1 Kings 8
1 Then, did Solomon call together the elders of Israel, and all the heads of the tribes, chiefs of the fathers of the sons of Israel, unto King Solomon in Jerusalem, —that they might bring up the ark of the covenant of Yahweh, out of the city of David, the same is Zion.
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.
2 So all the men of Israel came together unto King Solomon, in the month of steady flowings, at the festival, —the same is the seventh month.
All the men of Israel assembled before King Solomon at the festival which is held in the seventh month, the month of Ethanim.
3 And all the elders of Israel came in, —and the priests took up the ark;
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.
4 and they brought up the ark of Yahweh, and the Tent of Meeting, and all the hallowed vessels that were in the tent, —yea, the priests and the Levites, did bring them up.
The priests and Levites carried them up.
5 And, King Solomon, and all the assembly of Israel who had assembled themselves unto him, were with him, before the ark, —sacrificing sheep and oxen, which could neither be recorded nor counted, for multitude.
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!
6 So the priests brought in the ark of the covenant of Yahweh into its place, into the shrine of the house, into the holy of holies, —under the wings of the cherubim.
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.
7 For, the cherubim, were spreading forth their two wings, over the place of the ark, —and the cherubim made a covering over the ark and over the staves thereof, above.
The cherubim spread their wings over the place where the Ark was, covering the Ark and its carrying poles.
8 And they drew out the staves, and the heads of the staves were seen from the holy place, in front of the shrine, although they were not seen on the outside, —and they have remained there until this day.
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.
9 There was nothing in the ark, save the two tables of stone, which Moses deposited there in Horeb, —the tables of the covenant which Yahweh solemnised with the sons of Israel, when they came forth out of the land of Egypt.
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.
10 And so it was, when the priests came forth out of the holy place, that, a cloud, filled the house of Yahweh;
When the priests left the Holy Place, the cloud filled the Temple of the Lord.
11 so that the priests could not stand to minister, because of the cloud, —for, the glory of Yahweh, filled, the house of Yahweh.
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.
12 Then, said Solomon, —Yahweh, said, that he would make his habitation in thick gloom:
Then Solomon said: “Lord, you said that you would live in the thick cloud.
13 I have, built, a house as a high abode for thee, —A settled place for thee to abide in, for ages.
Now I have built for you a majestic Temple, a place where you may live for ever.”
14 And the king turned about his face, and blessed all the convocation of Israel, —while all the convocation of Israel was standing;
The king turned around to the whole assembly of Israel who were standing there, and blessed them,
15 and he said—Blessed, be Yahweh, God of Israel, who spake with his mouth, unto David my father, —that which with his hand he hath fulfilled, saying: —
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,
16 Since the day that I brought forth my people Israel, out of Egypt, I had chosen no city, out of all the tribes of Israel, for building a house, where my Name might be, —but I have chosen Jerusalem, that my Name should be there, and I have chosen David, to be over my people Israel:
‘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.’
17 And so it came to pass, that it was near the heart of David my father, —to build a house for the Name of Yahweh, God of Israel.
My father David really wanted to build a Temple to honor the Lord, the God of Israel.
18 Then said Yahweh unto David my father, Because it was near thy heart to build a house for my Name, thou didst well that it was near thy heart;
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.
19 Only, thou thyself, must not build the house, —but, thine own son who hath proceeded out of thy loins, he, shall build the house, for my Name.
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.'
20 So then Yahweh hath established his word which he spake, —and I have been raised up in the room of David my father, and have taken my seat upon the throne of Israel, as spake Yahweh, and have built the house for the Name of Yahweh, God of Israel;
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.
21 and have appointed there a place for the ark, wherein is the covenant of Yahweh, —which he solemnised with our fathers, when he brought them forth out of the land of Egypt.
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.”
22 And Solomon stood before the altar of Yahweh, in the presence of all the convocation of Israel, —and spread forth his hands towards the heavens;
Then Solomon stood in front of the altar of the Lord before the whole assembly of Israel and held out his hands toward heaven.
23 and said—O Yahweh, God of Israel! Not like thee, is there a God, in the heavens above, or upon the earth beneath, —keeping Covenant and Lovingkindness for thy servants who are walking before thee, with all their heart;
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.
24 who hast kept for thy servant David my father, that which thou didst promise him, —in that thou didst promise with thy mouth, and, with thy hand, hast fulfilled, as it is this day.
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.
25 Now, therefore, O Yahweh, God of Israel, keep thou for thy servant David my father, that which thou didst promise him, saying, There shall not be cut off to thee a man from before me, to sit upon the throne of Israel, —if only, thy sons take heed to their way, by walking before me, as thou hast walked before me.
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.’
26 Now, therefore, O God of Israel, —verified be thy word, I pray thee, which thou didst speak to thy servant, David my father.
Now, God of Israel, please keep the promise you made to our servant, my father David.
27 But, in very deed, will God dwell, upon the earth? Lo! the heaven, yea the heaven of heavens, cannot contain thee, how much less this house which I have built?
But will God really live here on earth? The heavens, even highest heaven, cannot contain you, much less this Temple I have built!
28 Yet wilt thou turn unto the prayer of thy servant, and unto his supplication, O Yahweh my God, —to hearken unto the cry, and unto the prayer, wherewith thy servant doth pray before thee to-day;
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.
29 that thine eye may be opened toward this house, night and day, toward the place of which thou hast said, My Name shall be, there; hearkening unto the prayer which thy servant shall offer toward this place.
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,
30 Wilt, thou, therefore, hearken unto the supplication of thy servant, and of thy people Israel, whensoever they shall pray toward this place, —yea wilt, thou thyself, hear, in thine own dwelling-place, in the heavens, and, when thou hearest, then wilt thou forgive?
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.
31 When a man shall sin against his neighbour, and there shall be taken up against him an oath, to put him on oath, —and he shall come in and swear before thine altar, in this house,
When someone sins against another and is required to take an oath before your altar in this Temple,
32 then wilt, thou thyself, hear in the heavens, and act, and judge thy servants, condemning the lawless, by setting his way upon his own head, —and justifying the righteous, by giving to him, according to his righteousness?
listen from heaven—act and judge your servants. Pay back the guilty; vindicate and reward those who do right.
33 When thy people Israel are smitten before an enemy, because they have been sinning against thee, —and they turn again unto thee, and confess thy Name, and pray and make supplication unto thee, in this house,
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,
34 then wilt, thou thyself, hear in the heavens, and forgive the sin of thy people Israel, and bring them back unto the soil, which thou gavest unto their fathers?
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.
35 When the heavens are shut up, and there is no rain, because they have been sinning against thee, —and they shall pray toward this place, and confess thy Name, and, from their sin, shall return, because thou hast been afflicting them,
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,
36 then wilt, thou thyself, hear in the heavens and forgive the sin of thy servants, and of thy people Israel, that thou mayest teach them the good way, wherein they should walk, —and give rain upon thy land, which thou hast given unto thy people, for an inheritance?
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.
37 When there shall be, famine, in the land, when there shall be, pestilence, when there shall be, blasting, mildew locust, caterpillar, when their enemy shall besiege them in one of their own gates, —whatsoever plague, whatsoever sickness;
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—
38 any prayer, any supplication which, any son of earth, may have, of all thy people Israel, —who will certainly know every man the plague of his own heart, and so he shall spread abroad his hands towards this house,
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,
39 then wilt, thou thyself, hear in the heavens, in the settled place of thine abode, and forgive and act, and give unto every man according to all his ways, whose heart thou wilt know, —for, thou thyself alone, knowest the heart of all the sons of men;
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.
40 to the end they may revere thee, all the days which they do live, upon the face of the soil, —which thou gavest unto our fathers?
Then they will respect you and follow your ways all the time they live in the land you gave to our forefathers.
41 Moreover also, unto the stranger, who is, not of thy people Israel, —but hath come in out of a far country, for the sake of thy Name, —
As for the foreigners who do not belong to your people Israel but who come from a distant land,
42 (for they will certainly hear of thy great Name, and of thy strong hand, and of thy stretched-out arm, —and so will come in and pray towards this house),
having heard of your great nature and power and ability to help, when they come and pray toward this Temple,
43 wilt, thou thyself, hear in the heavens, the settled place of thine abode, and act, according to all for which, the stranger, shall cry unto thee, —to the end that all the peoples of the earth may truly know thy Name, so as to revere thee, like thy people Israel, and to know that, thine own Name, hath been given unto this house, which I have built?
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.
44 When thy people go forth to war against their enemy, whithersoever thou mayest send them, —and shall pray unto Yahweh, in the direction of the city which thou hast chosen, and the house which I have built for thy Name,
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,
45 then wilt thou hear, in the heavens, their prayer and their supplication, —and maintain their cause?
then hear from heaven what they are praying and asking for, and support their cause.
46 When they sin against thee—for there is, no son of earth, that sinneth not, and thou shalt be angry with them, and deliver them up before an enemy, —who shall carry them away as their captives, into the land of the enemy, far or near;
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.
47 and they come back to their right mind, in the land whither they have been taken captive, —and so turn and make supplication unto thee, in the land of their captors, saying, We have sinned and done perversely, we have been lawless;
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,’
48 and so they turn unto thee with all their heart, and with all their soul, in the land of their enemies, who have carried them away captive, —and pray unto thee in the direction of their own land, which thou gavest unto their fathers, the city which thou hast chosen, and the house which I have built for thy Name,
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,
49 then wilt thou hearken in the heavens, the settled place of thine abode, unto their prayer, and unto their supplication, —and maintain their cause;
then hear from heaven, the place where you live, respond and support their cause.
50 and grant forgiveness to thy people, who have sinned against thee, even as to all their transgressions wherein they have transgressed against thee, —and grant them compassion before their captors, so that they may have compassion upon them;
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.
51 because, thy people and thine inheritance, they are, —whom thou didst bring forth out of Egypt, out of the midst of the smelting-pot of iron;
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.
52 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 their crying unto thee;
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.
53 because, thou thyself, didst separate them unto thee, for an inheritance, out of all the peoples of the earth, —as thou spakest by the hand of Moses thy servant, when thou broughtest forth our fathers out of Egypt, O Lord Yahweh.
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.”
54 And it came to pass, when Solomon had made an end of praying unto Yahweh all this prayer and supplication, that he arose from before the altar of Yahweh, from kneeling on his knees, with his hands outspread to the heavens;
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.
55 and stood and blessed all the convocation of Israel, —with a loud voice, saying:
Solomon stood, and in a loud voice he blessed the whole assembly of Israel, saying,
56 Blessed, be Yahweh, who 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.
“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.
57 Yahweh our God be with us, as he was with our fathers, —let him not leave us, nor forsake us;
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.
58 but bow our heart unto himself, —to walk in all his ways, and to keep his commandments, and his statutes, and his regulations, which he commanded our fathers.
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.
59 And let these my words, wherewith I have made supplication before Yahweh, be near unto Yahweh our God, day and night, —that he may maintain the cause of his servant, and the cause of his people Israel, as any need ariseth:
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,
60 To the end that all the peoples of the earth may know, that, Yahweh, is God, —there is none else.
in order that everyone on the earth may know that the Lord is God, and that there is no other!
61 So shall your heart be sound with Yahweh our God, —to walk in his statutes, and to keep his commandments, as at this day.
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.”
62 And, the king, and all Israel with him, were offering sacrifice before Yahweh.
Then the king and together with all of Israel offered sacrifices before the Lord.
63 So Solomon offered as a sacrifice of peace-offerings, which he offered unto Yahweh—Oxen, two and twenty thousand, and Sheep, a hundred and twenty thousand, —Thus did, the king and all the sons of Israel, dedicate the house of Yahweh.
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.
64 On that day, did the king hallow the middle of the court, that was before the house of Yahweh, —for he offered there the ascending-sacrifice, and the meal-offering, and the fat portions of the peace-offerings, because, the altar of bronze that was before Yahweh, was too small to receive the ascending-sacrifice and the meal-offering, and the fat portions of the peace-offerings.
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.
65 And Solomon made, at that time, a festival—and all Israel with him—a great convocation, from the entering in of Hamath unto the ravine of Egypt, before Yahweh our God, seven days, and seven days, —fourteen days.
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.
66 And on the eighth day, he sent the people away, and they blessed the king, —and departed to their homes, rejoicing and glad of heart, over all the goodness which Yahweh had done for David his servant, and for Israel his people.
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.
