Parallel Bible results for "1 Kings 8"

1 Kings 8

Good News Translation GNT

1 Then King Solomon summoned all the leaders of the tribes and clans of Israel to come to him in Jerusalem in order to take the Lord's Covenant Box from Zion, David's City, to the Temple.

2 They all assembled during the Festival of Shelters in the seventh month, in the month of Ethanim.

3 When all the leaders had gathered, the priests lifted the Covenant Box

4 and carried it to the Temple. The Levites and the priests also moved the Tent of the Lord's presence and all its equipment to the Temple.

5 King Solomon and all the people of Israel assembled in front of the Covenant Box and sacrificed a large number of sheep and cattle - too many to count.

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.

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

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: "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.' "

17 And Solomon continued, "My father David planned to build a temple for the worship of the Lord God of Israel,

18 but the Lord said to him, "You were right in wanting to build a temple for me,

19 but you will never build it. It is your son, your own son, who will build my temple.'

20 "And now the Lord has kept his promise. I have succeeded my father as king of Israel, and I have built the Temple for the worship of the Lord God of Israel.

21 I have also provided a place in the Temple for the Covenant Box containing the stone tablets of the covenant which the Lord made with our ancestors when he brought them out of Egypt."

22 Then in the presence of the people Solomon went and stood in front of the altar, where he raised his arms

23 and prayed, "Lord God of Israel, there is no god like you in heaven above or on earth below! You keep your covenant with your people and show them your love when they live in wholehearted obedience to you.

24 You have kept the promise you made to my father David; today every word has been fulfilled.

25 And now, Lord God of Israel, I pray that you will also keep the other promise you made to my father when you told him that there would always be one of his descendants ruling as king of Israel, provided they obeyed you as carefully as he did.

26 So now, O God of Israel, let everything come true that you promised to my father David, your servant.

27 "But can you, O God, really live on earth? Not even all of heaven is large enough to hold you, so how can this Temple that I have built be large enough?

28 Lord my God, I am your servant. Listen to my prayer, and grant the requests I make to you today.

29 Watch over this Temple day and night, this place where you have chosen to be worshiped. Hear me when I face this Temple and pray.

30 Hear my prayers and the prayers of your people when they face this place and pray. In your home in heaven hear us and forgive us.

31 "When a person is accused of wronging another and is brought to your altar in this Temple to take an oath that he is innocent,

32 O Lord, listen in heaven and judge your servants. Punish the guilty one as he deserves, and acquit the one who is innocent.

33 "When your people Israel are defeated by their enemies because they have sinned against you, and then when they turn to you and come to this Temple, humbly praying to you for forgiveness,

34 listen to them in heaven. Forgive the sins of your people and bring them back to the land which you gave to their ancestors.

35 "When you hold back the rain because your people have sinned against you, and then when they repent and face this Temple, humbly praying to you,

36 listen to them in heaven. Forgive the sins of the king and of the people of Israel, and teach them to do what is right. Then, O Lord, send rain on this land of yours, which you gave to your people as a permanent possession.

37 "When there is famine in the land or an epidemic or the crops are destroyed by scorching winds or swarms of locusts, or when your people are attacked by their enemies, or when there is disease or sickness among them,

38 listen to their prayers. If any of your people Israel, out of heartfelt sorrow, stretch out their hands in prayer toward this Temple,

39 hear their prayer. Listen to them in your home in heaven, forgive them, and help them. You alone know the thoughts of the human heart. Deal with each person as he deserves,

40 so that your people may obey you all the time they live in the land which you gave to our ancestors.

41 "When a foreigner who lives in a distant land hears of your fame and of the great things you have done for your people and comes to worship you and to pray at this Temple,

43 listen to his prayer. In heaven, where you live, hear him and do what he asks you to do, so that all the peoples of the world may know you and obey you, as your people Israel do. Then they will know that this Temple I have built is the place where you are to be worshiped.

44 "When you command your people to go into battle against their enemies and they pray to you, wherever they are, facing this city which you have chosen and this Temple which I have built for you,

45 listen to their prayers. Hear them in heaven and give them victory.

46 "When your people sin against you - and there is no one who does not sin - and in your anger you let their enemies defeat them and take them as prisoners to some other land, even if that land is far away,

47 listen to your people's prayers. If there in that land they repent and pray to you, confessing how sinful and wicked they have been, hear their prayers, O Lord.

48 If in that land they truly and sincerely repent and pray to you as they face toward this land which you gave to our ancestors, this city which you have chosen, and this Temple which I have built for you,

49 then listen to their prayers. In your home in heaven hear them and be merciful to them.

50 Forgive all their sins and their rebellion against you, and make their enemies treat them with kindness.

51 They are your own people, whom you brought out of Egypt, that blazing furnace.

52 "Sovereign Lord, may you always look with favor on your people Israel and their king, and hear their prayer whenever they call to you for help.

53 You chose them from all the peoples to be your own people, as you told them through your servant Moses when you brought our ancestors out of Egypt."

54 After Solomon had finished praying to the Lord, he stood up in front of the altar, where he had been kneeling with uplifted hands.

55 In a loud voice he asked God's blessings on all the people assembled there. He said,

56 "Praise the Lord who has given his people peace, as he promised he would. He has kept all the generous promises he made through his servant Moses.

57 May the Lord our God be with us as he was with our ancestors; may he never leave us or abandon us;

58 may he make us obedient to him, so that we will always live as he wants us to live, keeping all the laws and commands he gave our ancestors.

59 May the Lord our God remember at all times this prayer and these petitions I have made to him. May he always be merciful to the people of Israel and to their king, according to their daily needs.

60 And so all the nations of the world will know that the Lord alone is God - there is no other.

61 May you, his people, always be faithful to the Lord our God, obeying all his laws and commands as you do today."

62 Then King Solomon and all the people there offered sacrifices to the Lord.

63 He sacrificed 22,000 head of cattle and 120,000 sheep as fellowship offerings. And so the king and all the people dedicated the Temple.

64 That same day he also consecrated the central part of the courtyard, the area in front of the Temple, and then he offered there the sacrifices burned whole, the grain offerings, and the fat of the animals for the fellowship offerings. He did this because the bronze altar was too small for all these offerings.

65 There at the Temple, Solomon and all the people of Israel celebrated the Festival of Shelters for seven days. There was a huge crowd of people from as far away as Hamath Pass in the north and the Egyptian border in the south.

66 On the eighth day Solomon sent the people home. They all praised him and went home happy because of all the blessings that the Lord had given his servant David and his people Israel.

New International Version NIV

1 Then King Solomon summoned into his presence at Jerusalem the elders of Israel, all the heads of the tribes and the chiefs of the Israelite families, to bring up the ark of the LORD’s covenant from Zion, the City of David.

2 All the Israelites came together to King Solomon at the time of the festival in the month of Ethanim, the seventh month.

3 When all the elders of Israel had arrived, the priests took up the ark,

4 and they brought up the ark of the LORD and the tent of meeting and all the sacred furnishings in it. The priests and Levites carried them up,

5 and King Solomon and the entire assembly of Israel that had gathered about him were before the ark, sacrificing so many sheep and cattle that they could not be recorded or counted.

6 The priests then brought the ark of the LORD’s covenant to its place in the inner sanctuary of the temple, the Most Holy Place, and put it beneath the wings of the cherubim.

7 The cherubim spread their wings over the place of the ark and overshadowed the ark and its carrying poles.

8 These poles were so long that their ends could be seen from the Holy Place in front of the inner sanctuary, but not from outside the Holy Place; and they are still there today.

9 There was nothing in the ark except the two stone tablets that Moses had placed in it at Horeb, where the LORD made a covenant with the Israelites after they came out of Egypt.

10 When the priests withdrew from the Holy Place, the cloud filled the temple of the LORD.

11 And the priests could not perform their service because of the cloud, for the glory of the LORD filled his temple.

12 Then Solomon said, “The LORD has said that he would dwell in a dark cloud;

13 I have indeed built a magnificent temple for you, a place for you to dwell forever.”

14 While the whole assembly of Israel was standing there, the king turned around and blessed them.

15 Then he said: “Praise be to the LORD, the God of Israel, who with his own hand has fulfilled what he promised with his own mouth to my father David. For he said,

16 ‘Since the day I brought my people Israel out of Egypt, I have not chosen a city in any tribe of Israel to have a temple built so that my Name might be there, but I have chosen David to rule my people Israel.’

17 “My father David had it in his heart to build a temple for the Name of the LORD, the God of Israel.

18 But the LORD said to my father David, ‘You did well to have it in your heart to build a temple for my Name.

19 Nevertheless, you are not the one to build the temple, but your son, your own flesh and blood—he is the one who will build the temple for my Name.’

20 “The LORD has kept the promise he made: I have succeeded David my father and now I sit on the throne of Israel, just as the LORD promised, and I have built the temple for the Name of the LORD, the God of Israel.

21 I have provided a place there for the ark, in which is the covenant of the LORD that he made with our ancestors when he brought them out of Egypt.”

22 Then Solomon stood before the altar of the LORD in front of the whole assembly of Israel, spread out his hands toward heaven

23 and said: “LORD, the God of Israel, there is no God like you in heaven above or on earth below—you who keep your covenant of love with your servants who continue wholeheartedly in your way.

24 You have kept your promise to your servant David my father; with your mouth you have promised and with your hand you have fulfilled it—as it is today.

25 “Now LORD, the God of Israel, keep for your servant David my father the promises you made to him when you said, ‘You shall never fail to have a successor to sit before me on the throne of Israel, if only your descendants are careful in all they do to walk before me faithfully as you have done.’

26 And now, God of Israel, let your word that you promised your servant David my father come true.

27 “But will God really dwell on earth? The heavens, even the highest heaven, cannot contain you. How much less this temple I have built!

28 Yet give attention to your servant’s prayer and his plea for mercy, LORD my God. Hear the cry and the prayer that your servant is praying in your presence this day.

29 May your eyes be open toward this temple night and day, this place of which you said, ‘My Name shall be there,’ so that you will hear the prayer your servant prays toward this place.

30 Hear the supplication of your servant and of your people Israel when they pray toward this place. Hear from heaven, your dwelling place, and when you hear, forgive.

31 “When anyone wrongs their neighbor and is required to take an oath and they come and swear the oath before your altar in this temple,

32 then hear from heaven and act. Judge between your servants, condemning the guilty by bringing down on their heads what they have done, and vindicating the innocent by treating them in accordance with their innocence.

33 “When your people Israel have been defeated by an enemy because they have sinned against you, and when they turn back to you and give praise to your name, praying and making supplication to you in this temple,

34 then hear from heaven and forgive the sin of your people Israel and bring them back to the land you gave to their ancestors.

35 “When the heavens are shut up and there is no rain because your people have sinned against you, and when they pray toward this place and give praise to your name and turn from their sin because you have afflicted them,

36 then hear from heaven and forgive the sin of your servants, your people Israel. Teach them the right way to live, and send rain on the land you gave your people for an inheritance.

37 “When famine or plague comes to the land, or blight or mildew, locusts or grasshoppers, or when an enemy besieges them in any of their cities, whatever disaster or disease may come,

38 and when a prayer or plea is made by anyone among your people Israel—being aware of the afflictions of their own hearts, and spreading out their hands toward this temple—

39 then hear from heaven, your dwelling place. Forgive and act; deal with everyone according to all they do, since you know their hearts (for you alone know every human heart),

40 so that they will fear you all the time they live in the land you gave our ancestors.

41 “As for the foreigner who does not belong to your people Israel but has come from a distant land because of your name—

43 then hear from heaven, your dwelling place. Do whatever the foreigner asks of you, so that all the peoples of the earth may know your name and fear you, as do your own people Israel, and may know that this house I have built bears your Name.

44 “When your people go to war against their enemies, wherever you send them, and when they pray to the LORD toward the city you have chosen and the temple I have built for your Name,

45 then hear from heaven their prayer and their plea, and uphold their cause.

46 “When they sin against you—for there is no one who does not sin—and you become angry with them and give them over to their enemies, who take them captive to their own lands, far away or near;

47 and if they have a change of heart in the land where they are held captive, and repent and plead with you in the land of their captors and say, ‘We have sinned, we have done wrong, we have acted wickedly’;

48 and if they turn back to you with all their heart and soul in the land of their enemies who took them captive, and pray to you toward the land you gave their ancestors, toward the city you have chosen and the temple I have built for your Name;

49 then from heaven, your dwelling place, hear their prayer and their plea, and uphold their cause.

50 And forgive your people, who have sinned against you; forgive all the offenses they have committed against you, and cause their captors to show them mercy;

51 for they are your people and your inheritance, whom you brought out of Egypt, out of that iron-smelting furnace.

52 “May your eyes be open to your servant’s plea and to the plea of your people Israel, and may you listen to them whenever they cry out to you.

53 For you singled them out from all the nations of the world to be your own inheritance, just as you declared through your servant Moses when you, Sovereign LORD, brought our ancestors out of Egypt.”

54 When Solomon had finished all these prayers and supplications to the LORD, he rose from before the altar of the LORD, where he had been kneeling with his hands spread out toward heaven.

55 He stood and blessed the whole assembly of Israel in a loud voice, saying:

56 “Praise be to the LORD, who has given rest to his people Israel just as he promised. Not one word has failed of all the good promises he gave through his servant Moses.

57 May the LORD our God be with us as he was with our ancestors; may he never leave us nor forsake us.

58 May he turn our hearts to him, to walk in obedience to him and keep the commands, decrees and laws he gave our ancestors.

59 And may these words of mine, which I have prayed before the LORD, be near to the LORD our God day and night, that he may uphold the cause of his servant and the cause of his people Israel according to each day’s need,

60 so that all the peoples of the earth may know that the LORD is God and that there is no other.

61 And may your hearts be fully committed to the LORD our God, to live by his decrees and obey his commands, as at this time.”

62 Then the king and all Israel with him offered sacrifices before the LORD.

63 Solomon offered a sacrifice of fellowship offerings to the LORD: twenty-two thousand cattle and a hundred and twenty thousand sheep and goats. So the king and all the Israelites dedicated the temple of the LORD.

64 On that same day the king consecrated the middle part of the courtyard in front of the temple of the LORD, and there he offered burnt offerings, grain offerings and the fat of the fellowship offerings, because the bronze altar that stood before the LORD was too small to hold the burnt offerings, the grain offerings and the fat of the fellowship offerings.

65 So Solomon observed the festival at that time, and all Israel with him—a vast assembly, people from Lebo Hamath to the Wadi of Egypt. They celebrated it before the LORD our God for seven days and seven days more, fourteen days in all.

66 On the following day he sent the people away. They blessed the king and then went home, joyful and glad in heart for all the good things the LORD had done for his servant David and his people Israel.