1 Kings 8:5 (KJV)

Passage

And king Solomon, and all the congregation of Israel, that were assembled unto him, were with him before the ark, sacrificing sheep and oxen, that could not be told nor numbered for multitude.

Nearby Context

1 Kings 8:3 And all the elders of Israel came, and the priests took up the ark.

1 Kings 8:4 And they brought up the ark of the LORD, and the tabernacle of the congregation, and all the holy vessels that were in the tabernacle, even those did the priests and the Levites bring up.

1 Kings 8:5 And king Solomon, and all the congregation of Israel, that were assembled unto him, were with him before the ark, sacrificing sheep and oxen, that could not be told nor numbered for multitude.

1 Kings 8:6 And the priests brought in the ark of the covenant of the LORD unto his place, into the oracle of the house, to the most holy place, even under the wings of the cherubims.

1 Kings 8:7 For the cherubims spread forth their two wings over the place of the ark, and the cherubims covered the ark and the staves thereof above.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "sheep", "king", "solomon", "congregation", "israel", "assembled", "before", and "sacrificing". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "sheep" and "king", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 4's "And they brought up the ark of..." into verse 6's "And the priests brought in the ark...", so "sheep" and "king" belong inside that flow. In 1 Kings context, the local focus is covenant, worship, and faithfulness.

A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "sheep" and "king" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.