1 Kings 8

1Then Solomon assembled the elders of Israel, all the heads of the tribes, the leaders of the ancestral families of the Israelites, before King Solomon in Jerusalem, to bring up the ark of the covenant of Yahweh from the City of David, which is Zion.

2All the men of Israel assembled before King Solomon at the festival in the month of Ethanim, which is the seventh month.

3When all the elders of Israel had come, the priests took up the ark.

4They brought up the ark of Yahweh, the tent of meeting, and all the holy utensils that were in the tent; the priests and the Levites brought them up.

5King Solomon and the whole congregation of Israel who had gathered to him were with him before the ark, sacrificing so many sheep and cattle that they could not be counted or numbered.

6Then the priests brought the ark of the covenant of Yahweh to its place, into the inner sanctuary of the house, the Most Holy Place, beneath the wings of the cherubim.

7For the cherubim spread their wings over the place of the ark, and the cherubim formed a covering above the ark and its poles.

8The 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.

9There was nothing in the ark except the two stone tablets that Moses had placed there at Horeb, where Yahweh 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 house of Yahweh,

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

12Then Solomon said, “Yahweh has said that he would dwell in thick darkness.

13I have indeed built you an exalted house, a place for you to dwell forever.”

14Then the king turned around and blessed the whole assembly of Israel, while the whole assembly of Israel stood.

15He said, “Blessed be Yahweh, the God of Israel, who spoke with his own mouth to my father David and with his own hand has fulfilled it. He said,

16‘Since the day I brought my people Israel out of Egypt, I have not chosen a city from any of the tribes of Israel in which to build a house so that my name might be there. But I chose David to be over my people Israel.’

17It was in the heart of my father David to build a house for the name of Yahweh, the God of Israel.

18But Yahweh said to my father David, ‘Because it was in your heart to build a house for my name, you did well to have this in your heart.

19Nevertheless, you are not the one who will build the house. Your son, who will come from your own body, is the one who will build the house for my name.’

20Now Yahweh has fulfilled the promise he made. I have succeeded my father David and sit on the throne of Israel, just as Yahweh promised, and I have built the house for the name of Yahweh, the God of Israel.

21There I have provided a place for the ark, in which is the covenant of Yahweh that he made with our ancestors when he brought them out of the land of Egypt.”

22Then Solomon stood before the altar of Yahweh in front of the whole assembly of Israel and spread out his hands toward heaven.

23He said, “Yahweh, God of Israel, there is no God like you in heaven above or on earth below, keeping covenant and steadfast love with your servants who walk before you with all their heart,

24you who have kept what you promised to your servant my father David. You spoke with your mouth, and with your hand you have fulfilled it, as it is today.

25Now, Yahweh, God of Israel, keep what you promised to your servant my father David when you said, ‘You will never lack a man before me to sit on the throne of Israel, if only your sons are careful in their way, to walk before me as you have walked before me.’

26Now, God of Israel, please let your word that you spoke to your servant my father David be confirmed.

27But will God really dwell on the earth? Look, heaven, even the highest heaven, cannot contain you. How much less this house that I have built!

28Yet turn to your servant’s prayer and his plea for mercy, Yahweh my God, and listen to the cry and the prayer that your servant is praying before you today,

29that your eyes may be open toward this house night and day, toward the place of which you said, ‘My name will be there,’ so that you may listen to the prayer your servant prays toward this place.

30Listen to the plea of your servant and of your people Israel when they pray toward this place. Listen in your dwelling place, in heaven, and when you hear, forgive.

31When someone sins against a neighbor and is required to swear an oath, and comes and swears the oath before your altar in this house,

32then listen in heaven and act. Judge your servants, condemning the guilty by bringing what they have done on their own heads, and vindicating the righteous by rewarding them according to their righteousness.

33When your people Israel are defeated before an enemy because they have sinned against you, and they turn back to you, acknowledge your name, and pray and plead with you in this house,

34then listen in heaven and forgive the sin of your people Israel, and bring them back to the land you gave to their ancestors.

35When the heavens are shut up and there is no rain because they have sinned against you, and they pray toward this place, acknowledge your name, and turn from their sin because you have afflicted them,

36then listen in heaven and forgive the sin of your servants, your people Israel, when you teach them the good way in which they should walk, and send rain on your land, which you gave to your people as an inheritance.

37When there is famine in the land, when there is plague, blight or mildew, locusts or grasshoppers, when their enemy besieges them in the land of their cities, whatever plague or whatever sickness there may be,

38whatever prayer, whatever plea for mercy is made by anyone among all your people Israel, each knowing the affliction of their own heart and spreading out their hands toward this house,

39then listen in heaven, your dwelling place, and forgive and act. Give to each person according to all their ways, since you know their heart—for you alone know the hearts of all people—

40so that they may fear you all the days they live in the land you gave to our ancestors.

41Likewise, when a foreigner who is not of your people Israel comes from a distant land because of your name—

42for they will hear of your great name, your mighty hand, and your outstretched arm—when that foreigner comes and prays toward this house,

43then listen in heaven, your dwelling place, and do all that 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.

44When your people go out to battle against their enemy, wherever you send them, and they pray to Yahweh toward the city you have chosen and the house I have built for your name,

45then listen in heaven to their prayer and their plea, 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 an enemy, and their captors carry them away captive to the enemy’s land, far away or near,

47and then they come to their senses in the land where they have been taken captive, and they repent and plead with you in the land of their captors, saying, ‘We have sinned and done wrong; we have acted wickedly,’

48and they return to you with all their heart and with all their soul in the land of their enemies who took them captive, and they pray to you toward their land, which you gave to their ancestors, the city you have chosen, and the house I have built for your name,

49then listen in heaven, your dwelling place, to their prayer and their plea, and uphold their cause.

50Forgive your people who have sinned against you, and all the offenses they have committed against you, and grant them compassion in the sight of their captors, so that their captors will have mercy on them.

51For they are your people and your inheritance, whom you brought out of Egypt, out of the middle of the iron furnace.

52May your eyes be open to your servant’s plea and to the plea of your people Israel, so that you listen to them whenever they cry out to you.

53For you set them apart from all the peoples of the earth to be your inheritance, as you declared through your servant Moses when you brought our ancestors out of Egypt, Lord Yahweh.”

54When Solomon had finished offering this entire prayer and plea to Yahweh, he rose from before the altar of Yahweh, where he had been kneeling with his hands spread out toward heaven.

55He stood and blessed the whole assembly of Israel in a loud voice:

56“Blessed be Yahweh, who has given rest to his people Israel, just as he promised. Not one word has failed of all the good promises he made through his servant Moses.

57May Yahweh our God be with us as he was with our ancestors. May he never leave us or abandon us.

58May he turn our hearts toward him, to walk in all his ways and to keep his commandments, his statutes, and his ordinances, which he commanded our ancestors.

59May these words of mine, with which I have pleaded before Yahweh, be near to Yahweh our God day and night, so that he may uphold the cause of his servant and the cause of his people Israel, as each day requires,

60so that all the peoples of the earth may know that Yahweh is God; there is no other.

61So let your hearts be wholly devoted to Yahweh our God, walking in his statutes and keeping his commandments, as you are today.”

62Then the king and all Israel with him offered sacrifices before Yahweh.

63Solomon offered as fellowship offerings to Yahweh 22,000 cattle and 120,000 sheep. So the king and all the Israelites dedicated the house of Yahweh.

64On that same day the king consecrated the middle of the courtyard that was in front of the house of Yahweh, for there he offered the burnt offerings, the grain offerings, and the fat of the fellowship offerings, because the bronze altar that was before Yahweh was too small to hold the burnt offerings, the grain offerings, and the fat of the fellowship offerings.

65So at that time Solomon held the festival, and all Israel with him, a great assembly from Lebo-hamath to the Brook of Egypt, before Yahweh our God, for seven days and seven more days, fourteen days in all.

66On the eighth day he sent the people away. They blessed the king and went to their homes, joyful and glad of heart for all the good that Yahweh had done for his servant David and for his people Israel.