1Then Solomon called together the elders of Israel, all the leaders of the tribes, and the heads of the Israelite families to meet him in Jerusalem. They were to bring the Ark of Yahweh’s Covenant from David’s city, also known as Zion.
2All the men of Israel gathered with King Solomon at the festival in the month of Ethanim, which is the seventh month.
3All the elders of Israel came, and the priests picked up the Ark.
4They carried up Yahweh’s Ark, the Tent of Meeting, and all the sacred items that were in the Tent. The priests and Levites carried them.
5King Solomon and the entire community of Israel, who had gathered with him, were in front of the Ark, sacrificing so many sheep and cattle that they could not be counted.
6The priests brought the Ark of Yahweh’s Covenant to its designated place inside the temple’s inner sanctuary, the Most Holy Place, and placed it under the wings of the cherubim.
7The statues of winged angels, called cherubim, spread their wings over the ark, covering both it and its carrying poles.
8The poles were so long that their ends could be seen from the Holy Place, just in front of the Most Holy Place, but they could not be seen from outside. Those poles are still there today.
9The ark contained nothing except the two stone tablets that Moses had placed there at Horeb, when Yahweh made a covenant with the people of Israel after they left Egypt.
10When the priests came out of the Holy Place, a cloud filled Yahweh's temple.
11The priests could not continue their service because of the cloud, for Yahweh’s glorious presence filled his temple.
12Then Solomon said, "Yahweh has said he would live in thick darkness."
13I have indeed built a magnificent temple for you, a place for you to live in forever."
14The king turned around and blessed all the people of Israel; and all the people of Israel were standing.
15He said, "Blessed be Yahweh, the God of Israel, who spoke a promise to my father David and has now fulfilled it with his own hand.
16'Since the day I brought my people Israel out of Egypt, I did not choose any city among all the tribes of Israel to build a house where my Name would be. Instead, I chose David to rule over my people Israel.'
17"Now, my father David truly wanted to build a temple for the Name of Yahweh, the God of Israel.
18But Yahweh said to my father David, 'Because you had it in your heart to build a temple for my Name, your intention was good.
19However, you will not build the temple. Instead, your son who will be born to you will build the temple for my Name.'
20Yahweh has kept the promise he made; for I have taken the place of my father David and now sit on the throne of Israel, just as Yahweh promised. I have also built this temple for the Name of Yahweh, the God of Israel.
21Inside, I have placed the ark containing Yahweh's covenant, which he made with our ancestors when he brought them out of Egypt."
22Solomon stood before Yahweh's altar in front of all the people of Israel and spread out his hands toward heaven.
23He said, "Yahweh, God of Israel, there is no God like you, in heaven above or on earth below. You keep your covenant and show unfailing love to your servants who walk before you with all their heart.
24You have kept the promise you made to your servant David, my father. Yes, you spoke it yourself, and with your own hand you have fulfilled it today.
25Now therefore, Yahweh, God of Israel, please keep the promise you made to your servant David, my father, when you said, 'You will never fail to have a man in my sight to sit on the throne of Israel, provided that your children pay attention to how they live and walk before me as you have walked before me.'
26"Now then, God of Israel, please let this word you spoke to your servant David, my father, be confirmed.
27But can God truly live on earth? Look, the heavens and even the highest heavens cannot contain you; how much less this house I have built!
28Yet please pay attention to your servant's prayer and plea, Yahweh my God. Listen to the cry and the prayer your servant is praying before you today.
29May your eyes be open toward this temple night and day, toward the place where you said, 'My Name will be there.' Listen to the prayer your servant prays facing this place.
30Listen to the plea of your servant and of your people Israel when they pray toward this place. Yes, hear from heaven, your dwelling place; and when you hear, forgive.
31"If someone wrongs another person, and an oath is required from him to swear his innocence, and he comes and swears before your altar in this temple,
32then listen from heaven, and act. Judge your servants, punishing the wicked by making them suffer the consequences of their actions, and declaring the righteous innocent by rewarding them for their goodness.
33“When your people Israel are defeated by an enemy because they have sinned against you, if they turn back to you, acknowledge your name, and pray and ask for mercy in this temple,
34then listen from heaven. Forgive the sin of your people Israel and bring them back to the land you gave to their ancestors.
35“When the sky is shut up and there is no rain because they have sinned against you, if they pray towards this place, acknowledge your name, and turn from their sin when you punish them,
36then listen from heaven. Forgive the sin of your servants and your people Israel, when you teach them the right path to follow, and send rain on your land, which you have given to your people as an inheritance.
37“If there is a famine in the land, if there is a plague, if plants are diseased, if there is mildew, locusts, or caterpillars; if their enemy surrounds their cities in their land; whatever disaster, whatever sickness there is;
38whatever prayer or request is made by any person, or by all your people Israel, who each recognize the trouble in their own heart, and stretch out their hands towards this temple,
39then listen from heaven, your dwelling place, and forgive. Take action, and give to each person what they deserve based on all their actions, because you know their heart. (For you, and only you, know the hearts of all mankind.)
40so that they may respect you all the days they live in the land you gave to our ancestors.
41“Also, concerning foreigners who are not from your people Israel, when they come from a distant country because of your reputation—
42(for they will hear of your great reputation, your powerful hand, and your mighty arm)—when they come and pray towards this temple;
43listen from heaven, your dwelling place, and do everything the foreigner asks of you. Do this so that all the peoples of the earth may know your reputation and respect you, just as your people Israel do, and so that they may know that this temple I have built is named after you.
44“If your people go out to battle against their enemy, by whatever way you send them, and they pray to Yahweh towards the city you have chosen and towards the temple I have built for your reputation;
45then listen from heaven to their prayer and their request, and uphold their cause.
46If they sin against you (for there is no one who does not sin), and you become angry with them and hand them over to an enemy, so they are taken captive to the enemy’s land, far or near;
47yet if they have a change of heart in the land where they are held captive, and turn back, and ask for mercy from you in the land of their captors, saying, ‘We have sinned, we have done wrong; we have acted wickedly;’
48if they return to you with all their heart and all their soul in the land of their enemies who took them captive, and pray to you towards their land, which you gave to their ancestors, the city you have chosen, and the temple I have built for your reputation;
49then listen from heaven, your dwelling place, to their prayer and their request, and uphold their cause.
50Forgive your people who have sinned against you, and all their offenses against you. Make their captors feel compassion for them, so they will show them mercy—
51(for they are your people, your inheritance, whom you brought out of Egypt, out of that terrible hardship run like an iron furnace);
52so that your eyes may be open to the pleas of your servant and the pleas of your people Israel, to listen to them whenever they call out to you.
53For you set them apart from all the peoples of the earth to be your inheritance, just as you declared through your servant Moses when you brought our ancestors out of Egypt, Lord Yahweh.”
54When Solomon had finished praying all this prayer and plea to Yahweh, he got up from kneeling before Yahweh's altar, with his hands stretched out toward heaven.
55He stood up and blessed the entire assembly of Israel with a loud voice, saying,
56“Praise be to Yahweh, who has given rest to his people Israel, just as he promised. Not a single word has failed from all the good promises he made through his servant Moses.”
57May Yahweh our God be with us, as he was with our ancestors. May he not abandon us or leave us.
58May he turn our hearts toward him, so we walk in all his ways and obey his commands, rules, and laws that he gave our ancestors.
59May these words that I have pleaded before Yahweh be close to Yahweh our God day and night, so that he may uphold the cause of his servant and the cause of his people Israel, as is needed each day.
60This is so all the people of the earth will know that Yahweh himself is God. There is no other.
61Therefore, may your heart be fully devoted to Yahweh our God, to live by his rules and obey his commands, as you are doing today.
62The king and all of Israel with him offered sacrifices before Yahweh.
63Solomon offered twenty-two thousand cattle and one hundred twenty thousand sheep for the fellowship offerings to Yahweh. So the king and all the people of Israel dedicated Yahweh’s house.
64On that same day, the king made the middle of the courtyard in front of Yahweh’s house holy. He offered the burnt offerings, grain offerings, and the fat from the fellowship offerings there because the bronze altar in front of Yahweh was too small to hold all of them.
65So Solomon and all of Israel with him celebrated the festival at that time. It was a very large assembly, from the entrance of Hamath to the brook of Egypt, before Yahweh our God, for seven days, and then seven more days, making it fourteen days in total.
66On the eighth day, he sent the people away. They blessed the king and went to their homes joyful and glad in their hearts for all the good things Yahweh had done for his servant David and for his people Israel.