1When Solomon had finished praying, fire came down from heaven, and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices, and the glory of the LORD filled the Temple. 2And the priests could not enter the Temple of the LORD, because the glory of the LORD had filled it. 3And when all the children of Israel saw how the fire came down, and saw the glory of the LORD upon the Temple, they bowed with their faces to the pavement, and worshipped, praising the LORD, saying, “For He is good; His mercy endures forever.”

4Then the king and all the people offered sacrifices before the LORD. 5And King Solomon offered a sacrifice of twenty-two thousand oxen, and a hundred twenty thousand sheep; thus, the king and all the people dedicated the Temple of God. 6And the priests stood at their posts; the Levites, also, with musical instruments which David, the king, had made, and used to praise the LORD, because “His mercy endures forever!”; and the priests sounded trumpets before them, and all Israel stood. 7Moreover, Solomon consecrated the middle of the courtyard in front of the Temple of the LORD; and there he offered burnt offerings, and the fat of the peace offerings, because the bronze altar which Solomon had made was not able to hold all the burnt offerings, the meal offerings, and the fat.

8And then Solomon, and all Israel with him, celebrated the Festival of Tabernacles for seven days, it was a very vast assembly - people from Lebo-Hamath to the river of Egypt. 9And on the eighth day they held a solemn assembly; for they celebrated the dedication of the altar for seven days, and the Festival of Tabernacles for seven days. 10And on the twenty-third day of the seventh month Solomon sent the people back to their homes, with glad and joyful hearts for the goodness that the LORD had shown to David, Solomon, and to His people, Israel.

11Thus Solomon finished the Temple of the LORD, and his palace; successfully completing all that came into his heart to do in the Temple of the LORD, and in his own palace. 12And the LORD appeared to Solomon by night, and said to him, “I have heard your prayer, and have chosen this place for Myself as a Temple of sacrifice. 13If I shut up heaven that there is no rain, or if I command the locusts to devour the land, or if I send pestilence among My people; 14If My people, who are called by My name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways; then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land. 15Now My eyes shall be ever open, and My ears attentive to the prayer that is made in this place. 16For I have now chosen and sanctified this Temple, that My name may be there forever; and My eyes and My heart shall be there perpetually. 17And as for you, if you will walk before Me, as David, your father, walked, and do according to all that I have commanded you, and if you observe My statutes and My ordinances; 18Then will I establish the throne of your kingdom, according as I have covenanted with David, your father, when I said, ‘There shall not fail you a man to be ruler in Israel.’ 19But if you turn away, and forsake My statutes and My commandments, which I have set before you, and go and serve, and worship other gods, 20Then I will pluck Israel up by the roots out of My land which I have given them; and this Temple, which I have sanctified for My name, I will cast out of My sight, and will make it to a proverb and an object of scorn among all nations. 21And this same Temple, which is so exalted, everyone that passes by it shall be astonished, appalled, and shall say, ‘Why has the LORD done thus to this land, and to this Temple?’ 22And it shall be answered, ‘Because they forsook the LORD God of their fathers, Who brought them out of the land of Egypt, and they pursued, and worshipped, and served other gods; therefore He has brought all this devastation upon them.’”