1 Kings 8:12-21

Solomon’s Proclamation to the Assembly of Israel

12 Then Solomon said, "Yahweh has said that [he] would dwell in the very thick cloud.
13 I have certainly built a lofty house for you, a place for you to live forever."
14 [Then] the king turned his face around, and he blessed all of the assembly of Israel. (Now all the assembly of Israel was standing).
15 Then he said, "Blessed be Yahweh the God of Israel who has promised with his mouth [to] David my father and fulfilled {by his oath}, saying,
16 'From the day that I brought out my people Israel from Egypt I have not chosen a city from all the tribes of Israel to build a house where my name might be, but I have chosen David to be over my people Israel.'
17 {David my father desired} to build a house for the name of Yahweh the God of Israel,
18 but Yahweh said to David my father, 'Because {you desired} to build a house for my name, you did well in that it was within your heart.
19 However, you will not build the house, but your son who has come from your loins, he shall build the house for my name.'
20 Yahweh has carried out his promise which he had made; I have risen in place of David my father, and I sit on the throne of Israel as Yahweh promised, and I have built the house for the name of Yahweh the God of Israel.
21 I have provided a place there for the ark, in which is the covenant which Yahweh made with our ancestors when He brought them out of the land of Egypt."

1 Kings 8:12-21 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO 1 KINGS 8

This chapter gives an account of the introduction of the ark into the temple, 1Ki 8:1-9 of the glory of the Lord filling it, 1Ki 8:10,11 of a speech Solomon made to the people concerning the building of the temple, and how he came to be engaged in it, 1Ki 8:12-21, of a prayer of his he put up on this occasion, requesting, that what supplications soever were made at any time, or on any account, by Israelites or strangers, might be accepted by the Lord, 1Ki 8:22-53, and of his blessing the people of Israel at the close of it, with some useful exhortations, 1Ki 8:54-61, and of the great number of sacrifices offered up by him, and the feast he made for the people, upon which he dismissed them, 1Ki 8:62-66.

Footnotes 4

  • [a]. Literally "by his hand"
  • [b]. Literally "It had been with[in] the heart of David my father"
  • [c]. Literally "it was within your heart"
  • [d]. Or "fathers"
Scripture quotations marked (LEB) are from the Lexham English Bible. Copyright 2012 Logos Bible Software. Lexham is a registered trademark of Logos Bible Software.