Solomon’s Dedication of the Temple
1At that time Solomon assembled the elders8:1 Ex 3:16; Nm 11:16 of Israel,8:1–11 2Ch 5:2–14 all the tribal heads8:1 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,8:1 2Sm 5:7 that is Zion.8:1 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.8:2 Lv 23:34; Dt 16:13–15; 1Kg 8:65
3All the elders8:3 Nm 11:16 of Israel came, and the priests8:3 Dt 31:9; Jos 3:3,6 picked up the ark.8:3 2Sm 6:12,17
4The priests and the Levites brought the ark of the Lord, the tent of meeting,8:4 2Ch 1:3 and the holy utensils that were in the tent.8:4 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.8:5 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 place8:6 1Kg 6:19 beneath the wings of the cherubim.
7For the cherubim were spreading their wings over8:7 LXX; MT reads toward the place of the ark, so that the cherubim covered the ark and its poles from above.8:6–7 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.8:8 Ex 25:13–15; 37:4–5
10When the priests came out of the holy place, the cloud filled the Lord’s temple,8:10 Ex 40:34–35; 2Ch 7:1
12Then Solomon said:
a place for your dwelling forever.8:13 Ps 132:14
14The king turned around and blessed8:14 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 promise8:15 2Sm 7:15–16,25 by his power.
He said,
I have not chosen a city to build a temple in
among any of the tribes of Israel,
17My father David had his heart set
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 heart8:18 2Ch 6:8
19Yet you are not the one to build it;
instead, your son, your own offspring,
will build it for my name.”8:19 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,8:20 2Sm 7:12
and I sit on the throne of Israel, as the Lord promised.8:20 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
Solomon’s Prayer
22Then Solomon stood8:22–53 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.8:22 1Kg 8:54; 2Ch 6:12
23He said:
Lord God of Israel,
there is no God like you
who keeps the gracious covenant
with your servants who walk before you
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.8:24 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
if only your sons take care to walk before me
as you have walked before me.8:25 1Kg 9:4–9; 2Ch 7:17–22
please confirm what you promised
to your servant, my father David.8:26 2Sm 7:25
27But will God indeed live on earth?
Even heaven, the highest heaven, cannot contain you,
Lord my God,
so that you may hear the cry and the prayer
that your servant prays before you today,
toward the place where you said,
“My name will be there,”8:29 Dt 12:11
and so that you may hear the prayer
that your servant prays toward this place.
and your people Israel,
which they pray toward this place.8:30 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 him8:31 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.8:32 Dt 25:1
33When your people Israel are defeated before an enemy,
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.8:33–34 Lv 26:40–42
35When the skies are shut and there is no rain,
because they have sinned against you,8:35 Dt 28:23–24
and they pray toward this place
and praise your name,
and they turn from their sins
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.8:36 1Sm 12:23
May you send rain on your land
37When there is famine in the land,
when there is pestilence,
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 affliction8:38 Lit know in his heart of a plague8:38 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,
all the days they live on the land8:40 Dt 12:1
you gave our ancestors.
41Even for the foreigner who is not of your people Israel
but has come from a distant land8:41 Lv 24:22; Dt 10:18–19
because of your name —
42for they will hear of your great name,
strong hand,8:42 Dt 3:24 and outstretched arm,
and will come8:42 1Kg 10:1 and pray toward this temple —
43may you hear in heaven, your dwelling place,
and do according to all the foreigner asks.
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
and the temple I have built for your name,
45may you hear their prayer and petition in heaven
46When they sin against you —
and you are angry with them
and hand them over to the enemy,
and their captors deport them to the enemy’s country8:46 Lv 26:33–34 —
whether distant or nearby —
47and when they come to their senses8:47 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,”8:47 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,8:48 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,8:48 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 rebellions8:50 Lit rebellions that they have rebelled against you,
and may you grant them compassion
before their captors,
you brought them out of Egypt,
out of the middle of an iron furnace.8:51 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.8:53 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,8:54 2Ch 6:12–13
55and he stood and blessed the whole congregation of Israel8:55 Nm 6:23–26; 2Sm 6:18 with a loud voice:
56“Blessed be the Lord! He has given rest8:56 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.8:56 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 us8:57 Dt 31:6; Jos 1:5; Heb 13:5
58so that he causes us to be devoted8:58 Lit causes our hearts to be inclined to him,8:58 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.8:59 Pr 30:8; Mt 6:11
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.8:62–63 1Ch 29:21; 2Ch 7:4–5; Ezr 6:16–17 In this manner the king and all the Israelites dedicated8:63 Dt 20:5; Ezr 6:16; Neh 12:27 the Lord’s temple.8:63 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,8:64 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.8:64 2Ch 7:7
65Solomon and all Israel with him — a great assembly, from the entrance of Hamath8:65 Or from Lebo-hamath8:65 Nm 13:21; 34:8 to the Brook of Egypt8:65 Gn 15:18 — observed the festival at that time8:65 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.8:65 2Ch 7:9
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