1 Then Solomon assembled the elders of Israel, and all the heads of
the tribes, the princes of the fathers’ houses of the children of
Israel, to king Solomon in Jerusalem, to bring up the ark of the covenant of
Yahweh out of the city of David, which is Zion. 2 All the men of Israel
assembled themselves to king Solomon at the feast, in the month Ethanim,
which is the seventh month. 3 All the elders of Israel came, and the
priests took up the ark. 4 They brought up the ark of Yahweh, and the tent
of meeting, and all the holy vessels that were in the Tent; even these did
the priests and the Levites bring up. 5 King Solomon and all the
congregation of Israel, who were assembled to him, were with him before the
ark, sacrificing sheep and oxen, that could not be counted nor numbered for
multitude. 6 The priests brought in the ark of the covenant of Yahweh to
its place, into the oracle of the house, to the most holy place, even under
the wings of the cherubim. 7 For the cherubim spread forth their wings
over the place of the ark, and the cherubim covered the ark and the poles of
it above. 8 The poles were so long that the ends of the poles were seen
from the holy place before the oracle; but they were not seen outside: and
there they are to this day. 9 There was nothing in the ark save the two
tables of stone which Moses put there at Horeb, when Yahweh made a covenant
with the children of Israel, when they came out of the land of Egypt.
10 It came to pass, when the priests were come out of the holy place, that
the cloud filled the house of Yahweh, 11 so that the priests could not
stand to minister by reason of the cloud; for the glory of Yahweh filled the
house of Yahweh. 12 Then spoke Solomon, Yahweh has said that he would
dwell in the thick darkness. 13 I have surely built you a house of
habitation, a place for you to dwell in forever. 14 The king turned his
face about, and blessed all the assembly of Israel: and all the assembly of
Israel stood. 15 He said, Blessed be Yahweh, the God of Israel, who spoke
with his mouth to David your father, and has with his hand fulfilled it,
saying, 16 Since the day that I brought forth my people Israel out of
Egypt, I chose no city out of all the tribes of Israel to build a house, that
my name might be there; but I chose David to be over my people Israel.
17 Now it was in the heart of David my father to build a house for the
name of Yahweh, the God of Israel. 18 But Yahweh said to David my father,
Whereas it was in your heart to build a house for my name, you did well that
it was in your heart: 19 nevertheless you shall not build the house; but
your son who shall come forth out of your loins, he shall build the house for
my name. 20 Yahweh has established his word that he spoke; for I am risen
up in the room of David my father, and sit on the throne of Israel, as Yahweh
promised, and have built the house for the name of Yahweh, the God of Israel.
21 There have I set a place for the ark, in which is the covenant of
Yahweh, which he made with our fathers, when he brought them out of the land
of Egypt. 22 Solomon stood before the altar of Yahweh in the presence of
all the assembly of Israel, and spread forth his hands toward heaven;
23 and he said, Yahweh, the God of Israel, there is no God like you,
in heaven above, or on earth beneath; who keep covenant and loving kindness
with your servants, who walk before you with all their heart; 24 who have
kept with your servant David my father that which you did promise him: yes,
you spoke with your mouth, and have fulfilled it with your hand, as it is
this day. 25 Now therefore, Yahweh, the God of Israel, keep with your
servant David my father that which you have promised him, saying, There shall
not fail you a man in my sight to sit on the throne of Israel, if only your
children take heed to their way, to walk before me as you have walked before
me. 26 Now therefore, God of Israel, Please let your word be verified,
which you spoke to your servant David my father. 27 But will God in very
deed dwell on the earth? behold, heaven and the heaven of heavens can’t
contain you; how much less this house that I have built! 28 Yet have
respect for the prayer of your servant, and for his supplication, Yahweh
my God, to listen to the cry and to the prayer which your servant prays
before you this day; 29 that your eyes may be open toward this house night
and day, even toward the place whereof you have said, My name shall be there;
to listen to the prayer which your servant shall pray toward this place.
30 Listen you to the supplication of your servant, and of your people
Israel, when they shall pray toward this place: yes, hear in heaven, your
dwelling-place; and when you hear, forgive. 31 If a man sin against his
neighbor, and an oath be laid on him to cause him to swear, and he come
and swear before your altar in this house; 32 then hear you in
heaven, and do, and judge your servants, condemning the wicked, to bring his
way on his own head, and justifying the righteous, to give him according to
his righteousness. 33 When your people Israel are struck down before the
enemy, because they have sinned against you; if they turn again to you, and
confess your name, and pray and make supplication to you in this house:
34 then hear you in heaven, and forgive the sin of your people Israel, and
bring them again to the land which you gave to their fathers. 35 When the
sky is shut up, and there is no rain, because they have sinned against you;
if they pray toward this place, and confess your name, and turn from their
sin, when you do afflict them: 36 then hear in heaven, and forgive the sin
of your servants, and of your people Israel, when you teach them the good way
in which they should walk; and send rain on your land, which you have given
to your people for an inheritance. 37 If there be in the land famine, if
there be pestilence, if there be blasting or mildew, locust
or caterpillar; if their enemy besiege them in the land of their
cities; whatever plague, whatever sickness there be; 38 whatever prayer
and supplication be made by any man, or by all your people Israel,
who shall know every man the plague of his own heart, and spread forth his
hands toward this house: 39 then hear in heaven, your dwelling-place, and
forgive, and do, and render to every man according to all his ways, whose
heart you know; (for you, even you only, know the hearts of all the children
of men;) 40 that they may fear you all the days that they live in the land
which you gave to our fathers. 41 Moreover concerning the foreigner, who
is not of your people Israel, when he shall come out of a far country for
your name’s sake 42 (for they shall hear of your great name, and of your
mighty hand, and of your outstretched arm); when he shall come and pray
toward this house; 43 hear in heaven, your dwelling-place, and do
according to all that the foreigner calls to you for; that all the peoples of
the earth may know your name, to fear you, as does your people Israel, and
that they may know that this house which I have built is called by my name.
44 If your people go out to battle against their enemy, by whatever way
you shall send them, and they pray to Yahweh toward the city which you have
chosen, and toward the house which I have built for your name; 45 then
hear in heaven their prayer and their supplication, and maintain their cause.
46 If they sin against you (for there is no man who doesn’t sin), and you
are angry with them, and deliver them to the enemy, so that they carry them
away captive to the land of the enemy, far off or near; 47 yet if they
shall repent themselves in the land where they are carried captive, and turn
again, and make supplication to you in the land of those who carried them
captive, saying, We have sinned, and have done perversely, we have dealt
wickedly; 48 if they return to you with all their heart and with all their
soul in the land of their enemies, who carried them captive, and pray to you
toward their land, which you gave to their fathers, the city which you have
chosen, and the house which I have built for your name: 49 then hear you
their prayer and their supplication in heaven, your dwelling-place, and
maintain their cause; 50 and forgive your people who have sinned against
you, and all their transgressions in which they have transgressed against
you; and give them compassion before those who carried them captive, that
they may have compassion on them 51 (for they are your people, and your
inheritance, which you brought forth out of Egypt, from the midst of the
furnace of iron); 52 that your eyes may be open to the supplication of
your servant, and to the supplication of your people Israel, to listen to
them whenever they cry to you. 53 For you did separate them from among all
the peoples of the earth, to be your inheritance, as you spoke by Moses your
servant, when you brought our fathers out of Egypt, Lord Yahweh. 54 It was
so, that when Solomon had made an end of praying all this prayer and
supplication to Yahweh, he arose from before the altar of Yahweh, from
kneeling on his knees with his hands spread forth toward heaven. 55 He
stood, and blessed all the assembly of Israel with a loud voice, saying,
56 Blessed be Yahweh, who has given rest to his people Israel, according
to all that he promised: there has not failed one word of all his good
promise, which he promised by Moses his servant. 57 Yahweh our God be with
us, as he was with our fathers: let him not leave us, nor forsake us;
58 that he may incline our hearts to him, to walk in all his ways, and to
keep his commandments, and his statutes, and his ordinances, which he
commanded our fathers. 59 Let these my words, with which I have made
supplication before Yahweh, be near to Yahweh our God day and night, that he
maintain the cause of his servant, and the cause of his people Israel, as
every day shall require; 60 that all the peoples of the earth may know
that Yahweh, he is God; there is none else. 61 Let your heart therefore be
perfect with Yahweh our God, to walk in his statutes, and to keep his
commandments, as at this day. 62 The king, and all Israel with him,
offered sacrifice before Yahweh. 63 Solomon offered for the sacrifice of
peace-offerings, which he offered to Yahweh, two and twenty thousand oxen,
and one hundred twenty thousand sheep. So the king and all the children of
Israel dedicated the house of Yahweh. 64 The same day did the king make
the middle of the court holy that was before the house of Yahweh; for there
he offered the burnt offering, and the meal-offering, and the fat of the
peace-offerings, because the brazen altar that was before Yahweh was too
little to receive the burnt offering, and the meal-offering, and the fat of
the peace-offerings. 65 So Solomon held the feast at that time, and all
Israel with him, a great assembly, from the entrance of Hamath to the brook
of Egypt, before Yahweh our God, seven days and seven days, even fourteen
days. 66 On the eighth day he sent the people away; and they blessed the
king, and went to their tents joyful and glad of heart for all the goodness
that Yahweh had shown to David his servant, and to Israel his people.
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