1Now when Solomon had made an end of praying, fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices. And the glory of the LORD filled the house. 2And the priests could not enter into the house of the LORD because the glory of the LORD had filled the LORD'S house. 3And when all the children of Israel saw how the fire came down, and the glory of the LORD upon the house, they bowed their faces to the ground on the pavement, and worshiped and praised the LORD, saying, "For He is good, for His mercy endures forever."

4And the king and all the people offered sacrifices before the LORD. 5And King Solomon offered a sacrifice of twenty-two thousand oxen and a hundred and twenty thousand sheep. And the king and all the people dedicated the house of God. 6And the priests served in their offices, and the Levites with instruments of music of the LORD, which David the king had made to praise the LORD--saying, "His mercy endures forever"--when David praised Him by their ministry. And the priests sounded silver trumpets before them, and all Israel stood.

7And Solomon made holy the middle of the court before the house of the LORD, for there he offered burnt offerings and the fat of the peace offerings because the bronze altar which Solomon had made was not able to receive the burnt offerings, and the grain offerings, and the fat.

8And at the same time Solomon kept the feast seven days, and all Israel with him, a very great congregation, from the entering in of Hamath to the river of Egypt. 9And in the eighth day they made a solemn assembly, for they kept the dedication of the altar seven days, and the feast seven days. 10And on the twenty-third day of the seventh month he sent the people away into their tents, glad and merry in heart for the goodness that the LORD had shown to David, and to Solomon, and to Israel His people.

11Thus Solomon finished the house of the LORD and the king's house, and he prospered exceedingly in all that came into Solomon's heart to accomplish in the house of the LORD and in his own house.

12And the LORD appeared to Solomon by night and said to him, "I have heard your prayer and have chosen this place to Myself for a house of sacrifice. 13If I shut up the heavens, and there is no rain, or if I command the locusts to devour the land, or if I send a plague among My people, 14If My people, who are called by My name, shall humble themselves and pray, and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land. 15Now My eyes shall be open, and My ears shall be attentive to the prayer offered in this place, 16For now I have chosen and sanctified this house so that My name may be there forever. And My eyes and My heart shall be there perpetually. 17And you, if you will walk before me, as David your father walked, and will do according to all that I have commanded you, and shall observe My statutes and My ordinances, 18Then I will make the throne of your kingdom sure, as I have covenanted with David your father, saying, 'There shall not fail you a man to be ruler in Israel. '

19But if you turn away and forsake My statutes and My commandments which I have set before you, and if you shall go and serve other gods and worship them, 20Then I will pluck them up by the roots out of My land which I have given them. And this house which I have sanctified for My name, I will cast out of My sight, and I will make it to be a proverb and a byword among all nations. 21And this house, which is exalted, shall be an astonishment to everyone who passes by it, so that they shall be appalled and say, 'Why has the LORD done this to this land and to this house?' 22And it shall be answered, 'Because they forsook the LORD God of their fathers, who brought them forth out of the land of Egypt, and laid hold upon other gods and worshiped them and served them. Therefore He has brought all this evil upon them. ' "