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Except the LORD build the house, they labour in vain that build it: except the LORD keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain. Psalm 127:1
Daily Meditation
61 Let your heart
therefore be perfect with the Lord our God, to walk in his statutes, and to
keep his commandments, as at this day.
Today’s Reading
1 Kings 8
The Most Holy Under
The Wings Of The Cherubim
1 Then Solomon
assembled the elders of Israel, and all the heads of the tribes, the chief of
the fathers of the children of Israel, unto king Solomon in Jerusalem, that
they might bring up the ark of the covenant of the Lord out of the city of
David, which is Zion. 2 And all the men of Israel assembled themselves unto
king Solomon at the feast in the month Ethanim, which is the seventh month. 3
And all the elders of Israel came, and the priests took up the ark. 4 And they
brought up the ark of the Lord, and the tabernacle of the congregation, and all
the holy vessels that were in the tabernacle, even those did the priests and
the Levites bring up. 5 And king Solomon, and all the congregation of Israel,
that were assembled unto him, were with him before the ark, sacrificing sheep
and oxen, that could not be told nor numbered for multitude. 6 And the priests
brought in the ark of the covenant of the Lord unto his place, into the oracle
of the house, to the most holy place, even under the wings of the cherubims. 7
For the cherubims spread forth their two wings over the place of the ark, and
the cherubims covered the ark and the staves thereof above. 8 And they drew out
the staves, that the ends of the staves were seen out in the holy place before
the oracle, and they were not seen without: and there they are unto this day. 9
There was nothing in the ark save the two tables of stone, which Moses put
there at Horeb, when the Lord made a covenant with the children of Israel, when
they came out of the land of Egypt. 10 And it came to pass, when the priests
were come out of the holy place, that the cloud filled the house of the Lord,
11 so that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud: for
the glory of the Lord had filled the house of the Lord.
12 Then spake
Solomon, The Lord said that he would dwell in the thick darkness. 13 I have
surely built thee an house to dwell in, a settled place for thee to abide in
for ever. 14 And the king turned his face about, and blessed all the
congregation of Israel: (and all the congregation of Israel stood;) 15 and he
said, Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, which spake with his mouth unto David
my father, and hath with his hand fulfilled it, saying, 16 Since the day that I
brought forth my people Israel out of Egypt, I chose no city out of all the
tribes of Israel to build an house, that my name might be therein; but I chose
David to be over my people Israel. 17 And it was in the heart of David my
father to build an house for the name of the Lord God of Israel. 18 And the
Lord said unto David my father, Whereas it was in thine heart to build an house
unto my name, thou didst well that it was in thine heart. 19 Nevertheless thou
shalt not build the house; but thy son that shall come forth out of thy loins,
he shall build the house unto my name. 20 And the Lord hath performed his word
that he spake, and I am risen up in the room of David my father, and sit on the
throne of Israel, as the Lord promised, and have built an house for the name of
the Lord God of Israel. 21 And I have set there a place for the ark, wherein is
the covenant of the Lord, which he made with our fathers, when he brought them
out of the land of Egypt.
22 And Solomon stood
before the altar of the Lord in the presence of all the congregation of Israel,
and spread forth his hands toward heaven: 23 and he said, Lord God of Israel,
there is no God like thee, in heaven above, or on earth beneath, who keepest
covenant and mercy with thy servants that walk before thee with all their
heart: 24 who hast kept with thy servant David my father that thou promisedst
him: thou spakest also with thy mouth, and hast fulfilled it with thine hand,
as it is this day. 25 Therefore now, Lord God of Israel, keep with thy servant
David my father that thou promisedst him, saying, There shall not fail thee a
man in my sight to sit on the throne of Israel; so that thy children take heed
to their way, that they walk before me as thou hast walked before me. 26 And
now, O God of Israel, let thy word, I pray thee, be verified, which thou
spakest unto thy servant David my father. 27 But will God indeed dwell on the
earth? behold, the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain thee; how much
less this house that I have builded? 28 Yet have thou respect unto the prayer
of thy servant, and to his supplication, O Lord my God, to hearken unto the cry
and to the prayer, which thy servant prayeth before thee to day: 29 that thine
eyes may be open toward this house night and day, even toward the place of
which thou hast said, My name shall be there: that thou mayest hearken unto the
prayer which thy servant shall make toward this place. 30 And hearken thou to
the supplication of thy servant, and of thy people Israel, when they shall pray
toward this place: and hear thou in heaven thy dwelling place: and when thou
hearest, forgive.
31 If any man
trespass against his neighbour, and an oath be laid upon him to cause him to
swear, and the oath come before thine altar in this house: 32 then hear thou in
heaven, and do, and judge thy servants, condemning the wicked, to bring his way
upon his head; and justifying the righteous, to give him according to his
righteousness.
33 When thy people
Israel be smitten down before the enemy, because they have sinned against thee,
and shall turn again to thee, and confess thy name, and pray, and make
supplication unto thee in this house: 34 then hear thou in heaven, and forgive
the sin of thy people Israel, and bring them again unto the land which thou
gavest unto their fathers.
35 When heaven is
shut up, and there is no rain, because they have sinned against thee; if they
pray toward this place, and confess thy name, and turn from their sin, when
thou afflictest them: 36 then hear thou in heaven, and forgive the sin of thy
servants, and of thy people Israel, that thou teach them the good way wherein
they should walk, and give rain upon thy land, which thou hast given to thy
people for an inheritance.
37 If there be in
the land famine, if there be pestilence, blasting, mildew, locust, or if there
be caterpiller; if their enemy besiege them in the land of their cities;
whatsoever plague, whatsoever sickness there be; 38 what prayer and
supplication soever be made by any man, or by all thy people Israel, which
shall know every man the plague of his own heart, and spread forth his hands
toward this house: 39 then hear thou in heaven thy dwelling place, and forgive,
and do, and give to every man according to his ways, whose heart thou knowest;
(for thou, even thou only, knowest the hearts of all the children of men;) 40
that they may fear thee all the days that they live in the land which thou
gavest unto our fathers.
41 Moreover
concerning a stranger, that is not of thy people Israel, but cometh out of a
far country for thy name’s sake; 42 (for they shall hear of thy great name, and
of thy strong hand, and of thy stretched out arm;) when he shall come and pray
toward this house; 43 hear thou in heaven thy dwelling place, and do according
to all that the stranger calleth to thee for: that all people of the earth may
know thy name, to fear thee, as do thy people Israel; and that they may know
that this house, which I have builded, is called by thy name.
44 If thy people go
out to battle against their enemy, whithersoever thou shalt send them, and
shall pray unto the Lord toward the city which thou hast chosen, and toward the
house that I have built for thy name: 45 then hear thou in heaven their prayer
and their supplication, and maintain their cause. 46 If they sin against thee,
(for there is no man that sinneth not,) and thou be angry with them, and
deliver them to the enemy, so that they carry them away captives unto the land
of the enemy, far or near; 47 yet if they shall bethink themselves in the land
whither they were carried captives, and repent, and make supplication unto thee
in the land of them that carried them captives, saying, We have sinned, and
have done perversely, we have committed wickedness; 48 and so return unto thee
with all their heart, and with all their soul, in the land of their enemies,
which led them away captive, and pray unto thee toward their land, which thou
gavest unto their fathers, the city which thou hast chosen, and the house which
I have built for thy name: 49 then hear thou their prayer and their
supplication in heaven thy dwelling place, and maintain their cause, 50 and
forgive thy people that have sinned against thee, and all their transgressions
wherein they have transgressed against thee, and give them compassion before
them who carried them captive, that they may have compassion on them: 51 for
they be thy people, and thine inheritance, which thou broughtest forth out of
Egypt, from the midst of the furnace of iron: 52 that thine eyes may be open
unto the supplication of thy servant, and unto the supplication of thy people
Israel, to hearken unto them in all that they call for unto thee. 53 For thou
didst separate them from among all the people of the earth, to be thine
inheritance, as thou spakest by the hand of Moses thy servant, when thou
broughtest our fathers out of Egypt, O Lord God.
54 And it was so,
that when Solomon had made an end of praying all this prayer and supplication
unto the Lord, he arose from before the altar of the Lord, from kneeling on his
knees with his hands spread up to heaven. 55 And he stood, and blessed all the
congregation of Israel with a loud voice, saying, 56 Blessed be the Lord, that
hath given rest unto his people Israel, according to all that he promised:
there hath not failed one word of all his good promise, which he promised by
the hand of Moses his servant. 57 The Lord our God be with us, as he was with
our fathers: let him not leave us, nor forsake us: 58 that he may incline our
hearts unto him, to walk in all his ways, and to keep his commandments, and his
statutes, and his judgments, which he commanded our fathers. 59 And let these
my words, wherewith I have made supplication before the Lord, be nigh unto the
Lord our God day and night, that he maintain the cause of his servant, and the
cause of his people Israel at all times, as the matter shall require: 60 that
all the people of the earth may know that the Lord is God, and that there is
none else. 61 Let your heart therefore be perfect with the Lord our God, to
walk in his statutes, and to keep his commandments, as at this day.
62 And the king, and
all Israel with him, offered sacrifice before the Lord. 63 And Solomon offered
a sacrifice of peace offerings, which he offered unto the Lord, two and twenty
thousand oxen, and an hundred and twenty thousand sheep. So the king and all
the children of Israel dedicated the house of the Lord. 64 The same day did the
king hallow the middle of the court that was before the house of the Lord: for
there he offered burnt offerings, and meat offerings, and the fat of the peace
offerings: because the brasen altar that was before the Lord was too little to
receive the burnt offerings, and meat offerings, and the fat of the peace
offerings.
65 And at that time Solomon
held a feast, and all Israel with him, a great congregation, from the entering
in of Hamath unto the river of Egypt, before the Lord our God, seven days and
seven days, even fourteen days. 66 On the eighth day he sent the people away:
and they blessed the king, and went unto their tents joyful and glad of heart
for all the goodness that the Lord had done for David his servant, and for
Israel his people.
