King James Version · The united kingdom
2 Chronicles 7
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Now when had made an end of praying, the came down from , and consumed the burnt offering and the ; and filled the house. And the priests could not enter into the , because had filled ’s house. And when all the saw how the came down, and upon the house, they bowed themselves with their faces to the ground upon the pavement, and , and praised , saying, For he is good; for his mercy endureth for ever. Then the king and all the people offered before . And king offered a of twenty and two thousand oxen, and an hundred and twenty thousand sheep: so the king and all the people dedicated the house of . And the priests waited on their offices: the also with instruments of musick of , which the king had made to , because his mercy endureth for ever, when praised by their ministry; and the priests sounded before them, and all Israel stood. Moreover hallowed the middle of the court that was before the : for there he offered burnt offerings, and the , because the brasen which had made was not able to receive the burnt offerings, and the meat , and . Also at the same time kept the feast seven days, and all Israel with him, a very great , from the entering in of unto the river of . And in the eighth day they made a solemn : for they kept the dedication of the seven days, and the feast seven days. And on the three and twentieth day of the seventh month he sent the people away into their tents, glad and merry in for the goodness that had shewed unto , and to , and to Israel his people. Thus finished the , and the king’s house: and all that came into ’s to make in the , and in his own house, he prosperously effected. And appeared to by night, and said unto him, I have heard thy , and have chosen this place to myself for an house of . If I shut up that there be no , or if I command the to devour the land, or if I send pestilence among my people; If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and , and , and turn from their ways; then will I hear from , and will forgive their , and will heal their land. Now mine eyes shall be open, and mine ears attent unto the that is made in this place. For now have I chosen and this house, that my name may be there for ever: and mine eyes and mine shall be there perpetually. And as for thee, if thou wilt walk before me, as thy walked, and do according to all that I have commanded thee, and shalt observe and my judgments; Then will I stablish of thy kingdom, according as I have covenanted with thy , saying, There shall not fail thee a man to be ruler in Israel. But if ye turn away, and forsake and my , which I have set before you, and shall go and other gods, and them; Then will I pluck them up by the roots out of my land which I have given them; and this house, which I have for my name, will I cast out of my sight, and will make it to be a and among all nations. And this house, which is high, shall be an astonishment to every one that passeth by it; so that he shall say, Why hath done thus unto this land, and unto this house? And it shall be answered, Because they forsook of their fathers, which brought them forth out of the land of , and laid hold on other gods, and them, and them: therefore hath he brought all this evil upon them.
The 1611 translation, public domain. Its original printing included the Apocrypha, which is why the deuterocanonical books can be read here. Notes and cards are EKLI’s own.
The world at this moment · The united kingdom, 1050 BC to 931 BC ›
Saul, David, and Solomon. A rare window when both Egypt and Mesopotamia are weak, which is how a small kingdom in the corridor between them could briefly become a regional power.
- The power vacuum
- This is the whole political explanation for the united kingdom. Egypt is fragmented, Assyria is recovering but still local, the Hittites are gone, and nobody is in a position to object to a strong state in the corridor. It lasts about a century, and Israel's golden age fits exactly inside it.
- Phoenicia
- Tyre under Hiram is the commercial power of the coast, and supplies the cedar, the craftsmen, and the shipping for Solomon's building programme. The alliance is trade, not charity: Israel had grain and a land route, Tyre had timber and ships.
- Egypt
- Weak enough that a pharaoh gives a daughter in marriage to an Israelite king, which is the opposite of Egyptian practice in stronger centuries. Late in the era it recovers under a new house, and Shishak will invade within five years of Solomon's death.
- Further afield
- Greece is still in its dark age but beginning to recover, and will adopt the Phoenician alphabet within a century or two. Carthage is founded by settlers from Tyre by tradition in 814 BC. In the Americas the Olmec centre shifts to La Venta.