1 Kings 8:54-9:9

English Standard Version Anglicised

Solomon's Benediction

^54 (A)Now as Solomon finished offering all this prayer and plea to the Lord, he arose from before the altar of the Lord, where he had ^(B)knelt with hands outstretched towards heaven. ⁵⁵ And he stood and ^(C)blessed all the assembly of Israel with a loud voice, saying, ⁵⁶ “Blessed be the Lord who has given rest to his people Israel, according to all that he promised. ^(D)Not one word has failed of all his good promise, which he spoke by Moses his servant. ⁵⁷ The Lord our God be with us, as he was with our fathers. ^(E)May he not leave us or forsake us, ⁵⁸ that he may ^(F)incline our hearts to him, to walk in all his ways and to keep his commandments, his statutes, and his rules, which he commanded our fathers. ⁵⁹ Let these words of mine, with which I have pleaded before the Lord, be near to the Lord our God day and night, and may he maintain the cause of his servant and the cause of his people Israel, as each day requires, ⁶⁰ that ^(G)all the peoples of the earth may know that ^(H)the Lord is God; there is no other. ^61 (I)Let your heart therefore be wholly true to the Lord our God, walking in his statutes and keeping his commandments, as at this day.”

Solomon's Sacrifices

^62 (J)Then ^(K)the king, and all Israel with him, offered sacrifice before the Lord. ⁶³ Solomon offered as peace offerings to the Lord 22,000 oxen and 120,000 sheep. So the king and all the people of Israel dedicated the house of the Lord. ⁶⁴ The same day the king consecrated the middle of the court that was before the house of the Lord, for there he offered the burnt offering and the grain offering and the fat pieces of the peace offerings, because ^(L)the bronze altar that was before the Lord was too small to receive the burnt offering and the grain offering and the fat pieces of the peace offerings.

⁶⁵ So Solomon held ^(M)the feast at that time, and all Israel with him, a great assembly, from ^(N)Lebo-hamath to ^(O)the Brook of Egypt, before the Lord our God, seven days.^{[a] 66} On the eighth day he sent the people away, and they blessed the king and went to their homes joyful and glad of heart for all the goodness that the Lord had shown to David his servant and to Israel his people.

The Lord Appears to Solomon

9 ^(P)As soon as Solomon had finished building the house of the Lord ^(Q)and the king's house and ^(R)all that Solomon desired to build, ^2 (S)the Lord appeared to Solomon a second time, as he had appeared to him at Gibeon. ³ And the Lord said to him, “I have heard your prayer and your plea, which you have made before me. I have consecrated this house that you have built, ^(T)by putting my name there for ever. ^(U)My eyes and my heart will be there for all time. ⁴ And as for you, if you will ^(V)walk before me, ^(W)as David your father walked, with integrity of heart and uprightness, doing according to all that I have commanded you, and keeping my statutes and my rules, ^5 (X)then I will establish your royal throne over Israel for ever, as I promised David your father, saying, ‘You shall not lack a man on the throne of Israel.’ ^6 (Y)But if you turn aside from following me, you or your children, and do not keep my commandments and my statutes that I have set before you, but go and serve other gods and worship them, ^7 (Z)then I will cut off Israel from the land that I have given them, ^(AA)and the house that I have consecrated for my name I will cast out of my sight, ^(AB)and Israel will become a proverb and a byword among all peoples. ⁸ And this house will become a heap of ruins.^[b] Everyone passing by it will be astonished and will hiss, and they will say, ^(AC)‘Why has the Lord done thus to this land and to this house?’ ⁹ Then they will say, ‘Because ^(AD)they abandoned the Lord their God who brought their fathers out of the land of Egypt and laid hold on other gods and worshipped them and served them. Therefore the Lord has brought all this disaster on them.’”