49. may You hear in heaven, Your dwelling place,their prayer and petition and uphold their cause.
50. May You forgive Your peoplewho sinned against Youand all their rebellions against You,and may You give them compassionin the eyes of their captors,so that they may be compassionate to them.
51. For they are Your people and Your inheritance; You brought them out of Egypt,out of the middle of an iron furnace.
52. May Your eyes be open to Your servant’s petitionand to the petition of Your people Israel,listening to them whenever they call to You.
53. For You, Lord God, have set them apart as Your inheritancefrom all the people on earth,as You spoke through Your servant Moseswhen You brought their ancestors out of Egypt.
54. When Solomon finished praying this entire prayer and petition to the Lord, he got up from kneeling before the altar of the Lord, with his hands spread out toward heaven,
55. and he stood and blessed the whole congregation of Israel with a loud voice:
56. “May the Lord be praised! He has given rest to His people Israel according to all He has said. Not one of all the good promises He made through His servant Moses has failed.
57. May the Lord our God be with us as He was with our ancestors. May He not abandon us or leave us
58. so that He causes us to be devoted to Him, to walk in all His ways, and to keep His commands, statutes, and ordinances, which He commanded our ancestors.
59. May my words I have made my petition with before the Lord be near the Lord our God day and night, so that He may uphold His servant’s cause and the cause of His people Israel, as each day requires,
60. and so that all the peoples of the earth may know that Yahweh is God. There is no other!
61. Let your heart be completely devoted to the Lord our God to walk in His statutes and to keep His commands, as it is today.”
62. The king and all Israel with him were offering sacrifices in the Lord’s presence.
63. Solomon offered a sacrifice of fellowship offerings to the Lord: 22,000 cattle and 120,000 sheep. In this manner the king and all the Israelites dedicated the Lord’s temple.
64. On the same day, the king consecrated the middle of the courtyard that was in front of the Lord’s temple because that was where he offered the burnt offering, the grain offering, and the fat of the fellowship offerings since the bronze altar before the Lord was too small to accommodate the burnt offerings, the grain offerings, and the fat of the fellowship offerings.
65. Solomon and all Israel with him — a great assembly, from the entrance of Hamath to the Brook of Egypt — observed the festival at that time in the presence of the Lord our God, seven days, and seven more days — 14 days.