| New King James Version | NET Bible |
| 1Now Solomon assembled the elders of Israel and all the heads of the tribes, the chief fathers of the children of Israel, to King Solomon in Jerusalem, that they might bring up the ark of the covenant of the LORD from 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). |
| 2Therefore all the men of Israel assembled with King Solomon at the feast in the month of 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). |
| 3So 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. |
| 4Then they brought up the ark of the LORD, the tabernacle of meeting, and all the holy furnishings that were in the tabernacle. 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. |
| 5Also King Solomon, and all the congregation of Israel who were assembled with him, were with him before the ark, sacrificing sheep and oxen that could not be counted or numbered for multitude. | 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 in the ark of the covenant of the LORD to its place, into the inner sanctuary of the temple, to the Most Holy Place, under 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 their two wings over the place of the ark, and 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. |
| 8The poles extended so that the ends of the poles could be seen from the holy place, in front of 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. |
| 9Nothing was in the ark except the two tablets of stone which Moses put there at Horeb, when the LORD made a covenant with the children 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 it came to pass, when the priests came out of the holy place, that the 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 continue ministering 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 spoke: “The LORD said He would dwell in the dark cloud. | 12Then Solomon said, "The LORD has said that he lives in thick darkness. |
| 13I have surely built You an exalted house, And 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 the whole assembly of Israel, while all the assembly of Israel was standing. | 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 God of Israel, who spoke with His mouth to my father David, and with His hand has fulfilled it, 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 have chosen no city from any tribe 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 my father David to build a temple for the name of the LORD 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 my father David, ‘Whereas it was in your heart to build a temple 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 temple, but your son who will come from your body, he shall build the temple for My name.’ | 19But you will not build the temple; your very own son will build the temple for my honor.' |
| 20So the LORD has fulfilled His word which He spoke; and I have filled the position of my father David, and sit on the throne of Israel, as the LORD promised; and I have built a temple for the name of the LORD 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 made a place for the ark, in which is the covenant of the LORD which 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 he said: “LORD God of Israel, there is no God in heaven above or on earth below like You, who keep Your covenant and mercy with Your servants who walk before You with all their hearts. | 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 what You promised Your servant David my father; You have both spoken with Your mouth and fulfilled it with Your hand, as it is this day. | 24You have kept your word to your servant, my father David; this very day you have fulfilled what you promised. |
| 25Therefore, LORD God of Israel, now keep what You promised Your servant David my father, saying, ‘You shall not fail to have a man sit before Me on the throne of Israel, only if your sons take heed to their way, that they 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.' |
| 26And now I pray, O God of Israel, let Your word come true, 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 heaven of heavens cannot contain You. How much less this temple which 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 regard the prayer of Your servant and his supplication, O LORD my God, and listen to the cry and the prayer which Your servant is praying before You today: | 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 toward this temple night and day, toward the place of which You said, ‘My name shall be there,’ that You may hear the prayer which Your servant makes 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 may You hear the supplication of Your servant and of Your people Israel, when they pray toward this place. Hear 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“When anyone sins against his neighbor, and is forced to take an oath, and comes and takes an oath before Your altar in this temple, | 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 wicked, bringing his way on his head, and justifying the righteous by giving 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 an enemy because they have sinned against You, and when they turn back to You and confess Your name, and pray and make supplication to You in this temple, | 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 back to the land which 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 the heavens are shut up and there is no rain because they have sinned against You, when they pray toward this place and confess Your name, and turn from their sin because 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, that You may teach them the good way in which they should walk; and send rain on 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“When there is famine in the land, pestilence or blight or mildew, locusts or grasshoppers; when their enemy besieges them in the land of their cities; whatever plague or 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 supplication is made by anyone, or by all Your people Israel, when each one knows the plague of his own heart, and spreads out his hands toward this temple: | 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 give to everyone according to all his ways, whose heart You know (for You alone know the hearts of all the sons of men), | 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 which 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“Moreover, concerning a foreigner, who is not of Your people Israel, but has come 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 will hear of Your great name and Your strong hand and Your outstretched arm), when he comes and prays toward this temple, | 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, that all peoples of the earth may know Your name and fear You, as do Your people Israel, and that they may know that this temple which 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“When Your people go out to battle against their enemy, wherever You send them, and when they pray to the LORD toward the city which You have chosen and the temple which 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 supplication, and maintain their cause. | 45then listen from heaven to their prayers for help and vindicate them. |
| 46“When they sin against You (for there is no one who does not sin), and You become angry with them and deliver them to the enemy, and they take them captive to the land of the enemy, far 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 when they come to themselves in the land where they were carried captive, and repent, and make supplication to You in the land of those who took them captive, saying, ‘We have sinned and done wrong, we have committed wickedness’; | 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.' |
| 48and when they return to You with all their heart and with all their soul in the land of their enemies who led them away captive, and pray to You toward their land which You gave to their fathers, the city which You have chosen and the temple which 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 supplication, 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 which they have transgressed against You; and grant them compassion before those who took 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 inheritance, whom You brought out of Egypt, out 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. |
| 52that Your eyes may be open to the supplication of Your servant and the supplication of Your people Israel, to listen 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 inheritance, as You spoke by Your servant Moses, 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." |
| 54And so it was, when Solomon had finished praying all this prayer and supplication to the LORD, that he arose from before the altar of the LORD, from kneeling on his knees with his hands spread up to 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. |
| 55Then 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. There has not failed one word of all His good promise, which He promised through His servant Moses. | 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! |
| 57May the LORD our God be with us, as He was with our fathers. May He not leave us nor 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 Himself, to walk in all His ways, and to keep His commandments and His statutes and His judgments, 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. |
| 59And may these words of mine, with which I have made supplication before the LORD, be near the LORD our God day and night, that He may maintain the cause of His servant and the cause of His people Israel, as each day may require, | 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 loyal to the LORD our God, to walk in His statutes and keep 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 sacrifices before the LORD. | 62The king and all Israel with him were presenting sacrifices to the LORD. |
| 63And Solomon offered a sacrifice of peace offerings, which he offered to the LORD, twenty-two thousand bulls and one hundred and twenty thousand sheep. So the king and all the children 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. |
| 64On the same day the king consecrated the middle of the court that was in front of the house of the LORD; for there he offered burnt offerings, grain offerings, and the fat of the peace offerings, because the bronze altar that was before the LORD was too small to receive the burnt offerings, the grain offerings, and the fat 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. |
| 65At that time Solomon held a feast, and all Israel with him, a great assembly from the entrance of Hamath to the Brook of Egypt, before the LORD our God, seven days and seven more days—fourteen 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 tents joyful and glad of heart for all the good that the LORD had done for His servant David, and for 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. |
|
