Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

The Lord is holy!^[a]

⁵⁴ So Solomon finished all his prayers and everything that he wanted to ask the Lord for. He had been down on his knees with his hands lifted up towards the sky in front of the Lord's altar. Now he stood up. ⁵⁵ When he stood up, he asked God to bless all the people in Israel. He said with a loud voice, ⁵⁶ ‘Praise the Lord as he deserves! He has given his people, the Israelites, a safe place to live, as he has promised to do. Every great promise that the Lord gave to his servant Moses has now happened! ⁵⁷ I pray that the Lord our God will be with us, as he was with our ancestors. I pray that he will never leave us or turn away from us. ⁵⁸ I pray that the Lord will cause us to respect his authority. Then we will do what he wants us to do. We will obey all his commands, rules and laws that he gave to our ancestors. ⁵⁹ I pray that the Lord our God will continue to remember these words that I have prayed. May he keep them in his thoughts. I pray that he will do what is right to help me and his people, the Israelites. May he give us the help that we need each day. ⁶⁰ Then all the nations of the earth will understand that the Lord is the only true God. There is no other God. ⁶¹ I pray that you will continue to serve the Lord our God faithfully. You must continue to obey his rules and his commands, as you do now.’

Solomon offers the temple as a gift to God

⁶² Then the king and all the Israelite people who were with him offered sacrifices to the Lord.

⁶³ These are the friendship offerings that Solomon offered to the Lord:

In this way, King Solomon and all the Israelite people offered the temple as a gift to the Lord.

⁶⁴ On the same day, the king gave to the Lord the yard that was in front of the temple. King Solomon offered burnt offerings and grain offerings to the Lord. He also offered the fat from the friendship offerings. The bronze altar in front of the temple was too small to contain all these offerings.^[a] So Solomon made these sacrifices in the middle of the yard instead. ⁶⁵ At that time, Solomon and the big crowd of Israelites who were with him had a festival for seven days.^[b] They gave honour to the Lord our God. There were people from everywhere in Israel, from Hamath in the north to the Stream of Egypt in the south.

³¹ The one who comes from above is greater than all things. A person who comes from the earth belongs to the earth. A person like that speaks only about things that belong to the earth. But the one who comes from heaven is greater than all things. ³² He tells people about the things that he has seen. He tells about what he has heard. But people do not believe his message. ³³ Anyone who does believe his message agrees that God is true. ³⁴ The one that God has sent speaks God's words. God has given his Spirit to fill that person completely. ³⁵ The Father loves the Son. He has given his Son authority over all things. ³⁶ Anyone who believes in the Son has life with God for ever. But anyone who refuses to obey the Son will never have life with God. God will continue to be angry with people like that.’