1 Kings 8
1 Then Solomon gathered the elders of Israel, all the tribal chiefs and the heads of the families of the Israelites. He assembled them before him in Jerusalem to bring up the ark of the covenant of the LORD from the City of David, which is Zion.
2 All the men of Israel assembled before King Solomon at the feast in the month of Ethanim, the seventh month.
3 All the elders of Israel came, and the priests lifted the ark.
4 They brought up the ark of the LORD, the tent of meeting, and all the sacred furnishings that were in the tent. The priests and the Levites brought them up.
5 King Solomon and the whole community of Israel, gathered before him, were with him in front of the ark, sacrificing sheep and cattle in such numbers that they could not be counted or measured.
6 The priests brought the ark of the covenant of the LORD to its place, into the inner sanctuary of the house, the Most Holy Place, beneath the wings of the cherubim.
7 For the cherubim spread their wings over the place of the ark, and the cherubim covered the ark and its poles from above.
8 The poles were so long that their ends could be seen from the holy place in front of the inner sanctuary, but they could not be seen from outside. They are there to this day.
9 There was nothing in the ark except the two stone tablets that Moses had placed there at Horeb, where the LORD made a covenant with the Israelites when they came out of the land of Egypt.
10 When the priests came out of the holy place, the cloud filled the house of the LORD,
11 and the priests could not stand there to minister because of the cloud, for the glory of the LORD filled the house of the LORD.
12 Then Solomon said, “The LORD said he would dwell in thick darkness.
13 I have indeed built you an exalted house, a place for you to dwell forever.”
14 The king turned around and blessed the whole assembly of Israel, while the whole assembly of Israel stood.
15 He said, “Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel, who spoke with his mouth to David my father and fulfilled with his hand what he said:
16 ‘From the day I brought my people Israel out of Egypt, I chose no city from among all the tribes of Israel in which to build a house for my name to dwell. But I chose David to be over my people Israel.’
17 David my father had it in his heart to build a house for the name of the LORD, the God of Israel.
18 But the LORD said to David my father, ‘Since you had it in your heart to build a house for my name, you did well to have this in your heart.
19 But you will not build the house. Your son, who will come from you, will build the house for my name.’
20 The LORD has fulfilled the promise he made. I have risen in David my father’s place and taken my seat on the throne of Israel, as the LORD said, and I have built the house for the name of the LORD, the God of Israel.
21 There I have made a place for the ark, which holds the covenant of the LORD that he made with our ancestors when he brought them out of the land of Egypt.”
22 Solomon stood before the altar of the LORD in front of the whole assembly of Israel and spread out his hands toward heaven.
23 He said, “LORD, God of Israel, there is no God like you in heaven above or on earth below. You keep the covenant and steadfast love for your servants who walk before you with all their heart.
24 You have kept your promise to your servant David my father. You spoke it with your mouth and fulfilled it with your hand, as it is today.
25 Now, LORD, God of Israel, keep the promise you made to your servant David my father: ‘You will never fail to have a man before me sitting on the throne of Israel, provided your sons keep to their way and walk before me as you have walked before me.’
26 Now, God of Israel, may the promise you made to your servant David my father prove true.
27 But will God really dwell on earth? The heavens, even the highest heavens, cannot contain you. How much less this house that I have built!
28 Yet turn toward the prayer and plea of your servant, LORD my God, and hear the cry and prayer your servant offers before you today.
29 May your eyes be open night and day toward this house, toward the place about which you said, ‘My name will be there,’ to hear the prayer your servant offers toward this place.
30 Hear the plea of your servant and of your people Israel when they pray toward this place. Hear from your dwelling place in heaven; hear and forgive.
31 If someone sins against a neighbor and is made to swear an oath, and comes to swear it before your altar in this house,
32 then hear in heaven, act, and judge your servants: condemn the guilty and bring his conduct down on his own head, and declare the innocent righteous, rewarding him according to his righteousness.
33 If your people Israel are defeated by an enemy because they have sinned against you, and then turn back to you, confess your name, and pray and plead with you in this house,”
34 “then hear in heaven, forgive the sin of your people Israel, and bring them back to the land you gave their ancestors.
35 If the heavens are shut and there is no rain because they have sinned against you, and they pray toward this place, confess your name, and turn from their sin because you have afflicted them,
36 then hear in heaven and forgive the sin of your servants and your people Israel. Teach them the good way they should walk, and send rain on your land, which you gave your people as an inheritance.
37 If there is famine in the land, or plague, blight, mildew, locusts, or caterpillars; if an enemy besieges them in any of their cities—whatever the plague or sickness may be—
38 then whatever prayer or plea is made by any person, or by all your people Israel, when each one recognizes the affliction in his heart and spreads out his hands toward this house,
39 then hear from heaven, your dwelling place. Forgive, act, and give each person according to all his ways, for you know his heart—you alone know the hearts of all people.
40 Then they will fear you all the days they live in the land you gave our ancestors.
41 Even a foreigner who is not of your people Israel may come from a distant land because of your name.
42 For they will hear of your great name, your mighty hand, and your outstretched arm. They will come and pray toward this house.
43 Then hear in heaven, your dwelling place, and do whatever the foreigner asks of you, so that all the peoples of the earth may know your name and fear you, as your people Israel do, and may know that this house I have built bears your name.
44 If your people go out to battle against their enemy along the way you send them, and they pray to the LORD toward the city you have chosen and the house I have built for your name,”
45 “then hear their prayer and plea in heaven, and uphold their cause.
46 If they sin against you—for there is no one who does not sin—and you become angry with them and hand them over to the enemy, so that their captors carry them away to the enemy’s land, whether far away or near,
47 then if they come to their senses in the land where they were taken captive, turn back, and plead with you in the land of their captors, saying, ‘We have sinned, we have done wrong, we have acted wickedly,’
48 and if they turn back to you with all their heart and soul in the land of their enemies who took them captive, and pray to you toward their land, which you gave their ancestors, toward the city you chose, and toward the house I have built for your name,
49 then hear their prayer and plea in heaven, your dwelling place, and uphold their cause.
50 Forgive your people, who have sinned against you, all their offenses against you, and grant them compassion before their captors, so that their captors will show them compassion.
51 For they are your people and your inheritance, whom you brought out of Egypt, out of the middle of the iron furnace.
52 May your eyes be open to the plea of your servant and to the plea of your people Israel, to hear them whenever they call to you.
53 For you set them apart as your inheritance from among all the peoples of the earth, as you spoke through Moses your servant when you brought our ancestors out of Egypt, Lord GOD.”
54 When Solomon had finished offering this whole prayer and plea to the LORD, he rose from before the altar of the LORD, where he had been kneeling with his hands spread toward heaven.
55 He stood and blessed the whole assembly of Israel in a loud voice, saying:
56 “Blessed be the LORD, who has given rest to his people Israel, just as he promised. Not one word of all the good promises he spoke through his servant Moses has failed.
57 May the LORD our God be with us as he was with our ancestors. May he never leave us or abandon us.
58 May he turn our hearts toward him, so that we may walk in all his ways and keep his commands, decrees, and laws that he gave our ancestors.
59 May these words of mine, with which I pleaded before the LORD, remain near the LORD our God day and night, so that he may uphold the cause of his servant and the cause of his people Israel, day by day.
60 Then all the peoples of the earth will know that the LORD is God; there is no other.
61 May your hearts be fully devoted to the LORD our God, to walk in his decrees and keep his commands, as you do today.”
62 The king and all Israel with him offered sacrifices before the LORD.
63 Solomon offered to the LORD the fellowship offerings: 22,000 cattle and 120,000 sheep. So the king and all the Israelites dedicated the house of the LORD.
64 That day the king consecrated the middle of the courtyard in front of the house of the LORD, because he offered the burnt offering, the grain offering, and the fat of the fellowship offerings there. For the bronze altar before the LORD was too small to hold the burnt offering, the grain offering, and the fat of the fellowship offerings.
65 At that time Solomon celebrated the feast, and all Israel with him, a great assembly from Lebo-hamath to the Brook of Egypt, before the LORD our God for seven days and seven more days—fourteen days.
66 On the eighth day he sent the people away. They blessed the king and went to their tents, joyful and glad in heart for all the good the LORD had done for David his servant and for Israel his people.
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