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| 1[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 1Then Solomon convened in Jerusalem Israel's elders, all the leaders of the Israelite tribes and families, so they could witness the transferal of the ark of the LORD's covenant from the city of David (that is, Zion). |
| 2[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 2All the men of Israel assembled before King Solomon during the festival in the month Ethanim (the seventh month). |
| 3[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 3When all Israel's elders had arrived, the priests lifted the ark. |
| 4[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 4The priests and Levites carried the ark of the LORD, the tent of meeting, and all the holy items in the tent. |
| 5[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 5Now King Solomon and all the Israelites who had assembled with him went on ahead of the ark and sacrificed more sheep and cattle than could be counted or numbered. |
| 6[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 6The priests brought the ark of the LORD's covenant to its assigned place in the inner sanctuary of the temple, in the most holy place, under the wings of the cherubs. |
| 7[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 7The cherubs' wings extended over the place where the ark sat; the cherubs overshadowed the ark and its poles. |
| 8[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 8The poles were so long their ends were visible from the holy place in front of the inner sanctuary, but they could not be seen from beyond that point. They have remained there to this very day. |
| 9[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 9There was nothing in the ark except the two stone tablets Moses had placed there in Horeb. It was there that the LORD made an agreement with the Israelites after he brought them out of the land of Egypt. |
| 10[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 10Once the priests left the holy place, a cloud filled the LORD's temple. |
| 11[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 11The priests could not carry out their duties because of the cloud; the LORD's glory filled his temple. |
| 12[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 12Then Solomon said, "The LORD has said that he lives in thick darkness. |
| 13[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 13O LORD, truly I have built a lofty temple for you, a place where you can live permanently." |
| 14[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 14Then the king turned around and pronounced a blessing over the whole Israelite assembly as they stood there. |
| 15[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 15He said, "The LORD God of Israel is worthy of praise because he has fulfilled what he promised my father David. |
| 16[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 16He told David, 'Since the day I brought my people Israel out of Egypt, I have not chosen a city from all the tribes of Israel to build a temple in which to live. But I have chosen David to lead my people Israel.' |
| 17[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 17Now my father David had a strong desire to build a temple to honor the LORD God of Israel. |
| 18[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 18The LORD told my father David, 'It is right for you to have a strong desire to build a temple to honor me. |
| 19[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 19But you will not build the temple; your very own son will build the temple for my honor.' |
| 20[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 20The LORD has kept the promise he made. I have taken my father David's place and have occupied the throne of Israel, as the LORD promised. I have built this temple for the honor of the LORD God of Israel |
| 21[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 21and set up in it a place for the ark containing the covenant the LORD made with our ancestors when he brought them out of the land of Egypt." |
| 22[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 22Solomon stood before the altar of the LORD in front of the entire assembly of Israel and spread out his hands toward the sky. |
| 23[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 23He prayed: "O LORD, God of Israel, there is no god like you in heaven above or on earth below! You maintain covenantal loyalty to your servants who obey you with sincerity. |
| 24[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 24You have kept your word to your servant, my father David; this very day you have fulfilled what you promised. |
| 25[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 25Now, O LORD, God of Israel, keep the promise you made to your servant, my father David, when you said, 'You will never fail to have a successor ruling before me on the throne of Israel, provided that your descendants watch their step and serve me as you have done.' |
| 26[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 26Now, O God of Israel, may the promise you made to your servant, my father David, be realized. |
| 27[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 27"God does not really live on the earth! Look, if the sky and the highest heaven cannot contain you, how much less this temple I have built! |
| 28[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 28But respond favorably to your servant's prayer and his request for help, O LORD my God. Answer the desperate prayer your servant is presenting to you today. |
| 29[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 29Night and day may you watch over this temple, the place where you promised you would live. May you answer your servant's prayer for this place. |
| 30[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 30Respond to the request of your servant and your people Israel for this place. Hear from inside your heavenly dwelling place and respond favorably. |
| 31[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 31"When someone is accused of sinning against his neighbor and the latter pronounces a curse on the alleged offender before your altar in this temple, be willing to forgive the accused if the accusation is false. |
| 32[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 32Listen from heaven and make a just decision about your servants' claims. Condemn the guilty party, declare the other innocent, and give both of them what they deserve. |
| 33[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 33"The time will come when your people Israel are defeated by an enemy because they sinned against you. If they come back to you, renew their allegiance to you, and pray for your help in this temple, |
| 34[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 34then listen from heaven, forgive the sin of your people Israel, and bring them back to the land you gave to their ancestors. |
| 35[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 35"The time will come when the skies are shut up tightly and no rain falls because your people sinned against you. When they direct their prayers toward this place, renew their allegiance to you, and turn away from their sin because you punish them, |
| 36[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 36then listen from heaven and forgive the sin of your servants, your people Israel. Certainly you will then teach them the right way to live and send rain on your land that you have given your people to possess. |
| 37[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 37"The time will come when the land suffers from a famine, a plague, blight and disease, or a locust invasion, or when their enemy lays siege to the cities of the land, or when some other type of plague or epidemic occurs. |
| 38[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 38When all your people Israel pray and ask for help, as they acknowledge their pain and spread out their hands toward this temple, |
| 39[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 39then listen from your heavenly dwelling place, forgive their sin, and act favorably toward each one based on your evaluation of his motives. (Indeed you are the only one who can correctly evaluate the motives of all people.) |
| 40[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 40Then they will obey you throughout their lifetimes as they live on the land you gave to our ancestors. |
| 41[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 41"Foreigners, who do not belong to your people Israel, will come from a distant land because of your reputation. |
| 42[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 42When they hear about your great reputation and your ability to accomplish mighty deeds, they will come and direct their prayers toward this temple. |
| 43[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 43Then listen from your heavenly dwelling place and answer all the prayers of the foreigners. Then all the nations of the earth will acknowledge your reputation, obey you like your people Israel do, and recognize that this temple I built belongs to you. |
| 44[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 44"When you direct your people to march out and fight their enemies, and they direct their prayers to the LORD toward his chosen city and this temple I built for your honor, |
| 45[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 45then listen from heaven to their prayers for help and vindicate them. |
| 46[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 46"The time will come when your people will sin against you (for there is no one who is sinless!) and you will be angry with them and deliver them over to their enemies, who will take them as prisoners to their own land, whether far away or close by. |
| 47[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 47When your people come to their senses in the land where they are held prisoner, they will repent and beg for your mercy in the land of their imprisonment, admitting, 'We have sinned and gone astray; we have done evil.' |
| 48[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 48When they return to you with all their heart and being in the land where they are held prisoner, and direct their prayers to you toward the land you gave to their ancestors, your chosen city, and the temple I built for your honor, |
| 49[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 49then listen from your heavenly dwelling place to their prayers for help and vindicate them. |
| 50[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 50Forgive all the rebellious acts of your sinful people and cause their captors to have mercy on them. |
| 51[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 51After all, they are your people and your special possession whom you brought out of Egypt, from the middle of the iron-smelting furnace. |
| 52[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 52"May you be attentive to your servant's and your people Israel's requests for help and may you respond to all their prayers to you. |
| 53[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 53After all, you picked them out of all the nations of the earth to be your special possession, just as you, O sovereign LORD, announced through your servant Moses when you brought our ancestors out of Egypt." |
| 54[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 54When Solomon finished presenting all these prayers and requests to the LORD, he got up from before the altar of the LORD where he had kneeled and spread out his hands toward the sky. |
| 55[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 55When he stood up, he pronounced a blessing over the entire assembly of Israel, saying in a loud voice: |
| 56[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 56"The LORD is worthy of praise because he has made Israel his people secure just as he promised! Not one of all the faithful promises he made through his servant Moses is left unfulfilled! |
| 57[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 57May the LORD our God be with us, as he was with our ancestors. May he not abandon us or leave us. |
| 58[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 58May he make us submissive, so we can follow all his instructions and obey the commandments, rules, and regulations he commanded our ancestors. |
| 59[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 59May the LORD our God be constantly aware of these requests of mine I have presented to him, so that he might vindicate his servant and his people Israel as the need arises. |
| 60[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 60Then all the nations of the earth will recognize that the LORD is the only genuine God. |
| 61[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 61May you demonstrate wholehearted devotion to the LORD our God by following his rules and obeying his commandments, as you are presently doing." |
| 62[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 62The king and all Israel with him were presenting sacrifices to the LORD. |
| 63[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 63Solomon offered as peace offerings to the LORD 22,000 cattle and 120,000 sheep. Then the king and all the Israelites dedicated the LORD's temple. |
| 64[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 64That day the king consecrated the middle of the courtyard that is in front of the LORD's temple. He offered there burnt sacrifices, grain offerings, and the fat from the peace offerings, because the bronze altar that stood before the LORD was too small to hold all these offerings. |
| 65[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 65At that time Solomon and all Israel with him celebrated a festival before the LORD our God for two entire weeks. This great assembly included people from all over the land, from Lebo Hamath in the north to the Brook of Egypt in the south. |
| 66[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 66On the fifteenth day after the festival started, he dismissed the people. They asked God to empower the king and then went to their homes, happy and content because of all the good the LORD had done for his servant David and his people Israel. |
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