The glory of the Lord fills the temple
1 When King Solomon had finished his prayer, fire came down from heaven. It destroyed the burnt offerings and the other sacrifices. The Lord's bright glory filled the temple. 2 The priests could not go into the Lord's temple because the Lord's glory had completely filled it. 3 All the Israelites saw the fire come down. They also saw the Lord's glory above the temple. They went down on their knees on the flat stones of the yard, with their faces towards the ground. They worshipped the Lord and they thanked him. They said, ‘He is good. His faithful love continues for ever.’
4 Then the king and all the people offered sacrifices to the Lord. 5 King Solomon offered 22,000 cows and 120,000 sheep and goats as sacrifices. In this way the king and all the people offered the temple as a gift to God. 6 The priests and the Levites stood in their places. The Levites held the musical instruments that King David had made to thank the Lord. They sang these words to praise the Lord: ‘His faithful love continues for ever.’ The priests stood on the other side and they made music with their trumpets. All the Israelites were standing up while this was happening.
7 On the same day, Solomon gave to the Lord the yard that was in front of the temple. He offered burnt offerings and grain offerings to the Lord. He also offered the fat from the friendship offerings there. The bronze altar that Solomon had made was too small to contain all these offerings, so he made these sacrifices in the middle of the yard instead.
8 At that time, Solomon and the big crowd of Israelites who were with him had a festival for seven days. There were people from everywhere in Israel, from Hamath in the north to the Stream of Egypt in the south. 9 On the day after the festival, they all met together. For seven days, they had given offerings to make the altar holy for God. For another seven days, they had enjoyed the festival. 10 Then Solomon sent the people away to their homes. That was on the 23rd day of the seventh month. The people were very happy and full of joy because the Lord had done many good things for King David, for King Solomon and for his people, the Israelites.
7:8People came to the temple from everywhere in Israel. Lebo-Hamath was in the far north of Israel. The Stream of Egypt was the border on the south of Israel.
