1 Kings 8:12-21

Easy-to-Read Version

¹² Then Solomon said,

¹⁴ Then King Solomon turned toward all the Israelites who were standing there and asked God to bless them. ¹⁵ He prayed this long prayer to the Lord:

“The Lord, the God of Israel, is great. He has done what he promised my father David. He told my father, ¹⁶ ‘I brought my people, Israel, out of Egypt, but I had not yet chosen a city from among the tribes of Israel for a temple to honor me. And I had not chosen a man to be leader over my people, Israel. But now I have chosen Jerusalem to be the city where I will be honored.^[b] And I have chosen David to rule over my people, Israel.’

¹⁷ “My father David wanted very much to build a temple to honor the Lord, the God of Israel. ¹⁸ But the Lord said to my father, ‘I know that you want very much to build a temple to honor me, and it is good that you want to build it. ¹⁹ But you are not the one to build my temple. Your son will build my temple.’

²⁰ “So the Lord has kept his promises. I am the king now in place of my father David. I rule the people of Israel as the Lord promised. And I have built the Temple for the Lord, the God of Israel. ²¹ I have made a place in the Temple for the Holy Box. Inside that Holy Box is the agreement that the Lord made with our ancestors when he brought them out of Egypt.”