Bible Time

¹THEN Solomon assembled all the tribes of Israel, all the heads of the tribes, and the chiefs of the fathers, to him in Jerusalem to bring up the ark of the contract of Yahvah out of the city of David, which is Zion. ²And all the men of Israel assembled themselves to King Solomon at the feast in the month of the harvest, which is the 7th month. ³And all the tribes of Israel came, and the priests took up the ark of Yahvah. ⁴And they brought it up to the temple of Yahvah, and brought the tabernacle of the congregation and all the holy vessels that were in the tabernacle, and the priests and the Levites of Israel went up with them. ⁵And King Solomon and all the congregation of Israel that were assembled to him were with him before the ark, sacrificing sheep and oxen that could not be counted or numbered for multitude. ⁶And the priests brought in the ark of the contract of Yahvah to its place, into the temple, to the inner house, the Holy of Holies, under the wings of the cherubim. ⁷For the cherubim spread forth their wings over the holy place, and the cherubim covered the ark and its poles above. ⁸And the poles were so long that the ends of them were seen from the holy place before the inner house, but they were not seen outside; and there they are to this day. ⁹There was nothing in the ark except the 2 tablets of stone, which Moses had put there at Horeb when Yahvah made a contract with the children of Israel when they came out of the land of Egypt. ¹⁰And when the priests came out of the holy place, a cloud filled the house of Yahvah, ¹¹So that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud; for the glory of Yahvah had filled the house of Yahvah.

¹²Then Solomon said, Oh Yahvah, you have said that you would live in the thick darkness. ¹³And I have surely built you a house to live in, a settled place for you to stay in forever. ¹⁴Then the king turned his face about and blessed all the congregation of Israel; and all the congregation of Israel stood; ¹⁵And he said, Blessed be Yahvah God of Israel, who spoke with his mouth to David my father, and has with his hands fulfilled his promise, saying, ¹⁶Since the day that I brought forth my people Israel out of Egypt, I chose no city out of all the tribes of Israel to build a house, that my name might be in it; but I chose David to be over my people Israel. ¹⁷And it was in the heart of David my father to build a house for the name of Yahvah God of Israel. ¹⁸But Yahvah said to David my father, While it was in your heart to build a house to my name, you did well that it was in your heart. ¹⁹Nevertheless, you will not build the house to my name; but your son who will come out of your loins, he will build the house to my name. ²⁰Now Yahvah has performed the word that he spoke, and I have risen up in the place of David my father and sit on the throne of Israel, as Yahvah promised, and have built a house to the name of Yahvah God of Israel. ²¹And I have set there the ark of the contract of Yahvah, which he made with our fathers when he brought them out of the land of Egypt.

²²And Solomon stood before the altar of Yahvah in the presence of all the congregation of Israel, and spread forth his hands toward heaven and prayed; ²³And he said, Oh Yahvah God of Israel, there is no one like you in heaven above or on earth beneath, who keeps contract and mercy with your servants who walk before you in truth with all their heart and with all their soul; ²⁴Who has kept with your servant David my father what you promised him; you spoke with your mouth, and have fulfilled it with your hand, as it is this day. ²⁵Therefore, now, oh Yahvah God of Israel, keep with your servant David my father what you promised him, saying, There will not fail to be a man in my sight who sits on the throne of Israel; if only your sons are careful in their way, to walk before me in truth as you have walked before me. ²⁶And now, oh Yahvah God of Israel, let your word be confirmed, which you have sworn to your servant David my father. ²⁷But will God indeed live on the earth? Look, the heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain you; how much less this house that I have built? ²⁸But turn toward the prayer of your servant, and to his supplication, oh Yahvah my God, to listen to the supplication and to the prayer which your servant prays before you this day; ²⁹That your eyes may be open on this house day and night, even toward this place of which you have said, My name will be there; that you may listen to the prayer which your servant prays before you for this place. ³⁰And listen to the supplication of your servant and of your people Israel, when they pray before you in this place; and hear, oh our God, from your dwelling place in heaven, and forgive. ³¹If any man sins against his neighbor and an oath be laid on him to cause him to swear and he comes and swears before your altar in this house; ³²Then hear in heaven, and do, and judge your servants, condemning the wicked, and bring his transgressions on his head, and vindicating the righteous to reward him according to his innocence. ³³When your people Israel are defeated in the battle before the enemy because they have sinned before you, and will turn again to you and confess your name and pray and make supplication to you in this house; ³⁴Then hear in heaven and forgive the sin of your servants and of your people Israel, and bring them back to the land which you gave to their fathers. ³⁵When the heavens are shut up and there is no rain because they have sinned against you; and they will come and pray in this place and confess your name and turn from their sins, when you afflict them; ³⁶Then hear in heaven and forgive the sins of your servants and of your people Israel, when you teach them the good way in which they should walk, and give your rain on the land which you have given to your people for an inheritance. ³⁷And when there is famine in the land, if there is pestilence, blasting, mildew, locust, or when there are caterpillars; or when their enemy besieges them in one of their cities; whatever sickness, or whatever plague may be; ³⁸Whatever prayer and whatever supplication be made by any man or by all your people Israel, who will know every man the trouble of his own heart, and will spread forth his hands before you in this house; ³⁹Then hear in heaven your dwelling place, and forgive, and do, and give to every man according to his ways, whose heart you know, for you, even you only, know the hearts of all the children of men; ⁴⁰That they may reverence you all the days that they live on the face of the land which you gave to their fathers. ⁴¹Moreover, concerning a stranger who is not of your people Israel, but comes from a far country for your name's sake ⁴²When they will hear of your great name and of your strong hand and of your stretched out arm, when he will come before you and pray in this house; ⁴³Hear in heaven your dwelling place, and do according to all that the stranger calls to you for; that all the peoples of the earth may know your name, to worship you, as do your people Israel; and that they may know that this house which I have built is called by your name. ⁴⁴When your people go out to battle against their enemies, by whatever way you will send them, and will pray to Yahvah toward the city which you have chosen and toward the house that I have built for your name; ⁴⁵Then hear in heaven their prayer and their supplication, and maintain their cause. ⁴⁶When they sin against you, for there is no man who does not sin, and you be angry with them and deliver them to the enemy so that they carry them away captives to the land of their enemies, far or near; ⁴⁷Yet if they will reckon it in their heart in the land to which they have been carried captives, and repent and make supplication to you in the land of their captivity, saying, We have sinned and have done perversely, we have committed wickedness; ⁴⁸And so return to you with all their heart and with all their soul, in the land of their enemies who carried them away captive, and pray to you according to the religion of their own land, which you gave to their fathers, the city which you have chosen and the house which I have built for your name; ⁴⁹Then hear in heaven, your dwelling place, their prayer and their supplication, and maintain their cause, ⁵⁰And forgive your people who have sinned against you and all their transgressions in which they have transgressed against you, and give them compassion in the presence of those who carried them captive, that they may have compassion on them; ⁵¹For they are your people and your inheritance, whom you brought forth out of Egypt, from the middle of the furnace of iron; ⁵²That your eyes may be open to the supplication of your servants and to the supplication of your people Israel, to listen to them in all that they call for to you. ⁵³For you separated them from among all the people of the earth, to be your inheritance, as you spoke through Moses your servant, when you brought our fathers out of Egypt, oh Yahvah God.

⁵⁴And it came to pass, when Solomon had finished praying all this prayer and supplication to Yahvah God, he arose from before the altar of Yahvah, from kneeling with his hands spread up to heaven. ⁵⁵And he stood and blessed all the congregation of Israel with a loud voice, saying, ⁵⁶Blessed be Yahvah God, who has given rest to his people Israel, according to all that he promised; there has not failed one word of all his good promises, which he promised by the hand of Moses his servant. ⁵⁷Yahvah our God be with us, as he was with our fathers; let him not leave us nor forsake us; ⁵⁸That he may incline our heart to him, to walk in all his ways and to keep his commandments and his statutes and his judgments, which he commanded our fathers. ⁵⁹And let these my words with which I have made supplication before Yahvah be near to Yahvah our God day and night, that he maintain the cause of his servant and the cause of his people Israel day by day; ⁶⁰That all the people of the earth may know that Yahvah is God and that there is no one else. ⁶¹Let your heart therefore be perfect with Yahvah our God, to walk in his ways and to keep his commandments, his contract, his judgments, and his laws, as at this day.

⁶²And the king and all Israel with him offered sacrifice before Yahvah. ⁶³And Solomon offered a sacrifice of peace offerings before Yahvah, 22,000 oxen and 120,000 sheep. So the king and all the children of Israel dedicated the house of Yahvah. ⁶⁴The same day the king consecrated the interior of the court that was before the house of Yahvah; for there he offered burnt offerings and meal offerings and the fat of the peace offerings; because the bronze altar that was before Yahvah was too little to receive the burnt offerings and the meal offerings and the fat of the peace offerings. ⁶⁵And Solomon made a feast on that day, and all Israel with him, a great congregation, from the entrance of Hamath to the entrance of the river of Egypt, before Yahvah our God, 7 days and 7 days, even 14 days. ⁶⁶On the 8th day the people sent a delegation and blessed the king, and went to their tents joyful and glad of heart for all the goodness that Yahvah had done for David his servant and for Israel his people.