CHAPTER 7

¹And when Solomon finished praying, fire came down from the heavens and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices, and the glory of the LORD filled the house. ²And the priests could not come into the house, for the glory of the LORD filled the house of the LORD. ³And all the Israelites were looking on as the fire and the glory of the LORD came down upon the house, and they kneeled with their faces to the ground on the pavement and bowed down, acclaiming the LORD, “For He is good, for His kindness is forever.” ⁴And the king and all the people were offering sacrifices before the LORD. ⁵And the king offered a sacrifice of twenty-two thousand cattle and a hundred twenty thousand sheep, and the king and all the people dedicated the house of God. ⁶And the priests were standing on their watches and the Levites with their instruments of song that David had made to acclaim the LORD, “For His kindness is forever” as David praised with them, and the priests were blowing the trumpets over against them, and all Israel was standing. ⁷And Solomon consecrated the midst of the court that was before the house of God, for there he did the burnt offerings and the fat of the well-being sacrifices. For the bronze altar that Solomon had made could not contain the burnt offering and the grain offering and the fat. ⁸And at that time Solomon performed the festival seven days, and all Israel his people was with him, a very great assembly from Lebo-Hamath to the Wadi of Egypt. ⁹And they made a solemn convocation on the eighth day, for they had performed the dedication of the house seven days, and the festival was seven days. ¹⁰And on the twenty-third day of the seventh month he sent off the people to their tents joyful and of good cheer over the good that the LORD had done for David and for Solomon and for Israel His people. ¹¹And Solomon finished the house of the LORD and the house of the king, and in all that had come to Solomon’s mind to do in the house of the LORD and in his house he prospered. ¹²And the LORD appeared to Solomon in the night, and He said to him, “I have hearkened to your prayer and chosen this place for Me as a house of sacrifice. ¹³Should I shut the heavens and there be no rain, and should I summon the locusts to consume the land, and should I send the plague against My people, ¹⁴My people on whom My name is called shall humble themselves and pray and seek My presence and turn back from their evil ways, and I will hearken from the heavens and forgive their offense and heal their land. ¹⁵Now, My eyes shall be open and My ears attentive to the prayer of this place. ¹⁶And now, I have chosen and consecrated this house for My name to be there forever, and My eyes and My heart shall be there forever. ¹⁷As for you, if you walk before Me as David your father did, to do as all I have charged and you keep My statutes and My laws, ¹⁸I shall raise up the throne of your kingship as I sealed a covenant with David your father, saying, ‘No ruling man of you in Israel shall be cut off.’ ¹⁹But if you turn back and forsake My statutes and My commands that I have given to you and go and serve other gods and bow down to them, ²⁰I will uproot you from My land that I gave to you, and this house that I have consecrated to My name I will fling away from My presence and turn it into a byword and a mockery among all the peoples. ²¹And this house that was exalted, all who pass by it will be dismayed and say, ‘Why did the LORD do this to this land?’ ²²And they will say, ‘Because they forsook the LORD, God of their fathers, Who brought them out of the land of Egypt, and they held fast to other gods and bowed down to them and served them. Therefore has He brought upon them all this harm.’”