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1 Kings 8
Contemporary English Version
1 Kings 8
Contemporary English Version
Solomon Brings the Sacred Chest to the Temple
(2 Chronicles 5.2—6.2)
8 1-2 (A) The sacred chest had been kept on Mount Zion, also known as the city of David. But Solomon decided to have the chest moved to the temple while everyone was in Jerusalem, celebrating the Festival of Shelters during Ethanim,[a] the seventh month of the year.
Solomon called together the important leaders of Israel. 3-4 Then the priests and the Levites carried to the temple the sacred chest, the sacred tent, and the objects used for worship. 5 Solomon and a crowd of people stood in front of the chest and sacrificed more sheep and cattle than could be counted.
6 The priests carried the chest into the most holy place and put it under the winged creatures, 7 whose wings covered both the chest and the poles used for carrying it. 8 The poles were so long that they could be seen from right outside the most holy place, but not from anywhere else. And they stayed there from then on.
9 (B) The only things kept in the chest were the two flat stones Moses had put there when the Lord made his agreement with the people of Israel at Mount Sinai,[b] after bringing them out of Egypt.
10 (C) Suddenly a cloud filled the temple as the priests were leaving the most holy place. 11 The Lord's glory was in the cloud, and the light from it was so bright that the priests could not stay inside to do their work. 12 (D) Then Solomon prayed:
“Our Lord, you said that you
would live in a dark cloud.
13 Now I have built a glorious temple
where you can live forever.”
Solomon Speaks to the People
(2 Chronicles 6.3-11)
14 Solomon turned toward the people standing there. Then he blessed them 15-16 (E) and said:
Praise the Lord God of Israel! Long ago he brought his people out of Egypt. He did not choose a city from any tribe in Israel where his temple would be built, but he kept his promise to make my father David the king of Israel.
17 (F) So when David wanted to build a temple for the Lord God of Israel, 18 the Lord said, “It's good that you want to build a temple where I can be worshiped. 19 (G) But you're not the one to do it. Your son will build a temple to honor me.”
20 The Lord has done what he promised. I am the king of Israel like my father, and I've built a temple for the Lord our God. 21 I've also made a place in the temple for the sacred chest. And in that chest are the two flat stones on which is written the solemn agreement the Lord made with our ancestors when he led them out of Egypt.
Solomon Prays at the Temple
(2 Chronicles 6.12-42)
22 Solomon stood facing the altar with everyone standing behind him. Then he lifted his arms toward heaven 23 and prayed:
Lord God of Israel, no other god in heaven or on earth is like you!
You never forget the agreement you made with your people, and you are loyal to anyone who faithfully obeys your teachings. 24 My father David was your servant, and today you have kept every promise you made to him.
25 (H)Lord God of Israel, you promised my father that someone from his family would always be king of Israel, if they do their best to obey you, just as he did. 26 Please keep this promise you made to your servant David.
27 (I) There's not enough room in all of heaven for you, Lord God. How could you possibly live on earth in this temple I have built? 28 But I ask you to answer my prayer. 29 (J) This is the temple where you have chosen to be worshiped. Please watch over it day and night and listen when I turn toward it and pray. 30 I am your servant, and the people of Israel belong to you. So whenever any of us look toward this temple and pray, answer from your home in heaven and forgive our sins.
31 Suppose someone accuses a person of a crime, and the accused has to stand in front of the altar in your temple and say, “I swear I am innocent!” 32 Listen from heaven and decide who is right. Then punish the guilty person and let the innocent one go free.
33 (K) Suppose your people Israel sin against you, and then an enemy defeats them. If they come to this temple and beg for forgiveness, 34 listen from your home in heaven. Forgive them and bring them back to the land you gave their ancestors.
35 Suppose your people sin against you, and you punish them by holding back the rain. If they turn toward this temple and pray in your name and stop sinning, 36 listen from your home in heaven and forgive them. The people of Israel are your servants, so teach them to live right. And please send rain on the land you gave them to be theirs forever.
37 Sometimes the crops may dry up or rot or be eaten by locusts[c] or grasshoppers, and your people will be starving. Sometimes enemies may surround their towns, or your people will become sick with deadly diseases. 38 Listen when anyone in Israel truly feels sorry and sincerely prays with arms lifted toward your temple. 39 You know what is in everyone's heart. So from your home in heaven answer their prayers, according to the way they live and what is in their hearts. 40 Then your people will worship and obey you for as long as they live in the land you gave their ancestors.
41-42 Foreigners will hear about you and your mighty power, and some of them will come to live among your people Israel. If any of them pray toward this temple, 43 listen from your home in heaven and answer their prayers. Then everyone on earth will worship you, just like your people Israel, and they will know that I have built this temple to honor you.
44 Our Lord, sometimes you will order your people to attack their enemies. Then your people will turn toward this temple I have built for you in your chosen city, and they will pray to you. 45 Answer their prayers from heaven and give them victory.
46 Everyone sins. But when your people sin against you, suppose you get angry enough to let their enemies drag them away to foreign countries. 47-49 Later, they may feel sorry for what they did and ask your forgiveness. Answer them when they pray toward this temple I have built for you in your chosen city, here in this land you gave their ancestors. From your home in heaven, listen to their sincere prayers and do what they ask. 50 Forgive your people no matter how much they have sinned against you. Make the enemies who defeated them be kind to them. 51 Remember, they are the people you chose and rescued from Egypt that was like a blazing fire to them.
52 I am your servant, and the people of Israel belong to you. So listen when any of us pray and cry out for your help. 53 When you brought our ancestors out of Egypt, you told your servant Moses to say to them, “From all people on earth, the Lord God has chosen you to be his very own.”
Solomon Blesses the People
54 When Solomon finished his prayer at the altar, he was kneeling with his arms lifted toward heaven. He stood up, 55 turned toward the people, blessed them, and said loudly:
56 (L) Praise the Lord! He has kept his promise and given us peace. Every good thing he promised to his servant Moses has happened.
57 The Lord our God was with our ancestors to help them, and I pray that he will be with us and never abandon us. 58 May the Lord help us obey him and follow all the laws and teachings he gave our ancestors.
59 I pray that the Lord our God will remember my prayer day and night. May he help everyone in Israel each day, in whatever way we need it. 60 Then every nation will know that the Lord is the only true God.
61 Obey the Lord our God and follow his commands with all your heart, just as you are doing today.
Solomon Dedicates the Temple
(2 Chronicles 7.4-10)
62-63 Solomon and the people dedicated the temple to the Lord by offering 22,000 cattle and 120,000 sheep as sacrifices to ask the Lord's blessing.[d] 64 On that day, Solomon dedicated the courtyard in front of the temple and made it acceptable for worship. He offered the sacrifices there because the bronze altar in front of the temple was too small.
65 Solomon and the huge crowd celebrated the Festival of Shelters at the temple for seven days.[e] There were people from as far away as the Egyptian Gorge in the south and Lebo-Hamath in the north. 66 Then on the eighth day, he sent everyone home. They said goodbye and left, very happy, because of all the good things the Lord had done for his servant David and his people Israel.
Footnotes
- 8.1,2 Ethanim: The seventh month of the Hebrew calendar, from about mid-September to mid-October.
- 8.9 Sinai: Hebrew “Horeb.”
- 8.37 locusts: A type of grasshopper that comes in swarms and causes great damage to plant life.
- 8.62,63 sacrifices to ask the Lord's blessing: See Leviticus 3.1-17.
- 8.65 seven days: One ancient translation; Hebrew “seven days and seven more days, fourteen days in all.”
1 Kings 8
New International Version
1 Kings 8
New International Version
The Ark Brought to the Temple(A)
8 Then King Solomon summoned into his presence at Jerusalem the elders of Israel, all the heads of the tribes and the chiefs(B) of the Israelite families, to bring up the ark(C) of the Lord’s covenant from Zion, the City of David.(D) 2 All the Israelites came together to King Solomon at the time of the festival(E) in the month of Ethanim, the seventh month.(F)
3 When all the elders of Israel had arrived, the priests(G) took up the ark, 4 and they brought up the ark of the Lord and the tent of meeting(H) and all the sacred furnishings in it. The priests and Levites(I) carried them up, 5 and King Solomon and the entire assembly of Israel that had gathered about him were before the ark, sacrificing(J) so many sheep and cattle that they could not be recorded or counted.
6 The priests then brought the ark of the Lord’s covenant(K) to its place in the inner sanctuary of the temple, the Most Holy Place,(L) and put it beneath the wings of the cherubim.(M) 7 The cherubim spread their wings over the place of the ark and overshadowed(N) the ark and its carrying poles. 8 These poles were so long that their ends could be seen from the Holy Place in front of the inner sanctuary, but not from outside the Holy Place; and they are still there today.(O) 9 There was nothing in the ark except the two stone tablets(P) that Moses had placed in it at Horeb, where the Lord made a covenant with the Israelites after they came out of Egypt.
10 When the priests withdrew from the Holy Place, the cloud(Q) filled the temple of the Lord. 11 And the priests could not perform their service(R) because of the cloud, for the glory(S) of the Lord filled his temple.
12 Then Solomon said, “The Lord has said that he would dwell in a dark cloud;(T) 13 I have indeed built a magnificent temple for you, a place for you to dwell(U) forever.”
14 While the whole assembly of Israel was standing there, the king turned around and blessed(V) them. 15 Then he said:
“Praise be to the Lord,(W) the God of Israel, who with his own hand has fulfilled what he promised with his own mouth to my father David. For he said, 16 ‘Since the day I brought my people Israel out of Egypt,(X) I have not chosen a city in any tribe of Israel to have a temple built so that my Name(Y) might be there, but I have chosen(Z) David(AA) to rule my people Israel.’
17 “My father David had it in his heart(AB) to build a temple(AC) for the Name of the Lord, the God of Israel. 18 But the Lord said to my father David, ‘You did well to have it in your heart to build a temple for my Name. 19 Nevertheless, you(AD) are not the one to build the temple, but your son, your own flesh and blood—he is the one who will build the temple for my Name.’(AE)
20 “The Lord has kept the promise he made: I have succeeded(AF) David my father and now I sit on the throne of Israel, just as the Lord promised, and I have built(AG) the temple for the Name of the Lord, the God of Israel. 21 I have provided a place there for the ark, in which is the covenant of the Lord that he made with our ancestors when he brought them out of Egypt.”
Solomon’s Prayer of Dedication(AH)
22 Then Solomon stood before the altar of the Lord in front of the whole assembly of Israel, spread out his hands(AI) toward heaven 23 and said:
“Lord, the God of Israel, there is no God like(AJ) you in heaven above or on earth below—you who keep your covenant of love(AK) with your servants who continue wholeheartedly in your way. 24 You have kept your promise to your servant David my father; with your mouth you have promised and with your hand you have fulfilled it—as it is today.
25 “Now Lord, the God of Israel, keep for your servant David my father the promises(AL) you made to him when you said, ‘You shall never fail to have a successor to sit before me on the throne of Israel, if only your descendants are careful in all they do to walk before me faithfully as you have done.’ 26 And now, God of Israel, let your word that you promised(AM) your servant David my father come true.
27 “But will God really dwell(AN) on earth? The heavens, even the highest heaven,(AO) cannot contain(AP) you. How much less this temple I have built! 28 Yet give attention to your servant’s prayer and his plea for mercy, Lord my God. Hear the cry and the prayer that your servant is praying in your presence this day. 29 May your eyes be open(AQ) toward(AR) this temple night and day, this place of which you said, ‘My Name(AS) shall be there,’ so that you will hear the prayer your servant prays toward this place. 30 Hear the supplication of your servant and of your people Israel when they pray(AT) toward this place. Hear(AU) from heaven, your dwelling place, and when you hear, forgive.(AV)
31 “When anyone wrongs their neighbor and is required to take an oath and they come and swear the oath(AW) before your altar in this temple, 32 then hear from heaven and act. Judge between your servants, condemning the guilty by bringing down on their heads what they have done, and vindicating the innocent by treating them in accordance with their innocence.(AX)
33 “When your people Israel have been defeated(AY) by an enemy because they have sinned(AZ) against you, and when they turn back to you and give praise to your name, praying and making supplication to you in this temple,(BA) 34 then hear from heaven and forgive the sin of your people Israel and bring them back to the land you gave to their ancestors.
35 “When the heavens are shut up and there is no rain(BB) because your people have sinned(BC) against you, and when they pray toward this place and give praise to your name and turn from their sin because you have afflicted them, 36 then hear from heaven and forgive the sin of your servants, your people Israel. Teach(BD) them the right way(BE) to live, and send rain(BF) on the land you gave your people for an inheritance.
37 “When famine(BG) or plague(BH) comes to the land, or blight(BI) or mildew, locusts or grasshoppers,(BJ) or when an enemy besieges them in any of their cities, whatever disaster or disease may come, 38 and when a prayer or plea is made by anyone among your people Israel—being aware of the afflictions of their own hearts, and spreading out their hands(BK) toward this temple— 39 then hear(BL) from heaven, your dwelling place. Forgive(BM) and act; deal with everyone according to all they do, since you know(BN) their hearts (for you alone know every human heart), 40 so that they will fear(BO) you all the time they live in the land(BP) you gave our ancestors.
41 “As for the foreigner(BQ) who does not belong to your people Israel but has come from a distant land because of your name— 42 for they will hear(BR) of your great name and your mighty hand(BS) and your outstretched arm—when they come and pray toward this temple, 43 then hear from heaven, your dwelling place. Do whatever the foreigner asks of you, so that all the peoples of the earth may know(BT) your name and fear(BU) you, as do your own people Israel, and may know that this house I have built bears your Name.(BV)
44 “When your people go to war against their enemies, wherever you send them, and when they pray(BW) to the Lord toward the city you have chosen and the temple I have built for your Name, 45 then hear from heaven their prayer and their plea, and uphold their cause.(BX)
46 “When they sin against you—for there is no one who does not sin(BY)—and you become angry with them and give them over to their enemies, who take them captive(BZ) to their own lands, far away or near; 47 and if they have a change of heart in the land where they are held captive, and repent and plead(CA) with you in the land of their captors and say, ‘We have sinned, we have done wrong, we have acted wickedly’;(CB) 48 and if they turn back(CC) to you with all their heart(CD) and soul in the land of their enemies who took them captive, and pray(CE) to you toward the land you gave their ancestors, toward the city you have chosen and the temple(CF) I have built for your Name;(CG) 49 then from heaven, your dwelling place, hear their prayer and their plea, and uphold their cause. 50 And forgive your people, who have sinned against you; forgive all the offenses they have committed against you, and cause their captors to show them mercy;(CH) 51 for they are your people and your inheritance,(CI) whom you brought out of Egypt, out of that iron-smelting furnace.(CJ)
52 “May your eyes be open(CK) to your servant’s plea and to the plea of your people Israel, and may you listen to them whenever they cry out to you.(CL) 53 For you singled them out from all the nations of the world to be your own inheritance,(CM) just as you declared through your servant Moses when you, Sovereign Lord, brought our ancestors out of Egypt.”
54 When Solomon had finished all these prayers and supplications to the Lord, he rose from before the altar of the Lord, where he had been kneeling with his hands spread out toward heaven. 55 He stood and blessed(CN) the whole assembly of Israel in a loud voice, saying:
56 “Praise be to the Lord, who has given rest(CO) to his people Israel just as he promised. Not one word has failed of all the good promises(CP) he gave through his servant Moses. 57 May the Lord our God be with us as he was with our ancestors; may he never leave us nor forsake(CQ) us. 58 May he turn our hearts(CR) to him, to walk in obedience to him and keep the commands, decrees and laws he gave our ancestors. 59 And may these words of mine, which I have prayed before the Lord, be near to the Lord our God day and night, that he may uphold the cause of his servant and the cause of his people Israel according to each day’s need, 60 so that all the peoples(CS) of the earth may know that the Lord is God and that there is no other.(CT) 61 And may your hearts(CU) be fully committed(CV) to the Lord our God, to live by his decrees and obey his commands, as at this time.”
The Dedication of the Temple(CW)
62 Then the king and all Israel with him offered sacrifices(CX) before the Lord. 63 Solomon offered a sacrifice of fellowship offerings to the Lord: twenty-two thousand cattle and a hundred and twenty thousand sheep and goats. So the king and all the Israelites dedicated(CY) the temple of the Lord.
64 On that same day the king consecrated the middle part of the courtyard in front of the temple of the Lord, and there he offered burnt offerings, grain offerings and the fat(CZ) of the fellowship offerings, because the bronze altar(DA) that stood before the Lord was too small to hold the burnt offerings, the grain offerings and the fat of the fellowship offerings.(DB)
65 So Solomon observed the festival(DC) at that time, and all Israel with him—a vast assembly, people from Lebo Hamath(DD) to the Wadi of Egypt.(DE) They celebrated it before the Lord our God for seven days and seven days more, fourteen days in all. 66 On the following day he sent the people away. They blessed the king and then went home, joyful and glad in heart for all the good(DF) things the Lord had done for his servant David and his people Israel.
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