Chapter 7
1 When Solomon had ended his prayer, fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices, after which the glory of the Lord filled the temple. 2 The priests could not enter the house of the Lord because the glory of the Lord had filled it.
3 When all the Israelites beheld the fire descending and the glory of the Lord upon the temple, they bowed down upon the pavement with their faces to the ground. Then they worshiped and gave thanks to the Lord, saying:
“For he is good,
for his mercy endures forever.”
4 Then the king and all the people offered sacrifices before the Lord. 5 King Solomon offered as a sacrifice twenty-two thousand oxen and one hundred and twenty thousand sheep. Thus the king and all the people dedicated the house of God.
The Dedication. 6 The priests stood at their appointed posts, as did the Levites, with the musical instruments for the Lord that King David had made for giving thanks to the Lord—for his love endures forever—whenever David used them to offer praise to their accompaniment. Opposite them the priests sounded their trumpets while all the Israelites stood.[a]
7 Then Solomon consecrated the middle part of the court that lay in front of the house of the Lord. There he presented the burnt offerings and the fatty portions of the shared offerings because the bronze altar which he had made could not hold the burnt offering and the grain offering and the fatty parts.
8 After that Solomon, and all Israel with him, a massive congregation, from Lebo-hamath to the Wadi of Egypt, celebrated the festival for seven days. 9 On the eighth day they held a solemn assembly, inasmuch as they had celebrated the dedication of the altar for seven days.
10 On the twenty-third day of the seventh month, Solomon sent the people back to their homes rejoicing and happy in heart because of all the wonderful things that the Lord had granted to David, to Solomon, and to his people Israel. 11 Solomon had completed the house of the Lord and the royal palace. Everything that he had been determined to accomplish in the house of the Lord and in his own house had been successfully completed.
12 God’s Warning to Solomon. Then the Lord appeared to Solomon during the night and said to him: “I have heard your prayer, and I have chosen this place for myself as a house of sacrifice. 13 When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command the locusts to devour the land, or send a pestilence to overcome my people, 14 and if then my people who bear my name humble themselves and pray to me and seek my presence as they turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear them from heaven and forgive their sins and restore their land.
15 “Then my eyes will be open and my ears will be attentive to the prayers that are offered in this place. 16 For now I have chosen and consecrated this house so that my name may be there forever and my eyes and my heart shall constantly be there.
17 “As for you, if you on your part live in my presence as your father David lived, doing everything that I have commanded you and observing my laws and my decrees, 18 then I will establish your royal throne, as I promised by a covenant with your father David when I said: ‘You shall never lack a male successor of yours to rule over Israel.’
19 “However, if you turn away and forsake my laws and my commandments which I have laid down for you, and then proceed to serve other gods and worship them, 20 then I will uproot the people from the land which I have given them. I will cast from my sight this temple which I have consecrated for my name, cast it out of my sight, and make it a byword and an object of ridicule for all people.
21 “And in regard to this temple that was once so exalted, everyone who passes by it will be appalled at the sight and ask: ‘Why has the Lord allowed this to happen[b] to this land and to this house?’ 22 Then others will reply: ‘Because the people abandoned the Lord, the God of their fathers, who brought them out of the land of Egypt. Instead, they adopted other gods, whom they worshiped and served. That is why the Lord has brought all these disasters upon them.’ ”
Footnotes
- 2 Chronicles 7:6 The reference to the Psalms is clear. But on this point see the introduction to the Book of Psalms.
- 2 Chronicles 7:21 Allowed this to happen: it’s easier to accept that God punishes those who commit sinful acts, but thousands of years later good people continue to grapple with the question of unmerited hardship and random violence. Even Solomon’s wisdom does not provide the answer to God’s allowing will. Only faith will suffice.