1 Kings, Chapter 8:

Verses from 1 Kings, Chapter 8 of the book of 1 Kings in the Bible.

The transfer of the ark to the temple

• 1. Then King Solomon assembled the elders of Israel, all the leaders of the tribes and the heads of the Israelite families, in Jerusalem, to bring up the ark of the covenant of the Lord from the City of David, which is Zion.
• 2. And all the men of Israel assembled unto King Solomon at the feast in the month of Ethanim, which is the seventh month.
• 3. When all the elders of Israel arrived, the priests took up the ark of the Lord and the tent of meeting, along with all the sacred objects in it. The priests and the Levites carried them.
• 4. King Solomon and the whole assembly of Israel, who were assembled before the ark, sacrificed so many oxen and sheep that they could not be counted.
• 5. The priests took the ark of the covenant of the Lord to its place in the inner sanctuary of the temple, in the Most Holy Place, and placed it under the wings of the cherubim.
• 6. The cherubim spread their wings over the place of the ark, covering and protecting it, as did the poles.
• 7. The poles were so long that their ends could be seen from the inner room, but not from outside. And so they remain to this day.
• 8. In the ark were only the two stone tablets that Moses had placed in Horeb, when the Lord made a covenant with the Israelites when they came out of Egypt.
• 9. When the priests left the Holy Place, a cloud filled the temple of the Lord.
• 10. And the priests could no longer perform service in the temple, for the glory of the Lord filled the temple.
• 11. Then Solomon said, “The Lord said he would dwell in a thick cloud!
• 12. Indeed, you have built for yourself a magnificent dwelling, a place for your eternal dwelling!”
• 13. Then the king turned and blessed the entire assembly of Israel who were standing.
• 14. And he said, Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, who spoke to my father David and has fulfilled with his own hand what he promised, saying,
• 15. 'Since the day I brought Israel out of Egypt, I chose no city from among all the tribes of Israel to build a temple in, where my Name might reside. But I chose David to be ruler over my people Israel.'
• 16. My father David had the intention of building a temple in honor of the name of the Lord, the God of Israel.
• 17 But the Lord said to my father David, 'It is good that you have planned to build a temple for me.
• 18. However, you will not be the one to build it, but your son, who will be your descendant, will build a temple for my Name.'
• 19. And the Lord has kept his word, as he promised. I have succeeded my father David and have sat on the throne of Israel, as the Lord had promised. And I have built the temple for the name of the Lord, the God of Israel.
• 20. In it I have placed the ark, in which are the tablets of the covenant that the Lord made with the Israelites.”
• 21 Then Solomon stood before the altar of the Lord in the presence of the whole assembly of Israel, and spread out his hands toward heaven.

Solomon's Prayer

• 22. And he said, “O Lord, God of Israel, there is no God like you, in heaven or on earth, who keeps covenant and mercy with your servants who walk before you with all their heart.
• 23. You have kept your promise to my father David; you spoke it with your hand, and with your hand you have fulfilled it, as it is today.
• 24. “Now, Lord, the God of Israel, please fulfill the promise you made to your servant David my father when you said to him, ‘You will never fail to have a descendant to sit on the throne of Israel, if only your descendants are careful in everything they do, as you have been.’
• 25. “O Lord, God of Israel, may your promise to my father David be fulfilled!
• 26. But will God really dwell on earth? The heavens, even the highest heavens, cannot contain you. How much less this temple that I have built!
• 27. Yet, O Lord my God, listen to the prayer of your servant and to his plea. Hear the cry and the prayer that your servant prays before you today.
• 28. May your eyes be open day and night toward this temple, toward the place of which you said, 'My Name will be there.' Hear the prayer that your servant prays toward this place.
• 29. Hear the prayer of your servant and of your people Israel when they pray toward this place. Hear from your dwelling place in heaven, and hear and forgive.
• 30. “If anyone sins against his neighbor and is compelled to swear an oath, and comes to swear before your altar in this temple,
• 31. Hear from heaven, and act; judge your servants, condemning the guilty, and bringing upon their heads the consequences of their conduct, pronouncing the innocent innocent, and giving them what their righteousness deserves.
• 32. “When your people Israel are defeated by the enemy because they have sinned against you and turn to you and confess your name, praying and supplicating to you in this temple,
• 25. hear from heaven and forgive the sin of your people Israel, and bring them back to the land you gave them and their ancestors.
• 34. “When your people sin against you—for there is no one who does not sin—and you are angry with them and hand them over to the enemy, who takes them captive to an enemy land, far away or near,
• 35. If they come to their senses in the land where they were taken captive and repent and pray toward the land where they were taken, toward the city you chose and the temple I built for your Name,
• 36. Hear from heaven their prayer and their plea, and plead their cause. Forgive your people who have sinned against you.
• 37. “When there is famine in the land, pestilence, blight, mildew, locusts or swarming grasshoppers, enemies besieging your cities, contagious diseases or epidemics,
• 38. if your people Israel, each in their own distress and pain, turn to you, stretching out their hands toward this temple,
• 39. Hear from heaven, from your dwelling place, and forgive, and act, and give to each one according to all his ways, for you know their hearts; you, even you alone, know the hearts of all men.
• 40. So they will fear you as long as they live in the land you gave to our ancestors.
• 41. “Also foreigners who are not of your people Israel, when they come from distant lands because of your great name, your mighty hand and your outstretched arm, when they come to pray toward this temple,
• 33. Hear from heaven, your dwelling place, and grant the request of the stranger, so that all the peoples of the earth may know your name and fear you, as your people Israel do, and may know that this temple that I have built bring your name.
• 43. “When your people go out to war against their enemies, whatever route you send them, and they pray to the Lord toward this city you have chosen and the temple I have built for your Name,
• 35. hear their prayer and supplication from heaven and defend their cause.
• 45. “When they sin against you—for there is no one who does not sin—and you are angry with them and hand them over to your enemy, who takes them captive to a land far away or near,
• 46. If they come to their senses in the land where they were taken captive, and repent and plead with you in the land of those who took them captive, saying, 'We have sinned, we have done wrong, we have rebelled,'
• 47. They turn to you with all their heart and with all their soul in the land of their enemies who took them captive, and they pray to you toward their land which you gave to them and to their ancestors, toward the city which you chose and the temple which I built for your Name,
• 48. Hear from heaven, from your dwelling place, their prayer and their plea, and maintain their cause.
• 49. Forgive your people who have sinned against you. Forgive all the transgressions they have committed against you, and grant them mercy on those who took them captive.
• 50. For they are your people and your inheritance, whom you brought out of Egypt, out of the midst of the iron furnace.
• 51. “May your eyes be open to the supplication of your servant and to the supplication of your people Israel, so that you may hear whenever they cry out to you.
• 52. For you, Lord, chose Israel to be your people and your inheritance, just as you promised through your servant Moses when you brought our ancestors out of Egypt.”
• 53. When Solomon had finished praying and supplicating to the Lord, he rose up before the altar of the Lord, where he was kneeling, with his hands extended toward heaven.
• 54. He stood up and blessed the entire assembly of Israel with a loud voice, saying:
• 55. “Blessed be the Lord, who has given rest to his people Israel, according to all that he promised. He has not failed in one word of all the good promises he made through his servant Moses.
• 56. May the Lord our God be with us, as he was with our ancestors; may he never leave us nor forsake us.
• 57. May he incline our hearts toward him, so that we may walk in all his ways and keep his commands, decrees and laws that he gave our ancestors.
• 58. And may these words which I have spoken today before the Lord our God be always in our hearts and in our souls, that we may faithfully observe all his commandments.
• 59. May these words of my heart and of my soul, which I have now presented in supplication before the Lord, be before the Lord our God day and night, so that he may defend the cause of his servant and of his people Israel, as each day requires.
• 60. Then all the peoples of the earth will know that the Lord is God, and there is no other.
• 61. Therefore, let our hearts be fully devoted to the Lord our God, to walk in his statutes and to keep his commands, as we have done to this day.”

The consecration of the temple

• 62. The king and all Israel offered sacrifices before the Lord.
• 63 Solomon offered as a burnt offering twenty-two thousand oxen and one hundred and twenty thousand sheep. So the king and all the Israelites dedicated the temple of the Lord.
• 64. That same day the king consecrated the middle of the court that was in front of the temple of the Lord, for there he presented the burnt offerings, the grain offerings and the fat of the fellowship offerings, because the bronze altar that was before the Lord was too small to hold the burnt offerings, the grain offerings and the fat of the fellowship offerings.
• 65. And Solomon and all Israel, a great assembly, kept the feast for seven days, from the entrance of Hamath to the Wadi of Egypt.
• 66 On the eighth day Solomon sent the people away, and they went home rejoicing and with glad hearts because of all the goodness the Lord had done to David his servant and to Israel his people.

Bíblia Online