1
Then Solomon assembled the elders of Israel and all the heads of the tribes, the princes of the families of the sons of Israel, unto King Solomon in Jerusalem that they might bring up the ark of the covenant of the LORD out of the city of David, which
is Zion.
2
And all the men of Israel assembled themselves unto King Solomon in the month Ethanim, which
is the seventh month, on the solemn day.
3
And all the elders of Israel came, and the priests took up the ark.
4
And they brought up the ark of the LORD and the tabernacle of the testimony and all the holy vessels that
were in the tabernacle, which the priests and the Levites carried.
5
And King Solomon and all the congregation of Israel that were assembled unto him
were with him before the ark, sacrificing sheep and oxen, that could not be counted nor numbered for multitude.
6
And the priests brought in the ark of the covenant of the LORD unto his place, into the oracle of the house, in the holy of holies, under the wings of the cherubim.
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For the cherubim had their wings extended over the place of the ark, and the cherubim covered the ark and its staves from above.
8
And they drew out the staves so that the ends of the staves could be seen out in the holy
place in front of the oracle, but they could not be seen from outside, and thus they remained until today.
9
There was nothing in the ark except the two tables of stone, which Moses put there at Horeb, when the LORD cut a covenant with the sons of Israel, when they came out of the land of Egypt.
10
And when the priests came out of the holy
place, the cloud filled the house of the LORD.
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And the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud, for the glory of the LORD had filled the house of the LORD.
12
Then Solomon said, The LORD has said that he would dwell in the thick darkness.
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I have surely built thee a house to dwell in, a settled place for thee to abide in for ever.
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And the king turned his face about and blessed all the congregation of Israel, and all the congregation of Israel were standing.
15
And he said, Blessed
be the LORD God of Israel, who spoke with his mouth unto David my father, and with his hand has fulfilled
it, saying,
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Since the day that I brought forth my people Israel out of Egypt, I have chosen no city out of all the tribes of Israel in which to build a house, that my name might be there, but I chose David to be over my people Israel.
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And it was in the heart of David, my father, to build a house for the name of the LORD God of Israel.
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But the LORD said unto David, my father, Whereas it was in thy heart to build a house unto my name, thou didst well that it was in thy heart;
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nevertheless, thou shalt not build the house, but thy son that shall come forth out of thy loins, he shall build
a house unto my name.
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And the LORD has established his word that he spoke, and I have risen up in the place of David, my father, and sit on the throne of Israel as the LORD had said and have built a house for the name of the LORD God of Israel.
21
And I have set there a place for the ark, in which
is the covenant of the LORD, which he made with our fathers when he brought them out of the land of Egypt.
22
And Solomon stood before the altar of the LORD in the presence of all the congregation of Israel, and extending his hands toward heaven,
23
he said, LORD God of Israel,
there is no God like thee, in the heavens above or on earth beneath, who keeps the covenant and mercy with thy slaves that walk before thee with all their heart,
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who hast kept unto thy slave David, my father, what thou didst declare unto him; thou didst say it with thy mouth and hast fulfilled
it with thy hand, as
we see this day.
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Therefore, now, LORD God of Israel, fulfill unto thy slave David, my father, what thou didst promise him, saying, There shall not fail thee a man in my sight to sit on the throne of Israel, if thy sons keep their way, that they walk before me as thou hast walked before me.
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And now, O God of Israel, let thy word, I pray thee, be made firm, which thou didst speak unto thy slave David, my father.
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But will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold, the heavens, the heavens of heavens cannot contain thee; how much less this house that I have built?
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Yet have thou respect unto the prayer of thy slave and to his supplication, O LORD my God, to hearken unto the cry and to the prayer, which thy slave prays before thee today,
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that thine eyes may be open toward this house night and day,
even toward the place of which thou hast said, My name shall be there that thou may hearken unto the prayer which thy slave shall make in this place.
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Therefore, thou shalt hearken unto the supplication of thy slave and of thy people Israel when they shall pray in this place and hear in thy dwelling place, from the heavens; please hear and forgive.
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When anyone shall have sinned against his neighbour, and an oath is laid upon him to cause him to swear and the oath comes before thy altar in this house,
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thou shalt hear from heaven and do and judge thy slaves, condemning the wicked, to bring his way upon his head, and justifying the righteous, to give him according to his righteousness.
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When thy people Israel are smitten down before the enemy because they have sinned against thee and shall turn again to thee and confess thy name and pray and make supplication with humility unto thee in this house,
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then thou shalt hear in the heavens and forgive the sin of thy people Israel and bring them again unto the land which thou didst give unto their fathers.
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When heaven is shut up and there is no rain because they have sinned against thee, if they pray in this place and confess thy name and turn from their sin when thou hast afflicted them,
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then thou shalt hear in the heavens and forgive the sin of thy slaves and of thy people Israel, teaching them the good way in which they should walk and shalt give rain upon thy land, which thou hast given to thy people for an inheritance.
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When there is famine in the land or pestilence or blasting or mildew or locusts or caterpillars, if their enemy besieges them in the land of their gates, whatever plague, whatever sickness
there is,
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every prayer and every supplication made by any man or by all thy people Israel, when anyone knows the plague of his own heart and spreads forth his hands toward this house,
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then thou shalt hear in the heavens, in the habitation of thy dwelling place, and forgive and do and give to each one according to his ways, whose heart thou knowest (for thou,
even thou only, knowest the hearts of all the sons of men),
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that they may fear thee all the days that they live in the land which thou didst give unto our fathers.
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Likewise concerning a stranger, that
is not of thy people Israel, but comes out of a far country for thy name’s sake
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(for they shall have heard of thy great name and of thy strong hand and of thy stretched out arm), when he shall come to pray in this house,
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thou shalt hear in the heavens, in the habitation of thy dwelling place, and do according to all that for which the stranger shall have called unto thee, that all peoples of the earth may know thy name and fear thee as
do thy people Israel and that they may know that thy name is invoked upon this house, which I have built.
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If thy people go out to battle against their enemies by the way which thou shalt send them and shall pray unto the LORD toward the city which thou hast chosen and
toward the house that I have built for thy name,
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thou shalt hear in the heavens their prayer and their supplication and do their judgment.
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If they have sinned against thee (for
there is no man that does not sin) and thou should be angry with them and deliver them to the enemy so that they carry them away captives unto the land of the enemy, far or near,
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and they return unto their heart in the land where they were carried captives and return and make supplication unto thee in the land of those that carried them captives, saying, We have sinned and have done iniquity, we have committed wickedness;
48
and
so convert themselves unto thee with all their heart and with all their soul in the land of their enemies, who led them away captive and pray unto thee toward their land, which thou didst give unto their fathers,
toward the city which thou hast chosen and the house which I have built for thy name,
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thou shalt hear in the heavens, in the habitation of thy dwelling place, their prayer and their supplication and do what is right unto them
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and forgive thy people that have sinned against thee and all their rebellions by which they have rebelled against thee and cause those who carried them captive to have mercy on them,
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for they
are thy people and thy inheritance, which thou didst bring forth out of Egypt, from the midst of the iron furnace.
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Let thine eyes be open unto the supplication of thy slave and unto the supplication of thy people Israel, to hearken unto them in all that they call for unto thee.
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For thou didst separate them from among all the peoples of the earth,
to be thy inheritance, as thou didst speak by the hand of Moses, thy slave, when thou didst bring our fathers out of Egypt, O Lord GOD.
54
And it was
so, that when Solomon had made an end of praying all this prayer and supplication unto the LORD he arose from before the altar of the LORD, from kneeling on his knees with his hands extended toward heaven.
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And he stood and blessed all the congregation of Israel with a loud voice, saying,
56
Blessed
be the LORD that has given rest unto his people Israel according to all that he had said; not one word has failed of all his good word, which he spoke by the hand of Moses, his slave.
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The LORD our God be with us as he was with our fathers; let him not leave us nor forsake us
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that he may incline our hearts unto him, to walk in all his ways and to keep his commandments and his statutes and his rights, which he commanded our fathers.
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And let these my words, with which I have made supplication before the LORD, be near unto the LORD our God day and night that he maintain the judgment of his slave and the cause of his people Israel at all times, as the matter shall require;
60
that all the peoples of the earth may know that the LORD
is God,
and that there is no other.
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Let your heart, therefore, be perfect with the LORD our God, walking in his statutes and keeping his commandments, as at this day.
62
Then the king and all Israel with him, offered sacrifices before the LORD.
63
And Solomon offered sacrifices of peace, which he offered unto the LORD,
which were twenty-two thousand oxen and one hundred and twenty thousand sheep. So the king and all the sons of Israel dedicated the house of the LORD.
64
That same day the king sanctified the middle of the court that
was before the house of the LORD, for there he offered the burnt offerings and the presents and the fat of the peace
offerings because the brasen altar that
was before the LORD
was too small to receive the burnt offerings and the presents and the fat of the peace
offerings.
65
And at that time Solomon held a feast and all Israel with him, a great congregation, from the entering in of Hamath unto the river of Egypt, before the LORD our God, for seven days and another seven days,
even fourteen days.
66
On the eighth day he sent the people away, and they, blessing the king, went unto their tents joyful and glad of heart for all the goodness that the LORD had done unto David, his slave, and unto Israel his people.
