The Dedication of the Temple
(1 Kings 8.62-66)1 When King Solomon finished his prayer, fire came down from heaven and burned up the sacrifices that had been offered, and the dazzling light of the Lord's presence filled the Temple. 2 Because the Temple was full of the dazzling light, the priests could not enter it. 3 When the people of Israel saw the fire fall from heaven and the light fill the Temple, they fell face downward on the pavement, worshiping God and praising him for his goodness and his eternal love. 4 Then Solomon and all the people offered sacrifices to the Lord. 5 He sacrificed 22,000 head of cattle and 120,000 sheep as fellowship offerings. And so he and all the people dedicated the Temple. 6 The priests stood in the places that were assigned to them, and facing them stood the Levites, praising the Lord with the musical instruments that King David had provided and singing the hymn, “His Love Is Eternal!” as they had been commissioned by David. The priests blew trumpets while all the people stood.
7 Solomon consecrated the central part of the courtyard, the area in front of the Temple, and then offered there the sacrifices burned whole, the grain offerings, and the fat from the fellowship offerings. He did this because the bronze altar which he had made was too small for all these offerings.
8 Solomon and all the people of Israel celebrated the Festival of Shelters for seven days. There was a huge crowd of people from as far away as Hamath Pass in the north and the Egyptian border in the south. 9 They had spent seven days for the dedication of the altar and then seven more days for the festival. On the last day they had a closing celebration, 10 and on the following day, the twenty-third day of the seventh month, Solomon sent the people home. They were happy about all the blessings that the Lord had given to his people Israel, to David, and to Solomon.
God Appears to Solomon Again
(1 Kings 9.1-9)11 After King Solomon had finished the Temple and the palace, successfully completing all his plans for them, 12 the Lord appeared to him at night. He said to him, “I have heard your prayer, and I accept this Temple as the place where sacrifices are to be offered to me. 13 Whenever I hold back the rain or send locusts to eat up the crops or send an epidemic on my people, 14 if they pray to me and repent and turn away from the evil they have been doing, then I will hear them in heaven, forgive their sins, and make their land prosperous again. 15 I will watch over this Temple and be ready to hear all the prayers that are offered here, 16 because I have chosen it and consecrated it as the place where I will be worshiped forever. I will watch over it and protect it for all time. 17 If you serve me faithfully as your father David did, obeying my laws and doing everything I have commanded you, 18 I will keep the promise I made to your father David when I told him that Israel would always be ruled by his descendants. 19 But if you and your people ever disobey the laws and commands I have given you and worship other gods, 20 then I will remove you from the land that I gave you, and I will abandon this Temple that I have consecrated as the place where I am to be worshiped. People everywhere will ridicule it and treat it with contempt.
21 “The Temple is now greatly honored, but then everyone who passes by it will be amazed and will ask, ‘Why did the Lord do this to this land and this Temple?’ 22 People will answer, ‘It is because they abandoned the Lord their God, who brought their ancestors out of Egypt. They gave their allegiance to other gods and worshiped them. That is why the Lord has brought this disaster on them.’”
Ng'umba ye Ndzimu inopiwa Ndzimu
(1 Bomambo 8:62-66)1 Solomoni kati afidza ntembezelo uwe, moto ukadwa kudzimu ukapisa zwibhayilo zwinopisiwa ne zwimwe zwibhayilo zwakabe zwadusiwa, ngono tjedza tja Yahwe tjikazhala Ng'umba ye Ndzimu. 2 Bapirisiti bakabe basingatubule ngina mu Ng'umba ya Yahwe ngobe tjedza tja Yahwe tjakabe tjilizhele mu Ng'umba ya Yahwe. 3 Baiziraela bose bakati be bona moto udeluka ne tjedza tja Yahwe mu Ng'umba ye Ndzimu bakathigama bakawa nge njiso mu budzilo, bakanamata ngono bakaboka Yahwe beti, “Yahwe bakanaka, ngobe ludo gwabo gusingazunguzike gugelile tjatjose.” 4 Ipapo Mambo Solomoni ne bathu bose be Iziraela bakadusila Yahwe zwibhayilo. 5 Mambo Solomoni wakadusa zwibhayilo zwili zwiwulu zwili makumi mabili ana zwibili (22 000) zwe mikono ne pkhwizi dzili zwiwulu zwili zana lina makumi ali mabili (120 000). Mambo ne bathu bose be Iziraela bakabe betola Ng'umba beipa Yahwe. 6 Bapirisiti bakatola magalo abo ne Balevi bo bakabe balimile bakalingisana nabo bakabhata zwilidzo zwakabe zwathamwa ndi Mambo Dafite kuti zwilidziwe mukukudza Yahwe ngobe ludo gwabo gusingazunguzike gugelile tjatjose, bapirisiti bakabe belidza nyanga ngono Baiziraela bakama nge makumbo. 7 Solomoni wakayengemadza pakati kwe nsha wakabe uli mbeli kwe Ng'umba ya Yahwe. Kadusila zwibhayilo zwinopisiwa ne tjipo tje mathunde ne mafuta e zwibhayilo zwe mbakisano ipapo, ngobe tjibeso tjinopisigwa zwibhayilo tje phangula tjakabe tjili mbeli kwa Yahwe tjakabe tjisingaswike kupisigwa zwipo zose zwakabe zwakafanila pisiwa.
8 Ipapo Solomoni ne gubungano lose le Iziraela bakadwa babhata Nzano we Mishasha wakatola mazhuba ali kutendeka. Kwakabe kuli mbunga nkulu we bathu kudwa ku nkoba we Hamati kunoti ku lukobana gwe Egipiti. 9 Kukati mu zhuba le buzhanakadzi bakabe ne nshangano nkulu ngobe bakabe batola mazhuba ali kutendeka beshinga nshingo we kupa tjibeso tjinopisigwa zwibhayilo Yahwe ne mazhuba mamwe ali kutendeka mu nzano. 10 Ngono wakati mu zhuba le bumakumi mabili ana matatu mambo kapaladza bathu kuti bayende ku makanyi abo, bakayenda bakashathila bubuya gose gwa Yahwe gwabalakidza Dafite na Solomoni ne bathu babo Baiziraela.
Ndzimu unozwilakidza kuna Solomoni kakale
(1 Bomambo 9:1-9)11 Ngono kwakati Solomoni apedza kubaka Ng'umba ye Ndzimu ne kubaka ng'umba ye bushe na zose zwaakabe eshaka kuzwithama mu Ng'umba ye Ndzimu ne iye, 12 Yahwe bakazwilakidza kuna Solomoni busiku ngono bakati kunli, “Ndahwa ntembezelo uwo ngono ndazwishalulila kakale ndaamutjila bugalo igogu kuti ndipo panowothamigwa zwibhayilo zwangu. 13 Ha ndizhalila kudzimu kuti vula isine kene nditumila phashu kuti dziwodukudza shango kene nditumila bugwele ku bathu bangu, 14 ha bathu bangu banodang'wa nge zina langu bangashandukila zila dzabo mbiimbi ha benditembezela ndowobahwa ndili kudzimu ngono azwiibhatigwa matjinyo abo ngono apodza shango yabo. 15 Ngwenu mesho angu anowozhuka ne zebe dzangu dzowoteedza mitembezelo inothamwa mu bugalo igogu, 16 ngoti ndashalula ng'umba iyeyi kakale ndaiyengemadza kuti ibe ipo panowobe ne zina langu nge kusingapele. Mesho angu ne moyo wangu zowobe ipapo zwibaka zose. 17 Koga iwe, haunganditobela koga sa Dafite tate babo bakanditobela, ukalondolodza zose zwandakakudwa nditi uzwishinge kakale ukabhulutana milayo yangu, 18 ndowobambila bushe gugo tjatjose sekwa ndakagadzabgwe tate babo Dafite nditi, ‘Aakutowosheteka nthu ungabusa Iziraela.’ 19 Koga haungafupatila milayo yangu yandabiga mbeli kuko ukathigamila midzimu ipoga, 20 ndowokutatila kuzhe kwe shango iyeyi yandakakupa ne Ng'umba iyeyi yandakayengemadzila zina langu, inowobe tjiseko mu bathu kakale ikalingigwa pasi.
21 “Ngono mmwe ne mmwe unopinda Ng'umba iyeyi inokudziwa unowokaabala ngono kabhuzwa kati, ‘Ini Yahwe bathama tjakajali mu shango ne Ng'umba iyeyi?’ 22 Ipapo banowoti, ‘Ngoti bakalashila kutjena Yahwe Ndzimu wa bobatategulu babo, ibo bakabadusa mu shango ye Egipiti, ngono bakatobela midzimu ipoga bakainamata kakale bakaishingila ndizo babazhisila mbipo yose iyeyi.’ ”