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 seventh month, the month of Ethanim, # = 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 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 # 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 there to this day. # Ex 25:13-15; 37:4-5 9Nothing was in the ark except the two stone tablets that Moses had put there at Horeb, # = 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 thick 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:
May the Lord God of Israel be praised!
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
17It was in the desire of my father David
to build a temple for the name of Yahweh, the God of Israel. # 2Sm 7:2-3; 1Ch 22:7
18But the Lord said to my father David,
“Since it was your desire to build a temple for My name,
you have done well to have this desire. # 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 Yahweh, 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
keeping the gracious covenant
with Your servants who walk before You
with their whole 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 guard their walk before Me
as you have walked before Me. # 1Kg 9:4-9; 2Ch 7:17-22
26Now Lord # 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 # 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, # 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 the good way
they should walk in. # 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 on the earth,
when there is pestilence,
when there is blight, mildew, locust, or grasshopper, # Lv 26:16,25-26
when their enemy besieges them
in the region of their fortified cities, # Lit besieges him in the land of his gates
when there is any plague or illness,
38whatever prayer or petition
anyone from Your people Israel might have —
each man knowing his own afflictions # Lit knowing in his heart of a plague # 2Ch 6:29
and spreading out his hands toward this temple # Ex 9:29; 2Ch 6:29 —
39may You hear in heaven, Your dwelling place,
and may You forgive, act, and repay the man,
according to all his ways, since You know his 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,
mighty 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 You for.
Then all the people on earth will know # Jos 4:24; 1Sm 17:46 Your name,
to fear You as Your people Israel do
and know that this temple I have built
is called by Your name.
44When Your people go out to fight against their enemies, # Some Hb mss, some ancient versions, 2Ch 6:34; other Hb mss read enemy
wherever You send them,
and they pray to Yahweh
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 —
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 # 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 their whole mind and heart
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 # Lit rebellions that they have rebelled against You,
and may You give them compassion
in the eyes of their captors,
so that they may be compassionate to them. # 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 the people on earth,
as You spoke through Your servant Moses
when You brought their 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“May the Lord be praised! 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 # 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 I have made my petition with before the Lord be near the Lord our God day and night, so that He may uphold His servant’s cause and the cause of His people Israel, as each day requires, # Pr 30:8; Mt 6:11 60and so that all the peoples of the earth may know that Yahweh is God. There is no other! # Dt 6:4; Jos 4:24; Mk 12:32 61Let your heart be completely 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: 22,000 cattle and 120,000 sheep. # 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 # 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 — 14 days. # Temple dedication lasted seven days, and the Festival of Tabernacles lasted seven days. # 2Ch 7:9 66On the fifteenth day # Lit the eighth day he sent the people away. So they blessed the king and went home to their tents rejoicing and with joyful 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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