The Glory of Yahweh Fills His House

1Now when Solomon had [†]finished praying, fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices, and the glory of Yahweh filled the house. 2And the priests could not enter into the house of Yahweh because the glory of Yahweh filled the house of Yahweh. 3And all the sons of Israel, seeing the fire come down and the glory of Yahweh upon the house, bowed down on the pavement with their faces to the ground, and they worshiped and gave praise to Yahweh, saying, “For He is good, for His lovingkindness endures forever.”

Offerings for the House of Yahweh

4Now the king and all the people were offering sacrifices before Yahweh. 5And King Solomon offered a sacrifice of 22,000 oxen and 120,000 sheep. So the king and all the people dedicated the house of God. 6And the priests stood at their posts, and the Levites also, with the instruments of music to Yahweh, which King David had made for giving thanks to Yahweh—“for His lovingkindness endures forever”—whenever [†]he gave praise by their hand, while the priests on the other side blew trumpets; and all Israel was standing.

7Then Solomon set apart as holy the middle of the court that was before the house of Yahweh, because there he offered the burnt offerings and the fat of the peace offerings; for the bronze altar which Solomon had made was not able to hold the burnt offering and the grain offering and the fat.

8So Solomon celebrated the feast at that time for seven days, and all Israel with him, a very great assembly from [†]Lebo-hamath to the brook of Egypt. 9And on the eighth day they celebrated a solemn assembly; for the dedication of the altar they celebrated seven days and the feast seven days. 10And on the twenty-third day of the seventh month he sent the people to their tents, with gladness and goodness of heart because of the goodness that Yahweh had shown to David and to Solomon and to Israel His people.

Yahweh Appears to Solomon

11Thus Solomon completed the house of Yahweh and the king’s house; and all that had come into Solomon’s heart to do in the house of Yahweh and in his house, he did successfully.

12Then Yahweh appeared to Solomon at night and said to him, “I have heard your prayer and have chosen this place for Myself as a house of sacrifice. 13If I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or if I command the grasshopper to devour the land, or if I send pestilence among My people, 14and My people [†]who are called by My name humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their evil ways, then I will listen from heaven, I will forgive their sin, and I will heal their land. 15Now My eyes will be open and My ears attentive to the [†]prayer offered in this place. 16So now I have chosen and set this house apart as holy that My name may be there forever, and My eyes and My heart will be there perpetually. 17As for you, if you will walk before Me as your father David walked, even to do according to all that I have commanded you, and will keep My statutes and My judgments, 18then I will establish your royal throne as I cut a covenant with your father David, saying, ‘[†]You shall not have a man cut off as ruler in Israel.’

19“But if you turn away and forsake My statutes and My commandments which I have set before you, and go and serve other gods and worship them, 20then I will uproot you from My land which I have given [†]you, and this house which I have set apart as holy for My name I will cast out of My presence and I will make it a proverb and a byword among all peoples. 21As for this house, which was exalted, everyone who passes by it will feel desolate and say, ‘Why has Yahweh done thus to this land and to this house?’ 22And they will say, ‘Because they forsook Yahweh, the God of their fathers, who brought them out of the land of Egypt and took hold of other gods and worshiped them and served them, therefore He has brought all this calamity on them.’”