Chronological

Solomon Blesses the People

6 ^(A)Then Solomon said,

³ Then the king turned his face around and blessed all the assembly of Israel, while all the assembly of Israel was standing. ⁴ And he said, “Blessed be Yahweh, the God of Israel, who spoke with His mouth to my father David and has fulfilled it by 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 ruler 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)And it was ^[a]in the heart of my father David to build a house for the name of Yahweh, the God of Israel. ⁸ But Yahweh said to my father David, ‘Because it was ^[b]in your heart to build a house for My name, you did well that it was ^[c]in your heart. ⁹ Nevertheless you shall not build the house, but your son who will ^(E)come forth from your loins, he shall build the house for My name.’ ¹⁰ And Yahweh has established His word which He spoke; and I have been established in place of my father David and sit on the throne of Israel, as Yahweh ^[d]promised, and have built the house for the name of Yahweh, the God of Israel. ¹¹ And there I have set the ark ^(F)in which is the covenant of Yahweh, which He cut with the sons of Israel.”

Solomon’s Prayer for Israel

¹² Then he stood before the altar of Yahweh before all the assembly of Israel and spread out his hands. ^13 (G)Now Solomon had made a bronze platform, five cubits long, five cubits wide and three cubits high, and had put it in the midst of the court; and he stood on it, ^(H)knelt on his knees in the presence of all the assembly of Israel, and spread out his hands toward heaven. ¹⁴ And he said, “O Yahweh, the God of Israel, ^(I)there is no god like You in heaven or on earth, ^(J)keeping covenant and lovingkindness to Your slaves who walk before You with all their heart; ^15 (K)who have kept with Your ^[e]servant David, my father, that which You have ^[f]promised him; indeed You have promised with Your mouth and have fulfilled it by Your hand, as it is this day. ¹⁶ So now, O Yahweh, the God of Israel, keep with Your servant David my father, that which You have promised him, saying, ‘^(L)You shall not have a man cut off from before Me who is to sit on the throne of Israel, if only your sons keep their way to walk in My law as you have walked before Me.’ ¹⁷ So now, O Yahweh, the God of Israel, let Your word truly ^[g]endure which You have spoken to Your servant David.

¹⁸ “But ^(M)will God truly dwell with mankind on the earth? Behold, ^(N)heaven and the ^[h]highest heaven cannot contain You; how much less this house which I have built. ¹⁹ Yet have regard to the prayer of Your slave and to his supplication, O Yahweh my God, to listen to the cry and to the prayer which Your slave prays before You; ²⁰ that Your ^(O)eyes may be open toward this house day and night, toward ^(P)the place of which You have said that You would place Your name there, to listen to the prayer which Your slave shall pray toward this place. ²¹ And listen to the supplications of Your slave and of Your people Israel, when they pray toward this place; listen from Your dwelling place, from heaven; ^(Q)listen 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 listen from heaven and act and judge Your slaves, ^[i](R)punishing the wicked by ^[j]bringing his way on his own head and justifying the righteous by ^[k]bringing him reward according to his righteousness.

²⁴ “And if Your people Israel are ^[l]defeated before an enemy because ^(S)they have sinned against You, and they turn to You and confess Your name, and pray and make supplication before You in this house, ²⁵ then listen 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 ^(T)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 listen in heaven and forgive the sin of Your slaves and of Your people Israel; indeed, ^(U)teach them the good way in which they should walk. And give rain on Your land, which You have given to Your people for an inheritance.

²⁸ “If there is ^(V)famine in the land, if there is pestilence, if there is scorching wind 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, who know his own affliction and his own pain, and spread his hands toward this house, ³⁰ then listen from heaven Your dwelling place, and forgive, and give to each according to all his ways, whose heart You know, ^(W)for You alone know the hearts of the sons of men, ³¹ that they may ^[n]fear You, to walk in Your ways all the days they live upon the face of the land which You have given to our fathers.

³² “Also concerning ^(X)the foreigner who is not of Your people Israel, if he comes from a far country for Your great name’s sake and Your strong hand and Your outstretched arm, so if they come and pray toward this house, ³³ then listen 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 even to ^[o]fear You, as do Your people Israel, and to know that Your name is ^(Y)called upon this house which I have built.

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 listen from heaven to their prayer and their supplication, and do justice.

³⁶ “When they sin against You (^(Z)for there is no man who does not sin) and You are angry with them and give them over to an enemy, so that ^[p]they take them away captive to a land far off or near, ³⁷ and if they ^(AA)cause these things to return to their heart in the land where they have been taken captive, and ^[q]return and make supplication to You in the land of their captivity, saying, ‘We have sinned, we have committed iniquity and have acted wickedly’; ^38 (AB)and 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 listen from heaven, from Your dwelling place, to their prayer and supplications, and do justice for them and forgive Your people who have sinned against You.

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

⁴¹ “^(AE)So now, arise, O Yahweh God, to Your resting place, You and the ark of Your strength; let Your priests, O Yahweh God, be clothed with salvation and let Your holy ones be glad in what is good.

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

The Glory of Yahweh Fills His House

7 ^(AG)Now when Solomon had ^[r]finished praying, ^(AH)fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices, and the glory of Yahweh filled the house. ^2 (AI)And the priests could not enter into the house of Yahweh because the glory of Yahweh filled the house of Yahweh. ³ And all the sons of Israel, seeing the fire come down and the glory of Yahweh upon the house, bowed down on the pavement with their faces to the ground, and they worshiped and gave praise to Yahweh, saying, “^(AJ)For He is good, for His lovingkindness endures forever.”

Offerings for the House of Yahweh

^4 (AK)Now the king and all the people were offering sacrifices before Yahweh. ⁵ And King Solomon offered a sacrifice of 22,000 oxen and 120,000 sheep. So the king and all the people dedicated the house of God. ⁶ And the priests stood at their posts, and ^(AL)the Levites also, with the instruments of music to Yahweh, which King David had made for giving thanks to Yahweh—“for His lovingkindness endures forever”—whenever ^[s]he gave praise by their hand, while ^(AM)the priests on the other side blew trumpets; and all Israel was standing.

^7 (AN)Then Solomon set apart as holy the middle of the court that was before the house of Yahweh, because there he offered the burnt offerings and the fat of the peace offerings; for the bronze altar which Solomon had made was not able to hold the burnt offering and the grain offering and the fat.

⁸ So ^(AO)Solomon celebrated the feast at that time for seven days, and all Israel with him, a very great assembly from ^[t]Lebo-hamath to the ^(AP)brook of Egypt. ⁹ And on the eighth day they celebrated ^(AQ)a solemn assembly; for the dedication of the altar they celebrated seven days and the feast seven days. ¹⁰ And on the twenty-third day of the seventh month he sent the people to their tents, with gladness and goodness of heart because of the goodness that Yahweh had shown to David and to Solomon and to Israel His people.

Yahweh Appears to Solomon

^11 (AR)Thus Solomon completed the house of Yahweh and the king’s house; and all that had come into Solomon’s heart to do in the house of Yahweh and in his house, he did successfully.

¹² Then Yahweh appeared to Solomon at night and said to him, “I have heard your prayer and ^(AS)have chosen this place for Myself as a house of sacrifice. ^13 (AT)If I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or if I command the grasshopper to devour the land, or if I send pestilence among My people, ^14 (AU)and My people ^[u]who are called by My name humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their evil ways, then I will listen from heaven, I will forgive their sin, and I will heal their land. ^15 (AV)Now My eyes will be open and My ears attentive to the ^[v]prayer offered in this place. ¹⁶ So ^(AW)now I have chosen and set this house apart as holy that My name may be there forever, and My eyes and My heart will be there perpetually. ¹⁷ As for you, if you will 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 judgments, ¹⁸ then I will establish your royal throne as I cut a covenant with your father David, saying, ‘^[w](AX)You shall not have a man cut off as ruler in Israel.’

¹⁹ “^(AY)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 (AZ)then I will uproot you from My land which I have given ^[x]you, and this house which I have set apart as holy for My name I will cast out of My presence and I will make it ^(BA)a proverb and a byword among all peoples. ²¹ As for this house, which was exalted, everyone who passes by it will feel desolate and say, ‘^(BB)Why has Yahweh done thus to this land and to this house?’ ²² And they will say, ‘Because ^(BC)they forsook Yahweh, the God of their fathers, who brought them out of the land of Egypt and took hold of other gods and worshiped them and served them, therefore He has brought all this calamity on them.’”

His Lovingkindness Endures Forever