Solomon’s Benediction

Solomon rises from kneeling and blesses the assembly, praising the LORD for His unfailing promises and asking Him to stay with Israel, turn their hearts toward obedience, and uphold their cause. The blessing ends by joining Israel’s full devotion to the worldwide knowledge that the LORD alone is God.

N⁵⁴ow when Solomon had finished praying this entire prayer and petition to the LORD, he got up before the altar of the LORD, where he had been kneeling with his hands spread out toward heaven. ⁵⁵And he stood and blessed the whole assembly of Israel in a loud voice, saying: ⁵⁶“Blessed be the LORD, who has given rest to His people Israel according to all that He promised. Not one word has failed of all the good promises He made through His servant Moses. ⁵⁷May the LORD our God be with us, as He was with our fathers. May He never leave us or forsake us. ⁵⁸May He incline our hearts to Himself, to walk in all His ways and to keep the commandments and statutes and ordinances He commanded our fathers. ⁵⁹And may these words with which I have made my petition before the LORD be near to the LORD our God day and night, so that He may uphold the cause of His servant and of His people Israel as each day requires, ⁶⁰so that all the peoples of the earth may know that the LORD is God. There is no other! ⁶¹So let your heart be fully devoted to the LORD our God, as it is this day, to walk in His statutes and to keep His commandments.”