1 Kings 8
8
The LORD Comes to His Temple
(2 Chronicles 5:2–14)
1Then Solomon assembled the respected leaders of Israel, all the heads of the tribes, and the leaders of the Israelite families. They came to King Solomon in Jerusalem to take the ark of the Lord’s promise from the City of David (that is, Zion). 2All the people of Israel gathered around King Solomon at the Festival ⌞of Booths⌟ in the month of Ethanim, the seventh month.
3When all the leaders of Israel had arrived, the priests picked up the Lord’s ark. 4They brought the ark, the tent of meeting, and all the holy utensils in it ⌞to the temple⌟. The priests and the Levites carried them 5while King Solomon with the whole assembly from Israel were offering countless sheep and cattle sacrifices in front of the ark. 6The priests brought the ark of the Lord’s promise to its place in the inner room of the temple (the most holy place) under the wings of the angels.#8:6 Or “cherubim.”
7When the angels’ outstretched wings were over the place where the ark ⌞rested⌟, the angels became a covering above the ark and its poles. 8The poles were so long that their ends could be seen in the holy place by anyone standing in front of the inner room, but they couldn’t be seen outside. (They are still there today.) 9There was nothing in the ark except the two stone tablets Moses put there at Horeb, where the Lord made a promise to the Israelites after they left Egypt.
10When the priests left the holy place, a cloud filled the Lord’s temple. 11The priests couldn’t serve because of the cloud. The Lord’s glory filled his temple.
Solomon Addresses the People
(2 Chronicles 6:1–11)
12Then Solomon said, “The Lord said he would live in a dark cloud. 13I certainly have built you a high temple, a home for you to live in permanently.”
14Then the king turned around and blessed the whole assembly of Israel while they were standing. 15“Thanks be to the Lord God of Israel. With his mouth he made a promise to my father David; with his hand he carried it out. He said, 16‘Ever since I brought my people Israel out of Egypt, I didn’t choose any city in any of the tribes of Israel as a place to build a temple for my name. But now I’ve chosen David to rule my people Israel.’
17“My father David had his heart set on building a temple for the name of the Lord God of Israel. 18However, the Lord said to my father David, ‘Since you had your heart set on building a temple for my name, your intentions were good. 19But you must not build the temple. Instead, your own son will build the temple for my name.’ 20The Lord has kept the promise he made. I have taken my father David’s place, and I sit on the throne of Israel as the Lord promised. I’ve built the temple for the name of the Lord God of Israel. 21I’ve made a place there for the ark which contains the Lord’s promise that he made to our ancestors when he brought them out of Egypt.”
Solomon’s Prayer
(2 Chronicles 6:12–42)
22In the presence of the entire assembly of Israel, Solomon stood in front of the Lord’s altar. He stretched out his hands toward heaven 23and said,
“Lord God of Israel,
there is no god like you in heaven above or on earth below.
You keep your promise #8:23 Or “covenant.” of mercy to your servants,
who obey you wholeheartedly.
24You have kept your promise to my father David, your servant.
With your mouth you promised it.
With your hand you carried it out as it is today.
25“Now, Lord God of Israel,
keep your promise to my father David, your servant.
You said, ‘You will never fail to have an heir
sitting in front of me on the throne of Israel
if your descendants are faithful to me
as you have been faithful to me.’
26“So now, God of Israel,
may the promise you made to my father David,
your servant, come true.
27“Does God really live on earth?
If heaven itself, the highest heaven, cannot hold you,
then how can this temple that I have built?
28Nevertheless, my Lord God, please pay attention to my prayer for mercy.
Listen to my cry for help as I pray to you today.
29Night and day may your eyes be on this temple,
the place about which you said, ‘My name will be there.’
Listen to me as I pray toward this place.
30Hear the plea for mercy
that your people Israel and I pray toward this place.
Hear us ⌞when we pray⌟ to heaven, the place where you live.
Hear and forgive.
31“If anyone sins against another person
and is required to take an oath
and comes to take the oath in front of your altar in this temple,
32then hear ⌞that person⌟ in heaven, take action, and make a decision.
Condemn the guilty person with the proper punishment,
but declare the innocent person innocent.
33“An enemy may defeat your people Israel
because they have sinned against you.
But when your people turn to you, praise your name, pray,
and plead with you in this temple,
34then hear ⌞them⌟ in heaven, forgive the sins of your people Israel,
and bring them back to the land that you gave to their ancestors.
35“When the sky is shut and there’s no rain
because they are sinning against you,
and they pray toward this place, praise your name,
and turn away from their sin because you made them suffer,
36then hear ⌞them⌟ in heaven.
Forgive the sins of your servants, your people Israel.
Teach them the proper way to live.
Then send rain on the land,
which you gave to your people as an inheritance.
37“There may be famine in the land.
Plant diseases, heat waves, funguses, locusts,
or grasshoppers may destroy crops.
Enemies may blockade Israel’s city gates.
During every plague or sickness
38 ⌞hear⌟ every prayer for mercy,
made by one person or by all the people in Israel,
whose consciences bother them,
who stretch out their hands toward this temple.
39Hear ⌞them⌟ in heaven, where you live.
Forgive ⌞them⌟, and take action.
Give each person the proper reply.
(You know what is in their hearts,
because you alone know what is in the hearts of all people.)
40Then, as long as they live in the land that you gave to our ancestors,
they will fear you.
41“People will hear about your great name,
mighty hand, and powerful arm.#8:41 The first sentence of verse 42 (in Hebrew) has been placed in verse 41 to express the complex Hebrew paragraph structure more clearly in English.
So when people who are not Israelites
come from distant countries because of your name
42to pray facing this temple,
43hear ⌞them⌟ in heaven, the place where you live.
Do everything they ask you
so that all the people of the world may know your name
and fear you like your people Israel
and learn also that this temple which I built bears your name.
44“When your people go to war against their enemies
(wherever you may send them)
and they pray to you, O Lord, toward the city you have chosen
and the temple I built for your name,
45then hear their prayer for mercy in heaven,
and do what is right ⌞for them⌟.
46“They may sin against you.
(No one is sinless.)
You may become angry with them and hand them over to an enemy
who takes them to ⌞another⌟ country as captives,
⌞whether it is⌟ far or near.
47If they come to their senses,
are sorry for what they’ve done,
and plead with you in the land where they are captives,
saying, ‘We have sinned. We have done wrong.
We have been wicked,’
48if they change their attitude toward you
in the land of their enemies where they are captives,
if they pray to you
toward the land that you gave their ancestors,
and the city you have chosen,
and the temple I have built for your name,
49then in heaven, the place where you live, hear their prayer for mercy.
Do what is right for them.
50Forgive your people, who have sinned against you.
⌞Forgive⌟ all their wrongs when they rebelled against you,
and cause those who captured them to have mercy on them
51because they are your own people
whom you brought out of Egypt
from the middle of an iron smelter.
52“May your eyes always see my plea and your people Israel’s plea
so that you will listen to them whenever they call on you.
53After all, you, Lord God, set them apart from all the people of the world
to be your own as you promised through your servant Moses
when you brought our ancestors out of Egypt.”
Solomon Blesses the People
54When Solomon finished praying this prayer for mercy to the Lord, he stood in front of the Lord’s altar, where he had been kneeling with his hands stretched out toward heaven. 55Then he stood and in a loud voice blessed the entire assembly of Israel, 56“Thanks be to the Lord! He has given his people Israel rest, as he had promised. None of the good promises he made through his servant Moses has failed to come true. 57May the Lord our God be with us as he was with our ancestors. May he never leave us or abandon us. 58May he bend our hearts toward him. Then we will follow him and keep his commands, laws, and rules, which he commanded our ancestors ⌞to keep⌟. 59May these words which I have prayed to the Lord be near the Lord our God day and night. Then he will give me and his people Israel justice every day as it is needed. 60In this way all the people of the world will know that the Lord is God and there is no other ⌞god⌟. 61May your hearts be committed to the Lord our God. Then you will live by his laws and keep his commands as you have today.”
Solomon Offers Sacrifices
(2 Chronicles 7:4–10)
62Then the king and all Israel offered sacrifices to the Lord. 63Solomon sacrificed 22,000 cattle and 120,000 sheep as fellowship offerings to the Lord. So the king and all the people of Israel dedicated the Lord’s temple.
64On that day the king designated the courtyard in front of the Lord’s temple as a holy place. He sacrificed the burnt offerings, grain offerings, and the fat from the fellowship offerings because the bronze altar in front of the Lord was too small to hold all of them.
65At that time Solomon and all Israel celebrated the Festival ⌞of Booths⌟. A large crowd had come from ⌞the territory between⌟ the border of Hamath and the River of Egypt to be near the Lord our God for seven days.#8:65 Greek; Masoretic Text adds “… and seven [more] days, fourteen days [total].” 66On the eighth day he dismissed the people. They blessed the king and went to their tents. They rejoiced with cheerful hearts for all the blessings the Lord had given his servant David and his people Israel.
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GOD'S WORD® Translation ©1995, 2003, 2013, 2014, 2019, 2020 by God's Word to the Nations Mission Society. All rights reserved.
1 Kings 8
8
The Dedication of the Temple
1At that time, Solomon assembled the elders of Israel, all the heads of the tribes, and the leaders of the families#Literally “fathers” of the Israelites#Literally “sons/children of Israel” before King Solomon, in order to bring up the ark of the covenant of Yahweh from the city of David, that is, Zion. 2All the men of Israel assembled before King Solomon at the festival in the month of Ethnaim, that is, the seventh month. 3All the elders of Israel came, and the priests carried the ark. 4So they brought up the ark of Yahweh and the tent of assembly#Or “meeting” and all of the holy vessels that were in the tent; the priests and the Levites brought them up. 5King Solomon and all the assembly of Israel who were assembling with him in the presence of the ark were sacrificing sheep and oxen that could not be counted nor numbered because of abundance. 6The priests brought the ark of the covenant of Yahweh to its place in the inner sanctuary of the house, to the most holy place,#Literally “holy of the holiest” under the wings of the cherubim, 7for the cherubim were spreading their wings over the place of the ark. The cherubim overshadowed the ark and its poles from above. 8The poles were long, and the ends of the poles could be seen from the holy place in front of#Literally “on the face of” the inner sanctuary, but they could not be seen from the outside, and they are there until this day. 9There was not anything in the ark except#Hebrew “only” the two tablets of stone which Moses had placed there at Horeb, where Yahweh made#Literally “cut” a covenant with the Israelites#Literally “sons/children of Israel” after they went out from the land of Egypt. 10When the priests went out from the holy place, the cloud filled the house of Yahweh. 11The priests were not able to stand to minister because of the presence of#Literally “from the face of” the cloud, for the glory of Yahweh filled the house of Yahweh.
Solomon’s Proclamation to the Assembly of Israel
12Then Solomon said, “Yahweh has said that he would dwell in the very thick cloud. 13I have certainly built a lofty house for you, a place for you to live forever.” 14Then the king turned his face around, and he blessed all of the assembly of Israel. (Now all the assembly of Israel was standing). 15Then he said, “Blessed be Yahweh the God of Israel who has promised with his mouth to David my father and fulfilled by his oath,#Literally “by his hand” saying, 16‘From the day that I brought out my people Israel from Egypt I have not chosen a city from all the tribes of Israel to build a house where my name might be, but I have chosen David to be over my people Israel.’ 17David my father desired#Literally “It had been within the heart of David my father” to build a house for the name of Yahweh the God of Israel, 18but Yahweh said to David my father, ‘Because you desired#Literally “it was within your heart” to build a house for my name, you did well in that it was within your heart. 19However, you will not build the house, but your son who has come from your loins, he shall build the house for my name.’ 20Yahweh has carried out his promise which he had made; I have risen in place of David my father, and I sit on the throne of Israel as Yahweh promised, and I have built the house for the name of Yahweh the God of Israel. 21I have provided a place there for the ark, in which is the covenant which Yahweh made with our ancestors#Or “fathers” when He brought them out of the land of Egypt.”
Solomon’s Prayer to Yahweh
22Then Solomon stood before the altar of Yahweh in the presence of all of the assembly of Israel, and he spread out his hands to the heavens, 23and he said, “O Yahweh, God of Israel, there is no god like you in the heavens above or on the earth beneath, keeping the covenant and the loyal love for your servants who are walking before you with all their heart. 24You have kept for your servant David my father what you promised to him, and you have spoken with your mouth, and with your hand you have fulfilled it this very day. 25So then, O Yahweh, God of Israel, keep for your servant David my father what you promised to him, saying, ‘For you, no man will be cut off from before me who will be sitting on the throne of Israel, if only your sons keep their ways to walk before me just as you have walked before me.’ 26So then, O God of Israel, please let your word be confirmed which you have promised#Or “spoken” to your servant David my father. 27For will God really dwell on the earth? Behold, the heavens and the heaven of heavens could not contain you! How could#Literally “Even that” this house that I have built? 28You must regard the prayer of your servant and his plea! O Yahweh my God, listen to the pleading and to the prayer that your servant is praying before you this day, 29so that your eyes will be open to this house night and day, to the place which you said, ‘My name will be there,’ to hear the prayer that your servant prays toward this place. 30You must listen to the plea of your servant and your people Israel which they pray toward this place; and you must hear from the place where you live, from heaven you must hear and you must forgive. 31If a man sins against his neighbor and he pronounces an oath against him to curse him, and the curse comes before your altar in this house, 32then you shall hear in heaven and you shall act and you shall judge your servant, to declare the wicked guilty by bringing his way upon his head and to declare the righteous innocent#Literally “to declare righteous the righteous” by rewarding him according to his righteousness. 33When your people Israel are defeated before the enemy because#Literally “who” they sinned against you, and when they turn to you and confess your name and pray and beg for mercy from you in this house, 34then you shall hear in heaven and forgive the sin of your people Israel, and you shall bring them back to the ground which you gave to their ancestors.#Or “fathers” 35When you shut up the heavens so there is no rain because they have sinned against you, then they pray to this place and they confess your name and they return from their sin because you punished them, 36then you shall hear in heaven and forgive the sin of your servants and your people Israel, for you will teach them the good way in which they should go, and you will give rain upon your land which you have given to your people as an inheritance. 37If there should be in the land famine or disease, if there should be blight or mildew or locust or caterpillars, if it happens that his enemy lays siege against him in the land of his gates, if any plague or any disease, 38any prayer or any plea which is offered by any person for all of your people Israel, who each knows the infestation of his own heart and spreads out his palms to this house, 39then you shall hear in heaven the place of your dwelling, and you shall forgive and act and give to the man whose heart you know, according to all his ways, for you alone know the heart of all the sons of man. 40Do these things so that they may fear you all the days that they live on the face of the land that you gave to our ancestors.#Or “fathers” 41Also for the foreigner who is not from your people Israel, and he comes from a distant land because of your name, 42(for they shall hear of your great name and your powerful hand and your outstretched arm), and he shall come and pray toward this house, 43you shall hear in heaven, the place of your dwelling, and act according to all that the foreigner calls to you, so that all the peoples of the earth may know your name, to fear you as your people Israel, and to know that your name has been invoked over this house that I have built. 44If your people go out to battle against his enemy in the way that you shall send them and they pray to Yahweh, toward the city which you have chosen and the house which I have built for your name, 45then you shall hear in heaven their prayer and their plea, and you shall vindicate#Literally “their judgment” them.
46“If they sin against you (for there is not a person who does not sin) and you are angry with them and you give them to an enemy and they take them captive to the land of the enemy far or near, 47and then they return their heart in the land where they have been taken captive and they return and plead to you in the land of their captivity, saying, ‘We have sinned and we did wrong. We acted wickedly,’ 48if they return to you with all of their heart and with all of their soul in the land of their enemies who took them captive and they pray to you toward their land which you gave to their ancestors,#Or “fathers” the city that you have chosen and the house that you#The Hebrew Masoretic text (Kethib) reads “you have built”;Qere reads “I have built” built for your name, 49then you shall hear in heaven, the place of your dwelling, their prayer and their plea, and you shall vindicate them.#Literally “and you shall do their justice” 50You shall forgive your people who sinned against you, even for all their transgressions which they committed against you. You shall give them compassion before their captors so that they may have compassion on them, 51for they are your people and your inheritance whom you brought from Egypt from the middle of the smelter of iron. 52O, that your eyes may be open to the plea of your servant and to the plea of your people Israel, to listen to them in all things when they call to you. 53For you have separated them for yourself as an inheritance from all the peoples of the earth, as you promised through the hand of Moses your servant when you brought out our ancestors#Or “fathers” from Egypt, my Lord Yahweh!”
Solomon Charges the People Israel
54It happened that when Solomon finished praying to Yahweh all of the prayer and this plea, he got up from before the altar of Yahweh, from kneeling down on his knees with his palms outstretched to heaven. 55He stood and blessed all of the assembly of Israel with a loud voice, saying, 56“Blessed be Yahweh who gave a resting place to his people Israel. According to all that he promised, not one word has fallen from all of his promises concerning the good which he spoke through the hand of Moses his servant. 57May Yahweh our God be with us as he was with our ancestors,#Or “fathers” and may he not leave us or abandon us, 58to incline our hearts toward him, to walk in all his ways and to keep his commandments, his statutes, and his judgments which he commanded our ancestors.#Or “fathers” 59Let these my words which I pleaded before Yahweh be near to Yahweh our God, by day and by night, to maintain the justice of his servant and the justice of his people Israel as each day requires#Literally “the word of the day on its day” 60so that all of the people of the earth may know that Yahweh, he is God; there is none other. 61Let your heart be completely with Yahweh our God by walking in his statutes, by keeping his commands as this day.”
The Great Confirming Sacrifice
62Then the king and all of Israel with him offered a sacrifice in the presence of Yahweh. 63Solomon sacrificed the fellowship offerings which he offered to Yahweh: twenty-two thousand oxen and one hundred and twenty thousand sheep; and the king and all of the Israelites#Literally “sons/children of Israel” dedicated the house of Yahweh. 64On that day the king consecrated the middle of the courtyard before the house of Yahweh because he offered there the burnt offerings, the grain offerings, and the fat of the fellowship offerings because the bronze altar that was in the presence of Yahweh was too small to hold the burnt offerings and the grain offerings and the fat of the fellowship offerings. 65Solomon held the festival at that time and all of Israel with him, a great assembly from Lebo Hamath up to the wadi#A valley that is dry most of the year, but contains a stream during the rainy season of Egypt before Yahweh our God, for seven days and seven days, a total of fourteen days. 66On the eighth day, he sent the people away, and they blessed the king, and they went to their tents rejoicing and in good spirits#Literally “and good of heart” because of all the goodness that Yahweh had shown to David his servant and to Israel his people.
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