1 Solomon prayed:
“Our Lord, you said that you
would live in a dark cloud.
2 Now I've built a glorious temple
where you can live forever.”
Solomon Speaks to the People
(1 Kings 8.14-21)3 Solomon turned toward the people standing there. Then he blessed them 4-6 and said:
Praise the Lord God of Israel! He brought his people out of Egypt long ago and later kept his promise to make my father David the king of Israel. The Lord also promised him that Jerusalem would be the city where his temple will be built, and now that promise has come true.
7 When my father wanted to build a temple for the Lord God of Israel, 8 the Lord said, “It's good that you want to build a temple where I can be worshiped. 9 But you're not the one to do it. Your son will build the temple to honor me.”
10 The Lord has done what he promised. I am now the king of Israel, and I've built a temple for the Lord our God. 11 I've also put the sacred chest in the temple. And in that chest are the two flat stones on which is written the solemn agreement the Lord made with our ancestors when he rescued them from Egypt.
Solomon Prays at the Temple
(1 Kings 8.22-53)12-13 Earlier, Solomon had a bronze platform made that was about two meters square and over a meter high, and he put it in the center of the outer courtyard near the altar. Solomon stood on the platform facing the altar with everyone standing behind him. Then he lifted his arms toward heaven; he knelt down 14 and prayed:
Lord God of Israel, no other god in heaven or on earth is like you!
You never forget the agreement you made with your people, and you are loyal to anyone who faithfully obeys your teachings. 15 My father David was your servant, and today you have kept every promise you made to him.
16 You promised that someone from his family would always be king of Israel, if they do their best to obey you, just as he did. 17 Please keep this promise you made to your servant David. 18 There's not enough room in all of heaven for you, Lord God. How could you possibly live on earth in this temple I have built? 19 But I ask you to answer my prayer. 20 This is the temple where you have chosen to be worshiped. Please watch over it day and night and listen when I turn toward it and pray. 21 I am your servant, and the people of Israel belong to you, and so whenever any of us look toward this temple and pray, answer from your home in heaven and forgive our sins.
22 Suppose someone accuses a person of a crime, and the accused has to stand in front of the altar in your temple and say, “I swear I am innocent!” 23 Listen from heaven and decide who is right. Then punish the guilty person and let the innocent one go free.
24 Suppose your people Israel sin against you, and then an enemy defeats them. If they come to this temple and beg for forgiveness, 25 listen from your home in heaven. Forgive them and bring them back to the land you gave their ancestors.
26 Suppose your people sin against you, and you punish them by holding back the rain. If they stop sinning and turn toward this temple to pray in your name, 27 listen from your home in heaven and forgive them. The people of Israel are your servants, so teach them to live right. And send rain on the land you promised them forever.
28 Sometimes the crops may dry up or rot or be eaten by locusts or grasshoppers, and your people will be starving. Sometimes enemies may surround their towns, or your people will become sick with deadly diseases. 29 Please listen when anyone in Israel truly feels sorry and sincerely prays with arms lifted toward your temple. 30 You know what is in everyone's heart. So from your home in heaven answer their prayers, according to what they do and what is in their hearts. 31 Then your people will worship you and obey you for as long as they live in the land you gave their ancestors.
32 Foreigners will hear about you and your mighty power, and some of them will come to live among your people Israel. If any of them pray toward this temple, 33 listen from your home in heaven and answer their prayers. Then everyone on earth will worship you, just as your own people Israel do, and they will know that I have built this temple in your honor.
34 Sometimes you will order your people to attack their enemies. Then your people will turn toward this temple I have built for you in your chosen city, and they will pray to you. 35 Answer their prayers from heaven and give them victory.
36 Everyone sins. But when your people sin against you, suppose you get angry enough to let their enemies drag them away to foreign countries. 37-39 Later, they may feel sorry for what they did and ask your forgiveness. Answer them when they pray toward this temple I have built for you in your chosen city, here in this land you gave their ancestors. From your home in heaven, listen to their sincere prayers and forgive your people who have sinned against you.
40 Lord God, hear us when we pray in this temple. 41 Come to your new home, where we have already placed the sacred chest, which is the symbol of your strength. I pray that when the priests announce your power to save people, those who are faithful to you will celebrate what you've done for them. 42 Always remember the love you had for your servant David, so that you will not reject your chosen kings.
1 Then Salomon sayd, The Lord hath sayde that he would dwell in the darke cloude: 2 And I haue built thee an house to dwell in, an habitation for thee to dwell in for euer. 3 And the King turned his face, and blessed all the Congregation of Israel (for all the Congregation of Israel stoode there) 4 And he said, Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, who spake with his mouth vnto Dauid my father, and hath with his hand fulfilled it, saying, 5 Since the day that I brought my people out of the land of Egypt, I chose no citie of al the tribes of Israel to buylde an house, that my Name might be there, neyther chose I any man to be a ruler ouer my people Israel: 6 But I haue chosen Ierusalem, that my Name might be there, and haue chosen Dauid to be ouer my people Israel. 7 And it was in the heart of Dauid my father to builde an house vnto the Name of the Lord God of Israel, 8 But the Lord sayde to Dauid my father, Whereas it was in thine heart to buylde an house vnto my Name, thou diddest well, that thou wast so minded. 9 Notwithstanding thou shalt not build the house, but thy sonne which shall come out of thy loynes, he shall buylde an house vnto my Name. 10 And the Lord hath performed his worde that he spake: and I am risen vp in the roume of Dauid my father, and am set on the throne of Israel as the Lord promised, and haue built an house to the Name of the Lord God of Israel. 11 And I haue set the Arke there, wherein is the couenant of the Lord, that he made with the children of Israel. 12 And the King stoode before the altar of the Lord, in the presence of all the Congregation of Israel, and stretched out his hands, 13 (For Salomon had made a brasen skaffold and set it in the middes of the court, of fiue cubites long, and fiue cubites broade, and three cubites of height, and vpon it he stoode, and kneeled downe vpon his knees before all the Congregation of Israel, and stretched out his hands toward heauen) 14 And sayd, O Lord God of Israel, there is no God like thee in heauen nor in earth, which keepest couenant, and mercie vnto thy seruants, that walke before thee with all their heart. 15 Thou that hast kept with thy seruant Dauid my father, that thou hast promised him: for thou spakest with thy mouth, and hast fulfilled it with thine hand, as appeareth this day. 16 Therefore now Lord God of Israel, keepe with thy seruant Dauid my father, that thou hast promised him, saying, Thou shalt not want a man in my sight, that shall sit vpon the throne of Israel: so that thy sonnes take heede to their wayes, to walke in my Lawe, as thou hast walked before me. 17 And now, O Lord God of Israel, let thy worde be verified, which thou spakest vnto thy seruant Dauid. 18 (Is it true in deede that God will dwell with man on earth? beholde, the heauens, and the heauens of heauens are not able to conteine thee: how much more vnable is this house, which I haue buylt?) 19 But haue thou respect to the prayer of thy seruant, and to his supplication, O Lord my God, to heare the crye and prayer which thy seruant prayeth before thee, 20 That thine eyes may be open toward this house day and night, euen toward the place, whereof thou hast sayde, that thou wouldest put thy Name there, that thou mayest hearken vnto the prayer, which thy seruant prayeth in this place. 21 Heare thou therefore the supplication of thy seruant, and of thy people Israel, which they pray in this place: and heare thou in the place of thine habitation, euen in heauen, and when thou hearest, be mercifull. 22 When a man shall sinne against his neighbour, and he laye vpon him an othe to cause him to sweare, and the swearer shall come before thine altar in this house, 23 Then heare thou in heauen, and doe, and iudge thy seruants, in recompensing the wicked to bring his way vpon his head, and in iustifying the righteous, to giue him according to his righteousnes. 24 And when thy people Israel shalbe ouerthrowen before the enemie, because they haue sinned against thee, and turne againe, and confesse thy Name, and pray, and make supplication before thee in this house, 25 Then heare thou in heauen, and be mercifull vnto the sinne of thy people Israel, and bring them againe vnto the land which thou gauest to them and to their fathers. 26 When heauen shall be shut vp, and there shalbe no rayne, because they haue sinned against thee, and shall pray in this place, and confesse thy Name, and turne from their sinne, when thou doest afflict them, 27 Then heare thou in heauen, and pardon the sinne of thy seruants, and of thy people Israel (when thou hast taught them the good way wherein they may walke) and giue rayne vpon thy lande, which thou hast giuen vnto thy people for an inheritance. 28 When there shalbe famine in the land, when there shalbe pestilence, blasting, or mildew, when there shall be grashopper, or caterpiller, when their enemie shall besiege them in the cities of their land, or any plague or any sickenesse, 29 Then what prayer and supplication so euer shalbe made of any man, or of all thy people Israel, whe euery one shall knowe his owne plague, and his owne disease, and shall stretch forth his hands toward this house, 30 Heare thou then in heauen, thy dwelling place, and be merciful, and giue euery man according vnto all his wayes, as thou doest knowe his heart (for thou onely knowest the hearts of the children of men) 31 That they may feare thee, and walke in thy wayes as long as they liue in the land which thou gauest vnto our fathers. 32 Moreouer, as touching ye stranger which is not of thy people Israel, who shall come out of a farre countrey for thy great Names sake, and thy mighty hande, and thy stretched out arme: when they shall come and pray in this house, 33 Heare thou in heauen thy dwelling place, and doe according to all that the stranger calleth for vnto thee, that all the people of the earth may knowe thy Name, and feare thee like thy people Israel, and that they may knowe, that thy Name is called vpon in this house which I haue built. 34 When thy people shall goe out to battell against their enemies, by the way that thou shalt send them, and they pray to thee, in the way towarde this citie, which thou hast chosen, euen toward the house which I haue built to thy Name, 35 Then heare thou in heauen their prayer and their supplication, and iudge their cause. 36 If they sinne against thee (for there is no man that sinneth not) and thou be angry with them and deliuer them vnto the enemies, and they take them and cary them away captiue vnto a land farre or neere, 37 If they turne againe to their heart in the lande whither they be caryed in captiues, and turne and pray vnto thee in the lande of their captiuitie, saying, We haue sinned, we haue transgressed and haue done wickedly, 38 If they turne againe to thee with all their heart, and with all their soule in the land of their captiuitie, whither they haue caryed them captiues, and pray toward their land, which thou gauest vnto their fathers, and toward the citie which thou hast chosen, and toward the house which I haue built for thy Name, 39 Then heare thou in heauen, in the place of thine habitation their prayer and their supplication, and iudge their cause, and be mercifull vnto thy people, which haue sinned against thee. 40 Nowe my God, I beseech thee, let thine eyes be open, and thine eares attent vnto the prayer that is made in this place. 41 Nowe therefore arise, O Lord God, to come into thy rest, thou, and the Arke of thy strength: O Lord God, let thy Priestes be clothed with saluation, and let thy Saints reioyce in goodnesse. 42 O Lord God, refuse not the face of thine anoynted: remember the mercies promised to Dauid thy seruant.