The Dedication of the Temple^(A)

⁶² Then the king and all Israel with him offered sacrifices^(B) before the Lord.

¹⁷ They brought the ark of the Lord and set it in its place inside the tent that David had pitched for it,^(A) and David sacrificed burnt offerings^(B) and fellowship offerings before the Lord. ¹⁸ After he had finished sacrificing^(C) the burnt offerings and fellowship offerings, he blessed^(D) the people in the name of the Lord Almighty. ¹⁹ Then he gave a loaf of bread, a cake of dates and a cake of raisins^(E) to each person in the whole crowd of Israelites, both men and women.^(F) And all the people went to their homes.

¹⁶ Then the people of Israel—the priests, the Levites and the rest of the exiles—celebrated the dedication^(A) of the house of God with joy. ¹⁷ For the dedication of this house of God they offered^(B) a hundred bulls, two hundred rams, four hundred male lambs and, as a sin offering^[a] for all Israel, twelve male goats, one for each of the tribes of Israel.

⁴ Then the king and all the people offered sacrifices before the Lord. ⁵ And King Solomon offered a sacrifice of twenty-two thousand head of cattle and a hundred and twenty thousand sheep and goats. So the king and all the people dedicated the temple of God. ⁶ The priests took their positions, as did the Levites^(A) with the Lord’s musical instruments,^(B) which King David had made for praising the Lord and which were used when he gave thanks, saying, “His love endures forever.” Opposite the Levites, the priests blew their trumpets, and all the Israelites were standing.

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^(C) 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^(D) at that time for seven days, and all Israel^(E) with him—a vast assembly, people from Lebo Hamath^(F) to the Wadi of Egypt.^{(G) 9} On the eighth day they held an assembly, for they had celebrated^(H) the dedication of the altar for seven days and the festival^(I) 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.