1 Kings 8:54-64

54 And it was so, that when Solomon had ended praying all this prayer and supplication to Jehovah, he arose from before the altar of Jehovah, from kneeling on his knees with his hands spread forth to the heavens,

55 and he stood and blessed the whole congregation of Israel with a loud voice, saying,

56 Blessed be Jehovah, who has given rest to his people Israel, according to all that he promised: there has not failed one word of all his good promises which he spoke through Moses his servant!

57 Jehovah our God be with us, as he was with our fathers; let him not forsake us nor cast us off:

58 that he may incline our hearts to him, to walk in all his ways, and to keep his commandments and his statutes and his ordinances, which he commanded our fathers.

59 And let these my words, with which I have made supplication before Jehovah, be nigh to Jehovah our God day and night, that he maintain the right of his servant, and the right of his people Israel, as the matter of each day shall require;

60 that all peoples of the earth may know that Jehovah is God, that there is none else;

61 and that your heart may be perfect with Jehovah our God, to walk in his statutes and to keep his commandments, as at this day.

62 And the king, and all Israel with him, offered sacrifices before Jehovah.

63 And Solomon sacrificed a sacrifice of peace-offerings, which he sacrificed to Jehovah, twenty-two thousand oxen and a hundred and twenty thousand sheep. So the king and all the children of Israel dedicated the house of Jehovah.

64 The same day the king hallowed the middle of the court that was before the house of Jehovah; for there he offered the burnt-offerings, and the oblations, and the fat of the peace-offerings, because the brazen altar that was before Jehovah was too small to receive the burnt-offerings, and the oblations, and the fat of the peace-offerings.

1 Kings 8:54-64 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

• [a]. Lit. 'the matter of a day in its day.'