| NET Bible | International Standard Version |
| 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). | 1Then Solomon gathered together the elders of Israel, including all the heads of the tribes and the leaders of the ancestral households of the Israelis, to meet with him in Jerusalem so they could bring up the Ark of the Covenant of the LORD from Zion, the City of David. |
| 2All the men of Israel assembled before King Solomon during the festival in the month Ethanim (the seventh month). | 2So all the men gathered together to meet with King Solomon at the Festival of Tents in the month Ethanim, the seventh month. |
| 3When all Israel's elders had arrived, the priests lifted the ark. | 3All the Elders of Israel showed up, and the priests picked up the ark |
| 4The priests and Levites carried the ark of the LORD, the tent of meeting, and all the holy items in the tent. | 4and brought it, the Tent of Meeting, and all the holy implements that were in the tent. The priests and descendants of Levi carried them up to Jerusalem. |
| 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. | 5King Solomon and the entire congregation of Israel that had assembled to be with him stood in front of the ark, sacrificing so many sheep and oxen that they were neither counted nor inventoried. |
| 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. | 6After this, the priests brought the Ark of the Covenant of the LORD to the place prepared for it, into the inner sanctuary of the Temple, under the wings of the cherubim in the Most Holy Place. |
| 7The cherubs' wings extended over the place where the ark sat; the cherubs overshadowed the ark and its poles. | 7The wings of the cherubim spread over the resting place for the ark, so that the cherubim made a covering over the ark and its poles when viewed from above. |
| 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. | 8The poles extended so far that their ends could be seen from the Holy Place in front of the inner sanctuary, but they could not be seen from outside. They remain there to this day. |
| 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. | 9The ark was empty except for the two stone tablets that Moses had placed there at Horeb when the LORD had made a covenant with the Israelis after they had come out of the land of Egypt. |
| 10Once the priests left the holy place, a cloud filled the LORD's temple. | 10When the priests left the Holy Place after setting the ark in place, the cloud filled the LORD's Temple |
| 11The priests could not carry out their duties because of the cloud; the LORD's glory filled his temple. | 11so that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud, since the glory of the LORD filled the LORD's Temple. |
| 12Then Solomon said, "The LORD has said that he lives in thick darkness. | 12Then Solomon said, "The LORD has said that he lives shrouded in darkness. |
| 13O LORD, truly I have built a lofty temple for you, a place where you can live permanently." | 13Now I have been constructing a magnificent Temple dedicated to you that will serve as a place for you to inhabit forever." |
| 14Then the king turned around and pronounced a blessing over the whole Israelite assembly as they stood there. | 14Then the king turned to face the entire congregation of Israel while the congregation of Israel remained standing. |
| 15He said, "The LORD God of Israel is worthy of praise because he has fulfilled what he promised my father David. | 15Then Solomon prayed: "Blessed is the LORD God of Israel, who made a commitment to my father David and then personally fulfilled what he had promised when he said: |
| 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.' | 16From the day I brought out my people Israel from Egypt I never chose a city from all the tribes of Israel to build a temple where my name might reside. I have chosen David to be over my people Israel.' |
| 17Now my father David had a strong desire to build a temple to honor the LORD God of Israel. | 17"My father David wanted to build a temple for the name of the LORD God of Israel. |
| 18The LORD told my father David, 'It is right for you to have a strong desire to build a temple to honor me. | 18The LORD told my father David: 'Therefore, since you determined to build a temple for my name, you acted well, because it was your choice to do so. |
| 19But you will not build the temple; your very own son will build the temple for my honor.' | 19Nevertheless, you are not to build the Temple, but your son who will be born to you is to build a temple for my name.' |
| 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 | 20"The LORD has brought to fulfillment what he promised, and now here I stand, having succeeded my father David to sit on the throne of Israel, as the LORD promised. I have built the Temple for the name of the LORD God of Israel. |
| 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." | 21I have placed there the ark in which the covenant is stored that the LORD made with our ancestors when he brought them out of the land of Egypt." |
| 22Solomon stood before the altar of the LORD in front of the entire assembly of Israel and spread out his hands toward the sky. | 22Then Solomon took his place in front of the LORD's altar in the presence of the entire congregation of Israel, spread out his hands toward heaven, |
| 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. | 23and said: "LORD God of Israel, there is no one like you, God in heaven above or on the earth below, who watches over his covenant, showing gracious love to your servants who live their lives in your presence with all their hearts. |
| 24You have kept your word to your servant, my father David; this very day you have fulfilled what you promised. | 24It is you, LORD God, who have kept your promise to my father, your servant David, that you made to him. Indeed, you made a commitment to my father David and then personally fulfilled what you had promised today. |
| 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.' | 25"Now therefore, LORD God of Israel, keep your promise that you made to my father, your servant David, when you said, 'You will not lack a man to sit on the throne of Israel, if only your descendants will watch their lives, to live in my presence just as you have lived in my presence.' |
| 26Now, O God of Israel, may the promise you made to your servant, my father David, be realized. | 26"Now therefore, God of Israel, may your promise that you made to your servant David my father be fulfilled… |
| 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! | 27and yet, will God truly reside on earth? Look! Neither the sky nor the highest heaven can contain you! How much less this Temple that I have built! |
| 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. | 28Pay attention to the prayer of your servant and to his request, LORD my God, and listen to the cry and prayer that your servant is praying in your presence today. |
| 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. | 29Let your eyes always look toward this Temple night and day, toward the location where you have said 'My name will reside there.' Listen to the prayer that your servant prays in this direction. |
| 30Respond to the request of your servant and your people Israel for this place. Hear from inside your heavenly dwelling place and respond favorably. | 30Listen to the requests from your servant and from your people Israel as they pray in this direction, listen from the place where you reside in heaven, then hear and forgive. |
| 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. | 31"If a man should sin against his neighbor and he is required to take an oath, and he then comes to take an oath in front of your altar in this Temple, |
| 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. | 32then listen in heaven, act, and judge your servants, condemning the wicked by bringing back to him the consequences of his choices and by justifying the righteous by recompensing him according to his righteousness. |
| 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, | 33"If your people Israel are defeated in a battle with their enemy because they have sinned against you, when they return to you and confess to you, pray, and in this Temple they ask you to show grace to them, |
| 34then listen from heaven, forgive the sin of your people Israel, and bring them back to the land you gave to their ancestors. | 34then hear in heaven, forgive the sin of your people Israel, and return them to the soil that you gave to their ancestors. |
| 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, | 35"When heaven remains closed, and there is no rain because they have sinned against you, and they pray in the direction of this place, confessing your name and turning from their sin when you afflict them, |
| 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. | 36then hear in heaven and forgive the sin of your servants and of your people Israel. Indeed, teach them the best way to live and send rain on your land that you have given to your people as an inheritance. |
| 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. | 37"If a famine comes to the land, or if plant diseases, mildew, locust, or grasshoppers appear, or if their enemies attack them in their settlements of the land, no matter what the epidemic or illness is, |
| 38When all your people Israel pray and ask for help, as they acknowledge their pain and spread out their hands toward this temple, | 38whatever prayer or request is made, no matter whether it's made by a single man or by all of your people Israel, each praying out of his own hurting heart and anguish and stretching out his hands toward this Temple, |
| 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.) | 39then hear from heaven, the place where you reside, and forgive, repaying each person according to all of his ways, since you know their hearts—for you alone know the hearts of all human beings— |
| 40Then they will obey you throughout their lifetimes as they live on the land you gave to our ancestors. | 40so they will fear you every day and live on the surface of the land that you have given to our ancestors. |
| 41"Foreigners, who do not belong to your people Israel, will come from a distant land because of your reputation. | 41"Now concerning the foreigner who is not from your people Israel, when he comes from a land far away for the sake of your name |
| 42When they hear about your great reputation and your ability to accomplish mighty deeds, they will come and direct their prayers toward this temple. | 42(for people will hear of your great name, your mighty acts, and your obvious power ), when he comes and prays facing this Temple, |
| 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. | 43then hear in heaven where you reside, and do whatever the foreigner asks of you, so that all the people of the earth may know your name, fear you as do your people Israel, and so they may know that this Temple that I have built is called by 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, | 44"When your people go out to war against their enemies, no matter what way you send them, and they pray to the LORD in the direction of the city that you have chosen and in the direction of the Temple that I have built for your name, |
| 45then listen from heaven to their prayers for help and vindicate them. | 45then hear their prayer and their request in heaven, and fight for their cause. |
| 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. | 46"When they sin against you—because there isn't a single human being who doesn't sin—and you become angry with them and deliver them over to their enemy, who takes them away captive to the land that belongs to their enemy, whether near or far away, |
| 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.' | 47if they turn their hearts back to you in the land where they have been taken captive, repent, and pray to you—even if they do so in the land of their captivity—confessing, 'We have sinned, we have committed abominations, and practiced wickedness,' |
| 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, | 48if they return to you with all of their heart and with all of their soul in the land of their enemies who have taken them captive, as they pray to you in the direction of their land that you have given to their ancestors and to the city that you have chosen, and to the Temple that I have built for your name, |
| 49then listen from your heavenly dwelling place to their prayers for help and vindicate them. | 49then hear their prayer and requests in heaven, where you reside, and fight for their cause, |
| 50Forgive all the rebellious acts of your sinful people and cause their captors to have mercy on them. | 50forgiving your people who have sinned against you, along with their transgressions by which they have transgressed against you. "Show your compassion in the presence of those who have taken them captive, so they may show compassion on them, |
| 51After all, they are your people and your special possession whom you brought out of Egypt, from the middle of the iron-smelting furnace. | 51since they are your people and your heritage, which you brought out of Egypt, from an iron fire furnace. |
| 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. | 52Do this so your eyes may remain open to the requests of your servant and to the requests of your people's prayers, to listen to them whenever they call out to you, |
| 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." | 53because you have separated them to yourself as your heritage from all the people of the earth, as you spoke through your servant Moses when you brought our ancestors out of Egypt, Lord GOD. |
| 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. | 54When Solomon had completed saying this entire prayer to the LORD, he got up from kneeling with his hands spread out toward heaven in the presence of the LORD's altar, |
| 55When he stood up, he pronounced a blessing over the entire assembly of Israel, saying in a loud voice: | 55stood up, and blessed all of the assembly of Israel in a loud voice. He said: |
| 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! | 56"Blessed is the LORD, who has given security to his people Israel, just as he promised. Not one of his promises has failed to come about that he gave through his servant Moses. |
| 57May the LORD our God be with us, as he was with our ancestors. May he not abandon us or leave us. | 57May the LORD our God be with us, just as he was with our ancestors. May he never leave us or abandon us, |
| 58May he make us submissive, so we can follow all his instructions and obey the commandments, rules, and regulations he commanded our ancestors. | 58so that he may turn our hearts toward him, so that we may live life his way, keeping his commands, statutes, and ordinances that he gave to our ancestors. |
| 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. | 59And may what I've had to say to the LORD remain with the LORD our God both day and night, so that he may defend the cause of his servant and the cause of his people Israel, as the need of the day may require it, |
| 60Then all the nations of the earth will recognize that the LORD is the only genuine God. | 60so that, in turn, all the people of the earth may know that the LORD is God—there is no one else. |
| 61May you demonstrate wholehearted devotion to the LORD our God by following his rules and obeying his commandments, as you are presently doing." | 61Now let your heart be completely devoted to the LORD our God, to live according to his statutes and to keep his commands, as we are doing today." |
| 62The king and all Israel with him were presenting sacrifices to the LORD. | 62Then the king and all of Israel with him offered sacrifices to 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. | 63Solomon offered peace offerings to the LORD consisting of 22,000 oxen and 120,000 sheep. So the king and all the Israelis dedicated the LORD's Temple. |
| 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. | 64That same day, the king consecrated the middle court that stood in front of the LORD's Temple, because that was where he offered burnt offerings, grain offerings, and fat from the peace offerings and because the bronze altar that was in the LORD's presence was too small to hold the burnt offerings, grain offerings, and fat from the peace offerings. |
| 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. | 65So Solomon observed the Festival of Tents at that time, as did all of Israel with him. A large assembly came up from as far away as Lebo-hamath and the Wadi of Egypt to appear in the presence of the LORD our God, not just for seven days, but for seven days after that, a total of fourteen days. |
| 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. | 66The following day, Solomon sent the people away as they blessed the king. Then they went back to their tents, rejoicing and glad for all the good things that the LORD had done for his servant David and to his people Israel. |
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