The Ark Enters the Temple
(2 Chronicles 5:1–14)
At that time Solomon assembled before him in Jerusalem the elders of Israel—all the tribal heads and family leaders of the Israelites—to bring up the ark of the covenant of the LORD from Zion, the City of David. 2Ch 5:2-101Ch 15:252Sa 6:12-171Ch 11:71Ch 13:1-51Ch 15:291Ch 15:31Ch 28:1 And all the men of Israel came together to King Solomon at the feast in the seventh month, 1 the month of Ethanim. 2 Lev 23:342Ch 7:8-101Ki 8:652Ch 5:3Deu 16:13Ezr 3:4Jhn 7:2Jhn 7:37
When all the elders of Israel had arrived, the priests took up the ark, Deu 31:9Jos 3:6Jos 3:3Num 4:151Ch 15:11-151Ch 15:22Ch 5:5-8Jos 3:14-15 and they brought up the ark of the LORD and the Tent of Meeting with all its sacred furnishings. So the priests and Levites carried them up. 1Ki 3:42Ch 1:3Exo 40:2-33
There, before the ark, King Solomon and the whole congregation of Israel who had assembled with him sacrificed so many sheep and oxen that they could not be counted or numbered. 2Sa 6:131Ch 16:11Ki 8:62-63
Then the priests brought the ark of the covenant of the LORD to its place in the inner sanctuary of the temple, the Most Holy Place, 3 beneath the wings of the cherubim. 1Ki 6:191Ki 6:272Sa 6:17Exo 26:33-341Ki 8:41Sa 4:42Ch 5:72Sa 6:2 For the cherubim spread their wings over the place of the ark and overshadowed the ark and its poles.
The poles extended far enough that their ends were visible from the Holy Place in front of the inner sanctuary, but not from outside the Holy Place; 4 and they are there to this day. Exo 25:13-15Exo 37:4-52Ch 5:9Exo 40:20Jos 4:9Mat 28:15
There was nothing in the ark except the two stone tablets that Moses had placed in it at Horeb, 5 where the LORD had made a covenant with the Israelites after they had come out of the land of Egypt. Exo 25:21Heb 9:4Exo 40:20Deu 10:2-52Ch 5:102Ch 7:1-3Deu 4:13Exo 34:27-28
And when the priests came out of the Holy Place, the cloud filled the house of the LORD 2Ch 7:1-2Exo 40:34-35 so that the priests could not stand there to minister because of the cloud; for the glory of the LORD filled the house of the LORD. Ezk 43:4-5Ezk 44:42Co 3:182Co 4:6Lev 9:23Ezk 43:2Jhn 1:14Rev 21:23
Solomon Blesses the LORD
(2 Chronicles 6:1–11)
Then Solomon declared: Psa 97:22Ch 6:1-11Lev 16:2Isa 45:15Exo 20:21Psa 18:8-11Deu 5:22Heb 12:18
“The LORD 6has said that He would dwell
in the thick cloud.
I have indeed built You an exalted house, 2Sa 7:13Exo 15:17Heb 9:24Psa 132:13-141Ch 17:121Ch 22:10-111Ch 28:101Ch 28:20
a place for You to dwell forever.”
And as the whole assembly of Israel stood there, the king turned around and blessed them all 2Sa 6:181Ch 16:21Ki 8:55-562Ch 30:18-202Ch 6:32Ch 7:6Jos 22:6Luk 24:50-51 and said: Luk 1:681Ch 29:101Ch 29:20Neh 9:52Ch 6:4Jos 21:45Luk 1:70Psa 115:18
“Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel, who has fulfilled with His own hand what He spoke with His mouth to my father David, saying, ‘Since the day I brought My people Israel out of Egypt, I have not chosen a city from any tribe of Israel in which to build a house so that My Name would be there. But I have chosen David to be over My people Israel.’ 1Sa 16:11Ch 28:41Ki 8:292Sa 7:4-8Deu 12:111Ch 17:5-6Deu 12:5Psa 132:13
Now it was in the heart of my father David to build a house for the Name of the LORD, the God of Israel. 2Sa 7:2-31Ch 17:1-151Ch 22:71Ch 28:2 But the LORD said to my father David, ‘Since it was in your heart to build a house for My Name, you have done well to have this in your heart. 2Ch 6:7-92Co 8:12 Nevertheless, you are not the one to build it; but your son, your own offspring, will build the house for My Name.’ 1Ch 22:8-102Sa 7:51Ch 17:11-121Ch 28:62Sa 7:12-131Ch 17:41Ki 5:3-5
Now the LORD has fulfilled the word that He spoke. I have succeeded my father David, and I sit on the throne of Israel, as the LORD promised. I have built the house for the Name of the LORD, the God of Israel. 1Ch 28:5-61Ki 8:15Ezk 12:25Ezk 37:14Isa 9:7Jer 29:10-11Mic 7:20Neh 9:8 And there I have provided a place for the ark, which contains the covenant of the LORD that He made with our fathers when He brought them out of the land of Egypt.” 1Ki 8:9Deu 31:261Ki 8:5-6Deu 9:11Deu 9:9Exo 34:28
Solomon’s Prayer of Dedication
(2 Chronicles 6:12–42)
Then Solomon stood before the altar of the LORD in front of the whole assembly of Israel, spread out his hands toward heaven, Ezr 9:51Ki 8:54Exo 9:33Exo 9:29Isa 1:151Ti 2:82Ch 6:12-422Ki 11:14 and said: 2Sa 7:22Deu 7:9Dan 9:4Neh 1:51Sa 2:2Neh 9:32Exo 15:11Isa 40:25
“O LORD, God of Israel, there is no God like You in heaven above or on earth below, keeping Your covenant of loving devotion with Your servants who walk before You with all their hearts. You have kept Your promise to Your servant, my father David. What You spoke with Your mouth You have fulfilled with Your hand this day. 2Sa 7:161Ki 8:152Sa 7:122Ch 6:14-15
Therefore now, O LORD, God of Israel, keep for Your servant, my father David, what You promised when You said: ‘You will never fail to have a man to sit before Me on the throne of Israel, if only your descendants guard their way to walk before Me as you have done.’ 1Ki 2:41Ki 9:4-62Ch 6:16-17Jer 33:17-262Sa 7:27-29Luk 1:68-721Ch 17:23-271Ch 28:9 And now, O God of Israel, please confirm what You promised to Your servant, my father David. 2Sa 7:25-291Ki 8:23Isa 41:17Psa 119:49Psa 41:131Sa 1:172Ch 1:9Exo 24:10
But will God indeed dwell upon the earth? Even heaven, the highest heaven, cannot contain You, much less this temple I have built. Isa 66:12Ch 2:6Jer 23:242Ch 6:18Act 7:48-49Psa 139:7-16Deu 10:14Jhn 1:14 Yet regard the prayer and plea of Your servant, O LORD my God, so that You may hear the cry and the prayer that Your servant is praying before You today. Luk 18:12Ch 6:19Dan 9:17-19Luk 18:7Psa 141:2Psa 4:1Psa 5:1Psa 86:3
May Your eyes be open toward this temple night and day, toward the place of which You said, ‘My Name shall be there,’ so that You may hear the prayer that Your servant prays toward this place. 2Ch 6:202Ch 7:15-161Ki 8:16Deu 12:11Neh 1:62Ch 33:42Ch 6:5-62Ki 23:27 Hear the plea of Your servant and of Your people Israel when they pray toward this place. May You hear from heaven, Your dwelling place. May You hear and forgive. 1Ki 8:341Ki 8:361Ki 8:39Dan 9:19Ecc 5:2Isa 57:15Psa 130:3-41Ki 8:43
When a man sins against his neighbor and is required to take an oath, and he comes to take an oath before Your altar in this temple, Exo 22:8-112Ch 6:22-23Lev 5:1Num 5:16-22Pro 30:9 then may You hear from heaven and act. May You judge Your servants, condemning the wicked man by bringing down on his own head what he has done, and justifying the righteous man by rewarding him according to his righteousness. Deu 25:1Exo 34:7Ezk 18:13Ezk 18:20Isa 3:10-11Rom 2:6-10Exo 23:7Ezk 18:30
When Your people Israel are defeated before an enemy because they have sinned against You, and they return to You and confess Your name, praying and pleading with You in this temple, Lev 26:17Deu 28:252Ch 6:24-25Deu 28:48Jon 3:10Lev 26:25Lev 26:39-422Ch 36:14-17 then may You hear from heaven and forgive the sin of Your people Israel. May You restore them to the land You gave to their fathers. Dan 9:191Ki 8:30Amo 7:2Dan 9:12Exo 6:8Ezr 1:1-6Gen 13:15Jer 31:27
When the skies are shut and there is no rain because Your people have sinned against You, and they pray toward this place and confess Your name, and they turn from their sins because You have afflicted them, 1Ki 8:33Deu 11:17Lev 26:192Sa 24:13Luk 4:25Rev 11:61Ki 17:11Ki 8:29-30 then may You hear from heaven and forgive the sin of Your servants, Your people Israel, so that You may teach them the good way in which they should walk. May You send rain on the land that You gave Your people as an inheritance. 1Sa 12:23Psa 27:11Jer 6:161Ki 18:11Ki 18:45Jer 14:22Psa 25:4-5Psa 94:12
When famine or plague comes upon the land, or blight or mildew or locusts or grasshoppers, or when their enemy besieges them in their cities, whatever plague or sickness may come, Deu 28:21-22Lev 26:162Ch 20:9Deu 28:38-421Ch 21:122Ch 6:28-312Ki 6:25-29Deu 28:25 then may whatever prayer or petition Your people Israel make—each knowing his own afflictions and spreading out his hands toward this temple— 1Ki 8:22Amo 7:1-6Php 4:6Psa 73:21-222Ch 20:5-13Isa 1:15Isa 37:15-21Isa 37:4 be heard by You from heaven, Your dwelling place. And may You forgive and act, and repay each man according to all his ways, since You know his heart—for You alone know the hearts of all men— 1Ch 28:9Jer 17:101Sa 16:7Act 1:241Ki 8:321Ki 8:362Ch 6:30Heb 4:12-13 so that they may fear You all the days they live in the land that You gave to our fathers. Psa 130:4Rev 19:51Sa 12:24Act 10:2Deu 6:13Deu 6:2Exo 20:20Gen 22:12
And as for the foreigner who is not of Your people Israel but has come from a distant land because of Your name— 1Ki 10:1-2Act 8:27-40Exo 18:8-12Isa 56:3-72Ch 6:322Ki 5:1-72Ki 5:16-17Act 10:1-4 for they will hear of Your great name and mighty hand and outstretched arm—when he comes and prays toward this temple, Deu 3:242Ch 32:312Ki 17:36Act 8:27Dan 2:47Dan 3:28Dan 4:37Deu 11:2-3 then may You hear from heaven, Your dwelling place, and do according to all for which the foreigner calls to You. Then all the peoples of the earth will know Your name and fear You, as do Your people Israel, and they will know that this house I have built is called by Your Name. 1Sa 17:46Psa 102:15Psa 86:92Ki 19:19Isa 11:9Psa 22:27Psa 67:22Ch 6:33
When Your people go to war against their enemies, wherever You send them, and when they pray to the LORD in the direction of the city You have chosen and the house I have built for Your Name, 2Ch 6:34Psa 78:67-691Ki 8:16Dan 9:17-19Psa 132:13-141Sa 15:181Sa 15:31Sa 30:8 then may You hear from heaven their prayer and their plea, and may You uphold their cause. Gen 18:25Psa 9:4Jer 5:28
When they sin against You—for there is no one who does not sin—and You become angry with them and deliver them to an enemy who takes them as captives to his own land, whether far or near, Ecc 7:20Pro 20:91Jn 1:8-10Isa 53:6Isa 64:6Rom 3:23Psa 130:3Jas 3:2 and when they come to their senses in the land to which they were taken, and they repent and plead with You in the land of their captors, saying, ‘We have sinned and done wrong; we have acted wickedly,’ Psa 106:6Ezr 9:6-7Neh 1:6-11Neh 9:26-302Ch 33:12-13Deu 30:1-2Deu 4:29-31Lev 26:40-45 and when they return to You with all their heart and soul in the land of the enemies who took them captive, and when they pray to You in the direction of the land that You gave to their fathers, the city You have chosen, and the house I have built for Your Name, Dan 6:10Deu 4:29Jer 29:12-141Sa 7:3-4Jon 2:4Neh 1:91Ki 8:29-30Act 8:36 then may You hear from heaven, Your dwelling place, their prayer and petition, and may You uphold their cause. 1Ki 8:452Ki 19:19Zec 1:15-16 May You forgive Your people who have sinned against You and all the transgressions they have committed against You, and may You grant them compassion in the eyes of their captors to show them mercy. Psa 106:462Ch 30:9Act 7:10Dan 1:9-10Ezr 7:27-28Ezr 7:6Neh 1:11Neh 2:4-8
For they are Your people and Your inheritance; You brought them out of Egypt, out of the furnace for iron. Deu 4:20Jer 11:4Neh 1:10Deu 9:26-29Exo 32:11-12Jer 51:19Num 14:13-191Ki 8:53 May Your eyes be open to the pleas of Your servant and of Your people Israel, and may You listen to them whenever they call to You. Psa 145:181Ki 8:29Psa 86:52Ch 6:40 For You, O Lord GOD, as Your inheritance, have set them apart from all the peoples of the earth, as You spoke through Your servant Moses when You brought our fathers out of Egypt.” Exo 19:5-6Deu 14:2Deu 32:91Pe 2:92Co 6:14-18Deu 33:1-3Deu 33:26-29Deu 4:34
Solomon’s Benediction
Now when Solomon had finished praying this entire prayer and petition to the LORD, he got up before the altar of the LORD, where he had been kneeling with his hands spread out toward heaven. 2Ch 6:12-132Ch 7:1Luk 22:45Psa 95:61Ki 8:22Act 20:36Act 21:5Luk 11:1 And he stood and blessed the whole assembly of Israel in a loud voice, saying: 1Ki 8:142Sa 6:18Num 6:23-261Ch 16:2
“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 the good promises He made through His servant Moses. Jos 23:14-15Jos 21:44-451Sa 3:19Luk 21:33Luk 1:72-732Ki 10:10Deu 12:10Deu 3:20
May the LORD our God be with us, as He was with our fathers. May He never leave us nor forsake us. Jos 1:5Deu 31:6Deu 31:8Heb 13:5Jos 1:91Sa 12:221Ch 28:9Mat 1:23 May He incline our hearts to Himself, to walk in all His ways and to keep the commandments and statutes and ordinances He commanded our fathers. Psa 119:36Ezk 36:26-27Jer 31:33Php 2:13Heb 13:21Deu 4:1Deu 4:45Deu 6:1
And may these words with which I have made my petition before the LORD be near to the LORD our God day and night, so that He may uphold the cause of His servant and of His people Israel as each day requires, Jhn 17:9Psa 141:21Jn 2:2Deu 33:25Jhn 17:20-24Luk 11:3Psa 102:1-2 so that all the peoples of the earth may know that the LORD is God. There is no other! Deu 4:351Ki 18:392Ki 19:19Jer 10:10-12Isa 44:6Isa 44:8Isa 45:22Isa 45:5-6
So let your heart be fully devoted to the LORD our God, as it is this day, to walk in His statutes and to keep His commandments.” 1Ki 11:42Ki 20:31Ki 15:141Ki 15:32Co 7:1Deu 18:131Ch 28:9Job 1:8
Sacrifices of Dedication
(2 Chronicles 7:4–10)
Then the king and all Israel with him offered sacrifices before the LORD. 2Sa 6:17-192Ch 7:4-10Ezr 6:16-17 And Solomon offered as peace offerings to the LORD 22,000 oxen and 120,000 sheep. So the king and all the Israelites dedicated the house of the LORD. Ezr 6:16-172Ch 15:11Neh 12:271Ch 29:212Ch 2:42Ch 29:32-352Ch 30:242Ch 35:7-9
On that same day the king consecrated the middle of the courtyard in front of the house of the LORD, and there he offered the burnt offerings, the grain offerings, and the fat of the peace offerings, since the bronze altar before the LORD was too small to contain all these offerings. 2Ch 4:12Ch 7:7
So at that time Solomon and all Israel with him—a great assembly of people from Lebo-hamath to the Brook of Egypt—kept the feast before the LORD our God for seven days and seven more days—fourteen days in all. Num 34:51Ki 8:2Num 34:82Ch 7:8-92Ki 14:25Gen 15:18Jdg 3:3Jos 13:5
On the fifteenth day 7Solomon sent the people away. So they blessed the king and went home, joyful and glad in heart for all the good things that the LORD had done for His servant David and for His people Israel. Act 2:46Deu 12:12Deu 12:7Gal 5:22Php 4:4Zec 9:171Ki 8:11Ki 8:47