1 Kings 8:12-21

Good News Translation

^12 (A)Then Solomon prayed:

Solomon's Address to the People^(B)

¹⁴ As the people stood there, King Solomon turned to face them, and he asked God's blessing on them. ¹⁵ He said, “Praise the Lord God of Israel! He has kept the promise he made to my father David, when he told him, ^16 (C)‘From the time I brought my people out of Egypt, I have not chosen any city in all the land of Israel in which a temple should be built where I would be worshiped. But I chose you, David, to rule my people.’”

^17 (D)And Solomon continued, “My father David planned to build a temple for the worship of the Lord God of Israel, ¹⁸ but the Lord said to him, ‘You were right in wanting to build a temple for me, ^19 (E)but you will never build it. It is your son, your own son, who will build my temple.’

²⁰ “And now the Lord has kept his promise. I have succeeded my father as king of Israel, and I have built the Temple for the worship of the Lord God of Israel. ²¹ I have also provided a place in the Temple for the Covenant Box containing the stone tablets of the covenant which the Lord made with our ancestors when he brought them out of Egypt.”