The In-Dept Study of the Bible
Kings 08
1 Then Solomon assembled the elders
of Israel with all the heads of the tribes,
the princes of the fathers’ households of
the children of Israel, to King Solomon in
Jerusalem, to bring up the ark of Yahweh’s
covenant out of David’s city, which is Zion.
2 All the men of Israel assembled themselves to King Solomon at the feast in
the month Ethanim, which is the seventh
month.
3 All the elders of Israel came, and the
priests picked up the ark.
4 They broughtup Yahweh’s ark,the Tent
of Meeting, and all the holy vessels that
were in the Tent. The priests and the
Levites brought these up.
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
or numbered for multitude.
6 The priests brought in the ark of Yahweh’s covenant to its place, into the inner
sanctuary of the house, to the most holy
place, even under the cherubim’s wings.
7 For the cherubim spread their wings
out over theplace ofthe ark, andthe cherubim covered the ark and its poles above.
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. They are there to this
day.
9 There was nothing in the ark exceptthe
two stone tablets which Moses put there
at Horeb, when Yahweh made a covenant
with the children of Israel, when they
came out of the land of Egypt.
10 It came to pass, when the priests had
come out of the holy place, that the cloud
filled Yahweh’s house,
11 so that the priests could not stand to
minister by reason of the cloud; for Yahweh’s glory filled Yahweh’s house.
12 Then Solomon said, “Yahweh has said
that he would dwell in the thick darkness.
13 I have surely built you a house of habitation, a place for you to dwell in forever.”
14 The king turned his face around and
blessed all the assembly of Israel; and all
the assembly of Israel stood.
15 He said, “Blessed is Yahweh, the God of
Israel, who spoke with his mouth to David
your father, and has with his hand fulfilled
it, saying,
16 ‘Since the day thatI brought my people
Israel out of Egypt, I chose no city out of all
the tribes ofIsraelto build a house, that my
name might be there; but I chose David to
be over my people Israel.’
17 “Now it was in the heart of David my
father to build a house for the name of
Yahweh, the God of Israel.
18 But Yahweh said to David my father,
‘Whereas it was in your heart to build a
house formyname, youdid wellthatit was
in your heart.
19 Nevertheless, you shall not build the
house; but your son who shall come out of
your body, he shall build the house for my
name.’
20 Yahweh 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 Yahweh promised, and have built
the house for the name of Yahweh, the God
of Israel.
21 There I have set a place for the ark,
in which is Yahweh’s covenant, which he
made with our fathers when he brought
them out of the land of Egypt.”
22 Solomon stood before Yahweh’s altar in the presence of all the assembly of
Israel, and spread out his hands toward
heaven;
23 and he said, “Yahweh, the God of Israel, there is no God like you, in heaven
above, or on earth beneath; who keeps
covenant and loving kindness with your
servants who walk before you with all
their heart;
24 who has kept with your servant David
my father that which you promised him.
Yes, you spoke with your mouth, and have
ful filled it with your hand, as it is today.
25 Now therefore, may Yahweh, the God
of Israel, keep with your servant David my
father that which you have promised him,
saying, ‘There shallnotfailfrom youa 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.’
26 “Now therefore, God of Israel, please
let your word be verified, which you spoke
to your servant David my father.
27 But will God in very deed dwell on the
earth? Behold, heaven and the heaven of
heavens can’t contain you; how much less
this house that I have built!
28 Yet have respect for the prayer of your
servant and for his supplication, Yahweh
my God, to listen to the cry and to the
prayer which your servant prays before
you today;
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 listento the prayer which
your servant prays toward this place.
30 Listen to the supplication of your servant, and of your people Israel, when
they pray toward this place. Yes, hear in
heaven, your dwelling place; and when
you hear, forgive.
31 “If a man sins against his neighbor,
and an oath is laid on him to cause him
to swear, and he comes and swears before
your altar in this house,
32 then hear in heaven, and act, 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.
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 supplication to you in this house,
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.
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 afflict them,
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.
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 cities, whatever
plague, whatever sickness there is,
38 whatever prayer and supplication is
made by any man, or by all your people
Israel, who shall each know the plague of
his own heart, and spread out his hands
toward this house,
39 then hear in heaven, your dwelling
place, and forgive, and act, and give to
everymanaccording to allhis ways, whose
heart you know (for you, even you only,
know the hearts of allthe children of men);
40 thatthey may fear you allthe days that
they live in the land which you gave to our
fathers.
41 “Moreover, concerning the foreigner,
who is not of your people Israel, when he
comes out of a far country for your name’s
sake
42 (for they shall hear of your great name
and of your mighty hand and of your outstretched arm), when he comes and prays
toward this house,
43 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, to fear you, as
do your people Israel, and that they may
know that this house which I have built is
called by your name.
44 “If your people go out to battle against
their enemy, by whatever way you shall
send them, and they pray to Yahweh toward the city which you have chosen, and
toward the house which I have built for
your name,
45 then hear in heaven their prayer
and their supplication, and maintain their
cause.
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 thatthey carry them away captive to the
land of the enemy, far off or near;
47 yet if they repent in the land where
they are carried captive, and turn again,
and make supplication to you in the land
of those who carried them captive, saying, ‘We have sinned and have done
perversely; we have dealt wickedly,’
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,
49 then hear their prayer and their supplication in heaven, your dwelling place,
and maintain their cause;
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
51 (for they are your people and your inheritance, which you brought out of Egypt,
from the middle of the iron furnace);
52 that your eyes may be open to the supplication of your servant and to the
supplication of your people Israel, to listen
to them whenever they cry to you.
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 Yahweh.”
54 It was so, that when Solomon had
finished praying all this prayer and supplication to Yahweh, he arose from before
Yahweh’s altar, from kneeling on his knees
with his hands spread out toward heaven.
55 He stood and blessed all the assembly
of Israel with a loud voice, saying,
56 “Blessed be Yahweh, 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.
57 May Yahweh our God be with us as he
was with our fathers. Let him not leave us
or forsake us,
58 that he may incline our hearts to him,
to walk in all his ways, and to keep his
commandments, his statutes, and his ordinances, which he commanded our fathers.
59 Let these my words, with which I have
made supplicationbefore Yahweh, benear
to Yahweh our God day and night, that he
may maintain the cause of his servant and
the cause of his people Israel, as every day
requires;
60 that all the peoples of the earth may
know that Yahweh himself is God. There
is no one else.
61 “Let your heart therefore be perfect
with Yahweh our God, to walk in his
statutes, and to keep his commandments,
as it is today.”
62 The king, and all Israel with him, offered sacrifice before Yahweh.
63 Solomon offered for the sacrifice of
peace offerings, which he offered to Yahweh, twenty two thousand head of cattle
and one hundred twenty thousand sheep.
So the king and all the children of Israel
dedicated Yahweh’s house.
64 The same day the king made the middle of the court holy that was before Yahweh’s house; for there he offered the burnt
offering, the meal offering, and the fat of
the peace offerings, because the bronze
altar that was before Yahweh was too little to receive the burnt offering, the meal
offering, and the fat of the peace offerings.
65 So Solomon held the feast at that time,
and all Israel with him, a great assembly,
from the entrance of Hamath to the brook
of Egypt, before Yahweh our God, seven
days and seven more days, even fourteen
days.
66 On the eighth day he sent the people away; and they blessed the king, and
went to their tents joyful and glad in their
hearts for all the goodness that Yahweh
had shown to David his servant, and to
Israel his people.