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.

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 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.

So all the Israeli leaders came to King Solomon during the Festival of [Living in Temporary] Shelters, in October.

3 And all the elders of Israel came in, —and the priests took up the ark;

When they had all arrived, the priests lifted up the Sacred Chest

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.

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 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.

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 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.

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, 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 wings of those statues spread out over the Sacred Chest and over the poles by which it was carried.

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 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, 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.

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 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 came out of the temple, [suddenly] it was filled with a cloud.

11 so that the priests could not stand to minister, because of the cloud, —for, the glory of Yahweh, filled, the house of Yahweh.

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, said Solomon, —Yahweh, said, that he would make his habitation in thick gloom:

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, built, a house as a high abode for thee, —A settled place for thee to abide in, for ages.

I have built for you a magnificent temple, a place for you to live in forever.”

14 And the king turned about his face, and blessed all the convocation of Israel, —while all the convocation of Israel was standing;

Then, while all the people stood there, the king turned around and faced them, and he [asked God to] bless 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: —

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 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:

‘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 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.

[Then Solomon said], “My father David wanted to build a temple in order that we Israeli people could worship Yahweh our God there.

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 Yahweh said to him, ‘You have wanted to build a temple for me, and what you wanted to do was good.

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.

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 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;

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 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 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 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 which was facing the Israeli people who had gathered there. He spread out his arms 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;

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 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 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, 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, 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, O God of Israel, —verified be thy word, I pray thee, which thou didst speak to thy 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, 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 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 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;

But Yahweh, my God, please listen to me while I am praying to you this day,

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.

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 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?

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 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,

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 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?

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 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,

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 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?

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 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,

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 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?

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 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;

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 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,

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 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;

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 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?

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 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, —

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 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),

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?

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 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,

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 wilt thou hear, in the heavens, their prayer and their supplication, —and maintain their cause?

listen in heaven to their prayers; listen to what they plead for you to do, and assist them.

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;

[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 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;

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 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,

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 wilt thou hearken in the heavens, the settled place of thine abode, unto their prayer, and unto their supplication, —and maintain their cause;

then from your home in heaven listen to them while they plead [for your help], and assist them.

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 them for all the sins that they [have committed] against you, and cause their enemies to be kind 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;

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 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;

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 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.

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 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 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 and stood and blessed all the convocation of Israel, —with a loud voice, saying:

Then he [asked God to] bless all the Israeli people. [He prayed] loudly, 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 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 Yahweh 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 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.

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 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:

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 To the end that all the peoples of the earth may know, that, Yahweh, is God, —there is none else.

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 So shall your heart be sound with Yahweh 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 And, the king, and all Israel with him, were offering sacrifice before Yahweh.

Then the king and all the Israeli people who were there offered sacrifices to Yahweh.

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.

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 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 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 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 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 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.

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.