1 Kings

8 Then Solomon assembled the elders of Israel at Jerusalem to bring up the ark of Jehovah’s covenant from David’s City (that is, Sion) 2 in the moon of the permanent streams; 3 and the priests took up the ark, 4 and they brought up the ark and the Tent of Meeting, and all the consecrated furnishings that there were in the tent, 5 while the king and all Israel were in front of the ark sacrificing sheep and cattle too many for the count to be taken or the number known. 6 And the priests brought the ark in to its place in the shrine of the house, in the holiest of the holy, under the cherubs’ wings; 7 for the cherubs spread out two wings over the place for the ark, and over-arched the ark and its poles, 8 but the poles were long, and the heads of the poles were seen from the holy place along the front of the shrine, but were not seen outside; and they are there to this day. 9 There was nothing at all in the ark but the two stone tablets that Moses put there at Horeb, that Jehovah covenanted with the sons of Israel when they came out of Egypt.

10 And when the priests came out of the holy place the cloud filled Jehovah’s house, 11 and the priests could not stand to officiate because of the cloud, because Jehovah’s glory filled Jehovah’s house.

14 And the king turned around and blessed all the assembly of Israel while all the assembly of Israel stood; 15 and he said “Blessed be Jehovah the God of Israel, who said with his mouth to my father David and has with his hands made it good, 16* ‘Since the day that I brought my people Israel out of Egypt I had not chosen a city out of any of the tribes of Israel for building a house where my name should be; but I have chosen Jerusalem where my name should be, and I have chosen David to be over my people Israel.’ 17 And my father David had in mind to build a house for the name of Jehovah the God of Israel; 18 but Jehovah said to my father David ‘Whereas you had in mind to build a house for my name, you did well to have it in mind; 19 yet you shall not build the house, but your son, who comes out of your loins, he shall build the house for my name.’ 20 And Jehovah has been as good as his word, and I have risen in place of my father David and have taken my seat on the throne of Israel as Jehovah promised, and have build the house for the name of Jehovah the God of Israel, 21 and have established there a place for the ark where Jehovah’s covenant is, which he made with our fathers when he brought them out of Egypt.”

22 And Solomon stood before the altar of Jehovah in the presence of all the assembly of Israel, and spread out his hands to the sky, 23 and said “Jehovah, God of Israel, there is not a God like you in the heavens above and on earth below, keeping covenant and friendship with your servants who walk before you with all their hearts, 24 seeing you have kept your word with my father David and spoken with your mouth and made good with your hands as this day. 25 And now, Jehovah, God of Israel, keep with your servant my father David your word You shall never be without a man before me who shall sit on the throne of Israel, if only your sons guard their ways, walking before me as you did’; 26 now, Jehovah, God of Israel, let your word to your servant my father David prove true.

27* “But will God really live on earth? why, the skies and the skies of the skies cannot contain you, much less this house that I have built; 28 but turn to your servant’s prayer and petition, Jehovah my God, listening to the appeal and prayer that your servant is praying before you today, 29 that your eyes be open toward this house night and day, toward the place where you have said your name shall be, listening to the prayer that your servant prays toward this place, 30 and that you listen to the petition of your servant and of your people Israel that they pray toward this place, and that you hear up to your dwelling-place heaven, and, listening, forgive.

31 “In case a man does wrong by his neighbor, and he has raised a curse on him, cursing him out, and comes and pronounces the curse before your altar in this house, 32 and you hear it up to heaven, act and judge your servants, condemning the knave, sending retribution upon his head, and vindicating the man who stands for his rights, sending to him what he deserves.

33 “When your people Israel, sinning against you, are beaten by an enemy, but come back to you and confess your name, and pray and beseech you in this house, 34 and you hear it up to heaven, forgive the sin of your people Israel, and bring them back to the soil you gave to their fathers.

35 “When the sky is barred and there is no rain, because they sin against you, and they pray toward this place and confess your name and come back from their sins, because you afflict them, 36* and you hear it up to heaven, forgive the sin of your servants and your people Israel, when you guide them on the good path that they are to walk in, and give rain on your country which you gave to your people as a domain.

37 “When famine there is in the country, when pestilence there is, when on the grain there is blasting or mildew, spring grasshoppers, fall grasshoppers, when their enemies beset them in any of their gates, in every calamity, in every malady, 38 whatever prayer or petition anybody may have, each feeling the blow that strikes his own heart and spreading out his hands toward this house, 39 and you hearing it up to heaven your dwelling-place, forgive and act and give to each as he deserves, as you know his heart (for you alone know the hearts of all human beings), 40 that they may fear you all the time they live over the soil you gave their fathers.

41 “And as to the foreigner too, who does not belong to your people Israel, but comes from a distant country drawn by your name 42 (because they will hear of your great name and of your strong hand and outstretched arm) and comes and prays toward this house, 43 and you hear it up to heaven your dwelling-place, do as the foreigner may call on you to, in order that all the peoples of the earth may know your name, fearing you like your people Israel and knowing that this house I have built wears your name.

44 “When your people go out to war against their enemies on a course you send them on, and pray to Jehovah toward the city you have chosen and the house I have built for your name, 45 and you hear up to heaven their prayer and petition, do justice for them. 46 When they sin against you (for there is no man who does not sin) and you are angry with them and give them to be defeated before an enemy, and their captors carry them as slaves to an enemy’s country, far or near, 47 and in the country to which they are carried off they bethink themselves and come back and beseech you in their captors’ country, saying ‘We have sinned and offended, we are guilty,’ 48 and come back to you sincerely and wholeheartedly in the country of their enemies who carried them off, and pray to you toward their country that you gave to their fathers, the city you have chosen, and the house I have built for your name, 49 and you hear their prayer and petition up to heaven your dwelling-place, do justice for them 50 and forgive their sins and crimes that they have committed against you, and make them objects of sympathy to their captors that they may be kindly treated 51 because they are your people and your estate, whom you brought out of Egypt, out of the blast-furnace;— 52 that your eyes be open to the petition of your servant and of your people Israel, to listen to them in that they call on you for, 53 because you have set them apart, as an estate for yourself, out of all the peoples of the earth, as you promised by your servant Moses when you brought our fathers out of Egypt, Lord Jehovah.”

54 And when Solomon had finished offering to Jehovah all this prayer and petition, he rose from kneeling before Jehovah’s altar, with his hands spread out to the sky, 55 and stood and blessed all the assembly of Israel in a loud voice, saying 56 “Blessed be Jehovah, who has given rest to his people just as he promised; of all the good promise than he gave by his servant Moses not one point has failed. 57 Jehovah our God be with us as with our fathers, not leaving us nor abandoning us, 58 to bend our hearts to him for walking in his ways and for keeping his commandments and usages and laws that he enjoined upon our fathers; 59 and may these words of mine in which I have made my petition before Jehovah be near to Jehovah our God day and night, that he do justice for his servant and for his people Israel day by day 60 that all the peoples of the earth may know that Jehovah is God, there is none besides. 61 And let your hearts be at one with Jehovah your God for going by his usages and for keeping his commandments, as they are this day.”

62 And the king, and all Israel with him, were making sacrifice before Jehovah; 63** and Solomon sacrificed, of the welfare-sacrifice he offered to Jehovah, twenty-two thousand horned cattle and a hundred and twenty thousand sheep and goats; and the king and all the sons of Israel dedicated Jehovah’s house. 64* On that day the king consecrated the middle of the court in front of Jehovah’s house, because there he offered the burnt-offering and the grain-offering and the fats of the welfare-sacrifices, since the bronze altar before Jehovah was too small to hold the burnt-offering and the grain-offering and the fats of the welfare-sacrifices.

65* And at that time Solomon kept the Feast, and all Israel with him, a great assembly, from Lebo-Hamath to Egypt Arroyo, before Jehovah our God for seven days. 66 And on the eighth day he dismissed the people, and they took leave of the king and went to their homes joyous and merry over all the good things Jehovah had done for his servant David and his people Israel.