Fire from Heaven

7 ^(A)As soon as Solomon finished his prayer, ^(B)fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices, ^(C)and the glory of the Lord filled the temple. ² And the priests could not enter the house of the Lord, because the glory of the Lord filled the Lord's house. ³ When all the people of Israel saw the fire come down and the glory of the Lord on the temple, they bowed down with their faces to the ground on the pavement and worshiped and gave thanks to the Lord, saying, “For he is good, ^(D)for his steadfast love endures forever.”

¹² Then the Lord appeared to Solomon in the night and said to him: “I have heard your prayer ^(A)and have chosen this place for myself as a house of sacrifice. ^13 (B)When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command the locust to devour the land, or send pestilence among my people, ¹⁴ if my people who are called by my name ^(C)humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land. ^15 (D)Now my eyes will be open and my ears attentive to the prayer that is made in this place. ^16 (E)For now I have chosen and consecrated this house that my name may be there forever. My eyes and my heart will be there for all time. ¹⁷ And as for you, if you will walk before me as David your father walked, doing according to all that I have commanded you and keeping my statutes and my rules, ¹⁸ then I will establish your royal throne, as I covenanted with David your father, saying, ^(F)‘You shall not lack a man to rule Israel.’

^19 (G)“But if you^[a] turn aside and forsake my statutes and my commandments that I have set before you, and go and serve other gods and worship them, ^20 (H)then I will pluck you^[b] up from my land that I have given you, and this house that I have consecrated for my name, I will cast out of my sight, and I will make it ^(I)a proverb and a byword among all peoples.