2 Chronicles 7

CATHOLIC PUBLIC DOMAIN	NEW AMERICAN BIBLE
1 And when Solomon had completed pouring out his prayers, fire descended from heaven, and it devoured the holocausts and the victims. And the majesty of the Lord filled the house.	1 When Solomon had ended his prayer, fire came down from heaven and consumed the holocaust and the sacrifices, and the glory of the LORD filled the house.
2 Neither were the priests able to enter into the temple of the Lord, because the majesty of the Lord had filled the temple of the Lord.	2 But the priests could not enter the house of the LORD, for the glory of the LORD had filled the house of the LORD.
3 Moreover, all the sons of Israel saw the fire descending, and the glory of the Lord upon the house. And falling prone upon the ground, on the layer of pavement stones, they adored and praised the Lord: “For he is good. For his mercy is everlasting.”	3 All the Israelites looked on while the fire came down and the glory of the LORD was upon the house, and they fell down upon the pavement with their faces to the earth and adored, praising the LORD, "for he is good, for his mercy endures forever."
4 Then the king and all the people were immolating victims before the Lord.	4 The king and all the people were offering sacrifices before the LORD.
5 And so, king Solomon slaughtered victims: twenty-two thousand oxen, and one hundred twenty thousand rams. And the king and the entire people dedicated the house of God.	5 King Solomon offered as sacrifice twenty-two thousand oxen, and one hundred twenty thousand sheep.
6 Then the priests and the Levites were standing in their offices, with the instruments of music for the Lord, which king David made in order to praise the Lord: “For his mercy is eternal.” And they were playing the hymns of David with their hands. And the priests were sounding out with trumpets before them, and all of Israel was standing.	6 Thus the king and all the people dedicated the house of God. The priests were standing at their stations, as were the Levites, with the musical instruments of the LORD which King David had made for "praising the LORD, for his mercy endures forever," when David used them to accompany the hymns. Across from them the priests blew the trumpets and all Israel stood.
7 Also, Solomon sanctified the middle of the atrium in front of the temple of the Lord. For he had offered the holocausts and the fat of peace offerings in that place because the bronze altar, which he had made, had not been able to support the holocausts and the sacrifices and the fat.	7 Then Solomon consecrated the middle part of the court which lay before the house of the LORD; there he offered the holocausts and the fat of the peace offerings, since the bronze altar which Solomon had made could not hold the holocausts, the cereal offerings and the fat.
8 Therefore, Solomon kept the solemnity, at that time, for seven days, and all of Israel with him, a very great assembly, from the entrance of Hamath, even to the torrent of Egypt.	8 On this occasion Solomon and with him all Israel, who had assembled in very large numbers from Labo of Hamath to the Wadi of Egypt, celebrated the festival for seven days.
9 And on the eighth day, he held a solemn gathering, because he had dedicated the altar over seven days, and he had celebrated the solemnity over seven days.	9 On the eighth day they held a special meeting, for they had celebrated the dedication of the altar for seven days and the feast for seven days.
10 And so, on the twenty-third day of the seventh month, he dismissed the people to their dwellings, joyful and glad over the good that the Lord had done for David, and for Solomon, and for his people Israel.	10 On the twenty-third day of the seventh month he sent the people back to their tents, rejoicing and glad at heart at the good things the LORD had done for David, for Solomon, and for his people Israel.
11 And Solomon completed the house of the Lord, and the house of the king, and all that he had resolved in his heart to do for the house of the Lord, and for his own house. And he prospered.	11 Solomon completed the house of the LORD and the royal palace; he successfully accomplished everything he had planned to do in regard to the house of the LORD and his own house.
12 Then the Lord appeared to him by night, and said: “I have heard your prayer, and I have chosen this place for myself as a house of sacrifice.	12 The LORD appeared to Solomon during the night and said to him: "I have heard your prayer, and I have chosen this place for my house of sacrifice.
13 If I close up heaven, so that no rain will fall, or if I order and instruct the locust to devour the land, or if I send a pestilence among my people,	13 If I close heaven so that there is no rain, if I command the locust to devour the land, if I send pestilence among my people,
14 and if my people, over whom my name has been invoked, being converted, will have petitioned me and sought my face, and will have done penance for their wicked ways, then I will heed them from heaven, and I will forgive their sins, and I will heal their land.	14 and if my people, upon whom my name has been pronounced, humble themselves and pray, and seek my presence and turn from their evil ways, I will hear them from heaven and pardon their sins and revive their land.
15 Also, my eyes will be open, and my ears will be attentive, to the prayer of him who shall pray in this place.	15 Now my eyes shall be open and my ears attentive to the prayer of this place.
16 For I have chosen and sanctified this place, so that my name may be there continually, and so that my eyes and my heart may remain there, for all days.	16 And now I have chosen and consecrated this house that my name may be there forever; my eyes and my heart also shall be there always.
17 And as for you, if you will walk before me, just as your father David walked, and if you will act in accord with all that I have instructed you, and if you will observe my justices and judgments,	17 "As for you, if you live in my presence as your father David did, doing all that I have commanded you and keeping my statutes and ordinances,
18 I will raise up the throne of your kingdom, just as I promised to your father David, saying: ‘There shall not be taken away a man from your stock who will be ruler in Israel.’	18 I will establish your royal throne as I covenanted with your father David when I said, 'There shall never be lacking someone of yours as ruler in Israel.'
19 But if you will have turned away, and will have forsaken my justices and my precepts, which I have set before you, and going astray, you serve strange gods, and you adore them,	19 But if you turn away and forsake my statutes and commands which I placed before you, if you proceed to venerate and worship strange gods,
20 I will uproot you from my land, which I gave to you, and from this house, which I sanctified to my name, and I will cast it away from before my face, and I will deliver it to be a parable and an example for all the peoples.	20 then I will uproot the people from the land I gave them; I will cast from my sight this house which I have consecrated to my honor, and I will make it a proverb and a byword among all peoples.
21 And this house will be like a proverb to all who pass by. And being astonished, they shall say: ‘Why has the Lord acted this way toward this land and toward this house?’	21 This temple which is so exalted--everyone passing by it will be amazed and ask: 'Why has the LORD done this to this land and to this house?'
22 And they shall respond: ‘Because they abandoned the Lord, the God of their fathers, who led them away from the land of Egypt, and they took hold of foreign gods, and they adored and worshipped them. Therefore, all these evils have overwhelmed them.’ ”	22 And men will answer: 'They forsook the LORD, the God of their fathers, who brought them out of the land of Egypt, and they adopted strange gods and worshiped them and served them. That is why he has brought down upon them all this evil.'"