Solomon’s Dedication

6 ^(A)Then Solomon said,

³ Then the king ^[a]faced about and blessed all the assembly of Israel, while all the assembly of Israel was standing. ⁴ He said, “Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, who spoke with His mouth to my father David and has fulfilled it with His hands, saying, ⁵ ‘Since the day that I brought My people from the land of Egypt, I did not choose a city out of all the tribes of Israel in which to build a house that My name might be there, nor did I choose any man for a leader over My people Israel; ⁶ but ^(B)I have chosen Jerusalem that My name might be there, and I ^(C)have chosen David to be over My people Israel.’ ^7 (D)Now it was ^[b]in the heart of my father David to build a house for the name of the Lord, the God of Israel. ⁸ But the Lord said to my father David, ‘Because it was ^[c]in your heart to build a house for My name, you did well that it was ^[d]in your heart. ⁹ Nevertheless you shall not build the house, but your son who ^[e]will be born to you, he shall build the house for My name.’ ¹⁰ Now the Lord has fulfilled His word which He spoke; for I have risen in the place of my father David and sit on the throne of Israel, as the Lord ^[f]promised, and have built the house for the name of the Lord, the God of Israel. ¹¹ There I have set the ark ^(E)in which is the covenant of the Lord, which He made with the sons of Israel.”

Solomon’s Prayer of Dedication

¹² Then he stood before the altar of the Lord in the presence of all the assembly of Israel and spread out his hands. ^13 (F)Now Solomon had made a bronze platform, five cubits long, five cubits wide and three cubits high, and had set it in the midst of the court; and he stood on it, ^(G)knelt on his knees in the presence of all the assembly of Israel and spread out his hands toward heaven. ¹⁴ He said, “O Lord, the God of Israel, ^(H)there is no god like You in heaven or on earth, ^(I)keeping covenant and showing lovingkindness to Your servants who walk before You with all their heart; ^15 (J)who has kept with Your servant David, my father, that which You have ^[g]promised him; indeed You have spoken with Your mouth and have fulfilled it with Your hand, as it is this day. ¹⁶ Now therefore, O Lord, the God of Israel, keep with Your servant David, my father, that which You have ^[h]promised him, saying, ‘^[i](K)You shall not lack a man to sit on the throne of Israel, if only your sons take heed to their way, to walk in My law as you have walked before Me.’ ¹⁷ Now therefore, O Lord, the God of Israel, let Your word be confirmed which You have spoken to Your servant David.

¹⁸ “But ^(L)will God indeed dwell with mankind on the earth? Behold, ^(M)heaven and the ^[j]highest heaven cannot contain You; how much less this house which I have built. ¹⁹ Yet have regard to the prayer of Your servant and to his supplication, O Lord my God, to listen to the cry and to the prayer which Your servant prays before You; ²⁰ that Your ^(N)eye may be open toward this house day and night, toward ^(O)the place of which You have said that You would put Your name there, to listen to the prayer which Your servant shall pray toward this place. ²¹ Listen to the supplications of Your servant and of Your people Israel when they pray toward this place; hear from Your dwelling place, from heaven; ^(P)hear and forgive.

²² “If a man sins against his neighbor and is made to take an oath, and he comes and takes an oath before Your altar in this house, ²³ then hear from heaven and act and judge Your servants, ^[k](Q)punishing the wicked by bringing his way on his own head and justifying the righteous by giving him according to his righteousness.

²⁴ “If Your people Israel ^[l]are defeated before an enemy because ^(R)they have sinned against You, and they return to You and confess Your name, and pray and make supplication before You in this house, ²⁵ then hear from heaven and forgive the sin of Your people Israel, and bring them back to the land which You have given to them and to their fathers.

²⁶ “When the ^(S)heavens are shut up and there is no rain because they have sinned against You, and they pray toward this place and confess Your name, and turn from their sin when You afflict them; ²⁷ then hear in heaven and forgive the sin of Your servants and Your people Israel, indeed, ^(T)teach them the good way in which they should walk. And send rain on Your land which You have given to Your people for an inheritance.

²⁸ “If there is ^(U)famine in the land, if there is pestilence, if there is blight or mildew, if there is locust or grasshopper, if their enemies besiege them in the land of their ^[m]cities, whatever plague or whatever sickness there is, ²⁹ whatever prayer or supplication is made by any man or by all Your people Israel, ^[n]each knowing his own affliction and his own pain, and spreading his hands toward this house, ³⁰ then hear from heaven Your dwelling place, and forgive, and render to each according to all his ways, whose heart You know ^(V)for You alone know the hearts of the sons of men, ³¹ that they may ^[o]fear You, to walk in Your ways ^[p]as long as they live in the land which You have given to our fathers.

³² “Also concerning ^(W)the foreigner who is not from Your people Israel, when he comes from a far country for Your great name’s sake and Your mighty hand and Your outstretched arm, when they come and pray toward this house, ³³ then hear from heaven, from Your dwelling place, and do according to all for which the foreigner calls to You, in order that all the peoples of the earth may know Your name, and ^[q]fear You as do Your people Israel, and that they may know that ^[r]this house which I have built is ^(X)called by Your name.

³⁴ “When Your people go out to battle against their enemies, by whatever way You shall send them, and they pray to You toward this city which You have chosen and the house which I have built for Your name, ³⁵ then hear from heaven their prayer and their supplication, and maintain their cause.

³⁶ “When they sin against You (^(Y)for there is no man who does not sin) and You are angry with them and deliver them to an enemy, so that ^[s]they take them away captive to a land far off or near, ³⁷ if they ^[t]take thought in the land where they are taken captive, and repent and make supplication to You in the land of their captivity, saying, ‘We have sinned, we have committed iniquity and have acted wickedly’; ^38 (Z)if they return to You with all their heart and with all their soul in the land of their captivity, where they have been taken captive, and pray toward their land which You have given to their fathers and the city which You have chosen, and toward the house which I have built for Your name, ³⁹ then hear from heaven, from Your dwelling place, their prayer and supplications, and maintain their cause and forgive Your people who have sinned against You.

⁴⁰ “Now, O my God, I pray, ^(AA)let Your eyes be open and ^(AB)Your ears attentive to the prayer offered in this place.

⁴¹ “^(AC)Now therefore arise, O Lord God, to Your resting place, You and the ark of Your might; let Your priests, O Lord God, be clothed with salvation and let Your godly ones rejoice in what is good.

⁴² “O Lord God, do not turn away the face of Your anointed; ^(AD)remember Your lovingkindness to Your servant David.”

The Shekinah Glory

7 ^(AE)Now when Solomon had finished praying, ^(AF)fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices, and the glory of the Lord filled the house. ^2 (AG)The priests could not enter into the house of the Lord because the glory of the Lord filled the Lord’s house. ³ All the sons of Israel, seeing the fire come down and the glory of the Lord upon the house, bowed down on the pavement with their faces to the ground, and they worshiped and gave praise to the Lord, saying, “^(AH)Truly He is good, truly His lovingkindness is everlasting.”

Sacrifices Offered

^4 (AI)Then the king and all the people offered sacrifice before the Lord. ⁵ King Solomon offered a sacrifice of 22,000 oxen and 120,000 sheep. Thus the king and all the people dedicated the house of God. ⁶ The priests stood at their posts, and ^(AJ)the Levites also, with the instruments of music to the Lord, which King David had made for giving praise to the Lord—“for His lovingkindness is everlasting”—whenever ^[u]he gave praise by their ^[v]means, while ^(AK)the priests on the other side blew trumpets; and all Israel was standing.

^7 (AL)Then Solomon consecrated the middle of the court that was before the house of the Lord, for there he offered the burnt offerings and the fat of the peace offerings because the bronze altar which Solomon had made was not able to contain the burnt offering, the grain offering and the fat.

The Feast of Dedication

⁸ So ^(AM)Solomon observed the feast at that time for seven days, and all Israel with him, a very great assembly who came from the entrance of Hamath to the ^(AN)brook of Egypt. ⁹ On the eighth day they held ^(AO)a solemn assembly, for the dedication of the altar they observed seven days and the feast seven days. ¹⁰ Then on the twenty-third day of the seventh month he sent the people to their tents, rejoicing and happy of heart because of the goodness that the Lord had shown to David and to Solomon and to His people Israel.

God’s Promise and Warning

^11 (AP)Thus Solomon finished the house of the Lord and the king’s palace, and successfully completed all that ^[w]he had planned on doing in the house of the Lord and in his palace.

¹² Then the Lord appeared to Solomon at night and said to him, “I have heard your prayer and ^(AQ)have chosen this place for Myself as a house of sacrifice. ^13 (AR)If I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or if I command the locust to devour the land, or if I send pestilence among My people, ^14 (AS)and My people ^[x]who are called by My name humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin and will heal their land. ^15 (AT)Now My eyes will be open and My ears attentive to the ^[y]prayer offered in this place. ¹⁶ For ^(AU)now I have chosen and consecrated this house that My name may be there forever, and My eyes and My heart will be there perpetually. ¹⁷ As for you, if you walk before Me as your father David walked, even to do according to all that I have commanded you, and will keep My statutes and My ordinances, ¹⁸ then I will establish your royal throne as I covenanted with your father David, saying, ‘^[z](AV)You shall not lack a man to be ruler in Israel.’

¹⁹ “^(AW)But if you turn away and forsake My statutes and My commandments which I have set before you, and go and serve other gods and worship them, ^20 (AX)then I will uproot you from My land which I have given ^[aa]you, and this house which I have consecrated for My name I will cast out of My sight and I will make it ^(AY)a proverb and a byword among all peoples. ²¹ As for this house, which was exalted, everyone who passes by it will be astonished and say, ‘^(AZ)Why has the Lord done thus to this land and to this house?’ ²² And they will say, ‘Because ^(BA)they forsook the Lord, the God of their fathers who brought them from the land of Egypt, and they adopted other gods and worshiped them and served them; therefore He has brought all this adversity on them.’”

Solomon’s Activities and Accomplishments

8 ^(BB)Now it came about at the end of the twenty years in which Solomon had built the house of the Lord and his own house ² that he built the cities which Huram had given to ^[ab]him, and settled the sons of Israel there.

³ Then Solomon went to Hamath-zobah and captured it. ⁴ He built Tadmor in the wilderness and all the storage cities which he had built in Hamath. ⁵ He also built upper ^(BC)Beth-horon and lower Beth-horon, ^(BD)fortified cities with walls, gates and bars; ⁶ and Baalath and all the storage cities that Solomon had, and all the cities for ^[ac]his chariots and cities for ^[ad]his horsemen, and all that it pleased Solomon to build in Jerusalem, in Lebanon, and in all the land ^[ae]under his rule.

^7 (BE)All of the people who were left of the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites and the Jebusites, who were not of Israel, ⁸ namely, from their descendants who were left after them in the land whom the sons of Israel had not destroyed, ^(BF)them Solomon raised as forced laborers to this day. ⁹ But Solomon did not make slaves for his work from the sons of Israel; they were men of war, his chief captains and commanders of his chariots and his horsemen. ¹⁰ These were the chief ^[af]officers of King Solomon, two hundred and fifty who ruled over the people.

^11 (BG)Then Solomon brought Pharaoh’s daughter up from the city of David to the house which he had built for her, for he said, “My wife shall not dwell in the house of David king of Israel, because ^[ag]the places are holy where the ark of the Lord has entered.”

¹² Then Solomon offered burnt offerings to the Lord on ^(BH)the altar of the Lord which he had built before the porch; ¹³ and ^(BI)did so according to the daily rule, offering them up ^(BJ)according to the commandment of Moses, for ^(BK)the sabbaths, ^(BL)the new moons and the ^(BM)three annual feasts—the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the Feast of Weeks and the Feast of Booths.

¹⁴ Now according to the ordinance of his father David, he appointed ^(BN)the divisions of the priests for their service, and ^(BO)the Levites for their duties of praise and ministering before the priests according to the daily rule, and ^(BP)the gatekeepers by their divisions at every gate; for ^(BQ)David the man of God had so commanded. ¹⁵ And they did not depart from the commandment of the king to the priests and Levites in any manner or concerning the storehouses.

¹⁶ Thus all the work of Solomon was carried out ^[ah]from the day of the foundation of the house of the Lord, and until it was finished. So the house of the Lord was completed.

¹⁷ Then Solomon went to ^(BR)Ezion-geber and to ^(BS)Eloth on the seashore in the land of Edom. ¹⁸ And Huram by his servants sent him ships and servants who knew the sea; and they went with Solomon’s servants to Ophir, and ^(BT)took from there four hundred and fifty talents of gold and brought them to King Solomon.

Deliverance from Bondage

8 Therefore there is now no ^(A)condemnation for those who are ^(B)in ^(C)Christ Jesus. ² For ^(D)the law of the Spirit of life ^[a]in ^(E)Christ Jesus ^(F)has set you free from the law of sin and of death. ³ For ^(G)what the Law could not do, ^[b](H)weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in ^(I)the likeness of ^[c]sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, ⁴ so that the ^(J)requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who ^(K)do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. ⁵ For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on ^(L)the things of the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit, ^(M)the things of the Spirit. ^6 (N)For the mind set on the flesh is ^(O)death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace, ⁷ because the mind set on the flesh is ^(P)hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so, ⁸ and those who are ^(Q)in the flesh cannot please God.

⁹ However, you are not ^(R)in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God ^(S)dwells in you. But ^(T)if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him. ^10 (U)If Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, yet the spirit is ^[d]alive because of righteousness. ¹¹ But if the Spirit of Him who ^(V)raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, ^(W)He who raised ^(X)Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies ^[e]through His Spirit who dwells in you.

¹² So then, brethren, we are under obligation, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh— ¹³ for ^(Y)if you are living according to the flesh, you ^[f]must die; but if by the Spirit you are ^(Z)putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live. ¹⁴ For all who are ^(AA)being led by the Spirit of God, these are ^(AB)sons of God. ¹⁵ For you ^(AC)have not received a spirit of slavery ^[g]leading to fear again, but you ^(AD)have received ^[h]a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, “^(AE)Abba! Father!” ¹⁶ The Spirit Himself ^(AF)testifies with our spirit that we are ^(AG)children of God, ¹⁷ and if children, ^(AH)heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, ^(AI)if indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him.

¹⁸ For I consider that the sufferings of this present time ^(AJ)are not worthy to be compared with the ^(AK)glory that is to be revealed to us. ¹⁹ For the ^(AL)anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for ^(AM)the revealing of the ^(AN)sons of God. ²⁰ For the creation ^(AO)was subjected to ^(AP)futility, not willingly, but ^(AQ)because of Him who subjected it, ^[i]in hope ²¹ that ^(AR)the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God. ²² For we know that the whole creation ^(AS)groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now. ^23 (AT)And not only this, but also we ourselves, having ^(AU)the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves ^(AV)groan within ourselves, ^(AW)waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, ^(AX)the redemption of our body. ²⁴ For ^(AY)in hope we have been saved, but ^(AZ)hope that is seen is not hope; for who hopes for what he already sees? ²⁵ But ^(BA)if we hope for what we do not see, with perseverance we wait eagerly for it.

Our Victory in Christ

²⁶ In the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness; for ^(BB)we do not know how to pray as we should, but ^(BC)the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words; ²⁷ and ^(BD)He who searches the hearts knows what ^(BE)the mind of the Spirit is, because He ^(BF)intercedes for the ^[j]saints according to the will of God.

²⁸ And we know that ^[k]God causes ^(BG)all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are ^(BH)called according to His purpose. ²⁹ For those whom He ^(BI)foreknew, He also ^(BJ)predestined to become ^(BK)conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the ^(BL)firstborn among many brethren; ³⁰ and these whom He ^(BM)predestined, He also ^(BN)called; and these whom He called, He also ^(BO)justified; and these whom He justified, He also ^(BP)glorified.

^31 (BQ)What then shall we say to these things? ^(BR)If God is for us, who is against us? ³² He who ^(BS)did not spare His own Son, but ^(BT)delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things? ³³ Who will bring a charge against ^(BU)God’s elect? ^(BV)God is the one who justifies; ³⁴ who is the one who ^(BW)condemns? Christ Jesus is He who ^(BX)died, yes, rather who was ^[l](BY)raised, who is ^(BZ)at the right hand of God, who also ^(CA)intercedes for us. ³⁵ Who will separate us from ^(CB)the love of ^[m]Christ? Will ^(CC)tribulation, or distress, or ^(CD)persecution, or ^(CE)famine, or ^(CF)nakedness, or ^(CG)peril, or sword? ³⁶ Just as it is written,

³⁷ But in all these things we overwhelmingly ^(CI)conquer through ^(CJ)Him who loved us. ³⁸ For I am convinced that neither ^(CK)death, nor life, nor ^(CL)angels, nor principalities, nor ^(CM)things present, nor things to come, nor powers, ³⁹ nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from ^(CN)the love of God, which is ^(CO)in Christ Jesus our Lord.