1 Kings 8

About 1 Kings 1 Kings follows Solomon's reign and temple, then the split of the kingdom and the prophet Elijah.

Then Solomon assembled the elders of Israel, and all the heads of the tribes, the chief of the fathers of the children of Israel, unto king Solomon in Jerusalem, that they might bring up the ark of the covenant of the LORD out of the city of David, which is Zion.Selected1 Kings 8:1Ask

And all the men of Israel assembled themselves unto king Solomon at the feast in the month Ethanim, which is the seventh month.Selected1 Kings 8:2Ask

And all the elders of Israel came, and the priests took up the ark.Selected1 Kings 8:3Ask

And they brought up the ark of the LORD, and the tabernacle of the congregation, and all the holy vessels that were in the tabernacle, even those did the priests and the Levites bring up.Selected1 Kings 8:4Ask

And king Solomon, and all the congregation of Israel, that were assembled unto him, were with him before the ark, sacrificing sheep and oxen, that could not be told nor numbered for multitude.Selected1 Kings 8:5Ask

And the priests brought in the ark of the covenant of the LORD unto his place, into the oracle of the house, to the most holy place, even under the wings of the cherubims.Selected1 Kings 8:6Ask

For the cherubims spread forth their two wings over the place of the ark, and the cherubims covered the ark and the staves thereof above.Selected1 Kings 8:7Ask

And they drew out the staves, that the ends of the staves were seen out in the holy place before the oracle, and they were not seen without: and there they are unto this day.Selected1 Kings 8:8Ask

There was nothing in the ark save the two tables of stone, which Moses put there at Horeb, when the LORD made a covenant with the children of Israel, when they came out of the land of Egypt.Selected1 Kings 8:9Ask

And it came to pass, when the priests were come out of the holy place, that the cloud filled the house of the LORD,Selected1 Kings 8:10Ask

So that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud: for the glory of the LORD had filled the house of the LORD.Selected1 Kings 8:11Ask

Then spake Solomon, The LORD said that he would dwell in the thick darkness.Selected1 Kings 8:12Ask

I have surely built thee an house to dwell in, a settled place for thee to abide in for ever.Selected1 Kings 8:13Ask

And the king turned his face about, and blessed all the congregation of Israel: (and all the congregation of Israel stood;)Selected1 Kings 8:14Ask

And he said, Blessed be the LORD God of Israel, which spake with his mouth unto David my father, and hath with his hand fulfilled it, saying,Selected1 Kings 8:15Ask

Since the day that I brought forth my people Israel out of Egypt, I chose no city out of all the tribes of Israel to build an house, that my name might be therein; but I chose David to be over my people Israel.Selected1 Kings 8:16Ask

And it was in the heart of David my father to build an house for the name of the LORD God of Israel.Selected1 Kings 8:17Ask

And the LORD said unto David my father, Whereas it was in thine heart to build an house unto my name, thou didst well that it was in thine heart.Selected1 Kings 8:18Ask

Nevertheless thou shalt not build the house; but thy son that shall come forth out of thy loins, he shall build the house unto my name.Selected1 Kings 8:19Ask

And the LORD hath performed his word that he spake, and I am risen up in the room of David my father, and sit on the throne of Israel, as the LORD promised, and have built an house for the name of the LORD God of Israel.Selected1 Kings 8:20Ask

And I have set there a place for the ark, wherein is the covenant of the LORD, which he made with our fathers, when he brought them out of the land of Egypt.Selected1 Kings 8:21Ask

And Solomon stood before the altar of the LORD in the presence of all the congregation of Israel, and spread forth his hands toward heaven:Selected1 Kings 8:22Ask

And he said, LORD God of Israel, there is no God like thee, in heaven above, or on earth beneath, who keepest covenant and mercy with thy servants that walk before thee with all their heart:Selected1 Kings 8:23Ask

Who hast kept with thy servant David my father that thou promisedst him: thou spakest also with thy mouth, and hast fulfilled it with thine hand, as it is this day.Selected1 Kings 8:24Ask

Therefore now, LORD God of Israel, keep with thy servant David my father that thou promisedst him, saying, There shall not fail thee a man in my sight to sit on the throne of Israel; so that thy children take heed to their way, that they walk before me as thou hast walked before me.Selected1 Kings 8:25Ask

And now, O God of Israel, let thy word, I pray thee, be verified, which thou spakest unto thy servant David my father.Selected1 Kings 8:26Ask

But will God indeed dwell on the earth? behold, the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain thee; how much less this house that I have builded?Selected1 Kings 8:27Ask

Yet have thou respect unto the prayer of thy servant, and to his supplication, O LORD my God, to hearken unto the cry and to the prayer, which thy servant prayeth before thee to day:Selected1 Kings 8:28Ask

That thine eyes may be open toward this house night and day, even toward the place of which thou hast said, My name shall be there: that thou mayest hearken unto the prayer which thy servant shall make toward this place.Selected1 Kings 8:29Ask

And hearken thou to the supplication of thy servant, and of thy people Israel, when they shall pray toward this place: and hear thou in heaven thy dwelling place: and when thou hearest, forgive.Selected1 Kings 8:30Ask

If any man trespass against his neighbour, and an oath be laid upon him to cause him to swear, and the oath come before thine altar in this house:Selected1 Kings 8:31Ask

Then hear thou in heaven, and do, and judge thy servants, condemning the wicked, to bring his way upon his head; and justifying the righteous, to give him according to his righteousness.Selected1 Kings 8:32Ask

When thy people Israel be smitten down before the enemy, because they have sinned against thee, and shall turn again to thee, and confess thy name, and pray, and make supplication unto thee in this house:Selected1 Kings 8:33Ask

Then hear thou in heaven, and forgive the sin of thy people Israel, and bring them again unto the land which thou gavest unto their fathers.Selected1 Kings 8:34Ask

When heaven is shut up, and there is no rain, because they have sinned against thee; if they pray toward this place, and confess thy name, and turn from their sin, when thou afflictest them:Selected1 Kings 8:35Ask

Then hear thou in heaven, and forgive the sin of thy servants, and of thy people Israel, that thou teach them the good way wherein they should walk, and give rain upon thy land, which thou hast given to thy people for an inheritance.Selected1 Kings 8:36Ask

If there be in the land famine, if there be pestilence, blasting, mildew, locust, or if there be caterpiller; if their enemy besiege them in the land of their cities; whatsoever plague, whatsoever sickness there be;Selected1 Kings 8:37Ask

What prayer and supplication soever be made by any man, or by all thy people Israel, which shall know every man the plague of his own heart, and spread forth his hands toward this house:Selected1 Kings 8:38Ask

Then hear thou in heaven thy dwelling place, and forgive, and do, and give to every man according to his ways, whose heart thou knowest; (for thou, even thou only, knowest the hearts of all the children of men;)Selected1 Kings 8:39Ask

That they may fear thee all the days that they live in the land which thou gavest unto our fathers.Selected1 Kings 8:40Ask

Moreover concerning a stranger, that is not of thy people Israel, but cometh out of a far country for thy name’s sake;Selected1 Kings 8:41Ask

(For they shall hear of thy great name, and of thy strong hand, and of thy stretched out arm;) when he shall come and pray toward this house;Selected1 Kings 8:42Ask

Hear thou in heaven thy dwelling place, and do according to all that the stranger calleth to thee for: that all people of the earth may know thy name, to fear thee, as do thy people Israel; and that they may know that this house, which I have builded, is called by thy name.Selected1 Kings 8:43Ask

If thy people go out to battle against their enemy, whithersoever thou shalt send them, and shall pray unto the LORD toward the city which thou hast chosen, and toward the house that I have built for thy name:Selected1 Kings 8:44Ask

Then hear thou in heaven their prayer and their supplication, and maintain their cause.Selected1 Kings 8:45Ask

If they sin against thee, (for there is no man that sinneth not,) and thou be angry with them, and deliver them to the enemy, so that they carry them away captives unto the land of the enemy, far or near;Selected1 Kings 8:46Ask

Yet if they shall bethink themselves in the land whither they were carried captives, and repent, and make supplication unto thee in the land of them that carried them captives, saying, We have sinned, and have done perversely, we have committed wickedness;Selected1 Kings 8:47Ask

And so return unto thee with all their heart, and with all their soul, in the land of their enemies, which led them away captive, and pray unto thee toward their land, which thou gavest unto their fathers, the city which thou hast chosen, and the house which I have built for thy name:Selected1 Kings 8:48Ask

Then hear thou their prayer and their supplication in heaven thy dwelling place, and maintain their cause,Selected1 Kings 8:49Ask

And forgive thy people that have sinned against thee, and all their transgressions wherein they have transgressed against thee, and give them compassion before them who carried them captive, that they may have compassion on them:Selected1 Kings 8:50Ask

For they be thy people, and thine inheritance, which thou broughtest forth out of Egypt, from the midst of the furnace of iron:Selected1 Kings 8:51Ask

That thine eyes may be open unto the supplication of thy servant, and unto the supplication of thy people Israel, to hearken unto them in all that they call for unto thee.Selected1 Kings 8:52Ask

For thou didst separate them from among all the people of the earth, to be thine inheritance, as thou spakest by the hand of Moses thy servant, when thou broughtest our fathers out of Egypt, O LORD God.Selected1 Kings 8:53Ask

And it was so, that when Solomon had made an end of praying all this prayer and supplication unto the LORD, he arose from before the altar of the LORD, from kneeling on his knees with his hands spread up to heaven.Selected1 Kings 8:54Ask

And he stood, and blessed all the congregation of Israel with a loud voice, saying,Selected1 Kings 8:55Ask

Blessed be the LORD, that hath given rest unto his people Israel, according to all that he promised: there hath not failed one word of all his good promise, which he promised by the hand of Moses his servant.Selected1 Kings 8:56Ask

The LORD our God be with us, as he was with our fathers: let him not leave us, nor forsake us:Selected1 Kings 8:57Ask

That he may incline our hearts unto him, to walk in all his ways, and to keep his commandments, and his statutes, and his judgments, which he commanded our fathers.Selected1 Kings 8:58Ask

And let these my words, wherewith I have made supplication before the LORD, be nigh unto the LORD our God day and night, that he maintain the cause of his servant, and the cause of his people Israel at all times, as the matter shall require:Selected1 Kings 8:59Ask

That all the people of the earth may know that the LORD is God, and that there is none else.Selected1 Kings 8:60Ask

Let your heart therefore be perfect with the LORD our God, to walk in his statutes, and to keep his commandments, as at this day.Selected1 Kings 8:61Ask

And the king, and all Israel with him, offered sacrifice before the LORD.Selected1 Kings 8:62Ask

And Solomon offered a sacrifice of peace offerings, which he offered unto the LORD, two and twenty thousand oxen, and an hundred and twenty thousand sheep. So the king and all the children of Israel dedicated the house of the LORD.Selected1 Kings 8:63Ask

The same day did the king hallow the middle of the court that was before the house of the LORD: for there he offered burnt offerings, and meat offerings, and the fat of the peace offerings: because the brasen altar that was before the LORD was too little to receive the burnt offerings, and meat offerings, and the fat of the peace offerings.Selected1 Kings 8:64Ask

And at that time Solomon held a feast, and all Israel with him, a great congregation, from the entering in of Hamath unto the river of Egypt, before the LORD our God, seven days and seven days, even fourteen days.Selected1 Kings 8:65Ask

On the eighth day he sent the people away: and they blessed the king, and went unto their tents joyful and glad of heart for all the goodness that the LORD had done for David his servant, and for Israel his people.Selected1 Kings 8:66Ask

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All 22 chapters of 1 Kings

1 Kings 8

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