1 Kings 8:40-66

English Standard Version

⁴⁰that they may fear you ^(A)all the days that they live in the land that you gave to our fathers.

⁴¹“Likewise, when a foreigner, who is not of your people Israel, comes from a far country for your name's sake ⁴²(for they shall hear of your great name ^(B)and your mighty hand, and of your outstretched arm), when he comes and prays toward this house, ⁴³hear in heaven your dwelling place and do according to all for which the foreigner calls to you, in order ^(C)that all the peoples of the earth may know your name and ^(D)fear you, as do your people Israel, and that they may know that this house that I have built is called by your name.

⁴⁴“If your people go out to battle against their enemy, by whatever way you shall send them, and they pray to the Lord ^(E)toward the city that you have chosen and the house that I have built for your name, ⁴⁵then hear in heaven their prayer and their plea, and maintain their cause.

⁴⁶“If they sin against you—^(F)for there is no one who does not sin—and you are angry with them and give them to an enemy, so that they are carried away captive ^(G)to the land of the enemy, far off or near, ⁴⁷yet ^(H)if they turn their heart in the land to which they have been carried captive, and repent and plead with you in the land of their captors, saying, ^(I)‘We have sinned and have acted perversely and wickedly,’ ⁴⁸^(J)if they repent with all their heart and with all their soul in the land of their enemies, who carried them captive, and pray to you ^(K)toward their land, which you gave to their fathers, the city that you have chosen, and the house that I have built for your name, ⁴⁹then hear in heaven your dwelling place their prayer and their plea, and maintain their cause ⁵⁰and forgive your people who have sinned against you, and all their transgressions that they have committed against you, and ^(L)grant them compassion in the sight of those who carried them captive, that they may have compassion on them ⁵¹(^(M)for they are your people, and your heritage, which you brought out of Egypt, ^(N)from the midst of the iron furnace). ⁵²^(O)Let your eyes be open to the plea of your servant and to the plea of your people Israel, giving ear to them whenever they call to you. ⁵³For you separated them from among all the peoples of the earth to be your heritage, ^(P)as you declared through Moses your servant, when you brought our fathers out of Egypt, O Lord God.”

Solomon's Benediction

⁵⁴^(Q)Now as Solomon finished offering all this prayer and plea to the Lord, he arose from before the altar of the Lord, where he had ^(R)knelt with hands outstretched toward heaven. ⁵⁵And he stood and ^(S)blessed all the assembly of Israel with a loud voice, saying, ⁵⁶“Blessed be the Lord who has given rest to his people Israel, according to all that he promised. ^(T)Not one word has failed of all his good promise, which he spoke by Moses his servant. ⁵⁷The Lord our God be with us, as he was with our fathers. ^(U)May he not leave us or forsake us, ⁵⁸that he may ^(V)incline our hearts to him, to walk in all his ways and to keep his commandments, his statutes, and his rules, which he commanded our fathers. ⁵⁹Let these words of mine, with which I have pleaded before the Lord, be near to the Lord our God day and night, and may he maintain the cause of his servant and the cause of his people Israel, as each day requires, ⁶⁰that ^(W)all the peoples of the earth may know that ^(X)the Lord is God; there is no other. ⁶¹^(Y)Let your heart therefore be wholly true to the Lord our God, walking in his statutes and keeping his commandments, as at this day.”

Solomon's Sacrifices

⁶²^(Z)Then ^(AA)the king, and all Israel with him, offered sacrifice before the Lord. ⁶³Solomon offered as peace offerings to the Lord 22,000 oxen and 120,000 sheep. So the king and all the people of Israel dedicated the house of the Lord. ⁶⁴The same day the king consecrated the middle of the court that was before the house of the Lord, for there he offered the burnt offering and the grain offering and the fat pieces of the peace offerings, because ^(AB)the bronze altar that was before the Lord was too small to receive the burnt offering and the grain offering and the fat pieces of the peace offerings.

⁶⁵So Solomon held ^(AC)the feast at that time, and all Israel with him, a great assembly, from ^(AD)Lebo-hamath to ^(AE)the Brook of Egypt, before the Lord our God, seven days.^[a] ⁶⁶On the eighth day he sent the people away, and they blessed the king and went to their homes joyful and glad of heart for all the goodness that the Lord had shown to David his servant and to Israel his people.