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Take a breath, find your place, and read deeply. Discover the joy of reading God’s word with the Immerse New Living Translation (NLT) Bible.
This daily Bible podcast will take you through the Bible in a year following the Immerse Bible Reading Experience. So grab your family and small group and go through the Bible in a year together with Immerse. Each of the 6 volumes is available online or at your favorite Christian bookstore.
Emily: Welcome To Immerse: The
Daily Bible Reading Experience.
Day 300 and 38.
Solomon then summoned to Jerusalem,
the elders of Israel and all the
heads of tribes, the leaders of
the ancestral families of Israel.
They were to bring the Ark of the Lord's
covenant to the temple from its location
in the city of David, also known as Zion.
So all the men of Israel assembled
before the king at the Annual Festival of
shelters, which is held in early autumn
when all the elders of Israel arrived.
The Levites picked up the ark.
The priests and Levites brought up
the ark along with the special tent
and all the sacred items that had
been in it there before the Ark.
King Solomon and the entire community of
Israel sacrificed so many sheep, goats,
and cattle that no one could keep count.
Then the priests carried the Ark of the
Lord's covenant into the inner sanctuary
of the temple, the most holy place.
And placed it beneath the
wings of the cherubim.
The cherubim spread their wings
over the ark, forming a canopy over
the ark and its carrying poles.
These poles were so long that their
ends could be seen from the holy
place, which is in front of the most
holy place, but not from the outside.
They are still there to this day.
Nothing was in the ark except the two
stone tablets that Moses had placed in
it at Mount Sinai where the Lord made
a covenant with the people of Israel.
When they left Egypt, then the
priest left the holy place.
All the priests who were present
had purified themselves, whether
or not they were on duty that day.
And the Levites who were
musicians, Asaf, Heman, Judean,
and all their sons and brothers.
Were dressed in fine linen robes and
stood at the east side of the altar
playing symbols, liars and harps.
They were joined by 120 priests
who were playing trumpets.
The trumpeters and singers
performed together in unison to
praise and give thanks to the Lord.
Accompanied by trumpets, symbols,
and other instruments, they
raised their voices and praised
the Lord with these words.
He is good.
His faithful love endures forever.
At that moment, a thick cloud
filled the temple of the Lord.
The priests could not continue
their service because of the cloud.
For the glorious presence of the
Lord filled the temple of God.
Then Solomon prayed.
Oh Lord, you have said that you would
live in a thick cloud of darkness.
Now I have built a
glorious temple for you.
A place where you can live forever.
Then the king turned around to the
entire community of Israel standing
before him and gave this blessing.
Praise the Lord, the God of
Israel, who has kept the promise
he made to my father, David.
For, he told my father from the day
I brought my people out of the land
of Egypt, I have never chosen a city
among any of the tribes of Israel as
the place where a temple should be
built to honor my name, nor have I
chosen a king to lead my people Israel.
But now I have chosen Jerusalem as
the place for my name to be honored.
And I have chosen David to be
king over my people Israel.
Then Solomon said, my father, David
wanted to build this temple to honor
the name of the Lord, the God of Israel.
But the Lord told him you wanted to
build the temple to honor my name.
Your intention is good, but
you are not the one to do it.
One of your own sons will
build the temple to honor me.
Now the Lord has fulfilled
the promise he made for I have
become king in my father's place.
And now I sit on the throne of
Israel, just as the Lord promised.
I have built this temple to honor the
name of the Lord, the God of Israel.
There I have placed the ark, which
contains the covenant that the Lord
made with the people of Israel.
Then Solomon stood before the altar of the
Lord in front of the entire community of
Israel, and he lifted his hands in prayer.
Now, Solomon had made a bronze platform
seven and a half feet long, seven and
a half feet wide, and four and a half
feet high, and had placed it at the
center of the temple's, outer courtyard.
He stood on the platform.
Then he knelt in front of the
entire community of Israel and
lifted his hands toward heaven.
He prayed, oh Lord God of Israel.
There is no God like you
in all of heaven and earth.
You keep your covenant and show
unfailing love to all who walk
before you in wholehearted devotion.
You have kept your promise to
your servant, David, my father.
You made that promise with your
own mouth and with your own hands.
You have fulfilled it today.
And now, oh Lord God of Israel, carry
out the additional promise you made to
your servant David, my father, for you
said to him, if your descendants guard
their behavior and faithfully follow my
law as you have done, one of them will
always sit on the throne of Israel.
Now, oh Lord God of Israel, fulfill
this promise to your servant David.
But will God really live
on earth among people?
Why even the highest
heavens cannot contain you?
How much less this temple I have built?
Nevertheless, listen to
my prayer and my plea.
Oh Lord, my God.
Hear the cry and the prayer that
your servant is making to you.
May you watch over this temple day and
night, this place where you have said you
would put your name, may you always hear
the prayers I make toward this place.
May you hear the humble and earnest
requests from me and your people.
Is Israel when we pray toward this place?
Yes, hear us from heaven where you
live and when you hear, forgive.
If someone wrongs another person and is
required to take an oath of innocence in
front of your altar at this temple, then
hear from heaven and judge between your
servants, the accuser and the accused.
Pay back the guilty as they deserve.
Acquit the innocent
because of their innocence.
If your people, Israel are
defeated by their enemies because
they have sinned against you.
And if they turn back and acknowledge
your name and pray to you here in
this temple, then hear from heaven
and forgive the sin of your people
Israel, and return them to this land
you gave to them and to their ancestors.
I 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.
Then hear from heaven and forgive the sins
of your servants, your people, Israel.
Teach them to follow the right
path and send rain on your land
that you have given to your people
as their special possession.
If there is a famine in the land
or a plague or crop disease, or
attacks of locusts or caterpillars,
or if your people's enemies are in
the land, besieging their towns,
whatever disaster or disease there is.
And if your people Israel, pray about
their troubles or sorrow raising their
hands toward this temple, then hear
from heaven where you live and forgive.
Give your people what their
actions deserve for you alone.
Know each human heart, then they
will fear you and walk in your ways
as long as they live in the land you
gave to our ancestors in the future.
Foreigners who do not belong to your
people, Israel will hear of you.
They will come from distant lands
when they hear of your great name and
your strong hand and your powerful
arm, and when they pray toward this
temple, then hear from heaven where you
live and grant what they ask of you.
In this way, all the people of
the earth will come to know and
fear you just as your own people.
Israel do.
They too will know that this temple
I have built honors your name.
If your people go out where you send
them to fight their enemies, and if
they pray to you by turning toward this
city you have chosen, and toward this
temple I have built to honor your name,
then hear their prayers from heaven
and uphold their cause 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 a
foreign land far away or near.
But in that land of exile, they might
turn to you in repentance and pray.
We have sinned done, evil and acted
wickedly if they turned to you with
their whole heart and soul in the land
of their captivity, 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, then hear their
prayers and their petitions from heaven
where you live and uphold their cause.
Forgive your people who
have sinned against you.
Oh my God, may your eyes be open
and your ears attentive to all the
prayers made to you in this place.
And now arise.
Oh Lord God.
Enter your resting place along with
the ark, the symbol of your power.
May your priests, oh Lord God,
be clothed with salvation.
May your loyal servants
rejoice in your goodness.
Oh Lord God, do not reject the king.
You have anointed.
Remember your unfailing love
for your servant David, when
Solomon finished praying.
Fire flashed down from heaven and
burned up the burnt offerings and
sacrifices, and the glorious presence
of the Lord filled the temple.
The priests could not enter the temple
of the Lord because the glorious
presence of the Lord filled it.
When all the people of Israel saw
the fire coming down and the glorious
presence of the Lord filling the temple,
they fell face down on the ground and
worshiped and praised the Lord saying.
He is good.
His faithful love endures forever.
Then the king and all the people
offered sacrifices to the Lord.
King Solomon offered a sacrifice of
22,000 cattle and 120,000 sheep and
goats, and so the King and all the
people dedicated the temple of God.
The priests took their assigned positions
and so did the Levites who were singing.
His faithful love endures forever.
They accompanied the singing with
music from the instruments King
David had made for praising the
Lord across from the Levites.
The priests blew the trumpets
while all Israel stood.
The Solomon then consecrated the
central area of the courtyard
in front of the Lord's temple.
He offered burnt offerings and the fat of
peace offerings there because the bronze
altar he had built could not hold all
the burnt offerings, grain offerings, and
sacrificial fat for the next seven days.
Solomon and all Israel celebrated
the festival of shelters.
A large congregation had gathered from
as far away as Libo Hamoth in the north
and the brook of Egypt in the south.
On the eighth day, they had a closing
ceremony for they had celebrated the
dedication of the altar for seven days and
the festival of shelters for seven days.
Then at the end of the celebration,
Solomon sent the people home.
They were all joyful and glad because
the Lord had been so good to David and
to Solomon and to his people Israel.
So Solomon finished
the temple of the Lord.
As well as the royal palace.
He completed everything he had
planned to do in the construction
of the temple and the palace.
Then one night the Lord appeared to
Solomon and said, I have heard your
prayer and have chosen this temple
as the place for making sacrifices.
At times, I might shut up the
heavens so that no rain falls or
command grasshoppers to devour your
crops or send plagues among you.
Then if my people who are called by my
name will humble themselves and pray and
seek my face and turn from their wicked
ways, I will hear from heaven and will
forgive their sins and restore their land.
My eyes will be open and my ears
attentive to every prayer made in
this place for I have chosen this
temple and set it apart to be holy.
A place where my name
will be honored forever.
I will always watch over it.
For it is dear to my heart.
As for you, if you faithfully follow me
as David, your father did, obeying all
my commands, decrees and regulations,
then I will establish the throne of your
dynasty for I made this covenant with your
father, David, when I said one of your
descendants will always rule over Israel.
But if you or your descendants a
abandon me and disobey the decrees
and commands I have given you, and
if you serve and worship other gods,
then I will uproot the people from
this land that I have given them.
I will reject this temple that I
have made holy to honor my name.
I will make it an object of mockery
and ridicule among the nations.
And though this temple is impressive,
now all who pass by will be appalled.
They will ask, why did the
Lord do such terrible things to
this land and to this temple?
And the answer will be because his
people abandoned the Lord, the God
of their ancestors who brought them
out of Egypt and they worshiped other
gods instead and bowed down to them.
That is why he has brought
all these disasters on them.