Parallel Bible results for "1 kings 8"

1 Kings 8

Common English Bible CEB

1 Then Solomon assembled Israel's elders, all the tribal leaders, and the chiefs of Israel's clans at Jerusalem to bring up the chest containing the LORD's covenant from David's City Zion.

2 Everyone in Israel assembled before King Solomon in the seventh month, the month of Ethanim, during the festival.

3 When all of Israel's elders had arrived, the priests picked up the chest.

4 They brought the LORD's chest, the meeting tent, and all the holy equipment that was in the tent. The priests and the Levites brought them up,

5 while King Solomon and the entire Israelite assembly that had joined him before the chest sacrificed countless sheep and oxen.

6 The priests brought the chest containing the LORD's covenant to its designated spot beneath the wings of the winged creatures in the inner sanctuary of the temple, the most holy place.

7 The winged creatures spread their wings over the place where the chest rested, covering the chest and its carrying poles.

8 The carrying poles were so long that their tips could be seen from the holy place in front of the inner sanctuary, though they weren't visible from outside. They are still there today.

9 Nothing was in the chest except the two stone tablets Moses had placed there while at Horeb, where the LORD made a covenant with the Israelites after they left Egypt.

10 When the priests left the holy place, the cloud filled the LORD's temple,

11 and the priests were unable to carry out their duties due to the cloud because the LORD's glory filled the LORD's temple.

12 Then Solomon said, "The LORD said that he would live in a dark cloud,

13 but I have indeed built you a lofty temple as a place where you can live forever."

14 The king turned around, and while the entire assembly of Israel was standing there, he blessed them,

15 saying, “Bless Israel's God, the LORD, who spoke directly to my father David and now has kept his promise:

16 ‘From the day I brought my people Israel out of Egypt I haven't selected a city from any Israelite tribe as a site for the building of a temple for my name. But now I have chosen David to be over my people Israel.'

17 My father David wanted to build a temple for the name of the LORD, Israel's God.

18 "But the LORD said to my father David, ‘It is very good that you thought to build a temple for my name.

19 Nevertheless, you yourself won't build that temple. Instead, your very own son will build the temple for my name.'

20 The LORD has kept his promise—I have succeeded my father David on Israel's throne just as the LORD said, and I have built the temple for the name of the LORD, Israel's God.

21 There I've placed the chest that contains the covenant that the LORD made with our ancestors when he brought them out of Egypt."

22 Solomon stood before the LORD's altar in front of the entire Israelite assembly and, spreading out his hands toward the sky,

23 he said: LORD God of Israel, there's no god like you in heaven above or on earth below. You keep the covenant and show loyalty to your servants who walk before you with all their heart.

24 This is the covenant you kept with your servant David, my father, which you promised him. Today, you have fulfilled what you promised.

25 So now, LORD, Israel's God, keep what you promised my father David, your servant, when you said to him, "You will never fail to have a successor sitting on Israel's throne as long as your descendants carefully walk before me just as you walked before me."

26 So now, God of Israel, may your promise to your servant David, my father, come true.

27 But how could God possibly live on earth? If heaven, even the highest heaven, can't contain you, how can this temple that I've built contain you?

28 LORD my God, listen to your servant's prayer and request, and hear the cry and prayer that your servant prays to you today.

29 Constantly watch over this temple, the place about which you said, "My name will be there," and listen to the prayer that your servant is praying toward this place.

30 Listen to the request of your servant and your people Israel when they pray toward this place. Listen from your heavenly dwelling place, and when you hear, forgive!

31 If someone wrongs another and must make a solemn pledge asserting innocence before your altar in this temple,

32 then listen from heaven, act, and decide which of your servants is right. Condemn the guilty party, repaying them for their conduct, but justify the innocent person, repaying them for their righteousness.

33 If your people Israel are defeated by an enemy because they have sinned against you, but then they change their hearts and lives, give thanks to your name, and ask for mercy before you at this temple,

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

35 When the sky holds back its rain because Israel has sinned against you, but they then pray toward this place, give thanks to your name, and turn away from their sin because you have punished them for it,

36 then listen from heaven and forgive the sin of your servants, your people Israel. Teach them the best way for them to follow, and send rain on your land that you gave to your people as an inheritance.

37 Whenever there is a famine or plague in the land; or whenever there is blight, mildew, locust, or grasshopper; or whenever someone's enemy attacks them in their cities; or any plague or illness comes;

38 whatever prayer or petition is made by any individual or by all of your people Israel—because people will recognize their own pain and spread out their hands toward this temple—

39 then listen from heaven where you live. Forgive, act, and repay each person according to all their conduct, because you know their hearts. You alone know the human heart.

40 Do this so that they may revere you all the days they live on the land that you gave to our ancestors.

41 Listen also to the immigrant who isn't from your people Israel but who comes from a distant country because of your reputation—

42 because they will hear of your great reputation, your great power, and your outstretched arm. When the immigrant comes and prays toward this temple,

43 then listen from heaven, where you live, and do everything the immigrant asks. Do this so that all the people of the earth may know your reputation and revere you, as your people Israel do, and recognize that this temple I have built bears your name.

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

45 then listen from heaven to their prayer and request and do what is right for them.

46 When they sin against you (for there is no one who doesn't sin) and you become angry with them and hand them over to an enemy who takes them away as prisoners to enemy territory, whether distant or nearby,

47 if they change their heart in whatever land they are held captive, changing their lives and begging for your mercy, saying, "We have sinned, we have done wrong, we have acted wickedly!"

48 and if they return to you with all their heart and all their being in the enemy territory where they've been taken captive, and pray to you, toward their land, which you gave their ancestors, toward the city you have chosen, and toward the temple I have built for your name,

49 then listen to their prayer and request from your heavenly dwelling place. Do what is right for them,

50 and forgive your people who have sinned against you. Forgive all their wrong that they have done against you. See to it that those who captured them show them mercy.

51 These are your people and your inheritance. You brought them out of Egypt, from the iron furnace.

52 Open your eyes to your servant's request and to the request of your people Israel. Hear them whenever they cry out to you.

53 You set them apart from all the earth's peoples as your own inheritance, LORD, just as you promised through your servant Moses when you brought our ancestors out of Egypt.

54 As soon as Solomon finished praying and making these requests to the LORD, he got up from before the LORD's altar, where he had been kneeling with his hands spread out to heaven.

55 He stood up and blessed the whole Israelite assembly in a loud voice:

56 "May the LORD be blessed! He has given rest to his people Israel just as he promised. He hasn't neglected any part of the good promise he made through his servant Moses.

57 May the LORD our God be with us, just as he was with our ancestors. May he never leave us or abandon us.

58 May he draw our hearts to him to walk in all his ways and observe his commands, his laws, and his judgments that he gave our ancestors.

59 And may these words of mine that I have cried out before the LORD remain near to the LORD our God day and night so that he may do right by his servant and his people Israel for each day's need,

60 and so that all the earth's peoples may know that the LORD is God. There is no other God!

61 Now may you be committed to the LORD our God with all your heart by following his laws and observing his commands, just as you are doing right now."

62 Then the king and all Israel with him sacrificed to the LORD.

63 Solomon offered well-being sacrifices to the LORD: twenty-two thousand oxen and one hundred twenty thousand sheep when the king and all Israel dedicated the LORD's temple.

64 On that day the king made holy the middle of the courtyard in front of the LORD's temple. He had to offer the entirely burned offerings, grain offerings, and the fat of well-being sacrifices there, because the bronze altar that was in the LORD's presence was too small to contain the entirely burned offerings, the grain offerings, and the fat of the well-being sacrifices.

65 At that time Solomon, together with all Israel, held a celebration. It was a large assembly from Lebo-hamath to the border of Egypt. They celebrated for seven days and then for another seven days in the presence of the LORD our God: fourteen days in all.

66 On the eighth day, Solomon dismissed the people. They blessed the king and went back to their tents happy and pleased about all the good that the LORD had done for his servant David and for his people Israel.

The Message Bible MSG

1 Bringing all this to a climax, King Solomon called in the leaders of Israel, all the heads of the tribes and the family patriarchs, to bring up the Chest of the Covenant of God from Zion, the City of David.

2 And they came, all Israel before King Solomon in the month of Ethanim, the seventh month, for the great autumn festival.

3 With all Israel's leaders present, the priests took up the Chest of God

4 and carried up the Chest and the Tent of Meeting and all the holy vessels that went with the Tent.

5 King Solomon and the entire congregation of Israel were there at the Chest worshiping and sacrificing huge numbers of sheep and cattle - so many that no one could keep track.

6 Then the priests brought the Chest of the Covenant of God to its place in the Inner Sanctuary, the Holy of Holies, under the wings of the cherubim.

7 The outspread wings of the cherubim stretched over the Chest and its poles.

8 The poles were so long that their ends could be seen from the entrance to the Inner Sanctuary, but were not noticeable farther out. They're still there today.

9 There was nothing in the Chest but the two stone tablets that Moses had placed in it at Horeb where God made a covenant with Israel after bringing them up from Egypt. The Temple Finished, Dedicated, Filled

10 When the priests left the Holy Place, a cloud filled The Temple of God.

11 The priests couldn't carry out their priestly duties because of the cloud - the glory of God filled The Temple of God!

12 Then Solomon spoke: God has told us that he lives in the dark where no one can see him;

13 I've built this splendid Temple, O God, to mark your invisible presence forever.

14 The king then turned to face the congregation and blessed them:

15 "Blessed be God, the God of Israel, who spoke personally to my father David. Now he has kept the promise he made when he said,

16 'From the day I brought my people Israel from Egypt, I haven't set apart one city among the tribes of Israel to build a Temple to fix my Name there. But I did choose David to rule my people Israel.'

17 "My father David had it in his heart to build a Temple honoring the Name of God, the God of Israel.

18 But God told him 'It was good that you wanted to build a Temple in my honor - most commendable!

19 But you are not the one to do it - your son will build it to honor my Name.'

20 "God has done what he said he would do: I have succeeded David my father and ruled over Israel just as God promised; and now I've built a Temple to honor God, the God of Israel,

21 and I've secured a place for the Chest that holds the covenant of God, the covenant that he made with our ancestors when he brought them up from the land of Egypt."

22 Before the entire congregation of Israel, Solomon took a position before the Altar, spread his hands out before heaven,

23 and prayed,

24 You kept your word to David my father, your personal word. You did exactly what you promised - every detail. The proof is before us today!

25 Keep it up, God, O God of Israel! Continue to keep the promises you made to David my father when you said, "You'll always have a descendant to represent my rule on Israel's throne, on the condition that your sons are as careful to live obediently in my presence as you have."

26 God of Israel, let this all happen; confirm and establish it!

27 Can it be that God will actually move into our neighborhood? Why, the cosmos itself isn't large enough to give you breathing room, let alone this Temple I've built.

28 Even so, I'm bold to ask: Pay attention to these my prayers, both intercessory and personal, O God, my God. Listen to my prayers, energetic and devout, that I'm setting before you right now.

29 Keep your eyes open to this Temple night and day, this place of which you said, "My Name will be honored there,"

30 and listen to the prayers that I pray at this place. Listen from your home in heaven and when you hear, forgive.

31 When someone hurts a neighbor and promises to make things right, and then comes and repeats the promise before your Altar in this Temple,

32 listen from heaven and act accordingly: Judge your servants, making the offender pay for his offense and setting the offended free of any charges.

33 When your people Israel are beaten by an enemy because they've sinned against you, but then turn to you and acknowledge your rule in prayers desperate and devout in this Temple,

34 Listen from your home in heaven, forgive the sin of your people Israel, return them to the land you gave their ancestors.

35 When the skies shrivel up and there is no rain because your people have sinned against you, but then they pray at this place, acknowledging your rule and quitting their sins because you have scourged them,

36 isten from your home in heaven, forgive the sins of your servants, your people Israel. Then start over with them: Train them to live right and well; send rain on the land you gave your people as an inheritance.

37 When disasters strike, famine or catastrophe, crop failure or disease, locust or beetle, or when an enemy attacks their defenses - calamity of any sort

38 - any prayer that's prayed from anyone at all among your people Israel, hearts penetrated by the disaster, hands and arms thrown out to this Temple for help,

39 Listen from your home in heaven.

40 so that they'll live before you in lifelong reverent and believing obedience on this land you gave our ancestors.

41 And don't forget the foreigner who is not a member of your people Israel but has come from a far country because of your reputation.

42 People are going to be attracted here by your great reputation, your wonder-working power, who come to pray at this Temple.

43 Listen from your home in heaven. Honor the prayers of the foreigner so that people all over the world will know who you are and what you're like and will live in reverent obedience before you, just as your own people Israel do; so they'll know that you personally make this Temple that I've built what it is.

44 When your people go to war against their enemies at the time and place you send them and they pray to God toward the city you chose and this Temple I've built to honor your Name,

45 Listen from heaven to what they pray and ask for, and do what's right for them.

46 When they sin against you - and they certainly will; there's no one without sin! - and in anger you turn them over to the enemy and they are taken captive to the enemy's land, whether far or near,

47 but repent in the country of their captivity and pray with changed hearts in their exile, "We've sinned; we've done wrong; we've been most wicked,"

48 and turn back to you heart and soul in the land of the enemy who conquered them, and pray to you toward their homeland, the land you gave their ancestors, toward the city you chose, and this Temple I have built to the honor of your Name,

49 isten from your home in heaven to their prayers desperate and devout and do what is best for them.

50 Forgive your people who have sinned against you; forgive their gross rebellions and move their captors to treat them with compassion.

51 They are, after all, your people and your precious inheritance whom you rescued from the heart of that iron-smelting furnace, Egypt!

52 O be alert and attentive to the needy prayers of me, your servant, and your dear people Israel; listen every time they cry out to you!

53 You handpicked them from all the peoples on earth to be your very own people, as you announced through your servant Moses when you, O God, in your masterful rule, delivered our ancestors from Egypt.

54 Having finished praying to God - all these bold and passionate prayers - Solomon stood up before God's Altar where he had been kneeling all this time, his arms stretched upward to heaven.

55 Standing, he blessed the whole congregation of Israel, blessing them at the top of his lungs:

56 "Blessed be God, who has given peace to his people Israel just as he said he'd do. Not one of all those good and wonderful words that he spoke through Moses has misfired.

57 May God, our very own God, continue to be with us just as he was with our ancestors - may he never give up and walk out on us.

58 May he keep us centered and devoted to him, following the life path he has cleared, watching the signposts, walking at the pace and rhythms he laid down for our ancestors.

59 "And let these words that I've prayed in the presence of God be always right there before him, day and night, so that he'll do what is right for me, to guarantee justice for his people Israel day after day after day.

60 Then all the people on earth will know God is the true God; there is no other God.

61 And you, your lives must be totally obedient to God, our personal God, following the life path he has cleared, alert and attentive to everything he has made plain this day."

62 The king and all Israel with him then worshiped, offering sacrifices to God.

63 Solomon offered Peace-Offerings, sacrificing to God twenty-two thousand cattle, a hundred and twenty thousand sheep. This is how the king and all Israel dedicated The Temple of God.

64 That same day, the king set apart the central area of the Courtyard in front of God's Temple for sacred use and there sacrificed the Whole-Burnt-Offerings, Grain-Offerings, and fat from the Peace-Offerings - the bronze Altar was too small to handle all these offerings.

65 This is how Solomon kept the great autumn feast, and all Israel with him, people there all the way from the far northeast (the Entrance to Hamath) to the far southwest (the Brook of Egypt) - a huge congregation. They started out celebrating for seven days - and then did it another seven days! Two solid weeks of celebration!

66 Then he dismissed them. They blessed the king and went home, exuberant with heartfelt gratitude for all the good God had done for his servant David and for his people Israel.