Bible Strands
1 Kings 8:65
So at that time Solomon and all Israel with him—a great assembly of people from Lebo-hamath to the Brook of Egypt—kept the feast before the LORD our God for seven days and seven more days—fourteen days in all.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The narrator reports that Solomon and a vast assembly of Israelites from Lebo-hamath to the Brook of Egypt completed a fourteen-day feast before the LORD. This event follows Solomon’s consecration of the temple courtyard and precedes his dismissal of the people on the fifteenth day.
The words — The verb וַיַּעַשׂ (va.ya‘as) literally means “he made” or “he observed,” applied here to the festival (הַחָג, ha-chag). The phrase בָּעֵת הַהִיא (ba‘et ha-hi) translates to “at that time,” anchoring the action to Solomon’s reign.
The thread — The boundary markers Lebo-hamath and the Brook of Egypt appear in Numbers 34:5 and Numbers 34:8 to define the promised land. The gathering of all Israel for a feast in the seventh month mirrors the initial assembly recorded in 1 Kings 8:2.
Why it lands — The text states that the entire nation observed the feast for fourteen days under Solomon’s leadership. It requires the reader to note the territorial scope of the assembly and the structured conclusion of the dedication events.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
And at that time Solomon held a feast, and all Israel with him, a great congregation, from the entering in of Hamath unto the river of Egypt, before the Lord our God, seven days and seven days, even fourteen days.
Cross-references
- Numbers 34:5 where it will turn from Azmon, join the Brook of Egypt, and end at the Sea.
- Numbers 34:8 and from Mount Hor to Lebo-hamath, then extend to Zedad,
- 1 Kings 8:2 And all the men of Israel came together to King Solomon at the feast in the seventh month, the month of Ethanim.
- Genesis 15:18 On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, “To your descendants I have given this land—from the river of Egypt to the great River Euphrates—
- Joshua 13:5 the land of the Gebalites; and all Lebanon to the east, from Baal-gad below Mount Hermon to Lebo-hamath.
- Judges 3:3 the five rulers of the Philistines, all the Canaanites, the Sidonians, and the Hivites who lived in the mountains of Lebanon from Mount Baal-hermon to Lebo-hamath.
- 2 Kings 14:25 This Jeroboam restored the boundary of Israel from Lebo-hamath to the Sea of the Arabah, according to the word that the LORD, the God of Israel, had spoken through His servant Jonah son of Amittai, the prophet from Gath-hepher.
- 2 Chronicles 7:8 So at that time Solomon and all Israel with him—a very great assembly of people from Lebo-hamath to the Brook of Egypt—kept the feast for seven days.
- Exodus 23:31 And I will establish your borders from the Red Sea to the Sea of the Philistines, and from the desert to the Euphrates. For I will deliver the inhabitants into your hand, and you will drive them out before you.
- Joshua 13:3 from the Shihor east of Egypt to the territory of Ekron on the north (considered to be Canaanite territory)—that of the five Philistine rulers of Gaza, Ashdod, Ashkelon, Gath, and Ekron, as well as that of the Avvites;