1 ¶ Then Solomon assembled the elders of Israel, all the heads of the tribes, and the leaders of the clans of the children of Israel, before him in Jerusalem, so that they might bring the ark of the covenant of the LORD up from the city of David, which is Zion.

2 And all the men of Israel assembled themselves before king Solomon at the feast in the seventh month, which is Ethanim.

3 And all the elders of Israel came, and the priests lifted up the ark.

4 And the priests and the Levites brought up the ark of the LORD, and the tabernacle of the congregation, and all the holy vessels that were in the tabernacle.

5 And king Solomon, and the entire congregation of Israel, who had assembled before him, were with him in front of the ark, sacrificing so many sheep and oxen, that they could not be numbered.

6 And the priests brought in the ark of the covenant of the LORD to its place, in the inner sanctuary of the house, to the most holy place, under the wings of the cherubim.

7 For the cherubim spread out their two wings over the place of the ark, and the cherubim covered the ark and its poles.

8 And the poles were so long, that their ends could be seen out in the holy place in front of the inner sanctuary, but they were not seen from the outside: and they are there to this day.

9 There was nothing in the ark except the two tables of stone, that 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 when the priests came out of the holy place, 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 Solomon said, The LORD said that he would dwell in the thick darkness.

13 I have surely built you a house to dwell in, a settled place for you to dwell in forever.

14 And the king turned around, and blessed the entire congregation of Israel: (while the entire congregation of Israel stood;)

15 And he said, Blessed is the LORD God of Israel, who spoke with his mouth to David my father, and has with his hand fulfilled it, saying,

16 Since the day that I brought my people Israel out of Egypt, I did not choose any city out of all the tribes of Israel to build a house, that my name might be in it; but I chose David to be over my people Israel.

17 And it was in the heart of my father David to build a house for the name of the LORD God of Israel.

18 And the LORD said to David my father, Since it was in your heart to build a house for my name, and you did well to have it in your heart.

19 Nevertheless you will not build the house; but your son who shall come out of your loins, shall build the house for my name.

20 And the LORD has performed the word which he spoke, and I have risen up in the place of my father David, and sit on the throne of Israel, as the LORD promised, and have built a house for the name of the LORD God of Israel.

21 And I have made there a place for the ark, in which is the covenant of the LORD, that 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 the entire congregation of Israel, and spread out his hands toward heaven:

23 And he said, LORD God of Israel, there is no God like you, in heaven above, or on earth beneath, who keeps covenant and mercy with your servants who walk before you with all their heart:

24 Who have kept what you promised your servant David my father: yea you spoke with your mouth, and this day have fulfilled it with your hand.

25 Therefore now, LORD God of Israel, keep what you promised your servant David my father, saying, You will never fail to have a man to sit before me on the throne of Israel; if only your children take heed to their way, that they walk before me as you have walked before me.

26 And now, O God of Israel, let your word, which you spoke to your servant David my father, be confirmed.

27 But will God actually dwell on the earth? behold, the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain you; how much less this house that I have built?

28 Yet consider the prayer of your servant, and his supplication, O LORD my God, to hear the cry and the prayer, which your servant prays before you today:

29 That your eyes may be open toward this house night and day, toward the place of which you have said, My name will be there: that you may hear the prayer which your servant shall make in this place.

30 And hear the supplication of your servant, and of your people Israel, when they pray toward this place: and hear in heaven your dwelling place: and when you hear, forgive.

31 If any man sins against his neighbor, and is made to take an oath, and comes and swears the oath before your altar in this house:

32 Then hear in heaven, and act, and judge your servants, condemning the wicked, to bring his guilt upon his head; and justifying the righteous, to give him according to his righteousness.

33 When your people Israel are struck down before the enemy, because they have sinned against you, and turn back to you, and confess your name, and pray, and make supplication to you in this house:

34 Then hear in heaven, and forgive the sin of your people Israel, and bring them back to the land that you gave to their fathers.

35 When heaven is shut up, and there is no rain, because they have sinned against you; if they pray toward this place, and confess your name, and turn from their sin, when you afflict them:

36 Then hear in heaven, and forgive the sin of your servants, and of your people Israel, for you teach them the right way in which they should walk, and give rain on your land, which you have given to your people as an inheritance.

37 If there is famine in the land, if there is pestilence, blight, mildew, locust, or caterpillar; if their enemy besieges them in the land of their cities; whatever plague, whatever sickness there is;

38 What prayer and supplication is made by any man, or by all your people Israel, each man knowing the affliction of his own heart, and spreading out his hands toward this house:

39 Then hear in heaven your dwelling place, and forgive, and act, giving to every man according to his ways, whose heart you know; (for you, and you alone, know the hearts of all the children of men;)

40 That they may fear you all the days that they live in the land that you gave to our fathers.

41 Moreover concerning a foreigner, who is not of your people Israel, but comes from a far country for your name’s sake;

42 (For they will hear of your great name, and of your strong hand, and of your out stretched arm;) when he comes and prays toward this house;

43 Hear in heaven your dwelling place, and do according to all that the stranger asks of you: that all people of the earth may know your name, to fear you, as do your people Israel; and that they may know that this house, which I have built, is called by your name.

44 If your people go out to fight against their enemy, wherever you send them, and pray to the LORD toward the city that you have chosen, and toward the house that I have built for your name:

45 Then hear their prayer and their supplication in heaven, and maintain their cause.

46 If they sin against you, (for there is no man who does not sin,) and you are angry with them, and deliver them to the enemy, so that they carry them away captive to the land of the enemy, far or near;

47 Yet if they think about it in the land where they were taken as captives, and repent, and pray to you in the land of those who took them captives, saying, We have sinned, and have done perversely, we have committed wickedness;

48 And return to you with all their heart, and with all their mind, in the land of their enemies, who led them away captive, and pray to you toward their land, which you gave to their fathers, the city which you have chosen, and the house which I have built for your name:

49 Then hear their prayer and their supplication in heaven your dwelling place, and maintain their cause,

50 And forgive your people who have sinned against you, and all their wrongdoing in which they have transgressed against you, and grant them compassion before those who took them captive, that they may have compassion on them:

51 For they are your people, and your inheritance, whom you brought out of Egypt, from the midst of the furnace of iron:

52 That your eyes may be open to the prayer of your servant, and to the supplication of your people Israel, to hear them in all that they call to you for.

53 For you separated them from all the people of the earth, to be your inheritance, as you spoke by the hand of Moses your servant, when you brought our fathers out of Egypt, O Lord GOD.

54 ¶ And when Solomon finished praying this prayer and supplication to 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 the entire congregation of Israel with a loud voice, saying,

56 Blessed be the LORD, who has given rest to his people Israel, according to all that he promised: not one word of his good promise has failed, which he promised by the hand of Moses his servant.

57 May 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 to 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, with which I have made supplication before the LORD, be near to the LORD our God day and night, that he may maintain the cause of his servant, and the cause of his people Israel at all times, as each day requires:

60 That all the people of the earth may know that the LORD is God, and that there is none other.

61 Therefore let your heart be perfect with the LORD our God, to walk in his statutes, and to keep his commandments, as at this day.

62 ¶ Then the king, and all Israel with him, offered sacrifice before the LORD.

63 And Solomon offered a sacrifice of peace offerings, which he offered to the LORD, twenty-two thousand oxen, and a hundred and twenty thousand sheep. So the king and all the children of Israel dedicated the house of the LORD.

64 The same day the king consecrated the middle of the court that was before the house of the LORD: for that is where he offered burnt offerings, and meat offerings, and the fat of the peace offerings: because the brass altar that was before the LORD was too small to receive the burnt offerings, and meat offerings, and the fat of the peace offerings.

65 So at that time Solomon held a feast, and all Israel with him, a great assembly, from the entrance of Hamath to the brook of Egypt, before the LORD our God, seven days and seven days, fourteen days in all.

66 On the eighth day he sent the people away: and they blessed the king, and went to their tents joyful and glad of heart for all the goodness that the LORD had shown to David his servant, and to his people Israel.