Commentaria in III Regum
Chapter 8. Synopsis of the Chapter
The dedication of the temple, in which Solomon prays to God that He would hear those who pray in it, or toward it.
1. Then all the ancients of Israel with the princes of the tribes, and the heads of the families of the children of Israel, were assembled to king Solomon in Jerusalem, to bring the ark of the covenant of the Lord, out of the city of David, which is Sion. 2. And all Israel assembled themselves unto king Solomon, in the month of Ethanim, on the festival day, which is the seventh month. 3. And all the ancients of Israel came, and the priests took up the ark, 4. And they carried the ark of the Lord, and the tabernacle of the covenant, and all the vessels of the sanctuary, that were in the tabernacle; and the priests and Levites carried them. 5. And king Solomon, and all the multitude of Israel, that were assembled unto him, went before the ark, and sacrificed sheep and oxen without number. 6. And the priests brought in the ark of the covenant of the Lord into its place, into the oracle of the temple, into the Holy of Holies, under the wings of the cherubims. 7. For the cherubims spread their wings over the place of the ark, and covered the ark and the staves thereof above. 8. And whereas the staves stood out, the ends of them were seen without the sanctuary before the oracle, but were not seen farther out; and there they have been unto this day. 9. Now there was nothing else in the ark, but 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. 10. And it came to pass when the priests were come out of the sanctuary, that a cloud filled the house of the Lord, 11. And the priests could not stand and minister by reason of the cloud: for the glory of the Lord had filled the house of the Lord. 12. Then Solomon said: The Lord said that he would dwell in a cloud. 13. Building I have built a house for thy dwelling, a most firm throne for thee for ever. 14. And the king turned his face, and blessed all the assembly of Israel: for all the assembly of Israel stood. 15. And he said: Blessed be the Lord the God of Israel, who spoke with his mouth to David my father, and with his hands hath fulfilled it, saying: 16. From the day that I brought my people Israel out of Egypt, I chose no city out of all the tribes of Israel, to build a house, that my name might be there: but I chose David to be over my people Israel. 17. And David my father had it in his mind to build a house to the name of the Lord the God of Israel. 18. And the Lord said to David my father: Whereas thou hast thought in thy heart to build a house to my name, thou hast done well in having this same thing in thy mind. 19. Nevertheless thou shalt not build me a house: but thy son, who shall come forth from thy loins, he shall build a house to my name. 20. The Lord hath fulfilled his word which he spoke: and I am risen up in the room of David my father, and I sit upon the throne of Israel, as the Lord spoke: and I have built a house to the name of the Lord the God of Israel. 21. And I have appointed there a place for the ark, wherein the covenant of the Lord is, which he made with our fathers, when they came out of the land of Egypt. 22. And Solomon stood before the altar of the Lord in the sight of the assembly of Israel, and spread forth his hands towards heaven, 23. And said: O Lord God of Israel, there is no God like thee in heaven above, or on the earth beneath: who keepest covenant and mercy with thy servants, that walk before thee with all their heart. 24. Who hast kept with thy servant David my father what thou hast promised him: with thy mouth thou didst speak, and with thy hands thou hast performed, as this day proveth. 25. Now therefore, O Lord God of Israel, keep with thy servant David my father, what thou hast promised him, saying: There shall not fail thee a man before me, to sit upon the throne of Israel: yet so that thy children take heed to their ways, and walk before me as thou hast walked in my sight. 26. And now, O Lord God of Israel, let thy words be established, which thou hast spoken to thy servant David my father. 27. Is it then to be thought that God should indeed dwell upon earth? for if heaven, and the heavens of heavens cannot contain thee, how much less this house which I have built? 28. But have regard to the prayer of thy servant, and to his supplication, O Lord my God: hear the hymn and the prayer which thy servant prayeth before thee this day: 29. That thy eyes may be open upon this house night and day: upon the house of which thou hast said: My name shall be there: that thou mayest hearken to the prayer which thy servant prayeth to thee in this place: 30. That thou mayest hearken to the supplication of thy servant, and of thy people Israel, whatsoever they shall pray for in this place, and hear in the place of thy dwelling in heaven; and when thou hearest, thou wilt forgive. 31. If any man sin against his neighbour, and have an oath upon him wherewith he is bound, and come because of the oath before thy altar into thy house: 32. Then hear thou in heaven: and do, and judge thy servants, condemning the wicked, and bringing his way upon his own head: and justifying the just, and rendering to him according to his justice. 33. If thy people Israel flee before their enemies (for they will sin against thee) and doing penance, and confessing to thy name, come and pray and make supplication to thee in this house, 34. Then hear thou in heaven, and forgive the sin of thy people Israel: and bring them back into the land which thou gavest to their fathers. 35. If the heaven be shut up, and there be no rain, because of their sins, and they pray in this place, and do penance to thy name, and be converted from their sins by reason of their affliction, 36. Hear them in heaven, and forgive the sins of thy servants, and of thy people Israel: and shew them the good way wherein they may walk: and give rain upon thy land, which thou hast given to thy people in possession. 37. If a famine arise in the land, or a pestilence, or corrupt air, or blasting, or locust, or mildew, and if his enemy afflict him, besieging the gates, all plague, all sickness, 38. Every curse and imprecation, that shall happen to any man of thy people Israel: if a man shall know the wound of his own heart, and shall spread forth his hands in this house, 39. Then hear thou in heaven, in the place of thy dwelling, and forgive, and render to every one according to all his ways, which he knoweth in his own heart, (for thou only knowest the hearts of all the children of men,) 40. That they may fear thee all the days that they live upon the face of the land which thou hast given to our fathers. 41. Moreover the stranger also, who is not of thy people Israel, when he shall come out of a far country for thy name’s sake, (for they shall hear everywhere of thy great name, and of thy strong hand, and of thy stretched out arm,) when he shall come then and pray in this place, 43. Hear thou in heaven, in the firmament of thy dwelling place, and do all the things for which that stranger shall call upon thee: that all the people of the earth may learn to fear thy name, as do thy people Israel, and may prove that thy name is invoked upon this house which I have built. 44. If thy people go out to battle against their enemies, by the way that thou shalt send them, they shall pray to thee towards the way of the city which thou hast chosen, and towards the house which I have built to thy name: 45. Then hear thou in heaven their prayers, and their supplications, and do judgment for them. 46. But if they sin against thee, (for there is no man who sinneth not,) and thou be angry with them, and deliver them to their enemies: and they be carried away captives into the land of their enemies, far or near, 47. And if they do penance in their heart, in the place of captivity, and turn, and make supplication to thee in their captivity, saying: We have sinned, we have done unjustly, we have dealt wickedly: 48. And return to thee with all their heart, and with all their soul, in the land of their enemies, to which they were led away captives: and pray to thee towards the way of their land, which thou gavest to their fathers, and of the city which thou hast chosen, and of the temple which I have built to thy name: 49. Then hear thou in heaven, in the firmament of thy throne, their prayers, and their supplications, and do judgment for them: 50. And forgive thy people that have sinned against thee, and all their iniquities, by which they have transgressed against thee: and give them mercy before them that have made them captives, that they may have mercy on them. 51. For they are thy people and thy inheritance, whom thou hast brought out of the land of Egypt, from the midst of the furnace of iron. 52. That thy eyes may be open to the supplication of thy servant, and of thy people Israel, and thou mayest hear them in all for which they shall call upon thee. 53. For thou hast separated them to thyself for an inheritance from all the people of the earth, as thou hast spoken by the hand of Moses thy servant, when thou broughtest our fathers out of Egypt, O Lord God. 54. And it came to pass when Solomon had made an end of praying to the Lord all this prayer and supplication, he rose up from before the altar of the Lord: for he had fastened both knees on the ground, and his hands were spread towards heaven. 55. And he stood and blessed all the assembly of Israel with a loud voice, saying: 56. Blessed be the Lord who hath given rest to his people Israel, according to all that he promised: there hath not failed so much as one word of all the good things which he promised by his servant Moses. 57. The Lord our God be with us, as he was with our fathers, and not leave us, nor cast us off. 58. But let him incline our hearts to himself, that we may walk in all his ways, and keep his commandments, and his ceremonies, and all the judgments which he commanded our fathers. 59. 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 do judgment for his servant, and for his people Israel day by day: 60. That all the people of the earth may know that the Lord is God, and there is none else beside him. 61. Let our heart also be perfect with the Lord our God, to walk in his decrees, and keep his commandments, as at this day. 62. Then the king, and all Israel with him, sacrificed victims before the Lord. 63. And Solomon slew peace offerings, which he offered to the Lord, twenty-two thousand oxen, and one hundred and twenty thousand sheep: and the king and the children of Israel dedicated the temple of the Lord. 64. In that day the king sanctified the middle of the court that was before the house of the Lord: for there he offered the holocaust, and the sacrifice, and the fat of the peace offerings: because the brazen altar that was before the Lord was too little, and could not hold the holocaust, and the sacrifice, and the fat of the peace offerings. 65. And Solomon made at that time a solemn feast, and all Israel with him, a great multitude, from the entrance of Emath unto the river of Egypt, before the Lord our God, seven days and seven days, that is, fourteen days. 66. And on the eighth day he dismissed the people: and they blessed the king, and went to their dwellings rejoicing, and glad in heart for all the good things that the Lord had done for David his servant, and for Israel his people.