| English Standard Version | NET Bible |
| 1Then Solomon assembled the elders of Israel and all the heads of the tribes, the leaders of the fathers’ houses of the people of Israel, before King Solomon in Jerusalem, to bring up the ark of the covenant of the LORD out of the city of David, which is Zion. | 1Then Solomon convened in Jerusalem Israel's elders, all the leaders of the Israelite tribes and families, so they could witness the transferal of the ark of the LORD's covenant from the city of David (that is, Zion). |
| 2And all the men of Israel assembled to King Solomon at the feast in the month Ethanim, which is the seventh month. | 2All the men of Israel assembled before King Solomon during the festival in the month Ethanim (the seventh month). |
| 3And all the elders of Israel came, and the priests took up the ark. | 3When all Israel's elders had arrived, the priests lifted the ark. |
| 4And they brought up the ark of the LORD, the tent of meeting, and all the holy vessels that were in the tent; the priests and the Levites brought them up. | 4The priests and Levites carried the ark of the LORD, the tent of meeting, and all the holy items in the tent. |
| 5And King Solomon and all the congregation of Israel, who had assembled before him, were with him before the ark, sacrificing so many sheep and oxen that they could not be counted or numbered. | 5Now King Solomon and all the Israelites who had assembled with him went on ahead of the ark and sacrificed more sheep and cattle than could be counted or numbered. |
| 6Then the priests brought the ark of the covenant of the LORD to its place in the inner sanctuary of the house, in the Most Holy Place, underneath the wings of the cherubim. | 6The priests brought the ark of the LORD's covenant to its assigned place in the inner sanctuary of the temple, in the most holy place, under the wings of the cherubs. |
| 7For the cherubim spread out their wings over the place of the ark, so that the cherubim overshadowed the ark and its poles. | 7The cherubs' wings extended over the place where the ark sat; the cherubs overshadowed the ark and its poles. |
| 8And the poles were so long that the ends of the poles were seen from the Holy Place before the inner sanctuary; but they could not be seen from outside. And they are there to this day. | 8The poles were so long their ends were visible from the holy place in front of the inner sanctuary, but they could not be seen from beyond that point. They have remained there to this very day. |
| 9There was nothing in the ark except the two tablets of stone that Moses put there at Horeb, where the LORD made a covenant with the people of Israel, when they came out of the land of Egypt. | 9There was nothing in the ark except the two stone tablets Moses had placed there in Horeb. It was there that the LORD made an agreement with the Israelites after he brought them out of the land of Egypt. |
| 10And when the priests came out of the Holy Place, a cloud filled the house of the LORD, | 10Once the priests left the holy place, a cloud filled the LORD's temple. |
| 11so that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud, for the glory of the LORD filled the house of the LORD. | 11The priests could not carry out their duties because of the cloud; the LORD's glory filled his temple. |
| 12Then Solomon said, “The LORD has said that he would dwell in thick darkness. | 12Then Solomon said, "The LORD has said that he lives in thick darkness. |
| 13I have indeed built you an exalted house, a place for you to dwell in forever.” | 13O LORD, truly I have built a lofty temple for you, a place where you can live permanently." |
| 14Then the king turned around and blessed all the assembly of Israel, while all the assembly of Israel stood. | 14Then the king turned around and pronounced a blessing over the whole Israelite assembly as they stood there. |
| 15And he said, “Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel, who with his hand has fulfilled what he promised with his mouth to David my father, saying, | 15He said, "The LORD God of Israel is worthy of praise because he has fulfilled what he promised my father David. |
| 16‘Since the day that I brought my people Israel out of Egypt, I chose no city out of all the tribes of Israel in which to build a house, that my name might be there. But I chose David to be over my people Israel.’ | 16He told David, 'Since the day I brought my people Israel out of Egypt, I have not chosen a city from all the tribes of Israel to build a temple in which to live. But I have chosen David to lead my people Israel.' |
| 17Now it was in the heart of David my father to build a house for the name of the LORD, the God of Israel. | 17Now my father David had a strong desire to build a temple to honor the LORD God of Israel. |
| 18But the LORD said to David my father, ‘Whereas it was in your heart to build a house for my name, you did well that it was in your heart. | 18The LORD told my father David, 'It is right for you to have a strong desire to build a temple to honor me. |
| 19Nevertheless, you shall not build the house, but your son who shall be born to you shall build the house for my name.’ | 19But you will not build the temple; your very own son will build the temple for my honor.' |
| 20Now the LORD has fulfilled his promise that he made. For I have risen in the place of David my father, and sit on the throne of Israel, as the LORD promised, and I have built the house for the name of the LORD, the God of Israel. | 20The LORD has kept the promise he made. I have taken my father David's place and have occupied the throne of Israel, as the LORD promised. I have built this temple for the honor of the LORD God of Israel |
| 21And there I have provided a place for the ark, in which is the covenant of the LORD that he made with our fathers, when he brought them out of the land of Egypt.” | 21and set up in it a place for the ark containing the covenant the LORD made with our ancestors when he brought them out of the land of Egypt." |
| 22Then Solomon stood before the altar of the LORD in the presence of all the assembly of Israel and spread out his hands toward heaven, | 22Solomon stood before the altar of the LORD in front of the entire assembly of Israel and spread out his hands toward the sky. |
| 23and said, “O LORD, God of Israel, there is no God like you, in heaven above or on earth beneath, keeping covenant and showing steadfast love to your servants who walk before you with all their heart; | 23He prayed: "O LORD, God of Israel, there is no god like you in heaven above or on earth below! You maintain covenantal loyalty to your servants who obey you with sincerity. |
| 24you have kept with your servant David my father what you declared to him. You spoke with your mouth, and with your hand have fulfilled it this day. | 24You have kept your word to your servant, my father David; this very day you have fulfilled what you promised. |
| 25Now therefore, O LORD, God of Israel, keep for your servant David my father what you have promised him, saying, ‘You shall not lack a man to sit before me on the throne of Israel, if only your sons pay close attention to their way, to walk before me as you have walked before me.’ | 25Now, O LORD, God of Israel, keep the promise you made to your servant, my father David, when you said, 'You will never fail to have a successor ruling before me on the throne of Israel, provided that your descendants watch their step and serve me as you have done.' |
| 26Now therefore, O God of Israel, let your word be confirmed, which you have spoken to your servant David my father. | 26Now, O God of Israel, may the promise you made to your servant, my father David, be realized. |
| 27“But will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold, heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain you; how much less this house that I have built! | 27"God does not really live on the earth! Look, if the sky and the highest heaven cannot contain you, how much less this temple I have built! |
| 28Yet have regard to the prayer of your servant and to his plea, O LORD my God, listening to the cry and to the prayer that your servant prays before you this day, | 28But respond favorably to your servant's prayer and his request for help, O LORD my God. Answer the desperate prayer your servant is presenting to you today. |
| 29that your eyes may be open night and day toward this house, the place of which you have said, ‘My name shall be there,’ that you may listen to the prayer that your servant offers toward this place. | 29Night and day may you watch over this temple, the place where you promised you would live. May you answer your servant's prayer for this place. |
| 30And listen to the plea of your servant and of your people Israel, when they pray toward this place. And listen in heaven your dwelling place, and when you hear, forgive. | 30Respond to the request of your servant and your people Israel for this place. Hear from inside your heavenly dwelling place and respond favorably. |
| 31“If a man sins against his neighbor and is made to take an oath and comes and swears his oath before your altar in this house, | 31"When someone is accused of sinning against his neighbor and the latter pronounces a curse on the alleged offender before your altar in this temple, be willing to forgive the accused if the accusation is false. |
| 32then hear in heaven and act and judge your servants, condemning the guilty by bringing his conduct on his own head, and vindicating the righteous by rewarding him according to his righteousness. | 32Listen from heaven and make a just decision about your servants' claims. Condemn the guilty party, declare the other innocent, and give both of them what they deserve. |
| 33“When your people Israel are defeated before the enemy because they have sinned against you, and if they turn again to you and acknowledge your name and pray and plead with you in this house, | 33"The time will come when your people Israel are defeated by an enemy because they sinned against you. If they come back to you, renew their allegiance to you, and pray for your help in this temple, |
| 34then hear in heaven and forgive the sin of your people Israel and bring them again to the land that you gave to their fathers. | 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 heaven is shut up and there is no rain because they have sinned against you, if they pray toward this place and acknowledge your name and turn from their sin, when you afflict them, | 35"The time will come when the skies are shut up tightly and no rain falls because your people sinned against you. When they direct their prayers toward this place, renew their allegiance to you, and turn away from their sin because you punish them, |
| 36then hear in heaven and forgive the sin of your servants, your people Israel, when you teach them the good way in which they should walk, and grant rain upon your land, which you have given to your people as an inheritance. | 36then listen from heaven and forgive the sin of your servants, your people Israel. Certainly you will then teach them the right way to live and send rain on your land that you have given your people to possess. |
| 37“If there is famine in the land, if there is pestilence or blight or mildew or locust or caterpillar, if their enemy besieges them in the land at their gates, whatever plague, whatever sickness there is, | 37"The time will come when the land suffers from a famine, a plague, blight and disease, or a locust invasion, or when their enemy lays siege to the cities of the land, or when some other type of plague or epidemic occurs. |
| 38whatever prayer, whatever plea is made by any man or by all your people Israel, each knowing the affliction of his own heart and stretching out his hands toward this house, | 38When all your people Israel pray and ask for help, as they acknowledge their pain and spread out their hands toward this temple, |
| 39then hear in heaven your dwelling place and forgive and act and render to each whose heart you know, according to all his ways (for you, you only, know the hearts of all the children of mankind), | 39then listen from your heavenly dwelling place, forgive their sin, and act favorably toward each one based on your evaluation of his motives. (Indeed you are the only one who can correctly evaluate the motives of all people.) |
| 40that they may fear you all the days that they live in the land that you gave to our fathers. | 40Then they will obey you throughout their lifetimes as they live on the land you gave to our ancestors. |
| 41“Likewise, when a foreigner, who is not of your people Israel, comes from a far country for your name’s sake | 41"Foreigners, who do not belong to your people Israel, will come from a distant land because of your reputation. |
| 42(for they shall hear of your great name and your mighty hand, and of your outstretched arm), when he comes and prays toward this house, | 42When they hear about your great reputation and your ability to accomplish mighty deeds, they will come and direct their prayers toward this temple. |
| 43hear in heaven your dwelling place and do according to all for which the foreigner calls to you, in order that all the peoples of the earth may know your name and fear you, as do your people Israel, and that they may know that this house that I have built is called by your name. | 43Then listen from your heavenly dwelling place and answer all the prayers of the foreigners. Then all the nations of the earth will acknowledge your reputation, obey you like your people Israel do, and recognize that this temple I built belongs to you. |
| 44“If your people go out to battle against their enemy, by whatever way you shall send them, and they pray to the LORD toward the city that you have chosen and the house that I have built for your name, | 44"When you direct your people to march out and fight their enemies, and they direct their prayers to the LORD toward his chosen city and this temple I built for your honor, |
| 45then hear in heaven their prayer and their plea, and maintain their cause. | 45then listen from heaven to their prayers for help and vindicate them. |
| 46“If they sin against you—for there is no one who does not sin—and you are angry with them and give them to an enemy, so that they are carried away captive to the land of the enemy, far off or near, | 46"The time will come when your people will sin against you (for there is no one who is sinless!) and you will be angry with them and deliver them over to their enemies, who will take them as prisoners to their own land, whether far away or close by. |
| 47yet if they turn their heart in the land to which they have been carried captive, and repent and plead with you in the land of their captors, saying, ‘We have sinned and have acted perversely and wickedly,’ | 47When your people come to their senses in the land where they are held prisoner, they will repent and beg for your mercy in the land of their imprisonment, admitting, 'We have sinned and gone astray; we have done evil.' |
| 48if they repent with all their heart and with all their soul in the land of their enemies, who carried them captive, and pray to you toward their land, which you gave to their fathers, the city that you have chosen, and the house that I have built for your name, | 48When they return to you with all their heart and being in the land where they are held prisoner, and direct their prayers to you toward the land you gave to their ancestors, your chosen city, and the temple I built for your honor, |
| 49then hear in heaven your dwelling place their prayer and their plea, and maintain their cause | 49then listen from your heavenly dwelling place to their prayers for help and vindicate them. |
| 50and forgive your people who have sinned against you, and all their transgressions that they have committed against you, and grant them compassion in the sight of those who carried them captive, that they may have compassion on them | 50Forgive all the rebellious acts of your sinful people and cause their captors to have mercy on them. |
| 51(for they are your people, and your heritage, which you brought out of Egypt, from the midst of the iron furnace). | 51After all, they are your people and your special possession whom you brought out of Egypt, from the middle of the iron-smelting furnace. |
| 52Let your eyes be open to the plea of your servant and to the plea of your people Israel, giving ear to them whenever they call to you. | 52"May you be attentive to your servant's and your people Israel's requests for help and may you respond to all their prayers to you. |
| 53For you separated them from among all the peoples of the earth to be your heritage, as you declared through Moses your servant, when you brought our fathers out of Egypt, O Lord GOD.” | 53After all, you picked them out of all the nations of the earth to be your special possession, just as you, O sovereign LORD, announced through your servant Moses when you brought our ancestors out of Egypt." |
| 54Now as Solomon finished offering all this prayer and plea to the LORD, he arose from before the altar of the LORD, where he had knelt with hands outstretched toward heaven. | 54When Solomon finished presenting all these prayers and requests to the LORD, he got up from before the altar of the LORD where he had kneeled and spread out his hands toward the sky. |
| 55And he stood and blessed all the assembly of Israel with a loud voice, saying, | 55When he stood up, he pronounced a blessing over the entire assembly of Israel, saying in a loud voice: |
| 56“Blessed be the LORD who has given rest to his people Israel, according to all that he promised. Not one word has failed of all his good promise, which he spoke by Moses his servant. | 56"The LORD is worthy of praise because he has made Israel his people secure just as he promised! Not one of all the faithful promises he made through his servant Moses is left unfulfilled! |
| 57The LORD our God be with us, as he was with our fathers. May he not leave us or forsake us, | 57May the LORD our God be with us, as he was with our ancestors. May he not abandon us or leave us. |
| 58that he may incline our hearts to him, to walk in all his ways and to keep his commandments, his statutes, and his rules, which he commanded our fathers. | 58May he make us submissive, so we can follow all his instructions and obey the commandments, rules, and regulations he commanded our ancestors. |
| 59Let these words of mine, with which I have pleaded before the LORD, be near to the LORD our God day and night, and may he maintain the cause of his servant and the cause of his people Israel, as each day requires, | 59May the LORD our God be constantly aware of these requests of mine I have presented to him, so that he might vindicate his servant and his people Israel as the need arises. |
| 60that all the peoples of the earth may know that the LORD is God; there is no other. | 60Then all the nations of the earth will recognize that the LORD is the only genuine God. |
| 61Let your heart therefore be wholly true to the LORD our God, walking in his statutes and keeping his commandments, as at this day.” | 61May you demonstrate wholehearted devotion to the LORD our God by following his rules and obeying his commandments, as you are presently doing." |
| 62Then the king, and all Israel with him, offered sacrifice before the LORD. | 62The king and all Israel with him were presenting sacrifices to the LORD. |
| 63Solomon offered as peace offerings to the LORD 22,000 oxen and 120,000 sheep. So the king and all the people of Israel dedicated the house of the LORD. | 63Solomon offered as peace offerings to the LORD 22,000 cattle and 120,000 sheep. Then the king and all the Israelites dedicated the LORD's temple. |
| 64The same day the king consecrated the middle of the court that was before the house of the LORD, for there he offered the burnt offering and the grain offering and the fat pieces of the peace offerings, because the bronze altar that was before the LORD was too small to receive the burnt offering and the grain offering and the fat pieces of the peace offerings. | 64That day the king consecrated the middle of the courtyard that is in front of the LORD's temple. He offered there burnt sacrifices, grain offerings, and the fat from the peace offerings, because the bronze altar that stood before the LORD was too small to hold all these offerings. |
| 65So Solomon held the feast at that time, and all Israel with him, a great assembly, from Lebo-hamath to the Brook of Egypt, before the LORD our God, seven days. | 65At that time Solomon and all Israel with him celebrated a festival before the LORD our God for two entire weeks. This great assembly included people from all over the land, from Lebo Hamath in the north to the Brook of Egypt in the south. |
| 66On the eighth day he sent the people away, and they blessed the king and went to their homes joyful and glad of heart for all the goodness that the LORD had shown to David his servant and to Israel his people. | 66On the fifteenth day after the festival started, he dismissed the people. They asked God to empower the king and then went to their homes, happy and content because of all the good the LORD had done for his servant David and his people Israel. |
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