Fire from Heaven (Psalm 136:1–26)
1 CPDV And when Solomon had completed pouring out his prayers, fire descended from heaven, and it devoured the holocausts and the victims. And the majesty of the Lord filled the house. BSB BSB: When Solomon had finished praying, fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices, and the glory of the LORD filled the temple.
2 CPDV Neither were the priests able to enter into the temple of the Lord, because the majesty of the Lord had filled the temple of the Lord. BSB BSB: The priests were unable to enter the house of the LORD, because the glory of the LORD had filled it.
3 CPDV Moreover, all the sons of Israel saw the fire descending, and the glory of the Lord upon the house. And falling prone upon the ground, on the layer of pavement stones, they adored and praised the Lord: “For he is good. For his mercy is everlasting.” BSB BSB: When all the Israelites saw the fire coming down and the glory of the LORD above the temple, they bowed down on the pavement with their faces to the ground, and they worshiped and gave thanks to the LORD: “For He is good; His loving devotion endures forever.”
Sacrifices of Dedication (1 Kings 8:62–66)
4 CPDV Then the king and all the people were immolating victims before the Lord. BSB BSB: Then the king and all the people offered sacrifices before the LORD.
5 CPDV And so, king Solomon slaughtered victims: twenty-two thousand oxen, and one hundred twenty thousand rams. And the king and the entire people dedicated the house of God. BSB BSB: And King Solomon offered a sacrifice of 22,000 oxen and 120,000 sheep. So the king and all the people dedicated the house of God.
6 CPDV Then the priests and the Levites were standing in their offices, with the instruments of music for the Lord, which king David made in order to praise the Lord: “For his mercy is eternal.” And they were playing the hymns of David with their hands. And the priests were sounding out with trumpets before them, and all of Israel was standing. BSB BSB: The priests stood at their posts, as did the Levites with the musical instruments of the LORD, which King David had made for giving thanks to the LORD and with which David had offered praise, saying, “For His loving devotion endures forever.” Across from the Levites, the priests sounded trumpets, and all the Israelites were standing.
7 CPDV Also, Solomon sanctified the middle of the atrium in front of the temple of the Lord. For he had offered the holocausts and the fat of peace offerings in that place because the bronze altar, which he had made, had not been able to support the holocausts and the sacrifices and the fat. BSB BSB: Then Solomon consecrated the middle of the courtyard in front of the house of the LORD, and there he offered the burnt offerings and the fat of the peace offerings, since the bronze altar he had made could not hold all these offerings.
8 CPDV Therefore, Solomon kept the solemnity, at that time, for seven days, and all of Israel with him, a very great assembly, from the entrance of Hamath, even to the torrent of Egypt. BSB BSB: So at that time Solomon and all Israel with him—a very great assembly of people from Lebo-hamath to the Brook of Egypt—kept the feast for seven days.
9 CPDV And on the eighth day, he held a solemn gathering, because he had dedicated the altar over seven days, and he had celebrated the solemnity over seven days. BSB BSB: On the eighth day they held a solemn assembly, for the dedication of the altar had lasted seven days, and the feast seven days more.
10 CPDV And so, on the twenty-third day of the seventh month, he dismissed the people to their dwellings, joyful and glad over the good that the Lord had done for David, and for Solomon, and for his people Israel. BSB BSB: On the twenty-third day of the seventh month, Solomon sent the people away to their homes, joyful and glad of heart for the good things that the LORD had done for David, for Solomon, and for His people Israel.
The LORD’s Response to Solomon (1 Kings 9:1–9)
11 CPDV And Solomon completed the house of the Lord, and the house of the king, and all that he had resolved in his heart to do for the house of the Lord, and for his own house. And he prospered. BSB BSB: When Solomon had finished the house of the LORD and the royal palace, successfully carrying out all that was in his heart to do for the house of the LORD and for his own palace,
12 CPDV Then the Lord appeared to him by night, and said: “I have heard your prayer, and I have chosen this place for myself as a house of sacrifice. BSB BSB: the LORD appeared to him at night and said to him: “I have heard your prayer and have chosen this place for Myself as a house of sacrifice.
13 CPDV If I close up heaven, so that no rain will fall, or if I order and instruct the locust to devour the land, or if I send a pestilence among my people, BSB BSB: If I close the sky so there is no rain, or if I command the locust to devour the land, or if I send a plague among My people,
14 CPDV and if my people, over whom my name has been invoked, being converted, will have petitioned me and sought my face, and will have done penance for their wicked ways, then I will heed them from heaven, and I will forgive their sins, and I will heal their land. BSB BSB: and if My people who are called by My name humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, forgive their sin, and heal their land.
15 CPDV Also, my eyes will be open, and my ears will be attentive, to the prayer of him who shall pray in this place. BSB BSB: Now My eyes will be open and My ears attentive to the prayers offered in this place.
16 CPDV For I have chosen and sanctified this place, so that my name may be there continually, and so that my eyes and my heart may remain there, for all days. BSB BSB: For I have now chosen and consecrated this temple so that My Name may be there forever. My eyes and My heart will be there for all time.
17 CPDV And as for you, if you will walk before me, just as your father David walked, and if you will act in accord with all that I have instructed you, and if you will observe my justices and judgments, BSB BSB: And as for you, if you walk before Me as your father David walked, doing all I have commanded you, and if you keep My statutes and ordinances,
18 CPDV I will raise up the throne of your kingdom, just as I promised to your father David, saying: ‘There shall not be taken away a man from your stock who will be ruler in Israel.’ BSB BSB: then I will establish your royal throne, as I covenanted with your father David when I said, ‘You will never fail to have a man to rule over Israel.’
19 CPDV But if you will have turned away, and will have forsaken my justices and my precepts, which I have set before you, and going astray, you serve strange gods, and you adore them, BSB BSB: But if you turn away and forsake the statutes and commandments I have set before you, and if you go off to serve and worship other gods,
20 CPDV I will uproot you from my land, which I gave to you, and from this house, which I sanctified to my name, and I will cast it away from before my face, and I will deliver it to be a parable and an example for all the peoples. BSB BSB: then I will uproot Israel from the soil I have given them, and I will banish from My presence this temple I have sanctified for My Name. I will make it an object of scorn and ridicule among all the peoples.
21 CPDV And this house will be like a proverb to all who pass by. And being astonished, they shall say: ‘Why has the Lord acted this way toward this land and toward this house?’ BSB BSB: And when this temple has become a heap of rubble, all who pass by it will be appalled and say, ‘Why has the LORD done such a thing to this land and to this temple?’
22 CPDV And they shall respond: ‘Because they abandoned the Lord, the God of their fathers, who led them away from the land of Egypt, and they took hold of foreign gods, and they adored and worshipped them. Therefore, all these evils have overwhelmed them.’ ” BSB BSB: And others will answer, ‘Because they have forsaken the LORD, the God of their fathers, who brought them out of the land of Egypt, and have embraced other gods, worshiping and serving them—because of this, He has brought all this disaster upon them.’”
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