7. Then Solomon consecrated the middle of the court facing the house of the Lord; he offered there the burnt offerings and the fat of the communion offerings, since the bronze altar which Solomon had made could not hold the burnt offering, the grain offering, and the fat.
8. On this occasion Solomon and with him all Israel, a great assembly from Lebo-hamath to the Wadi of Egypt, celebrated the festival for seven days.
9. On the eighth day they held a solemn assembly, for they had celebrated the dedication of the altar for seven days and the feast for seven days.
10. On the twenty-third day of the seventh month he dismissed the people to their tents, rejoicing and glad of heart because of all the blessings the Lord had given to David, to Solomon, and to his people Israel.
11. Solomon finished building the house of the Lord, the house of the king, and everything else he wanted to do in regard to the house of the Lord and his own house.
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 heaven so that there is no rain, if I command the locust to devour the land, if I send pestilence among my people,
14. if then my people, upon whom my name has been pronounced, humble themselves and pray, and seek my face and turn from their evil ways, I will hear them from heaven and pardon their sins and heal their land.
15. Now, therefore, my eyes shall be open and my ears attentive to the prayer of this place;
16. now I have chosen and consecrated this house that my name may be there forever; my eyes and my heart shall be there always.
17. As for you, if you walk before me as David your father did, doing all that I have commanded you and keeping my statutes and ordinances,
18. I will establish the throne of your kingship as I covenanted with David your father when I said, There shall never be wanting someone from your line as ruler in Israel.