8:62 The king and all Israel with him were presenting sacrifices to the Lord. 8:63 Solomon offered as peace offerings 2 to the Lord 22,000 cattle and 120,000 sheep. Then the king and all the Israelites dedicated the Lord’s temple. 8:64 That day the king consecrated the middle of the courtyard that is in front of the Lord’s temple. He offered there burnt sacrifices, grain offerings, and the fat from the peace offerings, because the bronze altar that stood before the Lord was too small to hold all these offerings. 3 8:65 At that time Solomon and all Israel with him celebrated a festival before the Lord our God for two entire weeks. This great assembly included people from all over the land, from Lebo Hamath in the north to the Brook of Egypt 4 in the south. 5
6:16 The people 17 of Israel – the priests, the Levites, and the rest of the exiles 18 – observed the dedication of this temple of God with joy. 6:17 For the dedication of this temple of God they offered one hundred bulls, two hundred rams, four hundred lambs, and twelve male goats for the sin of all Israel, according to the number of the tribes of Israel.
1 tn Heb “And King Solomon and all the assembly of Israel, those who had been gathered to him, [were] before the ark, sacrificing sheep and cattle which could not be counted or numbered because of the abundance.”
2 tn Or “tokens of peace”; NIV, TEV “fellowship offerings.”
3 tn Heb “to hold the burnt sacrifices, grain offerings, and the fat of the peace offerings.”
4 tn Or “the Wadi of Egypt” (NAB, NIV, NRSV); CEV “the Egyptian Gorge.”
5 tn Heb “Solomon held at that time the festival, and all Israel was with him, a great assembly from Lebo Hamath to the Brook of Egypt, before the
6 sn The festival. This was the Feast of Tabernacles, see Lev 23:34.
7 sn The month Ethanim. This would be September-October in modern reckoning.
8 tn Heb “all of the doors and doorposts.”
9 sn Rectangular in shape. That is, rather than arched.
10 tn Heb “and all the entrances and the doorposts [had] four frames, and in front of opening to opening three times” (the precise meaning of the description is uncertain).
11 tn Heb “a porch of pillars.”
12 tn Heb “fifty cubits.”
13 tn Heb “thirty cubits.”
14 tn Heb “and a porch was in front of them (i.e., the aforementioned pillars) and pillars and a roof in front of them (i.e., the aforementioned pillars and porch).” The precise meaning of the term translated “roof” is uncertain; it occurs only here and in Ezek 41:25-26.
15 tn Heb “and a porch for the throne, where he was making judicial decisions, the Porch of Judgment, he made.”
16 tc The Hebrew text reads, “from the floor to the floor.” The second occurrence of the term הַקַּרְקָע (haqqarqa’, “the floor”) is probably an error; one should emend to הַקּוֹרוֹת (haqqorot, “the rafters”). See 6:16.
17 tn Aram “sons of.”
18 tn Aram “sons of the exile.”