¹⁵ Then Solomon awoke^(A)—and he realized it had been a dream.^(B)

He returned to Jerusalem, stood before the ark of the Lord’s covenant and sacrificed burnt offerings^(C) and fellowship offerings.^(D) Then he gave a feast^(E) for all his court.

⁷ The thin heads of grain swallowed up the seven healthy, full heads. Then Pharaoh woke up;^(A) it had been a dream.

⁶⁵ So Solomon observed the festival^(A) at that time, and all Israel with him—a vast assembly, people from Lebo Hamath^(B) to the Wadi of Egypt.^(C) They celebrated it before the Lord our God for seven days and seven days more, fourteen days in all.

²¹ Finally the opportune time came. On his birthday Herod gave a banquet^(A) for his high officials and military commanders and the leading men of Galilee.^(B)

The Writing on the Wall

5 King Belshazzar^(A) gave a great banquet^(B) for a thousand of his nobles^(C) and drank wine with them.

³ and in the third year of his reign he gave a banquet^(A) for all his nobles and officials. The military leaders of Persia and Media, the princes, and the nobles of the provinces were present.

²⁶ At this I awoke^(A) and looked around. My sleep had been pleasant to me.

²² Hezekiah spoke encouragingly to all the Levites, who showed good understanding of the service of the Lord. For the seven days they ate their assigned portion and offered fellowship offerings and praised^[a] the Lord, the God of their ancestors.

²³ The whole assembly then agreed to celebrate^(A) the festival seven more days; so for another seven days they celebrated joyfully. ²⁴ Hezekiah king of Judah provided^(B) a thousand bulls and seven thousand sheep and goats for the assembly, and the officials provided them with a thousand bulls and ten thousand sheep and goats. A great number of priests consecrated themselves. ²⁵ The entire assembly of Judah rejoiced, along with the priests and Levites and all who had assembled from Israel^(C), including the foreigners who had come from Israel and also those who resided in Judah. ²⁶ There was great joy in Jerusalem, for since the days of Solomon^(D) son of David king of Israel there had been nothing like this in Jerusalem.

⁷ Solomon consecrated the middle part of the courtyard in front of the temple of the Lord, and there he offered burnt offerings and the fat^(A) of the fellowship offerings, because the bronze altar he had made could not hold the burnt offerings, the grain offerings and the fat portions.

⁸ So Solomon observed the festival^(B) at that time for seven days, and all Israel^(C) with him—a vast assembly, people from Lebo Hamath^(D) to the Wadi of Egypt.^{(E) 9} On the eighth day they held an assembly, for they had celebrated^(F) the dedication of the altar for seven days and the festival^(G) for seven days more. ¹⁰ On the twenty-third day of the seventh month he sent the people to their homes, joyful and glad in heart for the good things the Lord had done for David and Solomon and for his people Israel.