1st Kings 8:1-54

¹Then all the greater men in birth in Israel, with the princes of the lineages, and the dukes of the meines of the sons of Israel, were gathered to king Solomon, into Jerusalem, that they should bear the ark of the bond of peace of the Lord from the city of David, that is, from Zion.

²And all Israel came together to king Solomon in the month of Ethanim, that is September, in the solemn day; which is the seventh month.

³And all the eld men of Israel came; and the priests took the ark,

⁴and they bare the ark of the Lord, and the tabernacle of the bond of peace, and all the vessels of the saintuary, that were in the tabernacle; and the priests and deacons bare those or them.

⁵And king Solomon, and all the multitude of Israel, that came together to him, went with him before the ark; and they offered sheep and oxen, without guessing and number.

⁶And the priests brought the ark of the bond of peace of the Lord into his place, into God’s answering place of the temple, into the holy of holy things, under the wings of the cherubims or cherubim.

⁷And the cherubims or cherubim spreaded forth their wings over the place of the ark; and they covered the ark, and the bars thereof above.

⁸And when the bars stood forth, and the highness of those or them appeared without the saintuary, before God’s answering place, those bars appeared no further withoutforth; the which bars also were there unto this present day.

⁹And in the ark was none other thing, no but the two tables of stone, which Moses in Horeb had put in the ark, when the Lord made bond of peace with the sons of Israel, when they went out of the land of Egypt.

¹⁰And it was done when the priests had gone out of the saintuary, a cloud filled the house of the Lord;

¹¹and the priests might not stand and minister, for the cloud; for why the glory of the Lord had filled the house of the Lord.

¹²Then Solomon said, The Lord said, that he would dwell in a cloud or a mist.

¹³I building have builded an house into thy dwelling place, into thy most steadfast throne without end.

¹⁴And the king turned his face, and blessed all the church in Israel; for all the church of Israel stood.

¹⁵And Solomon said, Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, that spake with his mouth to David, my father, and performed it in his hands, and said,

¹⁶From the day in which I led my people Israel out of Egypt, I chose not a city of all the lineages of Israel, that an house should be builded, and my name should be there; but I chose David, that he should be over my people Israel.

¹⁷And David, my father, would build or would have builded an house to the name of the Lord God of Israel.

¹⁸And the Lord said to David, my father, That thou thoughtest in thine heart to build an house to my name, thou didest well, treating this same thing in thy soul;

¹⁹nevertheless thou shalt not build an house to me, but thy son, that shall go out of thy reins, he shall build an house to my name.

²⁰The Lord hath now confirmed his word, that he spake; and I stood for David, my father, and I sat upon the throne of Israel, as the Lord spake; and I have builded an house to the name of the Lord God of Israel.

²¹And I have ordained there a place of the ark, in which ark the bond of peace of the Lord is, which he smote with our fathers, when they went out of the land of Egypt.

²²And Solomon stood before the altar of the Lord, in the sight of the church of Israel; and he held forth his hands against heaven,

²³and said, Lord God of Israel, no God in heaven above, neither on earth beneath, is like thee, which keepest covenant and mercy to thy servants, that go before thee in all their heart;

²⁴and thou keepest to David, my father, thy servant, those things which thou hast spoken to him; by mouth thou hast spoken it, and by hands thou hast fulfilled it, as this day proveth.

²⁵Now therefore, Lord God of Israel, keep thou to thy servant David, my father, those things which thou spakest to him, and saidest, A man of thee shall not be taken away from before me, which man shall sit on the throne of Israel, so nevertheless if thy sons keep thy way, that they go before me, as thou wentest in my sight.

²⁶And now, Lord God of Israel, thy words be made steadfast, which thou spakest to thy servant David, my father.

²⁷Therefore whether it is to guess, that God dwelleth verily on earth; for if heaven, and heaven of heavens be not able to take thee, how much more this house, that I have builded to thee.

²⁸But, my Lord God, behold thou to the prayer of thy servant, and to the beseechings of him; hear thou the hymn, either praising, and the prayer, which thy servant prayeth before thee today;

²⁹that thine eyes be opened on this house by night and day, on the house of which thou saidest, My name shall be there; that thou hear the prayer, which thy servant prayeth to thee in this place;

³⁰that thou hear the beseeching of thy servant, and of thy people Israel, whatever thing he prayeth in this place, and hear thou in the place of thy dwelling in heaven; and when thou hast heard, thou shalt be merciful.

³¹If a man sinneth against a man, and hath any oath, by which he is holden bound, and cometh for the oath into thine house, before thine altar,

³²thou shalt hear in heaven, and thou shalt do, and thou shalt deem thy servants; and thou shalt condemn the wicked man, and shalt yield his way on his head, and thou shalt justify the just or rightwise man, and shalt yield to him after his rightfulness or rightwiseness.

³³If thy people Israel fleeth his enemies, for he shall do sin to thee, and they do penance, or repent their sin, and acknowledge to thy great name, and come, and worship, and beseech thee in this house,

³⁴hear thou in heaven, and forgive thou the sin of thy people Israel; and thou shalt lead them again into the land, which thou hast given to the fathers of them.

³⁵If heaven is closed, and it raineth not for the sins of them, and they pray in this place, and do penance to thy name, and be converted, or altogether turned, from their sins for their torment,

³⁶hear thou them in heaven, and forgive thou the sins of thy servants, and of thy people Israel, and show thou to them a good way, by which they shall go, and give thou rain to them upon the land, which thou hast given to them into possession.

³⁷If hunger riseth in the land, either pestilence is, either corrupt air is, either rust, either locust, either mildew, and if his enemy tormenteth him, and besiegeth the gates of him, and bringeth in all wound, all sickness,

³⁸all cursing, and all wishing of evil, that befalleth to each man of thy people Israel, if any man knoweth the wound of his heart, and holdeth forth his hands in this house,

³⁹thou shalt hear in heaven, in the place of thy dwelling, and thou shalt do mercy, and thou shalt do that thou give to each man after all his ways, as thou seest his heart; for thou alone knowest the heart of all the sons of men,

⁴⁰that they dread thee in all days in which they live on the face of the land, which thou hast given to our fathers.

⁴¹Furthermore and when an alien, that is not of thy people Israel, cometh from a far land for thy name;

⁴²for thy great name, and thy strong hand, and thine arm stretched out, shall be heard everywhere; therefore when he cometh, and prayeth in this place,

⁴³thou shalt hear in heaven, in the firmament of thy dwelling place, and thou shalt do all things, for which the alien calleth thee; that all peoples of lands learn to dread thy name, as thy people Israel doeth, and prove they, that thy name is called on this house, which I have builded.

⁴⁴If thy people goeth out to battle against his enemies, by the way whither ever thou sendest them, they shall pray thee against the way of the city which thou hast chosen, and over against the house that I have builded to thy name,

⁴⁵and thou shalt hear in heaven the prayers of them, and the beseechings of them, and thou shalt make the doom of them.

⁴⁶That if they sin to thee, for no man is that sinneth not, and thou art wroth, and betakest them to their enemies, and they be led prisoners into the land of enemies, far either nigh,

⁴⁷and they do penance in their heart in the place of their imprisoning, and be converted, or altogether turned, and beseech in their imprisoning, and say, We have sinned, we have done wickedly, we have done unfaithfully;

⁴⁸and they turn again to thee in all their heart, and in all their soul, in the land of their enemies, to which they be led prisoners, and they pray thee over against the way of their land, which thou hast given to their fathers, and of the city which thou hast chosen, and of the temple which I have builded to thy name,

⁴⁹thou shalt hear in heaven, in the firmament of thy seat, the prayers of them, and the beseechings of them, and thou shalt make the doom of them;

⁵⁰and thou shalt be merciful to thy people, that have sinned to thee, and to all the wickednesses, by which they have trespassed against thee; and thou shalt do mercy before those men, that had them prisoners, that those men do mercy to them.

⁵¹For it is thy people, and thine heritage, which thou leddest out of the land of Egypt, from the midst of the iron furnace;

⁵²that thine eyes be open to the beseeching of thy servant, and of thy people Israel; and thou shalt hear them in all things, for which they call thee.

⁵³For thou hast separated them to thee into thine heritage from all the peoples of the earth, as thou spakest by Moses, thy servant, when thou, Lord God, leddest our fathers out of Egypt.

⁵⁴Forsooth it was done, when Solomon, praying the Lord, had filled all this prayer and beseeching, he rose up from the sight of the altar of the Lord; for he had set fast ever either knee to the earth, and he had held forth his hands to heaven.