8:1 Then King Solomon summoned into his presence at Jerusalem the elders of Israel, all the heads of the tribes and the chiefs of the Israelite families, to bring up the ark of the LORD’S covenant from Zion, the City of David.
8:2 All the men of Israel came together to King Solomon at the time of the festival in the month of Ethanim, the seventh month.
8:3 When all the elders of Israel had arrived, the priests took up the ark,
8:4 and they brought up the ark of the LORD and the Tent of Meeting and all the sacred furnishings in it. The priests and Levites carried them up,
8:5 and King Solomon and the entire assembly of Israel that had gathered about him were before the ark, sacrificing so many sheep and cattle that they could not be recorded or counted.
8:6 The priests then brought the ark of the LORD’S covenant to its place in the inner sanctuary of the temple, the Most Holy Place, and put it beneath the wings of the cherubim.
8:7 The cherubim spread their wings over the place of the ark and overshadowed the ark and its carrying poles.
8:8 These poles were so long that their ends could be seen from the Holy Place in front of the inner sanctuary, but not from outside the Holy Place; and they are still there today.
8:9 There was nothing in the ark except the two stone tablets that Moses had placed in it at Horeb, where the LORD made a covenant with the Israelites after they came out of Egypt.
8:10 When the priests withdrew from the Holy Place, the cloud filled the temple of the LORD.
8:11 And the priests could not perform their service because of the cloud, for the glory of the LORD filled his temple.
8:12 Then Solomon said, “The LORD has said that he would dwell in a dark cloud;
8:13 I have indeed built a magnificent temple for you, a place for you to dwell forever.”
8:14 While the whole assembly of Israel was standing there, the king turned around and blessed them.
8:15 Then he said: “Praise be to the LORD, the God of Israel, who with his own hand has fulfilled what he promised with his own mouth to my father David. For he said,
8:16 ‘Since the day I brought my people Israel out of Egypt, I have not chosen a city in any tribe of Israel to have a temple built for my Name to be there, but I have chosen David to rule my people Israel.’
8:17 “My father David had it in his heart to build a temple for the Name of the LORD, the God of Israel.
8:18 But the LORD said to my father David, ‘Because it was in your heart to build a temple for my Name, you did well to have this in your heart.
8:19 Nevertheless, you are not the one to build the temple, but your son, who is your own flesh and blood–he is the one who will build the temple for my Name.’
8:20 “The LORD has kept the promise he made: I have succeeded David my father and now I sit on the throne of Israel, just as the LORD promised, and I have built the temple for the Name of the LORD, the God of Israel.
8:21 I have provided a place there for the ark, in which is the covenant of the LORD that he made with our fathers when he brought them out of Egypt.”
8:22 Then Solomon stood before the altar of the LORD in front of the whole assembly of Israel, spread out his hands toward heaven
8:23 and said: “O LORD, God of Israel, there is no God like you in heaven above or on earth below–you who keep your covenant of love with your servants who continue wholeheartedly in your way.
8:24 You have kept your promise to your servant David my father; with your mouth you have promised and with your hand you have fulfilled it–as it is today.
8:25 “Now LORD, God of Israel, keep for your servant David my father the promises you made to him when you said, ‘You shall never fail to have a man to sit before me on the throne of Israel, if only your sons are careful in all they do to walk before me as you have done.’
8:26 And now, O God of Israel, let your word that you promised your servant David my father come true.
8:27 “But will God really dwell on earth? The heavens, even the highest heaven, cannot contain you. How much less this temple I have built!
8:28 Yet give attention to your servant’s prayer and his plea for mercy, O LORD my God. Hear the cry and the prayer that your servant is praying in your presence this day.
8:29 May your eyes be open toward this temple night and day, this place of which you said, ‘My Name shall be there,’ so that you will hear the prayer your servant prays toward this place.
8:30 Hear the supplication of your servant and of your people Israel when they pray toward this place. Hear from heaven, your dwelling place, and when you hear, forgive.
8:31 “When a man wrongs his neighbor and is required to take an oath and he comes and swears the oath before your altar in this temple,
8:32 then hear from heaven and act. Judge between your servants, condemning the guilty and bringing down on his own head what he has done. Declare the innocent not guilty, and so establish his innocence.
8:33 “When your people Israel have been defeated by an enemy because they have sinned against you, and when they turn back to you and confess your name, praying and making supplication to you in this temple,
8:34 then hear from heaven and forgive the sin of your people Israel and bring them back to the land you gave to their fathers.
8:35 “When the heavens are shut up and there is no rain because your people have sinned against you, and when they pray toward this place and confess your name and turn from their sin because you have afflicted them,
8:36 then hear from heaven and forgive the sin of your servants, your people Israel. Teach them the right way to live, and send rain on the land you gave your people for an inheritance.
8:37 “When famine or plague comes to the land, or blight or mildew, locusts or grasshoppers, or when an enemy besieges them in any of their cities, whatever disaster or disease may come,
8:38 and when a prayer or plea is made by any of your people Israel–each one aware of the afflictions of his own heart, and spreading out his hands toward this temple–
8:39 then hear from heaven, your dwelling place. Forgive and act; deal with each man according to all he does, since you know his heart (for you alone know the hearts of all men),
8:40 so that they will fear you all the time they live in the land you gave our fathers.
8:41 “As for the foreigner who does not belong to your people Israel but has come from a distant land because of your name–
8:42 for men will hear of your great name and your mighty hand and your outstretched arm–when he comes and prays toward this temple,
8:43 then hear from 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 do your own people Israel, and may know that this house I have built bears your Name.
8:44 “When your people go to war against their enemies, wherever you send them, and when they pray to the LORD toward the city you have chosen and the temple I have built for your Name,
8:45 then hear from heaven their prayer and their plea, and uphold their cause.
8:46 “When they sin against you–for there is no one who does not sin–and you become angry with them and give them over to the enemy, who takes them captive to his own land, far away or near;
8:47 and if they have a change of heart in the land where they are held captive, and repent and plead with you in the land of their conquerors and say, ‘We have sinned, we have done wrong, we have acted wickedly’;
8:48 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 the land you gave their fathers, toward the city you have chosen and the temple I have built for your Name;
8:49 then from heaven, your dwelling place, hear their prayer and their plea, and uphold their cause.
8:50 And forgive your people, who have sinned against you; forgive all the offenses they have committed against you, and cause their conquerors to show them mercy;
8:51 for they are your people and your inheritance, whom you brought out of Egypt, out of that iron-smelting furnace.
8:52 “May your eyes be open to your servant’s plea and to the plea of your people Israel, and may you listen to them whenever they cry out to you.
8:53 For you singled them out from all the nations of the world to be your own inheritance, just as you declared through your servant Moses when you, O Sovereign LORD, brought our fathers out of Egypt.”
8:54 When Solomon had finished all these prayers and supplications to the LORD, he rose from before the altar of the LORD, where he had been kneeling with his hands spread out toward heaven.
8:55 He stood and blessed the whole assembly of Israel in a loud voice, saying:
8:56 “Praise be to the LORD, who has given rest to his people Israel just as he promised. Not one word has failed of all the good promises he gave through his servant Moses.
8:57 May the LORD our God be with us as he was with our fathers; may he never leave us nor forsake us.
8:58 May he turn our hearts to him, to walk in all his ways and to keep the commands, decrees and regulations he gave our fathers.
8:59 And may these words of mine, which I have prayed before the LORD, be near to the LORD our God day and night, that he may uphold the cause of his servant and the cause of his people Israel according to each day’s need,
8:60 so that all the peoples of the earth may know that the LORD is God and that there is no other.
8:61 But your hearts must be fully committed to the LORD our God, to live by his decrees and obey his commands, as at this time.”
8:62 Then the king and all Israel with him offered sacrifices before the LORD.
8:63 Solomon offered a sacrifice of fellowship offerings to the LORD: twenty-two thousand cattle and a hundred and twenty thousand sheep and goats. So the king and all the Israelites dedicated the temple of the LORD.
8:64 On that same day the king consecrated the middle part of the courtyard in front of the temple of the LORD, and there he offered burnt offerings, grain offerings and the fat of the fellowship offerings, because the bronze altar before the LORD was too small to hold the burnt offerings, the grain offerings and the fat of the fellowship offerings.
8:65 So Solomon observed the festival at that time, and all Israel with him–a vast assembly, people from Lebo Hamath to the Wadi of Egypt. They celebrated it before the LORD our God for seven days and seven days more, fourteen days in all.
8:66 On the following day he sent the people away. They blessed the king and then went home, joyful and glad in heart for all the good things the LORD had done for his servant David and his people Israel.
8:1 Then Solomon assembled the elders of Israel and all the heads of the tribes, the leaders of the fathers houses of the children of Israel, before King Solomon in Jerusalem in order to bring up the Ark of the Covenant of Jehovah from the city of David, which is Zion.
8:2 And all the men of Israel assembled themselves before King Solomon at the feast in the month of Ethanim, which is the seventh month.
8:3 And when all the elders of Israel came, the priests took up the Ark;
8:4 And they brought up the Ark of Jehovah and the Tent of Meeting and all the holy vessels that were in the tent; and the priests and Levites brought them up.
8:5 And King Solomon and all the assembly of Israel, who had assembled before him and were with him before the Ark, were sacrificing sheep and oxen which could not be counted or numbered for multitude.
8:6 And the priests brought the Ark of the Covenant of Jehovah to its place, into the innermost sanctuary of the house, into the Holy of Holies under the wings of the cherubim.
8:7 For the cherubim had their wings spread out over the place of the Ark, and the cherubim covered the Ark and its poles overhead.
8:8 And the poles extended out so that the ends of the poles could be seen from the Holy Place before the innermost sanctuary, but they were not seen outside; and they are there to this day.
8:9 There was nothing in the Ark except the two stone tablets, which Moses placed there at Horeb when Jehovah made a covenant with the children of Israel when they came out of the land of Egypt.
8:10 And when the priests came out of the Holy Place, the cloud filled the house of Jehovah;
8:11 And the priests were not able to stand and minister because of the cloud, for the glory of Jehovah filled the house of Jehovah.
8:12 Then Solomon said, Jehovah has said that He would dwell in deep darkness.
8:13 I have surely built You a lofty house, a place for You to dwell in forever.
8:14 And the king turned about and blessed all the congregation of Israel while all the congregation of Israel stood.
8:15 And he said, Blessed be Jehovah the God of Israel, who spoke with His mouth to David my father and fulfilled it with His hand, saying,
8:16 Since the day when I brought My people Israel out from Egypt, I have not chosen a city out of all the tribes of Israel to build a house for My name that it might be there; but I chose David to be over My people Israel.
8:17 And it was on David my father s heart to build a house for the name of Jehovah the God of Israel;
8:18 But Jehovah said to David my father, Because it was on your heart to build a house for My name, you have done well that it was on your heart;
8:19 However you will not build the house, but your son, who will come forth from your loins, he will build the house for My name.
8:20 And Jehovah has established His word which He spoke; for I have risen up in the place of David my father, and I sit upon the throne of Israel, as Jehovah promised, and I have built the house for the name of Jehovah the God of Israel.
8:21 And there I have set a place for the Ark, in which is the covenant of Jehovah, which He made with our fathers when He brought them out from the land of Egypt.
8:22 Then Solomon stood before the altar of Jehovah in front of all the congregation of Israel and spread his hands toward heaven.
8:23 And he said, O Jehovah, God of Israel, there is no god like You, in heaven above or on the earth below, who keeps covenant and lovingkindness with Your servants who walk before You with all their heart;
8:24 You who have kept with Your servant David my father that which You have promised him; indeed You have spoken with Your mouth and have fulfilled with Your hand this day.
8:25 And now, O Jehovah, God of Israel, keep with Your servant David my father that which You promised him, saying, There shall not fail you a man in My sight to sit upon the throne of Israel, if only your children keep their way by walking before Me as you have walked before Me.
8:26 Now therefore, O God of Israel, may Your word that You spoke to Your servant David my father be confirmed.
8:27 But will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold, the heavens and the heaven of heavens are not able to contain You; how much less this house which I have built.
8:28 Yet have regard to the prayer of Your servant and to his supplication, O Jehovah my God, and listen to the cry and to the prayer which Your servant is praying before You today;
8:29 That Your eyes may be open toward this house night and day, toward the place of which You have said, My name will be there, to listen to the prayer which Your servant will pray toward this place.
8:30 And listen to the supplication of Your servant and of Your people Israel when they pray toward this place. Hear then in Your dwelling place in the heavens; and when You hear, forgive.
8:31 If a man sins against his neighbor and is made to take an oath, and he comes and takes an oath before Your altar in this house;
8:32 Then hear in the heavens and act and judge Your servants, condemning the wicked by bringing his way on his head and justifying the righteous by giving to him according to his righteousness.
8:33 When Your people Israel are defeated before an enemy because they have sinned against You, and they turn to You and confess Your name and pray and make supplication to You in this house;
8:34 Then hear in the heavens, and forgive the sin of Your people Israel, and bring them back to the land which You gave to their fathers.
8:35 When the heavens are shut up and there is no rain because they have sinned against You, and they pray toward this place and confess Your name and turn from their sin when You afflict them;
8:36 Then hear in the heavens and forgive the sin of Your servants and of Your people Israel; indeed teach them the good way in which they should walk, and bring rain upon Your land, which You have given to Your people for an inheritance.
8:37 If there is famine in the land, if there is pestilence, if there is blight or mildew, swarming locust or consuming locust, if their enemy besieges them in the land of their cities, whatever plague, whatever sickness there is;
8:38 Whatever prayer, whatever supplication, which will be made by any man of all Your people Israel, each knowing the plague of his own heart, when he spreads out his hands toward this house;
8:39 Then hear in the heavens Your dwelling place, and forgive and act and render to each man according to all his ways, whose heart You know; for You, You alone know the hearts of all the children of men;
8:40 That they may fear You all the days that they live in the land which You have given to our fathers.
8:41 And also concerning the foreigner, who is not of Your people Israel but comes from a distant country for the sake of Your name
8:42 (For they will hear about Your great name and Your strong hand and Your outstretched arm), when he comes and prays toward this house;
8:43 Then hear in the heavens Your dwelling place, and act according to all that the foreigner calls upon You for, that all the peoples of the earth may know Your name and that they may fear You, as do Your people Israel, and that they may know that this house which I have built is called by Your name.
8:44 If Your people go out to battle against their enemy by the way which You have sent them, and they pray to Jehovah toward the city which You have chosen and the house which I have built for Your name;
8:45 Then hear their prayer and their supplication in the heavens and maintain their cause.
8:46 If they have sinned against You (for there is no man who does not sin) and You are angry with them and deliver them up to the enemy, so that they are carried away captive unto the land of the enemy, far away or nearby;
8:47 But if they take it to heart in the land where they were carried captive, and they repent and make supplication to You in the land of those who carried them away captive, saying, We have sinned and committed iniquity and acted wickedly;
8:48 And if they return to You with all their heart and with all their soul in the land of their enemies, who have carried them captive, and they pray to You toward their land that You have given to their fathers, the city that You have chosen, and the house that I have built for Your name;
8:49 Then hear their prayer and their supplication in the heavens Your dwelling place and maintain their cause,
8:50 And forgive Your people who have sinned against You and all their transgressions which they have transgressed against You, and grant them compassion in the sight of those who lead them captive, that they might have compassion on them
8:51 (For they are Your people and Your inheritance, whom You brought out from Egypt, from the midst of an iron furnace);
8:52 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 call upon You.
8:53 For You have separated them from all the peoples of the earth to be Your inheritance, as You spoke through Moses Your servant, when You brought our fathers out from Egypt, O Lord Jehovah.
8:54 And when Solomon had finished praying all this prayer and supplication to Jehovah, he rose up from before the altar of Jehovah, from kneeling on his knees with his hands spread toward the heavens.
8:55 And he stood and blessed the whole congregation of Israel with a loud voice, saying,
8:56 Blessed be Jehovah, who has given rest to His people Israel, according to all that He promised. Not one word of all His good promises which He spoke through Moses His servant has failed.
8:57 May Jehovah our God be with us, as He was with our fathers; let Him not forsake us nor abandon us,
8:58 That He may incline our hearts to Himself, to walk in all His ways and to keep His commandments and His statutes and His ordinances, which He commanded our fathers.
8:59 And let these words of mine, with which I made supplication to Jehovah, be near to Jehovah our God day and night to maintain the cause of His servant and the cause of His people Israel as each day requires;
8:60 That all the peoples of the earth may know that Jehovah is God; there is none else.
8:61 Let your heart therefore be perfect with Jehovah our God, to walk in His statutes and to keep His commandments as on this day.
8:62 And the king and all Israel with him offered sacrifices before Jehovah.
8:63 And Solomon offered a sacrifice of peace offerings, which he offered to Jehovah: twenty-two thousand oxen and one hundred and twenty thousand sheep. Thus the king and all the children of Israel dedicated the house of Jehovah.
8:64 On that day the king sanctified the middle of the court that was before the house of Jehovah, for there he offered the burnt offering and the meal offering and the fat of peace offerings because the bronze altar which was before Jehovah was too small to receive the burnt offering and the meal offering and the fat of peace offerings.
8:65 And Solomon held a feast at that time and all Israel with him, a great congregation, from the entrance of Hamath to the brook of Egypt, before Jehovah our God, seven days and seven more days, fourteen days in all.
8:66 On the eighth day he sent the people away, and they blessed the king and went to their tents joyful and happy in heart for all the goodness which Jehovah had shown to David His servant and to Israel His people.