⁶ The priests took their assigned positions, and so did the Levites who were singing, “His faithful love endures forever!” They accompanied the singing with music from the instruments King David had made for praising the Lord. Across from the Levites, the priests blew the trumpets, while all Israel stood.

⁷ Solomon then consecrated the central area of the courtyard in front of the Lord’s Temple. He offered burnt offerings and the fat of peace offerings there, because the bronze altar he had built could not hold all the burnt offerings, grain offerings, and sacrificial fat.

⁸ For the next seven days Solomon and all Israel celebrated the Festival of Shelters.^[a] A large congregation had gathered from as far away as Lebo-hamath in the north and the Brook of Egypt in the south.