1 Kings 8

1 Then Solomon assembled the elders of Israel, and all the heads of the tribes, the princes of the fathers of the sons of Israel, to king Solomon in Jerusalem, to bring up the ark of the covenant of Jehovah out of the city of David, which is Zion.

2 And all the men of Israel assembled themselves to king Solomon at the feast, in the month Ethanim, which is the seventh month.

3 And all the elders of Israel came, and the priests took up the ark.

4 And they brought up the ark of Jehovah, and the tent of meeting, and all the holy vessels that were in the tent; even these the priests and the Levites brought up.

5 And king Solomon and all the congregation of Israel, that were assembled to him, were with him before the ark, sacrificing sheep and oxen that could not be counted nor numbered for multitude.

6 And the priests brought in the ark of the covenant of Jehovah to its place, into the oracle of the house, to the most holy place, even under the wings of the cherubim.

7 For the cherubim spread forth their wings over the place of the ark, and the cherubim covered the ark and the staves of it above.

8 And the staves were so long that the ends of the staves were seen from the holy place before the oracle. But they were not seen outside. And there they are to this day.

9 There was nothing in the ark except the two tablets of stone which Moses put there at Horeb when Jehovah made a covenant with the sons of Israel, when they came out of the land of Egypt.

10 And it came to pass, when the priests came out of the holy place, that the cloud filled the house of Jehovah,

11 so that the priests could not stand to minister by reason of the cloud, for the glory of Jehovah filled the house of Jehovah.

12 Then Solomon spoke, Jehovah has said that he would dwell in the thick darkness.

13 I have surely built thee a house of habitation, a place for thee to dwell in forever.

14 And the king turned his face around, and blessed all the assembly of Israel. And all the assembly of Israel stood.

15 And he said, Blessed be Jehovah, the God of Israel, who spoke with his mouth to David my father, and has with his hand fulfilled it, saying,

16 Since the day that I brought forth my people Israel out of Egypt, I chose no city out of all the tribes of Israel to build a house, that my name might be there, but I chose David to be over my people Israel.

17 Now it was in the heart of David my father to build a house for the name of Jehovah, the God of Israel.

18 But Jehovah said to David my father, Whereas it was in thy heart to build a house for my name, thou did well that it was in thy heart.

19 Nevertheless thou shall not build the house, but thy son that shall come forth out of thy loins, he shall build the house for my name.

20 And Jehovah has established his word that he spoke, for I have risen up in the place of David my father, and sit on the throne of Israel, as Jehovah promised, and have built the house for the name of Jehovah, the God of Israel.

21 And there I have set a place for the ark, in which is the covenant of Jehovah, which he made with our fathers when he brought them out of the land of Egypt.

22 And Solomon stood before the altar of Jehovah in the presence of all the assembly of Israel, and spread forth his hands toward heaven.

23 And he said, O Jehovah, the God of Israel, there is no God like thee, in heaven above, or on earth beneath, who keeps covenant and loving kindness with thy servants, who walk before thee with all their heart,

24 who have kept with thy servant David my father that which thou did promise him. Yea, thou spoke with thy mouth, and have fulfilled it with thy hand, as it is this day.

25 Now therefore, O Jehovah, the God of Israel, keep with thy servant David my father that which thou have promised him, saying, There shall not fail thee a man in my sight to sit on the throne of Israel, if only thy sons take heed to their way, to walk before me as thou have walked before me.

26 Now therefore, O God of Israel, let thy word, I pray thee, be verified, which thou spoke to thy servant David my father.

27 But will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold, heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain thee. How much less this house that I have built!

28 Yet have thou respect to the prayer of thy servant, and to his supplication, O Jehovah my God, to hearken to the cry and to the prayer which thy servant prays before thee this day,

29 that thine eyes may be open toward this house night and day, even toward the place whereof thou have said, My name shall be there, to hearken to the prayer which thy servant shall pray toward this place.

30 And hearken thou to the supplication of thy servant, and of thy people Israel, when they shall pray toward this place. Yea, hear thou in heaven thy dwelling-place, and when thou hear, forgive.

31 If a man sins against his neighbor, and an oath be laid upon him to cause him to swear, and he comes and swears before thine altar in this house,

32 then hear thou in heaven, and do, and judge thy servants, condemning the wicked, to bring his way upon his own head, and justifying the righteous, to give him according to his righteousness.

33 When thy people Israel are smitten down before the enemy because they have sinned against thee, if they turn again to thee, and confess thy name, and pray and make supplication to thee in this house,

34 then hear thou in heaven, and forgive the sin of thy people Israel, and bring them again to the land which thou gave to their fathers.

35 When heaven is shut up, and there is no rain because they have sinned against thee, if they pray toward this place, and confess thy name, and turn from their sin when thou afflict them,

36 then hear thou in heaven, and forgive the sin of thy servants, and of thy people Israel, when thou teach them the good way wherein they should walk, and send rain upon thy land, which thou have given to thy people for an inheritance.

37 If there be famine in the land, if there be pestilence, if there be blight, mildew, locust or caterpillar, if their enemy besiege them in the land of their cities, whatever plague, whatever sickness there be,

38 whatever prayer and supplication be made by any man, or by all thy people Israel, who shall know every man the plague of his own heart, and spread forth his hands toward this house,

39 then hear thou in heaven thy dwelling-place, and forgive, and do, and render to every man according to all his ways, whose heart thou know (for thou, even thou only, know the hearts of all the sons of men),

40 that they may fear thee all the days that they live in the land which thou gave to our fathers.

41 Moreover concerning the foreigner who is not of thy people Israel, when he shall come out of a far country for thy name's sake

42 (for they shall hear of thy great name, and of thy mighty hand, and of thine outstretched arm), when he shall come and pray toward this house,

43 hear thou in heaven thy dwelling-place, and do according to all that the foreigner calls to thee for, that all the peoples of the earth may know thy name, to fear thee, as does thy people Israel, and that they may know that this house which I have built is called by thy name.

44 If thy people go out to battle against their enemy, by whatever way thou shall send them, and they pray to Jehovah toward the city which thou have chosen, and toward the house which I have built for thy name,

45 then hear thou in heaven their prayer and their supplication, and maintain their cause.

46 If they sin against thee (for there is no man that sins not), and thou be angry with them, and deliver them to the enemy, so that they carry them away captive to the land of the enemy, afar off or near,

47 yet if they shall rethink themselves in the land where they are carried captive, and turn again, and make supplication to thee in the land of those who carried them captive, saying, We have sinned, and have done perversely, we have dealt wickedly,

48 if they return to thee with all their heart and with all their soul in the land of their enemies who carried them captive, and pray to thee toward their land, which thou gave to their fathers, the city which thou have chosen, and the house which I have built for thy name,

49 then hear thou their prayer and their supplication in heaven thy dwelling-place, and maintain their case,

50 and forgive thy people who have sinned against thee, and all their transgressions by which they have transgressed against thee, and give them compassion before those who carried them captive, that they may have compassion on them

51 (for they are thy people, and thine inheritance, which thou brought forth out of Egypt, from the midst of the furnace of iron);

52 that thine eyes may be open to the supplication of thy servant, and to the supplication of thy people Israel, to hearken to them whenever they cry to thee.

53 For thou separated them from among all the peoples of the earth, to be thine inheritance, as thou spoke by Moses thy servant when thou brought our fathers out of Egypt, O lord Jehovah.

54 And it was so, that, when Solomon had made an end of praying all this prayer and supplication to Jehovah, he arose from before the altar of Jehovah, from kneeling on his knees with his hands spread forth toward heaven.

55 And he stood, and blessed all the assembly of Israel with a loud voice, saying,

56 Blessed be Jehovah, who has given rest to his people Israel according to all that he promised. There has not failed one word of all his good promise, which he promised by Moses his servant.

57 Jehovah our God be with us as he was with our fathers. Let him not leave us, nor forsake us,

58 that he may incline our hearts to him, to walk in all his ways, and to keep his commandments, and his statutes, and his ordinances, which he commanded our fathers.

59 And let these my words, with which I have made supplication before Jehovah, be near to Jehovah our God day and night, that he maintain the cause of his servant, and the cause of his people Israel, as every day shall require,

60 that all the peoples of the earth may know that Jehovah, he is God; there is none else.

61 Let your heart therefore be perfect with Jehovah our God, to walk in his statutes, and to keep his commandments, as at this day.

62 And the king, and all Israel with him, offered sacrifice before Jehovah.

63 And Solomon offered for the sacrifice of peace offerings, which he offered to Jehovah, twenty-two thousand oxen, and a hundred and twenty thousand sheep. So the king and all the sons of Israel dedicated the house of Jehovah.

64 The same day the king hallowed the middle of the court that was before the house of Jehovah, for there he offered the burnt offering, and the meal offering, and the fat of the peace offerings, because the brazen altar that was before Jehovah was too little to receive the burnt offering, and the meal offering, and the fat of the peace offerings.

65 So Solomon held the feast at that time, and all Israel with him, a great assembly, from the entrance of Hamath to the brook of Egypt, before Jehovah our God, seven days and seven days, even fourteen days.

66 On the eighth day he sent the people away. And they blessed the king, and went to their tents joyful and glad of heart for all the goodness that Jehovah had shown to David his servant, and to Israel his people.