Thee; and give them compassion before those who carried them captive, that they may have compassion on them; 51for they are Thy people, and Thine inheritance, which Thou broughtest forth out of Egypt, from the midst of the furnace of iron; 52that Thine eyes may be open unto the supplication of Thy servant, and unto the supplication of Thy people Israel, to hearken unto them whensoever they cry unto Thee. 53For Thou didst set them apart from among all the peoples of the earth, to be Thine inheritance, as Thou didst speak by the hand of Moses Thy servant, when Thou broughtest our fathers out of Egypt, O Lord God.'
54And it was so, that when Solomon had made an end of praying all this prayer and supplication unto the Lord, he arose from before the altar of the Lord, from kneeling on his knees with his hands spread forth toward heaven. 55And he stood, and blessed all the congregation of Israel with a loud voice, saying: 56'Blessed be the Lord, that hath given rest unto His people Israel, according to all that He promised; there hath not failed one word of all His good promise, which He promised by the hand of Moses His servant. 57The Lord our God be with us, as He was with our fathers; let Him not leave us, nor forsake us; 58that He may incline our hearts unto Him, to walk in all His ways, and to keep His commandments, and His statutes, and His ordinances, which He commanded our fathers. 59And let these my words, wherewith I have made supplication before the Lord, be nigh unto the Lord our God day and night, that He maintain the cause of His servant, and the cause of His people Israel, as every day shall require; 60that all the peoples of the earth may know that the Lord, He is God; there is none else. 61Let your heart therefore be whole with the Lord our God, to walk in His statutes, and to keep His commandments, as at this day.' 62And the king, and all Israel with him, offered sacrifice before the Lord. 63And Solomon offered for the sacrifice of peace-offerings, which he offered unto the Lord, two and twenty thousand oxen, and a hundred and twenty thousand sheep. So the king and all the children of Israel dedicated the house of the Lord. 64The same day did the king hallow the middle of the court that was before the house of the Lord; for there he offered the burnt-offering, and the meal-offering, and the fat of the peace-offerings; because the brazen altar that was before the Lord was too little to receive the burnt-offering, and the meal-offering, and the fat of the peace-offerings.
65So Solomon held the feast at that time, and all Israel with him, a great congregation, from the entrance Hamath unto the Brook of Egypt, before the Lord our God, seven days and seven days, even fourteen days. 66On the eighth day he sent the people away, and they blessed the king, and went unto their tents joyful and glad of heart for all the goodness that the Lord had shown unto David His servant, and to Israel His people.
9And it came to pass, when Solomon had finished the building of the house of the Lord, and the king's house, and all Solomon's delight which he was pleased to do, 2that the Lord appeared to Solomon the second time, as He had appeared unto him at Gibeon. 3And the Lord said unto him: 'I have heard thy prayer and thy supplication, that thou
416
