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¹ Then Solomon assembled the elders of Israel, and all the heads of the tribes, the princes of the fathers' [houses] of the sons of Israel, to king Solomon in Jerusalem, to bring up the ark of the covenant of Yahweh out of the city of David, which is Zion.² And all the men of Israel assembled themselves to king Solomon at the feast, in the month Ethanim, which is the seventh month.³ And all the elders of Israel came, and the priests took up the ark.⁴ And they brought up the ark of Yahweh, and the tent of meeting, and all the holy vessels that were in the Tent; even these the priests and the Levites brought up.⁵ And king Solomon and all the congregation of Israel, that were assembled to him, were with him before the ark, sacrificing sheep and oxen, that could not be counted nor numbered for multitude.⁶ And the priests brought in the ark of the covenant of Yahweh to its place, into the oracle of the house, to the most holy place, even under the wings of the cherubim.⁷ For the cherubim spread forth their wings over the place of the ark, and the cherubim covered the ark and the poles thereof above.⁸ And the poles were so long that the ends of the poles were seen from the holy place before the oracle; but they were not seen outside: and there they are to this day.⁹ There was nothing in the ark save the two tables of stone which Moses put there at Horeb, by which Yahweh made a covenant with the sons of Israel, when they came out of the land of Egypt.¹⁰ And it came to pass, when the priests had come out of the holy place, that the cloud filled the house of Yahweh,¹¹ so that the priests could not stand to minister by reason of the cloud; for the glory of Yahweh filled the house of Yahweh.

¹² Then Solomon spoke, Yahweh has said that he would dwell in the thick darkness.¹³ I have surely built you a house of habitation, a place for you to dwell in forever.¹⁴ And the king turned his face about, and blessed all the assembly of Israel: and all the assembly of Israel stood.¹⁵ And he said, Blessed be Yahweh, the God of Israel, who spoke with his mouth to David your father, and has with his hand fulfilled it, saying,¹⁶ Since 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 a house, that my name might be there; but I chose David to be over my people Israel.¹⁷ Now it was in the heart of David my father to build a house for the name of Yahweh, the God of Israel.¹⁸ But Yahweh said to David my father, Whereas it was in your heart to build a house for my name, you did well that it was in your heart:¹⁹ nevertheless you shall not build the house; but your son that shall come forth out of your loins, he shall build the house for my name.²⁰ And Yahweh has established his word that he spoke; for I rose up in the place of David my father, and sat on the throne of Israel, as Yahweh promised, and have built the house for the name of Yahweh, the God of Israel.²¹ And I have set a place there for the ark, wherein is the covenant of Yahweh, which he made with our fathers, when he brought them out of the land of Egypt.

²² And Solomon stood before the altar of Yahweh in the presence of all the assembly of Israel, and spread forth his hands toward heaven;²³ and he said, O Yahweh, the God of Israel, there is no God like you, in heaven above, or on earth beneath; who keeps covenant and loving-kindness with your slaves, that walk before you with all their heart;²⁴ who kept with your slave David my father that which you promised him: yes, you spoke with your mouth, and have fulfilled it with your hand, as it is this day.²⁵ Now therefore, O Yahweh, the God of Israel, keep with your slave David my father that which you have promised him, saying, There shall not fail from you a man in my sight to sit on the throne of Israel, if only your sons take heed to their way, to walk before me as you have walked before me.²⁶ Now therefore, O God of Israel, let your word, I pray you, be verified, which you spoke to your slave David my father.²⁷ But will God in very deed dwell on the earth? look, heaven and the heaven of heavens can't contain you; how much less this house that I have built!²⁸ Yet you have respect to the prayer of your slave, and to his supplication, O Yahweh my God, to listen to the cry and to the prayer which your slave prays before you this day;²⁹ that your eyes may be open toward this house night and day, even toward the place whereof you have said, My name shall be there; to listen to the prayer which your slave shall pray toward this place.³⁰ And you shall listen to the supplication of your slave, and of your people Israel, when they shall pray toward this place: yes, hear in heaven your dwelling-place; and when you hear, forgive.³¹ If a man sins against his neighbor, and he is subjected to an oath to cause him to swear, and he comes [and] swears before your altar in this house;³² then you shall hear in heaven, and do, and judge your slaves, condemning the wicked, to bring his way on his own head, and justifying the righteous, to give him according to his righteousness.³³ When your people Israel are smitten down before the enemy, because they have sinned against you; if they turn again to you, and confess your name, and pray and plead for mercy to you in this house:³⁴ then you shall hear in heaven, and forgive the sin of your people Israel, and bring them again to the land which you gave to their fathers.³⁵ When heaven is shut up, and there is no rain, because they have sinned against you; if they pray toward this place, and confess your name, and turn from their sin, when you afflict them:³⁶ then you shall hear in heaven, and forgive the sin of your slaves, and of your people Israel, when you teach them the good way wherein they should walk; and send rain on your land, which you have given to your people for an inheritance.³⁷ If there is in the land famine, if there is pestilence, if there is blasting [or] mildew, locust [or] caterpillar; if their enemy besieges them in the gates of their land; whatever plague, whatever sickness there is;³⁸ whatever prayer and supplication is made by all of man, by all your people Israel, who shall know every man the plague of his own heart, and spread forth his hands toward this house:³⁹ then you shall hear in heaven your dwelling-place, and forgive, and do, and render to every man according to all his ways, whose heart you know; for you, even you only, know the hearts of all the sons of man;⁴⁰ that they may fear you all the days that they live in the land which you gave to our fathers.⁴¹ Moreover concerning the foreigner, that is not of your people Israel, when he shall come out of a far country for your name's sake⁴² (for they shall hear of your great name, and of your mighty hand, and of your outstretched arm); when he shall come and pray toward this house;⁴³ you shall hear in heaven your dwelling-place, and do according to all that the foreigner calls to you for; that all the peoples of the earth may know your name, to fear you, as [do] your people Israel, and that they may know that this house which I have built is called by your name.⁴⁴ If your people go out to battle against their enemy, by whatever way you shall send them, and they pray to Yahweh toward the city which you have chosen, and toward the house which I have built for your name;⁴⁵ then you shall hear in heaven their prayer and their supplication, and maintain their cause.⁴⁶ If they sin against you, for there is none among man that does not sin, and you are angry with them, and deliver them to the enemy, so that they carry them away captive to the land of the enemy, far off or near;⁴⁷ yet if they shall bethink themselves in the land where they are carried captive, and turn again, and plead to you for mercy in the land of those that carried them captive, saying, We have sinned, and have done perversely, we have dealt wickedly;⁴⁸ if 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, which you gave to their fathers, the city which you have chosen, and the house which I have built for your name:⁴⁹ then you shall hear their prayer and their supplication in heaven your dwelling-place, and maintain their cause;⁵⁰ and forgive your people who have sinned against you, and all their transgressions wherein they have transgressed against you; and give them compassion before those who carried them captive, that they may have compassion on them⁵¹ (for they are your people, and your inheritance, which you brought forth out of Egypt, from the midst of the furnace of iron);⁵² that your eyes may be open to the supplication of your slave, and to the supplication of your people Israel, to listen to them whenever they cry to you.⁵³ For you separated them from among all the peoples of the earth, to be your inheritance, as you spoke by Moses your slave, when you brought our fathers out of Egypt, O Lord Yahweh.

⁵⁴ And it was so, that, when Solomon had made an end of praying all this prayer and supplication to Yahweh, he arose from before the altar of Yahweh, from kneeling on his knees with his hands spread forth toward heaven.⁵⁵ And he stood, and blessed all the assembly of Israel with a loud voice, saying,⁵⁶ Blessed be Yahweh, that 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 promised by Moses his slave.⁵⁷ Yahweh our God be with us, as he was with our fathers: let him not leave us, nor forsake us;⁵⁸ that he may incline our hearts to him, to walk in all his ways, and to keep his commandments, and his statutes, and his ordinances, which he commanded our fathers.⁵⁹ And let these words of mine, with which I have made supplication before Yahweh, be near to Yahweh our God day and night, to maintain the cause of his slave, and the cause of his people Israel, as every day shall require;⁶⁰ that all the peoples of the earth may know that Yahweh, he is God; there is no other.⁶¹ Let your heart therefore be perfect with Yahweh our God, to walk in his statutes, and to keep his commandments, as at this day.

⁶² And the king, and all Israel with him, offered sacrifice before Yahweh.⁶³ And Solomon offered for the sacrifice of peace-offerings, which he offered to Yahweh, two and twenty thousand oxen, and a hundred and twenty thousand sheep. So the king and all the sons of Israel dedicated the house of Yahweh.⁶⁴ The same day the king hallowed the middle of the court that was before the house of Yahweh; for there he offered the burnt-offering, and the meal-offering, and the fat of the peace-offerings, because the bronze altar that was before Yahweh was too little to receive the burnt-offering, and the meal-offering, and the fat of the peace-offerings.⁶⁵ So Solomon held the feast at that time, and all Israel with him, a great assembly, from the entrance of Hamath to the brook of Egypt, before Yahweh our God, seven days and seven days, even fourteen days.⁶⁶ On the eighth day he sent the people away; and they blessed the king, and went to their tents joyful and glad of heart for all the goodness that Yahweh had shown to David his slave, and to Israel his people.