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Then
Solomon assembled the elders of Israel, and all
the heads of the tribes, the chief of the fathers
of the children of Israel, unto king Solomon in
Jerusalem, that they might bring up the ark of
the covenant of the Lord out of the city of
David, which is Zion.
02 And all the men of Israel assembled themselves
unto king Solomon at the feast in the month
Ethanim, which is the seventh month.
03 And all the elders of Israel came, and the
priests took up the ark.
04 And they brought up the ark of the Lord, and
the tabernacle of the congregation, and all the
holy vessels that were in the tabernacle, even
those did the priests and the Levites bring up.
05 And king Solomon, and all the congregation of
Israel, that were assembled unto him, were with
him before the ark, sacrificing sheep and oxen,
that could not be told nor numbered for
multitude.
06 And the priests brought in the ark of the
covenant of the Lord unto his place, into the
oracle of the house, to the most holy place, even
under the wings of the cherubims.
07 For the cherubims spread forth their two wings
over the place of the ark, and the cherubims
covered the ark and the staves thereof above.
08 And they drew out the staves, that the ends of
the staves were seen out in the holy place before
the oracle, and they were not seen without: and
there they are unto this day.
09 There was nothing in the ark save the two
tables of stone, which Moses put there at Horeb,
when the Lord made a covenant with the children
of Israel, when they came out of the land of
Egypt.
10 And it came to pass, when the priests were
come out of the holy place, that the cloud filled
the house of the Lord,
11 So that the priests could not stand to
minister because of the cloud: for the glory of
the Lord had filled the house of the Lord.
12 Then spake Solomon, The Lord said that he
would dwell in the thick darkness.
13 I have surely built thee an house to dwell in,
a settled place for thee to abide in for ever.
14 And the king turned his face about, and
blessed all the congregation of Israel: (and all
the congregation of Israel stood;)
15 And he said, Blessed be the Lord God of
Israel, which spake with his mouth unto David my
father, and hath with his hand fulfilled it,
saying,
16 Since the day that I brought forth my people
Israel out of Egypt, I chose no city out of all
the tribes of Israel to build an house, that my
name might be therein; but I chose David to be
over my people Israel.
17 And it was in the heart of David my father to
build an house for the name of the Lord God of
Israel.
18 And the Lord said unto David my father,
Whereas it was in thine heart to build an house
unto my name, thou didst well that it was in
thine heart.
19 Nevertheless thou shalt not build the house;
but thy son that shall come forth out of thy
loins, he shall build the house unto my name.
20 And the Lord hath performed his word that he
spake, and I am risen up in the room of David my
father, and sit on the throne of Israel, as the
Lord promised, and have built an house for the
name of the Lord God of Israel.
21 And I have set there a place for the ark,
wherein is the covenant of the Lord, which he
made with our fathers, when he brought them out
of the land of Egypt.
22 And Solomon stood before the altar of the Lord
in the presence of all the congregation of
Israel, and spread forth his hands toward heaven:
23 And he said, Lord God of Israel, there is no
God like thee, in heaven above, or on earth
beneath, who keepest covenant and mercy with thy
servants that walk before thee with all their
heart:
24 Who hast kept with thy servant David my father
that thou promisedst him: thou spakest also with
thy mouth, and hast fulfilled it with thine hand,
as it is this day.
25 Therefore now, Lord God of Israel, keep with
thy servant David my father that thou promisedst
him, saying, There shall not fail thee a man in
my sight to sit on the throne of Israel; so that
thy children take heed to their way, that they
walk before me as thou hast walked before me.
26 And now, O God of Israel, let thy word, I pray
thee, be verified, which thou spakest unto thy
servant David my father.
27 But will God indeed dwell on the earth?
behold, the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot
contain thee; how much less this house that I
have builded?
28 Yet have thou respect unto the prayer of thy
servant, and to his supplication, O Lord my God,
to hearken unto the cry and to the prayer, which
thy servant prayeth before thee to day:
29 That thine eyes may be open toward this house
night and day, even toward the place of which
thou hast said, My name shall be there: that thou
mayest hearken unto the prayer which thy servant
shall make toward this place.
30 And hearken thou to the supplication of thy
servant, and of thy people Israel, when they
shall pray toward this place: and hear thou in
heaven thy dwelling place: and when thou hearest,
forgive.
31 If any man trespass against his neighbour, and
an oath be laid upon him to cause him to swear,
and the oath come before thine altar in this
house:
32 Then hear thou in heaven, and do, and judge
thy servants, condemning the wicked, to bring his
way upon his head; and justifying the righteous,
to give him according to his righteousness.
33 When thy people Israel be smitten down before
the enemy, because they have sinned against thee,
and shall turn again to thee, and confess thy
name, and pray, and make supplication unto thee
in this house:
34 Then hear thou in heaven, and forgive the sin
of thy people Israel, and bring them again unto
the land which thou gavest unto their fathers.
35 When heaven is shut up, and there is no rain,
because they have sinned against thee; if they
pray toward this place, and confess thy name, and
turn from their sin, when thou afflictest them:
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36 Then hear thou in heaven, and forgive the sin
of thy servants, and of thy people Israel, that
thou teach them the good way wherein they should
walk, and give rain upon thy land, which thou
hast given to thy people for an inheritance.
37 If there be in the land famine, if there be
pestilence, blasting, mildew, locust, or if there
be caterpiller; if their enemy besiege them in
the land of their cities; whatsoever plague,
whatsoever sickness there be;
38 What prayer and supplication soever be made by
any man, or by all thy people Israel, which shall
know every man the plague of his own heart, and
spread forth his hands toward this house:
39 Then hear thou in heaven thy dwelling place,
and forgive, and do, and give to every man
according to his ways, whose heart thou knowest;
(for thou, even thou only, knowest the hearts of
all the children of men;)
40 That they may fear thee all the days that they
live in the land which thou gavest unto our
fathers.
41 Moreover concerning a stranger, that is not of
thy people Israel, but cometh out of a far
country for thy name's sake;
42 (For they shall hear of thy great name, and of
thy strong hand, and of thy stretched out arm;)
when he shall come and pray toward this house;
43 Hear thou in heaven thy dwelling place, and do
according to all that the stranger calleth to
thee for: that all people of the earth may know
thy name, to fear thee, as do thy people Israel;
and that they may know that this house, which I
have builded, is called by thy name.
44 If thy people go out to battle against their
enemy, whithersoever thou shalt send them, and
shall pray unto the Lord toward the city which
thou hast chosen, and toward the house that I
have built for thy name:
45 Then hear thou in heaven their prayer and
their supplication, and maintain their cause.
46 If they sin against thee, (for there is no man
that sinneth not,) and thou be angry with them,
and deliver them to the enemy, so that they carry
them away captives unto the land of the enemy,
far or near;
47 Yet if they shall bethink themselves in the
land whither they were carried captives, and
repent, and make supplication unto thee in the
land of them that carried them captives, saying,
We have sinned, and have done perversely, we have
committed wickedness;
48 And so return unto thee with all their heart,
and with all their soul, in the land of their
enemies, which led them away captive, and pray
unto thee toward their land, which thou gavest
unto their fathers, the city which thou hast
chosen, and the house which I have built for thy
name:
49 Then hear thou their prayer and their
supplication in heaven thy dwelling place, and
maintain their cause,
50 And forgive thy people that have sinned
against thee, and all their transgressions
wherein they have transgressed against thee, and
give them compassion before them who carried them
captive, that they may have compassion on them:
51 For they be thy people, and thine inheritance,
which thou broughtest forth out of Egypt, from
the midst of the furnace of iron:
52 That thine eyes may be open unto the
supplication of thy servant, and unto the
supplication of thy people Israel, to hearken
unto them in all that they call for unto thee.
53 For thou didst separate them from among all
the people of the earth, to be thine inheritance,
as thou spakest by the hand of Moses thy servant,
when thou broughtest our fathers out of Egypt, O
Lord God.
54 And it was so, that when Solomon had made an
end of praying all this prayer and supplication
unto the Lord, he arose from before the altar of
the Lord, from kneeling on his knees with his
hands spread up to heaven.
55 And he stood, and blessed all the congregation
of Israel with a loud voice, saying,
56 Blessed be the Lord, that hath given rest unto
his people Israel, according to all that he
promised: there hath not failed one word of all
his good promise, which he promised by the hand
of Moses his servant.
57 The Lord our God be with us, as he was with
our fathers: let him not leave us, nor forsake
us:
58 That he may incline our hearts unto him, to
walk in all his ways, and to keep his
commandments, and his statutes, and his
judgments, which he commanded our fathers.
59 And let these my words, wherewith I have made
supplication before the Lord, be nigh unto the
Lord our God day and night, that he maintain the
cause of his servant, and the cause of his people
Israel at all times, as the matter shall require:
60 That all the people of the earth may know that
the Lord is God, and that there is none else.
61 Let your heart therefore be perfect with the
Lord our God, to walk in his statutes, and to
keep his commandments, as at this day.
62 And the king, and all Israel with him, offered
sacrifice before the Lord.
63 And Solomon offered a sacrifice of peace
offerings, which he offered unto the Lord, two
and twenty thousand oxen, and an hundred and
twenty thousand sheep. So the king and all the
children of Israel dedicated the house of the
Lord.
64 The same day did the king hallow the middle of
the court that was before the house of the Lord:
for there he offered burnt offerings, and meat
offerings, and the fat of the peace offerings:
because the brasen altar that was before the Lord
was too little to receive the burnt offerings,
and meat offerings, and the fat of the peace
offerings.
65 And at that time Solomon held a feast, and all
Israel with him, a great congregation, from the
entering in of Hamath unto the river of Egypt,
before the Lord our God, seven days and seven
days, even fourteen days.
66 On the eighth day he sent the people away: and
they blessed the king, and went unto their tents
joyful and glad of heart for all the goodness
that the Lord had done for David his servant, and
for Israel his people.
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