1st Kings — 8
The Ark Brought to the Haykal (Temple)
1 King Shalumah then summoned to Yahushalam the elders of Yashar'AL and all the heads of the tribes, the leaders of the ancestral families of the Yasharalym. They were to bring the Ark of 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄_YAHUAH’s Covenant to the Temple from its location in the City of Daud, also known as Ziun.
2 So all the men of Yashar'AL assembled before King Shalumah at the annual Festival of Shelters, which is held in early autumn.
3 When all the elders of Yashar'AL arrived, the Kuhanym picked up the Ark.
4 The Kuhanym and Lauym brought up the Ark of 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄_YAHUAH along with the special tent and all the sacred items that had been in it.
5 There, before the Ark, King Shalumah and the entire community of Yashar'AL sacrificed so many sheep, goats, and cattle that no one could keep count!
6 Then the Kuhanym carried the Ark of 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄_YAHUAH’s Covenant into the inner sanctuary of the Temple the Most Qadash Place, and placed it beneath the wings of the charubim.
7 The charubim spread their wings over the Ark, forming a canopy over the Ark and its carrying poles.
8 These poles were so long that their ends could be seen from the Qadash Place, which is in front of the Most Qadash Place, but not from the outside. They are still there to this day.
9 Nothing was in the Ark except the two stone tablets that Musha had placed in it at Mount Sinai, where 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄_YAHUAH made a covenant with the children of Yashar'AL when they left the land of Mitzraym.
10 When the Kuhanym came out of the Qadash Place, a thick cloud filled the Temple of 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄_YAHUAH.
11 The Kuhanym could not continue their service because of the cloud, for the Kabad presence of 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄_YAHUAH filled the Temple of 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄_YAHUAH.
Shalumah Praises YAHUAH
12 Then Shalumah prayed, “O 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄_YAHUAH, you have said that you would live in a thick cloud of darkness.
13 Now I have built a Qadash Temple for you, a place where you can live forever!”
14 Then the king turned around to the entire community of Yashar'AL standing before him and gave this Barakah:
15 “Yadah 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄_YAHUAH, the 𐤀𐤋𐤅𐤄_ALUAH of Yashar'AL, who has kept the promise he made to my father Daud. For he told my father,
16 ‘From the day I brought my people Yashar'AL out of Mitzraym, I have never chosen a city among any of the tribes of Yashar'AL as the place where a Temple should be built to honor my name. But I have chosen Daud to be king over my people Yashar'AL.’”
17 Then Shalumah said, “My father Daud, wanted to build this Temple to honor the name of 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄_YAHUAH, the 𐤀𐤋𐤅𐤄_ALUAH of Yashar'AL.
18 But 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄_YAHUAH told him, ‘You wanted to build the Temple to honor my Name. Your intention is good,
19 but you are not the one to do it. One of your own sons will build the Temple to honor me.’
20 “And now 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄_YAHUAH has fulfilled the promise he made, for I have become king in my father’s place, and now I sit on the throne of Yashar'AL, just as 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄_YAHUAH promised, I have built this Temple to honor the Name of 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄_YAHUAH, the 𐤀𐤋𐤅𐤄_ALUAH of Yashar'AL.
21 And I have prepared a place there for the Ark, which contains the covenant that 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄_YAHUAH made with our ancestors when he brought them out of Mitzraym.”
Shalumah’s Prayer of Dedication
22 Then Shalumah stood before the altar of 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄_YAHUAH in front of the entire community of Yashar'AL. He lifted his hands toward Shamaym,
23 and he prayed, “O 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄_YAHUAH, you are the 𐤀𐤋𐤅𐤄_ALUAH of Yashar'AL, there is no 𐤀𐤋𐤅𐤄_ALUAH like you in all of Shamaym above or on the Arath below. You keep your covenant and show unfailing love to all who walk before you in wholehearted devotion.
24 You have kept your promise to your servant Daud, my father. You made that promise with your own mouth, and with your own hands you have fulfilled it today.
25 And now, O 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄_YAHUAH, 𐤀𐤋𐤅𐤄_ALUAH of Yashar'AL, carry out the additional promise you made to your servant Daud, my father. For you said to him, ‘If your descendants guard their behavior and faithfully follow me as you have done, one of them will always sit on the throne of Yashar'AL.’
26 Now, O 𐤀𐤋𐤅𐤄_ALUAH of Yashar'AL, fulfill this promise to your servant Daud, my father.
27 “But will 𐤀𐤋𐤅𐤄_ALUAH really live on Arath? Why, even the highest Shamaym cannot contain you. How much less this Temple I have built!
28 Nevertheless, listen to my prayer and my plea, O 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄_YAHUAH my 𐤀𐤋𐤅𐤄_ALUAH. Hear the cry and the prayer that your servant is making to you today.
29 May you watch over this Temple night and day, this place where you have said, ‘My Name will be there.’ May you always hear the prayers I make toward this place.
30 May you hear the humble and earnest requests from me and your people Yashar'AL when we pray toward this place. Yes, hear us from Shamaym where you live, and when you hear, forgive.
31 “If someone wrongs another person and is required to take an oath of innocence in front of your altar in this Haykal (Temple),
32 then hear from Shamaym and judge between your servants, the accuser and the accused. Punish the guilty as they deserve, and Acquit the innocent because of their innocence.
33 “If your people Yashar'AL are defeated by their enemies because they have sinned against you, and if they turn to you and acknowledge your name and pray to you here in this Temple,
34 then hear from Shamaym and forgive the sin of your people Yashar'AL and return them to this land you gave their ancestors.
35 “If the skies are shut up and there is no rain because your people have sinned against you, and if they pray toward this Temple and acknowledge your Name and turn from their sins because you have punished them,
36 then hear from Shamaym and forgive the sins of your servants, your people Yashar'AL. Teach them to follow the right path, and send rain on your land that you have given to your people as their special possession.
37 “If there is a famine in the land or a plague or crop disease or attacks of locusts or caterpillars, or if the enemies of your people are in the land besieging their towns, whatever disaster or disease there is,
38 and if your people Yashar'AL pray about their troubles, raising their hands toward this Temple,
39 then hear from Shamaym where you live, and forgive. Give your people what their actions deserve, for you alone knows the heart of each man.
40 Then they will fear you as long as they live in the land you gave to our ancestors.
41 “In the future, foreigners who do not belong to your people Yashar'AL will hear of you. They will come from distant lands because of your Name,
42 for they will hear of your great Name and your strong hand and your powerful arm. And when they pray toward this Temple,
43 then hear from Shamaym where you live, and grant what they ask of you. In this way, all the people of the Arath will come to know and fear you, just as your own people Yashar'AL do. They too, will know that this Temple I have built, honors your name.
44 “If your people go out where you send them to fight their enemies, and if they pray to 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄_YAHUAH by turning toward this city you have chosen and toward this Temple I have built to honor your Name,
45 then hear their prayers from Shamaym and uphold their cause.
46 “If they sin against You and who has never sinned? you might become angry with them and let their enemies conquer them and take them captive to their land far away or near.
47 But in that land of exile, they might turn to you in repentance and pray, ‘We have sinned, done evil, and acted wickedly.’
48 If they turn to you with their whole heart and soul in the land of their enemies and pray toward the land you gave to their ancestors, toward this city you have chosen, and toward this Temple I have built to honor your name,
49 then hear their prayers and their petition from Shamaym where you live, and uphold their cause.
50 Forgive your people who have sinned against you. Forgive all the offenses they have committed against you. Make their captors merciful to them,
51 for they are your people, your special possession whom you brought out of the iron-smelting furnace of Mitzraym.
52 “May your eyes be open to my requests and to the requests of your people Yashar'AL. May you hear and answer them whenever they cry out to you.
53 For when you brought our ancestors out of Mitzraym, O 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄_YAHUAH Tsaba'ut, you told your servant Musha that you had set Yashar'AL apart from all the nations of the Arath to be your own special possession.”
The Dedication of the Temple
54 When Shalumah finished making these prayers and petitions to 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄_YAHUAH, he stood up in front of the altar of 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄_YAHUAH, where he had been kneeling with his hands raised toward Shamaym.
55 He stood and in a loud voice Baraked the entire congregation of Yashar'AL:
56 “Yadah (Praise) 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄_YAHUAH who has given rest to his people Yashar'AL, just as he promised. Not one word has failed of all the wonderful promises he gave through his servant Musha.
57 May 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄_YAHUAH our 𐤀𐤋𐤅𐤄_ALUAH be with us as he was with our ancestors; may 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄_YAHUAH never leave us or abandon us.
58 May 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄_YAHUAH give us the desire to do His will in everything and to obey all the commandments, decrees, and regulations that He gave our ancestors.
59 And may these words that I have prayed in the presence of 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄_YAHUAH be before him constantly day and night, so that 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄_YAHUAH our 𐤀𐤋𐤅𐤄_ALUAH may give justice to me and to his people Yashar'AL, according to each day’s needs.
60 Then people all over the Arath will know that 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄_YAHUAH alone is 𐤀𐤋𐤅𐤄_ALUAH and there is no other.
61 And may you be completely faithful to 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄_YAHUAH our 𐤀𐤋𐤅𐤄_ALUAH. May you always obey his decrees and commands, just as you are doing today.”
62 Then the king and all Yashar'AL with him offered sacrifices to 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄_YAHUAH.
63 Shalumah offered to 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄_YAHUAH a Shalum offering of 22,000 cattle and 120,000 sheep and goats. And so the king and all the people of Yashar'AL dedicated the Temple of 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄_YAHUAH.
64 That same day the king consecrated the central area of the courtyard in front of 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄_YAHUAH’s Temple. He offered burnt offerings, grain offerings, and the fat of Shalum offerings there, because the bronze altar in 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄_YAHUAH’s presence was too small to hold all the burnt offerings, grain offerings, and the fat of the Shalum offerings.
65 Then Shalumah and all Yashar'AL celebrated the Festival of Shelters in the presence of 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄_YAHUAH our 𐤀𐤋𐤅𐤄_ALUAH. A large congregation had gathered from as far away as Labu-hamath in the north and the Brook of Mitzraym in the south. The celebration went on for fourteen days in all, seven days for the dedication of the altar and seven days for the Festival of Shelters.
66 After the festival was over, Shalumah sent the people home. They Baraked the king and went to their homes joyful and glad because 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄_YAHUAH had been good to his servant Daud and to his people Yashar'AL.