The Ark Enters the Temple
Then Solomon assembled the elders of Israel — all the heads of the tribes, the leaders of the fathers’ houses of the sons of Israel — to King Solomon at Jerusalem, to bring up the ark of the covenant of the LORD from the city of David, that is, Zion.
And every man of Israel assembled to King Solomon at the feast, in the month of Ethanim — that is, the seventh month.
And all the elders of Israel came, and the priests lifted the ark.
And they brought up the ark of the LORD, and the tent of meeting, and all the holy vessels that were in the tent; the priests and the Levites brought them up.
And King Solomon, and all the congregation of Israel who had assembled to him, were with him before the ark, sacrificing sheep and oxen that could not be counted or numbered for multitude.
And the priests brought the ark of the covenant of the LORD to its place, into the inner sanctuary of the house, into the holy of holies — under the wings of the cherubim.
For the cherubim spread out their wings over the place of the ark, and the cherubim covered the ark and its poles from above.
And the poles were so long that the ends of the poles were seen from the holy place in front of the inner sanctuary, but they were not seen outside; and they have been there to this day.
There was nothing in the ark except the two tablets of stone that Moses placed there at Horeb, where the LORD cut a covenant with the sons of Israel when they came out of the land of Egypt.
And it was, when the priests came out of the holy place, that the cloud filled the house of the LORD;
and the priests were not able to stand to minister because of the cloud — for the glory of the LORD filled the house of the LORD.
Solomon Blesses the LORD
Then Solomon said: “The LORD has said he would dwell in thick darkness.
I have surely built you a house of loftiness — a fixed place for your dwelling forever.”
And the king turned his face and blessed all the assembly of Israel, while all the assembly of Israel was standing.
And he said: “Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel, who spoke with his mouth to David my father, and with his hand has fulfilled it, saying:
‘From the day I brought my people Israel out of Egypt, I did not choose a city out of all the tribes of Israel to build a house, for my name to be there; but I chose David to be over my people Israel.’
And it was with the heart of David my father to build a house for the name of the LORD, the God of Israel.
But the LORD said to David my father: ‘Because it was with your heart to build a house for my name, you did well that it was with your heart.
Only, you shall not build the house — but your son, who comes out of your own body: he shall build the house for my name.’
And the LORD has raised up his word that he spoke: I have risen in the place of David my father, and I sit on the throne of Israel, as the LORD spoke, and I have built the house for the name of the LORD, the God of Israel.
And I have set there a place for the ark, in which is the covenant of the LORD that he cut with our fathers when he brought them out of the land of Egypt.”
Solomon’s Prayer of Dedication
And Solomon stood before the altar of the LORD, in front of all the assembly of Israel, and spread out his palms toward the heavens.
And he said: “LORD, God of Israel — there is no God like you, in the heavens above or on the earth beneath: keeping the covenant and the loyal love for your servants who walk before you with all their heart —
you who have kept for your servant David my father what you spoke to him; you spoke with your mouth, and with your hand you have fulfilled it, as at this day.
And now, LORD, God of Israel, keep for your servant David my father what you spoke to him, saying: ‘There shall not be cut off for you a man from before me, sitting on the throne of Israel — if only your sons keep their way, to walk before me as you have walked before me.’
And now, God of Israel, let your word be confirmed, please, which you spoke to your servant David my father.
But will God really dwell on the earth? Look — the heavens, and the heavens of the heavens, cannot contain you; how much less this house that I have built!
Yet turn to the prayer of your servant and to his plea, LORD my God, to hear the cry and the prayer that your servant prays before you today:
that your eyes may be open toward this house night and day, toward the place of which you said, ‘My name shall be there’ — to hear the prayer that your servant prays toward this place.
And hear the plea of your servant, and of your people Israel, when they pray toward this place; and may you hear in the place of your dwelling, in the heavens — and when you hear, forgive.
If a man sins against his neighbor, and an oath is laid on him to put him under oath, and he comes and swears before your altar in this house,
then may you hear in the heavens, and act, and judge your servants — condemning the wicked, bringing his way on his own head, and vindicating the righteous, giving him according to his righteousness.
When your people Israel are beaten before an enemy because they have sinned against you, and they return to you and give thanks to your name, and pray and make their plea to you in this house,
then may you hear in the heavens, and forgive the sin of your people Israel, and bring them back to the ground that you gave to their fathers.
When the heavens are shut up and there is no rain because they have sinned against you, and they pray toward this place and give thanks to your name, and turn from their sin because you afflict them,
then may you hear in the heavens, and forgive the sin of your servants and of your people Israel — for you will teach them the good way in which they should walk — and give rain on your land, which you have given to your people as an inheritance.
If there is famine in the land; if there is pestilence, blight, mildew, locust, or devouring locust; if their enemy besieges them in the land of their gates — any plague, any sickness —
every prayer, every plea, that any man of all your people Israel makes — each knowing the plague of his own heart — when he spreads out his palms toward this house,
then may you hear in the heavens, the fixed place of your dwelling, and forgive, and act, and give to each man according to all his ways, since you know his heart — for you alone know the heart of all the sons of man —
so that they may fear you all the days that they live on the face of the ground that you gave to our fathers.
And also the foreigner, who is not of your people Israel, but comes from a distant land for the sake of your name —
for they will hear of your great name, and of your strong hand, and of your outstretched arm — when he comes and prays toward this house,
may you hear in the heavens, the fixed place of your dwelling, and do according to all that the foreigner calls to you for; so that all the peoples of the earth may know your name, to fear you as your people Israel do, and to know that your name is called over this house that I have built.
When your people go out to battle against their enemy, on the way that you send them, and they pray to the LORD toward the city that you have chosen and the house that I have built for your name,
then may you hear in the heavens their prayer and their plea, and uphold their cause.
When they sin against you — for there is no man who does not sin — and you are angry with them and give them over before an enemy, and their captors carry them captive to the land of the enemy, far or near,
and they turn it back to their heart in the land where they are held captive, and they return and make their plea to you in the land of their captors, saying, ‘We have sinned, and done wrong; we have acted wickedly,’
and they return to you with all their heart and with all their soul in the land of their enemies who carried them captive, and they pray to you toward their land that you gave to their fathers — the city that you have chosen, and the house that I have built for your name —
then may you hear in the heavens, the fixed place of your dwelling, their prayer and their plea, and uphold their cause,
and forgive your people who have sinned against you — all their rebellions by which they rebelled against you — and grant them compassion before their captors, so that they have compassion on them.
For they are your people and your inheritance, whom you brought out of Egypt, from the middle of the furnace of iron.
May your eyes be open to the plea of your servant and to the plea of your people Israel, to hear them whenever they call to you.
For you yourself set them apart for yourself as an inheritance out of all the peoples of the earth, as you spoke by the hand of Moses your servant when you brought our fathers out of Egypt, O Lord GOD.”
Solomon’s Benediction
And it was, as Solomon finished praying to the LORD all this prayer and plea, that he rose from before the altar of the LORD, from kneeling on his knees with his palms spread out toward the heavens.
And he stood and blessed all the assembly of Israel with a great voice, saying:
“Blessed be the LORD, who has given rest to his people Israel, according to all that he spoke. Not one word has fallen of all his good word, which he spoke by the hand of Moses his servant.
May the LORD our God be with us as he was with our fathers; may he not abandon us and not forsake us —
inclining our heart to himself, to walk in all his ways, and to keep his commandments and his statutes and his judgments, which he commanded our fathers.
And may these words of mine, with which I have made my plea 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, each day’s matter in its day —
so that all the peoples of the earth may know that the LORD, he is God; there is no other.
And let your heart be whole with the LORD our God — to walk in his statutes and to keep his commandments, as at this day.”
Sacrifices of Dedication
And the king, and all Israel with him, were sacrificing sacrifice before the LORD.
And Solomon sacrificed the sacrifice of peace offerings that he sacrificed to the LORD: twenty-two thousand oxen and a hundred and twenty thousand sheep. So the king and all the sons of Israel dedicated the house of the LORD.
On that day the king consecrated the middle of the court that was before the house of the LORD, for there he offered the burnt offering, and the grain offering, and the fat of the peace offerings — because the bronze altar that was before the LORD was too small to hold the burnt offering, and the grain offering, and the fat of the peace offerings.
And Solomon held the feast at that time, and all Israel with him — a great assembly, from Lebo-hamath to the brook of Egypt — before the LORD our God, seven days and seven days: fourteen days.
On the eighth day he sent the people away; and they blessed the king, and went to their tents rejoicing and good of heart over all the good that the LORD had done for David his servant and for Israel his people.