The Ark Brought into the Temple

8 ^(A)Then Solomon assembled the elders of Israel and all the heads of the tribes, ^(B)the leaders of the fathers' houses of the people of Israel, before King Solomon in Jerusalem, ^(C)to bring up the ark of the covenant of the Lord out of ^(D)the city of David, which is Zion. ² And all the men of Israel assembled to King Solomon at ^(E)the feast in the month Ethanim, which is the seventh month. ³ And all the elders of Israel came, and ^(F)the priests took up the ark. ⁴ And they brought up the ark of the Lord, ^(G)the tent of meeting, and all the holy vessels that were in the tent; the priests and the Levites brought them up. ⁵ And King Solomon and all the congregation of Israel, who had assembled before him, were with him before the ark, ^(H)sacrificing so many sheep and oxen that they could not be counted or numbered. ^6 (I)Then the priests brought the ark of the covenant of the Lord ^(J)to its place in ^(K)the inner sanctuary of the house, in the Most Holy Place, underneath the wings of the cherubim. ⁷ For the cherubim spread out their wings over the place of the ark, so that the cherubim overshadowed the ark and its poles. ^8 (L)And the poles were so long that the ends of the poles were seen from the Holy Place before ^(M)the inner sanctuary; but they could not be seen from outside. And they are there to this day. ⁹ There was nothing in the ark except ^(N)the two tablets of stone that Moses put there at Horeb, where ^(O)the Lord made a covenant with the people of Israel, when they came out of the land of Egypt. ¹⁰ And when the priests came out of the Holy Place, ^(P)a cloud filled the house of the Lord, ¹¹ so that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud, for the glory of the Lord filled the house of the Lord.

Solomon Blesses the Lord

^12 (Q)Then Solomon said, “The Lord^[a] has said that he would dwell ^(R)in thick darkness. ^13 (S)I have indeed built you an exalted house, ^(T)a place for you to dwell in forever.” ¹⁴ Then the king turned around and ^(U)blessed all the assembly of Israel, while all the assembly of Israel stood. ¹⁵ And he said, ^(V)“Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, who with his hand has fulfilled ^(W)what he promised with his mouth to David my father, saying, ^16 (X)‘Since the day that I brought my people Israel out of Egypt, I chose no city out of all the tribes of Israel in which to build a house, ^(Y)that my name might be there. ^(Z)But I chose David to be over my people Israel.’ ^17 (AA)Now it was in the heart of David my father to build a house for the name of the Lord, the God of Israel. ¹⁸ But the Lord said to David my father, ‘Whereas it was in your heart to build a house for my name, you did well that it was in your heart. ^19 (AB)Nevertheless, you shall not build the house, but your son who shall be born to you shall build the house for my name.’ ²⁰ Now the Lord has fulfilled his promise that he made. For I have risen in the place of David my father, and sit on the throne of Israel, ^(AC)as the Lord promised, and I have built the house for the name of the Lord, the God of Israel. ²¹ And there I have provided a place for the ark, ^(AD)in which is the covenant of the Lord that he made with our fathers, when he brought them out of the land of Egypt.”

Solomon's Prayer of Dedication

²² Then Solomon ^(AE)stood before the altar of the Lord in the presence of all the assembly of Israel and ^(AF)spread out his hands toward heaven, ²³ and said, “O Lord, God of Israel, ^(AG)there is no God like you, in heaven above or on earth beneath, ^(AH)keeping covenant and showing steadfast love to your servants who walk before you with all their heart; ²⁴ you have kept with your servant David my father what you declared to him. ^(AI)You spoke with your mouth, and with your hand have fulfilled it this day. ²⁵ Now therefore, O Lord, God of Israel, keep for your servant David my father what you have promised him, saying, ^(AJ)‘You shall not lack a man to sit before me on the throne of Israel, if only your sons pay close attention to their way, to walk before me as you have walked before me.’ ^26 (AK)Now therefore, O God of Israel, let your word be confirmed, which you have spoken to your servant David my father.

²⁷ “But will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold, ^(AL)heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain you; how much less this house that I have built! ²⁸ Yet have regard to the prayer of your servant and to his plea, O Lord my God, listening to the cry and to the prayer that your servant prays before you this day, ^29 (AM)that your eyes may be open night and day toward this house, the place of which you have said, ^(AN)‘My name shall be there,’ that you may listen to the prayer that your servant offers toward this place. ³⁰ And listen to the plea of your servant and of your people Israel, when they pray toward this place. And listen in heaven your dwelling place, and when you hear, forgive.

³¹ “If a man sins against his neighbor and is made to take ^(AO)an oath and comes and swears his oath before your altar in this house, ³² then hear in heaven and act and judge your servants, ^(AP)condemning the guilty by bringing his conduct on his own head, and vindicating the righteous by rewarding him according to his righteousness.

^33 (AQ)“When your people Israel are defeated before the enemy because they have sinned against you, and ^(AR)if they turn again to you and acknowledge your name and pray and plead with you in this house, ³⁴ then hear in heaven and forgive the sin of your people Israel and bring them again to the land that you gave to their fathers.

^35 (AS)“When heaven is shut up and there is no rain because they have sinned against you, if they pray toward this place and acknowledge your name and turn from their sin, when you afflict them, ³⁶ then hear in heaven and forgive the sin of your servants, your people Israel, when ^(AT)you teach them ^(AU)the good way in which they should walk, and grant rain upon your land, which you have given to your people as an inheritance.

^37 (AV)“If there is famine in the land, if there is pestilence or blight or mildew or locust or caterpillar, if their enemy besieges them in the land at their gates,^[b] whatever plague, whatever sickness there is, ³⁸ whatever prayer, whatever plea is made by any man or by all your people Israel, each knowing the affliction of his own heart and stretching out his hands toward this house, ³⁹ then hear in heaven your dwelling place and forgive and act and render to each whose heart you know, according to all his ways (^(AW)for you, you only, know the hearts of all the children of mankind), ⁴⁰ that they may fear you ^(AX)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 ^(AY)and your mighty hand, and of your outstretched arm), when he comes and prays toward this house, ⁴³ hear in heaven your dwelling place and do according to all for which the foreigner calls to you, in order ^(AZ)that all the peoples of the earth may know your name and ^(BA)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 ^(BB)toward the city that you have chosen and the house that I have built for your name, ⁴⁵ then hear in heaven their prayer and their plea, and maintain their cause.

⁴⁶ “If they sin against you—^(BC)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 ^(BD)to the land of the enemy, far off or near, ⁴⁷ yet ^(BE)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, ^(BF)‘We have sinned and have acted perversely and wickedly,’ ^48 (BG)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 ^(BH)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, ⁴⁹ then hear in heaven your dwelling place their prayer and their plea, and maintain their cause ⁵⁰ and forgive your people who have sinned against you, and all their transgressions that they have committed against you, and ^(BI)grant them compassion in the sight of those who carried them captive, that they may have compassion on them ⁵¹ (^(BJ)for they are your people, and your heritage, which you brought out of Egypt, ^(BK)from the midst of the iron furnace). ^52 (BL)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. ⁵³ For you separated them from among all the peoples of the earth to be your heritage, ^(BM)as you declared through Moses your servant, when you brought our fathers out of Egypt, O Lord God.”

Solomon's Benediction

^54 (BN)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 ^(BO)knelt with hands outstretched toward heaven. ⁵⁵ And he stood and ^(BP)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. ^(BQ)Not one word has failed of all his good promise, which he spoke by Moses his servant. ⁵⁷ The Lord our God be with us, as he was with our fathers. ^(BR)May he not leave us or forsake us, ⁵⁸ that he may ^(BS)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. ⁵⁹ Let 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, ⁶⁰ that ^(BT)all the peoples of the earth may know that ^(BU)the Lord is God; there is no other. ^61 (BV)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 (BW)Then ^(BX)the king, and all Israel with him, offered sacrifice before the Lord. ⁶³ Solomon 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. ⁶⁴ The 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 ^(BY)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.

⁶⁵ So Solomon held ^(BZ)the feast at that time, and all Israel with him, a great assembly, from ^(CA)Lebo-hamath to ^(CB)the Brook of Egypt, before the Lord our God, seven days.^{[c] 66} On 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.

The Remnant of Israel

11 I ask, then, ^(A)has God rejected his people? By no means! For ^(B)I myself am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham,^[a] a member of the tribe of Benjamin. ^2 (C)God has not rejected his people whom he ^(D)foreknew. Do you not know what the Scripture says of Elijah, how he appeals to God against Israel? ^3 (E)“Lord, they have killed your prophets, they have demolished your altars, and I alone am left, and they seek my life.” ⁴ But what is God's reply to him? ^(F)“I have kept for myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal.” ⁵ So too at the present time there is ^(G)a remnant, chosen by grace. ^6 (H)But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works; otherwise grace would no longer be grace.

⁷ What then? ^(I)Israel failed to obtain what it was seeking. The elect obtained it, but the rest ^(J)were hardened, ⁸ as it is written,

⁹ And David says,

Gentiles Grafted In

¹¹ So I ask, did they stumble in order that they might fall? By no means! Rather, through their trespass ^(N)salvation has come to the Gentiles, so as to make Israel jealous. ¹² Now if their trespass means riches for the world, and if their failure means riches for the Gentiles, how much more will their full inclusion^[b] mean!

¹³ Now I am speaking to you Gentiles. Inasmuch then as ^(O)I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I magnify my ministry ¹⁴ in order somehow to make my fellow Jews jealous, and ^(P)thus save some of them. ¹⁵ For if their rejection means ^(Q)the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance mean but life from the dead? ^16 (R)If the dough offered as firstfruits is holy, so is the whole lump, and if the root is holy, so are the branches.

¹⁷ But if ^(S)some of the branches were broken off, and you, ^(T)although a wild olive shoot, were grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing root^[c] of the olive tree, ¹⁸ do not be arrogant toward the branches. If you are, remember it is not you who support the root, but the root that supports you. ¹⁹ Then you will say, “Branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in.” ²⁰ That is true. They were broken off because of their unbelief, but you ^(U)stand fast through faith. So ^(V)do not become proud, but ^(W)fear. ²¹ For if God did not spare the natural branches, neither will he spare you. ²² Note then the kindness and the severity of God: severity toward those who have fallen, but God's kindness to you, ^(X)provided you continue in his kindness. Otherwise ^(Y)you too will be cut off. ²³ And ^(Z)even they, if they do not continue in their unbelief, will be grafted in, for God has the power to graft them in again. ²⁴ For if you were cut from what is by nature a wild olive tree, and grafted, contrary to nature, into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these, the natural branches, be grafted back into their own olive tree.

The Mystery of Israel's Salvation

^25 (AA)Lest you be wise in your own sight, I do not want you to be unaware of this mystery, brothers:^{[d] (AB)}a partial hardening has come upon Israel, ^(AC)until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. ²⁶ And in this way all Israel will be saved, as it is written,

²⁸ As regards the gospel, they are enemies for your sake. But as regards election, they are ^(AH)beloved for the sake of their forefathers. ²⁹ For the gifts and ^(AI)the calling of God are irrevocable. ³⁰ For just as ^(AJ)you were at one time disobedient to God but now have received mercy because of their disobedience, ³¹ so they too have now been disobedient in order that by the mercy shown to you they also may now^[e] receive mercy. ³² For God ^(AK)has consigned all to disobedience, that he may have mercy on all.

³³ Oh, the depth of the riches and ^(AL)wisdom and knowledge of God! ^(AM)How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!

³⁶ For ^(AQ)from him and through him and to him are all things. ^(AR)To him be glory forever. Amen.