1 Kings 8:41–66

⁴¹“As for the foreigner^c who does not belong to your people Israel but has come from a distant land because of your name—⁴²for they will hear^d of your great name and your mighty hand^e and your outstretched arm—when they come and pray toward this temple, ⁴³then hear from heaven, your dwelling place. Do whatever the foreigner asks of you, so that all the peoples of the earth may know^f your name and fear^g you, as do your own people Israel, and may know that this house I have built bears your Name.^h

⁴⁴“When your people go to war against their enemies, wherever you send them, and when they prayⁱ to the Lord toward the city you have chosen and the temple I have built for your Name, ⁴⁵then hear from heaven their prayer and their plea, and uphold their cause.^j

⁴⁶“When they sin against you—for there is no one who does not sin^k—and you become angry with them and give them over to their enemies, who take them captive^l to their own lands, far away or near; ⁴⁷and if they have a change of heart in the land where they are held captive, and repent and plead^m with you in the land of their captors and say, ‘We have sinned, we have done wrong, we have acted wickedly’;^{n 48}and if they turn back^o to you with all their heart^p and soul in the land of their enemies who took them captive, and pray^q to you toward the land you gave their ancestors, toward the city you have chosen and the temple^r I have built for your Name;^{s 49}then from heaven, your dwelling place, hear their prayer and their plea, and uphold their cause. ⁵⁰And 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;^{t 51}for they are your people and your inheritance,^u whom you brought out of Egypt, out of that iron-smelting furnace.^v

⁵²“May your eyes be open^w 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.^{x 53}For you singled them out from all the nations of the world to be your own inheritance,^y just as you declared through your servant Moses when you, Sovereign Lord, brought our ancestors out of Egypt.”

⁵⁴When 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. ⁵⁵He stood and blessed^z the whole assembly of Israel in a loud voice, saying:

⁵⁶“Praise be to the Lord, who has given rest^a to his people Israel just as he promised. Not one word has failed of all the good promises^b he gave through his servant Moses. ⁵⁷May the Lord our God be with us as he was with our ancestors; may he never leave us nor forsake^c us. ⁵⁸May he turn our hearts^d to him, to walk in obedience to him and keep the commands, decrees and laws he gave our ancestors. ⁵⁹And 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, ⁶⁰so that all the peoples^e of the earth may know that the Lord is God and that there is no other.^{f 61}And may your hearts^g be fully committed^h to the Lord our God, to live by his decrees and obey his commands, as at this time.”

The Dedication of the Temple

8:62–66pp—2Ch 7:1–10

⁶²Then the king and all Israel with him offered sacrificesⁱ before the Lord. ⁶³Solomon 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^j the temple of the Lord.

⁶⁴On 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^k of the fellowship offerings, because the bronze altar^l that stood before the Lord was too small to hold the burnt offerings, the grain offerings and the fat of the fellowship offerings.^m

⁶⁵So Solomon observed the festivalⁿ at that time, and all Israel with him—a vast assembly, people from Lebo Hamath^o to the Wadi of Egypt.^p They celebrated it before the Lord our God for seven days and seven days more, fourteen days in all. ⁶⁶On 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^q things the Lord had done for his servant David and his people Israel.