Solomon’s Benediction

⁵⁴ When Solomon finished offering this entire prayer and supplication to the Lord, he arose from before the Lord’s altar, where he had knelt down with his hands stretched toward heaven. ⁵⁵ And he stood and blessed all the assembly of Israel with a loud voice, saying,

⁵⁶ “Blessed be the Lord, who has given rest to His people Israel, in accordance with everything that He promised. Not one word has failed of all His good promise, which He spoke through Moses His servant. ⁵⁷ May the Lord our God be with us as He was with our fathers; may He not leave us nor abandon us [to our enemies], ⁵⁸ that He may guide our hearts to Himself, to walk in all His ways [following Him] and to keep His commandments, His statutes, and His precepts which He commanded our fathers. ⁵⁹ Let these words of mine, with which I have made supplication before the Lord, be near to the Lord our God day and night, so that He will maintain the cause and right of His servant and of His people Israel as each day requires, ⁶⁰ so that all the peoples of the earth may know that the Lord is God; there is no one else. ⁶¹ Therefore, your hearts are to be wholly devoted to the Lord our God, to walk in His statutes and to keep His commandments, as [you are doing] today.”

Dedicatory Sacrifices

⁶² Then the king and all [the people of] Israel with him [repeatedly] 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 Israelites dedicated the house (temple) of the Lord. ⁶⁴ On that same day the king consecrated the middle of the courtyard that was in front of the house (temple) of the Lord; for he offered there the burnt offerings, the grain offerings, and the fat of the peace offerings, because the bronze altar that was before the Lord was too small to hold [all] the burnt offerings, the grain offerings and the fat of the peace offerings.

⁶⁵ So at that time Solomon held the ^[a]feast, and all Israel with him, a great assembly, from the entrance of Hamath [on the northern border of Israel] to the ^[b]Brook of Egypt [at Israel’s southern border], before the Lord our God, for seven days and seven more days [beyond the prescribed period for the Feast of Booths], fourteen days in all. ⁶⁶ On the eighth (fifteenth) day he sent the people away and they blessed the king. Then they went to their tents joyful and in good spirits because of all the goodness which the Lord had shown to David His servant and Israel His people.

The Shekinah Glory

7 When Solomon had finished praying, fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices, and the [^[a]Shekinah] glory and brilliance of the Lord filled the house.^{(A) 2} The priests could not enter the house of the Lord because the glory and brilliance of the Lord had filled the Lord’s house. ³ When all the people of Israel saw how the fire came down and saw the glory and brilliance of the Lord upon the house, they bowed down on the stone pavement with their faces to the ground, and they worshiped and praised the Lord, saying, “For He is good, for His mercy and lovingkindness endure forever.”

Sacrifices Offered

⁴ Then the king and all the people offered a sacrifice before the Lord. ⁵ King Solomon offered a sacrifice of 22,000 oxen and 120,000 sheep. In this way the king and all the people dedicated God’s house. ⁶ The priests stood at their posts [ready for service], and the Levites also, with the musical instruments of the Lord which King David had made to praise the Lord, saying, “For His lovingkindness and mercy endure forever,” whenever David offered praise through their ministry. The priests were opposite the Levites blowing the trumpets and all Israel was standing.

⁷ Moreover, Solomon consecrated the middle of the courtyard that was in front of the house of the Lord, for it was there that he offered burnt offerings and the fat of the peace offerings because the bronze altar which he had made was not sufficient to hold the burnt offerings, the grain offerings, and the fat [all together].

The Feast of Dedication

⁸ At that time Solomon observed the feast for seven days, and all Israel with him, a very large assembly, from the entrance of Hamath to the Brook of Egypt. ⁹ On the eighth day they held a celebration, for they had observed the dedication of the altar for seven days, and the feast for seven days. ¹⁰ And on the twenty-third day of the seventh month Solomon sent the people to their tents, rejoicing and happy in heart because of the goodness that the Lord had shown to David, to Solomon, and to His people Israel.

God’s Promise and Warning

9 Now it happened when Solomon had finished building the house (temple) of the Lord and the king’s house (palace), and all else which he was pleased to do, ² that the Lord appeared to Solomon a second time, just as He had appeared to him ^[a]at Gibeon. ³ The Lord told him, “I have heard your prayer and supplication which you have made before Me; I have consecrated this house which you have built by putting My Name and My Presence there forever. My eyes and My heart shall be there perpetually. ⁴ As for you, if you walk (live your life) before Me, as David your father walked, in integrity of heart and in uprightness, acting in accordance with everything that I have commanded you, and will keep My statutes and My precepts, ⁵ then I will establish the throne of your kingdom over Israel forever, just as I promised your father David, saying, ‘You shall not be without a man (descendant) on the throne of Israel.’

⁶ “But if you or your sons turn away from following Me, and do not keep My commandments and My statutes which I have set before you, but go and serve other gods and worship them, ⁷ then I will cut off Israel from the land which I have given them, and I will cast out of My sight the house which I have consecrated for My Name and Presence. Then Israel will become a proverb (a saying) and a byword (object of ridicule) among all the peoples. ⁸ This house (temple) will become a heap of ruins; everyone who passes by will be appalled and ^[b]sneer and say, ‘Why has the Lord done such a thing to this land and to this house?’ ⁹ And they [who know] will say, ‘Because they abandoned the Lord their God, who brought their fathers out of the land of Egypt, and they have chosen other gods and have worshiped and served them; that is the reason the Lord has brought on them all this adversity.’”

God’s Promise and Warning

¹¹ And so Solomon finished the house (temple) of the Lord and the palace of the king. He successfully accomplished all that he had planned to do in the house of the Lord and in his palace.

¹² Then the Lord appeared to Solomon by night and said to him: “I have heard your prayer and have chosen this place for Myself as a house of sacrifice. ¹³ If I shut up the heavens so that no rain falls, or if I command locusts to devour the land, or if I send pestilence and plague among My people, ¹⁴ and My people, who are called by My Name, humble themselves, and pray and seek (crave, require as a necessity) My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear [them] from heaven, and forgive their sin and heal their land. ¹⁵ Now My eyes will be open and My ears attentive to prayer offered in this place. ¹⁶ For now I have chosen and sanctified and set apart for My purpose this house that My Name may be here forever, and My eyes and My heart will be here perpetually. ¹⁷ As for you [Solomon], if you will ^[a]walk before me as your father David walked, and do everything that I have commanded you, and observe My statutes and My ordinances,^{(A) 18} then I will establish your royal throne just as I covenanted with your father David, saying, ‘You will not fail to have a man as ruler in Israel.’

¹⁹ “But if you [people] turn away and abandon My statutes and My commandments which I have set before you, and you go and serve other gods and worship them, ²⁰ then I will uproot Israel from My land which I have given them; and I will cast this house, which I have consecrated for My Name, out of My sight, and will make it a proverb and an object of scorn among all nations.^{(B) 21} And as for this house, which was so exalted, everyone who passes by it will be astonished and appalled and say, ‘Why has the Lord done thus to this land and to this house?’ ²² Then people will say, ‘It is because they abandoned the Lord, the God of their fathers, who brought them out of the land of Egypt, and they adopted other gods, and worshiped them and served them; therefore He has brought all this adversity and evil on them.’”

Cities Given to Hiram

¹⁰ Now at the end of twenty years, in which Solomon had built the two houses, the temple of the Lord and the palace of the king ¹¹ (Hiram king of Tyre had supplied Solomon with as much cedar and cypress timber [from Lebanon] and gold as he desired), at that time King Solomon gave Hiram ^[a]twenty cities in the land of Galilee (northern Israel). ¹² So Hiram came from Tyre to see the cities which Solomon had given him, and they ^[b]did not please him. ¹³ He said, “What are these cities [good for] which you have given me, my brother?” So they have been called the land of Cabul (like nothing, unproductive) to this day. ¹⁴ And Hiram sent to the king 120 talents of gold.