1 Kings 8:12–21

^12*Then Solomon prayed:

“You, Lord, have placed the sun in the sky,^y

yet you have chosen to live in clouds and darkness.

¹³Now I have built a majestic temple for you,

a place for you to live in for ever.”

Solomon’s Address to the People

¹⁴As the people stood there, King Solomon turned to face them, and he asked God’s blessing on them. ¹⁵He said, “Praise the Lord God of Israel! He has kept the promise he made to my father David, when he said, ^16*‘From the time I brought my people out of Egypt, I have not chosen any city in all the land of Israel in which a temple should be built where I would be worshipped. But I chose you, David, to rule my people.’ ”

^17*And Solomon continued, “My father David planned to build a temple for the worship of the Lord God of Israel, ^18*but the Lord said to him, ‘You were right in wanting to build a temple for me, ^19*but you will never build it. It is your son, your own son, who will build my temple.’

²⁰“And now the Lord has kept his promise. I have succeeded my father as king of Israel, and I have built the Temple for the worship of the Lord God of Israel. ²¹I have also provided a place in the Temple for the Covenant Box containing the stone tablets of the covenant which the Lord made with our ancestors when he brought them out of Egypt.”