The Daily Audio Bible
Today's audio is from the NIV. Switch to the NIV to read along with the audio.
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[a] 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[b] 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[c] 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.[d]
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.[e]
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[f] 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[g] in the land where they were taken captive and repent[h] 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[i] 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[j] 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[k] 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[l] 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.[m] 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[n] 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,[o] 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[p] had given to him, and he settled the Israelites[q] 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[r] 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[s] 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[t] 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[u] 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.
14 For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am fleshly, sold into slavery to sin[a]. 15 For what I am doing I do not understand, because what I want to do, this I do not practice, but what I hate, this I do. 16 But if what I do not want to do, this I do, I agree with the law that it is good. 17 But now I am no longer the one doing it, but sin that lives in me. 18 For I know that good does not live in me, that is, in my flesh. For the willing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not. 19 For the good that I want to do, I do not do, but the evil that I do not want to do, this I do. 20 But if what I do not want to do, this I am doing, I am no longer the one doing it, but sin that lives in me.
21 Consequently, I find the principle with me, the one who wants to do good, that evil is present with me.[b] 22 For I joyfully agree with the law of God in my inner person, 23 but I observe another law in my members, at war with the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that exists in my members. 24 Wretched man that I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? 25 Thanks be[c] to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself with my mind am enslaved to the law of God, but with my flesh I am enslaved to the law of sin.
Set Free from the Law of Sin and Death
8 Consequently, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. 2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death. 3 For what was impossible for the law, in that it was weak through the flesh, God did. By[d] sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and concerning sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, 4 in order that the requirement of the law would be fulfilled in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. 5 For those who are living according to the flesh are intent on the things of the flesh, but those who are living according to the Spirit are intent on the things of the Spirit. 6 For the mindset of the flesh is death, but the mindset of the Spirit is life and peace, 7 because the mindset of the flesh is enmity toward God, for it is not subjected to the law of God, for it is not able to do so, 8 and those who are in the flesh are not able to please God.
Praise to God for His Deliverance
For the music director. Of David, the servant of Yahweh,
who spoke to Yahweh the words of this song
when[a] Yahweh delivered him from the hand of all his enemies,
and from the hand of Saul.[b]
18 And he said:
“I love you, O Yahweh, my strength.”
2 Yahweh is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer,
my God, my rock in whom I have taken refuge,
my shield and the horn of my deliverance, my stronghold.
3 I called upon Yahweh, who is worthy to be praised,
and I was saved from my enemies.
4 The ropes of death encircled me,
and streams of ruin overwhelmed me.
5 The ropes of Sheol surrounded me;
the snares of death confronted me.
6 In my trouble I called on Yahweh,
and to my God I cried for help.
He heard my voice from his temple,
and my cry for help
came up before his presence into his ears.
7 Then the earth shook and quaked,
and the foundations of the mountains trembled,
and they staggered because he was angry.
8 Smoke went forth from his nose,
and fire from his mouth consumed.
Burning coals blazed from him.
9 So he bowed the heavens and came down
with a thick cloud under his feet.
10 And he mounted a cherub and flew,
and he swooped down on wings of wind.
11 He made darkness his hiding place;
all about him his covering
was a darkness of waters, thick clouds.[c]
12 From the brightness before him
his clouds passed over
with hail and coals of fire.
13 And Yahweh thundered from the heavens,
and the Most High uttered his voice
with hail and coals of fire.
14 And he shot his arrows and scattered them,[d]
and many lightning bolts and routed them.
15 Then the channels of the sea became visible,
and the foundations of the world were uncovered
by your rebuke, O Yahweh,
by the blast[e] of the wind of your nose.
24 A lazy person buries his hand in the dish,
and even to his mouth he will not bring it back.
25 The scoffer you shall strike, and the simple, may they learn prudence,
and reprove the intelligent and he will gain knowledge.
2012 by Logos Bible Software. Lexham is a registered trademark of Logos Bible Software