Solomon’s Prayer of Dedication

12 lThen 2Solomon stood before the altar of the Lord in the presence of all the assembly of Israel, and spread out his hands 13 (for Solomon had made a bronze platform five cubits long, five cubits wide, and three cubits high, and had set it in the midst of the court; and he stood on it, knelt down on his knees before all the assembly of Israel, and spread out his hands toward heaven); 14 and he said: “Lord God of Israel, mthere is no God in heaven or on earth like You, who keep Your ncovenant and mercy with Your servants who walk before You with all their hearts. 15 oYou have kept what You promised Your servant David my father; You have both spoken with Your mouth and fulfilled it with Your hand, as it is this day. 16 Therefore, Lord God of Israel, now keep what You promised Your servant David my father, saying, p‘You shall not fail to have a man sit before Me on the throne of Israel, qonly if your sons take heed to their way, that they walk in My law as you have walked before Me.’ 17 And now, O Lord God of Israel, let Your word come true, which You have spoken to Your servant David.

18 “But will God indeed dwell with men on the earth? rBehold, heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain You. How much less this 3temple which I have built! 19 Yet regard the prayer of Your servant and his supplication, O Lord my God, and listen to the cry and the prayer which Your servant is praying before You: 20 that Your eyes may be sopen toward this temple day and night, toward the place where You said You would put Your name, that You may hear the prayer which Your servant makes ttoward this place. 21 And may You hear the supplications of Your servant and of Your people Israel, when they pray toward this place. Hear from heaven Your dwelling place, and when You hear, uforgive.

22 “If anyone sins against his neighbor, and is forced to take an voath, and comes and takes an oath before Your altar in this temple, 23 then hear from heaven, and act, and judge Your servants, bringing retribution on the wicked by bringing his way on his own head, and justifying the righteous by giving him according to his wrighteousness.

24 “Or if Your people Israel are defeated before an xenemy because they have sinned against You, and return and confess Your name, and pray and make supplication before You in this temple, 25 then hear from heaven and forgive the sin of Your people Israel, and bring them back to the land which You gave to them and their fathers.

26 “When the yheavens are shut up and there is no rain because they have sinned against You, when they pray toward this place and confess Your name, and turn from their sin because You afflict them, 27 then hear in heaven, and forgive the sin of Your servants, Your people Israel, that You may teach them the good way in which they should walk; and send rain on Your land which You have given to Your people as an inheritance.

28 “When there zis famine in the land, pestilence or blight or mildew, locusts or grasshoppers; when their enemies besiege them in the land of their cities; whatever plague or whatever asickness there is; 29 whatever prayer, whatever supplication is made by anyone, or by all Your people Israel, when each one knows his own burden and his own grief, and spreads out his hands to this temple: 30 then hear from heaven Your dwelling place, and forgive, and give to everyone according to all his ways, whose heart You know (for You alone bknow the chearts of the sons of men), 31 that they may fear You, to walk in Your ways as long as they live in the land which You gave to our fathers.

32 “Moreover, concerning a foreigner, dwho is not of Your people Israel, but has come from a far country for the sake of Your great name and Your mighty hand and Your outstretched arm, when they come and pray in this temple; 33 then hear from heaven Your dwelling place, and do according to all for which the foreigner calls to You, that all peoples of the earth may know Your name and fear You, as do Your people Israel, and that they may know that 4this temple which I have built is called by Your name.

34 “When Your people go out to battle against their enemies, wherever You send them, and when they pray to You toward this city which You have chosen and the temple which I have built for Your name, 35 then hear from heaven their prayer and their supplication, and maintain their cause.

36 “When they sin against You (for there is eno one who does not sin), and You become angry with them and deliver them to the enemy, and they take them fcaptive to a land far or near; 37 yet when they 5come to themselves in the land where they were carried captive, and repent, and make supplication to You in the land of their captivity, saying, ‘We have sinned, we have done wrong, and have committed wickedness’; 38 and when they return to You with all their heart and with all their soul in the land of their captivity, where they have been carried captive, and pray toward their land which You gave to their fathers, the gcity which You have chosen, and toward the temple which I have built for Your name: 39 then hear from heaven Your dwelling place their prayer and their supplications, and maintain their cause, and forgive Your people who have sinned against You. 40 Now, my God, I pray, let Your eyes be hopen and let Your ears be attentive to the prayer made in this place.

41 “Now itherefore,

Arise, O Lord God, to Your jresting place,

You and the ark of Your strength.

Let Your priests, O Lord God, be clothed with salvation,

And let Your saints krejoice in goodness.

42 “O Lord God, do not turn away the face of Your Anointed;

lRemember the mercies of Your servant David.”

Solomon Dedicates the Temple

7 When aSolomon had finished praying, bfire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices; and cthe glory of the Lord filled the 1temple. 2 dAnd the priests could not enter the house of the Lord, because the glory of the Lord had filled the Lord’s house. 3 When all the children of Israel saw how the fire came down, and the glory of the Lord on the temple, they bowed their faces to the ground on the pavement, and worshiped and praised the Lord, saying:

e“For He is good,

fFor His mercy endures forever.”

4 gThen the king and all the people offered sacrifices before the Lord. 5 King Solomon offered a sacrifice of twenty-two thousand bulls and one hundred and twenty thousand sheep. So the king and all the people dedicated the house of God. 6 hAnd the priests attended to their services; the Levites also with instruments of the music of the Lord, which King David had made to praise the Lord, saying, “For His mercy endures forever,” whenever David offered praise by their 2ministry. iThe priests sounded trumpets opposite them, while all Israel stood.

7 Furthermore jSolomon consecrated the middle of the court that was in front of the house of the Lord; for there he offered burnt offerings and the fat of the peace offerings, because the bronze altar which Solomon had made was not able to receive the burnt offerings, the grain offerings, and the fat.

8 kAt that time Solomon kept the feast seven days, and all Israel with him, a very great assembly lfrom the entrance of Hamath to mthe 3Brook of Egypt. 9 And on the eighth day they held a nsacred assembly, for they observed the dedication of the altar seven days, and the feast seven days. 10 oOn the twenty-third day of the seventh month he sent the people away to their tents, joyful and glad of heart for the good that the Lord had done for David, for Solomon, and for His people Israel. 11 Thus pSolomon finished the house of the Lord and the king’s house; and Solomon successfully accomplished all that came into his heart to make in the house of the Lord and in his own house.

God’s Second Appearance to Solomon

12 Then the Lord qappeared to Solomon by night, and said to him: “I have heard your prayer, rand have chosen this splace for Myself as a house of sacrifice. 13 tWhen I shut up heaven and there is no rain, or command the locusts to devour the land, or send pestilence among My people, 14 if My people who are ucalled by My name will vhumble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, wthen I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land. 15 Now xMy eyes will be open and My ears attentive to prayer made in this place. 16 For now yI have chosen and 4sanctified this house, that My name may be there forever; and 5My eyes and 6My heart will be there perpetually. 17 zAs for you, if you walk before Me as your father David walked, and do according to all that I have commanded you, and if you keep My statutes and My judgments, 18 then I will establish the throne of your kingdom, as I covenanted with David your father, saying, a‘You shall not fail to have a man as ruler in Israel.’

19 b“But if you turn away and forsake My statutes and My commandments which I have set before you, and go and serve other gods, and worship them, 20 cthen I will uproot them from My land which I have given them; and this house which I have 7sanctified for My name I will cast out of My sight, and will make it a proverb and a dbyword among all peoples.

21 “And as for ethis 8house, which 9is exalted, everyone who passes by it will be fastonished and say, g‘Why has the Lord done thus to this land and this house?’ 22 Then they will answer, ‘Because they forsook the Lord God of their fathers, who brought them out of the land of Egypt, and embraced other gods, and worshiped them and served them; therefore He has brought all this calamity on them.’ ”

Solomon’s Additional Achievements

8 It acame to pass at the end of btwenty years, when Solomon had built the house of the Lord and his own house, 2 that the cities which 1Hiram had given to Solomon, Solomon built them; and he settled the children of Israel there. 3 And Solomon went to Hamath Zobah and seized it. 4 cHe also built Tadmor in the wilderness, and all the storage cities which he built in dHamath. 5 He built Upper Beth Horon and eLower Beth Horon, fortified cities with walls, gates, and bars, 6 also Baalath and all the storage cities that Solomon had, and all the chariot cities and the cities of the cavalry, and all that Solomon fdesired to build in Jerusalem, in Lebanon, and in all the land of his dominion.

7 gAll the people who were left of the Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites, who were not of Israel—8 that is, their descendants who were left in the land after them, whom the children of Israel did not destroy—from these Solomon raised forced labor, as it is to this day. 9 But Solomon did not make the children of Israel 2servants for his work. Some were men of war, captains of his officers, captains of his chariots, and his cavalry. 10 And others were chiefs of the officials of King Solomon: htwo hundred and fifty, who ruled over the people.

11 Now Solomon ibrought the daughter of Pharaoh up from the City of David to the house he had built for her, for he said, “My wife shall not dwell in the house of David king of Israel, because the places to which the ark of the Lord has come are holy.”

12 Then Solomon offered burnt offerings to the Lord on the altar of the Lord which he had built before the vestibule, 13 according to the jdaily rate, offering according to the commandment of Moses, for the Sabbaths, the New Moons, and the kthree appointed yearly lfeasts—the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the Feast of Weeks, and the Feast of Tabernacles. 14 And, according to the 3order of David his father, he appointed the mdivisions of the priests for their service, nthe Levites for their duties (to praise and serve before the priests) as the duty of each day required, and the ogatekeepers by their divisions at each gate; for so David the man of God had commanded. 15 They did not depart from the command of the king to the priests and Levites concerning any matter or concerning the ptreasuries.

16 Now all the work of Solomon was well-ordered 4from the day of the foundation of the house of the Lord until it was finished. So the house of the Lord was completed.

17 Then Solomon went to qEzion Geber and 5Elath on the seacoast, in the land of Edom. 18 rAnd Hiram sent him ships by the hand of his servants, and servants who knew the sea. They went with the servants of Solomon to sOphir, and acquired four hundred and fifty talents of gold from there, and brought it to King Solomon.

The Queen of Sheba’s Praise of Solomon

9 Now awhen the queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon, she came to Jerusalem to test Solomon with hard questions, having a very great retinue, camels that bore spices, gold in abundance, and precious stones; and when she came to Solomon, she spoke with him about all that was in her heart. 2 So Solomon answered all her questions; there was nothing so difficult for Solomon that he could not explain it to her. 3 And when the queen of Sheba had seen the wisdom of Solomon, the house that he had built, 4 the food on his table, the seating of his servants, the service of his waiters and their apparel, his bcupbearers and their apparel, and his entryway by which he went up to the house of the Lord, there was no more spirit in her.

5 Then she said to the king: “It was a true report which I heard in my own land about your words and your wisdom. 6 However I did not believe their words until I came and saw with my own eyes; and indeed the half of the greatness of your wisdom was not told me. You exceed the fame of which I heard. 7 Happy are your men and happy are these your servants, who stand continually before you and hear your wisdom! 8 Blessed be the Lord your God, who delighted in you, setting you on His throne to be king for the Lord your God! Because your God has cloved Israel, to establish them forever, therefore He made you king over them, to do justice and righteousness.”

9 And she gave the king one hundred and twenty talents of gold, spices in great abundance, and precious stones; there never were any spices such as those the queen of Sheba gave to King Solomon.

10 Also, the servants of Hiram and the servants of Solomon, dwho brought gold from Ophir, brought 1algum wood and precious stones. 11 And the king made walkways of the 2algum wood for the house of the Lord and for the king’s house, also harps and stringed instruments for singers; and there were none such as these seen before in the land of Judah.

12 Now King Solomon gave to the queen of Sheba all she desired, whatever she asked, much more than she had brought to the king. So she turned and went to her own country, she and her servants.