2 Chronicles 7:1-22, NLT
2 Chronicles 7
The Dedication of the Temple
1When Solomon finished praying, fire flashed down from heaven and burned up the burnt offerings and sacrifices, and the glorious presence of the Lord filled the Temple.
“He is good!
His faithful love endures forever!”
4Then the king and all the people offered sacrifices to the Lord.
7Solomon then consecrated the central area of the courtyard in front of the Lord’s Temple. He offered burnt offerings and the fat of peace offerings there, because the bronze altar he had built could not hold all the burnt offerings, grain offerings, and sacrificial fat.
8For the next seven days Solomon and all Israel celebrated the Festival of Shelters.*7:8 Hebrew the festival (also in 7:9); see note on 5:3. A large congregation had gathered from as far away as Lebo-hamath in the north and the Brook of Egypt in the south.
The Lord’s Response to Solomon
11So Solomon finished the Temple of the Lord, as well as the royal palace. He completed everything he had planned to do in the construction of the Temple and the palace.
“I have heard your prayer and have chosen this Temple as the place for making sacrifices.
17“As for you, if you faithfully follow me as David your father did, obeying all my commands, decrees, and regulations,
19“But if you or your descendants abandon me and disobey the decrees and commands I have given you, and if you serve and worship other gods,
22“And the answer will be, ‘Because his people abandoned the Lord, the God of their ancestors, who brought them out of Egypt, and they worshiped other gods instead and bowed down to them. That is why he has brought all these disasters on them.’”