1 The Shekinah Glory When Solomon had finished praying, fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices, and the [This term is not found in the Bible, but was used by the ancient rabbis to refer to the divine presence.Shekinah] gloryandbrilliance of the Lfilled the house.
2 The priests could not enter the house of the Lbecause the gloryandbrilliance of the Lhad filled the L’house.
3 When all the people of Israel saw how the fire came down andsawthe gloryandbrilliance of the Lupon the house, they bowed down on the stone pavement with their faces to the ground, and they worshiped and praised the L,saying,“For He is good, for His mercyandlovingkindness endure forever.”
4 Sacrifices Offered Then the king and all the people offered a sacrifice before the L.
5 King Solomon offered a sacrifice of 22,000 oxen and 120,000 sheep. In this way the king and all the people dedicated God’s house.
6 The priests stood at their posts [ready for service], and the Levites also, with the musical instruments of the Lwhich King David had made to praise the L,saying,“For His lovingkindnessandmercy endure forever,” whenever David offered praise through their ministry. The priests were opposite the Levites blowing the trumpets and all Israel was standing.
7 Moreover, Solomon consecrated the middle of the courtyard that was in front of the house of the L, 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].
8 The Feast of Dedication 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.
9 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.
10 And on the twenty-third day of the seventh month Solomon sent the people to their tents, rejoicing and happy in heart because of the goodness that the Lhad shown to David, to Solomon, and to His people Israel.
11 God’s Promise and Warning And so Solomon finished the house (temple) of the Land the palace of the king. He successfully accomplished all that he had planned to do in the house of the Land in his palace.
12 Then the Lappeared 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.
13 If I shut up the heavens so that no rain falls, or if I command locusts to devour the land, or if I send pestilenceandplague among My people,
14 and My people, who are called by My Name, humble themselves, and pray and seek (crave, require as a necessity) My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear [them] from heaven, and forgive their sin and heal their land.
15 Now My eyes will be open and My ears attentive to prayerofferedin this place.
16 For now I have chosen and sanctifiedandset apart for My purpose this house that My Name may be here forever, and My eyes and My heart will be here perpetually.
17 As for you [Solomon], if you willI.e. conduct yourself, live your life.walk before me as your father David walked, and do everything that I have commanded you, and observe My statutes and My ordinances,
18 then I will establish your royal throne just as I covenanted with your father David, saying, ‘You will not fail to have a man as ruler in Israel.’
19 “But if you [people] turn away and abandon My statutes and My commandments which I have set before you, and you go and serve other gods and worship them,
20 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.
21 And as for this house, which was so exalted, everyone who passes by it will be astonishedandappalled and say, ‘Why has the Ldone thus to this land and to this house?’
22 Then people will say, ‘It is because they abandoned the L, the God of their fathers, who brought them out of the land of Egypt, and they adopted other gods, and worshiped them and served them; therefore He has brought all this adversityandevil on them.’ ”