Bible Strands
1 Kings 8:66
On the fifteenth day Solomon sent the people away. So they blessed the king and went home, joyful and glad in heart for all the good things that the LORD had done for His servant David and for His people Israel.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Solomon dismisses the assembled people of Israel after the fourteen-day feast concluding the temple dedication. The crowd responds by blessing him and returning to their homes.
The words — The text highlights שִׁלַּ֣ח (shi.Lach), meaning "he sent away," and וַֽ/יְבָרֲכ֖וּ (va/y.va.ra.Khu), meaning "and they blessed." These verbs frame the official conclusion of the gathering and the people's immediate response.
The thread — The pattern of communal rejoicing before God appears in Deuteronomy 12:7 and Deuteronomy 12:12, where households eat and rejoice in His presence. Zechariah 9:17 later echoes this motif of divine blessing producing tangible joy and flourishing.
Why it lands — The passage requires readers to acknowledge that worship concludes with practical obedience and gratitude for God's specific provision. It directs attention away from ritual completion toward the faithful, joyful response of the community.
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
On the eighth day he sent the people away: and they blessed the king, and went unto their tents joyful and glad of heart for all the goodness that the Lord had done for David his servant, and for Israel his people.
Cross-references
- Deuteronomy 12:7 There, in the presence of the LORD your God, you and your households shall eat and rejoice in all you do, because the LORD your God has blessed you.
- Deuteronomy 12:12 And you shall rejoice before the LORD your God—you, your sons and daughters, your menservants and maidservants, and the Levite within your gates, since he has no portion or inheritance among you.
- Zechariah 9:17 How lovely they will be, and how beautiful! Grain will make the young men flourish, and new wine, the young women.
- Acts 2:46 With one accord they continued to meet daily in the temple courts and to break bread from house to house, sharing their meals with gladness and sincerity of heart,
- Galatians 5:22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
- Philippians 4:4 Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!
- Deuteronomy 12:18 Instead, you must eat them in the presence of the LORD your God at the place the LORD your God will choose—you, your sons and daughters, your menservants and maidservants, and the Levite within your gates. Rejoice before the LORD your God in all you do,
- Deuteronomy 16:11 and you shall rejoice before the LORD your God in the place He will choose as a dwelling for His Name—you, your sons and daughters, your menservants and maidservants, and the Levite within your gates, as well as the foreigner, the fatherless, and the widows among you.
- 1 Kings 8:1 At that time Solomon assembled before him in Jerusalem the elders of Israel—all the tribal heads and family leaders of the Israelites—to bring up the ark of the covenant of the LORD from Zion, the City of David.
- 1 Kings 8:47 and when they come to their senses in the land to which they were taken, and they repent and plead with You in the land of their captors, saying, ‘We have sinned and done wrong; we have acted wickedly,’