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Then Shlomo assembled the Zakenim of Yisra'el, and all the heads of the tribes, the princes of the fathers' [houses] of the children of Yisra'el, to king Shlomo in Yerushalayim, to bring up the ark of the covenant of the LORD out of the city of David, which is Tziyon.
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All the men of Yisra'el assembled themselves to king Shlomo at the feast, in the month Etanim, which is the seventh month.
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All the Zakenim of Yisra'el came, and the Kohanim took up the ark.
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They brought up the ark of the LORD, and the tent of meeting, and all the holy vessels that were in the Tent; even these did the Kohanim and the Levites bring up.
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King Shlomo and all the congregation of Yisra'el, who were assembled to him, were with him before the ark, sacrificing sheep and oxen, that could not be counted nor numbered for multitude.
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The Kohanim brought in the ark of the covenant of the LORD to its place, into the oracle of the house, to the most holy place, even under the wings of the Keruvim.
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For the Keruvim spread forth their wings over the place of the ark, and the Keruvim covered the ark and the poles of it above.
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The poles were so long that the ends of the poles were seen from the holy place before the oracle; but they were not seen outside: and there they are to this day.
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There was nothing in the ark save the two tables of stone which Moshe put there at Horev, when the LORD made a covenant with the children of Yisra'el, when they came out of the land of Mitzrayim.
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It came to pass, when the Kohanim were come out of the holy place, that the cloud filled the house of the LORD,
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so that the Kohanim could not stand to minister by reason of the cloud; for the glory of the LORD filled the house of the LORD.
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Then spoke Shlomo, the LORD has said that he would dwell in the thick darkness.
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I have surely built you a house of habitation, a place for you to dwell in forever.
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The king turned his face about, and blessed all the assembly of Yisra'el: and all the assembly of Yisra'el stood.
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He said, Blessed be the LORD, the God of Yisra'el, who spoke with his mouth to David your father, and has with his hand fulfilled it, saying,
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Since the day that I brought forth my people Yisra'el out of Mitzrayim, I chose no city out of all the tribes of Yisra'el to build a house, that my name might be there; but I chose David to be over my people Yisra'el.
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Now it was in the heart of David my father to build a house for the name of the LORD, the God of Yisra'el.
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But the LORD said to David my father, Whereas it was in your heart to build a house for my name, you did well that it was in your heart:
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nevertheless you shall not build the house; but your son who shall come forth out of your loins, he shall build the house for my name.
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The LORD has established his word that he spoke; for I am risen up in the room of David my father, and sit on the throne of Yisra'el, as the LORD promised, and have built the house for the name of the LORD, the God of Yisra'el.
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There have I set a place for the ark, in which is the covenant of the LORD, which he made with our fathers, when he brought them out of the land of Mitzrayim.
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Shlomo stood before the altar of the LORD in the presence of all the assembly of Yisra'el, and spread forth his hands toward heaven;
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and he said, LORD, the God of Yisra'el, there is no God like you, in heaven above, or on eretz beneath; who keep covenant and lovingkindness with your servants, who walk before you with all their heart;
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who have kept with your servant David my father that which you did promise him: yes, you spoke with your mouth, and have fulfilled it with your hand, as it is this day.
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Now therefore, LORD, the God of Yisra'el, keep with your servant David my father that which you have promised him, saying, There shall not fail you a man in my sight to sit on the throne of Yisra'el, if only your children take heed to their way, to walk before me as you have walked before me.
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Now therefore, God of Yisra'el, Please let your word be verified, which you spoke to your servant David my father.
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But will God in very deed dwell on the eretz? behold, heaven and the heaven of heavens can't contain you; how much less this house that I have built!
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Yet have respect for the prayer of your servant, and for his supplication, LORD my God, to listen to the cry and to the prayer which your servant prays before you this day;
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that your eyes may be open toward this house night and day, even toward the place whereof you have said, My name shall be there; to listen to the prayer which your servant shall pray toward this place.
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Listen you to the supplication of your servant, and of your people Yisra'el, when they shall pray toward this place: yes, hear in heaven, your dwelling-place; and when you hear, forgive.
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If a man sin against his neighbor, and an oath be laid on him to cause him to swear, and he come [and] swear before your altar in this house;
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then hear you in heaven, and do, and judge your servants, condemning the wicked, to bring his way on his own head, and justifying the righteous, to give him according to his righteousness.
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When your people Yisra'el are struck down before the enemy, because they have sinned against you; if they turn again to you, and confess your name, and pray and make supplication to you in this house:
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then hear you in heaven, and forgive the sin of your people Yisra'el, and bring them again to the land which you gave to their fathers.
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When the sky is shut up, and there is no rain, because they have sinned against you; if they pray toward this place, and confess your name, and turn from their sin, when you do afflict them:
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then hear in heaven, and forgive the sin of your servants, and of your people Yisra'el, when you teach them the good way in which they should walk; and send rain on your land, which you have given to your people for an inheritance.
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If there be in the land famine, if there be pestilence, if there be blasting [or] mildew, arbeh [or] caterpillar; if their enemy besiege them in the land of their cities; whatever plague, whatever sickness there be;
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whatever prayer and supplication be made by any man, [or] by all your people Yisra'el, who shall know every man the plague of his own heart, and spread forth his hands toward this house:
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then hear in heaven, your dwelling-place, and forgive, and do, and render to every man according to all his ways, whose heart you know; (for you, even you only, know the hearts of all the children of men;)
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that they may fear you all the days that they live in the land which you gave to our fathers.
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Moreover concerning the foreigner, who is not of your people Yisra'el, when he shall come out of a far country for your name's sake
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(for they shall hear of your great name, and of your mighty hand, and of your outstretched arm); when he shall come and pray toward this house;
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hear in heaven, your dwelling-place, and do according to all that the foreigner calls to you for; that all the peoples of the eretz may know your name, to fear you, as does your people Yisra'el, and that they may know that this house which I have built is called by my name.
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If your people go out to battle against their enemy, by whatever way you shall send them, and they pray to the LORD toward the city which you have chosen, and toward the house which I have built for your name;
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then hear in heaven their prayer and their supplication, and maintain their cause.
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If they sin against you (for there is no man who doesn't sin), and you are angry with them, and deliver them to the enemy, so that they carry them away captive to the land of the enemy, far off or near;
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yet if they shall repent themselves in the land where they are carried captive, and turn again, and make supplication to you in the land of those who carried them captive, saying, We have sinned, and have done perversely, we have dealt wickedly;
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if they return to you with all their heart and with all their soul in the land of their enemies, who carried them captive, and pray to you toward their land, which you gave to their fathers, the city which you have chosen, and the house which I have built for your name:
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then hear you their prayer and their supplication in heaven, your dwelling-place, and maintain their cause;
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and forgive your people who have sinned against you, and all their transgressions in which they have transgressed against you; and give them compassion before those who carried them captive, that they may have compassion on them
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(for they are your people, and your inheritance, which you brought forth out of Mitzrayim, from the midst of the furnace of iron);
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that your eyes may be open to the supplication of your servant, and to the supplication of your people Yisra'el, to listen to them whenever they cry to you.
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For you did separate them from among all the peoples of the eretz, to be your inheritance, as you spoke by Moshe your servant, when you brought our fathers out of Mitzrayim, Lord GOD.
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It was so, that when Shlomo had made an end of praying all this prayer and supplication to the LORD, he arose from before the altar of the LORD, from kneeling on his knees with his hands spread forth toward heaven.
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He stood, and blessed all the assembly of Yisra'el with a loud voice, saying,
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Blessed be the LORD, who has given rest to his people Yisra'el, according to all that he promised: there has not failed one word of all his good promise, which he promised by Moshe his servant.
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The LORD our God be with us, as he was with our fathers: let him not leave us, nor forsake us;
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that he may incline our hearts to him, to walk in all his ways, and to keep his mitzvot, and his statutes, and his ordinances, which he commanded our fathers.
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Let these my words, with which I have made supplication before the LORD, be near to the LORD our God day and night, that he maintain the cause of his servant, and the cause of his people Yisra'el, as every day shall require;
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that all the peoples of the eretz may know that the LORD, he is God; there is none else.
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Let your heart therefore be perfect with the LORD our God, to walk in his statutes, and to keep his mitzvot, as at this day.
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The king, and all Yisra'el with him, offered sacrifice before the LORD.
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Shlomo offered for the sacrifice of peace-offerings, which he offered to the LORD, two and twenty thousand oxen, and one hundred twenty thousand sheep. So the king and all the children of Yisra'el dedicated the house of the LORD.
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The same day did the king make the middle of the court holy that was before the house of the LORD; for there he offered the burnt offering, and the meal-offering, and the fat of the peace-offerings, because the brazen altar that was before the LORD was too little to receive the burnt offering, and the meal-offering, and the fat of the peace-offerings.
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So Shlomo held the feast at that time, and all Yisra'el with him, a great assembly, from the entrance of Hamat to the brook of Mitzrayim, before the LORD our God, seven days and seven days, even fourteen days.
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On the eighth day he sent the people away; and they blessed the king, and went to their tents joyful and glad of heart for all the goodness that the LORD had shown to David his servant, and to Yisra'el his people.
