8
The sacred chest was brought to the temple
1 Solomon then summoned to Jerusalem all the elders of Israel, all the leaders of the tribes, and the leaders of the clans. He wanted them to join in bringing Yahweh’s Sacred Chest from Zion Hill to the temple, where it was in the part of the city called ‘The City of David’. 2 So all the Israeli leaders came to King Solomon during the Festival of Living in Temporary Shelters, in October.
3 When they had all arrived, the priests lifted up the Sacred Chest 4 and brought it to the temple. The descendants of Levi who assisted the priests helped them to carry to the temple the Sacred Tent and all the sacred things that had been in the tent. 5 Then King Solomon and many of the Israeli people who had gathered in front of Yahweh’s Sacred Chest sacrificed a huge amount of sheep and oxen. No one was able to count the sacrifices because there were so many.
6 The the priests then brought the Sacred Chest into the Very Holy Place in the temple, and they placed it under the wings of the statues of the winged creatures. 7 The wings of those statues spread out over the Sacred Chest and over the poles by which it was carried. 8 The poles were so long that the ends of the poles could be seen by people who were standing at the entrance to the Most Holy Place, but they could not be seen by people standing outside the temple. Those poles are still there. 9 The only things that were in the Sacred Chest were the two stone tablets that Moses had put there at Sinai Mountain, where Yahweh made an agreement with the people after they left Egypt.
10 When the priests came out of the temple, suddenly it was filled with a cloud. 11 It was the glory/radiance of Yahweh that filled the temple, with the result that the priests were not able to continue their work.
12 Then Solomon prayed this:
“Yahweh, you have placed the sun in the sky,
but you have decided that you would live in very dark clouds.
13 I have built for you a magnificent temple,
a place for you to live in forever.”
14 Then, while all the people stood there, the king turned around and faced them, and he asked God to bless them. 15 He said, “Praise Yahweh, the God whom we Israelis belong! By his own power he has done what he promised to give to my father David. What he promised was this:
16 ‘From the time that I brought my people out of Egypt, I have never chosen any city in Israel in which a temple should be built for my people to worship me there. But I chose you, David, to rule my people.”
17 Then Solomon said, “My father David wanted to build a temple in order that we Israeli people could worship Yahweh our God there. 18 But Yahweh said to him, ‘You have wanted to build a temple for me, and what you wanted to do was good. 19 However, you are not the one who I want to build it. It is one of your sons, who I want to build a temple for me.’
20 And now Yahweh has done what he promised to do. I have become the king of Israel to succeed my father, and I am ruling my people, like Yahweh promised. I have arranged for this temple to be built for us Israelis to worship Yahweh, the God, to whom we Israelis belong. 21 I have also provided a place in the temple for the Sacred Chest in which are the two stone tablets on which are engraved the Ten Commandments of the agreement that Yahweh made with our ancestors when he brought them out of Egypt.”
Solomon’s prayer
22 Then Solomon stood in front of the altar which was facing the Israeli people who had gathered there. He spread out his arms toward heaven, 23 and he prayed,
“Yahweh, the God whom we Israeli people belong to/worship, there is no god like you up in heaven or down here on the earth. You solemnly promised that you would faithfully love us. And that is what you have done for us who earnestly do what you want us to do.
24 You have done the things that you promised my father David, who served you very well, that you would do. Truly, you promised to do these things for him, and today we see that by your power you have done them.
25 So now, Yahweh, the God whom we Israelis belong to/worship, please do the things that you promised my father that you would do. You told him that there would always be some of his descendants who would rule Israel, if they would conduct their lives as he did. 26 So now, God of us Israeli people, cause what you promised to do for my father David, who served you well, to happen.
27 But God, you cannot really live on the earth. There is surely not enough space for you in the sky, or even in the heaven. So there is surely not enough space for you to live in this temple that my workers have built. 28 But Yahweh, my God, please listen to me while I am praying to you this day, 29 Please keep protecting this temple night and day. This is the place about which you have said, ‘I will always be there.’ I request that you listen to me whenever I turn toward this temple and pray. 30 I request that when I pray to you and your people pray to you while they turn toward this place, that in your home in heaven you will hear us and forgive us for the sins that we have committed.
31 If someone is accused of doing something wrong to another person, and they bring him to your altar outside this holy temple, and if he says, ‘I did not do that; may God punish me if I am not telling the truth,’ 32 then you listen from heaven, and decide who is telling the truth. Then punish the person who is guilty as he deserves to be punished, and declare that the other person is innocent.
33 And when your Israeli people are defeated by their enemies in a battle because they have sinned against you, and if they are forced to go to some distant country, if they turn away from their sinful behavior and turn toward this temple and admit that you have justly punished them, and if they plead that you will forgive them, 34 listen to them from heaven, and forgive your Israeli people for the sins that they have committed, and bring them back to this land that you gave to our ancestors.
35 And when you do not allow any rain to fall on the land because your people have sinned against you, if they turn toward this temple and admit that you have justly punished them, if they turn away from their sinful behavior and humbly pray to you, 36 listen to them from heaven, and forgive your Israeli people for the sins that they have committed. Teach them the right way to conduct their lives. Then send rain on this land that you have given to your people to belong to them permanently.
37 And when the people of this land experience famines, or if there is a plague/illness that causes many people to become sick, or if their crops are destroyed by very hot winds or by mildew or by locusts or grasshoppers, or when their enemies surround any of their cities in order to attack them, if any of those bad things happen to them, 38 when your Israeli people earnestly plead with you knowing that they are suffering because they have sinned, and if they stretch out their arms toward this temple and pray, 39 listen to them from your home in heaven, and forgive them, and help them. You are the only one who knows what people are thinking, so act toward everyone as they deserve, 40 in order that your people may then have an awesome respect for you, all the years that they live in this land that you gave to our ancestors.
41-42 There will be some foreigners who do not belong to your Israeli people who have come here from countries far away because they have heard that you are very great and that you perform great miracles. If they come here to this temple to worship you and pray, 43 in your home in heaven, listen to their prayers, and do for them what they request you to do. Do that so that all the people-groups in the world will know about you and revere you, like we your Israeli people do. And then they will know that this temple that I have caused to be built to honor you, is where you should be worshiped.
44 And if you send your people to go to fight against their enemies, if they pray to you, wherever they are, if they turn toward this city that you have chosen and toward this temple that I have caused to be built for you, 45 listen in heaven to their prayers; listen to what they plead for you to do, and assist them.
46 It is true that everyone sins. So, if your people sin against you, and you become angry with them, you may allow their enemies to defeat them and capture them and take them away to their enemies’ country, even to countries that are far away. 47 If that happens, while they are in those countries to which they were forced to go, if they sincerely repent and plead with you there saying ‘We have sinned and have done things that are very wicked,’ 48 if they very sincerely repent, and turn toward this land that you gave to our ancestors, and toward this city that you have chosen to be the place where we should worship you, and toward this temple that I have caused to be built for you, and if they pray, 49 then from your home in heaven listen to them while they plead for your help, and assist them. 50 Forgive them for all the sins that they have committed against you, and cause their enemies to be kind to them. 51 Do not forget that the Israelis are your people; they are your special possession; you brought our ancestors out of Egypt where they were greatly suffering as though they were in a blazing furnace.
52 I request that you always listen to your Israeli people and to me, their king, and heed their prayers whenever they call out to you to help them. 53 You chose them from all the other people-groups in the world to belong to you, which is what you told Moses to tell them when you brought our ancestors out of Egypt.”
54 After Solomon had finished praying and pleading to Yahweh for his help, he stood up in front of the altar where he had been kneeling. He lifted up his arms. 55 Then he asked God to bless all the Israeli people. He prayed loudly, saying,
56 “Praise Yahweh, who has given us his people peace, like he promised that he would do. He has done every one of the good things that he promised to Moses, the man who served him very well. 57 I pray that our God will be with us like he was with our ancestors, and that he will never abandon us. 58 I pray that he will cause us to loyally serve him, to conduct our lives as he wants us to, and to obey all his commandments and statutes and laws that he gave to our ancestors. 59 I pray that Yahweh our God will never forget these words that I have prayed, pleading for his help; I pray that he will think about them by day and by night. I pray that he will always help us Israeli people and me, giving us the things that we need day by day. 60 If he does that, all the people-groups in the world will know that he is the only one who is God, and that there is no other one who is God. 61 I pray that you, his people, will always be fully committed to Yahweh, and that you will obey all his statutes and commands, like you are doing now.”
Solomon dedicated the temple
62 Then the king and all the Israeli people who were there offered sacrifices to Yahweh. 63 They sacrificed 22,000 cattle and 120,000 sheep to maintain fellowship with Yahweh. Then the king and all the people dedicated the temple.
64 On that day, the king also dedicated/set apart the middle part of the courtyard that was in front of the temple. Then he offered sacrifices that would be completely burned in the courtyard, the offerings of grain and the fat of the animals that were sacrificed to maintain fellowship with Yahweh. They sacrificed them there because the bronze altar was not big enough for all those sacrifices to be burned on it that day.
65 Then Solomon and all the Israeli people celebrated the Festival of Living in Temporary Shelters for seven days. There was a huge crowd of people there, some of whom had come from distant places like Hamath in the far north and the border of Egypt in the far south. 66 On the eighth day, Solomon sent the people to their homes. They all praised him and went home happy because of all the things that Yahweh had done to bless King David and his Israeli people.