1 Kings 8:57-66

57 The LORD our God be with us, as he was with our fathers: let him not leave us, nor forsake us;

58 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.

59 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;

60 that all the peoples of the eretz may know that the LORD, he is God; there is none else.

61 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.

62 The king, and all Yisra'el with him, offered sacrifice before the LORD.

63 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.

64 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.

65 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.

66 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.

1 Kings 8:57-66 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO 1 KINGS 8

This chapter gives an account of the introduction of the ark into the temple, 1Ki 8:1-9 of the glory of the Lord filling it, 1Ki 8:10,11 of a speech Solomon made to the people concerning the building of the temple, and how he came to be engaged in it, 1Ki 8:12-21, of a prayer of his he put up on this occasion, requesting, that what supplications soever were made at any time, or on any account, by Israelites or strangers, might be accepted by the Lord, 1Ki 8:22-53, and of his blessing the people of Israel at the close of it, with some useful exhortations, 1Ki 8:54-61, and of the great number of sacrifices offered up by him, and the feast he made for the people, upon which he dismissed them, 1Ki 8:62-66.