1 Kings 8

Then Solomon called together the elders of Israel, all the heads of the tribes, and the leaders of Israel's families. They came to King Solomon in Jerusalem to bring up the ark of the covenant of the LORD, the chest that held the terms of God's agreement with Israel, from the City of David, which is Zion.

1Then 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.

NoteThe City of David, also called Zion, was the fortified hill on the southeastern ridge of Jerusalem that David captured and made his capital; the ark had been kept there in a tent. The temple stood on higher ground just to the north, which is why the ark is carried "up." Where the text prints LORD in capitals, it stands in for the personal name of Israel's God, spelled with four Hebrew consonants (YHWH), which Jewish readers came to avoid pronouncing aloud.

2All the men of Israel came together to King Solomon at the festival in the month of Ethanim, which is the seventh month.

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

NoteEthanim is an old Canaanite month name, roughly September–October; "seventh month" counts from spring in Israel's religious calendar. The festival is the Feast of Booths (also called Tabernacles), the week-long autumn harvest festival, the largest gathering of the year.

3All the elders of Israel arrived, and the priests lifted the ark.

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

4They brought up the ark of the LORD, the tent of meeting, and all the holy objects that were in the tent. The priests and the Levites carried them up.

4And 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.

NoteThe tent of meeting was the portable sanctuary used from the wilderness period onward, the temple's predecessor. The Levites were the tribe of Levi, set apart for sanctuary duties; the priests were the branch of that tribe descended from Aaron, and only they handled the holiest objects.

5King Solomon and the whole assembly of Israel that had gathered with him stood with him in front of the ark. They sacrificed so many sheep and cattle that no one could count or record them.

5And 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.

6Then the priests brought the ark of the covenant of the LORD to its place in the inner room of the temple, the Most Holy Place, under the wings of the carved winged figures called cherubim.

6And 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.

NoteThe inner room (Hebrew debir) was the windowless innermost chamber of the temple. "Most Holy Place" is a Hebrew way of forming a superlative, literally "holy of holies", and only the high priest entered it, once a year. Cherubim were not infant angels but composite winged creatures; in ancient Near Eastern art such figures flanked royal thrones and guarded sacred places. The two in the temple were carved of olive wood and overlaid with gold, their wings spanning the width of the room.

7The cherubim spread their two wings over the place of the ark, so that they covered the ark and the poles used to carry it.

7For the cherubims spread forth their two wings over the place of the ark, and the cherubims covered the ark and the staves thereof above.

NoteThe ark had rings at its corners through which two poles were kept permanently in place, so it could be lifted and carried without anyone touching the chest itself.

8The poles were long enough that their ends could be seen from the Holy Place in front of the inner room, but they could not be seen from outside. They are still there today.

8And 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.

Note"They are still there today" is the writer's own comment, and the phrase is probably taken from an older record written while the temple was still standing.

9There was nothing in the ark except the two stone tablets that Moses had put there at Horeb. That was where the LORD made a covenant with the people of Israel after they came out of the land of Egypt.

9There 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.

NoteHoreb is another name for Mount Sinai. The two stone tablets are the Ten Commandments. In the ancient world the written terms of a treaty were deposited in a sanctuary, which is what the chest was for.

10When the priests came out of the Holy Place, a cloud filled the house of the LORD.

10And it came to pass, when the priests were come out of the holy place, that the cloud filled the house of the LORD,

11The priests could not stand there to do their work because of the cloud, for the glory of the LORD filled the house of the LORD.

11So 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.

Note"Glory" translates a Hebrew word whose root sense is weight or heaviness; it refers to the visible splendor that marked God's presence. The same cloud is described as filling the wilderness tent. The point of the verse is practical: the priests could not carry on with the ceremony.

12Then Solomon said, "The LORD has said that he would live in the thick darkness.

12Then spake Solomon, The LORD said that he would dwell in the thick darkness.

Note"Thick darkness" is a specific Hebrew word for a dense, storm-black cloud, used of the covering over Mount Sinai when the law was given.

13I have truly built you a house to live in, a fixed place for you to stay in forever."

13I have surely built thee an house to dwell in, a settled place for thee to abide in for ever.

14Then the king turned around and blessed the whole assembly of Israel, while all of them stood there.

14And the king turned his face about, and blessed all the congregation of Israel: (and all the congregation of Israel stood;)

15He said, "Praise the LORD, the God of Israel. With his own hand he has carried out what he spoke with his own mouth to my father David. He said,

15And 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'From the day I brought my people Israel out of Egypt, I have not chosen a city in any tribe of Israel where a house could be built for my name. But I chose David to rule my people Israel.'

16Since 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.

Note"A house for my name" uses "name" much as a deed or an inscription does: the name marks whose the building is and where its owner may be addressed. Ancient temples were commonly said to be built for a god's name.

17My father David wanted very much to build a house for the name of the LORD, the God of Israel.

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

18But the LORD said to my father David, 'You wanted to build a house for my name, and you did well to want that.

18And 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.

19Even so, you will not build the house. Your son, your own child, will build the house for my name.'

19Nevertheless 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.

20The LORD has kept the word he spoke. I have taken my father David's place and sit on the throne of Israel, just as the LORD promised. And I have built the house for the name of the LORD, the God of Israel.

20And 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.

21There I have made a place for the ark, which holds the covenant the LORD made with our ancestors when he brought them out of the land of Egypt."

21And 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.

22Then Solomon stood in front of the altar of the LORD, before the whole assembly of Israel, and spread out his hands toward heaven.

22And Solomon stood before the altar of the LORD in the presence of all the congregation of Israel, and spread forth his hands toward heaven:

NoteStanding with arms extended and palms turned upward was the ordinary posture for public prayer. Verse 54 shows that Solomon knelt during the prayer as well.

23He said, "LORD, God of Israel, there is no God like you in heaven above or on earth below. You keep your covenant and show faithful love to your servants who live before you with their whole heart.

23And 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:

NoteThe word behind "faithful love" (hesed) means committed loyalty shown to someone you are bound to by agreement, not passing kindness. To "live before" or "walk before" someone is a Hebrew idiom for conducting your whole life in that person's presence and service.

24You have kept the promise you made to your servant, my father David. What you spoke with your mouth you have carried out with your hand, as we can see today.

24Who 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.

25So now, LORD, God of Israel, keep the promise you made to your servant, my father David, when you said, 'You will never fail to have a man of your line sitting before me on the throne of Israel, if only your descendants watch how they live and walk before me as you have walked before me.'

25Therefore 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.

Note"You will never fail to have a man sitting on the throne" is standard language for an unbroken royal line. Note that Solomon quotes the promise with a condition attached to it, the descendants must keep to the same way of life.

26And now, God of Israel, please let the word you spoke to your servant, my father David, come true.

26And now, O God of Israel, let thy word, I pray thee, be verified, which thou spakest unto thy servant David my father.

27But will God really live on the earth? Look, the heavens, even the highest heavens, cannot hold you. How much less this house that I have built!

27But 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?

28Even so, pay attention to your servant's prayer and his plea, LORD my God. Listen to the cry and the prayer that your servant is praying to you today.

28Yet 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:

29May your eyes be open toward this house night and day, toward the place about which you said, 'My name will be there.' Listen to the prayer that your servant prays toward this place.

29That 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.

NoteIsraelites who could not be at the temple prayed facing it, as the following verses assume; this is the origin of the later practice of turning toward Jerusalem to pray. The request that God's "eyes be open toward this house" asks for attention to the building, while God himself is said to hear from heaven.

30Listen to the plea of your servant and of your people Israel when they pray toward this place. Hear from heaven, where you live. And when you hear, forgive.

30And 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.

31If a person wrongs his neighbor and is required to take an oath, and he comes to swear that oath before your altar in this house,

31If 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:

NoteThis describes a legal procedure. When a dispute could not be settled because there were no witnesses or evidence, the accused was brought to the sanctuary and made to swear an oath calling down harm on himself if he was lying. The verdict was then left to God rather than to a judge.

32then hear from heaven and act. Judge between your servants. Declare the guilty one guilty and bring back on his own head what he has done. Declare the innocent one innocent and treat him as his right living deserves.

32Then 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.

Note"Bring back on his own head what he has done" is an idiom: the harm a person intended or caused falls back onto him.

33When your people Israel are beaten by an enemy because they have sinned against you, and then they turn back to you, confess your name, and pray and plead with you in this house,

33When 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:

34then hear from heaven. Forgive the sin of your people Israel, and bring them back to the land you gave to their ancestors.

34Then 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.

35When the sky is shut up and there is no rain because they have sinned against you, and then they pray toward this place, confess your name, and turn from their sin because you have made them suffer,

35When 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:

NoteDrought is described as the sky being "shut up" because rain was pictured as released through doors or windows in the sky. In this land almost all farming depended on seasonal rain, so a closed sky meant famine.

36then hear from heaven. Forgive the sin of your servants, your people Israel, and teach them the good way they should live. Send rain on your land, which you gave to your people as their share.

36Then 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.

37If there is famine in the land, or disease, or blight or mildew on the crops, or locusts or grasshoppers, or if an enemy surrounds them in one of their cities, whatever plague or sickness comes

37If 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;

NoteBlight and mildew are two crop diseases: one is scorching, associated with the hot dry east wind, the other a damp fungal rot. The two insect words are separate Hebrew terms for swarming insects, probably different kinds, or the same insect at different stages of growth. A swarm could strip a region bare in hours.

38and then any prayer or plea is made by one person, or by all your people Israel, each one knowing the trouble in his own heart and spreading out his hands toward this house,

38What 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:

Note"The trouble in his own heart" translates a phrase meaning literally "the affliction of his own heart", the suffering each person knows about from the inside. In Hebrew the heart is the seat of thought and decision, the inner self, not the emotions alone.

39then hear from heaven, where you live. Forgive, and act. Give each person what his ways deserve, since you know his heart, for you alone know the hearts of all people.

39Then 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;)

40Do this so they will fear you all the days they live in the land you gave to our ancestors.

40That they may fear thee all the days that they live in the land which thou gavest unto our fathers.

41The same goes for a foreigner, someone who is not one of your people Israel but comes from a far country because of your name.

41Moreover concerning a stranger, that is not of thy people Israel, but cometh out of a far country for thy name’s sake;

NoteThe Hebrew word here is for a foreigner from elsewhere, a visitor or traveler, and is distinct from another word used for a resident alien who lived permanently among Israelites and shared many of their obligations.

42For people will hear of your great name, your strong hand, and your outstretched arm. When such a person comes and prays toward this house,

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;

Note"Strong hand and outstretched arm" is a fixed phrase used again and again for the power by which Israel was brought out of Egypt; it would have been instantly recognisable as a reference to that event.

43hear from heaven, where you live, and do everything the foreigner asks of you. Then all the peoples of the earth will know your name and fear you, as your people Israel do. They will know that this house I have built bears your name.

43Hear 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.

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

44If 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:

45then hear their prayer and their plea from heaven, and take up their cause.

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

46If they sin against you (for there is no one who does not sin) and you become angry with them and hand them over to an enemy who carries them off as prisoners to his own land, far away or nearby,

46If 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;

47and then they come to their senses in the land where they were taken, and they turn back and plead with you in the land of their captors, saying, 'We have sinned. We have done wrong. We have acted wickedly';

47Yet 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;

48and if they return to you with their whole heart and their whole soul in the land of the enemies who carried them off; and if they pray to you toward their land, which you gave to their ancestors, toward the city you have chosen and the house I have built for your name

48And 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:

49then hear their prayer and their plea from heaven, where you live, and take up their cause.

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

50Forgive your people who have sinned against you, and forgive every wrong they have done against you. Make the people who carried them off feel pity for them, so that they treat them with mercy.

50And 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:

51For they are your people, your own share, whom you brought out of Egypt, out of the iron furnace.

51For they be thy people, and thine inheritance, which thou broughtest forth out of Egypt, from the midst of the furnace of iron:

NoteThe iron furnace is a smelter, the furnace used to work iron ore, and stands for punishing heat and grinding labor. "Your own share" translates a word for the fixed portion of property a family holds permanently and passes on to its children.

52May your eyes be open to your servant's plea and to the plea of your people Israel. Listen to them in everything they ask of you.

52That 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.

53For you set them apart from all the peoples of the earth to be your own share, just as you said through your servant Moses when you brought our ancestors out of Egypt, Lord GOD."

53For 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.

Note"Lord GOD" reflects a printing convention. Where the Hebrew has the word for "lord" followed by the personal divine name, English versions avoid printing "Lord LORD" by setting the second word as GOD in capitals.

54When Solomon had finished praying this whole prayer and plea to the LORD, he got up from in front of the altar of the LORD. He had been kneeling there with his hands spread out toward heaven.

54And 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.

55He stood and blessed the whole assembly of Israel in a loud voice. He said,

55And he stood, and blessed all the congregation of Israel with a loud voice, saying,

56"Praise the LORD, who has given rest to his people Israel, exactly as he promised. Not one word has failed of all the good promises he made through his servant Moses.

56Blessed 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.

Note"Given rest" is a standard phrase for being settled securely in the land with no war being waged against you; it is what the whole account of David's wars and Solomon's peace has been building toward.

57May the LORD our God be with us, as he was with our ancestors. May he never leave us or abandon us.

57The LORD our God be with us, as he was with our fathers: let him not leave us, nor forsake us:

58May he turn our hearts toward himself, so that we live his way in everything and keep the commands, rules, and decisions he gave our ancestors.

58That 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.

59And may these words of mine, which I have prayed before the LORD, stay close to the LORD our God day and night. Then he will take up the cause of his servant and the cause of his people Israel, as each day requires.

59And 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:

60Then all the peoples of the earth will know that the LORD is God, and that there is no other.

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

61So let your heart belong completely to the LORD our God. Live by his rules and keep his commands, as you are doing today."

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

NoteThe Hebrew word behind "belong completely" means whole or undivided. The concern is single, unshared loyalty rather than flawless behavior.

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

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

63Solomon offered peace offerings to the LORD: twenty-two thousand cattle and one hundred twenty thousand sheep. So the king and all the people of Israel dedicated the house of the LORD.

63And 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.

NoteIn a peace offering only the fat was burned on the altar; the rest of the animal was eaten by the worshipers and priests in a shared meal. That is why the numbers are so large, these sacrifices fed a national assembly for two weeks.

64That same day the king set apart the middle of the courtyard in front of the house of the LORD. There he offered the burnt offerings, the grain offerings, and the fat of the peace offerings, because the bronze altar before the LORD was too small to hold them all.

64The 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.

NoteA burnt offering was consumed entirely on the altar. A grain offering was flour with oil and incense. The fat was reckoned the best part of the animal and was burned as God's portion. The bronze altar was the large bronze-plated altar standing in the open courtyard, where sacrifices were burned.

65At that time Solomon held a festival, and all Israel was with him, a huge crowd, from Lebo-hamath to the Brook of Egypt. They kept it before the LORD our God for seven days and seven more days, fourteen days in all.

65And 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.

NoteLebo-hamath lay far to the north, in the valley between the Lebanon ranges, and the Brook of Egypt was a seasonal desert watercourse marking the southwestern edge of the land. Naming the two together is a way of saying "from one end of the country to the other."

66On the eighth day he sent the people away. They blessed the king and went home to their tents, joyful and glad in heart because of all the good things the LORD had done for his servant David and for his people Israel.

66On 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.

Note"The eighth day" is the day after the second seven-day stretch; the parallel account in 2 Chronicles counts the days differently, and some translations follow that reckoning and read "the fifteenth day." "Went home to their tents" is an old idiom simply meaning they went home, kept long after Israelites lived in houses. To "bless the king" here means to speak well of him and wish him good.