1 Kings 8:1-39 ▼

1 Then Solomon gathered together the elders of Israel, including all the heads of the tribes and the leaders of the ancestral households of the Israelis, to meet with him in Jerusalem so they could bring up the Ark of the Covenant of the LORD from Zion, the City of David.

2 So all the men gathered together to meet with King Solomon at the Festival of Tents in the month Ethanim, the seventh month.

3 All the Elders of Israel showed up, and the priests picked up the ark

4 and brought it, the Tent of Meeting, and all the holy implements that were in the tent. The priests and descendants of Levi carried them up to Jerusalem.

5 King Solomon and the entire congregation of Israel that had assembled to be with him stood in front of the ark, sacrificing so many sheep and oxen that they were neither counted nor inventoried.

6 After this, the priests brought the Ark of the Covenant of the LORD to the place prepared for it, into the inner sanctuary of the Temple, under the wings of the cherubim in the Most Holy Place.

7 The wings of the cherubim spread over the resting place for the ark, so that the cherubim made a covering over the ark and its poles when viewed from above.

8 The poles extended so far that their ends could be seen from the Holy Place in front of the inner sanctuary, but they could not be seen from outside. They remain there to this day.

9 The ark was empty except for the two stone tablets that Moses had placed there at Horeb when the LORD had made a covenant with the Israelis after they had come out of the land of Egypt.

10 When the priests left the Holy Place after setting the ark in place, the cloud filled the LORD's Temple

11 so that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud, since the glory of the LORD filled the LORD's Temple.

12 Then Solomon said, |The LORD has said that he lives shrouded in darkness.

13 Now I have been constructing a magnificent Temple dedicated to you that will serve as a place for you to inhabit forever.|

14 Then the king turned to face the entire congregation of Israel while the congregation of Israel remained standing.

15 Then Solomon prayed: |Blessed is the LORD God of Israel, who made a commitment to my father David and then personally fulfilled what he had promised when he said:

16 From the day I brought out my people Israel from Egypt I never chose a city from all the tribes of Israel to build a temple where my name might reside. I have chosen David to be over my people Israel.'

17 |My father David wanted to build a temple for the name of the LORD God of Israel.

18 The LORD told my father David: 'Therefore, since you determined to build a temple for my name, you acted well, because it was your choice to do so.

19 Nevertheless, you are not to build the Temple, but your son who will be born to you is to build a temple for my name.'

20 |The LORD has brought to fulfillment what he promised, and now here I stand, having succeeded my father David to sit on the throne of Israel, as the LORD promised. I have built the Temple for the name of the LORD God of Israel.

21 I have placed there the ark in which the covenant is stored that the LORD made with our ancestors when he brought them out of the land of Egypt.|

22 Then Solomon took his place in front of the LORD's altar in the presence of the entire congregation of Israel, spread out his hands toward heaven,

23 and said: |LORD God of Israel, there is no one like you, God in heaven above or on the earth below, who watches over his covenant, showing gracious love to your servants who live their lives in your presence with all their hearts.

24 It is you, LORD God, who have kept your promise to my father, your servant David, that you made to him. Indeed, you made a commitment to my father David and then personally fulfilled what you had promised today.

25 |Now therefore, LORD God of Israel, keep your promise that you made to my father, your servant David, when you said, 'You will not lack a man to sit on the throne of Israel, if only your descendants will watch their lives, to live in my presence just as you have lived in my presence.'

26 |Now therefore, God of Israel, may your promise that you made to your servant David my father be fulfilled...

27 and yet, will God truly reside on earth? Look! Neither the sky nor the highest heaven can contain you! How much less this Temple that I have built!

28 Pay attention to the prayer of your servant and to his request, LORD my God, and listen to the cry and prayer that your servant is praying in your presence today.

29 Let your eyes always look toward this Temple night and day, toward the location where you have said 'My name will reside there.' Listen to the prayer that your servant prays in this direction.

30 Listen to the requests from your servant and from your people Israel as they pray in this direction, listen from the place where you reside in heaven, then hear and forgive.

31 |If a man should sin against his neighbor and he is required to take an oath, and he then comes to take an oath in front of your altar in this Temple,

32 then listen in heaven, act, and judge your servants, condemning the wicked by bringing back to him the consequences of his choices and by justifying the righteous by recompensing him according to his righteousness.

33 |If your people Israel are defeated in a battle with their enemy because they have sinned against you, when they return to you and confess to you, pray, and in this Temple they ask you to show grace to them,

34 then hear in heaven, forgive the sin of your people Israel, and return them to the soil that you gave to their ancestors.

35 |When heaven remains closed, and there is no rain because they have sinned against you, and they pray in the direction of this place, confessing your name and turning from their sin when you afflict them,

36 then hear in heaven and forgive the sin of your servants and of your people Israel. Indeed, teach them the best way to live and send rain on your land that you have given to your people as an inheritance.

37 |If a famine comes to the land, or if plant diseases, mildew, locust, or grasshoppers appear, or if their enemies attack them in their settlements of the land, no matter what the epidemic or illness is,

38 whatever prayer or request is made, no matter whether it's made by a single man or by all of your people Israel, each praying out of his own hurting heart and anguish and stretching out his hands toward this Temple,

39 then hear from heaven, the place where you reside, and forgive, repaying each person according to all of his ways, since you know their hearts—for you alone know the hearts of all human beings—