2 *Chronicles 7

₁When Solomon had finished praying, fire came down from heaven and it burnt the burnt-offering and the other offerings, and the light of the Lord filled the temple. ₂The priests could not come into the temple because the light of the Lord, the King, was shining in the temple. ₃When the Israelites saw the fire coming down and the light of the glory of the Lord above the temple, they knelt down on the ground on the stone floor and bowed with their faces to the ground. They thanked the Lord and said:

₄King Solomon and all the people then gave offerings to God. ₅Solomon sacrificed 22 000 cattle and 120 000 sheep and goats. This is how the king and the people consecrated the temple to the Lord. ₆The priests were standing at their places and the Levites were ready with their musical_instruments to sing to the Lord. King David had told people to make the musical_instruments to thank the Lord and he wanted the Levites to praise the Lord:

The priests were standing in front of the Levites and they blew their trumpets. All of the Israelites were standing. ₇Solomon also consecrated the middle part of the courtyard in front of the temple. He sacrificed the burnt-offerings and the fat of the meal-offerings there. The bronze_altar that Solomon had made was too small to sacrifice all the burnt-offerings, the grain-offerings and the fat on it. ₈Solomon and all the Israelites celebrated for 7 days. There were a lot of people who came from all over the land_of_Israel, as far as the town of Lebo-Hamath to the stream of Egypt. ₉On the 8th day they celebrated a holy feast and worshipped the Lord because they had consecrated the altar for 7 days, and then for 7 days they had celebrated the Feast_of_shelters. ₁₀On the 23rd day of the 7th month Solomon said the people could go home. They were very happy about the good things that the Lord had done for David, Solomon and the people of the Lord, the Israelites.

₁₁Solomon finished building the temple and his palace. He did everything that he had planned for the temple and his palace.

₁₂Then one night the Lord appeared to Solomon and said to him: ‘I heard what you said when you prayed to Me and I have chosen this place to be a temple where people can bring offerings to Me. ₁₃Maybe I will close the heaven and it will not rain, or I will tell the locusts to eat all the wheat in the land, or I will send diseases to my people and a lot of them will die. ₁₄If my people who serve Me will humble themselves and pray and they turn to Me and they stop doing bad things, then I will listen from heaven and I will forgive their sins. I will make their land good and fertile again as it was before. ₁₅I will care for this temple and I will listen when someone prays here. ₁₆I have chosen this temple and I have consecrated it to Myself and it will always belong to Me. I will always care for this temple and I will always remember it.

₁₇And you, Solomon, if you live like your father David lived and you do everything that I tell you, if you do what I want and what I decide, ₁₈then I will always let you and your descendants rule. That is what I promised your father David. I said to him: “One of your descendants will always rule over the Israelites.”

₁₉But if you stop serving Me and you don't do what I want, if you do not obey the commandments that I gave you and you start to serve other gods and you bow before them, ₂₀then I will chase you away from the land that I gave you. I will break down and sweep away this temple that I have consecrated and where I have said I always want to live. Other people will talk about it and they will mock you. ₂₁Yes, this temple that is built so high and beautiful will be in ruins, and everyone who walks past it will be shocked when they see it. They will ask: “Why did God do this? Why did He punish this land and this temple so badly?”

₂₂Then the people will say: “This happened because the Israelites turned away from the Lord, the God of their fathers, the God that saved them from Egypt. They have chosen other gods, and worshipped and served them. This is why the Lord has decided that all these bad things must happen to them.” ’