54. Solomon finished all of those prayers. He finished asking the Lord to show his favor to his people. Then he got up from in front of the Lord's altar. He had been down on his knees with his hands spread out toward heaven.
55. He stood in front of the whole community of Israel. He blessed them with a loud voice. He said,
56. "I praise the Lord. He has given peace and rest to his people Israel. That's exactly what he promised to do. He gave his people good promises through his servant Moses. Every single word of those promises has come true.
57. "May the Lord our God be with us, just as he was with our people who lived long ago. May he never leave us. May he never desert us.
58. May he turn our hearts to him. Then we will live the way he wants us to. We'll obey the commands, rules and directions he gave our people.
59. "I've prayed these words to the Lord our God. May he keep them close to him day and night. May he stand up for me. May he also stand up for his people Israel. May he give us what we need every day.
60. Then all of the nations on earth will know that the Lord is God. They'll know that there isn't any other god.
61. "But you must commit your lives completely to the Lord our God. You must live by his rules. You must obey his commands. You must always do as you are doing now."
62. Then the king and the whole community of Israel offered sacrifices to the Lord.
63. Solomon sacrificed friendship offerings to the Lord. He sacrificed 22,000 head of cattle. He also sacrificed 120,000 sheep and goats. So the king and the whole community set the temple of the Lord apart to him.
64. On that same day the king set the middle area of the courtyard apart to the Lord. It was in front of the Lord's temple. There Solomon sacrificed burnt offerings and grain offerings. He also sacrificed the fat of the friendship offerings there. He did it there because the bronze altar in front of the Lord was too small. It wasn't big enough to hold all of the burnt offerings, the grain offerings and the fat of the friendship offerings.
65. At that time Solomon celebrated the Feast of Booths. The whole community of Israel was with him. It was a huge crowd. People came from as far away as Lebo Hamath and the Wadi of Egypt. For seven days they celebrated in front of the Lord our God. The feast continued for seven more days. That made a total of 14 days.