2 Chronicles 7

7 ¹When Solomon finished praying, fire fell from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and sacrifices, and our Father's glory filled the house. ²The priests couldn't enter our Father's house, because our Father's glory filled it. ³When all the Israelites saw the fire fall and our Father's glory on the house, they knelt, faces to the ground on the pavement, worshiping and thanking our Father: "He is good; his faithful love endures forever."

⁴Then the king and all the people offered sacrifices before our Father. ⁵King Solomon sacrificed 22,000 oxen and 120,000 sheep; the king and all the people dedicated the house of our Father. ⁶The priests stood at their posts; the Levites stood with the musical instruments for our Father that King David made for giving thanks to our Father—"for his faithful love endures forever"—whenever David praised through the instruments. Opposite them the priests blew the trumpets, and all Israel stood.

⁷Solomon dedicated the courtyard's middle, in front of our Father's house, for there he offered the burnt offerings and fat of the peace offerings, since the bronze altar he had made could not hold the burnt offering, grain offering, and fat.

⁸At that time Solomon kept the feast seven days, and all Israel with him—a vast assembly—from Lebo-hamath to the Brook of Egypt. ⁹On the eighth day they held a closing assembly, having kept the altar's dedication seven days and the feast seven days. ¹⁰On the twenty-third day of the seventh month, he sent the people home, joyful and glad at heart for the goodness our Father showed to David, to Solomon, and to Israel his people.

Our Father Speaks to Solomon

¹¹Solomon finished the house of our Father and the royal palace. Everything Solomon set his heart to do in the house of our Father and his own house, he did successfully.

¹²Then our Father appeared to Solomon at night and said to him: "I have heard your prayer and chosen this place for myself as a house of sacrifice.

¹³"If I shut the skies so no rain falls, or command locusts to devour the land, or send a plague among my children, ¹⁴if my children—who bear my name—humble themselves, pray, seek my face, and turn from their evil ways, I will hear from heaven, forgive their sin, and heal their land. ¹⁵Now my eyes will be open and my ears attentive to the prayer offered in this place. ¹⁶Now I have chosen and dedicated this house, so my name remains there forever; my eyes and heart will be there always.

¹⁷As for you—if you walk before me as David your father walked, doing all I commanded you and keeping my statutes and judgments, ¹⁸then I will confirm your kingdom's throne, as I covenanted with David your father: "A man of yours will always rule over Israel."

¹⁹But if you turn away, abandon my statutes and commands I set before you, and go serve other gods and worship them, ²⁰then I will uproot Israel from my land I gave them, cast from my sight this temple I set apart for my name, and make it an example and taunt among all peoples. ²¹This house, once so exalted, will leave everyone who passes by appalled, saying, "Why did the LORD do this to this land and this house? ²²They will answer, "Because they abandoned the LORD, God of their ancestors, who brought them out of the land of Egypt, and clung to other gods, bowing and serving them — that's why he brought all this disaster on them."