1 Kings 8
1 Then Solomon assembled the elders of Israel, and all the heads of the tribes, the ancestral leaders of the children of Israel, to king Solomon in Jerusalem, to bring up the ark of the covenant of the LORD out of the City of David, which is Zion.
Solomon then summoned to Jerusalem all the elders of Israel, all the leaders of the tribes, and the leaders of the clans. He wanted them to join in bringing Yahweh’s Sacred Chest from Zion [Hill to the temple], where it was in the part of the city called ‘The City of David’.
2 All the men of Israel assembled themselves to king Solomon at the feast, in the month Ethanim, which is the seventh month.
So all the Israeli leaders came to King Solomon during the Festival of [Living in Temporary] Shelters, in October.
3 All the elders of Israel came, and the priests took up the ark.
When they had all arrived, the priests lifted up the Sacred Chest
4 They brought up the ark of the LORD, and the Tent of Meeting, and all the holy vessels that were in the Tent; and the priests and the Levites brought them up.
and brought it to the temple. The descendants of Levi [who assisted the priests] helped them to carry to the temple the Sacred Tent and all the sacred things that had been in the tent.
5 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 nor numbered for multitude.
Then King Solomon and many of the Israeli people who had gathered in front of Yahweh’s Sacred Chest sacrificed a huge amount of sheep and oxen. No one was able to count the sacrifices [because there were so many].
6 The priests brought in the ark of the covenant of the LORD to its place, into the inner sanctuary of the house, to the most holy place, under the wings of the cherubim.
The the priests then brought the Sacred Chest into the Very Holy Place in the temple, and they placed it under the wings of the [statues of the] winged creatures.
7 For the cherubim spread forth their wings over the place of the ark, and the cherubim covered the ark and its poles above.
The wings of those statues spread out over the Sacred Chest and over the poles by which it was carried.
8 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. And there they are to this day.
The poles were so long that the ends of the poles could be seen [by people who were standing] at the entrance to the Most Holy Place, but they could not be seen [by people standing] outside the temple. Those poles are still there.
9 There was nothing in the ark except the two tablets 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.
The only things that were in the Sacred Chest were the two stone tablets that Moses had put there at Sinai [Mountain], where Yahweh made an agreement with the people after they left Egypt.
10 It came to pass, when the priests had come out of the holy place, that the cloud filled the house of the LORD,
When the priests came out of the temple, [suddenly] it was filled with a cloud.
11 so that the priests could not stand to minister by reason of the cloud; for the glory of the LORD filled the house of the LORD.
It was the glory/radiance of Yahweh that filled the temple, with the result that the priests were not able to continue their work.
12 Then Solomon said, "The LORD has said that he would dwell in the thick cloud.
Then Solomon prayed this: “Yahweh, you have placed the sun in the sky, but you have decided that you would live in very dark [clouds].
13 I have surely built you a house of habitation, a place for you to dwell in forever."
I have built for you a magnificent temple, a place for you to live in forever.”
14 The king turned his face about, and blessed all the assembly of Israel: and all the assembly of Israel stood.
Then, while all the people stood there, the king turned around and faced them, and he [asked God to] bless them.
15 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,
He said, “Praise Yahweh, the God whom we Israelis belong! By his own power he has done what he promised to give to my father David. What he promised was this:
16 '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, so that my name might be there; nor did I choose anyone to be a leader over my people Israel. But I have chosen Jerusalem, so that my name may be there, and I have chosen David to be over my people Israel.'
‘From the time that I brought my people out of Egypt, I have never chosen any city in Israel in which a temple should be built for my people to worship me there. But I chose you, David, to rule my people.”
17 "Now it was in the heart of David my father to build a house for the name of the LORD, the God of Israel.
[Then Solomon said], “My father David wanted to build a temple in order that we Israeli people could worship Yahweh our God there.
18 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.
But Yahweh said to him, ‘You have wanted to build a temple for me, and what you wanted to do was good.
19 Nevertheless, you shall not build the house; but your son who shall come forth out of your body, he shall build the house for my name.'
However, you are not the one [who I want] to build it. It is one of your sons, who [I want to] build a temple for me.’
20 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.
And now Yahweh has done what he promised to do. I have become the king of Israel to succeed my father, and I am ruling my people, like Yahweh promised. I have [arranged for] this temple [to be] built for us Israelis to worship Yahweh, the God, to whom we Israelis belong.
21 There I have set a place for the ark, in which is the covenant of the LORD, which he made with our fathers, when he brought them out of the land of Egypt."
I have also provided a place [in the temple] for the Sacred Chest in which are the two stone tablets [on which are engraved the Ten Commandments of] the agreement that Yahweh made with our ancestors when he brought them out of Egypt.”
22 Solomon stood before the altar of the LORD in the presence of all the assembly of Israel, and spread forth his hands toward heaven. Now Solomon had made a bronze scaffold, eight feet and seven inches long, and eight feet and seven inches broad, and five feet and two inches high, and had set it in the midst of the court; and on it he stood, and kneeled down on his knees before all the assembly of Israel, and spread forth his hands toward heaven.
Then Solomon stood in front of the altar which was facing the Israeli people who had gathered there. He spread out his arms toward heaven,
23 And he said, "LORD, the God of Israel, there is no God like you, in heaven above, or on earth beneath; keeping covenant and loving kindness with your servants, who walk before you with all their heart;
and he prayed, “Yahweh, the God whom we Israeli people [belong to/worship], there is no god like you up in heaven or down here on the earth. You solemnly promised that you would faithfully love us. And that is what you have done for us who earnestly do what you want us to do.
24 who have 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 this day.
You have done the things that you promised my father David, who served you [very well], that you would do. Truly, you promised to do these things for him, and today we see that by your power you have done them.
25 Now therefore, may the LORD, the God of Israel, keep with your servant David my father that which you have promised him, saying, 'There shall not fail 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.'
So now, Yahweh, the God whom we Israelis [belong to/worship], please do the things that you promised my father that you would do. You told him that there would always be some of his descendants who would rule Israel, if they would conduct their lives as he did.
26 "Now therefore, LORD, God of Israel, please let your word be verified, which you spoke to your servant David my father.
So now, God of us Israeli people, cause what you promised to do for my father David, who served you [well], to happen.
27 But will God in very deed dwell on the earth? Look, heaven and the heaven of heavens can't contain you; how much less this house that I have built.
But God, you cannot really live on the earth. There is surely not enough space for you in the sky, or even in the heaven. So there is surely not enough space for you to live in this temple that my workers have built.
28 Yet have respect for the prayer of your servant, and for his petition, LORD my God, to listen to the cry and to the prayer which your servant prays before you this day;
But Yahweh, my God, please listen to me while I am praying to you this day,
29 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 shall pray toward this place.
Please keep protecting this temple night and day. This is the place about which you have said, ‘I will always be there.’ I request that you listen to me whenever I turn toward this temple and pray.
30 Listen to the petition of your servant, and of your people Israel, when they shall pray toward this place. Yes, hear in heaven, your dwelling place; and when you hear, forgive.
I request that when I pray to you and your people pray to you while they turn toward this place, that in your home in heaven you will hear us and forgive us [for the sins that we have committed].
31 "If a man sins against his neighbor, and an oath is laid on him to cause him to swear, and he comes and swear before your altar in this house;
If someone is accused of doing something wrong to another person, and they bring him to your altar outside this holy temple, and if he says, ‘I did not do that; may God punish me if I am not telling the truth,’
32 then hear in heaven, and do, 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.
then you listen from heaven, and decide who is telling the truth. Then punish the person who is guilty as he deserves to be punished, and declare that the other person is innocent.
33 "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 petition to you in this house:
And when your Israeli people are defeated by their enemies [in a battle] because they have sinned against you, [and if they are forced to go to some distant country, ] if they turn away from their sinful behavior and turn toward this temple and admit that you [have justly punished them], and if they plead [that you will forgive them],
34 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.
listen to them from heaven, and forgive your Israeli people for the sins that they [have committed], and bring them back to this land that you gave to our ancestors.
35 "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 punish them:
And when you do not allow any rain to fall on the land because your people have sinned against you, if they turn toward this temple and admit that you [have justly punished them], if they turn away from their sinful behavior and [humbly] pray to you,
36 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.
listen to them from heaven, and forgive your Israeli people for the sins [that they have committed]. Teach them the right way to conduct their lives. Then send rain on this land that you have given to your people to belong to them [permanently].
37 "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 gates; whatever plague, whatever sickness there is;
And when the people of this land experience famines, or if there is a plague/illness that causes many people to become sick, or if [their crops are destroyed by] very hot winds or [by] mildew or [by] locusts or grasshoppers, or when their enemies surround any of their cities [in order to attack them], if any of those bad things happen to them,
38 whatever prayer and petition is made by any man, or by all your people Israel, who shall each know the plague of his own heart, and spread forth his hands toward this house:
when your Israeli people earnestly plead with you knowing that they are suffering because they [have sinned], and if they stretch out their arms toward this temple and pray,
39 then hear in heaven, your dwelling place, and forgive, and do, and render 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 humankind; )
listen to them from your home in heaven, and forgive them, and help them. You are the only one who knows what people are thinking, so act toward everyone as they deserve,
40 that they may fear you all the days that they live in the land which you gave to our fathers.
in order that your people may then have an awesome respect for you, all the years that they live in this land that you gave to our ancestors.
41 "Moreover concerning the foreigner, who is not of your people Israel, when he shall come out of a far country for your name's sake
There will be some foreigners who do not belong to your Israeli people who have come here from countries far away because they have heard that you are very great and that you perform great miracles. If they come here to this temple to worship you and pray,
42 (for they shall hear of your great name, and of your mighty hand, and of your outstretched arm); when he shall come and pray toward this house;
43 then 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, and fear you, as do your people Israel, and that they may know that this house which I have built is called by your name.
in your home in heaven, listen to their prayers, and do for them what they request you to do. Do that so that all the people-groups in the world will know about you and revere you, like we your Israeli people do. And then they will know that this temple that I have [caused to be] built to honor you, is where you [should be worshiped].
44 "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;
And if you send your people to go to fight against their enemies, if they pray to you, wherever they are, if they turn toward this city that you have chosen and toward this temple that I have caused to be built for you,
45 then hear in heaven their prayer and their petition, and maintain their cause.
listen in heaven to their prayers; listen to what they plead for you to do, and assist them.
46 If they sin against you (for there is no man who doesn't 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;
[It is true that] everyone sins. So, if your people sin against you, and you become angry with them, you may allow their enemies to defeat them and capture them and take them away to their enemies’ country, even to countries that are far away.
47 yet if they shall repent in the land where they are carried captive, and repent and make petition to you in the land of those who carried them captive, saying, 'We have sinned, and have done perversely; we have dealt wickedly;'
If that happens, while they are in those countries to which they were forced to go, if they sincerely repent and plead with you there saying ‘We have sinned and have done things that are very wicked,’
48 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:
if they very sincerely repent, and turn toward this land that you gave to our ancestors, and toward this city that you have chosen [to be the place where we should worship you], and toward this temple that I have [caused to be] built for you, and if they pray,
49 then hear their prayer and their petition in heaven, your dwelling place, and maintain their cause;
then from your home in heaven listen to them while they plead [for your help], and assist them.
50 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
Forgive them for all the sins that they [have committed] against you, and cause their enemies to be kind to them.
51 (for they are your people, and your inheritance, which you brought out of Egypt, from the midst of the iron furnace);
Do not forget that the Israelis are your people; they are your special possession; you brought [our ancestors] out of Egypt where [they were greatly suffering as though] they were in a blazing furnace.
52 that your eyes and your ears may be open to the petition of your servant, and to the petition of your people Israel, to listen to them whenever they cry to you.
I request that you always listen to your Israeli people and to me, their king, and heed their prayers whenever they call out to you [to help them].
53 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."
You chose them from all the other people-groups in the world to belong to you, which is what you told Moses to tell them when you brought our ancestors out of Egypt.”
54 It was so, that when Solomon had made an end of praying all this prayer and petition to the LORD, he arose from before the altar of the LORD, from kneeling on his knees with his hands spread forth toward heaven.
After Solomon had finished praying and pleading to Yahweh [for his help], he stood up in front of the altar where he had been kneeling. He lifted up his arms.
55 He stood, and blessed all the assembly of Israel with a loud voice, saying,
Then he [asked God to] bless all the Israeli people. [He prayed] loudly, saying,
56 "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.
“Praise Yahweh, who has given us his people peace, like he promised that he would do. He has done every one of the good things that he promised to Moses, the man who served him [very well].
57 May the LORD our God be with us, as he was with our fathers. Let him not leave us, nor forsake us;
I pray that our God will be with us like he was with our ancestors, and that he will never abandon 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.
I pray that he will cause us to loyally serve him, to conduct our lives as he wants us to, and to obey all his commandments and statutes and laws that he gave to our ancestors.
59 Let these my words, with which I have made petition 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 shall require;
I pray that Yahweh our God will never forget these words that I have prayed, pleading for his help; I pray that he will think about them by day and by night. I pray that he will always help [us] Israeli people and me, giving us the things that we need day by day.
60 that all the peoples of the earth may know that the LORD, he is God. There is no other.
If he does that, all the people-groups in the world will know that he is the only one who is God, and that there is no other one who is God.
61 "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."
I pray that you, [his people, ] will always be fully committed to Yahweh, and that you will obey all his statutes and commands, like you are doing now.”
62 The king, and all Israel with him, offered sacrifice before the LORD.
Then the king and all the Israeli people who were there offered sacrifices to Yahweh.
63 Solomon offered for the sacrifice of peace offerings, which he offered to the LORD, two and twenty thousand head of cattle, and one hundred twenty thousand sheep. So the king and all the children of Israel dedicated the house of the LORD.
They sacrificed 22,000 cattle and 120,000 sheep to maintain fellowship with Yahweh. Then the king and all the people dedicated the temple.
64 The same day the king made the middle of the court holy that was before the house of the LORD; for there he offered the burnt offering, and 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, and the meal offering, and the fat of the peace offerings.
On that day, the king also dedicated/set apart the middle part of the courtyard that was in front of the temple. Then he offered sacrifices that would be completely burned [in the courtyard], the offerings of grain and the fat of the animals that were sacrificed to maintain fellowship with Yahweh. They sacrificed them there because the bronze altar was not big enough for all those sacrifices to be burned on it [that day].
65 So Solomon held the feast at that time, and all Israel with him, a great assembly, from Lebo Hamath to the Wadi 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 and seven days; fourteen days.
Then Solomon and all the Israeli people celebrated the Festival of [Living in Temporary] Shelters for seven days. There was a huge crowd of people there, some of whom had come from [distant places like] Hamath [in the far north] and the border of Egypt [in the far south].
66 And 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 the LORD had shown to David his servant, and to Israel his people.
On the eighth day, Solomon sent the people to their homes. They all praised him and went home happy because of all the things that Yahweh had done to bless [King] David and his Israeli people.
