2 Chronicles 5; 2 Chronicles 6; 2 Chronicles 7

1 So all the work Solomon did for the Lord's temple was completed. Then Solomon brought the consecrated things of his father David-the silver, the gold, and all the utensils-and put them in the treasuries of God's temple.

2 At that time Solomon assembled at Jerusalem the elders of Israel-all the tribal heads, the ancestral chiefs of the Israelites-in order to bring the ark of the covenant of the Lord up from the city of David, that is, Zion.

3 So all the men of Israel were assembled in the king's presence at the festival; this was in the seventh month.

4 All the elders of Israel came, and the Levites picked up the ark.

5 They brought up the ark, the tent of meeting, and the holy utensils that were in the tent. The priests and the Levites brought them up.

6 King Solomon and the entire congregation of Israel who had gathered around him were in front of the ark sacrificing sheep and cattle that could not be counted or numbered because there were so many.

7 The priests brought the ark of the Lord's covenant to its place, into the inner sanctuary of the temple, to the most holy place, beneath the wings of the cherubim.

8 And the cherubim spread their wings over the place of the ark so that the cherubim formed a cover above the ark and its poles.

9 The poles were so long that their ends were seen from the holy place in front of the inner sanctuary, but they were not seen from outside; they are there to this very day.

10 Nothing was in the ark except the two tablets that Moses had put [in it] at Horeb,where the Lord had made a covenant with the Israelites when they came out of Egypt.

11 When the priests came out of the holy place-for all the priests who were present had consecrated themselves regardless of their tour of duty-

12 the Levitical singers of Asaph, of Heman, of Jeduthun, and of their sons and their relatives, dressed in fine linen, with cymbals, harps and lyres, were standing east of the altar, and with them were 120 priests blowing trumpets.

13 The trumpeters and singers joined together to praise and thank the Lord with one voice. They raised [their] voices, accompanied by trumpets, cymbals, and musical instruments, in praise to the Lord: For He is good; His faithful love endures forever; the temple, the Lord's temple, was filled with a cloud.

14 And because of the cloud, the priests were not able to continue ministering, for the glory of the Lord filled God's temple.

1 Then Solomon said: The Lord said He would dwell in thick darkness,

2 but I have built an exalted temple for You, a place for Your residence forever.

3 Then the king turned and blessed the entire congregation of Israel while they were standing.

4 He said: May the Lord God of Israel be praised! He spoke directly to my father David, and He has fulfilled [the promise] by His power. He said,

5 "Since the day I brought My people Israel out of the land of Egypt, I have not chosen a city to build a temple in among any of the tribes of Israel, so that My name would be there, and I have not chosen a man to be ruler over My people Israel.

6 But I have chosen Jerusalem so that My name will be there, and I have chosen David to be over My people Israel."

7 Now it was in the heart of my father David to build a temple for the name of the Lord God of Israel.

8 However, the Lord said to my father David, "Since it was your desire to build a temple for My name, you have done well to have this desire.

9 Yet, you are not the one to build the temple, but your son, your own offspring, will build the temple for My name."

10 So the Lord has fulfilled what He promised. I have taken the place of my father David and I sit on the throne of Israel, as the Lord promised. I have built the temple for the name of the Lord God of Israel.

11 I have put the ark there, where the Lord's covenant is that He made with the Israelites.

12 Then Solomon stood before the altar of the Lord in front of the entire congregation of Israel and spread out his hands.

13 For Solomon had made a bronze platform seven and a half feet long, seven and a half feet wide, and four and a half feet high and put it in the court. He stood on it, knelt down in front of the entire congregation of Israel, and spread out his hands toward heaven.

14 He said: Lord God of Israel, there is no God like You in heaven or on earth, keeping His gracious covenant with Your servants who walk before You with their whole heart.

15 You have kept what You promised to Your servant, my father David. You spoke directly [to him], and You fulfilled [Your promise] by Your power, as it is today.

16 Therefore, Lord God of Israel, keep what You promised to Your servant, my father David: You will never fail to have a man to sit before Me on the throne of Israel, if only your sons guard their way to walk in My Law as you have walked before Me.

17 Now, Lord God of Israel, please confirm what You promised to Your servant David.

18 But will God indeed live on earth with man? Even heaven, the highest heaven, cannot contain You, much less this temple I have built.

19 Listen to Your servant's prayer and his petition, Lord my God, so that You may hear the cry and the prayer that Your servant prays before You,

20 so that Your eyes watch over this temple day and night, toward the place where You said You would put Your name; and so that You may hear the prayer Your servant prays toward this place.

21 Hear the petitions of Your servant and Your people Israel, which they pray toward this place. May You hear in Your dwelling place in heaven. May You hear and forgive.

22 If a man sins against his neighbor and is forced to take an oath and he comes to take an oath before Your altar in this temple,

23 may You hear in heaven and act. May You judge Your servants, condemning the wicked by bringing what he has done on his own head and providing justice for the righteous by rewarding him according to his righteousness.

24 If Your people Israel are defeated before an enemy, because they have sinned against You, and they return [to You] and praise Your name, and they pray and plead for mercy before You in this temple,

25 may You hear in heaven and forgive the sin of Your people Israel. May You restore them to the land You gave them and their ancestors.

26 When the skies are shut and there is no rain because they have sinned against You, and they pray toward this place and praise Your name, and they turn from their sins because You are afflicting them,

27 may You hear in heaven and forgive the sin of Your servants and Your people Israel, so that You may teach them the good way they should walk in. May You send rain on Your land that You gave Your people for an inheritance.

28 When there is famine on the earth, when there is pestilence, when there is blight, mildew, locust, or grasshopper, when their enemies besiege them in the region of their fortified cities, [when there is] any plague or illness,

29 whatever prayer or petition anyone from your people Israel might have- each man knowing his own affliction and suffering, and spreading out his hands toward this temple-

30 may You hear in heaven, Your dwelling place, and may You forgive and repay the man according to all his ways, since You know his heart, for You alone know the human heart,

31 so that they may fear You and walk in Your ways all the days they live on the land You gave our ancestors.

32 Even for the foreigner who is not of Your people Israel but has come from a distant land because of Your great name and Your mighty hand and outstretched arm: when he comes and prays toward this temple,

33 may You hear in heaven in Your dwelling place, and do all the foreigner asks You for. Then all the peoples of the earth will know Your name, to fear You as Your people Israel do and know that this temple I have built is called by Your name.

34 When Your people go out to fight against their enemies, wherever You send them, and they pray to You in the direction of this city You have chosen and the temple that I have built for Your name,

35 may You hear their prayer and petition in heaven and uphold their cause.

36 When they sin against You- for there is no one who does not sin- and You are angry with them and hand them over to the enemy, and their captors deport them to a distant or nearby country,

37 and when they come to their senses in the land where they were deported and repent and petition You in their captors' land, saying: "We have sinned and done wrong; we have been wicked,"

38 and when they return to You with their whole mind and heart in the land of their captivity where they were taken captive, and when they pray in the direction of their land that You gave their ancestors, and the city You have chosen, and toward the temple I have built for Your name,

39 may You hear in heaven, in Your dwelling place, their prayer and petitions and uphold their cause. May You forgive Your people who sinned against You.

40 Now, my God, please let Your eyes be open and Your ears attentive to the prayer of this place.

41 Now therefore: Arise, Lord God, [come] to Your resting place, You and the ark [that shows] Your strength. May Your priests, Lord God, be clothed with salvation, and may Your godly people rejoice in goodness.

42 Lord God, do not reject Your anointed one; remember the loyalty of Your servant David.

1 When Solomon finished praying, fire descended from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices, and the glory of the Lord filled the temple.

2 The priests were not able to enter the Lord's temple because the glory of the Lord filled the temple of the Lord.

3 All the Israelites were watching when the fire descended and the glory of the Lord came on the temple. They bowed down with their faces to the ground on the pavement. They worshiped and praised the Lord: For He is good, for His faithful love endures forever.

4 The king and all the people were offering sacrifices in the Lord's presence.

5 King Solomon offered a sacrifice of 22,000 cattle and 120,000 sheep. In this manner the king and all the people dedicated God's temple.

6 The priests were standing at their stations, as were the Levites with the musical instruments of the Lord, which King David had made to praise the Lord-"for His faithful love endures forever"-when David offered praise with them. Across from them, the priests were blowing trumpets, and all the people were standing.

7 Solomon consecrated the middle of the courtyard that was in front of the Lord's temple because that was where he offered the burnt offerings and the fat of the fellowship offerings since the bronze altar that Solomon had made could not accommodate the burnt offering, the grain offering, and the fat [of the fellowship offerings].

8 So Solomon and all Israel with him-a very great assembly, from the entrance to Hamath to the Brook of Egypt-observed the festival at that time for seven days.

9 On the eighth day they held a sacred assembly, for the dedication of the altar lasted seven days and the festival seven days.

10 On the twenty-third day of the seventh month he sent the people away to their tents, rejoicing and with happy hearts for the goodness the Lord had done for David, for Solomon, and for His people Israel.

11 So Solomon finished the Lord's temple and the royal palace. Everything that had entered Solomon's heart to do for the Lord's temple and for his own palace succeeded.

12 Then the Lord appeared to Solomon at night and said to him: I have heard your prayer and have chosen this place for Myself as a temple of sacrifice.

13 If I close the sky so there is no rain, or if I command the grasshopper to consume the land, or if I send pestilence on My people,

14 and My people who are called by My name humble themselves, pray and seek My face, and turn from their evil ways, then I will hear from heaven, forgive their sin, and heal their land.

15 My eyes will now be open and My ears attentive to prayer from this place.

16 And I have now chosen and consecrated this temple so that My name may be there forever; My eyes and My heart will be there at all times.

17 As for you, if you walk before Me as your father David walked, doing everything I have commanded you, and if you keep My statutes and ordinances,

18 I will establish your royal throne, as I promised your father David: You will never fail to have a man on the throne of Israel.

19 However, if you turn away and abandon My statutes and My commands that I have set before you and if you go and serve other gods and worship them,

20 then I will uproot Israel from the soil that I gave them, and this temple that I have sanctified for My name I will banish from My presence; I will make it an object of scorn and ridicule among all the peoples.

21 As for this temple, which was exalted, every passerby will be appalled and will say: Why did the Lord do this to this land and this temple?

22 Then they will say: Because they abandoned the Lord God of their ancestors who brought them out of the land of Egypt. They clung to other gods and worshiped and served them. Because of this, He brought all this ruin on them.