Kings III 8
1 And it came to pass when Solomon had finished building the house of the Lord and his own house after twenty years, then king Solomon assembled all the elders of Israel in Sion, to bring the ark of the covenant of the Lord out of the city of David, this is Sion,
Then Solomon assembled the elders of Israel with all the heads of the tribes, the princes of the fathers’ households of the children of Israel, to King Solomon in Jerusalem, to bring up the ark of the LORD’s covenant out of David’s city, which is Zion.
2 in the month of Athanin.
All the men of Israel assembled themselves to King Solomon at the feast in the month Ethanim, which is the seventh month.
3 And the priests took up the ark,
All the elders of Israel came, and the priests picked up the ark.
4 and the tabernacle of testimony, and the holy furniture that was in the tabernacle of testimony.
They brought up the LORD’s ark, the Tent of Meeting, and all the holy vessels that were in the Tent. The priests and the Levites brought these up.
5 And the king and all Israel [were occupied] before the ark, sacrificing sheep [and] oxen, without number.
King Solomon and all the congregation of Israel, who were assembled to him, were with him before the ark, sacrificing sheep and cattle that could not be counted or numbered for multitude.
6 And the priests bring in the ark into its place, into the oracle of the house, even into the holy of holies, under the wings of the cherubs.
The priests brought in the ark of the LORD’s covenant to its place, into the inner sanctuary of the house, to the most holy place, even under the cherubim’s wings.
7 For the cherubs spread out their wings over the place of the ark, and the cherubs covered the ark and its holy things above.
For the cherubim spread their wings out over the place of the ark, and the cherubim covered the ark and its poles above.
8 And the holy staves projected, and the ends of the holy staves appeared out of the holy places in front of the oracle, and were not seen without.
The poles were so long that the ends of the poles were seen from the holy place before the inner sanctuary, but they were not seen outside. They are there to this day.
9 There was nothing in the ark except the two tables of stone, the tables of the covenant which Moses put [there] in Choreb, which [tables] the Lord made [as a covenant] with the children of Israel in their going forth from the land of Egypt.
There was nothing in the ark except the two stone tablets 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 And it came to pass when the priests departed out of the holy place, that the cloud filled the house.
It came to pass, when the priests had come out of the holy place, that the cloud filled the LORD’s house,
11 And the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud, because the glory of the Lord filled the house.
so that the priests could not stand to minister by reason of the cloud; for the LORD’s glory filled the LORD’s house.
Then Solomon said, “The LORD has said that he would dwell in the thick darkness.
I have surely built you a house of habitation, a place for you to dwell in forever.”
14 And the king turned his face, and the king blessed all Israel, (and the whole assembly of Israel stood: )
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] the Lord God of Israel today, who spoke by his mouth concerning David my father, and has fulfilled it with his hands, saying,
He said, “Blessed is the LORD, the God of Israel, who spoke with his mouth to David your father, and has with his hand fulfilled it, saying,
16 From the day that I brought out my people Israel out of Egypt, I have not chosen a city in [any] one tribe of Israel to build a house, so that my name should be there: but I chose Jerusalem that my name should be there, and I chose David to be over my people Israel.
‘Since the day that I brought 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 And it was in the heart of my father to build a house to the name of the Lord God of Israel.
“Now it was in the heart of David my father to build a house for the name of the LORD, the God of Israel.
18 And the Lord said to David my father, Forasmuch as it came into your heart to build a house to my name, you did well that it came upon your heart.
But the LORD said to David my father, ‘Whereas it was in your heart to build a house for my name, you did well that it was in your heart.
19 Nevertheless you shall not build the house, but your son that has proceeded out of your bowels, he shall build the house to my name.
Nevertheless, you shall not build the house; but your son who shall come out of your body, he shall build the house for my name.’
20 And the Lord has confirmed the word that he spoke, and I am risen up in the place of my father David, and I have sat down on the throne of Israel, as the Lord spoke, and I have built the house to the name of the Lord God of Israel.
The LORD has established his word that he spoke; for I have risen up in the place of David my father, and I sit on the throne of Israel, as the LORD promised, and have built the house for the name of the LORD, the God of Israel.
21 And I have set there a place for the ark, in which is the covenant of the Lord, which the Lord made with our fathers, when he brought them out of the land of Egypt.
There I have set a place for the ark, in which is the LORD’s covenant, which he made with our fathers when he brought them out of the land of Egypt.”
22 And Solomon stood up in front of the altar before all the congregation of Israel; and he spread out his hands toward heaven:
Solomon stood before the LORD’s altar in the presence of all the assembly of Israel, and spread out his hands toward heaven;
23 and he said, Lord God of Israel, there is no God like you in heaven above and on the earth beneath, keeping covenant and mercy with your servant who walks before you with all his heart;
and he said, “LORD, the God of Israel, there is no God like you, in heaven above, or on earth beneath; who keeps covenant and loving kindness with your servants who walk before you with all their heart;
24 which you have kept toward your servant David my father: for you have spoken by your mouth and you have fulfilled it with your hands, as [at] this day.
who has kept with your servant David my father that which you promised him. Yes, you spoke with your mouth, and have fulfilled it with your hand, as it is today.
25 And now, O Lord God of Israel, keep for your servant David my father, [the promises] which you have spoken to him, saying, There shall not be taken from you a man sitting before me on the throne of Israel, provided only your children shall take heed to their ways, to walk before me as you have walked before me.
Now therefore, may LORD, the God of Israel, keep with your servant David my father that which you have promised him, saying, ‘There shall not fail from you a man in my sight to sit on the throne of Israel, if only your children take heed to their way, to walk before me as you have walked before me.’
26 And now, O Lord God of Israel, let, I pray you, your word to David my father be confirmed.
“Now therefore, God of Israel, please let your word be verified, which you spoke to your servant David my father.
27 But will God indeed dwell with men upon the earth? if the heaven and heaven of heavens will not suffice you, how much less even this house which I have built to your name?
But will God in very deed dwell on the earth? Behold, heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain you; how much less this house that I have built!
28 Yet, O Lord God of Israel, you shall look upon my petition, to hear the prayer which your servant prays to you in your presence this day,
Yet have respect for the prayer of your servant and for his supplication, LORD my God, to listen to the cry and to the prayer which your servant prays before you today;
29 that your eyes may be open toward this house day and night, even toward the place which you said, My name shall be there, to hear the prayer which your servant prays at this place day and night.
that your eyes may be open toward this house night and day, even toward the place of which you have said, ‘My name shall be there;’ to listen to the prayer which your servant prays toward this place.
30 And you shall listen to the prayer of your servant, and of your people Israel, which they shall pray toward this place; and you shall hear in your dwelling-place in heaven, and you shall do and be gracious.
Listen to the supplication of your servant, and of your people Israel, when they pray toward this place. Yes, hear in heaven, your dwelling place; and when you hear, forgive.
31 Whatsoever trespasses any [one] shall commit against his neighbor, —and if he shall take upon him an oath so that he should swear, and he shall come and make confession before your altar in this house,
“If a man sins against his neighbor, and an oath is laid on him to cause him to swear, and he comes and swears before your altar in this house,
32 then shall you hear from heaven, and do, and you shall judge your people Israel, that the wicked should be condemned, to recompense his way upon his head; and to justify the righteous, to give to him according to his righteousness.
then hear in heaven, and act, and judge your servants, condemning the wicked, to bring his way on his own head, and justifying the righteous, to give him according to his righteousness.
33 When your people Israel falls before enemies, because they shall sin against you, and they shall return and confess to your name, and they shall pray and supplicate in this house,
“When your people Israel are struck down before the enemy because they have sinned against you, if they turn again to you and confess your name, and pray and make supplication to you in this house,
34 then shall you hear from heaven, and be gracious to the sins of your people Israel, and you shall restore them to the land which you gave to their fathers.
then hear in heaven, and forgive the sin of your people Israel, and bring them again to the land which you gave to their fathers.
35 When the heaven is restrained, and there is no rain, because they shall sin against you, and the shall pray toward this place, and they shall make confession to your name, and shall turn from their sins when you shall have humbled them,
“When the sky is shut up and there is no rain because they have sinned against you, if they pray toward this place and confess your name, and turn from their sin when you afflict them,
36 then you shall hear from heaven, and be merciful to the sins of your servant and of your people Israel; for you shall show them the good way to walk in it, and you shall give rain upon the earth which you have given to your people for an inheritance.
then hear in heaven, and forgive the sin of your servants, and of your people Israel, when you teach them the good way in which they should walk; and send rain on your land which you have given to your people for an inheritance.
37 If there should be famine, if there should be death, because there should be blasting, locust, or if there be mildew, and if their enemy oppress them in [any] one of their cities, [with regard to] every calamity, every trouble,
“If there is famine in the land, if there is pestilence, if there is blight, mildew, locust or caterpillar; if their enemy besieges them in the land of their cities, whatever plague, whatever sickness there is,
38 every prayer, every supplication whatever shall be made by any man, as they shall know each the plague of his heart, and shall spread abroad his hands to this house,
whatever prayer and supplication is made by any man, or by all your people Israel, who shall each know the plague of his own heart, and spread out his hands toward this house,
39 then shall you listen from heaven, out of your established dwelling-place, and shall be merciful, and shall do, and recompense to [every] man according to his ways, as you shall know his heart, for you alone know the heart of all the children of men:
then hear in heaven, your dwelling place, and forgive, and act, and give to every man according to all his ways, whose heart you know (for you, even you only, know the hearts of all the children of men);
40 that they may fear you all the days that they live upon the land, which you have given to our fathers.
that they may fear you all the days that they live in the land which you gave to our fathers.
41 And for the stranger who is not of your people,
“Moreover, concerning the foreigner, who is not of your people Israel, when he comes out of a far country for your name’s sake
42 when they shall come and pray toward this place,
(for they shall hear of your great name and of your mighty hand and of your outstretched arm), when he comes and prays toward this house,
43 then shall you hear [them] from heaven, out of your established dwelling-place, and you shall do according to all that the stranger shall call upon you for, that all the nations may know your name, and fear you, as [do] your people Israel, and may know that your name has been called on this house which I have builded.
hear in heaven, your dwelling place, and do according to all that the foreigner calls to you for; that all the peoples of the earth may know your name, to fear you, as do your people Israel, and that they may know that this house which I have built is called by your name.
44 [If it be] that your people shall go forth to war against their enemies in the way by which you shall turn them, and pray in the name of the Lord toward the city which you have chosen, and the house which I have built to your name,
“If your people go out to battle against their enemy, by whatever way you shall send them, and they pray to the LORD toward the city which you have chosen, and toward the house which I have built for your name,
45 then shall you hear from heaven their supplication and their prayer, and shall execute judgment for them.
then hear in heaven their prayer and their supplication, and maintain their cause.
46 [If it be] that they shall sin against you, (for there is not a man who will not sin, ) and you shall bring them and deliver them up before their enemies, and they that take [them] captive shall carry [them] to a land far or near,
If they sin against you (for there is no man who does not sin), and you are angry with them and deliver them to the enemy, so that they carry them away captive to the land of the enemy, far off or near;
47 and they shall turn their hearts in the land whither they have been carried captives, and turn in the land of their sojourning, and supplicate you, saying, We have sinned, we have done unjustly, we have transgressed,
yet if they repent in the land where they are carried captive, and turn again, and make supplication to you in the land of those who carried them captive, saying, ‘We have sinned and have done perversely; we have dealt wickedly,’
48 and they shall turn to you with all their heart, and with all their soul, in the land of their enemies whither you have carried them captives, and shall pray to you toward their land which you have given to their fathers, and the city which you have chosen, and the house which I have built to your name:
if they return to you with all their heart and with all their soul in the land of their enemies who carried them captive, and pray to you toward their land which you gave to their fathers, the city which you have chosen and the house which I have built for your name,
49 then shall you hear from heaven your established dwelling-place,
then hear their prayer and their supplication in heaven, your dwelling place, and maintain their cause;
50 and you shall be merciful to their unrighteousness wherein they have trespassed against you, and according to all their transgressions wherewith they have transgressed against you, and you shall cause them to be pitied before them that carried them captives, and they shall have compassion on them:
and forgive your people who have sinned against you, and all their transgressions in which they have transgressed against you; and give them compassion before those who carried them captive, that they may have compassion on them
51 for [they are] your people and your inheritance, whom you brought out of the land of Egypt, out of the midst of the furnace of iron.
(for they are your people and your inheritance, which you brought out of Egypt, from the middle of the iron furnace);
52 And let your eyes and your ears be opened to the supplication of your servant, and to the supplication of your people Israel, to listen to them in all things for which they shall call upon you.
that your eyes may be open to the supplication of your servant and to the supplication of your people Israel, to listen to them whenever they cry to you.
53 Because you have set them apart for an inheritance to yourself out of all the nations of the earth, as you spoke by the hand of your servant Moses, when you brought our fathers out of the land of Egypt, O Lord God.
For you separated them from among all the peoples of the earth to be your inheritance, as you spoke by Moses your servant, when you brought our fathers out of Egypt, Lord GOD.”
54 And it came to pass when Solomon had finished praying to the Lord all this prayer and supplication, that he rose up from before the altar of the Lord, [after] having knelt upon his knees, and his hands [were] spread out towards heaven.
It was so, that when Solomon had finished praying all this prayer and supplication to the LORD, he arose from before the LORD’s altar, from kneeling on his knees with his hands spread out toward heaven.
55 And he stood, and blessed all the congregation of Israel with a loud voice, saying,
He stood and blessed all the assembly of Israel with a loud voice, saying,
56 Blessed [be] the Lord this day, who has given rest to his people Israel, according to all that he said: there has not failed one word among all his good words which he spoke by the hand of his servant Moses.
“Blessed be the LORD, 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 May the Lord our God be with us, as he was with our fathers; let him not desert us nor turn from us,
May the LORD our God be with us as he was with our fathers. Let him not leave us or forsake us,
58 that he may turn our hearts toward him to walk in all his ways, and to keep all his commandments, and his ordinances which he commanded our fathers.
that he may incline our hearts to him, to walk in all his ways, and to keep his commandments, his statutes, and his ordinances, which he commanded our fathers.
59 And let these words, which I have prayed before the Lord our God, [be] near to the Lord our God day and night, to maintain the cause of your servant, and the cause of your people Israel for ever.
Let these my words, with which I have made supplication before the LORD, be near to the LORD our God day and night, that he may maintain the cause of his servant and the cause of his people Israel, as every day requires;
60 that all the nations of the earth may know that the Lord God, he [is] God, and there is none beside.
that all the peoples of the earth may know that the LORD himself is God. There is no one else.
61 And let our hearts be perfect toward the Lord our God, to walk also holily in his ordinances, and to keep his commandments, as at this day.
“Let your heart therefore be perfect with the LORD our God, to walk in his statutes, and to keep his commandments, as it is today.”
62 And the king and all the children of Israel offered sacrifice before the Lord.
The king, and all Israel with him, offered sacrifice before the LORD.
63 And king Solomon offered for the sacrifices of peace-offering which he sacrificed to the Lord, two and twenty thousand oxen, and hundred and twenty thousand sheep: and the king and all the children of Israel dedicated the house of the Lord.
Solomon offered for the sacrifice of peace offerings, which he offered to the LORD, twenty two thousand head of cattle and one hundred twenty thousand sheep. So the king and all the children of Israel dedicated the LORD’s house.
64 In that day the king consecrated the middle of the court in the front of the house of the Lord; for there he offered the whole burnt offering, and the sacrifices, and the fat of the peace-offerings, because the brazen altar which was before the Lord [was too] little to bear the whole burnt offering and the sacrifices of peace-offerings.
The same day the king made the middle of the court holy that was before the LORD’s house; for there he offered the burnt offering, the meal offering, and the fat of the peace offerings, because the bronze altar that was before the LORD was too little to receive the burnt offering, the meal offering, and the fat of the peace offerings.
65 And Solomon kept the feast in that day, and all Israel with him, even a great assembly from the entering in of Hemath to the river of Egypt, before the Lord our God in the house which he built, eating and drinking, and rejoicing before the Lord our God seven days.
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 the LORD our God, seven days and seven more days, even fourteen days.
66 And on the eighth day he sent away the people: and they blessed the king, and each departed to his tabernacle rejoicing, and [their] heart [was] glad because of the good things which the Lord had done to his servant David, and to Israel his people.
On the eighth day he sent the people away; and they blessed the king, and went to their tents joyful and glad in their hearts for all the goodness that the LORD had shown to David his servant, and to Israel his people.
