Beginning

Solomon Blesses the People

6 Then Solomon said, “Yahweh has decided^[a] to dwell in the deep gloom. ² But I have built for you an exalted house, even a place for you to dwell in forever.” ³ Then the king turned around^[b] and blessed all the assembly of Israel, and all the assembly of Israel were standing. ⁴ And he said, “Blessed be Yahweh, the God of Israel, who spoke with his mouth with David my father, and with his hands he has fulfilled it, saying, ⁵ ‘From the day that I brought my people out of the land of Egypt I did not choose a city among all the tribes of Israel to build a house in order for my name to be there. Nor did I choose a man to be leader over my people Israel. ⁶ But I have chosen my name to be there in Jerusalem, and I have chosen David to be over my people Israel.’ ⁷ Now, it was in the heart of David my father to build a house for the name of Yahweh, the God of Israel. ⁸ But Yahweh said to David my father, ‘Because it was in your heart to build a house for my name, you did well that it was in your heart, ⁹ but you yourself will not build the house, but your son who will proceed from your loins; he himself will build the house for my name.’ ¹⁰ Now Yahweh has fulfilled his word that he spoke. I have risen in the place of David my father and am seated on the throne of Israel as Yahweh has spoken. I have built the house for the name of Yahweh, the God of Israel. ¹¹ And I have there the ark in which is the covenant of Yahweh that he made^[c] with the Israelites.”^[d]

Solomon’s Prayer to Dedicate the Temple

¹² Then Solomon stood before the altar of Yahweh before all the assembly of Israel and spread out his hands. ¹³ (For Solomon had made a platform of bronze five cubits long and five cubits wide and three cubits high, and placed it in the midst of the outer court.) And he stood upon it, then knelt down on his knees before the whole assembly of Israel and spread out his hands to heaven. ¹⁴ And he said, “O Yahweh, God of Israel, there is none like you, a God in the heavens and on the earth, keeping the covenant and loyal love with your servants who walk before you with all their heart, ¹⁵ that you have kept for your servant David my father what you spoke to him. You spoke with your mouth, and by your hand you have fulfilled it on this day. ¹⁶ And now, O Yahweh, God of Israel, keep for your servant David, my father, what you have spoken to him, saying, ‘You shall not lack^[e] a man to sit on the throne of Israel before me, if only your sons keep their way, to walk in my law as you have walked before me.’ ¹⁷ And now, O Yahweh, God of Israel, let your word that you have spoken to your servant David be confirmed.

¹⁸ “But will God indeed dwell with humankind upon the earth? Look, the heavens and the highest heavens^[f] cannot contain you! Surely then this house that I have built will not contain you! ¹⁹ But turn to the prayer of your servant and to his plea, O Yahweh my God, to hearken to the pleading and to the prayer that your servant is praying before you, ²⁰ that your eyes may be open day and night to this house, to the place that you have promised to place your name there, that you may hear the prayer that your servant has prayed to this place. ²¹ And listen to the pleas of your servant and your people Israel when they pray toward this place, that you yourself might hear from the place of your dwelling, from the heavens, that you might hear and forgive.

²² “If a man sins against his neighbor and makes him swear an oath^[g] and comes with an oath before your altar in this house, ²³ then may you yourself hear from the heavens and act and judge your servants, to repay the guilty by bringing his way upon his head and to vindicate the righteous by giving to him according to his righteousness.

²⁴ “And if your people Israel are defeated before an enemy because they have sinned against you and they repent and confess your name and pray and plead before you in this house, ²⁵ then may you yourself hear from the heavens and forgive the sin of your people Israel and again bring them back to the land that you gave to them and to their ancestors.^[h]

²⁶ “When the heavens are stopped up and there is no rain because they have sinned against you and they pray to this place and confess your name and turn back from their sin when you humble them, ²⁷ then may you yourself hear from the heavens and forgive the sin of your servants and your people Israel, when you teach them the good way in which they should walk, and give rain upon your land that you have given to your people as an inheritance.

²⁸ “If there is a famine in the land; if there is disease, blight, mildew, locust, and caterpillar; if it happens that his enemy lays siege to him in the land and his gates; any kind of plague, any kind of disease, ²⁹ then any prayer, any plea that is made by any person and by all your people Israel, each one who knows his own affliction and his own anguish and who spreads out his hands to this house, ³⁰ then may you yourself hear from the heavens, your dwelling place, and forgive and give to each according to all his ways, since you know the heart of the children of humankind, ³¹ that they may fear you and walk in your ways all the days that they are alive upon the face of the land that you have given to our ancestors.^[i]

³² “And also, with respect to the foreigner, he who is not of your people Israel, but comes from a distant land, for the sake of your great name and your powerful hand and outstretched arm, when he comes and prays to this house, ³³ then may you yourself hear from the heavens, from your dwelling place, and do according to all that the foreigner asks of you, so that all peoples of earth will know of your name and fear you, as do your people Israel, and that they may know that your name possesses^[j] this house that I have built.

³⁴ “When your people go out to battle against their enemy according to the way that you have sent them, and they pray to you toward this city that you have chosen and the house that I have built for your name, ³⁵ then may you hear their prayer and their pleas from the heavens and uphold their case. ³⁶ When they sin against you—for there is no person who does not sin—and you become angry with them and place them before their enemy that they carry them away as captives to a land far or near, ³⁷ but if they repent^[k] in the land where they were taken captive and repent^[l] and beg you for mercy in the land of their captivity, saying, ‘We have sinned and acted perversely and done wickedly, ³⁸ and we return to you,’ with their whole heart and with all their inmost being in the land of their captivity where they took them captive, and if they pray toward their land that you have given to their ancestors^[m] and the city that you have chosen and to the house that I have built for your name, ³⁹ then may you hear their prayer and their pleas from the heavens, from your dwelling place, and uphold their case and forgive your people who sinned against you. ⁴⁰ Now, O my God, please let your eyes be open and your ears attentive to the prayer of this place!

⁴¹ “And now arise, O Yahweh God, to your resting place, you and the ark of your strength! O Yahweh God, let the priests be clothed with salvation, and let your holy ones rejoice in your goodness! ⁴² O Yahweh God, do not turn away the face of your anointed one! Remember the loyal love of your servant, David!”

God Answers with Fire from Heaven

7 And when Solomon finished praying, then fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices, and the glory of Yahweh filled the house. ² And the priests were not able to go into the house of Yahweh, for the glory of Yahweh had filled the house. ³ When all the Israelites^[n] saw the fire come down and the glory of Yahweh upon the house, they knelt down with their faces to the ground on the pavement and worshiped and gave thanks to Yahweh, for he is good, for his loyal love is everlasting.

The Temple Dedication

⁴ Then the king and all the people were offering a sacrifice before Yahweh. ⁵ And King Solomon offered a sacrifice of twenty-two thousand cattle and one hundred and twenty thousand sheep. So the king and all the people dedicated the house of God. ⁶ And the priests stood at their posts with the Levites, with the instruments of the song of Yahweh that King David had made to give thanks to Yahweh—for his loyal love is everlasting—whenever David offered praise by their hand. Now the priests sounded trumpets standing opposite them, and all Israel stood.

⁷ And Solomon consecrated the middle of the courtyard that was before the house of Yahweh, for there he had made the burnt offerings and the fat of the fellowship offerings, for the bronze altar that Solomon had made was not able to hold the burnt offerings, cereal offerings, and the fat.

⁸ And Solomon held^[o] a feast at that time of seven days. And all Israel was with him, a very great assembly, from Lebo-Hamath to the river of Egypt. ⁹ And on the eighth day they made a solemn assembly, for they held^[p] the dedication of the altar seven days and the feast seven days. ¹⁰ And on the twenty-third day of the seventh month he sent the people away to their tents rejoicing and festive of heart on account of the goodness that Yahweh had done for David, Solomon, and Israel his people. ¹¹ And Solomon finished the house of Yahweh and the house of the king. And all that came into the heart of Solomon to do with respect to the house of Yahweh and his own house he accomplished.

God’s Charge to Solomon

¹² Then Yahweh appeared to Solomon at night and said to him, “I have heard your prayer and have chosen this place for myself as a house of sacrifice. ¹³ When I hold back the heavens so that there is not rain, and when I command the locust to devour the earth, and if I send disease among my people, ¹⁴ then if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and will pray and will seek my face and will turn from their evil ways, then I myself shall hear from the heavens and will forgive their sins and heal their land. ¹⁵ Now my eyes will be open and my ears attentive to the prayer of this place. ¹⁶ And now I have chosen and consecrated this house for my name to be there forever. My eyes and my heart will be there for all time.^{[q] 17} Now as for you, if you will walk before me as David your father walked and do according to all that I have commanded you and will keep my ordinances and judgments, ¹⁸ then I will establish the throne of your kingdom as I promised^[r] to David your father, saying, ‘A man shall not be cut off for you from ruling over Israel.’

¹⁹ “But if you turn yourselves away and forsake my ordinances and my commandments which I have given before you all and will go and serve other gods and bow down to them, ²⁰ then I will uproot them from upon my land that I have given to them, and this house that I have consecrated for my name I will send away from before my face, and I will make it a proverb and a taunt among all the nations. ²¹ And as for this house, which was exalted, all who pass by it will be appalled and will say, ‘Why has Yahweh done thus to this land and to this house?’ ²² Then they will say, ‘Because they forsook Yahweh, the God of their ancestors,^[s] who brought them out from the land of Egypt, and they laid hold of other gods and worshiped them and served them. Therefore he has brought upon them all this evil.’”

Solomon’s Accomplishments and Deeds

8 And it happened that at the end of twenty years in which Solomon had built the house of Yahweh and his own house, ² Solomon also built the cities that Huram^[t] had given to him, and he settled the Israelites^[u] in them. ³ And Solomon went to Hamath-Zobah and laid siege upon it. ⁴ And he built Tadmor in the desert, and he built all the storage cities in Hamath. ⁵ He also built Upper Beth-Horon and Lower Beth-Horon, fortified cities with walls, gates, and bars; ⁶ Baalath and all the storage cities that belonged to Solomon; all the cities for chariots^[v] and cities for horses; and any desire of Solomon that he desired to build in Jerusalem, in Lebanon, and in all the land of his dominion. ⁷ All the people who remained from the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites who were not from Israel, ⁸ from the descendants^[w] who were left over after them in the land, whom the Israelites had not destroyed, Solomon conscripted them as forced labor until this day. ⁹ But from the Israelites^[x] Solomon did not give as servants for his work, but they were men of war, his commanders of his officers, and commanders of his chariots^[y] and his horses. ¹⁰ And these were the commanders of the garrisons that belonged to King Solomon, two hundred and fifty who exercised authority over the people.

¹¹ And Solomon brought up the daughter of Pharaoh from the city of David to the house that he had built for her, for he said, “My wife shall not dwell in the house of David, king of Israel, for those places to which the ark of Yahweh has come are holy. ¹² Then Solomon offered burnt offerings to Yahweh on the altar of Yahweh that he had built before the portico, ¹³ as was the daily requirement,^[z] to offer up according to the commandments of Moses for Sabbaths, new moon festivals, and the three annual^[aa] feasts: the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the Feast of Weeks, and the Feast of Booths. ¹⁴ And in accord with the ordinance of David his father he appointed working groups of priests for their service, Levites for their responsibilities for praise and cultic service before the priests according to the daily requirement,^[ab] and the gatekeepers in their working groups, gate by gate. For thus David the man of God had commanded. ¹⁵ And they did not turn aside from the commandment of the king concerning the priests and the Levites concerning anything, and concerning the treasury rooms. ¹⁶ And Solomon accomplished all the work from the day the foundation stone was laid for the house of Yahweh until its completion, and the house of Yahweh was finished. ¹⁷ Then Solomon went to Ezion-Geber, and to Elath, on the edge of the sea in the land of Edom. ¹⁸ And Huram^[ac] sent to him, by the hand of his servants, ships and servants knowledgeable of the sea. And they went with the servants of Solomon to Ophir, and from there they collected four hundred and fifty talents of gold and brought it to King Solomon.