1 When Solomon finished praying, fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offerings and the other sacrifices, and Jehovah’s glory filled the Temple.

2 The priests could not go into Jehovah’s Temple because Jehovah’s glory had filled it.

3 When all the Israelites saw the fire come down and Jehovah’s glory on the Temple, they knelt down with their faces on the pavement. They worshiped and praised Jehovah. They said: »He is good; his mercy lovingkindness endures forever.«

4 Then the king and all the people offered sacrifices to Jehovah.

5 King Solomon offered twenty-two thousand cattle and one hundred and twenty thousand sheep as sacrifices to Jehovah. Thus the king and all the people dedicated God’s Temple.

6 The priests were standing at their posts. So were the Levites who had Jehovah’s musical instruments that King David made for praising Jehovah. They were saying: »his mercy endures forever.« This he used to offer praise. The priests were opposite the Levites blowing trumpets while all Israel was standing there.

7 Solomon designated the courtyard in front of Jehovah’s Temple as a holy place. He sacrificed the burnt offerings, grain offerings, and the fat because the copper altar that he had made and that was in front of Jehovah was not able to hold all of them.

8 Then Solomon and all Israel celebrated the Festival of Booths. A very large crowd came from the territory between the border of Hamath and the River of Egypt.

9 There was an assembly on the eighth day. They observed the dedication of the altar for seven days and celebrated the festival for another seven days.

10 Solomon dismissed the people to their tents on the twenty-third day of the seventh month. They rejoiced with cheerful hearts for all the blessings Jehovah had given David, Solomon, and his people Israel.

11 Solomon finished Jehovah’s Temple and the royal palace and completed everything he had in mind for Jehovah’s Temple and his own palace.

12 JEHOVAH APPEARED TO SOLOMON THAT NIGHT. He said to Solomon: »I have heard your prayer and have chosen this place for myself as a Temple for sacrifices.

13 »I may shut the sky so that there is no rain, or command grasshoppers to devour the countryside, or send an epidemic among my people.

14 »However, if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves, pray, search for me, and turn from their evil ways, I will hear their prayer from heaven, forgive their sins, and heal their country.

15 »My eyes will be open! My ears will pay attention to the prayers offered at this place.

16 »I have chosen and declared this Temple holy so that my name may be placed there forever. My eyes and my heart will always be there.

17 »If you will be faithful to me as your father David was, do everything I command, and obey my laws and rules,

18 »I will establish your royal dynasty just as I said in a promise to your father David, when I said: ‘You will never fail to have an heir ruling over Israel.’«

19 »On the other hand, if you and your descendants turn away from me and abandon my commandments and laws that I gave you, and follow and serve other gods and worship them,

20 »I will uproot Israel from the land I gave them. I will reject this Temple that I declared holy for my name. I will make it an example and an object of ridicule for all the people of the world.

21 »Everyone passing by this impressive Temple will be appalled. They will ask: Why did Jehovah do these things to this land and to this Temple?

22 »They will answer their own question: ‘They abandoned Jehovah the God of their ancestors, who brought them out of Egypt. They adopted other gods, worshiped, and served them. That is why he brought this disaster on them.’«