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1 Kings 8:1-66 — The Ark Brought to the Temple; Solomon's Prayer

1Kgs.8.1-66

¹Then Solomon assembled the elders of Israel, all the heads of the tribes, and the chief men of the fathers' houses of the Israelites before King Solomon in Jerusalem, to bring up the Ark of the Covenant of the LORD from the City of David, that is, Zion. ²And all the men of Israel assembled before King Solomon at the feast, in the month Ethanim , which is the seventh month. ³When all the elders of Israel came, the priests carried the ark. ⁴They brought up the ark of the LORD, the Tent of Meeting, and all the holy vessels that were in the tent. The priests and the Levites brought them up. ⁵And King Solomon and all the congregation of Israel who had assembled with him were before the ark, sacrificing sheep and cattle too many to be counted or numbered. ⁶Then the priests brought the Ark of the Covenant of the LORD to its place in the inner sanctuary of the house, in the Most Holy Place, beneath the wings of the cherubim. ⁷For the cherubim spread their wings over the place of the ark, and the cherubim overshadowed the ark and its poles from above. ⁸The poles were so long that the ends of the poles could be seen from the holy place in front of the inner sanctuary, but they could not be seen outside; and they are there to this day. ⁹There was nothing in the ark except the two stone tablets that Moses put there at Horeb, where the LORD made a covenant with the Israelites when they came out of the land of Egypt. ¹⁰And when the priests came out of the holy place, the cloud filled the house of the LORD. ¹¹And the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud, for the glory of the LORD filled the house of the LORD. ¹²Then Solomon said, “The LORD has said that he would dwell in thick darkness. ¹³I have surely built you a lofty house, a place for you to dwell forever.” ¹⁴Then the king turned around and blessed all the assembly of Israel, while all the assembly of Israel stood. ¹⁵And he said, “Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel, who spoke with his mouth to David my father and has fulfilled it with his hand, saying, ¹⁶‘From the day that I brought my people Israel out of Egypt, I chose no city out of all the tribes of Israel in which to build a house, that my name might be there; but I chose David to be over my people Israel.’ ¹⁷Now it was in the heart of David my father to build a house for the name of the LORD, the God of Israel. ¹⁸But the LORD said to David my father, ‘Because it was in your heart to build a house for my name, you did well that it was in your heart. ¹⁹Nevertheless, you shall not build the house; but your son, who shall come from your own body, shall build the house for my name.’ ²⁰And the LORD has fulfilled his word that he spoke, for I have risen in place of David my father and sit on the throne of Israel, as the LORD promised, and I have built the house for the name of the LORD, the God of Israel. ²¹And there I have set 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.” ²²Then Solomon stood before the altar of the LORD in the presence of all the assembly of Israel and spread out his hands toward heaven. ²³And he said, “O LORD, God of Israel, there is no God like you in heaven above or on earth beneath, keeping covenant and steadfast love with your servants who walk before you with all their heart, ²⁴you who have kept for your servant David my father what you spoke to him. What you spoke with your mouth you have fulfilled with your hand, as it is this day. ²⁵Now therefore, O LORD, God of Israel, keep for your servant David my father what you promised him when you said, ‘You shall not lack a man before me to sit on the throne of Israel, if only your sons keep their way, to walk before me as you have walked before me.’ ²⁶And now, O God of Israel, please let your word be confirmed, which you spoke to your servant David my father. ²⁷But will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold, heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain you, much less this house that I have built! ²⁸Yet have regard for the prayer of your servant and for his plea, O LORD my God, to hear the cry and the prayer that your servant prays before you today, ²⁹that your eyes may be open toward this house night and day, toward the place of which you said, ‘My name shall be there,’ to hear the prayer that your servant prays toward this place. ³⁰And hear the plea of your servant and of your people Israel when they pray toward this place. Hear in heaven, your dwelling place; hear and forgive. ³¹If a man sins against his neighbor and is made to swear an oath, and he comes and swears before your altar in this house, ³²then hear in heaven and act, and judge your servants, condemning the wicked by bringing his conduct on his own head, and justifying the righteous by giving him according to his righteousness. ³³When your people Israel are defeated before an enemy because they have sinned against you, and they turn back to you and confess your name and pray and make supplication to you in this house, ³⁴then hear in heaven and forgive the sin of your people Israel and restore them to the land that you gave to their fathers. ³⁵When heaven is shut up and there is no rain because they have sinned against you, and they pray toward this place and confess your name and turn from their sin because you afflict them, ³⁶then hear in heaven and forgive the sin of your servants and of your people Israel, when you teach them the good way in which they should walk, and send rain upon your land, which you have given to your people for an inheritance. ³⁷If there is famine in the land, if there is pestilence, blight, mildew, locust, or caterpillar, if an enemy besieges them in the land of their cities, whatever plague, whatever sickness there may be, ³⁸whatever prayer, whatever plea is made by any man or by all your people Israel, each one knowing the plague of his own heart and spreading out his hands toward this house, ³⁹then hear in heaven, your dwelling place, and forgive and act and give to each man according to all his ways, whose heart you know—for you alone know the hearts of all the children of mankind— ⁴⁰that they may fear you all the days that they live in the land that you gave to our fathers. ⁴¹And also concerning the foreigner, who is not of your people Israel but comes from a distant land for your name’s sake— ⁴²for they will hear of your great name and your mighty hand and your outstretched arm—when he comes and prays toward this house, ⁴³hear in heaven, 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, as do your people Israel, and may know that this house that I have built is called by your name. ⁴⁴When your people go out to battle against their enemy by the way that you send them, and they pray to the LORD toward the city that you have chosen and the house that I have built for your name, ⁴⁵then hear in heaven their prayer and their plea, and maintain their cause. ⁴⁶If they sin against you—for there is no one who does not sin—and you are angry with them and give them over to an enemy, so that their captors carry them away captive to the land of the enemy, far or near, ⁴⁷yet if they take it to heart in the land where they have been carried captive, and turn back and make supplication to you in the land of those who carried them captive, saying, ‘We have sinned and acted perversely and done wickedly,’ ⁴⁸if they return to you with all their heart and with all their soul in the land of their enemies who carried them captive, and pray to you toward their land that you gave to their fathers, the city that you have chosen, and the house that I have built for your name, ⁴⁹then hear in heaven, your dwelling place, their prayer and their plea, and maintain their cause, ⁵⁰and forgive your people who have sinned against you, and all their transgressions that they have committed against you, and grant them compassion in the sight of those who carried them captive, that they may have compassion on them. ⁵¹For they are your people and your inheritance, whom you brought out of Egypt, from the midst of the iron furnace . ⁵²Let your eyes be open to the plea of your servant and to the plea of your people Israel, to listen to them whenever they call to you. ⁵³For you separated them for yourself as an inheritance from among all the peoples of the earth, as you spoke by Moses your servant when you brought our fathers out of Egypt, O Lord GOD.” ⁵⁴And when Solomon had finished offering all this prayer and plea to the LORD, he arose from before the altar of the LORD, where he had been kneeling with his knees bent and his hands spread out toward heaven. ⁵⁵And he stood and blessed all the assembly 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 has failed of all his good promise, which he spoke by Moses his servant. ⁵⁷May the LORD our God be with us, as he was with our fathers. May he not leave us or forsake us, ⁵⁸that he may incline our hearts to himself, 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, 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, as each day requires, ⁶⁰so that all the peoples of the earth may know that the LORD is God; there is no other. ⁶¹Let your heart therefore be wholly devoted to the LORD our God, to walk in his statutes and to keep his commandments, as at this day.” ⁶²Then the king, and all Israel with him, offered sacrifice before the LORD. ⁶³And Solomon offered as the sacrifice of peace offerings that he offered to the LORD twenty-two thousand oxen and one hundred twenty thousand sheep. So the king and all the Israelites dedicated the house of the LORD. ⁶⁴On that day the king consecrated the middle of the court that was before the house of the LORD, because there he offered the burnt offering, the grain offering, and the fat of the peace offerings, since the bronze altar that was before the LORD was too small to contain the burnt offering, the grain offering, and the fat of the peace offerings. ⁶⁵So Solomon kept the feast at that time, and all Israel with him, a great assembly from Lebo-hamath to the Brook of Egypt, before the LORD our God, seven days and seven more days, fourteen days. ⁶⁶On the eighth day he dismissed the people, and they blessed the king and went to their tents rejoicing and glad of heart for all the good that the LORD had done for David his servant and for Israel his people.

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4/11/2026

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