1 Kings 8 (ARST)

1Solomon then summoned to Jerusalem all the elders of Israel, all the leaders of the tribes and the leaders of the clans. He arranged for them to join in bringing to the temple Yahweh’ s sacred chest from Mount Zion, where it was in the part of the city called the city of David.At that time Solomon assembled before him in Jerusalem the elders of Israel—all the tribal heads and family leaders of the Israelites—to bring up the ark of the covenant of the LORD from Zion, the City of David.

2So all the Israelite leaders came to King Solomon during the Festival of Shelters, in the month of Ethanim.And all the men of Israel came together to King Solomon at the feast in the seventh month, the month of Ethanim.

3When they had all arrived, the priests lifted up the sacred chestWhen all the elders of Israel had arrived, the priests took up the ark,

4and brought it to the temple. Then the descendants of Levi who assisted the priests helped them to carry to the temple the sacred tent and all the sacred things that had been in the tent.and they brought up the ark of the LORD and the Tent of Meeting with all its sacred furnishings. So the priests and Levites carried them up.

5Then King Solomon and many of the Israelite people gathered in front of Yahweh’ s sacred chest. And they sacrificed a huge amount of sheep and oxen. No one was able to count the sacrifices because there were very many.There, before the ark, King Solomon and the whole congregation of Israel who had assembled with him sacrificed so many sheep and oxen that they could not be counted or numbered.

6Then the priests brought the sacred chest into the very holy place in the temple, and they placed it under the wings of the statues of the winged creatures.Then the priests brought the ark of the covenant of the LORD to its place in the inner sanctuary of the temple, the Most Holy Place, beneath the wings of the cherubim.

7The wings of those statues spread out over the sacred chest and over the poles by which it was carried.For the cherubim spread their wings over the place of the ark and overshadowed the ark and its poles.

8The poles were very long, with the result that the ends of the poles could be seen by people who were standing at the entrance to the very holy place, but they could not be seen by people standing outside the temple. Those poles are still there.The poles extended far enough that their ends were visible from the Holy Place in front of the inner sanctuary, but not from outside the Holy Place; and they are there to this day.

9The only things that were in the sacred chest were the two stone tablets that Moses had put there at Mount Sinai, where Yahweh made a covenant with the people after they left Egypt.There was nothing in the ark except the two stone tablets that Moses had placed in it at Horeb, where the LORD had made a covenant with the Israelites after they had come out of the land of Egypt.

10The priests put the sacred chest in the temple. When they came out of the holy place, suddenly it was filled with a cloud.And when the priests came out of the Holy Place, the cloud filled the house of the LORD

11The glory of Yahweh filled the temple, with the result that the priests were not able to continue their work.so that the priests could not stand there to minister because of the cloud. For the glory of the LORD filled the house of the LORD.

12Then Solomon prayed this:“Yahweh, you have placed the sun in the sky, but you have decided that you would live in very dark clouds.Then Solomon declared: “The LORD has said that He would dwell in the thick cloud.

13I have built for you a splendid temple, a place for you to live in forever.”I have indeed built You an exalted house, a place for You to dwell forever.”

14Then, while all the people stood there, the king turned around and faced them, and he asked God to bless them.And as the whole assembly of Israel stood there, the king turned around and blessed them all

15He said,“Praise Yahweh, the God to whom we Israelites belong! By his own power he has done what he promised to my father David. What he promised was this:and said: “Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel, who has fulfilled with His own hand what He spoke with His mouth to my father David, saying,

16From the time that I brought my people out of Egypt, I have never chosen any city in Israel in which a temple should be built for my people to worship me there. But I chose you, David, to rule my people.”‘Since the day I brought My people Israel out of Egypt, I have not chosen a city from any tribe of Israel in which to build a house so that My Name would be there. But I have chosen David to be over My people Israel.’

17Then Solomon said,“My father David wanted to build a temple in order that we Israelite people could worship Yahweh our God there.Now it was in the heart of my father David to build a house for the Name of the LORD, the God of Israel.

18But Yahweh said to him,‘You have wanted to build a temple for me, and what you wanted to do was good.But the LORD said to my father David, ‘Since it was in your heart to build a house for My Name, you have done well to have this in your heart.

19However, you are not the one who I want to build it. It is one of your sons who I want to build a temple for me.’Nevertheless, you are not the one to build it; but your son, your own offspring, will build the house for My Name.’

20And now Yahweh has done what he promised to do. I have become the king of Israel to succeed my father, and I am ruling my people, as Yahweh promised. I have arranged for this temple to be built for us Israelites to worship Yahweh, the God to whom we Israelites belong.Now the LORD has fulfilled the word that He spoke. I have succeeded my father David, and I sit on the throne of Israel, as the LORD promised. I have built the house for the Name of the LORD, the God of Israel.

21I have also provided a place in the temple for the sacred chest in which are the two stone tablets of the covenant that Yahweh made with our ancestors when he brought them out of Egypt.”And there I have provided a place for the ark, which contains the covenant of the LORD that He made with our fathers when He brought them out of the land of Egypt.”

22Then Solomon stood in front of the altar which was in front of the Israelite people who had gathered there. He spread out his arms toward heaven,Then Solomon stood before the altar of the LORD in front of the whole assembly of Israel, spread out his hands toward heaven,

23and he prayed,“Yahweh, the God whom we Israelite people worship, there is no god like you up in heaven or down here on the earth. You solemnly promised that you would faithfully love us. And that is what you have done for us who earnestly do what you want us to do.and said: “O LORD, God of Israel, there is no God like You in heaven above or on earth below, keeping Your covenant of loving devotion with Your servants who walk before You with all their hearts.

24You have done the things that you promised my father David, who served you very well, that you would do. Truly, you promised to do these things for him, and today we see that by your power you have done them.You have kept Your promise to Your servant, my father David. What You spoke with Your mouth You have fulfilled with Your hand this day.

25So now, Yahweh, the God whom we Israelites worship, I am requesting that you do the other things that you promised my father that you would do. You told him that there would always be some of his descendants who would be kings in Israel, if they would conduct their lives as he did.Therefore now, O LORD, God of Israel, keep for Your servant, my father David, what You promised when You said: ‘You will never fail to have a man to sit before Me on the throne of Israel, if only your descendants guard their way to walk before Me as you have done.’

26So now, God of us Israelite people, cause what you promised to do for my father David, who served you well, to happen.And now, O God of Israel, please confirm what You promised to Your servant, my father David.

27But God, will you really live on the earth among people? There is not enough space in heaven for you to have enough space to live there. So this temple that I have commanded my workers to build is certainly too small for you to live in.But will God indeed dwell upon the earth? The heavens, even the highest heavens, cannot contain You, much less this temple I have built.

28But Yahweh, my God, please listen to me while I am praying to you this day.Yet regard the prayer and plea of Your servant, O LORD my God, so that You may hear the cry and the prayer that Your servant is praying before You today.

29I pray that you would protect this temple night and day. This is the place about which you have said,‘I will always be there.’ I request that you listen to me whenever I turn my face toward this temple and pray.May Your eyes be open toward this temple night and day, toward the place of which You said, ‘My Name shall be there,’ so that You may hear the prayer that Your servant prays toward this place.

30I request that when I pray to you and your people pray to you while they turn their faces toward this place, that in your home in heaven you will hear us and forgive us for the sins that we have committed.Hear the plea of Your servant and of Your people Israel when they pray toward this place. May You hear from heaven, Your dwelling place. May You hear and forgive.

31Suppose that people accuse someone of doing something wrong to another person, and they bring him to your altar outside this holy temple. And suppose that he says,‘I did not do that; may God punish me if I am not telling the truth.’When a man sins against his neighbor and is required to take an oath, and he comes to take an oath before Your altar in this temple,

32In that case, listen from heaven and decide who is telling the truth. Then punish the person who is guilty as he deserves to be punished, and declare that the other person is innocent.then may You hear from heaven and act. May You judge Your servants, condemning the wicked man by bringing down on his own head what he has done, and justifying the righteous man by rewarding him according to his righteousness.

33Or suppose that your Israelite people are defeated by their enemies in a battle because they have sinned against you. Suppose also that they are forced to go to some distant country. Then suppose that they stop acting in a sinful way. Suppose that they face in the direction of this temple and acknowledge you have justly punished them. And suppose that they plead that you will forgive them.When Your people Israel are defeated before an enemy because they have sinned against You, and they return to You and confess Your name, praying and pleading with You in this temple,

34In that case, listen to them from heaven, forgive your Israelite people for the sins that they have committed, and bring them back to this land that you gave to our ancestors.then may You hear from heaven and forgive the sin of Your people Israel. May You restore them to the land You gave to their fathers.

35Or suppose that you do not allow any rain to fall because your people have sinned against you. Suppose that they face in the direction of this place and admit that you have justly punished them. Suppose also that they stop acting sinfully and humbly pray to you.When the skies are shut and there is no rain because Your people have sinned against You, and they pray toward this place and confess Your name, and they turn from their sins because You have afflicted them,

36In that case, listen to them in heaven and forgive your Israelite people for the sins that they have committed. Teach them the right way to conduct their lives, and then send rain on this land that you have given to your people to belong to them permanently.then may You hear from heaven and forgive the sin of Your servants, Your people Israel, so that You may teach them the good way in which they should walk. May You send rain on the land that You gave Your people as an inheritance.

37Suppose that the people of this land experience famine, or suppose that there is a plague by mildew or by locusts or grasshoppers. Or suppose that their enemies surround any of their cities in order to attack them. Suppose that any of those bad things happen to them.When famine or plague comes upon the land, or blight or mildew or locusts or grasshoppers, or when their enemy besieges them in their cities, whatever plague or sickness may come,

38And suppose that your Israelite people earnestly plead with you, because they know in their inner beings that they are suffering because they have sinned. Suppose that they stretch out their arms toward this temple and pray.then may whatever prayer or petition Your people Israel make—each knowing his own afflictions and spreading out his hands toward this temple—

39In that case, listen to them from your home in heaven, and forgive them, and help them. You are the only one who knows what people are thinking, so act toward each person as he needs,be heard by You from heaven, Your dwelling place. And may You forgive and act, and repay each man according to all his ways, since You know his heart—for You alone know the hearts of all men—

40in order that your people may then have an awesome respect for you all the years that they live in this land that you gave to our ancestors.so that they may fear You all the days they live in the land that You gave to our fathers.

41There will be some foreigners who do not belong to your Israelite people who will have come here from countries far away because they have heard that you are very great, and because they have heard about the great things that you have done for your people. Suppose that people like that come here to this temple to worship you and pray.And as for the foreigner who is not of Your people Israel but has come from a distant land because of Your name—

43In that case, in your home in heaven listen to their prayer, and do for them what they request you to do. Do that in order that all the people groups in the world will know about you and revere you, as we your Israelite people do. Then they will know that this temple that I have caused to be built to honor you belongs to you and is where you should be worshiped.then may You hear from heaven, Your dwelling place, and do according to all for which the foreigner calls to You. Then all the peoples of the earth will know Your name and fear You, as do Your people Israel, and they will know that this house I have built is called by Your Name.

44Suppose that you send your people to go to fight against their enemies. And suppose that your people pray to you, wherever they are, and that they turn toward this city that you have chosen and toward this temple that I have caused to be built for you.When Your people go to war against their enemies, wherever You send them, and when they pray to the LORD in the direction of the city You have chosen and the house I have built for Your Name,

45In that case, listen in heaven to their prayers. Listen to what they plead for you to do, and assist them.then may You hear from heaven their prayer and their plea, and may You uphold their cause.

46It is true that everyone sins. So, suppose that your people sin against you and that you become angry with them. You might allow their enemies to defeat them, capture them, and take them away to their own countries, even to countries that are far away.When they sin against You—for there is no one who does not sin—and You become angry with them and deliver them to an enemy who takes them as captives to his own land, whether far or near,

47And suppose that, while your people are in those countries to which they had to go, they sincerely repent and plead with you there saying,‘We have sinned and have done things that are very wicked.’and when they come to their senses in the land to which they were taken, and they repent and plead with You in the land of their captors, saying, ‘We have sinned and done wrong; we have acted wickedly,’

48Suppose that they very truly and sincerely repent while in the land of their enemies who captured them. And they turn toward this land that you gave to our ancestors. Suppose that they turn toward this city that you have chosen to be the place where we should worship you, and toward this temple that I have caused to be built for you. Suppose that they then pray to you.and when they return to You with all their heart and soul in the land of the enemies who took them captive, and when they pray to You in the direction of the land that You gave to their fathers, the city You have chosen, and the house I have built for Your Name,

49In that case, from your home in heaven listen to them while they plead for your help, and help them.then may You hear from heaven, Your dwelling place, their prayer and petition, and may You uphold their cause.

50Forgive them for all the sins that they have committed against you and cause their enemies to act kindly toward them.May You forgive Your people who have sinned against You and all the transgressions they have committed against You, and may You grant them compassion in the eyes of their captors to show them mercy.

51Do not forget that the Israelites are your people. They are your special possession. You brought our ancestors out of Egypt where they were greatly suffering as though they were in a blazing furnace.For they are Your people and Your inheritance; You brought them out of Egypt, out of the furnace for iron.

52I request that you always listen to your Israelite people and to their king, and heed their prayers whenever they call out to you to help them.May Your eyes be open to the pleas of Your servant and of Your people Israel, and may You listen to them whenever they call to You.

53You chose them from all the other people groups in the world to belong to you, which is what you told Moses to tell them when you brought our ancestors out of Egypt.”For You, O Lord GOD, have set them apart from all the peoples of the earth as Your inheritance, as You spoke through Your servant Moses when You brought our fathers out of Egypt.”

54After Solomon had finished praying this and pleading to Yahweh for his help, he stood up in front of the altar where he had been kneeling. He lifted up his arms.Now when Solomon had finished praying this entire prayer and petition to the LORD, he got up before the altar of the LORD, where he had been kneeling with his hands spread out toward heaven.

55Then he asked God to bless all the Israelite people. He prayed loudly, saying,And he stood and blessed the whole assembly of Israel in a loud voice, saying:

56“Praise Yahweh, who has given us his people peace, like he promised that he would do. He has done every one of the good things that he promised to Moses, the man who served him very well.“Blessed be the LORD, who has given rest to His people Israel according to all that He promised. Not one word has failed of all the good promises He made through His servant Moses.

57I pray that our God will be with us like he was with our ancestors, and that he will never, never abandon us.May the LORD our God be with us, as He was with our fathers. May He never leave us or forsake us.

58I pray that he will cause us to loyally serve him, to conduct our lives as he wants us to, and to obey all his commandments and statutes and decrees that he gave to our ancestors.May He incline our hearts to Himself, to walk in all His ways and to keep the commandments and statutes and ordinances He commanded our fathers.

59I pray that Yahweh our God will never forget these words that I have prayed, pleading for his help. I pray that he will think about them by day and by night. I pray that he will always act mercifully toward us Israelite people and toward our king, giving us the things that we need day by day.And may these words with which I have made my petition before the LORD be near to the LORD our God day and night, so that He may uphold the cause of His servant and of His people Israel as each day requires,

60If you do that, all the people groups in the world will know that you, Yahweh, are the only one who is God, and that there is no other one who is God.so that all the peoples of the earth may know that the LORD is God. There is no other!

61I pray that you, his people, will always be fully committed to Yahweh, and that you will obey all his statutes and commands, like you are doing now.”So let your heart be fully devoted to the LORD our God, as it is this day, to walk in His statutes and to keep His commandments.”

62Then the king and all the Israelite people who were there offered sacrifices to Yahweh.Then the king and all Israel with him offered sacrifices before the LORD.

63They sacrificed twenty- two thousand cattle and 120, 000 sheep to restore fellowship with Yahweh. Then the king and all the people dedicated the temple.And Solomon offered as peace offerings to the LORD 22,000 oxen and 120,000 sheep. So the king and all the Israelites dedicated the house of the LORD.

64On that day, the king also dedicated the middle part of the courtyard that was in front of the temple. Then he offered there sacrifices that would be completely burned on the altar, the offerings of flour and the fat of the animals that were sacrificed to restore fellowship with Yahweh. They sacrificed them there because the bronze altar was not big enough for all those sacrifices to be burned on it that day.On that same day the king consecrated the middle of the courtyard in front of the house of the LORD, and there he offered the burnt offerings, the grain offerings, and the fat of the peace offerings, since the bronze altar before the LORD was too small to contain all these offerings.

65Then Solomon and all the Israelite people celebrated the Festival of Shelters for seven days and then for another seven days, before the Lord, for a total of fourteen days. There was a huge crowd of people there, some of whom had come from distant places like Hamath in the far north and the border of Egypt in the far south.So at that time Solomon and all Israel with him—a great assembly of people from Lebo-hamath to the Brook of Egypt—kept the feast before the LORD our God for seven days and seven more days—fourteen days in all.

66On the final day, Solomon sent the people to their homes. They all praised him and went home happy because of all the things that Yahweh had done to bless David and his Israelite people.On the fifteenth day Solomon sent the people away. So they blessed the king and went home, joyful and glad in heart for all the good things that the LORD had done for His servant David and for His people Israel.

1 Kings 8

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1 Kings 8

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