1 ^cThus all the work that Solomon did for the house of the Lord was finished. And Solomon brought in the things that David his father had dedicated, and stored the silver, the gold, and all the vessels in the treasuries of the house of God.

The Ark Brought to the Temple

2 Then Solomon assembled the elders of Israel and all the heads of the tribes, the leaders of the fathers’ houses of the people of Israel, in Jerusalem, to bring up the ark of the covenant of the Lord out of ^dthe city of David, which is Zion. 3 And all the men of Israel assembled before the king at the feast that is in the seventh month. 4 And all the elders of Israel came, ^eand the Levites took up the ark. 5 And they brought up the ark, the tent of meeting, and all the holy vessels that were in the tent; ^fthe Levitical priests brought them up. 6 And King Solomon and all the congregation of Israel, who had assembled before him, were before the ark, sacrificing so many sheep and oxen that they could not be counted or numbered. 7 Then 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, underneath the wings of the cherubim. 8 The cherubim spread out their wings over the place of the ark, so that the cherubim made a covering above the ark and its poles. 9 And the poles were so long that the ends of the poles were seen ^gfrom the Holy Place before the inner sanctuary, but they could not be seen from outside. And they are¹ there to this day. 10 There was nothing in the ark except the two tablets ^hthat Moses put there at Horeb, where the Lord made a covenant with the people of Israel, when they came out of Egypt. 11 And when the priests came out of the Holy Place (for all the priests who were present had consecrated themselves, without regard to ⁱtheir divisions, 12 and all the Levitical ^jsingers, ^kAsaph, ^lHeman, and Jeduthun, their sons and kinsmen, arrayed in fine linen, with ^mcymbals, harps, and lyres, stood east of the altar with 120 ⁿpriests who were trumpeters; 13 and it was the duty of the trumpeters and singers to make themselves heard in unison in praise and thanksgiving to the Lord), and when the song was raised, ^owith trumpets and cymbals and other musical instruments, in praise to the Lord,

the house, the house of the Lord, was filled with a cloud, 14 so that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud, ^qfor the glory of the Lord filled the house of God.

Solomon Blesses the People

1 ^rThen Solomon said, “The Lord has said that he would dwell in thick darkness. 2 But I have built you ^san exalted house, a place for you to dwell in forever.” 3 Then the king turned around and blessed all the assembly of Israel, while all the assembly of Israel stood. 4 And he said, “Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, who with his hand has fulfilled what he promised with his mouth to David my father, saying, 5 ‘Since the day that I brought my people out of the land 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, and I chose no man as prince over my people Israel; 6 ^tbut I have chosen Jerusalem that my name may be there, ^uand I have chosen David to be over my people Israel.’ 7 ^vNow it was in the heart of David my father to build a house for the name of the Lord, the God of Israel. 8 But the Lord said to David my father, ‘Whereas ^vit was in your heart to build a house for my name, you did well that it was in your heart. 9 Nevertheless, it is not you who shall build the house, but your son who shall be born to you shall build the house for my name.’ 10 Now the Lord has fulfilled his promise that he made. For I have risen in the 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. 11 And there I have set the ark, ^win which is the covenant of the Lord that he made with the people of Israel.”

Solomon’s Prayer of Dedication

12 Then Solomon stood before the altar of the Lord in the presence of all the assembly of Israel and spread out his hands. 13 ^xSolomon had made a bronze platform five cubits² long, five cubits wide, and three cubits high, and had set it in the court, and he stood on it. ^yThen he knelt on his knees in the presence of all the assembly of Israel, and spread out his hands toward heaven, 14 and said, “O Lord, God of Israel, ^zthere is no God like you, in heaven or on earth, ^akeeping covenant and showing steadfast love to your servants who walk before you with all their heart, 15 ^bwho have kept with your servant David my father what you declared to him. You spoke with your mouth, and with your hand have fulfilled it this day. 16 Now therefore, O Lord, God of Israel, keep for your servant David my father what you have promised him, saying, ^c‘You shall not lack a man to sit before me on the throne of Israel, ^dif only your sons pay close attention to their way, to walk in my law as you have walked before me.’ 17 Now therefore, O Lord, God of Israel, let your word be confirmed, which you have spoken to your servant David.

18 “But will God indeed dwell with man on the earth? Behold, ^eheaven and the highest heaven cannot contain you, how much less this house that I have built! 19 Yet have regard to the prayer of your servant and to his plea, O Lord my God, listening to the cry and to the prayer that your servant prays before you, 20 ^fthat your eyes may be open day and night toward this house, the place where you have promised to set your name, that you may listen to the prayer that your servant offers toward this place. 21 And listen to the pleas of your servant and of your people Israel, when they pray toward this place. And listen from heaven your dwelling place, ^gand when you hear, forgive.

22 “If a man sins against his neighbor and is made to take an oath and comes and swears his oath before your altar in this house, 23 then hear from heaven and act and judge your servants, repaying the guilty by bringing his conduct on his own head, and vindicating the righteous by rewarding him according to his righteousness.

24 “If your people Israel are defeated before the enemy because they have sinned against you, and they turn again and acknowledge your name and pray and plead with you in this house, 25 ^gthen hear from heaven and forgive the sin of your people Israel and bring them again to the land that you gave to them and to their fathers.

26 ^h“When heaven is shut up and there is no rain because they have sinned against you, if they pray toward this place and acknowledge your name and turn from their sin, when you afflict³ them, 27 ^gthen hear in heaven and forgive the sin of your servants, your people Israel, when you teach them the good way⁴ in which they should walk, and grant rain upon your land, which you have given to your people as an inheritance.

28 ⁱ“If there is famine in the land, if there is pestilence or blight or mildew or locust or caterpillar, if their enemies besiege them in the land at their gates, whatever plague, whatever sickness there is, 29 whatever prayer, whatever plea is made by any man or by all your people Israel, each knowing his own affliction and his own sorrow and stretching out his hands toward this house, 30 ^gthen hear from heaven your dwelling place and forgive and render to each whose heart you know, according to all his ways, ^jfor you, you only, know the hearts of the children of mankind, 31 that they may fear you and walk in your ways all the days that they live in the land that you gave to our fathers.

32 “Likewise, when a foreigner, who is not of your people Israel, comes from a far country for the sake of your great name and your mighty hand and your outstretched arm, when he comes and prays toward this house, 33 hear from heaven your dwelling place and do according to all for which the foreigner calls to you, in order that all the peoples of the earth may know your name and fear you, as do your people Israel, and that they may know that this house ^kthat I have built is called by your name.

34 “If your people go out to battle against their enemies, by whatever way you shall send them, and they pray to you toward this city that you have chosen and the house that I have built for your name, 35 then hear from heaven their prayer and their plea, and maintain their cause.

36 “If they sin against you—^lfor there is no one who does not sin—and you are angry with them and give them to an enemy, so that they are carried away captive to a land far or near, 37 yet if they turn their heart in the land to which they have been carried captive, and repent and plead with you in the land of their captivity, saying, ‘We have sinned and have acted perversely and wickedly,’ 38 if they repent with all their heart and with all their soul in the land of their captivity to which they were carried captive, and pray toward their land, which you gave to their fathers, the city that you have chosen and the house that I have built for your name, 39 then hear from heaven your dwelling place their prayer and their pleas, and maintain their cause and forgive your people who have sinned against you. 40 Now, O my God, ^mlet your eyes be open ⁿand your ears attentive to the prayer of this place.

Fire from Heaven

1 ^tAs soon as Solomon finished his prayer, ^ufire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices, ^vand the glory of the Lord filled the temple. 2 And the priests could not enter the house of the Lord, because the glory of the Lord filled the Lord’s house. 3 When all the people of Israel saw the fire come down and the glory of the Lord on the temple, they bowed down with their faces to the ground on the pavement and worshiped and gave thanks to the Lord, saying, “For he is good, ^wfor his steadfast love endures forever.”

The Dedication of the Temple

4 ^xThen the king and all the people offered sacrifice before the Lord. 5 King Solomon offered as a sacrifice 22,000 oxen and 120,000 sheep. So the king and all the people dedicated the house of God. 6 The priests stood at their posts; ^ythe Levites also, with the instruments for music to the Lord that King David had made for giving thanks to the Lord—^wfor his steadfast love endures forever—whenever David offered praises by their ministry;^{5 z}opposite them the priests sounded trumpets, and all Israel stood.

7 ^aAnd Solomon consecrated the middle of the court that was before the house of the Lord, for there he offered the burnt offering and the fat of the peace offerings, because the bronze altar Solomon had made could not hold the burnt offering and the grain offering and the fat.

8 At that time Solomon held the feast for seven days, and all Israel with him, a very great assembly, from ^bLebo-hamath to the ^cBrook of Egypt. 9 And on the eighth day they held a solemn assembly, for they had kept the dedication of the altar seven days and the feast seven days. 10 On the twenty-third day of the seventh month he sent the people away to their homes, joyful and glad of heart for the prosperity⁶ that the Lord had granted to David and to Solomon and to Israel his people.

If My People Pray

11 ^dThus Solomon finished the house of the Lord and the king’s house. All that Solomon had planned to do in the house of the Lord and in his own house he successfully accomplished. 12 Then the Lord appeared to Solomon in the night and said to him: “I have heard your prayer ^eand have chosen this place for myself as a house of sacrifice. 13 ^fWhen I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command the locust to devour the land, or send pestilence among my people, 14 if my people who are called by my name ^ghumble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land. 15 ^hNow my eyes will be open and my ears attentive to the prayer that is made in this place. 16 ^eFor now I have chosen and consecrated this house that my name may be there forever. My eyes and my heart will be there for all time. 17 And as for you, if you will walk before me as David your father walked, doing according to all that I have commanded you and keeping my statutes and my rules, 18 then I will establish your royal throne, as I covenanted with David your father, saying, ⁱ‘You shall not lack a man to rule Israel.’

19 ^j“But if you⁷ turn aside and forsake my statutes and my commandments that I have set before you, and go and serve other gods and worship them, 20 ^kthen I will pluck you⁸ up from my land that I have given you, and this house that I have consecrated for my name, I will cast out of my sight, and I will make it ^la proverb and a byword among all peoples. 21 And at this house, which was exalted, everyone passing by will be astonished and say, ^m‘Why has the Lord done thus to this land and to this house?’ 22 Then they will say, ‘Because they abandoned the Lord, the God of their fathers who brought them out of the land of Egypt, and laid hold on other gods and worshiped them and served them. Therefore he has brought all this disaster on them.’”

My Help Comes from the Lord

A Song of ^mAscents.

Some Will Depart from the Faith

1 Now ^xthe Spirit expressly says that ^yin later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to ^zdeceitful spirits and teachings of demons, 2 through the insincerity of ^aliars whose consciences are seared, 3 ^bwho forbid marriage and ^crequire abstinence from foods ^dthat God created ^eto be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth. 4 For ^feverything created by God is good, and ^gnothing is to be rejected if it is ^ereceived with thanksgiving, 5 for it is made holy ^hby the word of God and prayer.

A Good Servant of Christ Jesus

6 ⁱIf you put these things before the brothers,¹ you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus, being trained in the words of the faith and of the good doctrine that you have ^jfollowed. 7 Have nothing to do with irreverent, ^ksilly myths. Rather ^ltrain yourself for godliness; 8 for while ^mbodily training is of some value, godliness ⁿis of value in every way, as ^oit holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come. 9 The saying is ^ptrustworthy and deserving of full acceptance. 10 For to this end we toil and strive,² because we have our hope set on the living God, ^qwho is the Savior of all people, especially of those who believe.

11 Command and teach ^rthese things. 12 ^sLet no one despise you for your youth, but set the believers ^tan example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity. 13 Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation, to teaching. 14 ^uDo not neglect the gift you have, which was given you ^vby prophecy when the council of elders ^wlaid their hands on you. 15 Practice these things, immerse yourself in them,³ so that ^xall may see your progress. 16 ^yKeep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching. Persist in this, for by so doing you will save ^zboth yourself and ^ayour hearers.