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 said Solomon, The LORD hath 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 presence in the cloud that had just filled the temple.
Overview
Recalling God's word at Sinai, Solomon interpreted the glory-cloud as a sign that the Lord had come to dwell in the temple. The 'thick darkness' conveyed both God's nearness and his hidden, unapproachable majesty. This tension of God present yet veiled would be resolved in Christ, who makes the invisible God known to us.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 9
- 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.
- 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.
- Heb 12:18For you have not come to a mountain that might be touched, and that burned with fire, and to blackness, darkness, storm,
- Nah 1:3Yahweh is slow to anger, and great in power, and will by no means leave the guilty unpunished. Yahweh has his way in the whirlwind and in the storm, and the clouds are the dust of his feet.
- 1 Kgs 8:12–50Then Solomon said, “Yahweh has said that he would dwell in the thick darkness.
- 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.
- Ps 97:2Clouds and darkness are around him. Righteousness and justice are the foundation of his throne.
- Exod 24:15–18Moses went up on the mountain, and the cloud covered the mountain.
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Christ at the center
Temple, priesthood, and the repeated need for a faithful king who seeks the LORD all point past every imperfect reign to the King and Temple who finally and fully dwell with God's people.
How 2 Chronicles 6:1 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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