1 Kings 8:11-21

11 so that the priests could not stand to minister because * of the cloud, for the glory of the LORD filled the house of the LORD.

Solomon Addresses the People

12 ¹Then Solomon said, "The LORD has said that ²He would dwell in the thick cloud.

13 "³I have surely built You a lofty house, ⁴A place for Your dwelling forever."

14 Then the king faced * about and ⁵blessed all the assembly of Israel, while all the assembly of Israel was standing.

15 He said, "⁶Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel, ⁷who spoke with His mouth to my father David and has fulfilled it with His hand, saying,

16 '⁸Since the day that I brought My people Israel from Egypt, I did not choose a city out of all the tribes of Israel in which to build a house that ⁹My name might be there, but ¹⁰I chose David to be over My people Israel.'

17 "¹¹Now it was in the heart of my father David to build a house for the name of the LORD, the God of Israel.

18 "But the LORD said to my father David, 'Because * it was in your heart to build a house for My name, you did well that it was in your heart.

19 '¹²Nevertheless you shall not build the house, but your son who will be born * to you, he will build the house for My name.'

20 "Now the LORD has fulfilled His word which He spoke; for ¹³I have risen in place of my father David and sit on the throne of Israel, as the LORD promised, and have built the house for the name of the LORD, the God of Israel.

21 "There I have set a place for the ark, ¹⁴in which is the covenant of the LORD, which He made with our fathers when He brought them from the land of Egypt."

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1 Kings 8:11-21 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.

Taken from John Gill's Exposition of the Bible

Cross References 14

1. 2 Chronicles 6:1
2. Leviticus 16:2; Psalms 18:11; Psalms 97:2
3. 2 Samuel 7:13
4. Exodus 15:17; Psalms 132:14
5. 2 Samuel 6:18; 1 Kings 8:55
6. 1 Chronicles 29:10, 20; Nehemiah 9:5; Luke 1:68
7. 2 Samuel 7:12, 13; 1 Chronicles 22:10
8. 2 Samuel 7:4, 5; 1 Chronicles 17:3-10; 2 Chronicles 6:5
9. Deuteronomy 12:5, 11
10. 1 Samuel 16:1; 2 Samuel 7:8
11. 2 Samuel 7:2, 3; 1 Chronicles 17:1, 2
12. 2 Sam 7:5, 12, 13; 1 Kings 5:3, 5; 1 Chronicles 17:11, 12; 1 Chronicles 22:8-10
13. 1 Chronicles 28:5, 6
14. Deuteronomy 31:26; 1 Kings 8:9

Footnotes 6

[a]. Lit "turned his face about"
[b]. Lit "with"
[c]. Lit "with"
[d]. Lit "with"
[e]. Lit "will come forth from your loins"
[f]. Lit "spoke"