8
The sacred chest was brought to the temple
1 Solomon then summoned to Jerusalem all the leaders of the tribes of Israel and the leaders of the clans. He arranged that Yahweh's Sacred Chest would be brought from Zion Hill, where the City of David was located, to the temple. 2 So all the Israeli leaders came to Solomon during the festival of living in temporary shelters, in October.
3 When the leaders gathered together, the priests lifted up the Sacred Chest 4 and brought it to the temple. The descendants of Levi who assisted the priests helped them to carry to the temple the Sacred Tent and all the sacred things that had been in the tent. 5 Then King Solomon and many of [HYP] the Israeli people gathered in front of the Sacred Chest. They offered very many sacrifices of sheep and oxen. No one was able to count the sacrifices because there were very many.
6 Then the priests carried the Sacred Chest into the temple and put it in the Very Holy Place, under the wings of the statues of the winged creatures. 7 The wings of those statues spread out over the Sacred Chest and over the poles by which it was carried. 8 The poles were very long, and as a result people who were standing at the entrance to the main room of the temple could see the ends of the poles, but the poles could not be seen by people standing anywhere else. Those poles are still there. 9 The only things that were in the Sacred Chest were the two tablets of stone that Moses had put there at Sinai Mountain when Yahweh ◄made an agreement with the people/told the people what he wanted them to do► after they left Egypt.
10 The priests put the Sacred Chest in the temple. When they came out of the temple, suddenly it was filled with a cloud. 11 The presence of Yahweh caused the cloud to shine very brightly, with the result that the priests were not able to enter the temple in order to continue their work.
12 Then Solomon prayed this:
“Yahweh, you have placed the sun in the sky,
but you have decided that you would live in very dark clouds.
13 I have built for you a splendid/magnificent temple,
a place for you to live in forever.”
14 Then, while all the people stood there, the king turned around and faced them, and he asked God to bless them. 15 He said, “Praise Yahweh, the God whom we Israelis worship!. By his own power [MTY] he has done what he promised to my father David. What he promised was this:
16 From the time that I brought my people out of Egypt, I have never chosen any city in Israel in which a temple should be built for my people to worship me there. But I chose you, David, to rule my people.”
17 Then Solomon said, “My father David wanted [IDI] to build a temple in order that we Israeli people could worship Yahweh our God there. 18 But Yahweh said to him, ‘You have wanted to build a temple for me, and what you wanted to do was good, 19 but I do not want you to build it. It is one of your sons, not you but your own son, who will build my [MTY] temple.’
20 And now Yahweh has done what he promised to do. I have become the king of Israel to succeed my father, and I have arranged for this temple to be built for us Israelis to worship Yahweh [MTY], our God, here. 21 I have also provided a place in the temple for the Sacred Chest in which are the two stone tablets on which are written the Ten Commandments of the agreement that Yahweh made with our ancestors when he brought them out of Egypt.”
Solomon's prayer
22 Then Solomon knelt in front of the altar while the Israeli people were watching. He lifted up his arms toward heaven, 23 and he prayed,
“Yahweh, the God whom we Israeli people worship, there is no god like you up in heaven or down here on the earth. You always do for us your people what you have agreed to do. You show us that you faithfully love us who always sincerely do what you tell us to do [IDI].
24 You have done what you promised my father David that you would do. Truly, you promised to do these things for him, and by your power [MTY] you have today caused it all to ◄happen/be fulfilled►.
25 So now, Yahweh the God whom we Israelis worship, I am requesting that you do the other things that you promised my father that you would do. You told him that there would always be some of his descendants who would be kings [MTY] in Israel, if they would conduct their lives as he did. 26 So now, God of us Israeli people, cause everything that you promised to do for my father David, who served you well, to happen.
27 But God, ◄can you live on the earth?/you cannot really live on the earth.► [RHQ] There is not enough space in heaven for you to have enough space to live there. So this temple that I have commanded to be built is certainly too small for you to live in. 28 But Yahweh, my God, I am praying to you this day, and I request that you listen to me and do what I am requesting. 29 I want you to protect [MTY] this temple night and day. This is the place about which you have said, ‘I [MTY] will always be there.’ I request that you listen to me whenever I turn my face toward this temple and pray. 30 I request that when I pray to you and your people pray to you while they turn their faces toward this place, that in your home in heaven you will hear us and forgive us for the sins that we have committed.
31 If people accuse someone of doing something wrong to another person, and they bring him to your altar at this temple and require him to solemnly declare whether he has done that evil deed or not, 32 you listen in heaven, and decide whether he did it or not. Then punish the person who is guilty as he deserves to be punished, and reward the other person by saying that he ◄is innocent/has not done what is wrong►.
33 And when your Israeli people are defeated by their enemies in a battle because they have sinned against you, and if they are taken by their enemies to some distant land, if they repent and turn their faces toward this temple and acknowledge/admit that you [MTY] have justly punished them, and if they humbly pray that you will forgive them, 34 listen to them in heaven, and forgive your Israeli people for the sins that they have committed, and bring them back to this land that you gave to our ancestors.
35 And when you punish your people by preventing rain from falling because your people have sinned against you, if they turn their faces toward this place and admit that you [MTY] have justly punished them, if they repent and humbly pray to you, 36 listen to them in heaven, and forgive your Israeli people for the sins that they have committed, and teach them what kind of behavior they should have. Then send rain on this land that you have given to your people in which they can live permanently.
37 And if there is a famine in this land, or if there is a ◄plague/illness that causes many people to become sick►, or if their crops are destroyed by ◄blight/very hot winds► or by mildew or by locusts or grasshoppers, or if their enemies surround any of their cities in order to attack them, if any of those bad things happen to them, 38 listen to them when they pray. If any of your Israeli people are very sad in their inner beings because they know that they are suffering because they have sinned, and if they lift up their arms toward this temple and pray, 39 listen to them in your home in heaven, and forgive them, and help them. You are the only one who knows what people are thinking [MTY], so act toward each person as he deserves, 40 in order that your people may then have an awesome respect for you, all the years that they live in this land that you gave to our ancestors.
41-42 Also, when someone in another distant country who is not an Israeli hears that you are very great and hears about the great things that you have done [MTY] for your people, if that person comes here to this temple to worship you [MTY] and prays, 43 in your home in heaven, listen to his prayer, and do what he requests you to do. Do that in order that all the people-groups in the world will know you and have an awesome respect for you, like we your Israeli people do. And then they will know that this temple that I have caused to be built belongs to you [MTY] and is where you should be worshiped.
44 And if you send your people to go to fight against their enemies and they pray to you, wherever they are, if they turn their faces toward this city that you have chosen and toward this temple that I have caused to be built for you, 45 listen in heaven to their prayers; listen to what they plead for you to do and assist them.
46 It is true that everyone sins [LIT]. So, if your people sin against you, and you become angry with them, and allow their enemies to defeat them and capture them and take them away to their enemies' land, even if that land is far away, 47 while they are in that land to which they have been taken, if they sincerely repent and plead with you there saying ‘We have sinned and acted very wickedly [DOU],’ 48 if they very truly and sincerely repent, and turn their faces toward this land that you gave to their ancestors, and toward this city that you have chosen to be the place where we should worship you, and toward this temple that I have caused to be built for you, 49 in your home in heaven listen to them as they pray and plead for your help, and assist them. 50 Forgive them for all the sins [DOU] that they have committed against you and cause their enemies to act kindly toward them. 51 Do not forget that the Israelis are your people; they are your special possession; you brought our ancestors out of Egypt where they were greatly suffering as though they were in a blazing furnace.
52 I request that you always listen to [MTY] your Israeli people and to their king, and heed their prayers whenever they call out to you to help them. 53 You chose them from all the other people-groups in the world to belong to you, which is what you told Moses to tell them when you brought our ancestors out of Egypt.”
54 After Solomon had finished praying this and pleading to Yahweh for his help, he stood up in front of the altar where he had been kneeling. He lifted up his arms. 55 Then he asked God to bless all the Israeli people. He prayed loudly, saying,
56 “Praise Yahweh, who has given us his people peace, like he promised that he would do. He has done every one of the good things that he promised to Moses, the man who served him very well. 57 I pray that our God will be with us like he was with our ancestors, and that he will never, never abandon us [DOU]. 58 I pray that he will cause us [SYN] to loyally serve [IDI] him, to conduct our lives as he wants us to, and to obey all his commandments and statutes and laws [DOU] that he gave to our ancestors. 59 I pray that Yahweh our God will never forget these words that I have prayed, pleading for his help; I pray that he will think about them by day and by night. I pray that he will always act mercifully toward us Israeli people and toward our king, giving us the things that we need day by day. 60 If you do that, all the people-groups in the world will know that you, Yahweh, are the only one who is God, and that there is no other one who is God. 61 I pray that you, his people, will always be fully committed/dedicated to Yahweh, and that you will obey all his statutes and commands, like you are doing now.”
Solomon dedicated the temple
62 Then the king and all the Israeli people who were there offered sacrifices to Yahweh. 63 They sacrificed 22,000 cattle and 120,000 sheep to restore fellowship with Yahweh. Then the king and all the people dedicated the temple.
64 On that day, the king also ◄dedicated/set apart► the middle part of the courtyard that was in front of the temple. Then he offered there sacrifices that would be completely burned on the altar, the offerings of grain and the fat of the animals that were sacrificed to restore fellowship with Yahweh. They sacrificed them there because the bronze altar was not big enough for all those sacrifices to be burned on it that day.
65 Then Solomon and all the Israeli people celebrated the festival of living in temporary shelters for seven days. There was a huge crowd of people there, some of whom had come from distant places like Hamath in the far north and the border of Egypt in the far south. 66 On the eighth day, Solomon sent the people to their homes. They all praised him and went home happy because of all the things that Yahweh had done to bless David and his Israeli people.
Note: The Old Testament in this translation is still being worked on, and is in draft form. Updates will be posted at eBible.org/t4t/.