2 Chronicles 7

The Dedication of the Temple

1 When Solomon finished praying, fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices, and the glory of the Lord filled the temple.2 The priests could not enter the temple of the Lord because the glory of the Lord filled it.

3 When all the Israelites saw the fire coming down and the glory of the Lord above the temple, they knelt on the pavement with their faces to the ground, and they worshiped and gave thanks to the Lord, saying,
“He is good;
his love endures forever.” 4 Then the king and all the people offered sacrifices before the Lord.5 And King Solomon offered a sacrifice of twenty-two thousand head of cattle and a hundred and twenty thousand sheep and goats. So the king and all the people dedicated the temple of God.

6 The priests took their positions, as did the Levites with the Lord's musical instruments, which King David had made for praising the Lord and which were used when he gave thanks, saying, “His love endures forever.” Opposite the Levites, the priests blew their trumpets, and all the Israelites were standing.

7 Solomon consecrated the middle part of the courtyard in front of the temple of the Lord, and there he offered burnt offerings and the fat of the fellowship offerings, because the bronze altar he had made could not hold the burnt offerings, the grain offerings and the fat portions.
8 So Solomon observed the festival at that time for seven days, and all Israel with him—a vast assembly, people from Lebo Hamath to the Wadi of Egypt.9 On the eighth day they held an assembly, for they had celebrated the dedication of the altar for seven days and the festival for seven days more.

10 On the twenty-third day of the seventh month he sent the people to their homes, joyful and glad in heart for the good things the Lord had done for David and Solomon and for his people Israel.

The Lord Appears to Solomon

11 When Solomon had finished the temple of the Lord and the royal palace, and had succeeded in carrying out all he had in mind to do in the temple of the Lord and in his own palace,

12 the Lord appeared to him at night and said:

“I have heard your prayer and have chosen this place for myself as a temple for sacrifices.
13 “When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command locusts to devour the land or send a plague among my people,14 if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.15 Now my eyes will be open and my ears attentive to the prayers offered in this place.

16 I have chosen and consecrated this temple so that my Name may be there forever. My eyes and my heart will always be there.
17 “As for you, if you walk before me as David your father did, and do all I command, and observe my decrees and laws,

18 I will establish your royal throne, as I covenanted with David your father when I said, ‘You shall never fail to have a man to rule over Israel.’
19 “But if you turn away and forsake the decrees and commands I have given you and go off to serve other gods and worship them,20 then I will uproot Israel from my land, which I have given them, and will reject this temple I have consecrated for my Name. I will make it a byword and an object of ridicule among all peoples.21 And though this temple is now so imposing, all who pass by will be appalled and say, ‘Why has the Lord done such a thing to this land and to this temple?’

22 People will answer, ‘Because they have forsaken the Lord, the God of their fathers, who brought them out of Egypt, and have embraced other gods, worshiping and serving them—that is why he brought all this disaster on them.’ ”

2 CHRONICLES 7

Solomon Dedicates //the Temple

(1 Kings 8.62-66)

1  t As soon as Solomon finished praying, fire came down from heaven and burned up the offerings. The [Lord]'s dazzling glory then filled the temple,

2 and the priests could not go in.

3  t When the crowd of people saw the fire and the [Lord]'s glory, they knelt down and worshiped the [Lord]. They prayed:
“The [Lord] is good,
and his love never ends.”
4-5 Solomon and the people dedicated the temple to the [Lord] by sacrificing 22,000 cattle and 120,000 sheep.

6 Everybody stood up during the ceremony. The priests were in their assigned places, blowing their trumpets. And the Levites faced them, playing the musical instruments that David had made for them to use when they praised the [Lord] for his never-ending love.

7 On that same day, Solomon dedicated the courtyard in front of the temple and got it ready to be used for worship. The bronze altar he had made was too small, so he used the courtyard to offer sacrifices to please the [Lord]t and grain sacrifices, and also to send up in smoke the fat from the other offerings.
8 For 7 days, Solomon and the crowd celebrated the Festival of Shelters, and people came from as far away as the Egyptian Gorge in the south and Lebo-Hamath in the north. 9 Then on the next day, everyone came together for worship. They had celebrated a total of 14 days, 7 days for the dedication of the altar and 7 more days for the festival.

10 Then on the twenty-third day of the seventh month, t Solomon sent everyone home. They left very happy because of all the good things the [Lord] had done for David and Solomon, and for his people Israel.

The [Lord] Appears //to Solomon Again

(1 Kings 9.1-9)

11 The [Lord]'s temple and Solomon's palace were now finished. In fact, everything Solomon had planned to do was completed.

12 Some time later, the [Lord] appeared to Solomon in a dream and said:
I heard your prayer, and I have chosen this temple as the place where sacrifices will be offered to me.
13 Suppose I hold back the rain or send locustst to eat the crops or make my people suffer with deadly diseases. 14 If my own people will humbly pray and turn back to me and stop sinning, then I will answer them from heaven. I will forgive them and make their land fertile once again. 15 I will hear the prayers made in this temple,

16 because it belongs to me, and this is where I will be worshiped forever. I will never stop watching over it.
17 Your father David obeyed me, and now, Solomon, you must do the same. Obey my laws and teachings,

18 t and I will keep my solemn promise to him that someone from your family will always be king of Israel.
19 But if you or any of the people of Israel disobey my laws or start worshiping foreign gods, 20 I will pull you out of this land I gave you. I will desert this temple where I said I would be worshiped, so that people everywhere will think it is only a joke and will make fun of it. 21 This temple is now magnificent. But when these things happen, everyone who walks by it will be shocked and will ask, “Why did the [Lord] do such a terrible thing to his people and to this temple?” 22 Then they will answer, “It was because the people of Israel rejected the [Lord] their God, who rescued their ancestors from Egypt, and they started worshiping other gods.”