Parallel Bible results for "1 kings 8"

1 Kings 8

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.

New Century Version NCV

1 King Solomon called for the older leaders of Israel, the heads of the tribes, and the leaders of the families to come to him in Jerusalem. He wanted them to bring the Ark of the Agreement with the Lord from the older part of the city.

2 So all the Israelites came together with King Solomon during the festival in the month of Ethanim, the seventh month.

3 When all the older leaders of Israel arrived, the priests lifted up the Ark.

4 They carried the Ark of the Lord, the Meeting Tent, and the holy utensils; the priests and the Levites brought them up.

5 King Solomon and all the Israelites gathered before the Ark and sacrificed so many sheep and cattle no one could count them all.

6 Then the priests put the Ark of the Agreement with the Lord in its place inside the Most Holy Place in the Temple, under the wings of the golden creatures.

7 The wings of these creatures were spread out over the place for the Ark, covering it and its carrying poles.

8 The carrying poles were so long that anyone standing in the Holy Place in front of the Most Holy Place could see the ends of the poles, but no one could see them from outside the Holy Place. The poles are still there today.

9 The only things inside the Ark were two stone tabletsn that Moses had put in the Ark at Mount Sinai. That was where the Lord made his agreement with the Israelites after they came out of Egypt.

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

11 The priests could not continue their work, because the Temple was filled with the glory of the Lord.

12 Then Solomon said, "The Lord said he would live in a dark cloud.

13 Lord, I have truly built a wonderful Temple for you -- a place for you to live forever."

14 While all the Israelites were standing there, King Solomon turned to them and blessed them.

15 Then he said, "Praise the Lord, the God of Israel. He has done what he promised to my father David. The Lord said,

16 'Since the time I brought my people Israel out of Egypt, I have not chosen a city in any tribe of Israel where a temple will be built for me. But I have chosen David to lead my people Israel.'

17 "My father David wanted to build a temple for the Lord, the God of Israel.

18 But the Lord said to my father David, 'It was good that you wanted to build a temple for me.

19 But you are not the one to build it. Your son, who comes from your own body, is the one who will build my temple.'

20 "Now the Lord has kept his promise. I am the king now in place of David my father. Now I rule Israel as the Lord promised, and I have built the Temple for the Lord, the God of Israel.

21 I have made a place there for the Ark, in which is the Agreement the Lord made with our ancestors when he brought them out of Egypt."

22 Then Solomon stood facing the Lord's altar, and all the Israelites were standing behind him. He spread out his hands toward the sky

23 and said: "Lord, God of Israel, there is no god like you in heaven above or on earth below. You keep your agreement of love with your servants who truly follow you.

24 You have kept the promise you made to your servant David, my father. You spoke it with your own mouth and finished it with your hands today.

25 Now Lord, God of Israel, keep the promise you made to your servant David, my father. You said, 'If your sons are careful to obey me as you have obeyed me, there will always be someone from your family ruling Israel.'

26 Now, God of Israel, please continue to keep that promise you made to your servant David, my father.

27 "But, God, can you really live here on the earth? The sky and the highest place in heaven cannot contain you. Surely this house which I have built cannot contain you.

28 But please listen to my prayer and my request, because I am your servant. Lord my God, hear this prayer your servant prays to you today.

29 Night and day please watch over this Temple where you have said, 'I will be worshiped there.' Hear the prayer I pray facing this Temple.

30 Hear my prayers and the prayers of your people Israel when we pray facing this place. Hear from your home in heaven, and when you hear, forgive us.

31 "If someone wrongs another person, he will be brought to the altar in this Temple. If he swears an oath that he is not guilty,

32 then hear in heaven. Judge the case, punish the guilty, but declare that the innocent person is not guilty.

33 "When your people, the Israelites, sin against you, their enemies will defeat them. But if they come back to you and praise you and pray to you in this Temple,

34 then hear them in heaven. Forgive the sins of your people Israel, and bring them back to the land you gave to their ancestors.

35 "When they sin against you, you will stop the rain from falling on their land. Then they will pray, facing this place and praising you; they will stop sinning when you make them suffer.

36 When this happens, please hear their prayer in heaven, and forgive the sins of your servants, the Israelites. Teach them to do what is right. Then please send rain to this land you have given particularly to them.

37 "At times the land will become so dry that no food will grow, or a great sickness will spread among the people. Sometimes all the crops will be destroyed by locusts or grasshoppers. Your people will be attacked in their cities by their enemy or will become sick.

38 When any of these things happen, the people will become truly sorry. If your people spread their hands in prayer toward this Temple,

39 then hear their prayers from your home in heaven. Forgive and treat each person as he should be treated because you know what is in a person's heart. Only you know what is in everyone's heart.

40 Then your people will respect you as long as they live in this land you gave to our ancestors.

41

42 "People who are not Israelites, foreigners from other lands, will hear about your greatness and power. They will come from far away to pray at this Temple.

43 Then hear from your home in heaven, and do whatever they ask you. Then people everywhere will know you and respect you, just as your people in Israel do. Then everyone will know I built this Temple as a place to worship you.

44 "When your people go out to fight their enemies along some road on which you send them, your people will pray to you, facing the city which you have chosen and the Temple I have built for you.

45 Then hear in heaven their prayers, and do what is right.

46 "Everyone sins, so your people will also sin against you. You will become angry with them and hand them over to their enemies. Their enemies will capture them and take them away to their countries far or near.

47 Your people will be sorry for their sins when they are held as prisoners in another country. They will be sorry and pray to you in the land where they are held as prisoners, saying, 'We have sinned. We have done wrong and acted wickedly.'

48 They will truly turn back to you in the land of their enemies. They will pray to you, facing this land you gave their ancestors, this city you have chosen, and the Temple I have built for you.

49 Then hear their prayers from your home in heaven, and do what is right.

50 Forgive your people of all their sins and for turning against you. Make those who have captured them show them mercy.

51 Remember, they are your special people. You brought them out of Egypt, as if you were pulling them out of a blazing furnace.

52 "Give your attention to my prayers and the prayers of your people Israel. Listen to them anytime they ask you for help.

53 You chose them from all the nations on earth to be your very own people. This is what you promised through Moses your servant when you brought our ancestors out of Egypt, Lord God."

54 Solomon prayed this prayer to the Lord, kneeling in front of the altar with his arms raised toward heaven. When he finished praying, he got up.

55 Then, in a loud voice, he stood and blessed all the people of Israel, saying:

56 "Praise the Lord! He promised he would give rest to his people Israel, and he has given us rest. The Lord has kept 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,

58 and may he turn us to himself so we will follow him. Let us obey all the laws and commands he gave our ancestors.

59 May the Lord our God remember this prayer day and night and do what is right for his servant and his people Israel day by day.

60 Then all the people of the world will know the Lord is the only true God.

61 You must fully obey the Lord our God and follow all his laws and commands. Continue to obey in the future as you do now."

62 Then King Solomon and all Israel with him offered sacrifices to the Lord.

63 Solomon killed twenty-two thousand cattle and one hundred twenty thousand sheep as fellowship offerings. So the king and all the people gave the Temple to the Lord.

64 On that day King Solomon made holy the middle part of the courtyard which is in front of the Temple of the Lord. There he offered whole burnt offerings, grain offerings, and the fat of the fellowship offerings. He offered them in the courtyard, because the bronze altar before the Lord was too small to hold all the burnt offerings, the grain offerings, and the fat of the fellowship offerings.

65 Solomon and all the Israelites celebrated the other festival that came at that time. People came from as far away as Lebo Hamath and the brook of Egypt. A great many people celebrated before the Lord for seven days, then seven more days, for a total of fourteen days.

66 On the following day Solomon sent the people home. They blessed the king as they went, happy because of all the good things the Lord had done for his servant David and his people Israel.