CHAPTER 8

¹Then did Solomon assemble the elders of Israel, all the heads of the tribes, the patriarchal chieftains of the Israelites, round King Solomon in Jerusalem, to bring up the Ark of the Covenant of the LORD from the City of David, which is Zion. ²And every man of Israel assembled round Solomon in the month of Ethanim, which is the seventh month, at the festival. ³And all the elders of Israel came, and the priests carried the Ark. ⁴And they brought up the Ark of the LORD and the Tent of Meeting and all the sacred vessels that were in the Tent, and the priests and the Levites brought them up. ⁵And King Solomon and all the community of Israel who had gathered round him were with him before the Ark, sacrificing sheep and oxen that could not be numbered for their abundance. ⁶And the priests brought the Ark of the Covenant of the LORD to its place, to the sanctuary of the house, to the Holy of Holies, beneath the wings of the cherubim. ⁷For the cherubim spread wings over the place of the Ark, and the cherubim sheltered the Ark and its poles from above. ⁸And the poles extended, and the ends of the poles could be seen from the Holy Place in the front of the sanctuary, but they could not be seen from without, and they have been there to this day. ⁹There was nothing in the Ark except the two stone tablets that Moses had put there on Horeb, which the LORD had sealed as a covenant with the Israelites when they came out of the land of Egypt. ¹⁰And it happened when the priests came out of the Holy Place, that a cloud filled the house of the LORD. ¹¹And the priests could not stand up to minister because of the cloud, for the LORD’s glory filled the house of the LORD. ¹²Then did Solomon say:

                 “The LORD meant to abide in thick fog.

                     ¹³I indeed have built You a lofty house,

                         a firm place for Your dwelling forever.”

¹⁴And the king turned his face and blessed all the assembly of Israel with all the assembly of Israel standing. ¹⁵And he said: “Blessed is the LORD God of Israel Who spoke with His own mouth to David my father, and with His own hand has fulfilled it, saying, ‘¹⁶From the day that I brought out My people Israel from Egypt, I have not chosen a town from all the tribes of Israel to build a house for My name to be there, but I chose David to be over My people Israel.’ ¹⁷And it was in the heart of David my father to build a house for the name of the LORD God of Israel. ¹⁸And the LORD said to David my father, ‘Inasmuch as it was in your heart to build a house for My name, you have done well, for it was in your heart. ¹⁹Only you will not build the house, but your son, who issues from your loins, he will build the house for My name.’ ²⁰And the LORD has fulfilled His word that He spoke, and I arose in place of David my father and sat on the throne of Israel as the LORD spoke and I have built the house for the name of the LORD God of Israel. ²¹And I have set there a place for the Ark in which is the covenant of the LORD that He sealed with our fathers when He brought them out of the land of Egypt.” ²²And Solomon stood before the LORD’s altar over against all the assembly of Israel and spread his palms toward the heavens. ²³And he said, “LORD God of Israel! There is no god like You in the heavens above and on the earth below, keeping the covenant and the kindness for Your servants who walk before You with all their heart, ²⁴which You kept for David my father, what You spoke to him, and You spoke with Your own mouth, and with Your own hand You fulfilled it, as on this day. ²⁵And now, LORD God of Israel, keep for Your servant David my father what You spoke to him, saying, ‘No man of yours will be cut off from before Me, sitting on the throne of Israel, if only your sons will keep their way to walk before Me as you have walked before Me.’ ²⁶And now, God of Israel, may Your words, pray, be shown true that You spoke to David my father. ²⁷But can God really dwell on earth? Look, the heavens and the heavens beyond the heavens cannot contain You. How much less this house that I have built. ²⁸Yet turn to the prayer of Your servant and to his plea, LORD God of Israel, to hearken to the glad song and to the prayer that Your servant prays before You today, ²⁹so that Your eyes be open to this house night and day, to this place of which You have said, ‘My name is there,’ to hearken to the prayer that Your servant prays in this place. ³⁰And may You hearken to the plea of Your servant and of Your people Israel, which they will pray in this place, and may You hearken in Your dwelling place in the heavens, and hearken and forgive ³¹what a man offends against his fellow and bears an oath against him to bring a curse on him, and the oath comes before Your altar in this house. ³²But You will hearken in the heavens and judge Your servant to condemn the guilty, to bring down his way on his head, and to vindicate him who is right, to mete out to him according to his righteousness. ³³When Your people Israel are routed by an enemy, for they will offend You, and they come back to You and acclaim Your name and pray and plead to You in this house, ³⁴You will hearken in the heavens and forgive the offense of Your people Israel, and bring them back to the land that You gave to their fathers. ³⁵When the heavens are shut up and there is no rain, for the Israelites will have offended against You, and they pray in this place and acclaim Your name, You shall forgive the offense of Your servants and turn back from their offense, for You will answer them. ³⁶You will hearken in the heavens and forgive the offense of Your servants, Your people Israel, for You will teach them the good way in which they should walk, and You will give rain upon Your land that You have given to Your people in estate. ³⁷Should there be famine in the land, should there be plague, blight, mildew, locusts, caterpillars, should his enemy besiege him in the gates of his land, any affliction, any disease, ³⁸any prayer, any plea that any man have in all Your people Israel, that every man know his heart’s affliction, he shall spread out his palms in this house. ³⁹And You shall hearken in the heavens, the firm place of Your dwelling, and You shall forgive and act and give to a man according to his ways, as You know his heart, for You alone know the heart of all men. ⁴⁰So that they may fear You all the days that they live on the land that You gave to their fathers. ⁴¹And the foreigner, too, who is not from Your people Israel and has come from a distant land for the sake of Your name, ⁴²if he hearkens to Your great name and Your strong hand and Your outstretched arm and comes and prays in this house, ⁴³You will hearken in the heavens, the firm place of Your dwelling and do as all that the foreigner will call out to You, so that all the peoples of the earth may know Your name to fear You as does Your people Israel, to know that Your name has been called on this house that I have built. ⁴⁴Should your people go out to battle against its enemy on the way that You send them, they shall pray to the LORD through the city that You have chosen and the house that I have built for Your name. ⁴⁵And You shall hearken in the heavens to their prayer and to their plea, and You shall do justice for them. ⁴⁶Should they offend against You, for there is no man who does not offend, and You are furious with them and give them to the enemy, and their captors take them off to a distant or nearby land, ⁴⁷and they turn their heart back to You in the land in which they are captive, and turn back to You and plead with You in the land of their captors, saying, ‘We have offended and have done wrong, we have been evil,’ ⁴⁸and they turn back to You with all their heart and all their being in the land of their enemies who took them in captivity, and they pray to you through their land that You gave to their fathers, the city that You chose and the house that I have built for Your name, ⁴⁹You shall hearken from the heavens, the firm place of Your dwelling, to their prayer and to their plea, and do justice for them. ⁵⁰And You shall forgive Your people who have offended against you for all their crimes that they committed, and You shall grant them mercy before their captors, who will have mercy upon them. ⁵¹For they are Your people and Your estate that You brought out of the land of Egypt from the forge of iron. ⁵²So that Your eyes be open to the plea of Your servant and the pleas of Your people Israel, to listen to them whenever they call to You. ⁵³For You set them apart for You as an estate from all the peoples of the earth as You spoke through Moses Your servant when You brought out our fathers from Egypt, O Master LORD.” ⁵⁴And it happened when Solomon finished praying to the LORD all this prayer and plea, that he rose from before the LORD’s altar from kneeling on his knees with his palms stretched out to the heavens. ⁵⁵And he stood and blessed all the assembly of Israel in a loud voice, saying: ⁵⁶“Blessed is the LORD Who has granted to his people Israel as all that He spoke. Not a single thing has failed of all His good word that He spoke through Moses His servant. ⁵⁷May the LORD our God be with us as He was with our Fathers. May He not forsake us and not abandon us, ⁵⁸to incline our heart to Him to walk in all His ways and to keep His commands and His statutes and His laws with which He charged our fathers. ⁵⁹And may these words that I pleaded before the LORD be near the LORD our God day and night to do justice for His servant and justice for His people Israel day after day, ⁶⁰so that all the peoples of the earth may know that the LORD is our God, there is none else. ⁶¹And may your heart be whole with the LORD our God to walk in His statutes and to keep His commands as on this day.” ⁶²And the king and all Israel with him were offering sacrifice before the LORD. ⁶³And Solomon offered up the well-being sacrifices that he sacrificed to the LORD, twenty-two thousand oxen and a hundred twenty thousand sheep. And the king and all the Israelites dedicated the house of the LORD. ⁶⁴On that day the king sanctified the midst of the court that was before the house of the LORD, for he did there the burnt offering and the grain offering and the fat of the well-being sacrifices. For the bronze altar that was before the LORD was too small to hold the burnt offering and the grain offering and the fat of the well-being sacrifices. ⁶⁵And at that time Solomon performed the festival and all Israel his people was with him, a great assembly from Lebo-Hamath to the Wadi of Egypt, seven days and seven days—fourteen days. ⁶⁶On the seventh day he sent off the people, and they blessed the king and went to their tents, rejoicing and of good cheer over all the good that the LORD had done for David his servant and for Israel His people.