1 Kings 8
8
Solomon dedicates the temple
1Then Solomon assembled Israel’s elders, all the tribal leaders, and the chiefs of Israel’s clans at Jerusalem to bring up the chest containing the LORD’s covenant from David’s City Zion. 2Everyone in Israel assembled before King Solomon in the seventh month, the month of Ethanim,#8.2 September–October, Tishrei; Ethanim is a month from a Canaanite calendar. during the festival. 3When all of Israel’s elders had arrived, the priests picked up the chest. 4They brought the LORD’s chest, the meeting tent, and all the holy equipment that was in the tent. The priests and the Levites brought them up, 5while King Solomon and the entire Israelite assembly that had joined him before the chest sacrificed countless sheep and oxen. 6The priests brought the chest containing the LORD’s covenant to its designated spot beneath the wings of the winged creatures in the inner sanctuary of the temple, the most holy place. 7The winged creatures spread their wings over the place where the chest rested, covering the chest and its carrying poles. 8The carrying poles were so long that their tips could be seen from the holy place in front of the inner sanctuary, though they weren’t visible from outside. They are still there today. 9Nothing was in the chest except the two stone tablets Moses had placed there while at Horeb, where the LORD made a covenant with the Israelites after they left Egypt. 10When the priests left the holy place, the cloud filled the LORD’s temple, 11and the priests were unable to carry out their duties due to the cloud because the LORD’s glory filled the LORD’s temple.
12Then Solomon said, “The LORD said that he would live in a dark cloud, 13but I have indeed built you a lofty temple as a place where you can live forever.” 14The king turned around, and while the entire assembly of Israel was standing there, he blessed them, 15saying, “Bless Israel’s God, the LORD, who spoke directly to my father David and now has kept his promise: 16‘From the day I brought my people Israel out of Egypt I haven’t selected a city from any Israelite tribe as a site for the building of a temple for my name. But now I have chosen David to be over my people Israel.’ 17My father David wanted to build a temple for the name of the LORD, Israel’s God.
18“But the LORD said to my father David, ‘It is very good that you thought to build a temple for my name. 19Nevertheless, you yourself won’t build that temple. Instead, your very own son will build the temple for my name.’ 20The LORD has kept his promise—I have succeeded my father David on Israel’s throne just as the LORD said, and I have built the temple for the name of the LORD, Israel’s God. 21There I’ve placed the chest that contains the covenant that the LORD made with our ancestors when he brought them out of Egypt.”
22Solomon stood before the LORD’s altar in front of the entire Israelite assembly and, spreading out his hands toward the sky, 23he said:
LORD God of Israel, there’s no god like you in heaven above or on earth below. You keep the covenant and show loyalty to your servants who walk before you with all their heart. 24This is the covenant you kept with your servant David, my father, which you promised him. Today, you have fulfilled what you promised. 25So now, LORD, Israel’s God, keep what you promised my father David, your servant, when you said to him, “You will never fail to have a successor sitting on Israel’s throne as long as your descendants carefully walk before me just as you walked before me.” 26So now, God of Israel, may your promise to your servant David, my father, come true.
27But how could God possibly live on earth? If heaven, even the highest heaven, can’t contain you, how can this temple that I’ve built contain you? 28LORD my God, listen to your servant’s prayer and request, and hear the cry and prayer that your servant prays to you today. 29Constantly watch over this temple, the place about which you said, “My name will be there,” and listen to the prayer that your servant is praying toward#8.29 Or for, regarding; also used in several verses that follow this place. 30Listen to the request of your servant and your people Israel when they pray toward this place. Listen from your heavenly dwelling place, and when you hear, forgive!
31If someone wrongs another and must make a solemn pledge asserting innocence before your altar in this temple,#8.31 Heb uncertain 32then listen from heaven, act, and decide which of your servants is right. Condemn the guilty party, repaying them for their conduct, but justify the innocent person, repaying them for their righteousness.
33If your people Israel are defeated by an enemy because they have sinned against you, but then they change their hearts and lives, give thanks to your name, and ask for mercy before you at this temple, 34then listen from heaven and forgive the sin of your people Israel. Return them to the land you gave their ancestors.
35When the sky holds back its rain because Israel has sinned against you, but they then pray toward this place, give thanks to your name, and turn away from their sin because you have punished them for it,#8.35 Or answered them 36then listen from heaven and forgive the sin of your servants, your people Israel. Teach them the best way for them to follow, and send rain on your land that you gave to your people as an inheritance.
37Whenever there is a famine or plague in the land; or whenever there is blight, mildew, locust, or grasshopper; or whenever someone’s enemy attacks them in their cities;#8.37 LXX one of; MT in the land of their gates or any plague or illness comes; 38whatever prayer or petition is made by any individual or by all of your people Israel—because people will recognize their own pain and spread out their hands toward this temple— 39then listen from heaven where you live. Forgive, act, and repay each person according to all their conduct, because you know their hearts. You alone know the human heart. 40Do this so that they may revere you all the days they live on the land that you gave to our ancestors.
41Listen also to the immigrant who isn’t from your people Israel but who comes from a distant country because of your reputation— 42because they will hear of your great reputation, your great power, and your outstretched arm. When the immigrant comes and prays toward this temple, 43then listen from heaven, where you live, and do everything the immigrant asks. Do this so that all the people of the earth may know your reputation and revere you, as your people Israel do, and recognize that this temple I have built bears your name.
44When your people go to war against their enemies, wherever you may send them, and they pray to the LORD toward the city you have chosen and toward this temple that I have built for your name, 45then listen from heaven to their prayer and request and do what is right for them.
46When they sin against you (for there is no one who doesn’t sin) and you become angry with them and hand them over to an enemy who takes them away as prisoners to enemy territory, whether distant or nearby, 47if they change their heart in whatever land they are held captive, changing their lives and begging for your mercy,#8.47 Heb adds in the land they are held captive. saying, “We have sinned, we have done wrong, we have acted wickedly!” 48and if they return to you with all their heart and all their being in the enemy territory where they’ve been taken captive, and pray to you, toward their land, which you gave their ancestors, toward the city you have chosen, and toward the temple I have built for your name, 49then listen to their prayer and request from your heavenly dwelling place. Do what is right for them, 50and forgive your people who have sinned against you. Forgive all their wrong that they have done against you. See to it that those who captured them show them mercy. 51These are your people and your inheritance. You brought them out of Egypt, from the iron furnace.
52Open your eyes to your servant’s request and to the request of your people Israel. Hear them whenever they cry out to you. 53You set them apart from all the earth’s peoples as your own inheritance, LORD, just as you promised through your servant Moses when you brought our ancestors out of Egypt.
54As soon as Solomon finished praying and making these requests to the LORD, he got up from before the LORD’s altar, where he had been kneeling with his hands spread out to heaven. 55He stood up and blessed the whole Israelite assembly in a loud voice: 56“May the LORD be blessed! He has given rest to his people Israel just as he promised. He hasn’t neglected any part of the good promise he made through his servant Moses. 57May the LORD our God be with us, just as he was with our ancestors. May he never leave us or abandon us. 58May he draw our hearts to him to walk in all his ways and observe his commands, his laws, and his judgments that he gave our ancestors. 59And may these words of mine that I have cried out before the LORD remain near to the LORD our God day and night so that he may do right by his servant and his people Israel for each day’s need, 60and so that all the earth’s peoples may know that the LORD is God. There is no other God! 61Now may you be committed to the LORD our God with all your heart by following his laws and observing his commands, just as you are doing right now.”
62Then the king and all Israel with him sacrificed to the LORD. 63Solomon offered well-being sacrifices to the LORD: twenty-two thousand oxen and one hundred twenty thousand sheep when the king and all Israel dedicated the LORD’s temple. 64On that day the king made holy the middle of the courtyard in front of the LORD’s temple. He had to offer the entirely burned offerings, grain offerings, and the fat of well-being sacrifices there, because the bronze altar that was in the LORD’s presence was too small to contain the entirely burned offerings, the grain offerings, and the fat of the well-being sacrifices. 65At that time Solomon, together with all Israel, held a celebration. It was a large assembly from Lebo-hamath to the border of Egypt. They celebrated for seven days and then for another seven days in the presence of the LORD our God: fourteen days in all. 66On the eighth day,#8.66 The second seven-day celebration (see 2 Chron 7:8-9); but contrast LXX. Solomon dismissed the people. They blessed the king and went back to their tents happy and pleased about all the good that the LORD had done for his servant David and for his people Israel.
Currently Selected:
1 Kings 8: CEB
Highlight
Share
Copy
Want to have your highlights saved across all your devices? Sign up or sign in
2011 Common English Bible. All rights reserved.
1 Kings 8
8
The Ark Brought into the Temple
1 # For ver. 1-9, see 2 Chr. 5:2-10 Then Solomon assembled the elders of Israel and all the heads of the tribes, #Num. 1:16 the leaders of the fathers’ houses of the people of Israel, before King Solomon in Jerusalem, #[2 Sam. 6:17] to bring up the ark of the covenant of the Lord out of #See 2 Sam. 5:7the city of David, which is Zion. 2And all the men of Israel assembled to King Solomon at #ver. 65; Lev. 23:34; See 2 Chr. 7:8-10the feast in the month Ethanim, which is the seventh month. 3And all the elders of Israel came, and #[Num. 4:15; Deut. 31:9; Josh. 3:3, 6; 1 Chr. 15:14, 15]the priests took up the ark. 4And they brought up the ark of the Lord, #[ch. 3:4; 2 Chr. 1:3]the tent of meeting, and all the holy vessels that were in the tent; the priests and the Levites brought them up. 5And King Solomon and all the congregation of Israel, who had assembled before him, were with him before the ark, #[2 Sam. 6:13]sacrificing so many sheep and oxen that they could not be counted or numbered. 6#2 Sam. 6:17 Then the priests brought the ark of the covenant of the Lord #Ex. 26:33, 34 to its place in #See ch. 6:5the inner sanctuary of the house, in the Most Holy Place, underneath the wings of the cherubim. 7For the cherubim spread out their wings over the place of the ark, so that the cherubim overshadowed the ark and its poles. 8#Ex. 25:13-15 And the poles were so long that the ends of the poles were seen from the Holy Place before #[See ver. 6 above]the inner sanctuary; but they could not be seen from outside. And they are there to this day. 9There was nothing in the ark except #Ex. 25:21; 40:20; Deut. 10:2, 5; Heb. 9:4 the two tablets of stone that Moses put there at Horeb, where #Ex. 34:27, 28; Deut. 4:13the Lord made a covenant with the people of Israel, when they came out of the land of Egypt. 10And when the priests came out of the Holy Place, #Ex. 40:34, 35; 2 Chr. 5:13, 14; 7:1, 2; [Ezek. 10:3, 4]a 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 filled the house of the Lord.
Solomon Blesses the Lord
12 # For ver. 12-50, see 2 Chr. 6:1-39 Then Solomon said, “The Lord#8:12 Septuagint The Lord has set the sun in the heavens, but has said that he would dwell #Ps. 18:11; 97:2; [Lev. 16:2]in thick darkness. 13#2 Sam. 7:13 I have indeed built you an exalted house, #Ex. 15:17; [Ps. 132:14]a place for you to dwell in forever.” 14Then the king turned around and #ver. 55; 2 Sam. 6:18blessed all the assembly of Israel, while all the assembly of Israel stood. 15And he said, #Luke 1:68 “Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, who with his hand has fulfilled #ch. 6:12what he promised with his mouth to David my father, saying, 16#See 2 Sam. 7:4-16, 25 ‘Since the day that I brought my people Israel out of Egypt, I chose no city out of all the tribes of Israel in which to build a house, #ver. 29; Deut. 12:11 that my name might be there. #1 Sam. 16:1; 2 Sam. 7:8; 1 Chr. 28:4But I chose David to be over my people Israel.’ 17#2 Sam. 7:2, 3; 1 Chr. 17:1, 2Now it was in the heart of David my father to build a house for the name of the Lord, the God of Israel. 18But the Lord said to David my father, ‘Whereas it was in your heart to build a house for my name, you did well that it was in your heart. 19#ch. 5:3, 5; 2 Sam. 7:5, 12, 13Nevertheless, you shall not build the house, but your son who shall be born to you shall build the house for my name.’ 20Now the Lord has fulfilled his promise that he made. For I have risen in the place of David my father, and sit on the throne of Israel, #1 Chr. 28:5, 6as the Lord promised, and I have built the house for the name of the Lord, the God of Israel. 21And there I have provided a place for the ark, #ver. 9; Deut. 31:26in which is the covenant of the Lord that he made with our fathers, when he brought them out of the land of Egypt.”
Solomon’s Prayer of Dedication
22Then Solomon #ver. 54; 2 Chr. 6:12, 13 stood before the altar of the Lord in the presence of all the assembly of Israel and #[Ex. 9:33; Ezra 9:5; Isa. 1:15]spread out his hands toward heaven, 23and said, “O Lord, God of Israel, #Ex. 15:11; 2 Sam. 7:22 there is no God like you, in heaven above or on earth beneath, #See Deut. 7:9keeping covenant and showing steadfast love to your servants who walk before you with all their heart; 24you have kept with your servant David my father what you declared to him. #[See ver. 15 above]You spoke with your mouth, and with your hand have fulfilled it this day. 25Now therefore, O Lord, God of Israel, keep for your servant David my father what you have promised him, saying, #See ch. 2:4‘You shall not lack a man to sit before me on the throne of Israel, if only your sons pay close attention to their way, to walk before me as you have walked before me.’ 26#2 Sam. 7:25Now therefore, O God of Israel, let your word be confirmed, which you have spoken to your servant David my father.
27“But will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold, #2 Chr. 2:6; [Isa. 66:1; Jer. 23:24; Acts 7:49; 17:24]heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain you; how much less this house that I have built! 28Yet have regard to the prayer of your servant and to his plea, O Lord my God, listening to the cry and to the prayer that your servant prays before you this day, 29#ver. 52; [2 Chr. 7:15; Neh. 1:6] that your eyes may be open night and day toward this house, the place of which you have said, #ver. 16; ch. 9:3; Deut. 12:11‘My name shall be there,’ that you may listen to the prayer that your servant offers toward this place. 30And listen to the plea of your servant and of your people Israel, when they pray toward this place. And listen in heaven your dwelling place, and when you hear, forgive.
31“If a man sins against his neighbor and is made to take #[Ex. 22:11]an oath and comes and swears his oath before your altar in this house, 32then hear in heaven and act and judge your servants, #Deut. 25:1condemning the guilty by bringing his conduct on his own head, and vindicating the righteous by rewarding him according to his righteousness.
33 #
Lev. 26:17; Deut. 28:45 “When your people Israel are defeated before the enemy because they have sinned against you, and #Lev. 26:40; [Neh. 1:9]if they turn again to you and acknowledge your name and pray and plead with you in this house, 34then hear in heaven and forgive the sin of your people Israel and bring them again to the land that you gave to their fathers.
35 #
Deut. 11:17; Luke 4:25; [Lev. 26:17; Deut. 28:25] “When heaven is shut up and there is no rain because they have sinned against you, if they pray toward this place and acknowledge your name and turn from their sin, when you afflict them, 36then hear in heaven and forgive the sin of your servants, your people Israel, when #[Ps. 25:4; 27:11; 86:11] you teach them #1 Sam. 12:23the good way in which they should walk, and grant rain upon your land, which you have given to your people as an inheritance.
37 # [Lev. 26:16, 25, 26; Deut. 28:21, 22, 37, 38, 42, 52; 2 Chr. 20:9] “If there is famine in the land, if there is pestilence or blight or mildew or locust or caterpillar, if their enemy besieges them in the land at their gates,#8:37 Septuagint, Syriac in any of their cities whatever plague, whatever sickness there is, 38whatever prayer, whatever plea is made by any man or by all your people Israel, each knowing the affliction of his own heart and stretching out his hands toward this house, 39then hear in heaven your dwelling place and forgive and act and render to each whose heart you know, according to all his ways (#1 Chr. 28:9; Acts 1:24; [1 Sam. 16:7; Jer. 17:10]for you, you only, know the hearts of all the children of mankind), 40that they may fear you #Deut. 12:1all the days that they live in the land that you gave to our fathers.
41“Likewise, when a foreigner, who is not of your people Israel, comes from a far country for your name’s sake 42(for they shall hear of your great name #Deut. 3:24; 2 Chr. 6:32and your mighty hand, and of your outstretched arm), when he comes and prays toward this house, 43hear in heaven your dwelling place and do according to all for which the foreigner calls to you, in order #ver. 60; [Josh. 4:24] that all the peoples of the earth may know your name and #Ps. 102:15fear you, as do your people Israel, and that they may know that this house that I have built is called by your name.
44“If your people go out to battle against their enemy, by whatever way you shall send them, and they pray to the Lord #[ver. 48]toward the city that you have chosen and the house that I have built for your name, 45then hear in heaven their prayer and their plea, and maintain their cause.
46“If they sin against you—#Prov. 20:9; Eccles. 7:20; Rom. 3:23; James 3:2; 1 John 1:8, 10 for there is no one who does not sin—and you are angry with them and give them to an enemy, so that they are carried away captive #Lev. 26:34, 44; Deut. 28:36, 64to the land of the enemy, far off or near, 47yet #Lev. 26:40 if they turn their heart in the land to which they have been carried captive, and repent and plead with you in the land of their captors, saying, #Neh. 1:6; Ps. 106:6; Dan. 9:5‘We have sinned and have acted perversely and wickedly,’ 48#1 Sam. 7:3; Jer. 29:12-14 if they repent with all their heart and with all their soul in the land of their enemies, who carried them captive, and pray to you #Dan. 6:10; [ver. 44; Ps. 5:7; Jonah 2:4]toward their land, which you gave to their fathers, the city that you have chosen, and the house that I have built for your name, 49then hear in heaven your dwelling place their prayer and their plea, and maintain their cause 50and forgive your people who have sinned against you, and all their transgressions that they have committed against you, and #Ps. 106:46grant them compassion in the sight of those who carried them captive, that they may have compassion on them 51(#Deut. 9:29; [Neh. 1:10] for they are your people, and your heritage, which you brought out of Egypt, #Deut. 4:20; Jer. 11:4from the midst of the iron furnace). 52#[ver. 29]Let your eyes be open to the plea of your servant and to the plea of your people Israel, giving ear to them whenever they call to you. 53For you separated them from among all the peoples of the earth to be your heritage, #Ex. 19:5, 6; Deut. 9:26, 29; 14:2as you declared through Moses your servant, when you brought our fathers out of Egypt, O Lord God.”
Solomon’s Benediction
54 #
2 Chr. 7:1 Now as Solomon finished offering all this prayer and plea to the Lord, he arose from before the altar of the Lord, where he had #[2 Chr. 6:13]knelt with hands outstretched toward heaven. 55And he stood and #ver. 14blessed all the assembly of Israel with a loud voice, saying, 56“Blessed be the Lord who has given rest to his people Israel, according to all that he promised. #Josh. 21:45; 23:14Not one word has failed of all his good promise, which he spoke by Moses his servant. 57The Lord our God be with us, as he was with our fathers. #[Deut. 31:6; Josh. 1:5; 1 Sam. 12:22]May he not leave us or forsake us, 58that he may #Ps. 119:36incline our hearts to him, to walk in all his ways and to keep his commandments, his statutes, and his rules, which he commanded our fathers. 59Let these words of mine, with which I have pleaded before the Lord, be near to the Lord our God day and night, and may he maintain the cause of his servant and the cause of his people Israel, as each day requires, 60that #ver. 43 all the peoples of the earth may know that #Deut. 4:35, 39; [ch. 18:39]the Lord is God; there is no other. 61#2 Kgs. 20:3; [ch. 11:4; 15:3, 14]Let your heart therefore be wholly true to the Lord our God, walking in his statutes and keeping his commandments, as at this day.”
Solomon’s Sacrifices
62 # For ver. 62-66, see 2 Chr. 7:4-10 Then #[Ezra 6:16, 17]the king, and all Israel with him, offered sacrifice before the Lord. 63Solomon offered as peace offerings to the Lord 22,000 oxen and 120,000 sheep. So the king and all the people of Israel dedicated the house of the Lord. 64The same day the king consecrated the middle of the court that was before the house of the Lord, for there he offered the burnt offering and the grain offering and the fat pieces of the peace offerings, because #See 2 Chr. 4:1the bronze altar that was before the Lord was too small to receive the burnt offering and the grain offering and the fat pieces of the peace offerings.
65So Solomon held #ver. 2; Lev. 23:34 the feast at that time, and all Israel with him, a great assembly, from #Num. 13:21; 34:8 Lebo-hamath to #Num. 34:5; 2 Kgs. 24:7the Brook of Egypt, before the Lord our God, seven days.#8:65 Septuagint; Hebrew seven days and seven days, fourteen days 66On the eighth day he sent the people away, and they blessed the king and went to their homes joyful and glad of heart for all the goodness that the Lord had shown to David his servant and to Israel his people.
Currently Selected:
:
Highlight
Share
Copy
Want to have your highlights saved across all your devices? Sign up or sign in
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.
Sign up to receive news and updates about the ESV: