2 Chronicles 7
International Children’s Bible
The Temple Is Given to the Lord
7 When Solomon finished praying, fire came down from the sky. It burned up the burnt offering and the sacrifices. The Lord’s glory filled the Temple. 2 The priests could not enter the Temple of the Lord because the Lord’s glory filled it. 3 All the people of Israel saw the fire come down from heaven. They also saw the Lord’s glory on the Temple. Then they bowed down on the pavement with their faces to the ground. They worshiped and thanked the Lord. They said,
“The Lord is good.
His love continues forever.”
4 Then King Solomon and all the Israelites offered sacrifices before the Lord. 5 King Solomon offered a sacrifice of 22,000 cattle and 120,000 sheep. So the king and all the people gave the Temple for the worship of God. 6 The priests stood ready to do their work. The Levites also stood with the instruments of the Lord’s music. King David had made these instruments for praising the Lord. The priests and Levites were saying, “The Lord’s love continues forever.” The priests, who stood across from the Levites, blew their trumpets. And all the Israelites were standing.
7 Solomon made the middle part of the courtyard holy for the Lord. That courtyard is in front of the Temple of the Lord. There Solomon offered burnt offerings and the fat of the fellowship offerings. He used the middle of the courtyard because the bronze altar he had made could not hold everything. It couldn’t hold the burnt offerings, grain offerings and fat.
8 Solomon and all the Israelites celebrated the festival for seven days. There were many people. They came from as far away as Lebo Hamath. And they came all the way from the brook of Egypt. 9 They had given the altar for the worship of the Lord. And they celebrated that for seven days. Then they celebrated the festival for seven days. On the eighth day they had a meeting. 10 On the twenty-third day of the seventh month Solomon sent the people home. They were full of joy. They were happy because the Lord had been so good to David, Solomon and his people the Israelites.
The Lord Appears to Solomon
11 Solomon finished the Temple of the Lord and the king’s palace. He had success in doing everything he planned in the Temple of the Lord and his own palace. 12 Then the Lord appeared to Solomon at night. The Lord said, “Solomon, I have heard your prayer. And I have chosen this place for myself to be a Temple for sacrifices.
13 “I may stop the sky from sending rain. I may command the locusts to destroy the land. I may send sicknesses to my people. 14 Then my people, who are called by my name, will be sorry for what they have done. They will pray and obey me and stop their evil ways. If they do, I will hear them from heaven. I will forgive their sin, and I will heal their land. 15 Now I will see them. And I will listen to the prayers prayed in this place. 16 I have chosen this Temple and made it holy. So I will be worshiped here forever. Yes, I will always watch over it and love it.
17 “Solomon, obey me as your father David did. Obey all I have commanded. Obey my laws and rules. 18 If you do, I will make your kingdom strong. This is the agreement I made with your father David. I told him, ‘David, someone from your family will always be king in Israel.’
19 “But you must not turn away from me. You must not stop obeying the laws and commands I gave you. You must not serve and worship other gods. 20 If you do, I will take the Israelites out of my land, the land I gave them. And I will leave this Temple that I have made holy. All the nations will make fun of it and speak evil about it. 21 This Temple is honored now. But then, everyone who passes by will be surprised. They will say, ‘Why has the Lord done this terrible thing to this land and this Temple?’ 22 Then people will answer, ‘It’s because the Israelites left the Lord, the God their ancestors obeyed. He is the God who led them out of Egypt. But they accepted other gods and worshiped and served them. That is why the Lord brought this disaster on them.’”
2 Chronicles 7
Living Bible
7 1-2 As Solomon finished praying, fire flashed down from heaven and burned up the sacrifices! And the glory of the Lord filled the Temple, so that the priests couldn’t enter! 3 All the people had been watching, and now they fell flat on the pavement and worshiped and thanked the Lord.
“How good he is!” they exclaimed. “He is always so loving and kind.”
4-5 Then the king and all the people dedicated the Temple by sacrificing burnt offerings to the Lord. King Solomon’s contribution for this purpose was 22,000 oxen and 120,000 sheep. 6 The priests were standing at their posts of duty, and the Levites were playing their thanksgiving song, “His Loving-Kindness Is Forever,” using the musical instruments King David himself had made and had used to praise the Lord. Then, when the priests blew the trumpets, all the people stood again. 7 Solomon consecrated the inner court of the Temple for use that day as a place of sacrifice because there were too many sacrifices for the bronze altar to accommodate.
8 For the next seven days they celebrated the Tabernacle Festival, with large crowds coming in from all over Israel; they arrived from as far away as Hamath at one end of the country to the brook of Egypt at the other. 9 A final religious service was held on the eighth day. 10 Then on October 7 he sent the people home, joyful and happy because the Lord had been so good to David and Solomon and to his people Israel.
11 So Solomon finished building the Temple as well as his own palace. He completed what he had planned to do.
12 One night the Lord appeared to Solomon and told him, “I have heard your prayer and have chosen this Temple as the place where I want you to sacrifice to me. 13 If I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or if I command the locust swarms to eat up all of your crops, or if I send an epidemic among you, 14 then if my people will humble themselves and pray, and search for me, and turn from their wicked ways, I will hear them from heaven and forgive their sins and heal their land. 15 I will listen, wide awake, to every prayer made in this place. 16 For I have chosen this Temple and sanctified it to be my home forever; my eyes and my heart shall always be here.
17 “As for yourself, if you follow me as your father David did, 18 then I will see to it that you and your descendants will always be the kings of Israel; 19 but if you don’t follow me, if you refuse the laws I have given you and worship idols, 20 then I will destroy my people from this land of mine that I have given them, and this Temple shall be destroyed even though I have sanctified it for myself. Instead, I will make it a public horror and disgrace. 21 Instead of its being famous, all who pass by will be incredulous.
“‘Why has the Lord done such a terrible thing to this land and to this Temple?’ they will ask.
22 “And the answer will be, ‘Because his people abandoned the Lord God of their fathers, the God who brought them out of the land of Egypt, and they worshiped other gods instead. That is why he has done all this to them.’”
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