1 Kings 8:18-28

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 '¹Nevertheless 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 ²I 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, ³in which is the covenant of the LORD, which He made with our fathers when He brought them from the land of Egypt."

The Prayer of Dedication

22 Then ⁴Solomon stood before the altar of the LORD in the presence of all the assembly of Israel and ⁵spread out his hands toward heaven.

23 He said, "O LORD, the God of Israel, ⁶there is no God like You in heaven above * or on earth beneath *, ⁷keeping covenant and showing lovingkindness to Your servants who walk before You with all their heart,

24 who have kept with Your servant, my father David, that which You have promised him; indeed, You have spoken with Your mouth and have fulfilled it with Your hand as it is this day.

25 "Now therefore, O LORD, the God of Israel, keep with Your servant David my father that which You have promised him, saying, '⁸You shall not lack a man to sit on the throne of Israel, if only your sons take heed to their way to walk before Me as you have walked.'

26 "Now therefore, O God of Israel, let Your word, I pray, be confirmed ⁹which You have spoken to Your servant, my father David.

27 "But will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold, ¹⁰heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain You, how much * less this house which I have built!

28 "Yet have regard to the ¹¹prayer of Your servant and to his supplication, O LORD my God, to listen to the cry and to the prayer which Your servant prays before You today;

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1 Kings 8:18-28 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 11

1. 2 Sam 7:5, 12, 13; 1 Kings 5:3, 5; 1 Chronicles 17:11, 12; 1 Chronicles 22:8-10
2. 1 Chronicles 28:5, 6
3. Deuteronomy 31:26; 1 Kings 8:9
4. 1 Kings 8:54; 2 Chronicles 6:12
5. Exodus 9:33; Ezra 9:5
6. 1 Samuel 2:2; 2 Samuel 7:22
7. Deuteronomy 7:9; Nehemiah 1:5; Nehemiah 9:32; Daniel 9:4
8. 1 Kings 2:4
9. 2 Samuel 7:25
10. 2 Chronicles 2:6; Psalms 139:7-16; Isaiah 66:1; Jeremiah 23:24; Acts 7:49
11. Philippians 4:6

Footnotes 8

[a]. Lit "with"
[b]. Lit "with"
[c]. Lit "will come forth from your loins"
[d]. Lit "spoke"
[e]. Lit "spoken to"
[f]. Lit "spoken to"
[g]. Lit "There shall not be cut off to you a man from before Me"
[h]. Lit "heaven of heavens"