Solomon’s Temple-Dedication Poem

1 Kings 8:12–13

ca. 1200–332 BCE

12[T]hen Solomon declared:

“The Lord has chosen
To abide in a thick cloud:
13I have now built for You
A stately House,
A place where You
May dwell forever.”

Credits

Reprinted from Tanakh: The Holy Scriptures by permission of the University of Nebraska Press. Copyright 1985 by the Jewish Publication Society, Philadelphia.

Published in: The Posen Library of Jewish Culture and Civilization, vol. 1.

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When Solomon’s Temple was dedicated, after the Ark of the Covenant was placed in the Holy of Holies and the Lord’s cloud filled the Temple, Solomon recited a long prayer of dedication (1 Kings 8:14–53). Just before the prayer, the text relates that Solomon recited this brief poetic passage (according to the Septuagint, it was taken from an ancient poetic work, “The Book of Song,” possibly identical to the Book of Jashar).

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Related Guide

Biblical Poetry

Biblical Period

Biblical poetry is characterized by short parallel lines, without a fixed meter or rhyming pattern, and include love poems, laments over the dead, victory poems, and laments, among others.

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