Solomon Blesses Yahweh
(1 Kings 8:12–21)

1Then Solomon said:

“YHWH said He would dwell

in the dark cloud.

2And I have surely built a house exalted unto You,

and a place for Your dwelling forever.”

3And the king turned around his face, and he blessed all the assembly of Israel, and all the assembly of Israel was standing. 4And he said:

“Blessed be YHWH, God of Israel, who has spoken with His mouth to David my father, and with His hands He has fulfilled it, saying, 5‘Since the day that I brought My people out of the land of Egypt, I have not chosen a city from any tribe of Israel in which to build a house for My name being there, and I have not chosen any man to be a ruler over My people Israel. 6And I have chosen Jerusalem for my name to be there, and I have chosen David to be over My people Israel.’

7And it was with the heart of David my father to build a temple for the Name of YHWH, God of Israel. 8And YHWH said to David my father, ‘Because that it was with your heart to build a house for My name, you did well in that it was with your heart. 9Nevertheless, you shall not build the temple; but your son who will come from your loins, he shall build the house for My Name.’

10And YHWH has fulfilled His word that He spoke, and I have risen instead of David my father and sit on the throne of Israel, as YHWH spoke, and I have built the house for the name of YHWH, God of Israel. 11And I have put there the ark, in which there is the covenant of YHWH, which He cut with the sons of Israel.”

Solomon’s Prayer of Dedication
(1 Kings 8:22–53)

12And he stood before the face of the altar of YHWH in front of all the assembly of Israel and spread out his hands. 13For Solomon had made a bronze platform and had set it in the midst of the court: Five cubits long, and five cubits wide, and three cubits high.† And he stood on it, and he knelt down on his knees before all the assembly of Israel, and he spread out his hands toward the heavens, 14and he said:

“O YHWH, God of Israel, there is not a god like You in the heavens or on the earth, who keeps the covenant of loving devotion with Your servants walking before You with all their heart, 15who has kept for Your servant David my father what You spoke to him. You have spoken with Your mouth and with Your hand you have fulfilled it, as this day.

16And now, O YHWH, God of Israel, keep for Your servant David my father what You spoke to him, saying, ‘You shall not fail to have a man before Me, to sit on the throne of Israel, only if your sons take heed to their way, to walk in My law, as you have walked before My face.’ 17And, O YHWH, God of Israel, confirm Your word that You have spoken to Your servant David.

18But will God indeed dwell with men on the earth? Behold, the heavens, and the heavens of the heavens cannot contain You. How much less this house that I have built! 19And You have turned toward the prayer of Your servant and his supplication, O YHWH my God, to listen to the cry and the prayer that Your servant is praying before You.

20For may Your eyes be open toward this house day and night, toward the place where You have said to put Your name, that You may listen to the prayer that Your servant prays toward this place. 21And may You listen to the supplications of Your servant and of Your people Israel when they pray toward this place, and may You hear from Your dwelling place, the heavens, and may You hear and forgive.

22If anyone sins against his neighbor, and it is lifted up upon him to take an oath to swear, and he comes in to swear before Your altar in this house, 23then may You hear from the heavens and act and judge Your servants, to give back to the wicked by bringing his way on his own head, and to justify the righteous by giving to him according to his righteousness.

24And if Your people Israel are struck before an enemy because they have sinned against You, and they return and confess Your name, and they pray and make supplication before You in this house, 25then may You hear from the heavens and forgive the sin of Your people Israel, and bring them back to the land that You gave to them and to their fathers.

26When the heavens are shut up and there is no rain because they have sinned against You, and they pray toward this place and confess Your name, and from their sin they turn back because You afflict them, 27then may You hear in the heavens and forgive the sin of Your servants and of Your people Israel, that You may direct them toward the good way that they should walk in it, and give rain on Your land that You have given to Your people as an inheritance.

28Famine, when it is in the land, or there is pestilence, blight or mildew, locust or grasshoppers, when it is that their enemies besiege them in their land—its gates—any plague and any sickness, 29any prayer, any supplication that is by any man, or by all Your people Israel, when they know, each one, his own burden and his own grief, and he spreads out his hands to this house, 30then may You hear from the heavens, the fixed place of Your dwelling, and forgive, and give to each man according to all his ways (since You know his heart, for You alone know the heart of the sons of men), 31that they may fear You to walk in Your ways all the days that they live on the face of the ground that You have given to our fathers.

32And also concerning the foreigner who is not of Your people Israel, and he comes from a distant country for the sake of Your great name, and Your mighty hand, and Your outstretched arm, and they come and pray in this house, 33then may You hear from the heavens, the fixed place of Your dwelling, and do according to all for which the foreigner calls to You, so that all the peoples of the earth may know Your name and fear You, as do Your people Israel, that they may know that Your name is called upon this house that I have built.

34When Your people go out to battle against their enemies in the way that You send them, and they pray to You toward this city that You have chosen and the house that I have built for Your name, 35then may You hear from the heavens their prayer and their supplication, and may You maintain their cause.

36When 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 their captors take them captive to a land distant or near, 37and they come to themselves in the land where they were carried captive there, and they turn and make supplication to You in the land of their captivity, saying, ‘We have sinned, we have done wrong, and have committed wickedness,’ 38and they return to You with all their heart and with all their soul in the land of their captivity where they have been carried captive, and they pray toward their land that You gave to their fathers, and the city that You have chosen, and toward the house that I have built for Your name, 39then may You hear from the heavens, the fixed place of Your dwelling, their prayer and their supplications, and may You maintain their cause and forgive Your people who have sinned against You.

40Now, my God, please, let Your eyes be open and Your ears attentive to the prayer in this place.

41And now arise, O YHWH God, to Your resting place,

You and the ark of Your strength.

Let Your priests, O YHWH God, be clothed with salvation,

and let Your holy ones rejoice in the goodness.

42O YHWH God, do not turn away the face of Your anointed.

Remember the loving devotion to David Your servant.”