CHAPTER 7
When Solomon
had finished
praying,
fire
came down
from heaven
and consumed
the burnt offering
and the sacrifices,
and the glory
of the LORD
filled
the temple.
The priests
were not
able
to enter
the house
of the LORD,
because
the glory
of the LORD
had filled
it.
When all
the Israelites
saw
the fire
coming down
and the glory
of the LORD
above
the temple,
they bowed down
on
the pavement
with their faces
to the ground,
and they worshiped
and gave thanks
to the LORD:
“For
He is good;
His loving devotion
endures forever."
And King
Solomon
offered
a sacrifice
of 22,000
oxen
and 120,000
sheep.
So the king
and all
the people
dedicated
the house
of God.
The priests
stood
at
their posts,
as did the Levites
with the musical
instruments
of the LORD,
which
King
David
had made
for giving thanks
to the LORD
and with which David
had offered praise, saying,
“For
His loving devotion
endures forever.”
Across from the Levites,
the priests
sounded trumpets,
and all
the Israelites
were standing.
Then Solomon
consecrated
the middle
of the courtyard
in front
of the house
of the LORD,
and
there
he offered
the burnt offerings
and the fat
of the peace offerings,
since
the bronze
altar
he
had made
could
not
contain
all these offerings.
So at that
time
Solomon
and all
Israel
with him—
a very
great
assembly of people
from Lebo-hamath
to
the Brook
of Egypt—
observed
the feast
for seven
days.
On the eighth
day
they held
a solemn assembly,
for
the dedication
of the altar
had lasted seven
days,
and the feast
seven
days more.
On the twenty-third
day
of the seventh
month,
Solomon sent the people
away
to their homes,
joyful
and glad
of heart
for
the good things
that
the LORD
had done
for David,
for Solomon,
and for His people
Israel.
When Solomon
had finished
the house
of the LORD
and
the royal
palace,
successfully
carrying out
all
that was in
his
heart
to do
for the house
of the LORD
and for his own palace,
the LORD
appeared
to
him
at night
and said
to him:
“I have heard
your prayer
and have chosen
this
place
for Myself
as a house
of sacrifice.
If
I close
the sky
so there is
no
rain,
or if
I command
the locust
to devour
the land,
or if
I send
a plague
among My people,
and My people
who
are called
by
My name
humble themselves
and pray
and seek
My face,
and turn
from
their wicked
ways,
then I
will hear
from heaven,
forgive
their sin,
and heal
their land.
For I have now chosen
and consecrated
this
house
so that My Name
may be
there
forever.
My eyes
and My heart
will be
there
for all time.
And as for you,
if
you walk
before
Me as
your father
David
walked,
doing
all
I have commanded you,
and if you keep
My statutes
and ordinances,
then I will establish
your royal
throne,
as
I covenanted
with your father
David
when I said,
‘You will never
fail
to have a man
to rule
over Israel.’
But if
you
turn away
and forsake
the statutes
and the commandments
I have set
before you,
and if you go off
to serve
and worship
other
gods,
then I will uproot Israel
from
the soil
I have given
them,
and this
temple
that
I have sanctified
for My Name
I will banish
from
My presence.
I will make it
an object of scorn
and ridicule
among all
the peoples.
And this
temple
will now
become a heap of rubble.
All
who pass
it by
will be appalled
and say,
‘Why
has the LORD
done
such a thing
to this
land
and to this
temple?’
And others will answer,
‘Because
they have forsaken
the LORD,
the God
of their fathers,
who
brought them out
of Egypt,
and have embraced
other
gods,
worshiping
and serving them.
Because of
this,
He has brought
all
this
disaster
upon them.'"