King Solomon and all the people offered sacrifices before the Lord. And king Solomon sacrificed twenty-two thousand head of cattle and a hundred and twenty thousand sheep and goats. Then the king and all the people consecrated the temple of God. The priests took the position, as well as the Levites with the musical instruments of the Lord, which King David had made to praise the Lord and which served to give thanks by saying: "His love lasts forever". In front of the Levites, the priests sounded the trumpets, and all the Israelites stood.
Solomon consecrated the middle part of the court before the temple of the Lord, and there he offered burnt offerings and the fat of the fellowship offerings, for the brazen altar which he had made could not contain the burnt offerings, the and the fatty parts.
So Solomon observed the feast at this time for seven days, and all Israel with him, a vast assembly, peopled from Lebo Hamath to the Wadi of Egypt. On the eighth day, they held together, for they had celebrated the dedication of the altar for seven days and the feast for seven more days. On the twenty-third day of the seventh month, he sent the people back to their homes, rejoicing and glad in heart for the good things that the Lord had done to David, Solomon, and his people Israel.
When Solomon had completed the temple of the Lord and the royal palace and had succeeded in carrying out all that he had in mind to do in the temple of the Lord and his palace, the Lord appeared to him at night and said to him :
"I have heard your prayer and have chosen this place for me as a temple of sacrifice.
"When I close the heavens so that there are no rain or command locusts to devour the earth or send pestilence among my people, if my people, who are called by my name, s 'humble and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and heal their land. From now on my eyes will be open and my ears attentive to the prayers offered in this place I have chosen and consecrated this temple so that my name will be there forever, my eyes and my heart will always be there.
“As for you, if you walk faithfully before me like David your father, and do all that I command, and keep my decrees and my statutes, I will establish your royal throne, as I made a covenant with David your father when I said: will never fail to have a successor to reign over Israel.
"But if you turn away and forsake the decrees and commandments which I have given you and go and serve other gods and worship them, then I will tear Israel out of my land which I have given them, and I will reject this temple I have consecrated for my Name. I will make it a watchword and an object of ridicule among all peoples. This temple will become a heap of rubble. All passers-by will be dismayed and say, 'Why has the Lord hath did he do such a thing to this land and this temple?'
People will answer, 'Because they have forsaken the Lord, the God of their ancestors, who brought them out of Egypt, and have embraced other gods, worshiping and serving them, that is why he has brought all this calamity upon them.'”
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