1 Kings 8:22-28

Solomon Prays for Israel

8:22 Solomon stood before the altar of the Lord in front of the entire assembly of Israel and spread out his hands toward the sky. ¹  8:23 He prayed: ²  “O Lord, God of Israel, there is no god like you in heaven above or on earth below! You maintain covenantal loyalty ³  to your servants who obey you with sincerity. ⁴  8:24 You have kept your word to your servant, my father David; ⁵  this very day you have fulfilled what you promised. ⁶  8:25 Now, O Lord, God of Israel, keep the promise you made to your servant, my father David, when you said, ‘You will never fail to have a successor ruling before me on the throne of Israel, ⁷  provided that your descendants watch their step and serve me as you have done.’ ⁸  8:26 Now, O God of Israel, may the promise you made ⁹  to your servant, my father David, be realized. ¹⁰ 

8:27 “God does not really live on the earth! ¹¹  Look, if the sky and the highest heaven cannot contain you, how much less this temple I have built! 8:28 But respond favorably to ¹²  your servant’s prayer and his request for help, O Lord my God. Answer ¹³  the desperate prayer ¹⁴  your servant is presenting to you ¹⁵  today.

[8:22]  ¹ tn Or “heaven.”

[8:23]  ² tn Heb “said.”

[8:23]  ³ tn Heb “one who keeps the covenant and the loyal love.” The expression is a hendiadys.

[8:23]  ⁴ tn Heb “who walk before you with all their heart.”

[8:24]  ³ tn Heb “[you] who kept to your servant David my father that which you spoke to him.”

[8:24]  ⁴ tn Heb “you spoke by your mouth and by your hand you fulfilled, as this day.”

[8:25]  ⁴ tn Heb “there will not be cut off from you a man from before me sitting on the throne of Israel.”

[8:25]  ⁵ tn Heb “guard their way by walking before me as you have walked before me.”

[8:26]  ⁵ tn Heb “the words that you spoke.”

[8:26]  ⁶ tn Or “prove to be reliable.”

[8:27]  ⁶ tn Heb “Indeed, can God really live on the earth?” The rhetorical question expects the answer, “Of course not,” the force of which the translation above seeks to reflect.

[8:28]  ⁷ tn Heb “turn to.”

[8:28]  ⁸ tn Heb “by listening to.”

[8:28]  ⁹ tn Heb “the loud cry and the prayer.”

[8:28]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “praying before you.”