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Solomon’s Prayer
12 Then Solomon stood before the altar of the Lord in front of the entire congregation of Israel and spread out his hands. 13 For Solomon had made a bronze platform 7½ feet[a] long, 7½ feet[b] wide, and 4½ feet[c] high and put it in the court. He stood on it,(A) knelt down in front of the entire congregation of Israel, and spread out his hands toward heaven.(B) 14 He said:
Lord God of Israel,
there is no God like You
in heaven or on earth,(C)
keeping His gracious covenant
with Your servants who walk before You
with their whole heart.(D)
15 You have kept what You promised
to Your servant, my father David.
You spoke directly to him,
and You fulfilled Your promise by Your power,
as it is today.(E)
16 Therefore, Lord God of Israel,
keep what You promised
to Your servant, my father David:
“You will never fail to have a man
to sit before Me on the throne of Israel,(F)
if only your sons guard their way to walk in My Law
as you have walked before Me.”
17 Now, Lord God of Israel, please confirm
what You promised to Your servant David.
18 But will God indeed live on earth with man?
Even heaven, the highest heaven, cannot contain You,(G)
much less this temple I have built.
19 Listen[d] to Your servant’s prayer and his petition,
Lord my God,
so that You may hear the cry and the prayer
that Your servant prays before You,
20 so that Your eyes watch over this temple
day and night,
toward the place where You said
You would put Your name;(H)
and so that You may hear the prayer
Your servant prays toward this place.
21 Hear the petitions of Your servant
and Your people Israel,
which they pray toward this place.
May You hear in Your dwelling place in heaven.
May You hear and forgive.
22 If a man sins against his neighbor
and is forced to take an oath[e]
and he comes to take an oath
before Your altar in this temple,
23 may You hear in heaven and act.
May You judge Your servants,
condemning the wicked man by bringing
what he has done on his own head
and providing justice for the righteous
by rewarding him according to his righteousness.
24 If Your people Israel are defeated before an enemy,
because they have sinned against You,
and they return to You and praise Your name,
and they pray and plead for mercy
before You in this temple,
25 may You hear in heaven
and forgive the sin of Your people Israel.
May You restore them to the land
You gave them and their ancestors.
26 When the skies are shut and there is no rain
because they have sinned against You,
and they pray toward this place
and praise Your name,
and they turn from their sins
because You are afflicting[f](I) them,
27 may You hear in heaven
and forgive the sin of Your servants
and Your people Israel,
so that You may teach them the good way
they should walk in.
May You send rain on Your land
that You gave Your people for an inheritance.
28 When there is famine on the earth,
when there is pestilence,
when there is blight, mildew, locust, or grasshopper,
when their enemies besiege them
in the region of their fortified cities,[g](J)
when there is any plague or illness,
29 whatever prayer or petition
anyone from your people Israel might have—
each man knowing his own affliction[h] and suffering,
and spreading out his hands toward this temple—
30 may You hear in heaven, Your dwelling place,
and may You forgive and repay the man
according to all his ways, since You know his heart,
for You alone know the human heart,(K)
31 so that they may fear You
and walk in Your ways
all the days they live on the land
You gave our ancestors.
32 Even for the foreigner who is not of Your people Israel
but has come from a distant land
because of Your great name
and Your mighty hand and outstretched arm:(L)
when he comes and prays toward this temple,
33 may You hear in heaven in Your dwelling place,
and do all the foreigner asks You.
Then all the peoples of the earth will know Your name,
to fear You as Your people Israel do
and know that this temple I have built
is called by Your name.(M)
34 When Your people go out to fight against their enemies,
wherever You send them,
and they pray to You
in the direction of this city You have chosen(N)
and the temple that I have built for Your name,
35 may You hear their prayer and petition in heaven
and uphold their cause.
36 When they sin against You—
for there is no one who does not sin(O)—
and You are angry with them
and hand them over to the enemy,
and their captors deport them
to a distant or nearby country,
37 and when they come to their senses
in the land where they were deported
and repent and petition You in their captors’ land,
saying: “We have sinned and done wrong;
we have been wicked,”
38 and when they return to You with their whole mind and heart
in the land of their captivity where they were taken captive,
and when they pray in the direction of their land
that You gave their ancestors,
and the city You have chosen,
and toward the temple I have built for Your name,
39 may You hear their prayer and petitions in heaven,
Your dwelling place,
and uphold their cause.[i]
May You forgive Your people
who sinned against You.
40 Now, my God,
please let Your eyes be open
and Your ears attentive
to the prayer of this place.(P)
41 Now therefore:(Q)
Arise, Lord God, come to Your resting place,
You and Your powerful ark.
May Your priests, Lord God, be clothed with salvation,
and may Your godly people rejoice in goodness.
42 Lord God, do not reject Your anointed one;[j]
remember the loyalty of Your servant David.(R)
The Dedication Ceremonies
7 When Solomon finished praying,(S) fire descended from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices,(T) and the glory of the Lord filled the temple. 2 The priests were not able to enter the Lord’s temple because the glory of the Lord filled the temple of the Lord. 3 All the Israelites were watching when the fire descended and the glory of the Lord came on the temple. They bowed down on the pavement with their faces to the ground. They worshiped and praised the Lord:
For He is good,
for His faithful love endures forever.(U)
4 The king and all the people were offering sacrifices in the Lord’s presence.(V) 5 King Solomon offered a sacrifice of 22,000 cattle and 120,000 sheep. In this manner the king and all the people dedicated God’s temple. 6 The priests and the Levites were standing at their stations. The Levites had the musical instruments of the Lord, which King David had made to praise the Lord—“for His faithful love endures forever”—when he offered praise with them.(W) Across from the Levites, the priests were blowing trumpets, and all the people were standing. 7 Since the bronze altar that Solomon had made(X) could not accommodate the burnt offering, the grain offering, and the fat of the fellowship offerings, Solomon first consecrated the middle of the courtyard(Y) that was in front of the Lord’s temple and then offered the burnt offerings and the fat of the fellowship offerings there.(Z)
8 So Solomon and all Israel with him—a very great assembly, from the entrance to Hamath[k] to the Brook of Egypt—observed the festival at that time for seven days. 9 On the eighth day[l] they held a sacred assembly,(AA) for the dedication of the altar lasted seven days and the festival seven days. 10 On the twenty-third day of the seventh month he sent the people away to their tents, rejoicing and with happy hearts for the goodness the Lord had done for David, for Solomon, and for His people Israel.
11 So Solomon finished the Lord’s temple and the royal palace. Everything that had entered Solomon’s heart to do for the Lord’s temple and for his own palace succeeded.(AB)
The Lord’s Response
12 Then the Lord appeared to Solomon at night and said to him:
I have heard your prayer and have chosen this place for Myself as a temple of sacrifice.(AC) 13 If I close the sky so there is no rain, or if I command the grasshopper to consume the land, or if I send pestilence on My people,(AD) 14 and My people who are called by My name humble themselves, pray and seek My face, and turn from their evil ways, then I will hear from heaven, forgive their sin, and heal their land.(AE) 15 My eyes will now be open and My ears attentive to prayer from this place.(AF) 16 And I have now chosen and consecrated this temple so that My name may be there forever; My eyes and My heart will be there at all times.(AG)
17 As for you, if you walk before Me as your father David walked, doing everything I have commanded you, and if you keep My statutes and ordinances, 18 I will establish your royal throne, as I promised your father David: You will never fail to have a man ruling in Israel.(AH)
19 However, if you turn away and abandon My statutes and My commands that I have set before you and if you go and serve other gods and worship them,(AI) 20 then I will uproot Israel from the soil that I gave them, and this temple that I have sanctified for My name I will banish from My presence;(AJ) I will make it an object of scorn and ridicule among all the peoples.(AK) 21 As for this temple, which was exalted, everyone who passes by will be appalled and will say:(AL) Why did the Lord do this to this land and this temple? 22 Then they will say: Because they abandoned the Lord God of their ancestors who brought them out of the land of Egypt. They clung to other gods and worshiped and served them. Because of this, He brought all this ruin on them.
Solomon’s Later Building Projects
8 At the end of 20 years(AM) during which Solomon had built the Lord’s temple and his own palace— 2 Solomon had rebuilt the cities Hiram[m] gave him and settled Israelites there— 3 Solomon went to Hamath-zobah and seized it. 4 He built Tadmor in the wilderness along with all the storage cities that he built in Hamath. 5 He built Upper Beth-horon and Lower Beth-horon(AN)—fortified cities with walls, gates, and bars(AO)— 6 Baalath, all the storage cities that belonged to Solomon, all the chariot cities, the cavalry cities, and everything Solomon desired to build in Jerusalem, Lebanon, or anywhere else in the land of his dominion.
7 As for all the peoples who remained of the Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites, who were not from Israel(AP)— 8 their descendants who remained in the land after them, those the Israelites had not completely destroyed—Solomon imposed forced labor on them; it is this way today.(AQ) 9 But Solomon did not consign the Israelites to be slaves for his work; they were soldiers, commanders of his captains, and commanders of his chariots and his cavalry. 10 These were King Solomon’s deputies: 250 who ruled over the people.
14 For we know that the law is spiritual,(A) but I am made out of flesh,[a] sold(B) into sin’s power.(C) 15 For I do not understand what I am doing,(D) because I do not practice what I want to do,(E) but I do what I hate. 16 And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree with the law that it is good. 17 So now I am no longer the one doing it, but it is sin living in me. 18 For I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my flesh.(F) For the desire to do what is good is with me, but there is no ability to do it. 19 For I do not do the good that I want to do, but I practice the evil that I do not want to do. 20 Now if I do what I do not want, I am no longer the one doing it, but it is the sin that lives in me. 21 So I discover this principle:[b](G) When I want to do what is good, evil is with me. 22 For in my inner self[c] I joyfully agree with God’s law.(H) 23 But I see a different law in the parts of my body,[d](I) waging war against the law of my mind and taking me prisoner to the law of sin in the parts of my body.[e] 24 What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this dying body?(J) 25 I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord So then, with my mind I myself am a slave to the law of God, but with my flesh, to the law of sin.
The Life-Giving Spirit
8 Therefore, no condemnation(L) now exists for those in(M) Christ Jesus,[g](N) 2 because the Spirit’s law of life(O) in Christ Jesus has set you[h] free from the law of sin and of death.(P) 3 What the law could not do(Q) since it was limited[i] by the flesh,(R) God did. He condemned sin in the flesh by sending His own Son in flesh like ours(S) under sin’s domain,[j] and as a sin offering,(T) 4 in order that the law’s requirement would be accomplished(U) in us who do not walk according to the flesh(V) but according to the Spirit. 5 For those who live[k] according to the flesh think about the things of the flesh,(W) but those who live[l] according to the Spirit, about the things of the Spirit. 6 For the mind-set of the flesh(X) is death,(Y) but the mind-set of the Spirit is life and peace. 7 For the mind-set of the flesh is hostile(Z) to God because it does not submit itself to God’s law, for it is unable to do so. 8 Those who are in the flesh(AA) cannot please God.
Psalm 18
Praise for Deliverance
For the choir director. Of the servant of the Lord, David, who spoke the words of this song to the Lord on the day the Lord rescued him from the hand of all his enemies and from the hand of Saul.(A) He said:
1 I love You, Lord, my strength.
2 The Lord is my rock,
my fortress, and my deliverer,(B)
my God, my mountain where I seek refuge,
my shield(C) and the horn of my salvation,(D)
my stronghold.
3 I called to the Lord, who is worthy of praise,(E)
and I was saved from my enemies.(F)
4 The ropes of death were wrapped around me;
the torrents of destruction terrified me.(G)
5 The ropes of Sheol entangled me;
the snares of death confronted me.(H)
6 I called to the Lord in my distress,
and I cried to my God for help.
From His temple He heard my voice,(I)
and my cry to Him reached His ears.(J)
7 Then the earth shook and quaked;
the foundations of the mountains trembled;(K)
they shook because He burned with anger.
8 Smoke rose from His nostrils,
and consuming fire came from His mouth;
coals were set ablaze by it.[a](L)
9 He parted the heavens and came down,(M)
a dark cloud beneath His feet.
10 He rode on a cherub and flew,
soaring on the wings of the wind.(N)
11 He made darkness His hiding place,
dark storm clouds His canopy around Him.(O)
12 From the radiance of His presence,(P)
His clouds swept onward with hail and blazing coals.
13 The Lord thundered from[b] heaven;
the Most High projected His voice.[c](Q)
14 He shot His arrows and scattered them;
He hurled[d] lightning bolts and routed them.(R)
15 The depths of the sea became visible,
the foundations of the world were exposed,
at Your rebuke, Lord,
at the blast of the breath of Your nostrils.(S)
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