1 Kings 8:44–66

44 When your people go out to fight against their enemies,*

wherever you send them,

and they pray to the Lord

in the direction of the city you have chosenm

and the temple I have built for your name,

45 may you hear their prayer and petition in heaven

and uphold their cause.n

46 When they sin against you—

for there is no one who does not sino—

and you are angry with them

and hand them over to the enemy,

and their captors deport them to the enemy’s countryp—

whether distant or nearby—

47 and when they come to their sensesB

in the land where they were deported

and repent and petition you in their captors’ land:

“We have sinned and done wrong;

we have been wicked,”q

48 and when they return to you with all their heart and all their soul

in the land of their enemies who took them captive,r

and when they pray to you in the direction of their land

that you gave their ancestors,

the city you have chosen,s

and the temple I have built for your name,

49 may you hear in heaven, your dwelling place,

their prayer and petition and uphold their cause.

50 May you forgive your people

who sinned against you

and all their rebellionsC against you,

and may you grant them compassion

before their captors,

so that they may treat them compassionately.t

51 For they are your people and your inheritance;u

you brought them out of Egypt,

out of the middle of an iron furnace.v

52 May your eyes be open to your servant’s petition

and to the petition of your people Israel,

listening to them whenever they call to you.

53 For you, Lord God, have set them apart as your inheritance

from all peoples of the earth,

as you spoke through your servant Moses

when you brought our ancestors out of Egypt.a

SOLOMON’S BLESSING

54 When Solomon finished praying this entire prayer and petition to the Lord, he got up from kneeling before the altar of the Lord, with his hands spread out toward heaven,b 55 and he stood and blessed the whole congregation of Israelc with a loud voice: 56 “Blessed be the Lord! He has given restd to his people Israel according to all he has said. Not one of all the good promises he made through his servant Moses has failed.e 57 May the Lord our God be with us as he was with our ancestors. May he not abandon us or leave usf 58 so that he causes us to be devotedA to him,g to walk in all his ways, and to keep his commands, statutes, and ordinances, which he commanded our ancestors. 59 May my words with which I have made my petition before the Lord be near the Lord our God day and night. May he uphold his servant’s cause and the cause of his people Israel, as each day requires.h 60 May all the peoples of the earth know that the Lord is God. There is no other!i 61 Be wholeheartedly devoted to the Lord our Godj to walk in his statutes and to keep his commands, as it is today.”

62 The king and all Israel with him were offering sacrifices in the Lord’s presence. 63 Solomon offered a sacrifice of fellowship offerings to the Lord: twenty-two thousand cattle and one hundred twenty thousand sheep and goats.k In this manner the king and all the Israelites dedicatedl the Lord’s temple.m

64 On the same day, the king consecrated the middle of the courtyard that was in front of the Lord’s temple because that was where he offered the burnt offering, the grain offering, and the fat of the fellowship offerings,n since the bronze altar before the Lord was too small to accommodate the burnt offerings, the grain offerings, and the fat of the fellowship offerings.o

65 Solomon and all Israel with him—a great assembly, from the entrance of HamathB,p to the Brook of Egyptq—observed the festival at that timer in the presence of the Lord our God, seven days, and seven more days—fourteen days.C,s 66 On the fifteenth dayD he sent the people away. So they blessed the king and went to their homesE rejoicing and with happy hearts for all the goodness that the Lord had done for his servant David and for his people Israel.t