The House of God Is Set Apart for God

7 When Solomon had finished praying, fire came down from heaven and burned up the burnt gift and gifts of worship. And the shining-greatness of the Lord filled the house. ² The religious leaders could not go into the house of the Lord because it was filled with the Lord’s shining-greatness. ³ All the people of Israel saw the fire come down and the shining-greatness of the Lord upon the house. So they bowed their faces to the ground and worshiped. They gave thanks to the Lord, saying, “He is good. For His loving-kindness lasts forever.”

⁴ Then the king and all the people gave gifts to the Lord. ⁵ King Solomon gave a gift of 22,000 cattle and 120,000 sheep. So the king and all the people set apart the house of God. ⁶ The religious leaders stood in their places while the Levites were praising the Lord using objects King David had made. They were playing, “For His loving-kindness lasts forever.” As the religious leaders blew horns on the other side, all Israel stood.

⁷ Then Solomon set apart the center of the open space in front of the Lord’s house. There he gave the burnt gifts and the fat of the peace gifts. The brass altar Solomon had made could not hold the burnt gift, the grain gift and the fat.

⁸ At that time Solomon gave the special supper for seven days, and all Israel with him. Many people were there. They had come from the gate of Hamath to the river of Egypt. ⁹ On the eighth day they gathered together for a special time. For seven days they had to set apart the altar, and for seven days they had the special supper. ¹⁰ On the twenty-third day of the seventh month Solomon sent the people to their tents. They were full of joy and happy in their heart for the good that the Lord had shown to David and Solomon and His people Israel.

God Comes to Solomon Again

¹¹ Solomon finished the house of the Lord and the king’s house. All that Solomon had planned to do in the Lord’s house and in his own house was well done. ¹² Then the Lord came to Solomon during the night and said to him, “I have heard your prayer. And I have chosen this place for Myself as a house of gifts given in worship. ¹³ If I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, and if I tell the locust to destroy the land, or send disease upon My people, ¹⁴ if My people who are called by My name put away their pride and pray, and look for My face, and turn from their sinful ways, then I will hear from heaven. I will forgive their sin, and will heal their land. ¹⁵ Now My eyes will be open. And My ears will hear the prayer that is made in this place. ¹⁶ For I have chosen this house and have made it holy, that My name may be there forever. My eyes and My heart will always be there. ¹⁷ As for you, if you walk in My ways as your father David walked and do all that I have told you to do and keep My Laws, ¹⁸ then I will make your throne to last as I promised your father David. I said, ‘You will never be without a man to rule Israel.’

¹⁹ “But if you turn away and leave My Laws and My Word which I have given you, if you go and serve other gods and worship them, ²⁰ then I will take you from the land I have given you. And I will turn My eyes away from this house which I have set apart for My name. I will make it so all people speak of it in shame. ²¹ Everyone will look with wonder at this house that was once honored. They will say, ‘Why has the Lord done this to this land and to this house?’ ²² Then they will say, ‘It is because they turned away from the Lord, the God of their fathers, Who brought them out of the land of Egypt. They have taken other gods, and worshiped them and served them. So the Lord has brought all this trouble on them.’”

Some of the Things Solomon Has Done

8 It took Solomon twenty years to build the house of the Lord and his own house. At the end of that time, ² he built again the cities which Huram had given to him. And he had the people of Israel live in them. ³ Then Solomon went to Hamath-zobah, and took it. ⁴ He built Tadmor in the desert and all his store-cities in Hamath. ⁵ He built upper Beth-horon and lower Beth-horon. He made the city strong with walls, gates, and long pieces of iron. ⁶ Solomon built Baalath and all the store-cities he had. He built all the cities for his war-wagons, and the cities for his horsemen. He built whatever he wanted to build in Jerusalem, Lebanon, and in all the land under his rule.

⁷ There were people who were left of the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, who were not of Israel. ⁸ They were the children of those who were left in the land, whom the people of Israel had not destroyed. Solomon made all of these people do hard work, as they do to this day. ⁹ But he did not make the people of Israel do hard work. They were soldiers, leaders, captains of war-wagons, and his horsemen. ¹⁰ These were the head leaders of King Solomon. There were 250 who ruled over the people.

¹¹ Then Solomon brought Pharaoh’s daughter up from the city of David to the house he had built for her. For he said, “My wife should not live in the house of David king of Israel. Because the places are holy where the special box of the Lord has come.”

¹² Then Solomon gave burnt gifts to the Lord on the Lord’s altar which he had built in front of the porch. ¹³ He gave a certain number of gifts every day, as Moses had said should be given. Gifts were given for the Days of Rest, the new moons, and the three special suppers each year. These special suppers were the Special Supper of Bread Without Yeast, the Special Supper of Weeks, and the Special Supper of Tents. ¹⁴ By the law of David his father, Solomon chose the religious leaders for their different duties. He chose the Levites for their duties of praise and helping the religious leaders for each day’s needs. And he chose who should be the gate-keepers at each gate. For David the man of God had said that this must be done. ¹⁵ They did all that the king had said the religious leaders and Levites must do in every duty and with the store-houses.

¹⁶ So all the work of Solomon was done, from the day the house of the Lord was begun until it was finished. So the house of the Lord was built.

¹⁷ Then Solomon went to Ezion-geber and Eloth on the shore of the sea, in the land of Edom. ¹⁸ Huram sent his servants to him with ships and servants who knew the sea. They went to Ophir together with Solomon’s servants to get gold. And they brought gold weighing as much as 450 men from there to King Solomon.