The First Book of Kings (Commonly Called The Third Book of Kings )

Then Solomon gathered the elders of Israel, and all the heads of the tribes, the chief of the fathers of the sons of Israel, to king Solomon in Jerusalem, that they might bring up the ark of the covenant of Jehovah out of the city of David, which [is] Zion.

And all the men of Israel were gathered to king Solomon, in the month of Ethanim, at the feast, which is the seventh month.

And all the elders of Israel came in, and the priests lifted up the ark,

and brought up the ark of Jehovah, and the tabernacle of the congregation, and all the holy vessels that [were] in the tabernacle, even those the priests and the Levites brought.

And king Solomon and all the company of Israel who had assembled to him [were] with him before the ark, sacrificing sheep and oxen, that could not be counted or numbered for multitude.

And the priests brought in the ark of the covenant of Jehovah to its place, to the holy place of the house, into the Holy of Holies, to the place of the wings of the cherubs;

for the cherubs were spreading forth their wings to the place of the ark, and the cherubs covered over the ark, and over its staves from above.

And they lengthened the staves, and the heads of the staves were seen from the holy [place] on the front of the Holy of Holies, and were not seen outside; and they are there to this day.

Nothing [was] in the ark, only the two tables of stone which Moses put there in Horeb, when Jehovah cut a covenant with the sons of Israel as they went out of the land of Egypt.

And it happened as the priests went out from the Holy of Holies, that the cloud filled the house of Jehovah,

and the priests were not able to stand to minister because of the cloud, for the glory of Jehovah had filled the house of Jehovah.

And Solomon said, Jehovah has said that He would dwell in the thick darkness.

I have surely built a house of loftiness for You, a settled place for You to abide in forever.

And the king turned around his face and blessed the whole assembly of Israel; and all the assembly of Israel was standing.

And he said, Blessed [be] Jehovah, God of Israel, who spoke by His mouth with my father David, and by his hand has fulfilled [it], saying,

From the day that I brought out My people, even Israel, from Egypt, I have not chosen a city out of all the tribes of Israel to build a house for My name to be there; but I chose David to be over My people Israel.

And it was in the heart of my father David to build a house for the name of Jehovah, God of Israel;

and Jehovah said to my father David, Because it has been in your heart to build a house for My name, you have done well that it has been in your heart;

only, you shall not build the house, but your son who shall come out from your loins, he shall build the house for My name.

And Jehovah has established His word that He spoke; for I have risen up instead of my father David and sit on the throne of Israel, as Jehovah spoke, and have built the house for the name of Jehovah the God of Israel;

and set there a place for the ark, in which [is] the covenant of Jehovah which He made with our fathers when He brought them out from the land of Egypt.

And Solomon stood before the altar of Jehovah, across from the assembly of Israel, and spread his palms toward the heavens;

and said, Jehovah, God of Israel, [there is] no God like You in the heavens above or on the earth beneath; who keeps covenant and mercy with Your servants that walk before You with all their heart;

Who have kept for Your servant David, my father, that which You spoke to him; yea, You spoke with Your mouth, and with Your hand have fulfilled [it] as [it is] this day.

And now, Jehovah, God of Israel, keep for Your servant David, my father, that which You spoke to him, saying, There shall not be cut off from you a man from before Me, sitting on the throne of Israel; only, if your sons watch their way, to walk before Me as you have walked before Me.

And now, O God of Israel, let it be established, I beseech You, Your word which You have spoken to Your servant, my father David.

But will God in truth dwell on the earth? Behold, the heavens and the heavens of the heavens cannot contain You; how much less this house which I have built!

Yet You have turned toward the prayer of Your servant, and to his supplication, O Jehovah my God, to listen to the cry and to the prayer which Your servant is praying before You today;

for Your eyes are open toward this house night and day, toward the place of which You have said, My name shall be there; to listen to the prayer which Your servant prays toward this place.

And You shall listen to the supplication of Your servant, and of Your people Israel when they shall pray toward this place; yea, You shall listen in Your dwelling-place, in Heaven; and [You shall] hear and shall forgive.

If any man sins against his neighbor, and an oath be exacted of him to cause him to swear, and the oath has come before Your altar in this house,

then [You shall] hear in Heaven, and shall act, and shall judge Your servants, to declare the wicked [to be] wicked, to put his way on his head, and to declare the righteous [to be] righteous, to give him according to his righteousness.

then [You shall] hear in Heaven, and shall forgive the sin of Your people Israel, and shall bring them back to the land that You gave to their fathers.

When the heavens are restrained, and there is no rain, because they have sinned against You, and they have prayed toward this place, and confess Your name, and have turned from their sin because You have afflicted them,

then [You shall] hear in Heaven, and shall forgive the sin of Your servants, and of Your people Israel, for You shall teach them the good way in which they shall go, and shall give rain on Your land which You have given to Your people for an inheritance.

When there is famine in the land; when there is pestilence, blasting, mildew, locusts; when there is the stripping locust; when its enemy has distressed it in the land [in] its gates; any plague, any sickness,

any prayer, any supplication that [shall come] from any man of all of Your people Israel, who shall each know the plague of his own heart, and shall spread his palms toward this house,

then [You shall] hear in Heaven Your dwellingplace and shall forgive and shall act, and shall give to each according to all his ways, whose heart You know (for You have known, You alone, the heart of all the sons of Adam),

so that they shall fear You all the days that they are living on the face of the land that You have given to our fathers.

And also, to the alien who [is] not of Your people Israel, and has come from a land afar off for Your name's sake,

(for they shall hear of Your great name, and of Your strong hand, and of Your stretched out arm, and he shall have come in and prayed toward this house,)

[You shall] hear in Heaven, Your dwellingplace, and shall do according to all that the stranger calls to You for, so that all the peoples of the earth may know Your name, to fear You like Your people Israel, and to know that Your name has been called on this house which I have built.

If Your people shall go out to battle against its enemy, in the way that You have sent them, and they have prayed to Jehovah the way of the city which You have chosen, and of the house which I have built for Your name,

then hear their prayer and their supplication in Heaven, and maintain their cause.

When they sin against You (for there is not a man who does not sin) and You have been angry with them, and have given them up before an enemy, and they have been led away into captivity to the land of the enemy, far off or near;

and they have turned their heart back in the land where they have been taken captive, and have repented, and made supplication to You in the land of their captors, saying, We have sinned and done perversely; we have done wickedly;

and, they have turned back to You with all their heart, and with all the their soul, in the land of their enemies who have taken them captive, and have prayed to You the way of their land which You gave to their fathers, the city which You have chosen, and the house which I have built for Your name,

then [You shall] hear their prayer and their supplication in Heaven Your dwellingplace, and shall maintain their cause,

and shall forgive Your people who have sinned against You, even all their transgressions which they have transgressed against You, and shall give them mercy before their captors, and they shall have mercy [on] them.

For they [are] Your people and Your inheritance, whom You brought out of Egypt, out of the midst of the furnace of iron;

for Your eyes shall be open to the supplication of Your servant, and to the supplication of Your people Israel, to listen to them in all that they call to You for;

for You have separated them to Yourself for an inheritance out of all the peoples of the earth, as You spoke by the hand of Your servant Moses when You brought out our fathers from Egypt, O Lord Jehovah.

And it happened as Solomon finished praying to Jehovah all this prayer and supplication, he arose from before the altar of Jehovah, from bending on his knees, and his palms spread out to Heaven;

and he stood and blessed all the congregation of Israel with a loud voice, saying,

Blessed [be] Jehovah who has given rest to His people Israel, according to all that He has spoken; not one word of all His good word has fallen, which He spoke by the hand of His servant Moses.

Jehovah our God is with us as He has been with our fathers; He shall not forsake us or leave us,

to incline our heart to Himself, to walk in all His ways, and to keep His commands, and His statutes, and His judgments, which He commanded our fathers;

and these words of mine which I have prayed before Jehovah be near to Jehovah our God by day and by night, to maintain the cause of His servant, and the cause of His people Israel, the matter of each day in its day;

for all the peoples of the earth know that Jehovah, He [is] God; there is no other;

let your heart therefore be perfect with Jehovah our God, to walk in His statutes, and to keep His commandments, as at this day.

And the king and all Israel with him were offering a sacrifice before Jehovah;

and Solomon offered the sacrifice of peace offerings, which he had offered to Jehovah: twenty two thousand oxen, and a hundred and twenty thousand sheep; and the king and all the sons of Israel dedicated the house of Jehovah.

On that day the king sanctified the middle of the court that [was] before the house of Jehovah, for he had made the burnt offering there, and the food offering, and the fat of the peace offerings; because the bronze altar that was before Jehovah [was] too small to contain the burnt offering, and the food offering, and the fat of the peace offerings.

And at that time Solomon made a feast, and all Israel with him, a great congregation, from the entering in of Hamath to the river of Egypt, before Jehovah our God, seven days and seven days, fourteen days.

On the eighth day he sent the people away, and they blessed the king, and went to their tents rejoicing and glad of heart for all the good that Jehovah had done to His servant David, and to His people Israel.