Then Solomon said, “The Lord has 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.
- KJV Then spake Solomon, The LORD 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.
- 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 around him. Righteousness and justice are the foundation of his throne.
- 2 Chr 6:1–11Then Solomon said, “Yahweh has said that he would dwell in the thick darkness.
- Lev 16:2and Yahweh said to Moses, “Tell Aaron your brother, not to come at all times into the Most Holy Place within the veil, before the mercy seat which is on the ark; lest he die: for I will appear in the cloud on the mercy seat.
- Isa 45:15Most certainly you are a God who has hidden yourself, God of Israel, the Savior.’”
- Ps 18:8–11Smoke went out of his nostrils. Consuming fire came out of his mouth. Coals were kindled by it.
- Exod 20:21The people stayed at a distance, and Moses came near to the thick darkness where God was.
- Deut 5:22Yahweh spoke these words to all your assembly on the mountain out of the middle of the fire, of the cloud, and of the thick darkness, with a great voice. He added no more. He wrote them on two stone tablets, and gave them to me.
- Heb 12:18For you have not come to a mountain that might be touched, and that burned with fire, and to blackness, darkness, storm,
- Deut 4:11You came near and stood under the mountain. The mountain burned with fire to the heart of the sky, with darkness, cloud, 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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