The Temple Is Consecrated
2 Chronicles 7, verse 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 house. 2 Chronicles 7, verse 2. And the priests could not enter the house of the Lord at that time because the glory of the Lord had filled the house. 2 Chronicles 7, verse 3. When all the sons of Israel saw the fire come down and the glory of the Lord on the house, they bowed their faces to the ground on the pavement, and worshiped and praised the Lord, saying: “For He is good, For His mercy endures forever.” 2 Chronicles 7, verse 4. Then the king and all the people offered sacrifices before the Lord. 2 Chronicles 7, verse 5. Solomon offered a sacrifice of twenty-two thousand calves and one hundred twenty thousand sheep. So the king and all the people dedicated the house of God. 2 Chronicles 7, verse 6. And the priests stood at their posts along with the Levites and their instruments for the music of the Lord, which King David had made to praise the Lord, saying, “For His mercy endures forever,” with the hymns of David. The priests sounded trumpets opposite them, while all Israel stood. 2 Chronicles 7, verse 7. Solomon consecrated the middle of the court of the house of the Lord. He offered burnt offerings and the fat of the peace offerings, because the bronze altar Solomon made was not able to receive the burnt offerings, the grain offerings, and the fat. 2 Chronicles 7, verse 8. At that time Solomon kept the feast for seven days, and all Israel kept it with him, a very great assembly from the entrance of Hamath to the Brook of Egypt. 2 Chronicles 7, verse 9. And on the eighth day they held a sacred assembly, for they observed the dedication of the altar for seven days. 2 Chronicles 7, verse 10. On the twenty-third day of the seventh month, he sent the people away to their habitations, joyful and glad of heart for the good that the Lord had done for David, for Solomon, and for His people Israel.
God Appears Again to Solomon
2 Chronicles 7, verse 11. So Solomon finished the house of the Lord and the king's house, and Solomon successfully accomplished everything that came into his heart to do in the house of the Lord and in his own house. 2 Chronicles 7, verse 12. Then the Lord appeared to Solomon by night and said to him, “I have heard your prayer and have chosen this place for Myself as a house of sacrifice. 2 Chronicles 7, verse 13. If I shut up heaven and there is no rain, or if I command the locusts to devour the land, or if I send pestilence among My people, 2 Chronicles 7, verse 14. if My people who are called by My name humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will be merciful to their sins and heal their land. 2 Chronicles 7, verse 15. Now My eyes will be open and My ears will hear the prayer of this place; 2 Chronicles 7, verse 16. for now I have chosen and sanctified this house, so that My name may be there forever, and My eyes and My heart will be there all the day. 2 Chronicles 7, verse 17. If you shall walk before Me as your father David and do everything I have commanded you, and will keep My statutes and My judgments; 2 Chronicles 7, verse 18. then I will establish the throne of your kingdom, as I covenanted with David your father, saying, ‘A man ruling in Israel shall not be removed from you.’ 2 Chronicles 7, verse 19. But if you turn away and forsake My statutes and My commandments that I set before you, and go and serve other gods and worship them, 2 Chronicles 7, verse 20. then I will remove you from the land I gave them and I will cast from My sight this house which I have sanctified for My name, and I will make it a parable and a byword among all peoples. 2 Chronicles 7, verse 21. “As to this proud house, everyone who passes will be astonished and say, ‘Why did the Lord do this to this land and this house?’ 2 Chronicles 7, verse 22. Then they will answer, ‘Because they forsook the Lord God of their fathers who brought them out of the land of Egypt, and embraced other gods and worshiped them and served them. That is why He brought all this calamity on them.’”