Parallel Bible results for "1 kings 8"

1 Kings 8

New Living Translation NLT

1 Solomon then summoned to Jerusalem the elders of Israel and all the heads of the tribes—the leaders of the ancestral families of the Israelites. They were to bring the Ark of the LORD ’s Covenant to the Temple from its location in the City of David, also known as Zion.

2 So all the men of Israel assembled before King Solomon at the annual Festival of Shelters, which is held in early autumn in the month of Ethanim.

3 When all the elders of Israel arrived, the priests picked up the Ark.

4 The priests and Levites brought up the Ark of the LORD along with the special tent and all the sacred items that had been in it.

5 There, before the Ark, King Solomon and the entire community of Israel sacrificed so many sheep, goats, and cattle that no one could keep count!

6 Then the priests carried the Ark of the LORD ’s Covenant into the inner sanctuary of the Temple—the Most Holy Place—and placed it beneath the wings of the cherubim.

7 The cherubim spread their wings over the Ark, forming a canopy over the Ark and its carrying poles.

8 These poles were so long that their ends could be seen from the Holy Place, which is in front of the Most Holy Place, but not from the outside. They are still there to this day.

9 Nothing was in the Ark except the two stone tablets that Moses had placed in it at Mount Sinai, where the LORD made a covenant with the people of Israel when they left the land of Egypt.

10 When the priests came out of the Holy Place, a thick cloud filled the Temple of the LORD .

11 The priests could not continue their service because of the cloud, for the glorious presence of the LORD filled the Temple of the LORD .

12 Then Solomon prayed, “O LORD, you have said that you would live in a thick cloud of darkness.

13 Now I have built a glorious Temple for you, a place where you can live forever! ”

14 Then the king turned around to the entire community of Israel standing before him and gave this blessing:

15 “Praise the LORD, the God of Israel, who has kept the promise he made to my father, David. For he told my father,

16 ‘From the day I brought my people Israel out of Egypt, I have never chosen a city among any of the tribes of Israel as the place where a Temple should be built to honor my name. But I have chosen David to be king over my people Israel.’”

17 Then Solomon said, “My father, David, wanted to build this Temple to honor the name of the LORD, the God of Israel.

18 But the LORD told him, ‘You wanted to build the Temple to honor my name. Your intention is good,

19 but you are not the one to do it. One of your own sons will build the Temple to honor me.’

20 “And now the LORD has fulfilled the promise he made, for I have become king in my father’s place, and now I sit on the throne of Israel, just as the LORD promised. I have built this Temple to honor the name of the LORD, the God of Israel.

21 And I have prepared a place there for the Ark, which contains the covenant that the LORD 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 entire community of Israel. He lifted his hands toward heaven,

23 and he prayed, “O LORD, God of Israel, there is no God like you in all of heaven above or on the earth below. You keep your covenant and show unfailing love to all who walk before you in wholehearted devotion.

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

25 “And now, O LORD, God of Israel, carry out the additional promise you made to your servant David, my father. For you said to him, ‘If your descendants guard their behavior and faithfully follow me as you have done, one of them will always sit on the throne of Israel.’

26 Now, O God of Israel, fulfill this promise to your servant David, my father.

27 “But will God really live on earth? Why, even the highest heavens cannot contain you. How much less this Temple I have built!

28 Nevertheless, listen to my prayer and my plea, O LORD my God. Hear the cry and the prayer that your servant is making to you today.

29 May you watch over this Temple night and day, this place where you have said, ‘My name will be there.’ May you always hear the prayers I make toward this place.

30 May you hear the humble and earnest requests from me and your people Israel when we pray toward this place. Yes, hear us from heaven where you live, and when you hear, forgive.

31 “If someone wrongs another person and is required to take an oath of innocence in front of your altar in this Temple,

32 then hear from heaven and judge between your servants—the accuser and the accused. Punish the guilty as they deserve. Acquit the innocent because of their innocence.

33 “If your people Israel are defeated by their enemies because they have sinned against you, and if they turn to you and acknowledge your name and pray to you here in this Temple,

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

35 “If the skies are shut up and there is no rain because your people have sinned against you, and if they pray toward this Temple and acknowledge your name and turn from their sins because you have punished them,

36 then hear from heaven and forgive the sins of your servants, your people Israel. Teach them to follow the right path, and send rain on your land that you have given to your people as their special possession.

37 “If there is a famine in the land or a plague or crop disease or attacks of locusts or caterpillars, or if your people’s enemies are in the land besieging their towns—whatever disaster or disease there is—

38 and if your people Israel pray about their troubles, raising their hands toward this Temple,

39 then hear from heaven where you live, and forgive. Give your people what their actions deserve, for you alone know each human heart.

40 Then they will fear you as long as they live in the land you gave to our ancestors.

41 “In the future, foreigners who do not belong to your people Israel will hear of you. They will come from distant lands because of your name,

42 for they will hear of your great name and your strong hand and your powerful arm. And when they pray toward this Temple,

43 then hear from heaven where you live, and grant what they ask of you. In this way, all the people of the earth will come to know and fear you, just as your own people Israel do. They, too, will know that this Temple I have built honors your name.

44 “If your people go out where you send them to fight their enemies, and if they pray to the LORD by turning toward this city you have chosen and toward this Temple I have built to honor your name,

45 then hear their prayers from heaven and uphold their cause.

46 “If they sin against you—and who has never sinned?—you might become angry with them and let their enemies conquer them and take them captive to their land far away or near.

47 But in that land of exile, they might turn to you in repentance and pray, ‘We have sinned, done evil, and acted wickedly.’

48 If they turn to you with their whole heart and soul in the land of their enemies and pray toward the land you gave to their ancestors—toward this city you have chosen, and toward this Temple I have built to honor your name—

49 then hear their prayers and their petition from heaven where you live, and uphold their cause.

50 Forgive your people who have sinned against you. Forgive all the offenses they have committed against you. Make their captors merciful to them,

51 for they are your people—your special possession—whom you brought out of the iron-smelting furnace of Egypt.

52 “May your eyes be open to my requests and to the requests of your people Israel. May you hear and answer them whenever they cry out to you.

53 For when you brought our ancestors out of Egypt, O Sovereign LORD, you told your servant Moses that you had set Israel apart from all the nations of the earth to be your own special possession.”

54 When Solomon finished making these prayers and petitions to the LORD, he stood up in front of the altar of the LORD, where he had been kneeling with his hands raised toward heaven.

55 He stood and in a loud voice blessed the entire congregation of Israel:

56 “Praise the LORD who has given rest to his people Israel, just as he promised. Not one word has failed of all the wonderful 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 or abandon us.

58 May he give us the desire to do his will in everything and to obey all the commands, decrees, and regulations that he gave our ancestors.

59 And may these words that I have prayed in the presence of the LORD be before him constantly, day and night, so that the LORD our God may give justice to me and to his people Israel, according to each day’s needs.

60 Then people all over the earth will know that the LORD alone is God and there is no other.

61 And may you be completely faithful to the LORD our God. May you always obey his decrees and commands, just as you are doing today.”

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

63 Solomon offered to the LORD a peace offering of 22,000 cattle and 120,000 sheep and goats. And so the king and all the people of Israel dedicated the Temple of the LORD .

64 That same day the king consecrated the central area of the courtyard in front of the LORD ’s Temple. He offered burnt offerings, grain offerings, and the fat of peace offerings there, because the bronze altar in the LORD ’s presence was too small to hold all the burnt offerings, grain offerings, and the fat of the peace offerings.

65 Then Solomon and all Israel celebrated the Festival of Shelters in the presence of the LORD our God. A large congregation had gathered from as far away as Lebo-hamath in the north and the Brook of Egypt in the south. The celebration went on for fourteen days in all—seven days for the dedication of the altar and seven days for the Festival of Shelters.

66 After the festival was over, Solomon sent the people home. They blessed the king and went to their homes joyful and glad because the LORD had been good to his servant David and to his people Israel.

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.