49then in heaven, the place where you live, hear their prayer for mercy. Do what is right for them.
50Forgive your people, who have sinned against you. [Forgive] all their wrongs when they rebelled against you, and cause those who captured them to have mercy on them
51because they are your own people whom you brought out of Egypt from the middle of an iron smelter.
52"May your eyes always see my plea and your people Israel's plea so that you will listen to them whenever they call on you.
53After all, you, LORD God, set them apart from all the people of the world to be your own as you promised through your servant Moses when you brought our ancestors out of Egypt."
54When Solomon finished praying this prayer for mercy to the LORD, he stood in front of the LORD's altar, where he had been kneeling with his hands stretched out toward heaven. 55Then he stood and in a loud voice blessed the entire assembly of Israel,
56"Thanks be to the LORD! He has given his people Israel rest, as he had promised. None of the good promises he made through his servant Moses has failed to come true. 57May the LORD our God be with us as he was with our ancestors. May he never leave us or abandon us. 58May he bend our hearts toward him. Then we will follow him and keep his commands, laws, and rules, which he commanded our ancestors [to keep]. 59May these words which I have prayed to the LORD be near the LORD our God day and night. Then he will give me and his people Israel justice every day as it is needed. 60In this way all the people of the world will know that the LORD is God and there is no other [god]. 61May your hearts be committed to the LORD our God. Then you will live by his laws and keep his commands as you have today."
62Then the king and all Israel offered sacrifices to the LORD. 63Solomon sacrificed 22,000 cattle and 120,000 sheep as fellowship offerings to the LORD. So the king and all the people of Israel dedicated the LORD's temple. 64On that day the king designated the courtyard in front of the LORD's temple as a holy place. He sacrificed the burnt offerings, grain offerings, and the fat from the fellowship offerings because the bronze altar in front of the LORD was too small to hold all of them.
65At that time Solomon and all Israel celebrated the Festival [of Booths]. A large crowd had come from [the territory between] the border of Hamath and the River of Egypt to be near the LORD our God for seven days [more days], fourteen days total." 66On the eighth day he dismissed the people. They blessed the king and went to their tents. They rejoiced with cheerful hearts for all the blessings the LORD had given his servant David and his people Israel.
