1 Kings 8

1 Then Solomon summoned before him in Jerusalem the elders of Israel, including all the heads of the tribes and the family leaders of the Israelites. He instructed them to bring up with them the Ark of the Lord's Agreement from Zion, the City of David.

Then Solomon assembled the elders of Israel, and all the heads of the tribes, the chief of the fathers of the children of Israel, unto king Solomon in Jerusalem, that they might bring up the ark of the covenant of the LORD out of the city of David, which [is] Zion.

2 All the men of Israel assembled before King Solomon at the festival which is held in the seventh month, the month of Ethanim.

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

3 When all the elders of Israel had gathered, the priests picked up the Ark and brought the Ark of the Lord and the Tent of Meeting with all its holy items.

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

4 The priests and Levites carried them up.

And they brought up the ark of the LORD, and the tabernacle of the congregation, and all the holy vessels that [were] in the tabernacle, even those did the priests and the Levites bring up.

5 In front of the Ark, King Solomon and all the congregation of Israel who had gathered there with him sacrificed many, many sheep and bulls—so numerous they couldn't be counted!

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

6 Then the priests carried the Ark of the Lord's Agreement to its place in the inner sanctuary of the Temple, the Most Holy Place, underneath the wings of the cherubim.

And the priests brought in the ark of the covenant of the LORD unto his place, into the oracle of the house, to the most holy [place, even] under the wings of the cherubims.

7 The cherubim spread their wings over the place where the Ark was, covering the Ark and its carrying poles.

For the cherubims spread forth [their] two wings over the place of the ark, and the cherubims covered the ark and the staves thereof above.

8 The poles were so long that the ends could be seen from the Holy Place in front of the inner sanctuary, but not from outside. They are there to this day.

And they drew out the staves, that the ends of the staves were seen out in the holy [place] before the oracle, and they were not seen without: and there they are unto this day.

9 There was nothing in the Ark apart from the two tablets of stone that Moses had placed in it at Horeb, where the Lord had made an agreement with the Israelites after they came out of the land of Egypt.

[There was] nothing in the ark save the two tables of stone, which Moses put there at Horeb, when the LORD made [a covenant] with the children of Israel, when they came out of the land of Egypt.

10 When the priests left the Holy Place, the cloud filled the Temple of the Lord.

And it came to pass, when the priests were come out of the holy [place], that the cloud filled the house of the LORD,

11 Due to the cloud, the priests could not stay there to carry out their service, for the glory of the Lord had filled the Lord's Temple.

So that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud: for the glory of the LORD had filled the house of the LORD.

12 Then Solomon said: “Lord, you said that you would live in the thick cloud.

Then spake Solomon, The LORD said that he would dwell in the thick darkness.

13 Now I have built for you a majestic Temple, a place where you may live for ever.”

I have surely built thee an house to dwell in, a settled place for thee to abide in for ever.

14 The king turned around to the whole assembly of Israel who were standing there, and blessed them,

And the king turned his face about, and blessed all the congregation of Israel: (and all the congregation of Israel stood; )

15 saying, “Praise the Lord, the God of Israel, who by his own power has fulfilled the promise he made to my father David when he said,

And he said, Blessed [be] the LORD God of Israel, which spake with his mouth unto David my father, and hath with his hand fulfilled [it], saying,

16 ‘Since the day I brought my people Israel out of Egypt I have not chosen any town of the tribes of Israel as the place to build a Temple to honor me. But I have chosen David as king over my people Israel.’

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 an house, that my name might be therein; but I chose David to be over my people Israel.

17 My father David really wanted to build a Temple to honor the Lord, the God of Israel.

And it was in the heart of David my father to build an house for the name of the LORD God of Israel.

18 But the Lord told my father David, ‘You had the desire to build a Temple to honor me, and it was good that you really wanted to do this.

And the LORD said unto David my father, Whereas it was in thine heart to build an house unto my name, thou didst well that it was in thine heart.

19 But it won't be you who will build this Temple, but your son who is to be born to you—he will build the Temple to honor me.'

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

20 Now the Lord has kept his promise that he made. I have succeeded my father David, and I sit on the throne of Israel, just as the Lord promised. I have built the Temple to honor the Lord, the God of Israel.

And the LORD hath performed his word that he spake, and I am risen up in the room of David my father, and sit on the throne of Israel, as the LORD promised, and have built an house for the name of the LORD God of Israel.

21 I have provided a place there for the Ark, which contains the agreement of the Lord that he made with our forefathers when he led them out of the land of Egypt.”

And I have set there a place for the ark, wherein [is] the covenant of the LORD, which he made with our fathers, when he brought them out of the land of Egypt.

22 Then Solomon stood in front of the altar of the Lord before the whole assembly of Israel and held out his hands toward heaven.

And Solomon stood before the altar of the LORD in the presence of all the congregation of Israel, and spread forth his hands toward heaven:

23 He said, “Lord, God of Israel, there is no God like you in heaven above or on earth below. You keep you agreement of trustworthy love with your servants, those who are totally committed to following you.

And he said, LORD God of Israel, [there is] no God like thee, in heaven above, or on earth beneath, who keepest covenant and mercy with thy servants that walk before thee with all their heart:

24 You have kept the promise you made to your servant David, my father. You yourself promised, and by your own power you have fulfilled it today.

Who hast kept with thy servant David my father that thou promisedst him: thou spakest also with thy mouth, and hast fulfilled [it] with thine hand, as [it is] this day.

25 So now, Lord, God of Israel, please also keep the promise you made to your servant, my father David, when you said: ‘You will never fail to have a descendant sit in my presence on the throne of Israel, as long as they make sure to follow me as you have done.’

Therefore now, LORD God of Israel, keep with thy servant David my father that thou promisedst him, saying, There shall not fail thee a man in my sight to sit on the throne of Israel; so that thy children take heed to their way, that they walk before me as thou hast walked before me.

26 Now, God of Israel, please keep the promise you made to our servant, my father David.

And now, O God of Israel, let thy word, I pray thee, be verified, which thou spakest unto thy servant David my father.

27 But will God really live here on earth? The heavens, even highest heaven, cannot contain you, much less this Temple I have built!

But will God indeed dwell on the earth? behold, the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain thee; how much less this house that I have builded?

28 Please hear the prayer of your servant and his request, Lord my God. Please hear the appeals and the prayers that your servant is presenting before you today.

Yet have thou respect unto the prayer of thy servant, and to his supplication, O LORD my God, to hearken unto the cry and to the prayer, which thy servant prayeth before thee to day:

29 May you watch over this Temple day and night, caring for the place where you said you would be honored. May you hear the prayer your servant prays toward this place,

That thine eyes may be open toward this house night and day, [even] toward the place of which thou hast said, My name shall be there: that thou mayest hearken unto the prayer which thy servant shall make toward this place.

30 and may you hear the request of your servant and your people Israel when they pray toward this place. Please hear from heaven where you live. May you hear and forgive.

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

31 When someone sins against another and is required to take an oath before your altar in this Temple,

If any man trespass against his neighbour, and an oath be laid upon him to cause him to swear, and the oath come before thine altar in this house:

32 listen from heaven—act and judge your servants. Pay back the guilty; vindicate and reward those who do right.

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

33 When your people Israel are defeated by an enemy because they have sinned against you, and if they come back in repentance to you, praying for forgiveness in this Temple,

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

34 then hear from heaven and forgive the sin of your people Israel, and bring them back to the land you gave to them and their forefathers.

Then hear thou in heaven, and forgive the sin of thy people Israel, and bring them again unto the land which thou gavest unto their fathers.

35 If the skies are closed shut and there is no rain because your people have sinned against you, if they pray toward this place and if they come back in repentance to you, turning away from their sin because you have punished them,

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 afflictest them:

36 then hear from heaven and forgive the sin of your servants, your people Israel. Teach them the good way so that they can walk on it, and send rain on the earth that you have given to your people as their possession.

Then hear thou in heaven, and forgive the sin of thy servants, and of thy people Israel, that thou teach them the good way wherein they should walk, and give rain upon thy land, which thou hast given to thy people for an inheritance.

37 If there is famine in the land, or disease, or blight or mildew on the crops, or if there are locusts or caterpillars, or if an enemy comes to lay siege to the towns in the land—it can be whatever kind of plague or whatever kind of disease—

If there be in the land famine, if there be pestilence, blasting, mildew, locust, [or] if there be caterpiller; if their enemy besiege them in the land of their cities; whatsoever plague, whatsoever sickness [there be; ]

38 then whatever kind of prayer or whatever kind of appeal is made by anyone or all your people Israel, in fact anyone who, knowing their problems and pains, prays toward this Temple,

What prayer and supplication soever be [made] by any man, [or] by all thy people Israel, which shall know every man the plague of his own heart, and spread forth his hands toward this house:

39 then hear from heaven, the place where you live, and forgive. Give according to the way they live their lives, for you know what people are really like inside, and you alone know the true character of people.

Then hear thou in heaven thy dwelling place, and forgive, and do, and give to every man according to his ways, whose heart thou knowest; (for thou, [even] thou only, knowest the hearts of all the children of men; )

40 Then they will respect you and follow your ways all the time they live in the land you gave to our forefathers.

That they may fear thee all the days that they live in the land which thou gavest unto our fathers.

41 As for the foreigners who do not belong to your people Israel but who come from a distant land,

Moreover concerning a stranger, that [is] not of thy people Israel, but cometh out of a far country for thy name’s sake;

42 having heard of your great nature and power and ability to help, when they come and pray toward this Temple,

(For they shall hear of thy great name, and of thy strong hand, and of thy stretched out arm; ) when he shall come and pray toward this house;

43 then hear from heaven, the place where you live, and give them what they're asking. That way, everyone on earth will come to know and respect you, just as your own people Israel do. They will also know that this Temple I have built is dedicated to you.

Hear thou in heaven thy dwelling place, and do according to all that the stranger calleth to thee for: that all people of the earth may know thy name, to fear thee, as [do] thy people Israel; and that they may know that this house, which I have builded, is called by thy name.

44 When your people go to fight against their enemies, wherever you send them, and when they pray to you towards the city you have chosen and the house I have built to honor you,

If thy people go out to battle against their enemy, whithersoever thou shalt send them, and shall pray unto the LORD toward the city which thou hast chosen, and [toward] the house that I have built for thy name:

45 then hear from heaven what they are praying and asking for, and support their cause.

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

46 If they sin against you—and there is nobody who does not sin—you may become angry with them and hand them over to an enemy who takes them away as prisoners to a foreign land, near or far away.

If they sin against thee, (for [there is] no man that sinneth not, ) and thou be angry with them, and deliver them to the enemy, so that they carry them away captives unto the land of the enemy, far or near;

47 But if they think again in their land of captivity and repent and plead for mercy from you, saying, ‘We have sinned, we have done wrong, we have acted wickedly,’

[Yet] if they shall bethink themselves in the land whither they were carried captives, and repent, and make supplication unto thee in the land of them that carried them captives, saying, We have sinned, and have done perversely, we have committed wickedness;

48 and they come back to you with complete sincerity in their thoughts and attitudes there in their land of captivity; and they pray towards the land you gave their forefathers, the city you chose, and the Temple I have built to honor you,

And [so] return unto thee with all their heart, and with all their soul, in the land of their enemies, which led them away captive, and pray unto thee toward their land, which thou gavest unto their fathers, the city which thou hast chosen, and the house which I have built for thy name:

49 then hear from heaven, the place where you live, respond and support their cause.

Then hear thou their prayer and their supplication in heaven thy dwelling place, and maintain their cause,

50 Forgive your people who have sinned against you, all the rebellious acts they have committed against you. Please make those who have captured them show mercy to them.

And forgive thy people that have sinned against thee, and all their transgressions wherein they have transgressed against thee, and give them compassion before them who carried them captive, that they may have compassion on them:

51 For they are your people—they belong to you! You led them out of Egypt, out of the middle of furnace used for smelting iron.

For they [be] thy people, and thine inheritance, which thou broughtest forth out of Egypt, from the midst of the furnace of iron:

52 May you pay attention to the requests of your servant, and to the requests of your people Israel, and may you respond whenever they call out to you.

That thine eyes may be open unto the supplication of thy servant, and unto the supplication of thy people Israel, to hearken unto them in all that they call for unto thee.

53 For you set them apart from all the nations of the world as a people who belonged to you, just as you declared through your servant Moses when you led our fathers out of Egypt.”

For thou didst separate them from among all the people of the earth, [to be] thine inheritance, as thou spakest by the hand of Moses thy servant, when thou broughtest our fathers out of Egypt, O Lord GOD.

54 After Solomon finished praying all these prayers and requests to the Lord, he stood up before the altar of the Lord, where he had been kneeling with his hands held out toward heaven.

And it was [so], that when Solomon had made an end of praying all this prayer and supplication unto the LORD, he arose from before the altar of the LORD, from kneeling on his knees with his hands spread up to heaven.

55 Solomon stood, and in a loud voice he blessed the whole assembly of Israel, saying,

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

56 “Praise the Lord, who has given rest to his people Israel in accordance with everything he promised. Not a single word has failed among all the good promises he made through his servant Moses.

Blessed [be] the LORD, that hath given rest unto his people Israel, according to all that he promised: there hath not failed one word of all his good promise, which he promised by the hand of Moses his servant.

57 May the Lord our God be with us in the same way he was with our forefathers. May he never leave us or abandon us.

The LORD our God be with us, as he was with our fathers: let him not leave us, nor forsake us:

58 May he help us to come to him, to follow all his ways and to keep the commandments, statutes, and regulations he ordered our forefathers to observe.

That he may incline our hearts unto him, to walk in all his ways, and to keep his commandments, and his statutes, and his judgments, which he commanded our fathers.

59 May these words of mine I have used to make my request in the Lord's presence be before the Lord our God day and night. In that way he may support the cause of his servant and of his people Israel as is needed every day,

And let these my words, wherewith I have made supplication before the LORD, be nigh unto the LORD our God day and night, that he maintain the cause of his servant, and the cause of his people Israel at all times, as the matter shall require:

60 in order that everyone on the earth may know that the Lord is God, and that there is no other!

That all the people of the earth may know that the LORD [is] God, [and that there is] none else.

61 So make sure you are completely committed to the Lord our God just as you are today, and be careful to follow his statutes and to keep his commandments.”

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

62 Then the king and together with all of Israel offered sacrifices before the Lord.

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

63 Solomon presented as friendship offerings to the Lord 22,000 bulls and 120,000 sheep. In this way the king and all the people of Israel dedicated the Lord's Temple.

And Solomon offered a sacrifice of peace offerings, which he offered unto the LORD, two and twenty thousand oxen, and an hundred and twenty thousand sheep. So the king and all the children of Israel dedicated the house of the LORD.

64 On that same day, the king dedicated the center of the courtyard in front of the Lord's Temple. There he presented burnt offerings, grain offerings, and the fat of the friendship offerings, since the bronze altar in the Lord's presence was too small to hold all these offerings.

The same day did the king hallow the middle of the court that [was] before the house of the LORD: for there he offered burnt offerings, and meat offerings, and the fat of the peace offerings: because the brasen altar that [was] before the LORD [was] too little to receive the burnt offerings, and meat offerings, and the fat of the peace offerings.

65 Then Solomon together with all of Israel observed the festival before the Lord our God for seven days, and then another seven days—fourteen days in all. It was a large assembly of people, who came from as far away as Lebo-hamath to the Wadi of Egypt.

And at that time Solomon held a feast, and all Israel with him, a great congregation, from the entering in of Hamath unto the river of Egypt, before the LORD our God, seven days and seven days, [even] fourteen days.

66 One day later Solomon sent the people home. They blessed the king and went home, full of joy and happy for all the good things that the Lord had done for his servant David and for his people Israel.

On the eighth day he sent the people away: and they blessed the king, and went unto their tents joyful and glad of heart for all the goodness that the LORD had done for David his servant, and for Israel his people.