2 Chronicles 7
The Voice
7 As Solomon finished his prayer, fire descended from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the other sacrifices. At that moment, the glory of the Eternal filled the house.
The presence of God comes down and rests above the seat of mercy on the covenant chest with the winged guardians as His footstool.
2 The Eternal’s glory filled the temple so overwhelmingly that the priests could not enter. 3 When all the Israelites saw the fire and the Eternal’s glory, they fell prostrate before the temple, worshiping and praising the Eternal One.
Israelites: He is good! His loyal love lasts forever!
4-5 Having prayed and worshiped God, the king and all the people made sacrifices to the Eternal and dedicated the temple. King Solomon offered 22,000 oxen and 120,000 sheep.
This is an enormous offering that signifies the importance of the occasion.
6 All of Israel stood, and the priests and the Levites played their instruments to the Eternal One while other priests standing across from them played trumpets. (King David had made these instruments and used them to praise the Eternal, whose love endures forever.) 7 Solomon consecrated the middle of the court in front of the Eternal’s temple by giving burnt offerings and the fat of the peace offerings. The bronze altar was not large enough to hold the burnt offering, the grain offering, and the fat.
8 Solomon and all of Israel (from the border with Hamath in Aram to the river of Egypt) feasted for seven days, celebrating the temple dedication and Succoth, the Festival of Booths. 9 On the eighth day, after the dedication of the altar and the feasting had concluded, the people held a solemn assembly. 10 On the twenty-third day of the seventh month, Solomon sent the people home, rejoicing over the goodness that the Eternal had shown to David, Solomon, and His people Israel.
11 In this way Solomon successfully finished the Eternal’s house and the house of the king so that everything Solomon had in his heart to do for the divine and royal residences he accomplished. 12 The Eternal appeared to Solomon one night.
True God: As promised, I have chosen this temple as the place where My name will dwell and where I will receive sacrifices and prayer. I heard your prayer, and I will honor it.
13 If I close up the heavens and their rain and send any of the disasters you described—drought, locusts, pestilence—to ravish the land and people; 14 and My people (who are known by My name) humbly pray, follow My commandments, and abandon any actions or thoughts that might lead to further sinning, then I shall hear their prayers from My house in heaven, I shall forgive their sins, and I shall save their land from the disasters. 15 Now I will witness with My eyes and hear with My ears the prayers offered in this temple 16 because I have chosen and consecrated this temple as the eternal resting place for My reputation, My eyes, and My heart.
17 If you follow My ways as your father David did, do all that I ask you to do, and follow My laws and commands, 18 then I will establish your royal throne and keep My covenant with your father David: “One of your descendants will always be a king of Israel.”
Just as the Eternal makes a covenant with David, so He will not remove David’s offspring from the Jerusalem throne, as long as David’s sons follow the Lord.
19 If you and the Israelites ignore My ways and disregard My laws, if you serve other gods and worship them, 20 then I will remove you all from My land, the land I gave to you and your ancestors, and I will destroy this temple, which I have consecrated for My reputation, making it a proverb and a byword among the nations. 21 Everyone who passes by this exalted temple will be astonished: “Why has the Eternal destroyed His land and His house?” 22 They will conclude, “He has done this because they abandoned the Eternal, the God of their fathers who brought them from the land of Egypt, and they served other gods and worshiped them. He is the One who has brought this evil upon them.”
2 Chronicles 7
New King James Version
Solomon Dedicates the Temple(A)
7 When (B)Solomon had finished praying, (C)fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices; and (D)the glory of the Lord filled the [a]temple. 2 (E)And the priests could not enter the house of the Lord, because the glory of the Lord had filled the Lord’s house. 3 When all the children of Israel saw how the fire came down, and the glory of the Lord on the temple, they bowed their faces to the ground on the pavement, and worshiped and praised the Lord, saying:
4 (H)Then the king and all the people offered sacrifices before the Lord. 5 King Solomon offered a sacrifice of twenty-two thousand bulls and one hundred and twenty thousand sheep. So the king and all the people dedicated the house of God. 6 (I)And the priests attended to their services; the Levites also with instruments of the music of the Lord, which King David had made to praise the Lord, saying, “For His mercy endures forever,” whenever David offered praise by their [b]ministry. (J)The priests sounded trumpets opposite them, while all Israel stood.
7 Furthermore (K)Solomon consecrated the middle of the court that was in front of the house of the Lord; for there he offered burnt offerings and the fat of the peace offerings, because the bronze altar which Solomon had made was not able to receive the burnt offerings, the grain offerings, and the fat.
8 (L)At that time Solomon kept the feast seven days, and all Israel with him, a very great assembly (M)from the entrance of Hamath to (N)the[c] Brook of Egypt. 9 And on the eighth day they held a (O)sacred assembly, for they observed the dedication of the altar seven days, and the feast seven days. 10 (P)On the twenty-third day of the seventh month he sent the people away to their tents, joyful and glad of heart for the good that the Lord had done for David, for Solomon, and for His people Israel. 11 Thus (Q)Solomon finished the house of the Lord and the king’s house; and Solomon successfully accomplished all that came into his heart to make in the house of the Lord and in his own house.
God’s Second Appearance to Solomon(R)
12 Then the Lord (S)appeared to Solomon by night, and said to him: “I have heard your prayer, (T)and have chosen this (U)place for Myself as a house of sacrifice. 13 (V)When I shut up heaven and there is no rain, or command the locusts to devour the land, or send pestilence among My people, 14 if My people who are (W)called by My name will (X)humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, (Y)then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land. 15 Now (Z)My eyes will be open and My ears attentive to prayer made in this place. 16 For now (AA)I have chosen and [d]sanctified this house, that My name may be there forever; and [e]My eyes and [f]My heart will be there perpetually. 17 (AB)As for you, if you walk before Me as your father David walked, and do according to all that I have commanded you, and if you keep My statutes and My judgments, 18 then I will establish the throne of your kingdom, as I covenanted with David your father, saying, (AC)‘You shall not fail to have a man as ruler in Israel.’
19 (AD)“But if you turn away and forsake My statutes and My commandments which I have set before you, and go and serve other gods, and worship them, 20 (AE)then I will uproot them from My land which I have given them; and this house which I have [g]sanctified for My name I will cast out of My sight, and will make it a proverb and a (AF)byword among all peoples.
21 “And as for (AG)this [h]house, which [i]is exalted, everyone who passes by it will be (AH)astonished and say, (AI)‘Why has the Lord done thus to this land and this house?’ 22 Then they will answer, ‘Because they forsook the Lord God of their fathers, who brought them out of the land of Egypt, and embraced other gods, and worshiped them and served them; therefore He has brought all this calamity on them.’ ”
Footnotes
- 2 Chronicles 7:1 Lit. house
- 2 Chronicles 7:6 Lit. hand
- 2 Chronicles 7:8 The Shihor, 1 Chr. 13:5
- 2 Chronicles 7:16 set apart
- 2 Chronicles 7:16 My attention
- 2 Chronicles 7:16 My concern
- 2 Chronicles 7:20 set apart
- 2 Chronicles 7:21 Temple
- 2 Chronicles 7:21 Or was
The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
