1 Kings 8:6-16

6 Then the priests carried the Covenant Box into the Temple and put it in the Most Holy Place, beneath the winged creatures.

7 Their outstretched wings covered the box and the poles it was carried by.

8 The ends of the poles could be seen by anyone standing directly in front of the Most Holy Place, but from nowhere else. (The poles are still there today.)

9 There was nothing inside the Covenant Box except the two stone tablets which Moses had placed there at Mount Sinai, when the Lord made a covenant with the people of Israel as they were coming from Egypt. ¹

10 As the priests were leaving the Temple, it was suddenly filled with a cloud ²

11 shining with the dazzling light of the Lord's presence, and they could not go back in to perform their duties.

12 Then Solomon prayed: ³ "You, Lord, have placed the sun in the sky, yet you have chosen to live in clouds and darkness.

13 Now I have built a majestic temple for you, a place for you to live in forever."

14 As the people stood there, King Solomon turned to face them, and he asked God's blessing on them.

15 He said, "Praise the Lord God of Israel! He has kept the promise he made to my father David, when he told him,

16 "From the time I brought my people out of Egypt, I have not chosen any city in all the land of Israel in which a temple should be built where I would be worshiped. But I chose you, David, to rule my people.' " ⁴

1 Kings 8:6-16 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.

Cross References

• 1. 8.9Deuteronomy 10.5.
• 2. 8.10, 11Exodus 40.34, 35.
• 3. 8.12Psalms 18.11; 97.2.
• 4. 8.16 2 S 7.4-11;1 Chronicles 17.3-10.

Footnotes

• [a]. [One ancient translation] You . . . sky; [Hebrew does not have these words.]