication of the altar and 7 more days for the festival. 10Then on the twenty-third day of the seventh month,#7.10 seventh month: See the note at 5.2,3. Solomon sent everyone home. They left very happy because of all the good things the Lord had done for David and Solomon, and for his people Israel.
The Lord Appears to Solomon Again
(1 Kings 9.1-9)
11The Lord's temple and Solomon's palace were now finished. In fact, everything Solomon had planned to do was completed.
12Some time later, the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream and said:
I heard your prayer, and I have chosen this temple as the place where sacrifices will be offered to me.
13Suppose I hold back the rain or send locusts#7.13 locusts: See the note at 6.28. to eat the crops or make my people suffer with deadly diseases. 14If my own people will humbly pray and turn back to me and stop sinning, then I will answer them from heaven. I will forgive them and make their land fertile once again. 15I will hear the prayers made in this temple, 16because it belongs to me, and this is where I will be worshiped forever. I will never stop watching over it.
17Your father David obeyed me, and now, Solomon, you must do the same. Obey my laws and teachings, 18#1 K 2.4. and I will keep my solemn promise to him that someone from your family will always be king of Israel.
19But if you or any of the people of Israel disobey my laws or start worshiping foreign gods, 20I will pull you out of this land I gave you. I will desert this temple where I said I would be worshiped, so that people everywhere will think it is only a joke and will make fun of it. 21This temple is now magnificent. But when these things happen, everyone who walks by it will be shocked and will ask, “Why did the Lord do such a terrible thing to his people and to this temple?” 22Then they will answer, “It was because the people of Israel rejected the Lord their God, who rescued their ancestors from Egypt, and they started worshiping other gods.”
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Contemporary English Version, Second Edition (CEV®)
© 2006 American Bible Society. All rights reserved.
2 Chronicles 7
7
The Dedication of the Temple
1When Solomon finished praying, fire flashed down from heaven and burned up the burnt offerings and sacrifices, and the glorious presence of the Lord filled the Temple. 2The priests could not enter the Temple of the Lord because the glorious presence of the Lord filled it. 3When all the people of Israel saw the fire coming down and the glorious presence of the Lord filling the Temple, they fell face down on the ground and worshiped and praised the Lord, saying,
“He is good!
His faithful love endures forever!”
4Then the king and all the people offered sacrifices to the Lord. 5King Solomon offered a sacrifice of 22,000 cattle and 120,000 sheep and goats. And so the king and all the people dedicated the Temple of God. 6The priests took their assigned positions, and so did the Levites who were singing, “His faithful love endures forever!” They accompanied the singing with music from the instruments King David had made for praising the Lord. Across from the Levites, the priests blew the trumpets, while all Israel stood.
7Solomon then consecrated the central area of the courtyard in front of the Lord’s Temple. He offered burnt offerings and the fat of peace offerings there, because the bronze altar he had built could not hold all the burnt offerings, grain offerings, and sacrificial fat.
8For the next seven days Solomon and all Israel celebrated the Festival of Shelters.#7:8 Hebrew the festival (also in 7:9); see note on 5:3. A large congregation had gathered from as far away as Lebo-hamath in the north and the Brook of Egypt in the south. 9On the eighth day they had a closing ceremony, for they had celebrated the dedication of the altar for seven days and the Festival of Shelters for seven days. 10Then at the end of the celebration,#7:10 Hebrew Then on the twenty-third day of the seventh month. This day of the ancient Hebrew lunar calendar occurred in October or early November. Solomon sent the people home. They were all joyful and glad because the Lord had been so good to David and to Solomon and to his people Israel.
The Lord’s Response to Solomon
11So Solomon finished the Temple of the Lord, as well as the royal palace. He completed everything he had planned to do in the construction of the Temple and the palace. 12Then one night the Lord appeared to Solomon and said,
“I have heard your prayer and have chosen this Temple as the place for making sacrifices. 13At times I might shut up the heavens so that no rain falls, or command grasshoppers to devour your crops, or send plagues among you. 14Then if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sins and restore their land. 15My eyes will be open and my ears attentive to every prayer made in this place. 16For I have chosen this Temple and set it apart to be holy—a place where my name will be honored forever. I will always watch over it, for it is dear to my heart.
17“As for you, if you faithfully follow me as David your father did, obeying all my commands, decrees, and regulations, 18then I will establish the throne of your dynasty. For I made this covenant with your father, David, when I said, ‘One of your descendants will always rule over Israel.’
19“But if you or your descendants abandon me and disobey the decrees and commands I have given you, and if you serve and worship other gods, 20then I will uproot the people from this land that I have given them. I will reject this Temple that I have made holy to honor my name. I will make it an object of mockery and ridicule among the nations. 21And though this Temple is impressive now, all who pass by will be appalled. They will ask, ‘Why did the Lord do such terrible things to this land and to this Temple?’
22“And the answer will be, ‘Because his people abandoned the Lord, the God of their ancestors, who brought them out of Egypt, and they worshiped other gods instead and bowed down to them. That is why he has brought all these disasters on them.’”
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