Solomon & The Temple

whatever prayer and supplication be made by any man, or by all your people Israel, who shall know every man his own plague and his own sorrow, and shall spread out his hands toward this house:

then hear from heaven, your dwelling place and forgive, and render to every man according to all his ways, whose heart you know; (for you, even you only, know the hearts of the children of men;)

that they may fear you, to walk in your ways, so long as they live in the land which you gave to our fathers.

“Moreover concerning the foreigner, who is not of your people Israel, when he shall come from a far country for your great name’s sake, and your mighty hand, and your outstretched arm; when they shall come and pray toward this house:

then hear from heaven, even from your dwelling place, and do according to all that the foreigner calls to you for; that all the peoples of the earth may know your name, and fear you, as does your people Israel, and that they may know that this house which I have built is called by your name.

“If your people go out to battle against their enemies, by whatever way you shall send them, and they pray to you toward this city which you have chosen, and the house which I have built for your name;

then hear from heaven their prayer and their supplication, and maintain their cause.

“If they sin against you (for there is no man who doesn’t sin), and you are angry with them, and deliver them to the enemy, so that they carry them away captive to a land far off or near;

yet if they shall repent themselves in the land where they are carried captive, and turn again, and make supplication to you in the land of their captivity, saying, ‘We have sinned, we have done perversely, and have dealt wickedly;’

if they return to you with all their heart and with all their soul in the land of their captivity, where they have carried them captive, and pray toward their land, which you gave to their fathers, and the city which you have chosen, and toward the house which I have built for your name:

then hear from heaven, even from your dwelling place, their prayer and their petitions, and maintain their cause, and forgive your people who have sinned against you.

“Now, my God, let, I beg you, your eyes be open, and let your ears be attentive, to the prayer that is made in this place.

“Now therefore arise, LORD God, into your resting place, you, and the ark of your strength: let your priests, LORD God, be clothed with salvation <n>[yeshu`ah]</n>, and let your holy ones rejoice in goodness.

“LORD God, don’t turn away the face of your anointed. Remember your loving kindnesses to David your servant.”

Now when Solomon had made an end of praying, the fire came down from heaven, and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices; and the LORD’s glory filled the house.

The priests could not enter into the LORD’s house, because the LORD’s glory filled the LORD’s house.

All the children of Israel looked on, when the fire came down, and the LORD’s glory was on the house; and they bowed themselves with their faces to the ground on the pavement, and worshiped, and gave thanks to the LORD, saying, “For he is good; for his loving kindness endures for ever.”

Then the king and all the people offered sacrifice before the LORD.

King Solomon offered a sacrifice of twenty-two thousand head of cattle, and a hundred and twenty thousand sheep. So the king and all the people dedicated God’s house.

The priests stood, according to their positions; the Levites also with instruments of music of the LORD, which David the king had made to give thanks to the LORD, when David praised by their ministry, saying “For his loving kindness endures for ever.” The priests sounded shofars before them; and all Israel stood.

Moreover Solomon made the middle of the court holy that was before the LORD’s house; for there he offered the burnt offerings, and the fat of the peace offerings, because the bronze altar which Solomon had made was not able to receive the burnt offering, and the meal offering, and the fat.

So Solomon held the feast at that time seven days, and all Israel with him, a very great assembly, from the entrance of Hamath to the brook of Egypt.

On the eighth day they held a solemn assembly: for they kept the dedication of the altar seven days, and the feast seven days.

On the twenty-third day of the seventh month he sent the people away to their tents, joyful and glad of heart for the goodness that the LORD had shown to David, and to Solomon, and to Israel his people.

Thus Solomon finished the LORD’s house, and the king’s house: and he successfully completed all that came into Solomon’s heart to make in the LORD’s house, and in his own house.