2 Chronicles 7
Christian Standard Bible
The Dedication Ceremonies
7 When Solomon finished praying,(A) fire descended from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices,(B) and the glory of the Lord filled the temple. 2 The priests were not able to enter the Lord’s temple because the glory of the Lord filled the temple of the Lord. 3 All the Israelites were watching when the fire descended and the glory of the Lord came on the temple. They bowed down on the pavement with their faces to the ground. They worshiped and praised the Lord:
For he is good,
for his faithful love endures forever.(C)
4 The king and all the people were offering sacrifices in the Lord’s presence.(D) 5 King Solomon offered a sacrifice of twenty-two thousand cattle and one hundred twenty thousand sheep and goats. In this manner the king and all the people dedicated God’s temple. 6 The priests and the Levites were standing at their stations. The Levites had the musical instruments of the Lord, which King David had made to give thanks to the Lord—“for his faithful love endures forever”—when he offered praise with them.(E) Across from the Levites, the priests were blowing trumpets, and all the people were standing. 7 Since the bronze altar that Solomon had made(F) could not accommodate the burnt offering, the grain offering, and the fat of the fellowship offerings, Solomon first consecrated the middle of the courtyard(G) that was in front of the Lord’s temple and then offered the burnt offerings and the fat of the fellowship offerings there.(H)
8 So Solomon and all Israel with him—a very great assembly, from the entrance to Hamath[a] to the Brook of Egypt—observed the festival at that time for seven days. 9 On the eighth day[b] they held a solemn assembly,(I) for the dedication of the altar lasted seven days and the festival seven days. 10 On the twenty-third day of the seventh month he sent the people home,[c] rejoicing and with happy hearts for the goodness the Lord had done for David, for Solomon, and for his people Israel.
11 So Solomon finished the Lord’s temple and the royal palace. Everything that had entered Solomon’s heart to do for the Lord’s temple and for his own palace succeeded.(J)
The Lord’s Response
12 Then the Lord appeared to Solomon at night and said to him:
I have heard your prayer and have chosen this place for myself as a temple of sacrifice.(K) 13 If I shut the sky so there is no rain, or if I command the grasshopper to consume the land, or if I send pestilence on my people,(L) 14 and my people, who bear my name, humble themselves, pray and seek my face, and turn from their evil ways, then I will hear from heaven, forgive their sin, and heal their land.(M) 15 My eyes will now be open and my ears attentive to prayer from this place.(N) 16 And I have now chosen and consecrated this temple so that my name may be there forever; my eyes and my heart will be there at all times.(O)
17 As for you, if you walk before me as your father David walked, doing everything I have commanded you, and if you keep my statutes and ordinances, 18 I will establish your royal throne, as I promised your father David: You will never fail to have a man ruling in Israel.(P)
19 However, if you turn away and abandon my statutes and my commands that I have set before you and if you go and serve other gods and bow in worship to them,(Q) 20 then I will uproot Israel from the soil that I gave them, and this temple that I have sanctified for my name I will banish from my presence;(R) I will make it an object of scorn and ridicule among all the peoples.(S) 21 As for this temple, which was exalted, everyone who passes by will be appalled and will say,(T) “Why did the Lord do this to this land and this temple?” 22 Then they will say, “Because they abandoned the Lord God of their ancestors who brought them out of the land of Egypt. They clung to other gods and bowed in worship to them and served them. Because of this, he brought all this ruin on them.”
2 Chronicles 7
Young's Literal Translation
7 And at Solomon's finishing to pray, then the fire hath come down from the heavens, and consumeth the burnt-offering and the sacrifices, and the honour of Jehovah hath filled the house,
2 and the priests have not been able to go in unto the house of Jehovah, because the honour of Jehovah hath filled the house of Jehovah.
3 And all the sons of Israel are looking on the descending of the fire, and the honour of Jehovah on the house, and they bow -- faces to the earth -- on the pavement, and do obeisance, and give thanks to Jehovah, for good, for to the age [is] His kindness.
4 And the king and all the people are sacrificing a sacrifice before Jehovah,
5 and king Solomon sacrificeth the sacrifice of the herd, twenty and two thousand, and of the flock, a hundred and twenty thousand, and the king and all the people dedicate the house of God.
6 And the priests over their charges are standing, and the Levites with instruments of the song of Jehovah -- that David the king made, to give thanks to Jehovah, for to the age [is] His kindness, in David's praising by their hand -- and the priests are blowing trumpets over-against them, and all Israel are standing.
7 And Solomon sanctifieth the middle of the court that [is] before the house of Jehovah, for he hath made there the burnt-offerings, and the fat of the peace-offerings: for the altar of brass that Solomon made hath not been able to contain the burnt-offering, and the present, and the fat.
8 And solomon maketh the feast at that time seven days, and all Israel with him -- a very great assembly -- from the entering in of Hamath unto the brook of Egypt.
9 And they make on the eighth day a restraint, because the dedication of the altar they have made seven days, and the feast seven days.
10 And on the twenty and third day of the seventh month he hath sent the people to their tents, rejoicing, and glad in heart, for the goodness that Jehovah hath done to David, and to Solomon, and to Israel His people.
11 And Solomon finisheth the house of Jehovah, and the house of the king; and all that hath come on the heart of Solomon to do in the house of Jehovah, and in his own house, he hath caused to prosper.
12 And Jehovah appeareth unto Solomon by night, and saith to him, `I have heard thy prayer, and have fixed on this place to Me for a house of sacrifice.
13 If I restrain the heavens and there is no rain, and if I lay charge on the locust to consume the land, and if I send pestilence among My people --
14 and My people on whom My name is called be humbled, and pray, and seek My face, and turn back from their evil ways, then I -- I hear from the heavens, and forgive their sin, and heal their land.
15 `Now, Mine eyes are open, and Mine ears attentive, to the prayer of this place;
16 and now, I have chosen and sanctified this house for My name being there unto the age; yea, Mine eyes and My heart have been there all the days.
17 `And thou, if thou dost walk before Me as David thy father walked, even to do according to all that I have commanded thee, and My statutes and My judgments dost keep --
18 then I have established the throne of thy kingdom, as I covenanted with David thy father, saying, There is not cut off a man to thee -- a ruler in Israel;
19 and if ye turn back -- ye -- and have forsaken My statutes, and My commands, that I have placed before you, and have gone and served other gods, and bowed yourselves to them -- then I have plucked them from off My ground that I have given to them,
20 and this house that I have sanctified for My name, I cast from before My face, and make it for a proverb, and for a byword, among all the peoples.
21 `And this house that hath been high, to every one passing by it, is an astonishment, and he hath said, Wherefore hath Jehovah done thus to this land, and to this house?
22 and they have said, Because that they have forsaken Jehovah, God of their fathers, who brought them out from the land of Egypt, and lay hold on other gods, and bow themselves to them, and serve them, therefore He hath brought upon them all this evil.'
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