Fire from Heaven (Psalm 136:1–26)
1 DRA And when Solomon had made an end of his prayer, Are came down from heaven, and consumed the holocausts and the victims: and the majesty of the Lord tilled 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 DRA Neither could the priests 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 DRA Moreover all the children of Israel saw the fire coming down, and the glory of the Lord upon the house: and falling down with their faces to the ground, upon the stone pavement, they adored and praised the Lord: because he is good, because his mercy endureth for ever. 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 DRA And the king and all the people sacrificed victims before the Lord. BSB BSB: Then the king and all the people offered sacrifices before the LORD.
5 DRA And king Solomon offered a sacrifice of twenty-two thousand oxen, and one hundred and twenty thousand rams: and the king and all the 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 DRA And the priests stood in their offices: and the Levites with the instruments of music of the Lord, which king David made to praise the Lord: because his mercy endureth for ever, singing the hymns of David by their ministry: and the priests sounded with trumpets before them, and all Israel stood. 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 DRA Solomon also sanctified the middle of the court before the temple of the Lord: for he offered there the holocausts, and the fat of the peace offerings: because the brazen altar, which he had made, could not hold 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 DRA And Solomon kept the solemnity at that time seven days, and all Israel with him, a very great congregation, from the entrance of Emath 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 DRA And he made on the eighth day a solemn assembly, because he had kept the dedication of the altar seven days, and had celebrated the solemnity 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 DRA So on the three and twentieth day of the seventh month he sent away the people to their dwellings, joyful and glad for the good that the Lord had done to David, and to Solomon, and to all Israel his people. 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 DRA And Solomon finished the house of the Lord, and the king’s house, and all that he had designed in his heart to do, in the house of the Lord, and in 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 DRA And the Lord appeared to him by night, and said: I have heard thy prayer, and I have chosen this place to myself for 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 DRA If I shut up heaven, and there fall no rain, or if I give orders, and command the locust to devour the land, or if I send 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 DRA And my people, upon whom my name is called, being converted, shall make supplication to me, and seek out my face, and do penance for their most wicked ways: then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sins and 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 DRA My eyes also shall be open, and my ears attentive to the prayer of him that 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 DRA For I have chosen, and have sanctified this place, that my name may be there for ever, and my eyes and my heart may remain there perpetually. 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 DRA And as for thee, if thou walk before me, as David thy father walked, and do according to all that I have commanded thee, and keep my justices and my 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 DRA I will raise up the throne of thy kingdom, as I promised to David thy father, saying: There shall not fail thee a man of thy stock to 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 DRA But if you turn away, and forsake my justices, and my commandments which I have set before you, and shall go and serve strange gods, and 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 DRA I will pluck you up by the root out of my land which I have given you: and this house which I have sanctified to my name, I will cast away from before my face, and will make it a byword, and an example among all nations. 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 DRA And this house shall be for a proverb to all that pass by, and they shall be astonished and say: Why hath the Lord done thus to this land, and to 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 DRA And they shall answer: Because they forsook the Lord the God of their fathers, who brought them out of the land of Egypt, and laid hold on strange gods, and adored them, and worshipped them: therefore all these evils are come upon 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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