Study Desk

"Now the LORD has fulfilled His word which He spoke; for I have risen in place of my father David and I sit on the throne of Israel, just as the LORD promised, and have built the house for the Name of the LORD, the God of Israel.

For Solomon had made a bronze platform, five cubits square and three cubits high, and had set it in the midst of the courtyard; and he stood on it, and he knelt down on his knees in the presence of all the assembly of Israel and spread out his hands toward heaven,

"Yet have regard for the prayer of Your servant and for his supplication, O LORD my God, to listen to the cry and to the prayer which Your servant prays before You,

then hear from heaven, Your dwelling place, and forgive, and render to each in accordance with all his ways, whose heart You know; for You alone know the hearts of the sons of men,

"Also in regard to the foreigner who is not from Your people Israel, but has come from a far country for the sake of Your great name and Your mighty power and Your outstretched arm—when they come and pray toward this house,

then hear from heaven, from Your dwelling place, and do according to all for which the foreigner calls to You, so that all the peoples of the earth may know Your name, and fear You [reverently and worshipfully], as do Your people Israel, and that they may know that this house which I have built is called by Your Name.

"When Your people go out to war against their enemies, by the way that You send them, and they pray to You facing this city [Jerusalem] which You have chosen and the house which I have built for Your Name,

"When they sin against You (for there is no man who does not sin) and You are angry with them and hand them over to an enemy, so that they take them away captive to a land far away or near,

if they return to You with all their heart and with all their soul in the land of their captivity, and pray facing their land which You have given to their fathers and toward the city which You have chosen, and toward the house which I have built for Your Name;

When all the people of Israel saw how the fire came down and saw the glory and brilliance of the LORD upon the house, they bowed down on the stone pavement with their faces to the ground, and they worshiped and praised the LORD, saying, "For He is good, for His mercy and lovingkindness endure forever."

The priests stood at their posts [ready for service], and the Levites also, with the musical instruments of the LORD which King David had made to praise the LORD, saying, "For His lovingkindness and mercy endure forever," whenever David offered praise through their ministry. The priests were opposite the Levites blowing the trumpets and all Israel was standing.

Moreover, Solomon consecrated the middle of the courtyard that was in front of the house of the LORD, for it was there that he offered burnt offerings and the fat of the peace offerings because the bronze altar which he had made was not sufficient to hold the burnt offerings, the grain offerings, and the fat [all together].

At that time Solomon observed the feast for seven days, and all Israel with him, a very large assembly, from the entrance of Hamath to the Brook of Egypt.

On the eighth day they held a celebration, for they had observed the dedication of the altar for seven days, and the feast for seven days.

Then the LORD appeared to Solomon by night and said to him: "I have heard your prayer and have chosen this place for Myself as a house of sacrifice.

"For now I have chosen and sanctified and set apart for My purpose this house that My Name may be here forever, and My eyes and My heart will be here perpetually.

"As for you [Solomon], if you will walk before me as your father David walked, and do everything that I have commanded you, and observe My statutes and My ordinances,

then I will uproot Israel from My land which I have given them; and I will cast this house, which I have consecrated for My Name, out of My sight, and will make it a proverb and an object of scorn among all nations.

"And as for this house, which was so exalted, everyone who passes by it will be astonished and appalled and say, 'Why has the LORD done thus to this land and to this house?'

and Baalath and all the storage cities that Solomon had, and all the cities for his chariots and the cities for his horsemen, and all that Solomon desired to build in Jerusalem, in Lebanon, and in all the land under his rule.