2 Chronicles 6 - 7, Revelation 16, Song of Songs 5

Solomon Blesses the People

6^aThen Solomon said, “Yahweh has said that He would dwell in the cloud of dense gloom.

²“Now I have built You a lofty house,And a place for Your dwelling forever.”

³Then the king turned his face around and blessed all the assembly of Israel, while all the assembly of Israel was standing. ⁴And he said, “Blessed be Yahweh, the God of Israel, who spoke with His mouth to my father David and has fulfilled it by His hands, saying, ⁵‘Since the day that I brought My people from the land of Egypt, I did not choose a city out of all the tribes of Israel in which to build a house that My name might be there, nor did I choose any man for a ruler over My people Israel; ⁶but ^aI have chosen Jerusalem that My name might be there, and I ^bhave chosen David to be over My people Israel.’ ⁷“^aAnd it was ¹in the heart of my father David to build a house for the name of Yahweh, the God of Israel. ⁸“But Yahweh said to my father David, ‘Because it was ¹in your heart to build a house for My name, you did well that it was ²in your heart. ⁹‘Nevertheless you shall not build the house, but your son who will ^acome forth from your loins, he shall build the house for My name.’ ¹⁰“And Yahweh has established His word which He spoke; and I have been established in place of my father David and sit on the throne of Israel, as Yahweh ¹promised, and have built the house for the name of Yahweh, the God of Israel. ¹¹“And there I have set the ark ^ain which is the covenant of Yahweh, which He cut with the sons of Israel.”

Solomon’s Prayer for Israel

¹²Then he stood before the altar of Yahweh before all the assembly of Israel and spread out his hands. ¹³^aNow Solomon had made a bronze platform, five cubits long, five cubits wide and three cubits high, and had put it in the midst of the court; and he stood on it, ^bknelt on his knees in the presence of all the assembly of Israel, and spread out his hands toward heaven. ¹⁴And he said, “O Yahweh, the God of Israel, ^athere is no god like You in heaven or on earth, ^bkeeping covenant and lovingkindness to Your slaves who walk before You with all their heart; ¹⁵^awho have kept with Your ¹servant David, my father, that which You have ²promised him; indeed You have promised with Your mouth and have fulfilled it by Your hand, as it is this day. ¹⁶“So now, O Yahweh, the God of Israel, keep with Your servant David my father, that which You have promised him, saying, ‘^aYou shall not have a man cut off from before Me who is to sit on the throne of Israel, if only your sons keep their way to walk in My law as you have walked before Me.’ ¹⁷“So now, O Yahweh, the God of Israel, let Your word truly ¹endure which You have spoken to Your servant David.

¹⁸“But ^awill God truly dwell with mankind on the earth? Behold, ^bheaven and the ¹highest heaven cannot contain You; how much less this house which I have built. ¹⁹“Yet have regard to the prayer of Your slave and to his supplication, O Yahweh my God, to listen to the cry and to the prayer which Your slave prays before You; ²⁰that Your ^aeyes may be open toward this house day and night, toward ^bthe place of which You have said that You would place Your name there, to listen to the prayer which Your slave shall pray toward this place. ²¹“And listen to the supplications of Your slave and of Your people Israel, when they pray toward this place; listen from Your dwelling place, from heaven; ^alisten and forgive.

²²“If a man sins against his neighbor and is made to take an oath, and he comes and takes an oath before Your altar in this house, ²³then listen from heaven and act and judge Your slaves, ¹^,^apunishing the wicked by ²bringing his way on his own head and justifying the righteous by ³bringing him reward according to his righteousness.

²⁴“And if Your people Israel are ¹defeated before an enemy because ^athey have sinned against You, and they turn to You and confess Your name, and pray and make supplication before You in this house, ²⁵then listen from heaven and forgive the sin of Your people Israel, and bring them back to the land which You have given to them and to their fathers.

²⁶“When the ^aheavens are shut up and there is no rain because they have sinned against You, and they pray toward this place and confess Your name, and turn from their sin when You afflict them; ²⁷then listen in heaven and forgive the sin of Your slaves and of Your people Israel; indeed, ^ateach them the good way in which they should walk. And give rain on Your land, which You have given to Your people for an inheritance.

²⁸“If there is ^afamine in the land, if there is pestilence, if there is scorching wind or mildew, if there is locust or grasshopper, if their enemies besiege them in the land of their ¹cities, whatever plague or whatever sickness there is, ²⁹whatever prayer or supplication is made by any man or by all Your people Israel, who know his own affliction and his own pain, and spread his hands toward this house, ³⁰then listen from heaven Your dwelling place, and forgive, and give to each according to all his ways, whose heart You know, ^afor You alone know the hearts of the sons of men, ³¹that they may ¹fear You, to walk in Your ways all the days they live upon the face of the land which You have given to our fathers.

³²“Also concerning ^athe foreigner who is not of Your people Israel, if he comes from a far country for Your great name’s sake and Your strong hand and Your outstretched arm, so if they come and pray toward this house, ³³then listen from heaven, from Your dwelling place, and do according to all for which the foreigner calls to You, in order that all the peoples of the earth may know Your name even to ¹fear You, as do Your people Israel, and to know that Your name is ^acalled upon this house which I have built.

³⁴“When Your people go out to battle against their enemies, by whatever way You shall send them, and they pray to You toward this city which You have chosen and the house which I have built for Your name, ³⁵then listen from heaven to their prayer and their supplication, and do justice.

³⁶“When they sin against You (^afor there is no man who does not sin) and You are angry with them and give them over to an enemy, so that ¹they take them away captive to a land far off or near, ³⁷and if they ^acause these things to return to their heart in the land where they have been taken captive, and ¹return and make supplication to You in the land of their captivity, saying, ‘We have sinned, we have committed iniquity and have acted wickedly’; ³⁸^aand if they return to You with all their heart and with all their soul in the land of their captivity, where they have been taken captive, and pray toward their land which You have given to their fathers and the city which You have chosen, and toward the house which I have built for Your name, ³⁹then listen from heaven, from Your dwelling place, to their prayer and supplications, and do justice for them and forgive Your people who have sinned against You.

⁴⁰“Now, O my God, I pray, ^alet Your eyes be open and ^bYour ears attentive to the prayer offered in this place.

⁴¹“^aSo now, arise, O Yahweh God, to Your resting place, You and the ark of Your strength; let Your priests, O Yahweh God, be clothed with salvation and let Your holy ones be glad in what is good.

⁴²“O Yahweh God, do not turn away the face of Your anointed; ^aremember Your lovingkindness to Your servant David.”

The Glory of Yahweh Fills His House

7^aNow when Solomon had ¹finished praying, ^bfire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices, and the glory of Yahweh filled the house. ²^aAnd the priests could not enter into the house of Yahweh because the glory of Yahweh filled the house of Yahweh. ³And all the sons of Israel, seeing the fire come down and the glory of Yahweh upon the house, bowed down on the pavement with their faces to the ground, and they worshiped and gave praise to Yahweh, saying, “^aFor He is good, for His lovingkindness endures forever.”

Offerings for the House of Yahweh

⁴^aNow the king and all the people were offering sacrifices before Yahweh. ⁵And King Solomon offered a sacrifice of 22,000 oxen and 120,000 sheep. So the king and all the people dedicated the house of God. ⁶And the priests stood at their posts, and ^athe Levites also, with the instruments of music to Yahweh, which King David had made for giving thanks to Yahweh—“for His lovingkindness endures forever”—whenever ¹he gave praise by their hand, while ^bthe priests on the other side blew trumpets; and all Israel was standing.

⁷^aThen Solomon set apart as holy the middle of the court that was before the house of Yahweh, because there he offered the burnt offerings and the fat of the peace offerings; for the bronze altar which Solomon had made was not able to hold the burnt offering and the grain offering and the fat.

⁸So ^aSolomon celebrated the feast at that time for seven days, and all Israel with him, a very great assembly from ¹Lebo-hamath to the ^bbrook of Egypt. ⁹And on the eighth day they celebrated ^aa solemn assembly; for the dedication of the altar they celebrated seven days and the feast seven days. ¹⁰And on the twenty-third day of the seventh month he sent the people to their tents, with gladness and goodness of heart because of the goodness that Yahweh had shown to David and to Solomon and to Israel His people.

Yahweh Appears to Solomon

¹¹^aThus Solomon completed the house of Yahweh and the king’s house; and all that had come into Solomon’s heart to do in the house of Yahweh and in his house, he did successfully.

¹²Then Yahweh appeared to Solomon at night and said to him, “I have heard your prayer and ^ahave chosen this place for Myself as a house of sacrifice. ¹³“^aIf I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or if I command the grasshopper to devour the land, or if I send pestilence among My people, ¹⁴^aand My people ¹who are called by My name humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their evil ways, then I will listen from heaven, I will forgive their sin, and I will heal their land. ¹⁵“^aNow My eyes will be open and My ears attentive to the ¹prayer offered in this place. ¹⁶“So ^anow I have chosen and set this house apart as holy that My name may be there forever, and My eyes and My heart will be there perpetually. ¹⁷“As for you, if you will walk before Me as your father David walked, even to do according to all that I have commanded you, and will keep My statutes and My judgments, ¹⁸then I will establish your royal throne as I cut a covenant with your father David, saying, ‘¹^,^aYou shall not have a man cut off as ruler in Israel.’

¹⁹“^aBut if you turn away and forsake My statutes and My commandments which I have set before you, and go and serve other gods and worship them, ²⁰^athen I will uproot you from My land which I have given ¹you, and this house which I have set apart as holy for My name I will cast out of My presence and I will make it ^ba proverb and a byword among all peoples. ²¹“As for this house, which was exalted, everyone who passes by it will feel desolate and say, ‘^aWhy has Yahweh done thus to this land and to this house?’ ²²“And they will say, ‘Because ^athey forsook Yahweh, the God of their fathers, who brought them out of the land of Egypt and took hold of other gods and worshiped them and served them, therefore He has brought all this calamity on them.’”

The Seven Bowls of God’s Wrath

16Then I heard a loud voice from ^athe sanctuary, saying to the ^bseven angels, “Go and ^cpour out ¹on the earth the seven bowls of the wrath of God.”

²So the first angel went and poured out his bowl ¹^,^aon the earth; and it became a loathsome and malignant ^bsore on the ²people ^cwho have the mark of the beast and who worship his image.

³And the second angel poured out his bowl ^ainto the sea, and it became blood like that of a dead man, and every living ¹thing in the sea died.

⁴Then the third angel poured out his bowl into the ^arivers and the springs of waters, and they ^bbecame blood. ⁵And I heard the angel of the waters saying, “^aRighteous are You, ^bwho is and who was, O ^cHoly One, because You ^djudged these things; ⁶for they poured out ^athe blood of saints and prophets, and You have given them ^bblood to drink. They ¹deserve it.” ⁷And I heard ^athe altar saying, “Yes, O ¹^,^bLord God, the Almighty, ^ctrue and righteous are Your judgments.”

⁸And the fourth angel poured out his bowl upon ^athe sun, ^band it was given to it to scorch men with fire. ⁹And men were scorched with ¹fierce heat, and they ^ablasphemed the name of God who has the authority over these plagues, and they ^bdid not repent so as to ^cgive Him glory.

¹⁰Then the fifth angel poured out his bowl on the ^athrone of the beast, and his kingdom became ^bdarkened; and they gnawed their tongues because of pain, ¹¹and they ^ablasphemed the ^bGod of heaven because of their pains and their ^csores, and they ^ddid not repent of their deeds.

¹²And the sixth angel poured out his bowl on the ^agreat river, the Euphrates, and ^bits water was dried up, so that ^cthe way would be prepared for the kings ^dfrom the ¹east. ¹³Then I saw coming out of the mouth of the ^adragon and out of the mouth of the ^bbeast and out of the mouth of the ^cfalse prophet, three ^dunclean spirits like ^efrogs; ¹⁴for they are ^aspirits of demons, ^bdoing signs, which go out to the kings of the ^cwhole ¹world, to ^dgather them together for the war of the ^egreat day of God, the Almighty. ¹⁵(“Behold, ^aI am coming like a thief. ^bBlessed is the one who stays awake and keeps his garments, ^cso that he will not walk about naked and men will not see his shame.”) ¹⁶And they ^agathered them together to the place which ^bin Hebrew is called ¹^,^cHar-Magedon.

The Seventh Bowl

¹⁷Then the seventh angel poured out his bowl upon ^athe air, and a ^bloud voice came out of the ^csanctuary from the throne, saying, “^dIt is done.” ¹⁸And there were flashes of ^alightning and sounds and peals of thunder; and there was ^ba great earthquake, ^csuch as there had not been since man came to be upon the earth, so great an earthquake was it, and so mighty. ¹⁹^aAnd the great city was split into three parts, and the cities of the ¹nations fell. ^bBabylon the great was ^cremembered before God, to give her ^dthe cup of the wine of the wrath of His rage. ²⁰And ^aevery island fled away, and the mountains were not found. ²¹And ^ahuge ¹hailstones, about one ²talent each, *came down from heaven upon men; and men ^bblasphemed God because of the ^cplague of the hail, because its plague *was extremely ³severe.

The Bride Searches for Her Beloved

5“¹I have ^acome into my garden, ^bmy sister, my bride;I have picked my ^cmyrrh along with my balsam.I have eaten my honeycomb with my ^dhoney;I have ^edrunk my wine with my milk.Eat, ^ffriends;Drink and ²imbibe deeply, O lovers.”²“¹I was asleep, but my heart was awake.A voice! My beloved was knocking:‘Open to me, ^amy sister, my darling,^bMy dove, my perfect one!For my head is full of dew,My ^clocks with the ²damp of the night.’³“I have ^ataken off my long-sleeved garment,How can I put it on again?I have ^bwashed my feet,How can I dirty them again?⁴“My beloved sent forth his hand through the opening,And my ¹^,^afeelings moaned for him.⁵“I arose to open to my beloved;And my hands ^adripped with myrrh,And my fingers with ¹liquid myrrh,On the handles of the lock.⁶“I opened to my beloved,But my beloved had ^aturned away and passed by!My soul went out to him as he ^bspoke.I ^csearched for him, but I did not find him;I ^dcalled him, but he did not answer me.⁷“The ^awatchmen who go about in the city found me,They struck me and wounded me;The guardsmen of the walls took away my shawl from me.⁸“I ^acall you to solemnly swear, O daughters of Jerusalem,If you find my beloved,What will you tell him?Tell him that ^bI am sick with love.”⁹“¹What is your beloved that he is more than any other beloved,O ^amost beautiful among women?What is your beloved that he is more than any other beloved,That thus you call us to solemnly swear?”

The Bride Extols Her Beloved

¹⁰“¹My beloved is dazzling and ^aruddy,^bLifted up as a banner among ten thousand.¹¹“His head is like gold, fine gold;His ^alocks are like clusters of datesAnd black as a raven.¹²“His ^aeyes are like dovesBeside streams of water,Washed in milk,And sitting in their ^bsetting.¹³“His cheeks are like a ^abed of spices,Towers of sweet-scented herbs;His lips are ^blilies^cDripping with liquid myrrh.¹⁴“His hands are rods of goldSet with ^aberyl;His abdomen is a plate of ivoryInlaid with ¹^,^bsapphires.¹⁵“His legs are pillars of marbleSet on bases of fine gold;His appearance is like ^aLebanonChoice as the ^bcedars.¹⁶“His ¹^,^amouth is full of sweetness.And he is wholly ^bdesirable.This is my beloved and this is my friend,O daughters of Jerusalem.”