Day 26 · 1 Kings 1–3; 6; 8
Old Testament · Phase 4 · Divided Kingdom & The Assyrian Shadow
Solomon ascends; Wisdom granted; Temple completed and dedicated
1 Kings 1–3
Section titled “1 Kings 1–3”Abishag Cares for David
1Now King David was old and well along in years, and though they covered him with blankets, he could not keep warm. 2So his servants said to him, “Let us search for a young virgin for our lord the king, to attend to him and care for him and lie by his side to keep him warm.”
3Then they searched throughout Israel for a beautiful girl, and they found Abishag the Shunammite and brought her to the king. 4The girl was unsurpassed in beauty; she cared for the king and served him, but he had no relations with her.
Adonijah Usurps the Kingdom
5At that time Adonijah, David’s son by Haggith, began to exalt himself, saying, “I will be king!” And he acquired chariots and horsemen and fifty men to run ahead of him.
6(His father had never once reprimanded him by saying, “Why do you act this way?” Adonijah was also very handsome, born next after Absalom.)
7So Adonijah conferred with Joab son of Zeruiah and with Abiathar the priest, who supported him. 8But Zadok the priest, Benaiah son of Jehoiada, Nathan the prophet, Shimei, Rei, and David’s mighty men would not join Adonijah.
9And Adonijah sacrificed sheep, oxen, and fattened calves near the stone of Zoheleth, which is next to En-rogel. He invited all his royal brothers and all the men of Judah who were servants of the king. 10But he did not invite Nathan the prophet, Benaiah, the mighty men, or his brother Solomon.
Nathan and Bathsheba before David
11Then Nathan said to Bathsheba the mother of Solomon, “Have you not heard that Adonijah son of Haggith has become king, and our lord David does not know it? 12Now please, come and let me advise you. Save your own life and the life of your son Solomon. 13Go at once to King David and say, ‘My lord the king, did you not swear to your maidservant, “Surely your son Solomon will reign after me, and he will sit on my throne”? Why then has Adonijah become king?’ 14Then, while you are still there speaking with the king, I will come in after you and confirm your words.”
15So Bathsheba went to see the king in his bedroom. Since the king was very old, Abishag the Shunammite was serving him. 16And Bathsheba bowed down in homage to the king, who asked, “What is your desire?”
17“My lord,” she replied, “you yourself swore to your maidservant by the LORD your God: ‘Surely your son Solomon will reign after me, and he will sit on my throne.’ 18But now, behold, Adonijah has become king, and you, my lord the king, do not know it. 19And he has sacrificed an abundance of oxen, fattened calves, and sheep, and has invited all the other sons of the king, as well as Abiathar the priest and Joab the commander of the army. But he has not invited your servant Solomon. 20And as for you, my lord the king, the eyes of all Israel are upon you to tell them who will sit on the throne of my lord the king after him. 21Otherwise, when my lord the king rests with his fathers, I and my son Solomon will be counted as criminals.”
22And just then, while Bathsheba was still speaking with the king, Nathan the prophet arrived. 23So the king was told, “Nathan the prophet is here.” And Nathan went in and bowed facedown before the king.
24“My lord the king,” said Nathan, “did you say, ‘Adonijah will reign after me, and he will sit on my throne’? 25For today he has gone down and sacrificed an abundance of oxen, fattened calves, and sheep, and has invited all the sons of the king, the commanders of the army, and Abiathar the priest. And behold, they are eating and drinking before him, saying, ‘Long live King Adonijah!’ 26But me your servant he has not invited, nor Zadok the priest, nor Benaiah son of Jehoiada, nor your servant Solomon. 27Has my lord the king let this happen without informing your servant who should sit on the throne after my lord the king?”
David Renews His Oath to Bathsheba
28Then King David said, “Call in Bathsheba for me.” So she came into the king’s presence and stood before him.
29And the king swore an oath, saying, “As surely as the LORD lives, who has redeemed my life from all distress, 30I will carry out this very day exactly what I swore to you by the LORD, the God of Israel: Surely your son Solomon will reign after me, and he will sit on my throne in my place.”
31Bathsheba bowed facedown in homage to the king and said, “May my lord King David live forever!”
Solomon Anointed King
32Then King David said, “Call in for me Zadok the priest, Nathan the prophet, and Benaiah son of Jehoiada.” So they came before the king.
33“Take my servants with you,” said the king. “Set my son Solomon on my own mule and take him down to Gihon. 34There Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet are to anoint him king over Israel. You are to blow the ram’s horn and declare, ‘Long live King Solomon!’ 35Then you shall go up with him, and he is to come and sit on my throne and reign in my place. For I have appointed him ruler over Israel and Judah.”
36“Amen,” replied Benaiah son of Jehoiada. “May the LORD, the God of my lord the king, so declare it. 37Just as the LORD was with my lord the king, so may He be with Solomon and make his throne even greater than that of my lord King David.”
38Then Zadok the priest, Nathan the prophet, and Benaiah son of Jehoiada, along with the Cherethites and Pelethites, went down and set Solomon on King David’s mule, and they escorted him to Gihon. 39Zadok the priest took the horn of oil from the tabernacle and anointed Solomon. Then they blew the ram’s horn, and all the people proclaimed, “Long live King Solomon!”
40All the people followed him, playing flutes and rejoicing with such a great joy that the earth was split by the sound.
Adonijah Learns of Solomon’s Kingship
41Now Adonijah and all his guests were finishing their feast when they heard the sound of the ram’s horn. “Why is the city in such a loud uproar?” asked Joab.
42As he was speaking, suddenly Jonathan the son of Abiathar the priest arrived. “Come in,” said Adonijah, “for you are a man of valor. You must be bringing good news.”
43“Not at all,” Jonathan replied. “Our lord King David has made Solomon king. 44And with Solomon, the king has sent Zadok the priest, Nathan the prophet, and Benaiah son of Jehoiada, along with the Cherethites and Pelethites, and they have set him on the king’s mule. 45Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet have anointed him king at Gihon, and they have gone up from there with rejoicing that rings out in the city. That is the noise you hear.
46Moreover, Solomon has taken his seat on the royal throne.
47The king’s servants have also gone to congratulate our lord King David, saying, ‘May your God make the name of Solomon more famous than your own name, and may He make his throne greater than your throne.’
And the king has bowed in worship on his bed, 48saying, ‘Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel! Today He has provided one to sit on my throne, and my eyes have seen it.’”
49At this, all the guests of Adonijah arose in terror and scattered. 50But Adonijah, in fear of Solomon, got up and went to take hold of the horns of the altar.
51It was reported to Solomon: “Behold, Adonijah fears King Solomon, and he has taken hold of the horns of the altar, saying, ‘Let King Solomon first swear to me not to put his servant to the sword.’”
52And Solomon replied, “If he is a man of character, not a single hair of his will fall to the ground. But if evil is found in him, he will die.”
53So King Solomon summoned Adonijah down from the altar, and he came and bowed down before King Solomon, who said to him, “Go to your home.”
David Instructs Solomon
1As the time drew near for David to die, he charged his son Solomon, 2“I am about to go the way of all the earth. So be strong and prove yourself a man. 3And keep the charge of the LORD your God to walk in His ways and to keep His statutes, commandments, ordinances, and decrees, as written in the Law of Moses, so that you may prosper in all you do and wherever you turn, 4and so that the LORD may fulfill His promise to me: ‘If your descendants take heed to walk faithfully before Me with all their heart and soul, you will never fail to have a man on the throne of Israel.’
5Moreover, you know what Joab son of Zeruiah did to me— what he did to Abner son of Ner and Amasa son of Jether, the two commanders of the armies of Israel. He killed them in peacetime to avenge the blood of war. He stained with the blood of war the belt around his waist and the sandals on his feet. 6So act according to your wisdom, and do not let his gray head go down to Sheol in peace.
7But show loving devotion to the sons of Barzillai the Gileadite, and let them be among those who eat at your table, because they stood by me when I fled from your brother Absalom.
8Keep an eye on Shimei the son of Gera, the Benjamite from Bahurim who is with you. He called down bitter curses against me on the day I went to Mahanaim, but when he came down to meet me at the Jordan, I swore to him by the LORD: ‘I will never put you to the sword.’ 9Now therefore, do not hold him guiltless, for you are a wise man. You know what you ought to do to him to bring his gray head down to Sheol in blood.”
David’s Reign and Death
10Then David rested with his fathers and was buried in the City of David. 11The length of David’s reign over Israel was forty years — seven years in Hebron and thirty-three years in Jerusalem.
12So Solomon sat on the throne of his father David, and his kingdom was firmly established.
The Execution of Adonijah
13Now Adonijah son of Haggith went to Bathsheba the mother of Solomon, and she asked, “Do you come in peace?”
“Yes, in peace,” he replied. 14Then he said, “I have something to tell you.”
“Say it,” she answered.
15“You know that the kingship was mine,” he said. “All Israel expected that I should reign, but the kingship has turned to my brother, for it has come to him from the LORD. 16So now I have just one request of you; do not deny me.”
“State your request,” she told him.
17Adonijah replied, “Please speak to King Solomon, since he will not turn you down. Let him give me Abishag the Shunammite as my wife.”
18“Very well,” Bathsheba replied. “I will speak to the king for you.”
19So Bathsheba went to King Solomon to speak to him for Adonijah. The king stood up to greet her, bowed to her, and sat down on his throne. Then the king had a throne brought for his mother, who sat down at his right hand.
20“I have just one small request of you,” she said. “Do not deny me.”
“Make your request, my mother,” the king replied, “for I will not deny you.”
21So Bathsheba said, “Let Abishag the Shunammite be given to your brother Adonijah as his wife.”
22King Solomon answered his mother, “Why do you request Abishag the Shunammite for Adonijah? Since he is my older brother, you might as well request the kingdom for him and for Abiathar the priest and for Joab son of Zeruiah!”
23Then King Solomon swore by the LORD: “May God punish me, and ever so severely, if Adonijah has not made this request at the expense of his life. 24And now, as surely as the LORD lives — the One who established me, who set me on the throne of my father David, and who founded for me a dynasty as He promised— surely Adonijah shall be put to death today!”
25So King Solomon gave orders to Benaiah son of Jehoiada, and he struck down Adonijah and he died.
26Then the king said to Abiathar the priest, “Go back to your fields in Anathoth. Even though you deserve to die, I will not put you to death at this time, since you carried the ark of the Lord GOD before my father David, and you suffered through all that my father suffered.” 27So Solomon banished Abiathar from the priesthood of the LORD and thus fulfilled the word that the LORD had spoken at Shiloh against the house of Eli.
The Execution of Joab
28When the news reached Joab, who had conspired with Adonijah but not with Absalom, he fled to the tent of the LORD and took hold of the horns of the altar.
29It was reported to King Solomon: “Joab has fled to the tent of the LORD and is now beside the altar.”
So Solomon sent Benaiah son of Jehoiada, saying, “Go, strike him down!”
30And Benaiah entered the tent of the LORD and said to Joab, “The king says, ‘Come out!’”
But Joab replied, “No, I will die here.”
So Benaiah relayed the message to the king, saying, “This is how Joab answered me.”
31And the king replied, “Do just as he says. Strike him down and bury him, and so remove from me and from the house of my father the innocent blood that Joab shed. 32The LORD will bring his bloodshed back upon his own head, for without the knowledge of my father David he struck down two men more righteous and better than he when he put to the sword Abner son of Ner, commander of Israel’s army, and Amasa son of Jether, commander of Judah’s army. 33Their blood will come back upon the heads of Joab and his descendants forever; but for David, his descendants, his house, and his throne, there shall be peace from the LORD forever.”
34So Benaiah son of Jehoiada went up, struck down Joab, and killed him. He was buried at his own home in the wilderness. 35And the king appointed Benaiah son of Jehoiada in Joab’s place over the army, and he appointed Zadok the priest in Abiathar’s place.
The Execution of Shimei
36Then the king summoned Shimei and said to him, “Build a house for yourself in Jerusalem and live there, but do not go anywhere else. 37On the day you go out and cross the Kidron Valley, know for sure that you will die; your blood will be on your own head.”
38“The sentence is fair,” Shimei replied. “Your servant will do as my lord the king has spoken.” And Shimei lived in Jerusalem for a long time.
39After three years, however, two of Shimei’s slaves ran away to Achish son of Maacah, king of Gath. And Shimei was told, “Look, your slaves are in Gath.”
40So Shimei saddled his donkey and set out to Achish at Gath in search of his slaves, and he brought them back from Gath.
41When Solomon was told that Shimei had gone from Jerusalem to Gath and had returned, 42the king summoned Shimei and said to him, “Did I not make you swear by the LORD and warn you, ‘On the day you leave and go elsewhere, know for sure that you will die’? And you told me, ‘The sentence is fair; I will comply.’ 43So why have you not kept your oath to the LORD and the command that I gave you?”
44The king also said, “You know in your heart all the evil that you did to my father David. Therefore the LORD will bring your evil back upon your head. 45But King Solomon will be blessed and David’s throne will remain secure before the LORD forever.”
46Then the king commanded Benaiah son of Jehoiada, and he went out and struck Shimei down, and he died. Thus the kingdom was firmly established in the hand of Solomon.
Solomon’s Prayer for Wisdom
1Later, Solomon formed an alliance with Pharaoh king of Egypt by marrying his daughter. Solomon brought her to the City of David until he had finished building his palace and the house of the LORD, as well as the wall around Jerusalem.
2The people, however, were still sacrificing on the high places because a house for the Name of the LORD had not yet been built. 3And Solomon loved the LORD and walked in the statutes of his father David, except that he sacrificed and burned incense on the high places.
4Now the king went to Gibeon to sacrifice there, for it was the great high place. Solomon offered a thousand burnt offerings on the altar there.
5One night at Gibeon the LORD appeared to Solomon in a dream, and God said, “Ask, and I will give it to you!”
6Solomon replied, “You have shown much loving devotion to Your servant, my father David, because he walked before You in faithfulness, righteousness, and uprightness of heart. And You have maintained this loving devotion by giving him a son to sit on his throne this very day.
7And now, O LORD my God, You have made Your servant king in my father David’s place. But I am only a little child, not knowing how to go out or come in. 8Your servant is here among the people You have chosen, a people too numerous to count or number.
9Therefore give Your servant an understanding heart to judge Your people and to discern between good and evil. For who is able to govern this great people of Yours?”
10Now it pleased the Lord that Solomon had made this request. 11So God said to him, “Since you have asked for this instead of requesting long life or wealth for yourself or death for your enemies — but you have asked for discernment to administer justice — 12behold, I will do what you have asked. I will give you a wise and discerning heart, so that there will never have been another like you, nor will there ever be.
13Moreover, I will give you what you did not request — both riches and honor — so that during all your days no man in any kingdom will be your equal. 14So if you walk in My ways and keep My statutes and commandments, just as your father David did, I will prolong your days.”
15Then Solomon awoke, and indeed it had been a dream. So he returned to Jerusalem, stood before the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. Then he held a feast for all his servants.
Solomon Judges Wisely
16At that time two prostitutes came to the king and stood before him.
17One woman said, “Please, my lord, this woman and I live in the same house, and I gave birth while she was in the house. 18On the third day after I gave birth, this woman also had a baby. We were alone, with no one in the house but the two of us. 19During the night this woman’s son died because she rolled over on him. 20So she got up in the middle of the night and took my son from my side while I was asleep. She laid him in her bosom and put her dead son at my bosom. 21The next morning, when I got up to nurse my son, I discovered he was dead. But when I examined him, I realized that he was not the son I had borne.”
22“No,” said the other woman, “the living one is my son and the dead one is your son.”
But the first woman insisted, “No, the dead one is yours and the living one is mine.” So they argued before the king.
23Then the king replied, “This woman says, ‘My son is alive and yours is dead,’ but that woman says, ‘No, your son is dead and mine is alive.’”
24The king continued, “Bring me a sword.” So they brought him a sword, 25and the king declared, “Cut the living child in two and give half to one and half to the other.”
26Then the woman whose son was alive spoke to the king because she yearned with compassion for her son. “Please, my lord,” she said, “give her the living baby. Do not kill him!”
But the other woman said, “He will be neither mine nor yours. Cut him in two!”
27Then the king gave his ruling: “Give the living baby to the first woman. By no means should you kill him; she is his mother.”
28When all Israel heard of the judgment the king had given, they stood in awe of him, for they saw that the wisdom of God was in him to administer justice.
1 Kings 6
Section titled “1 Kings 6”Temple Construction Begins
1In the four hundred and eightieth year after the Israelites had come out of the land of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon’s reign over Israel, in the month of Ziv, the second month, he began to build the house of the LORD.
2The house that King Solomon built for the LORD was sixty cubits long, twenty cubits wide, and thirty cubits high. 3The portico at the front of the main hall of the temple was twenty cubits long, extending across the width of the temple and projecting out ten cubits in front of the temple.
4He also had narrow windows framed high in the temple.
The Chambers
5Against the walls of the temple and the inner sanctuary, Solomon built a chambered structure around the temple, in which he constructed the side rooms. 6The bottom floor was five cubits wide, the middle floor six cubits, and the third floor seven cubits. He also placed offset ledges around the outside of the temple, so that nothing would be inserted into its walls.
7The temple was constructed using finished stones cut at the quarry, so that no hammer or chisel or any other iron tool was heard in the temple while it was being built.
8The entrance to the bottom floor was on the south side of the temple. A stairway led up to the middle level, and from there to the third floor.
9So Solomon built the temple and finished it, roofing it with beams and planks of cedar. 10He built chambers all along the temple, each five cubits high and attached to the temple with beams of cedar.
God’s Promise to Solomon
11Then the word of the LORD came to Solomon, saying: 12“As for this temple you are building, if you walk in My statutes, carry out My ordinances, and keep all My commandments by walking in them, I will fulfill through you the promise I made to your father David. 13And I will dwell among the Israelites and will not abandon My people Israel.”
The Temple’s Interior
14So Solomon built the temple and finished it. 15He lined the interior walls with cedar paneling from the floor of the temple to the ceiling, and he covered the floor with cypress boards.
16He partitioned off the twenty cubits at the rear of the temple with cedar boards from floor to ceiling to form within the temple an inner sanctuary, the Most Holy Place. 17And the main hall in front of this room was forty cubits long.
18The cedar paneling inside the temple was carved with gourds and open flowers. Everything was cedar; not a stone could be seen.
19Solomon also prepared the inner sanctuary within the temple to set the ark of the covenant of the LORD there. 20The inner sanctuary was twenty cubits long, twenty cubits wide, and twenty cubits high. He overlaid the inside with pure gold, and he also overlaid the altar of cedar.
21So Solomon overlaid the inside of the temple with pure gold, and he extended gold chains across the front of the inner sanctuary, which was overlaid with gold. 22So he overlaid with gold the whole interior of the temple, until everything was completely finished. He also overlaid with gold the entire altar that belonged to the inner sanctuary.
The Cherubim
23In the inner sanctuary he made two cherubim, each ten cubits high, out of olive wood. 24One wing of the first cherub was five cubits long, and the other wing was five cubits long as well. So the full wingspan was ten cubits. 25The second cherub also measured ten cubits; both cherubim had the same size and shape, 26and the height of each cherub was ten cubits.
27And he placed the cherubim inside the innermost room of the temple. Since their wings were spread out, the wing of the first cherub touched one wall, while the wing of the second cherub touched the other wall, and in the middle of the room their wingtips touched. 28He also overlaid the cherubim with gold.
29Then he carved the walls all around the temple, in both the inner and outer sanctuaries, with carved engravings of cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers. 30And he overlaid the temple floor with gold in both the inner and outer sanctuaries.
The Doors
31For the entrance to the inner sanctuary, Solomon constructed doors of olive wood with five-sided doorposts. 32The double doors were made of olive wood, and he carved into them cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers and overlaid the cherubim and palm trees with hammered gold.
33In the same way he made four-sided doorposts of olive wood for the sanctuary entrance. 34The two doors were made of cypress wood, and each had two folding panels. 35He carved into them cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers, and he overlaid them with gold hammered evenly over the carvings.
The Courtyard
36Solomon built the inner courtyard with three rows of dressed stone and one row of trimmed cedar beams.
37The foundation of the house of the LORD was laid in the fourth year of Solomon’s reign, in the month of Ziv. 38In the eleventh year, in the month of Bul, the eighth month, the temple was finished in every detail and according to every specification. So he built the temple in seven years.
1 Kings 8
Section titled “1 Kings 8”The Ark Enters the Temple
1At that time Solomon assembled before him in Jerusalem the elders of Israel — all the tribal heads and family leaders of the Israelites — to bring up the ark of the covenant of the LORD from Zion, the City of David. 2And all the men of Israel came together to King Solomon at the feast in the seventh month, the month of Ethanim.
3When all the elders of Israel had arrived, the priests took up the ark, 4and they brought up the ark of the LORD and the Tent of Meeting with all its sacred furnishings. So the priests and Levites carried them up.
5There, before the ark, King Solomon and the whole congregation of Israel who had assembled with him sacrificed so many sheep and oxen that they could not be counted or numbered.
6Then the priests brought the ark of the covenant of the LORD to its place in the inner sanctuary of the temple, the Most Holy Place, beneath the wings of the cherubim. 7For the cherubim spread their wings over the place of the ark and overshadowed the ark and its poles.
8The poles extended far enough that their ends were visible from the Holy Place in front of the inner sanctuary, but not from outside the Holy Place; and they are there to this day.
9There was nothing in the ark except the two stone tablets that Moses had placed in it at Horeb, where the LORD had made a covenant with the Israelites after they had come out of the land of Egypt.
10And when the priests came out of the Holy Place, the cloud filled the house of the LORD 11so that the priests could not stand there to minister because of the cloud. For the glory of the LORD filled the house of the LORD.
Solomon Blesses the LORD
12Then Solomon declared:
“The LORD has said that He would dwell
in the thick cloud.
13I have indeed built You an exalted house,
a place for You to dwell forever.”
14And as the whole assembly of Israel stood there, the king turned around and blessed them all 15and said:
“Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel, who has fulfilled with His own hand what He spoke with His mouth to my father David, saying, 16‘Since the day I brought My people Israel out of Egypt, I have not chosen a city from any tribe of Israel in which to build a house so that My Name would be there. But I have chosen David to be over My people Israel.’
17Now it was in the heart of my father David to build a house for the Name of the LORD, the God of Israel. 18But the LORD said to my father David, ‘Since it was in your heart to build a house for My Name, you have done well to have this in your heart. 19Nevertheless, you are not the one to build it; but your son, your own offspring, will build the house for My Name.’
20Now the LORD has fulfilled the word that He spoke. I have succeeded my father David, and I sit on the throne of Israel, as the LORD promised. I have built the house for the Name of the LORD, the God of Israel. 21And there I have provided a place for the ark, which contains the covenant of the LORD that He made with our fathers when He brought them out of the land of Egypt.”
Solomon’s Prayer of Dedication
22Then Solomon stood before the altar of the LORD in front of the whole assembly of Israel, spread out his hands toward heaven, 23and said:
“O LORD, God of Israel, there is no God like You in heaven above or on earth below, keeping Your covenant of loving devotion with Your servants who walk before You with all their hearts. 24You have kept Your promise to Your servant, my father David. What You spoke with Your mouth You have fulfilled with Your hand this day.
25Therefore now, O LORD, God of Israel, keep for Your servant, my father David, what You promised when You said: ‘You will never fail to have a man to sit before Me on the throne of Israel, if only your descendants guard their way to walk before Me as you have done.’ 26And now, O God of Israel, please confirm what You promised to Your servant, my father David.
27But will God indeed dwell upon the earth? The heavens, even the highest heavens, cannot contain You, much less this temple I have built. 28Yet regard the prayer and plea of Your servant, O LORD my God, so that You may hear the cry and the prayer that Your servant is praying before You today.
29May Your eyes be open toward this temple night and day, toward the place of which You said, ‘My Name shall be there,’ so that You may hear the prayer that Your servant prays toward this place. 30Hear the plea of Your servant and of Your people Israel when they pray toward this place. May You hear from heaven, Your dwelling place. May You hear and forgive.
31When a man sins against his neighbor and is required to take an oath, and he comes to take an oath before Your altar in this temple, 32then may You hear from heaven and act. May You judge Your servants, condemning the wicked man by bringing down on his own head what he has done, and justifying the righteous man by rewarding him according to his righteousness.
33When Your people Israel are defeated before an enemy because they have sinned against You, and they return to You and confess Your name, praying and pleading with You in this temple, 34then may You hear from heaven and forgive the sin of Your people Israel. May You restore them to the land You gave to their fathers.
35When the skies are shut and there is no rain because Your people have sinned against You, and they pray toward this place and confess Your name, and they turn from their sins because You have afflicted them, 36then may You hear from heaven and forgive the sin of Your servants, Your people Israel, so that You may teach them the good way in which they should walk. May You send rain on the land that You gave Your people as an inheritance.
37When famine or plague comes upon the land, or blight or mildew or locusts or grasshoppers, or when their enemy besieges them in their cities, whatever plague or sickness may come, 38then may whatever prayer or petition Your people Israel make— each knowing his own afflictions and spreading out his hands toward this temple— 39be heard by You from heaven, Your dwelling place. And may You forgive and act, and repay each man according to all his ways, since You know his heart — for You alone know the hearts of all men — 40so that they may fear You all the days they live in the land that You gave to our fathers.
41And as for the foreigner who is not of Your people Israel but has come from a distant land because of Your name— 42for they will hear of Your great name and mighty hand and outstretched arm— when he comes and prays toward this temple, 43then may You hear from heaven, Your dwelling place, and do according to all for which the foreigner calls to You. Then all the peoples of the earth will know Your name and fear You, as do Your people Israel, and they will know that this house I have built is called by Your Name.
44When Your people go to war against their enemies, wherever You send them, and when they pray to the LORD in the direction of the city You have chosen and the house I have built for Your Name, 45then may You hear from heaven their prayer and their plea, and may You uphold their cause.
46When they sin against You — for there is no one who does not sin — and You become angry with them and deliver them to an enemy who takes them as captives to his own land, whether far or near, 47and when they come to their senses in the land to which they were taken, and they repent and plead with You in the land of their captors, saying, ‘We have sinned and done wrong; we have acted wickedly,’ 48and when they return to You with all their heart and soul in the land of the enemies who took them captive, and when they pray to You in the direction of the land that You gave to their fathers, the city You have chosen, and the house I have built for Your Name, 49then may You hear from heaven, Your dwelling place, their prayer and petition, and may You uphold their cause. 50May You forgive Your people who have sinned against You and all the transgressions they have committed against You, and may You grant them compassion in the eyes of their captors to show them mercy.
51For they are Your people and Your inheritance; You brought them out of Egypt, out of the furnace for iron. 52May Your eyes be open to the pleas of Your servant and of Your people Israel, and may You listen to them whenever they call to You. 53For You, O Lord GOD, have set them apart from all the peoples of the earth as Your inheritance, as You spoke through Your servant Moses when You brought our fathers out of Egypt.”
Solomon’s Benediction
54Now when Solomon had finished praying this entire prayer and petition to the LORD, he got up before the altar of the LORD, where he had been kneeling with his hands spread out toward heaven. 55And he stood and blessed the whole assembly of Israel in a loud voice, saying:
56“Blessed be the LORD, who has given rest to His people Israel according to all that He promised. Not one word has failed of all the good promises He made through His servant Moses.
57May the LORD our God be with us, as He was with our fathers. May He never leave us or forsake us. 58May He incline our hearts to Himself, to walk in all His ways and to keep the commandments and statutes and ordinances He commanded our fathers.
59And may these words with which I have made my petition before the LORD be near to the LORD our God day and night, so that He may uphold the cause of His servant and of His people Israel as each day requires, 60so that all the peoples of the earth may know that the LORD is God. There is no other!
61So let your heart be fully devoted to the LORD our God, as it is this day, to walk in His statutes and to keep His commandments.”
Sacrifices of Dedication
62Then the king and all Israel with him offered sacrifices before the LORD. 63And Solomon offered as peace offerings to the LORD 22,000 oxen and 120,000 sheep. So the king and all the Israelites dedicated the house of the LORD.
64On that same day the king consecrated the middle of the courtyard in front of the house of the LORD, and there he offered the burnt offerings, the grain offerings, and the fat of the peace offerings, since the bronze altar before the LORD was too small to contain all these offerings.
65So at that time Solomon and all Israel with him— a great assembly of people from Lebo-hamath to the Brook of Egypt— kept the feast before the LORD our God for seven days and seven more days— fourteen days in all.
66On the fifteenth day Solomon sent the people away. So they blessed the king and went home, joyful and glad in heart for all the good things that the LORD had done for His servant David and for His people Israel.