2 Chronicles 7

1 And when Solomon had finished praying, the fire came down out of heaven and devoured the whole burnt offerings and the sacrifices, and the glory of the Lord filled the house. 2 And the priests could not go into the house of the Lord at that time, because the glory of the Lord filled the house. 3 And all the children of Israel saw the fire coming down, and the glory of the Lord over the house; and they fell on their faces to the ground, on the stone pavement, and bowed down and praised the Lord: “for it is good, for his mercy is forever.” [a]

4 And the king and all the people were making sacrifices before the Lord. 5 And king Solomon sacrificed the sacrifice: twenty-two thousand young bulls and a hundred and twenty thousand animals from the flocks. So the king and all the people dedicated the house of God. [b] 6 And the priests were standing at their watches, and the Levites with the instruments for the songs of the Lord that belonged to David the king, to give thanks before the Lord — “for his mercy is forever” — with the hymns of David, at their hands; and the priests were sounding the trumpets in front of them, and all Israel was standing.

7 And Solomon made holy the middle of the court that was in the house of the Lord, because he made the whole burnt offerings there, and the fat of the offerings of well-being; for the bronze altar that Solomon had made was not big enough to take the whole burnt offerings and the grain offerings and the fat. [c] 8 And Solomon kept the feast at that time for seven days, and all Israel with him — a very great assembly, from the entrance of Hamath as far as the brook of Egypt. 9 And on the eighth day he made a closing day, for he had made the dedication of the altar a feast of seven days. [d] 10 And on the twenty-third day of the seventh month he sent the people away to their tents, rejoicing and with a glad heart over the good things that the Lord had done for David, and for Solomon, and for Israel his people.

11 And Solomon finished the house of the Lord and the house of the king; and everything that Solomon had it in his soul to do in the house of the Lord and in his own house, he prospered in. 12 And God appeared to Solomon in the night and said to him, “I have heard your prayer, and I have chosen this place for myself, for a house of sacrifice. [e] 13 If I hold back the heavens and no rain comes, and if I command the locust to devour the trees, and if I send death among my people, [f] 14 and if my people, on whom my name has been called, are ashamed, and pray, and seek my face, and turn away from their evil ways — then I will hear from heaven, and I will be merciful to their sins, and I will heal their land. [g] 15 Now my eyes will be open and my ears attentive to the prayer of this place. 16 And now I have chosen and made holy this house, for my name to be there forever; and my eyes and my heart will be there all the days.

17 And you — if you walk before me as David your father did, and do according to everything I have commanded you, and keep my decrees and my judgments, 18 then I will raise up the throne of your kingdom, as I made a covenant with David your father when I said, ‘A man ruling in Israel will never be taken away from you.’

19 But if you turn away, and abandon my decrees and my commands that I have set before you, and go and serve other gods and bow down to them, 20 then I will take you away from the land that I gave them; and this house, which I have made holy for my name, I will turn away from my face, and I will make it a byword and a story told among all the nations. [h] 21 And as for this house, which is high — everyone who passes by it will be stunned, and will say, ‘Why has the Lord done this to this land and to this house?’ 22 And they will say, ‘Because they abandoned the Lord, the God of their fathers, who brought them out of the land of Egypt, and they took hold of other gods and bowed down to them and served them — that is why he has brought all this harm on them.’”