(Psalm 136:1–26)
1
And at Solomon’s finishing to pray, then the fire has come down from the heavens and consumes the burnt-offering and the sacrifices, and the glory of YHWH has filled the house,
2
and the priests have not been able to go into the house of YHWH, because the glory of YHWH has filled the house of YHWH.
3
And all the sons of Israel are looking on the descending of the fire, and the glory of YHWH on the house, and they bow—faces to the earth—on the pavement, and pay respect, and give thanks to YHWH, [saying], “For [He is] good, for His kindness [is] for all time!”
Sacrifices of Dedication
(1 Kings 8:62–66)
4
And the king and all the people are sacrificing a sacrifice before YHWH,
5
and King Solomon sacrifices the sacrifice: twenty-two thousand of the herd and one hundred and twenty thousand of the flock; and the king and all the people dedicate the house of God.
6
And the priests are standing over their charges, and the Levites with instruments of the song of YHWH that David the king made, to give thanks to YHWH, for His kindness [is] for all time, in David’s praising by their hand—and the priests are blowing trumpets opposite them, and all of Israel is standing.
7
And Solomon sanctifies the middle of the court that [is] before the house of YHWH, for he has made the burnt-offerings and the fat of the peace-offerings there, for the altar of bronze that Solomon made has not been able to contain the burnt-offering, and the present, and the fat.
8
And Solomon makes the celebration at that time [for] seven days, and all Israel with him—a very great assembly—from the entering in of Hamath to the Brook of Egypt.
9
And they make a restraint on the eighth day, because they have made the dedication of the altar [for] seven days, and the celebration [for] seven days.
10
And on the twenty-third day of the seventh month he has sent the people to their tents, rejoicing, and glad in heart, for the goodness that YHWH has done to David, and to Solomon, and to His people Israel.
The LORD’s Response to Solomon
(1 Kings 9:1–9)
11
And Solomon finishes the house of YHWH, and the house of the king; and all that has come on the heart of Solomon to do in the house of YHWH, and in his own house, he has caused to prosper.
12
And YHWH appears to Solomon by night and says to him, “I have heard your prayer, and have fixed on this place for Myself for a house of sacrifice.
13
If I restrain the heavens and there is no rain, and if I lay charge on the locust to consume the land, and if I send pestilence among My people—
14
and My people on whom My Name is called are humbled, and pray, and seek My face, and turn back from their evil ways, then I hear from the heavens, and forgive their sin, and heal their land.
15
Now My eyes are open and My ears attentive to the prayer of this place;
16
and now, I have chosen and sanctified this house for My Name being there for all time; indeed, My eyes and My heart have been there [for] all the days.
17
And you, if you walk before Me as your father David walked, even to do according to all that I have commanded you, and keep My statutes and My judgments—
18
then I have established the throne of your kingdom, as I covenanted with your father David, saying, A man of yours is never cut off [from] ruling in Israel;
19
and if you turn back—you—and have forsaken My statutes and My commands that I have placed before you, and have gone and served other gods, and bowed yourselves to them—then I have plucked them from off My ground that I have given to them,
20
and this house that I have sanctified for My Name, I cast from before My face, and make it for a proverb and for a byword among all the peoples.
21
And this house that has been high is an astonishment to everyone passing by it, and he has said, Why has YHWH done thus to this land and to this house?
22
And they have said, Because that they have forsaken YHWH, God of their fathers, who brought them out from the land of Egypt, and lay hold on other gods, and bow themselves to them, and serve them, therefore He has brought all this calamity on them.”
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