Bible in Basic English
There was nothing in the ark but the two flat stones which Moses put there at Horeb, where the Lord made an agreement with the children of Israel when they came out of the land of Egypt.
Now when the priests had come out of the holy place, the house of the Lord was full of the cloud,
So that the priests were not able to keep their places to do their work because of the cloud, for the house of the Lord was full of the glory of the Lord.
Then Solomon said, O Lord, to the sun you have given the heaven for a living-place, but your living-place was not seen by men;
So I have made for you a living-place, a house in which you may be for ever present.
Then, turning his face about, the king gave a blessing to all the men of Israel; and they were all on their feet together.
And he said, Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, who himself gave his word to David my father, and with his strong hand has made his word come true, saying,
From the day when I took my people Israel out of Egypt, no town in all the tribes of Israel has been marked out by me for the building of a house for the resting-place of my name; but I made selection of David to be king over my people Israel.
Now it was in the heart of David my father to put up a house for the name of the Lord, the God of Israel.
But the Lord said to David my father, You did well to have in your heart the desire to make a house for my name;
But you yourself will not be the builder of my house; but your son, the offspring of your body, he it is who will put up a house for my name.
And the Lord has made his word come true; for I have taken my father David's place on the seat of the kingdom of Israel, as the Lord gave his word; and I have made a house for the name of the Lord, the God of Israel.
In it I have made a place for the ark, in which is the agreement which the Lord made with our fathers, when he took them out of the land of Egypt.
Then Solomon took his place before the altar of the Lord, all the men of Israel being present, and stretching out his hands to heaven,
Said, O Lord, the God of Israel, there is no God like you in heaven or on the earth; keeping faith and mercy unchanging for your servants, while they go in your ways with all their hearts.
And you have kept the word which you gave to your servant David, my father; with your mouth you said it and with your hand you have made it come true this day.
So now, O Lord, the God of Israel, let your word to your servant David, my father, come true, when you said, You will never be without a man to take his place on the seat of the kingdom of Israel before me, if only your children give attention to their ways, walking before me as you have done.
So now, O God of Israel, it is my prayer that you will make your word come true which you said to your servant David, my father.
But is it truly possible that God may be housed on earth? see, heaven and the heaven of heavens are not wide enough to be your resting-place; how much less this house which I have made!
Still, let your heart be turned to the prayer of your servant, O Lord God, and to his prayer for grace; give ear to the cry and the prayer which your servant sends up to you this day;
That your eyes may be open to this house night and day, to this place of which you have said, My name will be there; hearing the prayer which your servant may make, turning to this place.
Give ear to the prayers of your servant, and the prayers of your people Israel, when they make their prayers, turning to this place; give ear in heaven your living-place, and hearing, have mercy.
If a man does wrong to his neighbour, and has to take an oath, and comes before your altar to take his oath in this house:
Then let your ear be open in heaven, and be the judge of your servants, giving your decision against the wrongdoer, so that punishment for his sins may come on his head; and, by your decision, keeping from evil him who has done no wrong.
When your people Israel are overcome in war, because of their sin against you; if they are turned to you again, honouring your name, making prayers to you and requesting your grace in this house:
Then give ear in heaven, and let the sin of your people Israel have forgiveness, and take them back again into the land which you gave to their fathers.
When heaven is shut up and there is no rain, because of their sin against you; if they make prayers with their faces turned to this place, honouring your name and turning away from their sin when you send trouble on them:
Then give ear in heaven, so that the sin of your servants, and of your people Israel, may have forgiveness, when you make clear to them the good way in which they are to go; and send rain on your land which you have given to your people for their heritage.
If there is no food in the land, or if there is disease, or if the fruits of the earth are damaged through heat or water, locust or worm; if their towns are shut in by their attackers; whatever trouble, whatever disease there may be:
Whatever prayer or request for your grace is made by any man, or by all your people Israel, whatever his trouble may be, whose hands are stretched out to this house:
Give ear in heaven your living-place, acting in mercy; and give to every man whose secret heart is open to you, the reward of all his ways; for you, and you only, have knowledge of the hearts of all the children of men:
So that they may give you worship all the days of their life in the land which you gave to our fathers.
And as for the man from a strange land, who is not of your people Israel; when he comes from a far country because of the glory of your name:
(For they will have news of your great name and your strong hand and your out-stretched arm;) when he comes to make his prayer, turning to this house:
Give ear in heaven your living-place, and give him his desire, whatever it may be; so that all the peoples of the earth may have knowledge of your name, worshipping you as do your people Israel, and that they may see that this house which I have put up is truly named by your name.
If your people go out to war against their attackers, by whatever way you may send them, if they make their prayer to the Lord, turning their faces to this town of yours and to this house which I have made for your name:
Give ear in heaven to their prayer and their cry for grace, and see right done to them.
If they do wrong against you, (for no man is without sin,) and you are angry with them and give them up into the power of those who are fighting against them, so that they take them away as prisoners into a strange land, far off or near;
And if they take thought, in the land where they are prisoners, and are turned again to you, crying out in prayer to you in that land, and saying, We are sinners, we have done wrong, we have done evil;
And with all their heart and soul are turned again to you, in the land of those who took them prisoners, and make their prayer to you, turning their eyes to this land which you gave to their fathers, and to the town which you took for yourself, and the house which I made for your name:
Then give ear to their prayer and to their cry in heaven your living-place, and see right done to them;
Answering with forgiveness the people who have done wrong against you, and overlooking the evil which they have done against you; let those who made them prisoners be moved with pity for them, and have pity on them;
For they are your people and your heritage, which you took out of Egypt, out of the iron fireplace;
Let your eyes be open to your servant's prayer for grace and to the prayer of your people Israel, hearing them when their cry comes to you.
For you made them separate from all the peoples of the earth, to be your heritage, as you said by Moses your servant, when you took our fathers out of Egypt, O Lord God.
Then Solomon, after making all these prayers and requests for grace to the Lord, got up from his knees before the altar of the Lord, where his hands had been stretched out in prayer to heaven;
And, getting on his feet, he gave a blessing to all the men of Israel, saying with a loud voice,
Praise be to the Lord who has given rest to his people Israel, as he gave them his word to do; every word of all his oath, which he gave by the hand of Moses his servant, has come true.
Now may the Lord our God be with us as he was with our fathers; let him never go away from us or give us up;
Turning our hearts to himself, guiding us to go in all his ways, to keep his orders and his laws and his decisions, which he gave to our fathers.
And may these my words, the words of my prayer to the Lord, be before the Lord our God day and night, so that he may see right done to his servant and to his people Israel, day by day as we have need.
So that all the peoples of the earth may see that the Lord is God, and there is no other.
Then let your hearts be without sin before the Lord our God, walking in his laws and keeping his orders as at this day.
Now the king, and all Israel with him, were making offerings before the Lord.
And Solomon gave to the Lord for peace-offerings, twenty-two thousand oxen and a hundred and twenty thousand sheep. So the king and all the children of Israel kept the feast of the opening of the Lord's house.
The same day the king made holy the middle of the open square in front of the house of the Lord, offering there the burned offering and the meal offering and the fat of the peace-offerings; for there was not room on the brass altar of the Lord for the burned offerings and the meal offerings and the fat of the peace-offerings.
So Solomon and all Israel with him, a very great meeting, (for the people had come together from the way into Hamath to the river of Egypt,) kept the feast at that time before the Lord our God, for two weeks, even fourteen days.
And on the eighth day he sent the people away, and, blessing the king, they went to their tents full of joy and glad in their hearts, because of all the good which the Lord had done to David his servant and to Israel his people.
— 1 Kings 8:9-1964, Bible in Basic English
“There was nothing in the ark except the two stone tablets Moses had placed there in Horeb. It was there that the LORD made a covenant with the Israelites after he brought them out of the land of Egypt. Once the priests left the holy place, a cloud filled the LORD’s temple. The priests could not carry out their duties because of the cloud; the LORD’s glory filled his temple. Then Solomon said,“The LORD has said that he lives in thick darkness. O LORD, truly I have built a lofty temple for you, a place where you can live permanently.” Then the king turned around and pronounced a blessing over the whole Israelite assembly as they stood there. He said,“The LORD God of Israel is worthy of praise because he has fulfilled what he promised my father David. He told David,‘Since the day I brought my people Israel out of Egypt, I have not chosen a city from all the tribes of Israel to build a temple in which to live. But I have chosen David to lead my people Israel.’ Now my father David had a strong desire to build a temple to honor the LORD God of Israel. The LORD told my father David,‘It is right for you to have a strong desire to build a temple to honor me. But you will not build the temple; your very own son will build the temple for my honor.’ The LORD has kept the promise he made. I have taken my father David’s place and have occupied the throne of Israel, as the LORD promised. I have built this temple for the honor of the LORD God of Israel and set up in it a place for the ark containing the covenant the LORD made with our ancestors when he brought them out of the land of Egypt.” Solomon Prays for Israel Solomon stood before the altar of the LORD in front of the entire assembly of Israel and spread out his hands toward the sky. He prayed:“O LORD, God of Israel, there is no god like you in heaven above or on earth below! You maintain covenantal loyalty to your servants who obey you with sincerity. You have kept your word to your servant, my father David; this very day you have fulfilled what you promised. 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, provided that your descendants watch their step and serve me as you have done.’ Now, O God of Israel, may the promise you made to your servant, my father David, be realized. “God does not really live on the earth! Look, if the sky and the highest heaven cannot contain you, how much less this temple I have built! But respond favorably to your servant’s prayer and his request for help, O LORD my God. Answer the desperate prayer your servant is presenting to you today. Night and day may you watch over this temple, the place where you promised you would live. May you answer your servant’s prayer for this place. Respond to the request of your servant and your people Israel for this place. Hear from inside your heavenly dwelling place and respond favorably. “When someone is accused of sinning against his neighbor and the latter pronounces a curse on the alleged offender before your altar in this temple, be willing to forgive the accused if the accusation is false. Listen from heaven and make a just decision about your servants’ claims. Condemn the guilty party, declare the other innocent, and give both of them what they deserve. “The time will come when your people Israel are defeated by an enemy because they sinned against you. If they come back to you, renew their allegiance to you, and pray for your help in this temple, then listen from heaven, forgive the sin of your people Israel, and bring them back to the land you gave to their ancestors. “The time will come when the skies are shut up tightly and no rain falls because your people sinned against you. When they direct their prayers toward this place, renew their allegiance to you, and turn away from their sin because you punish them, then listen from heaven and forgive the sin of your servants, your people Israel. Certainly you will then teach them the right way to live and send rain on your land that you have given your people to possess. “The time will come when the land suffers from a famine, a plague, blight and disease, or a locust invasion, or when their enemy lays siege to the cities of the land, or when some other type of plague or epidemic occurs. When all your people Israel pray and ask for help, as they acknowledge their pain and spread out their hands toward this temple, then listen from your heavenly dwelling place, forgive their sin, and act favorably toward each one based on your evaluation of his motives.(Indeed you are the only one who can correctly evaluate the motives of all people.) Then they will obey you throughout their lifetimes as they live on the land you gave to our ancestors. “Foreigners, who do not belong to your people Israel, will come from a distant land because of your reputation. When they hear about your great reputation and your ability to accomplish mighty deeds, they will come and direct their prayers toward this temple. Then listen from your heavenly dwelling place and answer all the prayers of the foreigners. Then all the nations of the earth will acknowledge your reputation, obey you like your people Israel do, and recognize that this temple I built belongs to you. “When you direct your people to march out and fight their enemies, and they direct their prayers to the LORD toward his chosen city and this temple I built for your honor, then listen from heaven to their prayers for help and vindicate them. “The time will come when your people will sin against you(for there is no one who is sinless!) and you will be angry with them and deliver them over to their enemies, who will take them as prisoners to their own land, whether far away or close by. When your people come to their senses in the land where they are held prisoner, they will repent and beg for your mercy in the land of their imprisonment, admitting,‘We have sinned and gone astray; we have done evil.’ When they return to you with all their heart and being in the land where they are held prisoner, and direct their prayers to you toward the land you gave to their ancestors, your chosen city, and the temple I built for your honor, then listen from your heavenly dwelling place to their prayers for help and vindicate them. Forgive all the rebellious acts of your sinful people and cause their captors to have mercy on them. After all, they are your people and your special possession whom you brought out of Egypt, from the middle of the iron-smelting furnace. “May you be attentive to your servant’s and your people Israel’s requests for help and may you respond to all their prayers to you. After all, you picked them out of all the nations of the earth to be your special possession, just as you, O Sovereign LORD, announced through your servant Moses when you brought our ancestors out of Egypt.” When Solomon finished presenting all these prayers and requests to the LORD, he got up from before the altar of the LORD where he had kneeled and spread out his hands toward the sky. When he stood up, he pronounced a blessing over the entire assembly of Israel, saying in a loud voice: “The LORD is worthy of praise because he has made Israel his people secure just as he promised! Not one of all the faithful promises he made through his servant Moses is left unfulfilled! May the LORD our God be with us, as he was with our ancestors. May he not abandon us or leave us. May he make us submissive, so we can follow all his instructions and obey the commandments, rules, and regulations he commanded our ancestors. May the LORD our God be constantly aware of these requests of mine I have presented to him, so that he might vindicate his servant and his people Israel as the need arises. Then all the nations of the earth will recognize that the LORD is the only genuine God. May you demonstrate wholehearted devotion to the LORD our God by following his rules and obeying his commandments, as you are presently doing.” Solomon Dedicates the Temple The king and all Israel with him were presenting sacrifices to the LORD. Solomon offered as peace offerings to the LORD 22,000 cattle and 120,000 sheep. Then the king and all the Israelites dedicated the LORD’s temple. That day the king consecrated the middle of the courtyard that is in front of the LORD’s temple. He offered there burnt sacrifices, grain offerings, and the fat from the peace offerings, because the bronze altar that stood before the LORD was too small to hold all these offerings. At that time Solomon and all Israel with him celebrated a festival before the LORD our God for two entire weeks. This great assembly included people from all over the land, from Lebo Hamath in the north to the Stream of Egypt in the south. On the fifteenth day after the festival started, he dismissed the people. They asked God to empower the king and then went to their homes, happy and content because of all the good the LORD had done for his servant David and his people Israel.”
And the priests took the ark of the agreement of the Lord and put it in its place in the inner room of the house, in the most holy place, under the wings of the winged ones.
For their wings were outstretched over the place where the ark was, covering the ark and its rods.
The rods were so long that their ends were seen from the holy place, in front of the inmost room; but they were not seen from outside: and there they are to this day.
There was nothing in the ark but the two flat stones which Moses put there at Horeb, where the Lord made an agreement with the children of Israel when they came out of the land of Egypt.
Now when the priests had come out of the holy place, the house of the Lord was full of the cloud,
So that the priests were not able to keep their places to do their work because of the cloud, for the house of the Lord was full of the glory of the Lord.
Then Solomon said, O Lord, to the sun you have given the heaven for a living-place, but your living-place was not seen by men;
So I have made for you a living-place, a house in which you may be for ever present.
Then, turning his face about, the king gave a blessing to all the men of Israel; and they were all on their feet together.
And he said, Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, who himself gave his word to David my father, and with his strong hand has made his word come true, saying,
From the day when I took my people Israel out of Egypt, no town in all the tribes of Israel has been marked out by me for the building of a house for the resting-place of my name; but I made selection of David to be king over my people Israel.
Now it was in the heart of David my father to put up a house for the name of the Lord, the God of Israel.
But the Lord said to David my father, You did well to have in your heart the desire to make a house for my name;
But you yourself will not be the builder of my house; but your son, the offspring of your body, he it is who will put up a house for my name.
And the Lord has made his word come true; for I have taken my father David's place on the seat of the kingdom of Israel, as the Lord gave his word; and I have made a house for the name of the Lord, the God of Israel.
In it I have made a place for the ark, in which is the agreement which the Lord made with our fathers, when he took them out of the land of Egypt.
Then Solomon took his place before the altar of the Lord, all the men of Israel being present, and stretching out his hands to heaven,
Said, O Lord, the God of Israel, there is no God like you in heaven or on the earth; keeping faith and mercy unchanging for your servants, while they go in your ways with all their hearts.
And you have kept the word which you gave to your servant David, my father; with your mouth you said it and with your hand you have made it come true this day.
So now, O Lord, the God of Israel, let your word to your servant David, my father, come true, when you said, You will never be without a man to take his place on the seat of the kingdom of Israel before me, if only your children give attention to their ways, walking before me as you have done.
So now, O God of Israel, it is my prayer that you will make your word come true which you said to your servant David, my father.
But is it truly possible that God may be housed on earth? see, heaven and the heaven of heavens are not wide enough to be your resting-place; how much less this house which I have made!
Still, let your heart be turned to the prayer of your servant, O Lord God, and to his prayer for grace; give ear to the cry and the prayer which your servant sends up to you this day;
That your eyes may be open to this house night and day, to this place of which you have said, My name will be there; hearing the prayer which your servant may make, turning to this place.
Give ear to the prayers of your servant, and the prayers of your people Israel, when they make their prayers, turning to this place; give ear in heaven your living-place, and hearing, have mercy.
If a man does wrong to his neighbour, and has to take an oath, and comes before your altar to take his oath in this house:
Then let your ear be open in heaven, and be the judge of your servants, giving your decision against the wrongdoer, so that punishment for his sins may come on his head; and, by your decision, keeping from evil him who has done no wrong.
When your people Israel are overcome in war, because of their sin against you; if they are turned to you again, honouring your name, making prayers to you and requesting your grace in this house:
Then give ear in heaven, and let the sin of your people Israel have forgiveness, and take them back again into the land which you gave to their fathers.
When heaven is shut up and there is no rain, because of their sin against you; if they make prayers with their faces turned to this place, honouring your name and turning away from their sin when you send trouble on them:
Then give ear in heaven, so that the sin of your servants, and of your people Israel, may have forgiveness, when you make clear to them the good way in which they are to go; and send rain on your land which you have given to your people for their heritage.
If there is no food in the land, or if there is disease, or if the fruits of the earth are damaged through heat or water, locust or worm; if their towns are shut in by their attackers; whatever trouble, whatever disease there may be:
Whatever prayer or request for your grace is made by any man, or by all your people Israel, whatever his trouble may be, whose hands are stretched out to this house:
Give ear in heaven your living-place, acting in mercy; and give to every man whose secret heart is open to you, the reward of all his ways; for you, and you only, have knowledge of the hearts of all the children of men:
So that they may give you worship all the days of their life in the land which you gave to our fathers.
And as for the man from a strange land, who is not of your people Israel; when he comes from a far country because of the glory of your name:
(For they will have news of your great name and your strong hand and your out-stretched arm;) when he comes to make his prayer, turning to this house:
Give ear in heaven your living-place, and give him his desire, whatever it may be; so that all the peoples of the earth may have knowledge of your name, worshipping you as do your people Israel, and that they may see that this house which I have put up is truly named by your name.
If your people go out to war against their attackers, by whatever way you may send them, if they make their prayer to the Lord, turning their faces to this town of yours and to this house which I have made for your name:
Give ear in heaven to their prayer and their cry for grace, and see right done to them.
If they do wrong against you, (for no man is without sin,) and you are angry with them and give them up into the power of those who are fighting against them, so that they take them away as prisoners into a strange land, far off or near;
And if they take thought, in the land where they are prisoners, and are turned again to you, crying out in prayer to you in that land, and saying, We are sinners, we have done wrong, we have done evil;
And with all their heart and soul are turned again to you, in the land of those who took them prisoners, and make their prayer to you, turning their eyes to this land which you gave to their fathers, and to the town which you took for yourself, and the house which I made for your name:
Then give ear to their prayer and to their cry in heaven your living-place, and see right done to them;
Answering with forgiveness the people who have done wrong against you, and overlooking the evil which they have done against you; let those who made them prisoners be moved with pity for them, and have pity on them;
For they are your people and your heritage, which you took out of Egypt, out of the iron fireplace;
Let your eyes be open to your servant's prayer for grace and to the prayer of your people Israel, hearing them when their cry comes to you.
For you made them separate from all the peoples of the earth, to be your heritage, as you said by Moses your servant, when you took our fathers out of Egypt, O Lord God.
Then Solomon, after making all these prayers and requests for grace to the Lord, got up from his knees before the altar of the Lord, where his hands had been stretched out in prayer to heaven;
And, getting on his feet, he gave a blessing to all the men of Israel, saying with a loud voice,
Praise be to the Lord who has given rest to his people Israel, as he gave them his word to do; every word of all his oath, which he gave by the hand of Moses his servant, has come true.
Now may the Lord our God be with us as he was with our fathers; let him never go away from us or give us up;
Turning our hearts to himself, guiding us to go in all his ways, to keep his orders and his laws and his decisions, which he gave to our fathers.
And may these my words, the words of my prayer to the Lord, be before the Lord our God day and night, so that he may see right done to his servant and to his people Israel, day by day as we have need.
So that all the peoples of the earth may see that the Lord is God, and there is no other.
Then let your hearts be without sin before the Lord our God, walking in his laws and keeping his orders as at this day.
Now the king, and all Israel with him, were making offerings before the Lord.
And Solomon gave to the Lord for peace-offerings, twenty-two thousand oxen and a hundred and twenty thousand sheep. So the king and all the children of Israel kept the feast of the opening of the Lord's house.
The same day the king made holy the middle of the open square in front of the house of the Lord, offering there the burned offering and the meal offering and the fat of the peace-offerings; for there was not room on the brass altar of the Lord for the burned offerings and the meal offerings and the fat of the peace-offerings.
So Solomon and all Israel with him, a very great meeting, (for the people had come together from the way into Hamath to the river of Egypt,) kept the feast at that time before the Lord our God, for two weeks, even fourteen days.
And on the eighth day he sent the people away, and, blessing the king, they went to their tents full of joy and glad in their hearts, because of all the good which the Lord had done to David his servant and to Israel his people.