UST 1 KI Chapter 8

◄ 1 KI 8 ► ║ ═ ©

8 Solomon then sent messengers to tell all the Israelite elders, tribal leaders, and clan leaders to come to Jerusalem. He wanted them to join him in a ceremony to move Yahweh’s sacred chest from the City of David (the part of Jerusalem that people now call Zion) into the temple that he had built. 2 King Solomon asked the leaders to come during the Festival of Shelters, which the Israelites observed in the month of Ethanim, the seventh month of the year. So a very large crowd of Israelites also came to Jerusalem at that time to celebrate this festival. 3 When the Israelite leaders had all arrived, the priests carried the sacred chest from the City of David 4 and brought it into the temple. The Levites who assisted the priests helped them carry into the temple the sacred tent and all the special equipment that the priests used only in the tent. 5 King Solomon and that large crowd of Israelites walked ahead of Yahweh’s sacred chest as the priests carried it to the temple. They sacrificed a very large number of sheep and bulls. No one was able to count how many animals they sacrificed, because there were so many. 6 The priests carried the sacred chest into the temple and put it where it belonged. That was in the Most Holy Place, the special room that Solomon’s workers had made at the back of the temple. They placed the sacred chest under the wings of the statues of the winged creatures there. 7 Then the wings of those statues extended over the sacred chest and over the poles that the priests used to carry it. 8 Those poles were so long that priests who were standing in the Holy Place at the entrance to the Most Holy Place could see their ends. But people standing outside the temple could not see them. Those poles are still there. 9 The only things that were in the sacred chest were the two stone tablets that Moses had put there at Mount Horeb. That was where Yahweh had made a covenant with the Israelites after they left Egypt. 10 When the priests came out of the Holy Place after putting the sacred chest in the temple, suddenly a cloud that represented Yahweh’s presence filled the temple. 11 The glorious presence of Yahweh, expressed in the cloud, filled the temple. As a result, the priests were not able to continue their work.

12 Solomon looked at the temple and said, “Yahweh said that he would live in a dark cloud.” 13 Then Solomon prayed to Yahweh, “I have surely built a temple for you that you will always be able to live in.” 14 Then, while all the people stood there respectfully, the king turned around and faced them, and he asked God to make good things happen for them. 15 Then he said, “Praise Yahweh, the God whom we Israelites worship! By his own power he has done what he promised to my father David. Yahweh told him, 16 ‘I rescued the Israelite people, who belong to me, from slavery in Egypt. But after that, I did not choose a city anywhere in their land and ask them to build a temple there where they would worship me. But I did choose you to be the king of Israel.’ ” 17 Then Solomon said, “My father David wanted very much to build a temple where we Israelite people could worship Yahweh our God. 18 But Yahweh told him, ‘You wanted to build a temple for me, and it was good for you to want to do that. 19 However, you are not the one who is going to build it. Instead, one of your sons will build a temple where the Israelites will worship me.’ 20 And now Yahweh has done what he promised to do. I have succeeded my father David as the king of Israel, just as Yahweh promised. And I have built a temple where we Israelite people can worship Yahweh our God. 21 I have provided a place within the temple for the sacred chest. It holds the two stone tablets that Moses put in it when Yahweh made a covenant with our ancestors when he rescued them from slavery in Egypt.”

22 Then Solomon turned around again and faced the altar in the temple courtyard. The Israelite people who had gathered for this occasion could see and hear him. He lifted his hands toward the sky to pray, 23 and he said, “Yahweh, you are the God whom we Israelite people worship. There is no god like you up in heaven or down here on the earth. You solemnly promised that you would be kind to us. And that is what you have always done for us when we have earnestly done what you wanted us to do. 24 You promised my father David, who served you faithfully, that his son would build a temple for you. And we here today can all see that by your own power you have done what you promised. 25 So now, Yahweh, the God whom we Israelites worship, I am asking you to do the further things you promised to my father David. You told him that you would make sure that one of his descendants would always be the king of Israel if they would conduct their lives as he did. He obeyed you carefully. 26 You are the God whom we Israelite people worship. So now please do what you promised to do for my father David.

27 But you, God, will not really live on the earth. You are so great that the whole sky and even the spiritual realm beyond the sky are not a sufficient home for you. So this temple that I have built is certainly not sufficient for you to live in either. 28 Even so, Yahweh, my God, please grant the requests that I make as I pray to you today. I have come to your temple today to pray. Please do what I am asking you earnestly to do. 29 I pray that you will always regard this temple favorably. You said that when we Israelites built a temple, you would be pleased to have people worship you there. So whenever I face this temple to acknowledge you as I pray, please answer my prayer. 30 When I pray to you, or when Israelite people pray to you, we will face this temple to acknowledge you. You will be faraway in heaven where you live, but please pay attention to our prayer and answer it by forgiving us for the sins that we have committed.

31 Suppose one person accuses another person of doing something wrong to him. Suppose the first person makes the other person stand in front of your altar outside this temple and swear, ‘I did not do that. May God punish me if I am not telling the truth!’ 32 In that case, please pay attention in heaven and decide which of these people is telling the truth. Then punish the person who is guilty with the punishment that he deserves, and reward the person who is innocent for having done what is right.

33 Suppose that the enemies of your Israelite people defeat their army in a battle because the Israelites have sinned against you. And suppose that the Israelites then admit that they have done wrong by sinning and that you are right to punish them for sinning. Suppose they stop acting in a sinful way. And suppose they face in the direction of this temple to acknowledge you and plead with you to help them. 34 In that case, please pay attention in heaven, and please forgive your Israelite people for the sins that they have committed. Bring back to this land that you gave to our ancestors any prisoners whom the enemy army may have captured and taken away.

35 Suppose that your Israelite people sin against you and, to punish them, you do not allow any rain to fall from the sky. Suppose that, because you are punishing them in this way, they face in the direction of this temple to acknowledge you, and they pray. Suppose that they admit that you are right to punish them for sinning. Suppose they stop acting in a sinful way. 36 In that case, by not allowing rain to fall, you would have taught them that they needed to live differently. So then please pay attention in heaven to their prayer, and forgive your Israelite people for the sins they have committed. Then send rain on this land that you have decided will belong permanently to your people.

37 Suppose the people of Israel are not able to grow enough food to eat. Or suppose a deadly disease spreads among the people. Or suppose blight or mildew ruin their crops or locusts or grasshoppers eat up their crops. Or suppose a person is in great distress because an enemy army has surrounded the city where he lives and is attacking it. Or suppose a person gets sick, or many people get sick. 38 And suppose an Israelite person recognizes in his inner being that he is suffering because you are correcting him for sinning. And suppose that he pleads with you to help him, stretching out his hands toward this temple to acknowledge you. 39 In that case, please pay attention to his prayer in heaven where you live. If he is truly sorry for his sins, forgive him and help him overcome the trouble he has. You are the only one who knows whether a person is truly sorry. So act toward each person as he deserves. 40 Do this so that all of the Israelites will deeply respect you throughout their lives as they live in this land that you gave to our ancestors.

41 Suppose a foreigner who does not belong to your Israelite people comes from a faraway country here to this temple because he has heard what a great God you are. 42 I know that foreigners will hear about how great you are and what powerful things you have done for your people. Some of them may come to this temple to worship you and pray to you. 43 In that case, please pay attention to their prayers in heaven where you live. Do for them what they ask you to do. Do that so that all the people groups in the world will know how great you are and revere you as we, your Israelite people, do. Then people all over the world will know that you are truly present in this temple that I have built.

44 Suppose that you command your people to go and fight against one of their enemies. And suppose that the Israelite soldiers pray to you for help. Suppose that, to acknowledge you, they face in the direction of this city of Jerusalem, which you have chosen as the place for this temple that I have built where we Israelites can worship you. 45 In that case, please pay attention in heaven to their prayers for help, and enable them to defeat their enemies.

46 Suppose that your people sin against you, as everyone unfortunately does, and you become angry with them. Suppose that to punish them you allow one of their enemies to defeat them and take many of them away as prisoners to their own country, perhaps even to a country that is far away. 47 And suppose that, while your people are in that country to which their enemy took them as captives, they sincerely repent. Suppose they plead with you there and say, ‘We confess that we have sinned by doing very wicked things.’ 48 Suppose that they start obeying you entirely again while they are still in the land of the enemy who captured them. Suppose that they pray to you for help while to acknowledge you they face in the direction of this land that you gave to our ancestors. Suppose that to acknowledge you they face in the direction of this city of Jerusalem, which you have chosen as the place for this temple that I have built where we Israelites can worship you. 49 In that case, please pay attention to their prayers for help in heaven where you live, and please rescue them. 50 Forgive them for all the sins that they have committed against you. Cause their enemies to feel kindly toward them and to treat them with kindness and release them. 51 I feel that I can ask you to do all of these things because we Israelites are your people. We will always belong to you. You brought our ancestors out of Egypt, where they were greatly suffering as though they were in a blazing furnace. 52 And so I ask you always to pay attention to what I or any of your Israelite people may plead for you to do. When we cry out to you in prayer, please help us. 53 Yahweh my Lord, we are your people because you chose us from all the other people groups in the world to belong to you always. That is what you told Moses, your servant, to tell our ancestors when you delivered them from slavery in Egypt.”

54 During this prayer in which Solomon asked Yahweh to do these things, he had been kneeling facing the altar and lifting his hands toward the sky. When he finished praying, he lowered his hands and stood up. 55 He turned to face the crowd and asked God to make good things happen for all the Israelite people. He said loudly, 56 “Praise Yahweh, who has allowed us Israelite people, who belong to him, to live in safety. That is just what he promised he would do. He has done every one of the good things that he promised to us through Moses, his servant. 57 I pray that Yahweh our God will always help us, just as he helped the Israelites in earlier times. I pray that he will never, ever leave us. 58 I pray that he will enable us to serve him loyally, to conduct our lives as he wants us to, and to obey all of the laws that he gave to our ancestors. 59 I pray that Yahweh our God will always remember these things I have asked as I have pleaded for his help. I pray that he will always act mercifully toward me and toward us Israelite people. I pray that he will do for us what we need each day. 60 If you do that, all the people groups in the world will know that you, Yahweh, are the only one who actually is God, and that there is no other one who is God at all. 61 I pray that all of you Israelites will always commit yourselves fully to Yahweh and that you will always obey his laws, just as you are doing now.”

62 Then King Solomon and all the Israelites who had come to Jerusalem for the temple dedication offered sacrifices to Yahweh. 63 They sacrificed 22,000 cattle and 120,000 sheep as fellowship sacrifices to Yahweh. In this way the king and all the Israelites who were there dedicated Yahweh’s temple. 64 The bronze altar in front of the temple was not big enough to hold all those sacrifices. So that day King Solomon temporarily made the middle part of the courtyard in front of the temple a sacred place. There he and the people offered sacrifices that they burned completely on the altar, the accompanying offerings of flour, and the fat of the animals that were fellowship sacrifices. 65 Then Solomon and all the Israelites who had come to Jerusalem celebrated the Festival of Shelters. They celebrated it for seven days. Since they had just celebrated the dedication of the temple for seven days, they celebrated together for a total of 14 days. There was a huge crowd of people there who had gathered in Yahweh’s presence. They came from many different places in the land of Israel. 66 Once the Festival of Shelters was over, Solomon told the people they could go back to their homes. They asked God to make good things happen for him. As the people went home, they were very happy because of all the good things that Yahweh had done for David his servant and for the Israelite people, who belonged to him.

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UST 1 KI Chapter 8

UST 1 KI Chapter 8