Solomon’s Prayer of Dedication(A)

22 Then Solomon stood before (B)the altar of the Lord in the presence of all the assembly of Israel, and (C)spread out his hands toward heaven; 23 and he said: “Lord God of Israel, (D)there is no God in heaven above or on earth below like You, (E)who keep Your covenant and mercy with Your servants who (F)walk before You with all their hearts. 24 You have kept what You promised Your servant David my father; You have both spoken with Your mouth and fulfilled it with Your hand, as it is this day. 25 Therefore, Lord God of Israel, now keep what You promised Your servant David my father, saying, (G)‘You shall not fail to have a man sit before Me on the throne of Israel, only if your sons take heed to their way, that they walk before Me as you have walked before Me.’ 26 (H)And now I pray, O God of Israel, let Your word come true, which You have spoken to Your servant David my father.

27 “But (I)will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold, heaven and the (J)heaven of heavens cannot contain You. How much less this temple which I have built! 28 Yet regard the prayer of Your servant and his supplication, O Lord my God, and listen to the cry and the prayer which Your servant is praying before You today: 29 that Your eyes may be open toward this [a]temple night and day, toward the place of which You said, (K)‘My name shall be (L)there,’ that You may hear the prayer which Your servant makes (M)toward this place. 30 (N)And may You hear the supplication of Your servant and of Your people Israel, when they pray toward this place. Hear in heaven Your dwelling place; and when You hear, forgive.

31 “When anyone sins against his neighbor, and is forced to take (O)an oath, and comes and takes an oath before Your altar in this temple, 32 then hear in heaven, and act, and judge Your servants, (P)condemning the wicked, bringing his way on his head, and justifying the righteous by giving him according to his righteousness.

33 (Q)“When Your people Israel are defeated before an enemy because they have sinned against You, and (R)when they turn back to You and confess Your name, and pray and make supplication to You in this temple, 34 then hear in heaven, and forgive the sin of Your people Israel, and bring them back to the land which You gave to their (S)fathers.

35 (T)“When the heavens are shut up and there is no rain because they have sinned against You, when they pray toward this place and confess Your name, and turn from their sin because You afflict them, 36 then hear in heaven, and forgive the sin of Your servants, Your people Israel, that You may (U)teach them (V)the good way in which they should walk; and send rain on Your land which You have given to Your people as an inheritance.

37 (W)“When there is famine in the land, pestilence or blight or mildew, locusts or grasshoppers; when their enemy besieges them in the land of their [b]cities; whatever plague or whatever sickness there is; 38 whatever prayer, whatever supplication is made by anyone, or by all Your people Israel, when each one knows the plague of his own heart, and spreads out his hands toward this temple: 39 then hear in heaven Your dwelling place, and forgive, and act, and give to everyone according to all his ways, whose heart You know (for You alone (X)know the hearts of all the sons of men), 40 (Y)that they may fear You all the days that they live in the land which You gave to our fathers.

41 “Moreover, concerning a foreigner, who is not of Your people Israel, but has come from a far country for Your name’s sake 42 (for they will hear of Your great name and Your (Z)strong hand and Your outstretched arm), when he comes and prays toward this temple, 43 hear in heaven Your dwelling place, and do according to all for which the foreigner calls to You, (AA)that all peoples of the earth may know Your name and (AB)fear You, as do Your people Israel, and that they may know that this temple which I have built is called by Your name.

44 “When Your people go out to battle against their enemy, wherever You send them, and when they pray to the Lord toward the city which You have chosen and the temple which I have built for Your name, 45 then hear in heaven their prayer and their supplication, and maintain their [c]cause.

46 “When they sin against You (AC)(for there is no one who does not sin), and You become angry with them and deliver them to the enemy, and they take them captive (AD)to the land of the enemy, far or near; 47 (AE)yet when they [d]come to themselves in the land where they were carried captive, and repent, and make supplication to You in the land of those who took them captive, (AF)saying, ‘We have sinned and done wrong, we have committed wickedness’; 48 and when they (AG)return to You with all their heart and with all their soul in the land of their enemies who led them away captive, and (AH)pray to You toward their land which You gave to their fathers, the city which You have chosen and the temple which I have built for Your name: 49 then hear in heaven Your dwelling place their prayer and their supplication, and maintain their [e]cause, 50 and forgive Your people who have sinned against You, and all their transgressions which they have transgressed against You; and (AI)grant them compassion before those who took them captive, that they may have compassion on them 51 (for (AJ)they are Your people and Your inheritance, whom You brought out of Egypt, (AK)out of the iron furnace), 52 (AL)that Your eyes may be open to the supplication of Your servant and the supplication of Your people Israel, to listen to them whenever they call to You. 53 For You separated them from among all the peoples of the earth to be Your inheritance, (AM)as You spoke by Your servant Moses, when You brought our fathers out of Egypt, O Lord God.”

Solomon Blesses the Assembly(AN)

54 (AO)And so it was, when Solomon had finished praying all this prayer and supplication to the Lord, that he arose from before the altar of the Lord, from kneeling on his knees with his hands spread up to heaven. 55 Then he stood (AP)and blessed all the assembly of Israel with a loud voice, saying: 56 “Blessed be the Lord, who has given (AQ)rest[f] to His people Israel, according to all that He promised. (AR)There has not failed one word of all His good promise, which He promised through His servant Moses. 57 May the Lord our God be with us, as He was with our fathers. (AS)May He not leave us nor forsake us, 58 that He may (AT)incline our hearts to Himself, to walk in all His ways, and to keep His commandments and His statutes and His judgments, which He commanded our fathers. 59 And may these words of mine, with which I have made supplication before the Lord, be near the Lord our God day and night, that He may maintain the cause of His servant and the cause of His people Israel, as each day may require, 60 (AU)that all the peoples of the earth may know that (AV)the Lord is God; there is no other. 61 Let your (AW)heart therefore be [g]loyal to the Lord our God, to walk in His statutes and keep His commandments, as at this day.”

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Footnotes

  1. 1 Kings 8:29 Lit. house
  2. 1 Kings 8:37 Lit. gates
  3. 1 Kings 8:45 justice
  4. 1 Kings 8:47 Lit. bring back to their heart
  5. 1 Kings 8:49 justice
  6. 1 Kings 8:56 peace
  7. 1 Kings 8:61 Lit. at peace with

22 And Solomon stood before the altar of Jehovah in the presence of all the assembly of Israel, and spread forth his hands toward heaven; 23 and he said, O Jehovah, the God of Israel, there is no God like thee, in heaven above, or on earth beneath; who keepest covenant and lovingkindness [a]with thy servants, that walk before thee with all their heart; 24 who hast kept with thy servant David my father that which thou didst promise him: yea, thou spakest with thy mouth, and hast fulfilled it with thy hand, as it is this day. 25 Now therefore, O Jehovah, the God of Israel, keep with thy servant David my father that which thou hast promised him, saying, [b]There shall not fail thee a man in my sight to sit on the throne of Israel, if only thy children take heed to their way, to walk before me as thou hast walked before me. 26 Now therefore, O God of Israel, let thy word, I pray thee, be verified, which thou spakest unto thy servant David my father.

27 But will God in very deed dwell on the earth? behold, heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain thee; how much less this house that I have builded! 28 Yet have thou respect unto the prayer of thy servant, and to his supplication, O Jehovah my God, to hearken unto the cry and to the prayer which thy servant prayeth before thee this day; 29 that thine eyes may be open toward this house night and day, even toward the place whereof thou hast said, My name shall be there; to hearken unto the prayer which thy servant shall pray toward this place. 30 And hearken thou to the supplication of thy servant, and of thy people Israel, when they shall pray toward this place: yea, hear thou in heaven thy dwelling-place; and when thou hearest, forgive.

31 [c]If a man sin against his neighbor, and an oath be laid upon him to cause him to swear, and he come and swear before thine altar in this house; 32 then hear thou in heaven, and do, and judge thy servants, condemning the wicked, to bring his way upon his own head, and justifying the righteous, to give him according to his righteousness.

33 When thy people Israel are smitten down before the enemy, because they have sinned against thee; if they turn again to thee, and confess thy name, and pray and make supplication unto thee in this house: 34 then hear thou in heaven, and forgive the sin of thy people Israel, and bring them again unto the land which thou gavest unto their fathers.

35 When heaven is shut up, and there is no rain, because they have sinned against thee; if they pray toward this place, and confess thy name, and turn from their sin, [d]when thou [e]dost afflict them: 36 then hear thou in heaven, and forgive the sin of thy servants, and of thy people Israel, [f]when thou teachest them the good way wherein they should walk; and send rain upon thy land, which thou hast given to thy people for an inheritance.

37 If there be in the land famine, if there be pestilence, if there be blasting or mildew, locust or caterpillar; if their enemy besiege them in the land of their [g]cities; whatsoever plague, whatsoever sickness there be; 38 what prayer and supplication soever be made by any man, or by all thy people Israel, who shall know every man the plague of his own heart, and spread forth his hands toward this house: 39 then hear thou in heaven thy dwelling-place, and forgive, and do, and render unto every man according to all his ways, whose heart thou knowest; (for thou, even thou only, knowest the hearts of all the children of men;) 40 that they may fear thee all the days that they live in the land which thou gavest unto our fathers.

41 Moreover concerning the foreigner, that is not of thy people Israel, when he shall come out of a far country for thy name’s sake 42 (for they shall hear of thy great name, and of thy mighty hand, and of thine outstretched arm); when he shall come and pray toward this house; 43 hear thou in heaven thy dwelling-place, and do according to all that the foreigner calleth to thee for; that all the peoples of the earth may know thy name, to fear thee, as doth thy people Israel, and that they may know that [h]this house which I have built is called by thy name.

44 If thy people go out to battle against their enemy, by whatsoever way thou shalt send them, and they pray unto Jehovah toward the city which thou hast chosen, and toward the house which I have built for thy name; 45 then hear thou in heaven their prayer and their supplication, and maintain their [i]cause.

46 If they sin against thee (for there is no man that sinneth not), and thou be angry with them, and deliver them to the enemy, so that [j]they carry them away captive unto the land of the enemy, far off or near; 47 yet if they shall bethink themselves in the land whither they are carried captive, and turn again, and make supplication unto thee in the land of them that carried them captive, saying, We have sinned, and have done perversely, we have dealt wickedly; 48 if they return unto thee with all their heart and with all their soul in the land of their enemies, who carried them captive, and pray unto thee toward their land, which thou gavest unto their fathers, the city which thou hast chosen, and the house which I have built for thy name: 49 then hear thou their prayer and their supplication in heaven thy dwelling-place, and maintain their [k]cause; 50 and forgive thy people who have sinned against thee, and all their transgressions wherein they have transgressed against thee; and give them [l]compassion before those who carried them captive, that they may have compassion on them 51 (for they are thy people, and thine inheritance, which thou broughtest forth out of Egypt, from the midst of the furnace of iron); 52 that thine eyes may be open unto the supplication of thy servant, and unto the supplication of thy people Israel, to hearken unto them whensoever they cry unto thee. 53 For thou didst separate them from among all the peoples of the earth, to be thine inheritance, as thou spakest by Moses thy servant, when thou broughtest our fathers out of Egypt, O Lord Jehovah.

54 And it was so, that, when Solomon had made an end of praying all this prayer and supplication unto Jehovah, he arose from before the altar of Jehovah, from kneeling on his knees with his hands spread forth toward heaven. 55 And he stood, and blessed all the assembly of Israel with a loud voice, saying, 56 Blessed be Jehovah, that hath given rest unto his people Israel, according to all that he promised: there hath not [m]failed one word of all his good promise, which he promised by Moses his servant. 57 Jehovah our God be with us, as he was with our fathers: let him not leave us, nor forsake us; 58 that he may incline our hearts unto him, to walk in all his ways, and to keep his commandments, and his statutes, and his ordinances, which he commanded our fathers. 59 And let these my words, wherewith I have made supplication before Jehovah, be nigh unto Jehovah our God day and night, that he maintain the cause of his servant, and the cause of his people Israel, [n]as every day shall require; 60 that all the peoples of the earth may know that Jehovah, he is God; there is none else. 61 Let your heart therefore be perfect with Jehovah our God, to walk in his statutes, and to keep his commandments, as at this day.

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Footnotes

  1. 1 Kings 8:23 Or, for
  2. 1 Kings 8:25 Hebrew There shall not be cut off unto thee a man from my sight.
  3. 1 Kings 8:31 Or, Whereinsoever a man shall sin
  4. 1 Kings 8:35 Or, because
  5. 1 Kings 8:35 Or, answerest
  6. 1 Kings 8:36 Or, because
  7. 1 Kings 8:37 Hebrew gates.
  8. 1 Kings 8:43 Or, they name is called upon this house etc.
  9. 1 Kings 8:45 Or, right
  10. 1 Kings 8:46 Hebrew they that take them captive carry them away.
  11. 1 Kings 8:49 Or, right
  12. 1 Kings 8:50 Hebrew to be for compassion.
  13. 1 Kings 8:56 Hebrew fallen.
  14. 1 Kings 8:59 Hebrew the thing of a day in its day.