Sukkot and Shemini Atzeret

7 Now when Solomon finished praying the fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices, and the glory of Adonai filled the House. ² The kohanim could not even enter into the House of Adonai because the glory of Adonai filled the House of Adonai. ³ When all Bnei-Yisrael saw the fire come down and the glory of Adonai above the House, they bowed down on the pavement with their faces to the ground, prostrating themselves and praising Adonai,

⁴ Then the king and all the people offered sacrifices before Adonai. ⁵ King Solomon offered a sacrifice of 22,000 cattle and 120,000 sheep. So the king and all the people dedicated the House of God. ⁶ The kohanim stood at their posts, as did the Levites with the musical instruments of Adonai that King David had made for praising Adonai—“for His mercy endures forever”—whenever David offered praise by their hand. Opposite them were the kohanim who sounded trumpets while all Israel was standing.

⁷ Moreover, Solomon consecrated the middle of the courtyard that was before the House of Adonai, because there he offered the burnt offerings and the fat of the peace offerings, since the bronze altar which Solomon had made was not able to contain the burnt offering, the grain offering and the fat. ⁸ At that time, Solomon observed the feast for seven days and all Israel with him—a very great assembly from Lebo-hamath to the Brook of Egypt.

⁹ On the eighth day they held a solemn assembly, for they had celebrated the dedication of the altar for seven days and the feast for seven days. ¹⁰ On the 23 rd day of the seventh month he sent the people away to their tents, joyful and glad of heart for the goodness that Adonai had done for David, Solomon and Israel His people.

Adonai’s Promise to Solomon

¹¹ Thus Solomon finished the House of Adonai and the king’s palace. Indeed, all that Solomon had on his heart to accomplish in the House of Adonai and in his own palace, he successfully completed.

¹² Then Adonai appeared to Solomon at night and said to him: “I have heard your prayer and have chosen this place for Myself for a House of sacrifice. ¹³ If I shut up heaven that there is no rain, or if I command the locust to devour the land, or if I send pestilence among My people, ¹⁴ when My people, over whom My Name is called, humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their evil ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land. ¹⁵ Now My eyes will be open and My ears attentive to the prayer offered in this place. ¹⁶ For now I have chosen and consecrated this House so that My Name may be there forever. My eyes and My heart shall be there perpetually.

¹⁷ “As for you, if you walk before Me as your father David walked, doing all that I have commanded you, keeping My statutes and My ordinances, ¹⁸ then I will establish your royal throne as I covenanted with your father David saying, ‘You shall not lack a man to be ruler in Israel.’ ¹⁹ But if you turn away and forsake My decrees and My mitzvot that I have set before you, and go and serve other gods and worship them, ²⁰ then I will uproot them from My land which I gave them, and this House which I have consecrated for My Name I will cast out of My sight. I will make it a proverb and a byword among all peoples. ²¹ As for this House, which is so exalted, every one passing by it shall be appalled and say, ‘Why has Adonai done this to this land and to this House?’ ²² And they will answer, ‘Because they have forsaken Adonai, the God of their fathers who brought them out of the land of Egypt, and clung to other gods, worshipping and serving them. Therefore He has brought all this misery upon them’”