1Solomon finished praying. Then fire came down from heaven. It burned the burnt offering and the sacrifices. The glory of the LORD filled the temple.2The priests couldn’t enter the temple of the LORD because his glory filled it.3All the Israelites saw the fire coming down. They saw the glory of the LORD above the temple. So they got down on their knees in the courtyard with their faces towards the ground. They worshipped the LORD. They gave thanks to him and said, ‘The LORD is good. His faithful love continues for ever.’4Then the king and all the people offered sacrifices to the LORD.5King Solomon sacrificed 22,000 oxen and 120,000 sheep and goats. So the king and all the people set the temple of God apart.6The priests and Levites took their positions. The Levites played the LORD’s musical instruments. King David had made them for praising the LORD. They were used when he gave thanks to the LORD. He said, ‘His faithful love continues for ever.’ Opposite where the Levites were, the priests blew their trumpets. All the people of Israel were standing.7Solomon set the middle area of the courtyard apart to the LORD. It was in front of the LORD’s temple. There Solomon sacrificed burnt offerings. He also sacrificed the fat of the friendship offerings there. He did it there because the bronze altar he had made couldn’t hold it all. It couldn’t hold the burnt offerings, the grain offerings and the fat parts.8At that time Solomon celebrated the Feast of Booths for seven days. The whole community of Israel was with him. It was a huge crowd. People came from as far away as Lebo Hamath and the Wadi of Egypt.9On the eighth day they held a special service. For seven days they had celebrated by setting the altar apart to honour God. The feast continued for seven more days.10Then Solomon sent the people home. It was the 23rd day of the seventh month. The people were glad. Their hearts were full of joy. That’s because the LORD had done good things for David and Solomon and his people Israel.
The Lordappears to Solomon
11Solomon finished the LORD’s temple and the royal palace. He had done everything he had planned to do in the LORD’s temple and his own palace.12The LORD appeared to him at night. The LORD said, ‘I have heard your prayer. I have chosen this place for myself. It is a temple where sacrifices will be offered.13‘Suppose I close up the sky and there isn’t any rain. Suppose I command locusts to eat up the crops. And I send a plague among my people.14But they make themselves humble in my sight. They pray and look to me. And they turn from their evil ways. Then I will listen to them from heaven. I will forgive their sin. And I will heal their land. After all, they are my people.15Now my eyes will see them. My ears will pay attention to the prayers they offer in this place.16I have chosen this temple. I have set it apart for myself. My Name will be there for ever. My eyes and my heart will always be there.17‘But you must walk faithfully with me, just as your father David did. Do everything I command you to do. Obey my rules and laws.18Then I will set up your royal throne. I made a covenant with your father David to do that. I said to him, “You will always have a son from your family line to rule over Israel.”19‘But suppose all of you turn away from me. You refuse to obey the rules and commands I have given you. And you go off to serve other gods and worship them.20Then I will remove Israel from my land. It is the land I gave them. I will turn my back on this temple. I will do it even though I have set it apart for my Name to be there. I will make all the nations hate it. They will laugh and joke about it.21This temple will become a pile of stones. All those who pass by it will be shocked. They will say, “Why has the LORD done a thing like this to this land and temple?”22People will answer, “Because they have deserted the LORD. He is the God of their people who lived long ago. He brought them out of Egypt. But they have been holding on to other gods. They’ve been worshipping them. They’ve been serving them. That’s why the LORD has brought all this horrible trouble on them.” ’
2 Chronicles 7
English Standard Version
Fire from Heaven
1As soon as Solomon finished his prayer, fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices, and the glory of the Lord filled the temple. (Le 9:24; 1Ki 8:54; 1Ki 18:38; 1Ch 21:26; 2Ch 5:13)2And the priests could not enter the house of the Lord, because the glory of the Lord filled the Lord’s house.3When all the people of Israel saw the fire come down and the glory of the Lord on the temple, they bowed down with their faces to the ground on the pavement and worshiped and gave thanks to the Lord, saying, “For he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever.” (2Ch 5:13)
The Dedication of the Temple
4Then the king and all the people offered sacrifice before the Lord. (1Ki 8:62; 1Ki 8:63)5King Solomon offered as a sacrifice 22,000 oxen and 120,000 sheep. So the king and all the people dedicated the house of God.6The priests stood at their posts; the Levites also, with the instruments for music to the Lord that King David had made for giving thanks to the Lord—for his steadfast love endures forever—whenever David offered praises by their ministry;[1] opposite them the priests sounded trumpets, and all Israel stood. (1Ch 15:16; 2Ch 5:12; 2Ch 7:3)7And Solomon consecrated the middle of the court that was before the house of the Lord, for there he offered the burnt offering and the fat of the peace offerings, because the bronze altar Solomon had made could not hold the burnt offering and the grain offering and the fat. (1Ki 8:64)8At that time Solomon held the feast for seven days, and all Israel with him, a very great assembly, from Lebo-hamath to the Brook of Egypt. (Nu 34:5; Nu 34:8)9And on the eighth day they held a solemn assembly, for they had kept the dedication of the altar seven days and the feast seven days.10On the twenty-third day of the seventh month he sent the people away to their homes, joyful and glad of heart for the prosperity[2] that the Lord had granted to David and to Solomon and to Israel his people.
If My People Pray
11Thus Solomon finished the house of the Lord and the king’s house. All that Solomon had planned to do in the house of the Lord and in his own house he successfully accomplished. (1Ki 9:1)12Then the Lord appeared to Solomon in the night and said to him: “I have heard your prayer and have chosen this place for myself as a house of sacrifice. (De 12:5)13When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command the locust to devour the land, or send pestilence among my people, (2Ch 6:26; 2Ch 6:28)14if 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 forgive their sin and heal their land. (2Ch 12:7)15Now my eyes will be open and my ears attentive to the prayer that is made in this place. (2Ch 6:40)16For now I have chosen and consecrated this house that my name may be there forever. My eyes and my heart will be there for all time. (2Ch 7:12)17And as for you, if you will walk before me as David your father walked, doing according to all that I have commanded you and keeping my statutes and my rules,18then I will establish your royal throne, as I covenanted with David your father, saying, ‘You shall not lack a man to rule Israel.’ (1Ki 8:25; 2Ch 6:16)19“But if you[3] turn aside and forsake my statutes and my commandments that I have set before you, and go and serve other gods and worship them, (Le 26:14; De 28:15)20then I will pluck you[4] up from my land that I have given you, and this house that I have consecrated for my name, I will cast out of my sight, and I will make it a proverb and a byword among all peoples. (De 28:37; De 29:28)21And at this house, which was exalted, everyone passing by will be astonished and say, ‘Why has the Lord done thus to this land and to this house?’ (De 29:24; Jer 22:8)22Then they will say, ‘Because they abandoned the Lord, the God of their fathers who brought them out of the land of Egypt, and laid hold on other gods and worshiped them and served them. Therefore he has brought all this disaster on them.’”