Solomon Blesses the LORD (1 Kings 8:12–21)
1 DBY Then said Solomon: Jehovah said that he would dwell in the thick darkness. BSB BSB: Then Solomon declared: “The LORD has said that He would dwell in the thick cloud.
2 DBY But I have built a house of habitation for thee, even a settled place for thee to abide in for ever. BSB BSB: But I have built You an exalted house, a place for You to dwell forever.”
3 DBY And the king turned his face and blessed the whole congregation of Israel; and the whole congregation of Israel stood. BSB BSB: And as the whole assembly of Israel stood there, the king turned around and blessed them all
4 DBY And he said: Blessed be Jehovah the God of Israel, who spoke with his mouth unto David my father, and hath with his hands fulfilled it, saying, BSB BSB: 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,
5 DBY Since the day that I brought forth my people out of the land of Egypt I chose no city out of all the tribes of Israel to build a house in, that my name might be there; neither chose I any man to be prince over my people Israel: BSB BSB: ‘Since the day I brought My people out of the land 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, nor have I chosen anyone to be ruler over My people Israel.
6 DBY but I have chosen Jerusalem, that my name might be there; and I have chosen David to be over my people Israel. BSB BSB: But now I have chosen Jerusalem for My Name to be there, and I have chosen David to be over My people Israel.’
7 DBY And it was in the heart of David my father to build a house unto the name of Jehovah the God of Israel. BSB BSB: Now it was in the heart of my father David to build a house for the Name of the LORD, the God of Israel.
8 DBY But Jehovah said to David my father, Whereas it was in thy heart to build a house unto my name, thou didst well that it was in thy heart; BSB BSB: 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.
9 DBY nevertheless thou shalt not build the house; but thy son that shall come forth out of thy loins, he shall build the house unto my name. BSB BSB: Nevertheless, you are not the one to build it; but your son, your own offspring, will build the house for My Name.’
10 DBY And Jehovah has performed his word which he spoke; and I am risen up in the room of David my father, and sit on the throne of Israel, as Jehovah promised, and I have built the house unto the name of Jehovah the God of Israel. BSB BSB: 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.
11 DBY And in it have I put the ark, wherein is the covenant of Jehovah, which he made with the children of Israel. BSB BSB: And there I have placed the ark, which contains the covenant of the LORD that He made with the children of Israel.”
Solomon’s Prayer of Dedication (1 Kings 8:22–53)
12 DBY And he stood before the altar of Jehovah in the presence of the whole congregation of Israel, and spread forth his hands. BSB BSB: Then Solomon stood before the altar of the LORD in front of the whole assembly of Israel and spread out his hands.
13 DBY For Solomon had made a platform of bronze, five cubits long, and five cubits broad, and three cubits high, and had set it in the midst of the court; and upon it he stood, and he kneeled down on his knees before the whole congregation of Israel, and spread forth his hands toward the heavens, BSB BSB: Now Solomon had made a bronze platform five cubits long, five cubits wide, and three cubits high and had placed it in the middle of the courtyard. He stood on it, knelt down before the whole assembly of Israel, spread out his hands toward heaven,
14 DBY and said, Jehovah, God of Israel! there is no God like thee, in the heavens or on the earth, who keepest covenant and mercy with thy servants that walk before thee with all their heart; BSB BSB: and said: “O LORD, God of Israel, there is no God like You in heaven or on earth, keeping Your covenant of loving devotion with Your servants who walk before You with all their hearts.
15 DBY who hast kept with thy servant David my father that which thou didst promise him; thou spokest with thy mouth, and hast fulfilled it with thy hand as at this day. BSB BSB: 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.
16 DBY And now, Jehovah, God of Israel, keep with thy servant David my father that which thou hast promised him saying, There shall not fail thee a man in my sight to sit on the throne of Israel, if only thy sons take heed to their way to walk in my law, as thou hast walked before me. BSB BSB: 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 in My law as you have walked before Me.’
17 DBY And now, Jehovah, God of Israel, let thy word be verified which thou hast spoken unto thy servant David. BSB BSB: And now, O LORD, God of Israel, please confirm what You promised to Your servant David.
18 DBY But will God indeed dwell with man on the earth? behold, the heavens and the heaven of heavens cannot contain thee; how much less this house which I have built! BSB BSB: But will God indeed dwell with man upon the earth? The heavens, even the highest heavens, cannot contain You, much less this temple I have built.
19 DBY Yet have respect unto the prayer of thy servant, and to his supplication, Jehovah, my God, to hearken unto the cry and to the prayer which thy servant prayeth before thee; BSB BSB: 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.
20 DBY that thine eyes may be open upon this house day and night, upon the place in which thou hast said thou wouldest put thy name: to hearken unto the prayer which thy servant prayeth toward this place. BSB BSB: May Your eyes be open toward this temple day and night, toward the place where You said You would put Your Name, so that You may hear the prayer that Your servant prays toward this place.
21 DBY And hearken unto the supplications of thy servant, and of thy people Israel, which they shall pray toward this place, and hear thou from thy dwelling-place, from the heavens, and when thou hearest, forgive. BSB BSB: 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.
22 DBY If a man have sinned against his neighbour, and an oath be laid upon him to adjure him, and the oath come before thine altar in this house; BSB BSB: 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,
23 DBY then hear thou from the heavens, and do, and judge thy servants, requiting the wicked, to bring his way upon his own head; and justifying the righteous, giving him according to his righteousness. BSB BSB: 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.
24 DBY And if thy people Israel be put to the worse before the enemy, because they have sinned against thee, and shall turn again and confess thy name, and pray, and make supplication before thee in this house; BSB BSB: 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 before You in this temple,
25 DBY then hear thou from the heavens, and forgive the sin of thy people Israel, and bring them again unto the land that thou gavest to them and to their fathers. BSB BSB: then may You hear from heaven and forgive the sin of Your people Israel. May You restore them to the land You gave to them and their fathers.
26 DBY When the heavens are shut up, and there is no rain, because they have sinned against thee; if they pray toward this place, and confess thy name, and turn from their sin, because thou hast afflicted them; BSB BSB: 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,
27 DBY then hear thou in the heavens, and forgive the sin of thy servants, and of thy people Israel, when thou teachest them the good way wherein they should walk; and give rain upon thy land, which thou hast given to thy people for an inheritance. BSB BSB: 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.
28 DBY If there be famine in the land, if there be pestilence, if there be blight or mildew, locust or caterpillar; if their enemies besiege them in the land of their gates; whatever plague or whatever sickness there be: BSB BSB: When famine or plague comes upon the land, or blight or mildew or locusts or grasshoppers, or when their enemies besiege them in their cities, whatever plague or sickness may come,
29 DBY what prayer, what supplication soever be made by any man, or by all thy people Israel, when they shall know every man his own plague, and his own grief, and shall spread forth his hands toward this house; BSB BSB: then may whatever prayer or plea Your people Israel make—each knowing his own afflictions and spreading out his hands toward this temple—
30 DBY then hear thou from the heavens, the settled place of thy dwelling, and forgive, and render unto every man according to all his ways, whose heart thou knowest (for thou, thou only, knowest the hearts of the children of men), BSB BSB: be heard by You from heaven, Your dwelling place. And may You forgive and repay each man according to all his ways, since You know his heart—for You alone know the hearts of men—
31 DBY that they may fear thee, to walk in thy ways, all the days that they live upon the land which thou gavest unto our fathers. BSB BSB: so that they may fear You and walk in Your ways all the days they live in the land that You gave to our fathers.
32 DBY And as to the stranger also, who is not of thy people Israel, but cometh out of a far country for thy great name's sake, and thy mighty hand and thy stretched-out arm; when they shall come and pray toward this house, BSB BSB: And as for the foreigner who is not of Your people Israel but has come from a distant land because of Your great name and Your mighty hand and outstretched arm—when he comes and prays toward this temple,
33 DBY then hear thou from the heavens, the settled place of thy dwelling, and do according to all that the stranger calleth to thee for; in order that all peoples of the earth may know thy name, and may fear thee as do thy people Israel, and may know that this house which I have built is called by thy name. BSB BSB: 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.
34 DBY If thy people go out to battle against their enemies by the way that thou shalt send them, and they pray unto thee toward this city that thou hast chosen, and the house that I have built unto thy name; BSB BSB: When Your people go to war against their enemies, wherever You send them, and when they pray to You in the direction of this city You have chosen and the house I have built for Your Name,
35 DBY then hear thou from the heavens their prayer and their supplication, and maintain their right. BSB BSB: then may You hear from heaven their prayer and their plea, and may You uphold their cause.
36 DBY If they have sinned against thee (for there is no man that sinneth not), and thou be angry with them, and give them up to the enemy, and they have carried them away captives unto a land far off or near; BSB BSB: 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 a land far or near,
37 DBY and if they shall take it to heart in the land whither they were carried captive, and repent, and make supplication unto thee in the land of their captivity, saying, We have sinned, we have done iniquity and have dealt perversely; BSB BSB: 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,’
38 DBY and if they return unto thee with all their heart and with all their soul in the land of their captivity, whither they have carried them captives, and pray toward their land which thou gavest unto their fathers, and the city that thou hast chosen, and the house that I have built unto thy name; BSB BSB: 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 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,
39 DBY then hear thou from the heavens, from the settled place of thy dwelling, their prayer and their supplications, and maintain their right, and forgive thy people their sin against thee. BSB BSB: then may You hear from heaven, Your dwelling place, their prayer and pleas, and may You uphold their cause. May You forgive Your people who sinned against You.
40 DBY Now, my God, I beseech thee, let thine eyes be open and let thine ears be attentive unto the prayer that is made in this place. BSB BSB: Now, my God, may Your eyes be open and Your ears attentive to the prayer offered in this place.
41 DBY And now, arise, Jehovah Elohim, into thy resting-place, thou and the ark of thy strength: let thy priests, Jehovah Elohim, be clothed with salvation, and let thy saints rejoice in thy goodness. BSB BSB: Now therefore, arise, O LORD God, and enter Your resting place, You and the ark of Your might. May Your priests, O LORD God, be clothed with salvation, and may Your godly ones rejoice in goodness.
42 DBY Jehovah Elohim, turn not away the face of thine anointed: remember mercies to David thy servant. BSB BSB: O LORD God, do not reject Your anointed one. Remember Your loving devotion to Your servant David.”
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