1 Kings 8

1 And it happened, when Solomon had finished building the house of the Lord and his own house, after twenty years, that King Solomon called together all the elders of Israel in Zion, to bring up the ark of the covenant of the Lord out of the city of David — that is, Zion — [a] 2 in the month of Athanin. [b] 3 And the priests took up the ark, 4 and the tent of witness, and all the holy vessels that were in the tent of witness. 5 And the king and all Israel were in front of the ark, sacrificing sheep and oxen beyond counting.

6 And the priests brought the ark into its place, into the inner room of the house, into the most holy place, under the wings of the cherubim. [c] 7 For the cherubim had their wings spread out over the place of the ark, and the cherubim covered the ark and its holy things from above. 8 And the things that had been made holy stood out, and their heads could be seen from the holy place, in front of the inner room; but from outside they were not seen. [d] 9 There was nothing in the ark but two stone tablets, the tablets of the covenant, which Moses put there at Horeb — the covenant the Lord made with the children of Israel when they came out of the land of Egypt.

10 And it happened, when the priests came out of the holy place, that the cloud filled the house, 11 and the priests could not stand to serve because of the cloud, for the glory of the Lord filled the house. [e]

14 And the king turned his face, and the king blessed all Israel, and the whole assembly of Israel stood there. 15 And he said, “Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, today — who spoke with his own mouth concerning David my father, and with his own hands has fulfilled it. He said, 16 ‘From the day I brought my people Israel out of Egypt, I chose no city in any one tribe of Israel for the building of a house, for my name to be there; but I chose Jerusalem, for my name to be there, and I chose David to be over my people Israel.’

17 “And it was in the heart of David my father to build a house for the name of the Lord, the God of Israel. 18 But the Lord said to David my father, ‘Since it came into your heart to build a house for my name, you did well that it came into your heart. 19 Only, you will not build the house; your son, who comes out of your loins — he will build the house for my name.’ 20 And the Lord has raised up the word that he spoke: I have risen up in place of David my father, and I sit on the throne of Israel, as the Lord said, and I have built the house for the name of the Lord, the God of Israel. 21 And I have set a place there for the ark, in which is the covenant of the Lord, the covenant he made with our fathers when he brought them out of the land of Egypt.”

22 And Solomon stood in front of the altar of the Lord, before the whole assembly of Israel, and spread out his hands toward heaven, 23 and said, “Lord, God of Israel, there is no god like you in heaven above or on the earth below, keeping covenant and mercy with your servant who walks before you with his whole heart — 24 the covenant you have kept for your servant David my father. You spoke it with your mouth, and with your hands you have fulfilled it, as it is this day.

25 “And now, Lord, God of Israel, keep for your servant David my father what you spoke to him, saying, ‘A man of yours will never be taken away from before me, sitting on the throne of Israel — only if your children watch their ways, to walk before me as you have walked before me.’ 26 And now, Lord, God of Israel, let your word to David my father be made sure. 27 For will God truly dwell with men on the earth? If heaven, and the heaven of heaven, are not enough for you, how much less this house that I have built for your name? †

28 “Yet you will look on my plea, Lord, God of Israel, and hear the glad cry with which your servant prays before you, to you, today — [f] 29 that your eyes may be open toward this house day and night, toward the place of which you said, ‘My name will be there,’ to hear the prayer that your servant prays toward this place day and night. 30 And you will hear the plea of your servant and of your people Israel, whatever they pray toward this place; and you yourself will hear it in the place where you dwell, in heaven, and you will act, and be merciful.

31 “If a man sins against his neighbor in anything, and a curse is laid on him to swear him under it, and he comes and declares it openly in front of your altar in this house, 32 then you yourself will hear from heaven, and act, and judge your people Israel: condemning the lawless man, bringing his own way back on his head, and acquitting the righteous man, giving to him according to his righteousness.

33 “When your people Israel fall before enemies, because they sin against you, and they turn back and give thanks to your name and pray and plead in this house, 34 then you will hear from heaven and be merciful to the sins of your people Israel, and you will bring them back to the land that you gave to their fathers.

35 “When heaven is held shut and there is no rain, because they sin against you, and they pray toward this place and give thanks to your name and turn from their sins, when you have brought them low, 36 then you will hear from heaven and be merciful to the sins of your servant and of your people Israel — for you will show them the good way to walk in — and you will give rain on the land that you have given to your people as an inheritance.

37 “If famine comes, if death comes, if there is scorching, or locust, or mildew; and if their enemy presses them in any one of their cities — whatever the trouble, whatever the pain — 38 then for every prayer, every plea made by any man at all, as each of them knows the mark on his own heart and spreads out his hands toward this house, 39 you yourself will hear from heaven, from the dwelling place you have made ready, and be merciful, and act, and give to each man according to his ways, as you know his heart — for you alone know the heart of all the sons of men — 40 so that they may fear you all the days that they live on the land that you gave to our fathers.

41 “And as for the stranger, who is not of your people — [g] 42 when they come and pray toward this place, 43 you will hear them from heaven, from the dwelling place you have made ready, and do according to everything the stranger calls on you for, so that all the peoples may know your name and fear you, as your people Israel do, and may know that your name has been called upon this house that I have built.

44 “When your people go out to war against their enemies by the way you send them, and they pray in the name of the Lord, facing the city you have chosen and the house I have built for your name, 45 then you will hear their plea and their prayer from heaven, and you will uphold their right.

46 “If they sin against you — for there is no man who will not sin — and you bring it on them and hand them over before their enemies, and those who take them captive carry them off to a land far away or near, 47 and they turn their hearts in the land where they were carried, and turn back and plead with you in the land where they live as exiles, saying, ‘We have sinned, we have been lawless, we have done wrong,’ 48 and they turn back to you with their whole heart and their whole soul in the land of their enemies where you carried them away, and they pray to you facing their land that you gave to their fathers, and the city you have chosen, and the house I have built for your name, 49 then you will hear from heaven, from the dwelling place you have made ready, 50 and you will be merciful to the wrongs in which they sinned against you, and to all the ways they broke faith with you; and you will make them pitied by those who took them captive, and they will have compassion on them. 51 For they are your people and your inheritance, whom you brought out of the land of Egypt, out of the middle of the furnace for smelting iron.

52 “And let your eyes and your ears be open to the plea of your servant and to the plea of your people Israel, to hear them in everything for which they call on you, 53 because you set them apart for yourself as an inheritance out of all the peoples of the earth, as you spoke by the hand of your servant Moses, when you brought our fathers out of the land of Egypt, O Lord, Lord.” Then Solomon spoke concerning the house, when he had finished building it: [h]

54 And it happened, when Solomon had finished praying to the Lord all this prayer and plea, that he rose up from before the altar of the Lord, where he had been kneeling on his knees with his hands spread out toward heaven. † 55 And he stood and blessed the whole assembly of Israel with a loud voice, saying, 56 “Blessed be the Lord today, who has given rest to his people Israel, according to everything he said. Not one word has failed of all his good words, which he spoke by the hand of Moses his servant.

57 “May the Lord our God be with us, as he was with our fathers. May he not leave us, and may he not turn us away, 58 but incline our hearts toward him, to walk in all his ways and to keep all his commands and his decrees, which he commanded our fathers. 59 And let these words of mine, which I have pleaded before the Lord our God, be near to the Lord our God day and night, to uphold the right of your servant and the right of your people Israel — each day's matter on its own day — [i] 60 so that all the peoples of the earth may know that the Lord God — he is God, and there is no other. 61 And let our hearts be complete toward the Lord our God, walking devoutly in his decrees and keeping his commands, as it is this day.”

62 And the king and all the children of Israel offered sacrifice before the Lord. 63 And King Solomon offered the sacrifices of the peaceable offerings that he sacrificed to the Lord: twenty-two thousand oxen and a hundred and twenty thousand sheep. So the king and all the children of Israel dedicated the house of the Lord. 64 On that day the king made holy the middle of the court in front of the house of the Lord, because he made the whole burnt offering there, and the sacrifices, and the fat of the peaceable offerings — for the bronze altar that stood before the Lord was too small to take the whole burnt offering and the sacrifices of the peaceable offerings.

65 And Solomon kept the feast on that day, and all Israel with him — a great assembly, from the entrance of Hamath to the river of Egypt — before the Lord our God, in the house that he had built, eating and drinking and rejoicing before the Lord our God, seven days. 66 And on the eighth day he sent the people away, and he blessed them; and they went off, each to his own tent, rejoicing and glad in heart over the good things that the Lord had done for David his servant and for Israel his people. [j]