Then spake Solomon, The LORD said that he would dwell in the thick darkness.
Parallel translations
- WEB Then Solomon said, “Yahweh has said that he would dwell in the thick darkness.
- BSB Then Solomon declared: “The LORD has said that He would dwell in the thick cloud.
- NKJV Then Solomon spoke: “The Lord said He would dwell in the dark cloud.
- NASB Then Solomon said, “The Lord has said that He would dwell in the thick darkness.
- NLT Then Solomon prayed, “O Lord, you have said that you would live in a thick cloud of darkness.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Solomon declared that the Lord had said He would dwell in thick darkness. He acknowledged God's hidden, holy presence in the temple.
Overview
Recalling how God had appeared in cloud and darkness at Sinai, Solomon recognized that the Lord, though now dwelling among His people, remained holy and beyond full human sight. The thick darkness signified both God's nearness and His unapproachable majesty. This veiled presence anticipates the fuller revelation in Christ, in whom the invisible God draws near and makes Himself known.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 9
- Ps 97:2Clouds and darkness are round about him: righteousness and judgment are the habitation of his throne.
- 2 Chr 6:1–11Then said Solomon, The LORD hath said that he would dwell in the thick darkness.
- Lev 16:2And the LORD said unto Moses, Speak unto Aaron thy brother, that he come not at all times into the holy place within the vail before the mercy seat, which is upon the ark; that he die not: for I will appear in the cloud upon the mercy seat.
- Isa 45:15Verily thou art a God that hidest thyself, O God of Israel, the Saviour.
- Ps 18:8–11There went up a smoke out of his nostrils, and fire out of his mouth devoured: coals were kindled by it.
- Exod 20:21And the people stood afar off, and Moses drew near unto the thick darkness where God was.
- Deut 5:22These words the LORD spake unto all your assembly in the mount out of the midst of the fire, of the cloud, and of the thick darkness, with a great voice: and he added no more. And he wrote them in two tables of stone, and delivered them unto me.
- Heb 12:18For ye are not come unto the mount that might be touched, and that burned with fire, nor unto blackness, and darkness, and tempest,
- Deut 4:11And ye came near and stood under the mountain; and the mountain burned with fire unto the midst of heaven, with darkness, clouds, and thick darkness.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
Solomon's glory, wisdom, and temple where God's presence dwells are a shadow of the greater Son of David — 'one greater than Solomon is here' — and of the true Temple, Christ himself.
How 1 Kings 8:12 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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