Solomon Brings the Ark Into the Temple

8 Then Solomon assembled the elders of Israel, all the heads of tribes, and the leading fathers of the people of Israel to appear before him in Jerusalem, in order to bring up the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord from the City of David, that is, from Zion. ² All the men of Israel assembled before King Solomon in the month of Ethanim,^[a] during the festival.^[b] It was the seventh month. ³ Then all the elders of Israel came, and the priests lifted up the ark. ⁴ They brought up the Ark of the Lord, the Tent of Meeting, and all the holy vessels which were in the tent. The priests and the Levites brought them up.

⁵ King Solomon, along with the whole congregation of Israel who had gathered with him in front of the ark, was sacrificing sheep and cattle, too many to be counted.

⁶ The priests brought the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord to its place in the inner sanctuary of the house, to the Most Holy Place, under the wings of the cherubim, ⁷ for the cherubim were spreading their wings over the place for the ark, so that the cherubim covered the ark and its poles with their wings. ⁸ The poles were so long that the ends of the poles could be seen from the Holy Place in front of the inner sanctuary, but they could not be seen from outside. They are there to this day.

⁹ There was nothing in the ark except the two stone tablets, which Moses had placed there at Horeb, where the Lord made a covenant with the people of Israel when they came out of the land of Egypt.

¹⁰ When the priests came out from the Holy Place, the cloud filled the House of the Lord. ¹¹ The priests were not able to take their positions to minister in the presence of the cloud, because the Glory of the Lord had filled the House of the Lord.

King Solomon’s Prayer

¹² Then Solomon said, “The Lord has said that he dwells in thick darkness. ¹³ I have truly built a majestic house for you, a place for you to dwell forever.”

¹⁴ Then the king turned and blessed the whole congregation of Israel, while the whole congregation of Israel was standing there. ¹⁵ Then Solomon said:

²² Then Solomon stood in front of the altar in the presence of the whole congregation of Israel and spread out his hands toward heaven.^{[d] 23} He said:

The Petitions

³¹ When a man sins against his neighbor, and his neighbor places him under an oath, and the oath is presented before your altar in this house, ³² then hear from heaven and take action. Provide justice for your servants by declaring the wicked person guilty and bringing his ways down on his own head, and by declaring the righteous person innocent and dealing with him according to his righteousness.

³³ When your people Israel are defeated by their enemies because they sinned against you, and when they return to you and praise your Name and pray and seek your favor in this house, ³⁴ then hear in heaven and forgive the sin of your people Israel and bring them back to the land which you gave to their fathers.

³⁵ When the heavens are shut up, and there is no rain because they sinned against you, and when they pray toward this place, and they praise your Name and turn from their sin because you have humbled them, ³⁶ then hear from heaven and forgive the sin of your servants, your people Israel. Yes, teach them the good way in which they are to walk, and provide rain for the land which you gave to your people as an inheritance.

³⁷ When there is famine in the land, when there is plague, when there is blight or mildew or locusts or grasshoppers, when their enemies are in the land besieging their gates, in every disease, in every sickness, ³⁸ hear every prayer and every plea for mercy which any individual presents or which your whole people Israel presents. When each one knows the affliction of his own heart, when he spreads out his hands toward this house, ³⁹ hear in heaven, your dwelling place, and forgive. Then act and give to each person according to all his ways, because you know his heart (yes, you alone know the heart of every human being), ⁴⁰ so that they may fear you all the days they live on the soil which you gave to our fathers.

⁴¹ Also for the foreigner, who is not one of your people Israel, but who comes from a distant land because of your Name ⁴² (for they will hear about your great Name, your mighty hand, and your outstretched arm, and they will come and pray toward this house), ⁴³ for that foreigner, hear in heaven, which is your dwelling place, and do everything for which that foreigner cries out to you, so that all the peoples of the earth may know your Name and fear you, just as your people Israel do, and because they know that your Name is proclaimed in this house which I have built.

⁴⁴ When your people go out for battle against their enemy on whatever way you send them, and when they pray to the Lord facing toward the city which you have chosen and toward the house which I have built for your Name, ⁴⁵ then from heaven hear their prayer and their plea for mercy, and provide justice for them.

⁴⁶ When they sin against you (for there is no one who does not sin) and you become angry with them, and you give them up to their enemies, and their captors exile them to an enemy land, whether distant or near, ⁴⁷ when they are in the land where they were exiled and they turn their hearts back, and they repent and pray to you in the land of their exile and say, “We have sinned and become guilty and done evil,” ⁴⁸ when they return to you with all their heart and with all their soul in the land of their enemies where they were exiled, and they pray in the direction of their land, which you gave to their fathers, toward the city which you chose and toward the house which I have built for your Name, ⁴⁹ then hear their prayers and their plea for mercy from heaven, your dwelling place, and provide justice for them. ⁵⁰ Pardon your people who have sinned against you and all their rebellious deeds that they have committed against you. Have compassion by causing their enemies to show them compassion. ⁵¹ For they are your people and your possession, which you brought out of Egypt, from the midst of the iron-smelting furnace.

⁵² Let your eyes be open to the plea for mercy from your servant and to the plea for mercy from your people Israel. Hear them whenever they cry out to you. ⁵³ For you singled them out for yourself as your possession from all the peoples of the earth, just as you said through Moses your servant when you brought our fathers out of Egypt, O Lord God.

The Dedication of the Temple

⁵⁴ When Solomon finished offering all these prayers and pleas for mercy to the Lord, he got up from the altar of the Lord, where he had been kneeling with his hands spread out toward heaven. ⁵⁵ Then he stood and blessed the whole congregation of Israel with a loud voice:

⁶² Then the king and all Israel with him offered sacrifices before the Lord. ⁶³ Solomon sacrificed fellowship offerings to the Lord: twenty-two thousand cattle and one hundred twenty thousand sheep. So the king and all the people of Israel dedicated the House of the Lord.

⁶⁴ On that day the king consecrated the center of the courtyard which was in front of the House of the Lord, so that he could offer whole burnt offerings and grain offerings and the fat of the fellowship offerings there, because the bronze altar which was before the Lord was too small to hold the whole burnt offerings and grain offerings and the fat of the fellowship offerings.

⁶⁵ At that time Solomon kept the festival, and all Israel kept the festival with him. They were a great congregation that had come from throughout the land, from Lebo Hamath to the Stream of Egypt before the Lord our God. ⎣⎦^[f] The festival lasted seven days, and then seven days more, fourteen days in all. ⁶⁶ On the eighth day he sent them home, and they blessed the king. Then they went home, and their hearts were glad because of all the good which the Lord had done for his servant David and for his people Israel.