| Chapter
8 |
| 1 | Then
Solomon assembled the elders of Israel, and all the heads of the tribes, the
chief of the fathers of the children of Israel, unto king Solomon in Jerusalem,
that they might bring up the ark of the covenant of the LORD out of the city of
David, which is Zion. |
| 2 |
And all the men of Israel assembled themselves unto king Solomon at the feast
in the month Ethanim, which is the seventh month. |
|
3 | And all the elders of Israel came, and the priests
took up the ark. |
| 4 | And
they brought up the ark of the LORD, and the tabernacle of the congregation,
and all the holy vessels that were in the tabernacle, even those did the
priests and the Levites bring up. |
|
5 | And king Solomon, and all the congregation of Israel, that were
assembled unto him, were with him before the ark, sacrificing sheep and oxen,
that could not be told nor numbered for multitude. |
|
6 | And the priests brought in the ark of the covenant
of the LORD unto his place, into the oracle of the house, to the most holy
place, even under the wings of the cherubim. |
| 7 | For the cherubim spread forth their two wings over the
place of the ark, and the cherubim covered the ark and the staves thereof
above. |
| 8 | And they drew
out the staves, that the ends of the staves were seen out in the holy place
before the oracle, and they were not seen without: and there they are unto this
day. |
| 9 | There was nothing
in the ark save the two tables of stone, which Moses put there at Horeb, when
the LORD made a covenant with the children of Israel, when they came out of the
land of Egypt. |
| 10 | And it
came to pass, when the priests were come out of the holy place, that the cloud
filled the house of the LORD, |
| 11
| So that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud:
for the glory of the LORD had filled the house of the LORD. |
| 12 | Then spake Solomon, The LORD said that
he would dwell in the thick darkness. |
| 13 | I have surely built thee an house to dwell in, a
settled place for thee to abide in for ever. |
| 14 | And the king turned his face about, and blessed all the
congregation of Israel: (and all the congregation of Israel stood;) |
| 15 | And he said, Blessed be the
LORD God of Israel, which spake with his mouth unto David my father, and hath
with his hand fulfilled it, saying, |
|
16 | Since 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 an house, that
my name might be therein; but I chose David to be over my people Israel. |
| 17 | And it was in the heart
of David my father to build an house for the name of the LORD God of
Israel. |
| 18 | And the LORD
said unto David my father, Whereas it was in thine heart to build an house unto
my name, thou didst well that it was in thine heart. |
| 19 | 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. |
| 20 |
And the LORD hath performed his word that he spake, and I am risen up in the
room of David my father, and sit on the throne of Israel, as the LORD promised,
and have built an house for the name of the LORD God of Israel. |
| 21 | And I have set there a place for
the ark, wherein is the covenant of the LORD, which he made with our fathers,
when he brought them out of the land of Egypt. |
|
22 | And Solomon stood before the altar of the LORD in
the presence of all the congregation of Israel, and spread forth his hands
toward heaven: |
| 23 | And he
said, LORD God of Israel, there is no God like thee, in heaven above, or on
earth beneath, who keepest covenant and mercy with thy servants that walk
before thee with all their heart: |
|
24 | Who hast kept with thy servant David my father that thou
promisedst him: thou spakest also with thy mouth, and hast fulfilled it with
thine hand, as it is this day. |
| 25
| Therefore now, LORD God of Israel, keep with thy servant David my
father that thou promisedst him, saying, There shall not fail thee a man in my
sight to sit on the throne of Israel; so that thy children take heed to their
way, that they walk before me as thou hast walked before me. |
| 26 | And now, O God of Israel, let thy
word, I pray thee, be verified, which thou spakest unto thy servant David my
father. |
| 27 | But will God
indeed dwell on the earth? behold, the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot
contain thee; how much less this house that I have builded? |
| 28 | Yet have thou respect unto the prayer
of thy servant, and to his supplication, O LORD my God, to hearken unto the cry
and to the prayer, which thy servant prayeth before thee to day: |
| 29 | That thine eyes may be open toward
this house night and day, even toward the place of which thou hast said, My
name shall be there: that thou mayest hearken unto the prayer which thy servant
shall make toward this place. |
| 30
| And hearken thou to the supplication of thy servant, and of thy people
Israel, when they shall pray toward this place: and hear thou in heaven thy
dwelling place: and when thou hearest, forgive. |
|
31 | If any man trespass against his neighbor, and an
oath be laid upon him to cause him to swear, and the oath come before thine
altar in this house: |
| 32 |
Then hear thou in heaven, and do, and judge thy servants, condemning the
wicked, to bring his way upon his head; and justifying the righteous, to give
him according to his righteousness. |
|
33 | When thy people Israel be smitten down before the enemy, because
they have sinned against thee, and shall turn again to thee, and confess thy
name, and pray, and make supplication unto thee in this house: |
| 34 | Then hear thou in heaven, and forgive
the sin of thy people Israel, and bring them again unto the land which thou
gavest unto their fathers. |
| 35
| When heaven is 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, when thou afflictest them: |
| 36 | Then hear thou in heaven, and forgive the sin of thy
servants, and of thy people Israel, that thou teach them the good way wherein
they should walk, and give rain upon thy land, which thou hast given to thy
people for an inheritance. |
| 37
| If there be in the land famine, if there be pestilence, blasting,
mildew, locust, or if there be caterpillar; if their enemy besiege them in the
land of their cities; whatsoever plague, whatsoever sickness there be; |
| 38 | What prayer and supplication
soever be made by any man, or by all thy people Israel, which shall know every
man the plague of his own heart, and spread forth his hands toward this
house: |
| 39 | Then hear thou
in heaven thy dwelling place, and forgive, and do, and give to every man
according to his ways, whose heart thou knowest; (for thou, even thou only,
knowest the hearts of all the children of men;) |
|
40 | That they may fear thee all the days that they live
in the land which thou gavest unto our fathers. |
|
41 | Moreover concerning a stranger, that is not of thy
people Israel, but cometh out of a far country for thy name's sake; |
| 42 | (For they shall hear of thy
great name, and of thy strong hand, and of thy stretched out arm;) when he
shall come and pray toward this house; |
| 43 | Hear thou in heaven thy dwelling place, and do
according to all that the stranger calleth to thee for: that all people of the
earth may know thy name, to fear thee, as do thy people Israel; and that they
may know that this house, which I have builded, is called by thy name. |
| 44 | If thy people go out to battle
against their enemy, whithersoever thou shalt send them, and shall pray unto
the LORD toward the city which thou hast chosen, and toward the house that I
have built for thy name: |
| 45 |
Then hear thou in heaven their prayer and their supplication, and maintain
their cause. |
| 46 | If they
sin against thee, (for there is no man that sinneth not,) and thou be angry
with them, and deliver them to the enemy, so that they carry them away captives
unto the land of the enemy, far or near; |
| 47 | Yet if they shall bethink themselves in the land
whither they were carried captives, and repent, and make supplication unto thee
in the land of them that carried them captives, saying, We have sinned, and
have done perversely, we have committed wickedness; |
|
48 | And so return unto thee with all their heart, and
with all their soul, in the land of their enemies, which led them away captive,
and pray unto thee toward their land, which thou gavest unto their fathers, the
city which thou hast chosen, and the house which I have built for thy name: |
| 49 | Then hear thou their
prayer and their supplication in heaven thy dwelling place, and maintain their
cause, |
| 50 | And forgive
thy people that have sinned against thee, and all their transgressions wherein
they have transgressed against thee, and give them compassion before them who
carried them captive, that they may have compassion on them: |
| 51 | For they be thy people, and thine
inheritance, which thou broughtest forth out of Egypt, from the midst of the
furnace of iron: |
| 52 | That
thine eyes may be open unto the supplication of thy servant, and unto the
supplication of thy people Israel, to hearken unto them in all that they call
for unto thee. |
| 53 | For
thou didst separate them from among all the people of the earth, to be thine
inheritance, as thou spakest by the hand of Moses thy servant, when thou
broughtest our fathers out of Egypt, O LORD God. |
|
54 | And it was so, that when Solomon had made an end of
praying all this prayer and supplication unto the LORD, he arose from before
the altar of the LORD, from kneeling on his knees with his hands spread up to
heaven. |
| 55 | And he stood,
and blessed all the congregation of Israel with a loud voice, saying, |
| 56 | Blessed be the LORD, that hath
given rest unto his people Israel, according to all that he promised: there
hath not failed one word of all his good promise, which he promised by the hand
of Moses his servant. |
| 57 |
The LORD our God be with us, as he was with our fathers: let him not leave us,
nor forsake us: |
| 58 | That
he may incline our hearts unto him, to walk in all his ways, and to keep his
commandments, and his statutes, and his judgments, which he commanded our
fathers. |
| 59 | And let
these my words, wherewith I have made supplication before the LORD, be nigh
unto the LORD our God day and night, that he maintain the cause of his servant,
and the cause of his people Israel at all times, as the matter shall
require: |
| 60 | That all the
people of the earth may know that the LORD is God, and that there is none
else. |
| 61 | Let your heart
therefore be perfect with the LORD our God, to walk in his statutes, and to
keep his commandments, as at this day. |
| 62 | And the king, and all Israel with him, offered
sacrifice before the LORD. |
| 63
| And Solomon offered a sacrifice of peace offerings, which he offered
unto the LORD, two and twenty thousand oxen, and an hundred and twenty thousand
sheep. So the king and all the children of Israel dedicated the house of the
LORD. |
| 64 | The same day
did the king hallow the middle of the court that was before the house of the
LORD: for there he offered burnt offerings, and meat offerings, and the fat of
the peace offerings: because the brazen altar that was before the LORD was too
little to receive the burnt offerings, and meat offerings, and the fat of the
peace offerings. |
| 65 | And
at that time Solomon held a feast, and all Israel with him, a great
congregation, from the entering in of Hamath unto the river of Egypt, before
the LORD our God, seven days and seven days, even fourteen days. |
| 66 | On the eighth day he sent the
people away: and they blessed the king, and went unto their tents joyful and
glad of heart for all the goodness that the LORD had done for David his
servant, and for Israel his people. |
