Solomon’s Dedication of the Temple
1At that time Solomon assembled the elders of Israel, all the tribal heads and the ancestral leaders of the Israelites before him at Jerusalem in order to bring the ark of the Lord’s covenant from the city of David, that is Zion. 2So all the men of Israel were assembled in the presence of King Solomon in the month of Ethanim, which is the seventh month, at the festival.
3All the elders of Israel came, and the priests picked up the ark. 4The priests and the Levites brought the ark of the Lord, the tent of meeting, and the holy utensils that were in the tent. 5King Solomon and the entire congregation of Israel, who had gathered around him and were with him in front of the ark, were sacrificing sheep, goats, and cattle that could not be counted or numbered, because there were so many. 6The priests brought the ark of the Lord’s covenant to its place, into the inner sanctuary of the temple, to the most holy place beneath the wings of the cherubim. 7For the cherubim were spreading their wings over the place of the ark, so that the cherubim covered the ark and its poles from above. 8The poles were so long that their ends were seen from the holy place in front of the inner sanctuary, but they were not seen from outside the sanctuary; they are still there today. 9Nothing was in the ark except the two stone tablets that Moses had put there at Horeb, where the Lord made a covenant with the Israelites when they came out of the land of Egypt.
10When the priests came out of the holy place, the cloud filled the Lord’s temple, 11and because of the cloud, the priests were not able to continue ministering, for the glory of the Lord filled the temple.
12Then Solomon said:
The Lord said that he would dwell in total darkness.
13I have indeed built an exalted temple for you,
a place for your dwelling forever.
14The king turned around and blessed the entire congregation of Israel while they were standing. 15He said:
Blessed be the Lord God of Israel!
He spoke directly to my father David,
and he has fulfilled the promise by his power.
He said,
16“Since the day I brought my people Israel out of Egypt,
I have not chosen a city to build a temple in
among any of the tribes of Israel,
so that my name would be there.
But I have chosen David to rule my people Israel.”
17My father David had his heart set
on building a temple for the name of the Lord, the God of Israel.
18But the Lord said to my father David,
“Since your heart was set on building a temple for my name,
you have done well to have this desire.
19Yet you are not the one to build it;
instead, your son, your own offspring,
will build it for my name.”
20The Lord has fulfilled what he promised.
I have taken the place of my father David,
and I sit on the throne of Israel, as the Lord promised.
I have built the temple for the name of the Lord, the God of Israel.
21I have provided a place there for the ark,
where the Lord’s covenant is
that he made with our ancestors
when he brought them out of the land of Egypt.
Solomon’s Prayer
22Then Solomon stood before the altar of the Lord in front of the entire congregation of Israel and spread out his hands toward heaven. 23He said:
Lord God of Israel,
there is no God like you
in heaven above or on earth below,
who keeps the gracious covenant
with your servants who walk before you
with all their heart.
24You have kept what you promised
to your servant, my father David.
You spoke directly to him
and you fulfilled your promise by your power
as it is today.
25Therefore, Lord God of Israel,
keep what you promised
to your servant, my father David:
You will never fail to have a man
to sit before me on the throne of Israel,
if only your sons take care to walk before me
as you have walked before me.
26Now Lord God of Israel,
please confirm what you promised
to your servant, my father David.
27But will God indeed live on earth?
Even heaven, the highest heaven, cannot contain you,
much less this temple I have built.
28Listen to your servant’s prayer and his petition,
Lord my God,
so that you may hear the cry and the prayer
that your servant prays before you today,
29so that your eyes may watch over this temple night and day,
toward the place where you said,
“My name will be there,”
and so that you may hear the prayer
that your servant prays toward this place.
30Hear the petition of your servant
and your people Israel,
which they pray toward this place.
May you hear in your dwelling place in heaven.
May you hear and forgive.
31When a man sins against his neighbor
and is forced to take an oath,
and he comes to take an oath
before your altar in this temple,
32may you hear in heaven and act.
May you judge your servants,
condemning the wicked man by bringing
what he has done on his own head
and providing justice for the righteous
by rewarding him according to his righteousness.
33When your people Israel are defeated before an enemy,
because they have sinned against you,
and they return to you and praise your name,
and they pray and plead with you
for mercy in this temple,
34may you hear in heaven
and forgive the sin of your people Israel.
May you restore them to the land
you gave their ancestors.
35When the skies are shut and there is no rain,
because they have sinned against you,
and they pray toward this place
and praise your name,
and they turn from their sins
because you are afflicting them,
36may you hear in heaven
and forgive the sin of your servants
and your people Israel,
so that you may teach them to walk on the good way.
May you send rain on your land
that you gave your people for an inheritance.
37When there is famine in the land,
when there is pestilence,
when there is blight or mildew, locust or grasshopper,
when their enemy besieges them
in the land and its cities,
when there is any plague or illness,
38every prayer or petition
that any person or that all your people Israel may have —
they each know their own affliction —
as they spread out their hands toward this temple,
39may you hear in heaven, your dwelling place,
and may you forgive, act, and give to everyone
according to all their ways, since you know each heart,
for you alone know every human heart,
40so that they may fear you
all the days they live on the land
you gave our ancestors.
41Even for the foreigner who is not of your people Israel
but has come from a distant land
because of your name —
42for they will hear of your great name,
strong hand, and outstretched arm,
and will come and pray toward this temple —
43may you hear in heaven, your dwelling place,
and do according to all the foreigner asks.
Then all peoples of earth will know your name,
to fear you as your people Israel do
and to know that this temple I have built
bears your name.
44When your people go out to fight against their enemies,
wherever you send them,
and they pray to the Lord
in the direction of the city you have chosen
and the temple I have built for your name,
45may you hear their prayer and petition in heaven
and uphold their cause.
46When they sin against you —
for there is no one who does not sin —
and you are angry with them
and hand them over to the enemy,
and their captors deport them to the enemy’s country —
whether distant or nearby —
47and when they come to their senses
in the land where they were deported
and repent and petition you in their captors’ land:
“We have sinned and done wrong;
we have been wicked,”
48and when they return to you with all their heart and all their soul
in the land of their enemies who took them captive,
and when they pray to you in the direction of their land
that you gave their ancestors,
the city you have chosen,
and the temple I have built for your name,
49may you hear in heaven, your dwelling place,
their prayer and petition and uphold their cause.
50May you forgive your people
who sinned against you
and all their rebellions against you,
and may you grant them compassion
before their captors,
so that they may treat them compassionately.
51For they are your people and your inheritance;
you brought them out of Egypt,
out of the middle of an iron furnace.
52May your eyes be open to your servant’s petition
and to the petition of your people Israel,
listening to them whenever they call to you.
53For you, Lord God, have set them apart as your inheritance
from all peoples of the earth,
as you spoke through your servant Moses
when you brought our ancestors out of Egypt.
Solomon’s Blessing
54When Solomon finished praying this entire prayer and petition to the Lord, he got up from kneeling before the altar of the Lord, with his hands spread out toward heaven, 55and he stood and blessed the whole congregation of Israel with a loud voice: 56“Blessed be the Lord! He has given rest to his people Israel according to all he has said. Not one of all the good promises he made through his servant Moses has failed. 57May the Lord our God be with us as he was with our ancestors. May he not abandon us or leave us 58so that he causes us to be devoted to him, to walk in all his ways, and to keep his commands, statutes, and ordinances, which he commanded our ancestors. 59May my words with which I have made my petition before the Lord be near the Lord our God day and night. May he uphold his servant’s cause and the cause of his people Israel, as each day requires. 60May all the peoples of the earth know that the Lord is God. There is no other! 61Be wholeheartedly devoted to the Lord our God to walk in his statutes and to keep his commands, as it is today.”
62The king and all Israel with him were offering sacrifices in the Lord’s presence. 63Solomon offered a sacrifice of fellowship offerings to the Lord: twenty-two thousand cattle and one hundred twenty thousand sheep and goats. In this manner the king and all the Israelites dedicated the Lord’s temple.
64On the same day, the king consecrated the middle of the courtyard that was in front of the Lord’s temple because that was where he offered the burnt offering, the grain offering, and the fat of the fellowship offerings, since the bronze altar before the Lord was too small to accommodate the burnt offerings, the grain offerings, and the fat of the fellowship offerings.
65Solomon and all Israel with him — a great assembly, from the entrance of Hamath to the Brook of Egypt — observed the festival at that time in the presence of the Lord our God, seven days, and seven more days — fourteen days. 66On the fifteenth day he sent the people away. So they blessed the king and went to their homes rejoicing and with happy hearts for all the goodness that the Lord had done for his servant David and for his people Israel.