Reign of Solomon

So Solomon sat on the throne of his father David, and his kingdom was firmly established.

Now Adonijah son of Haggith went to Bathsheba the mother of Solomon, and she asked, “Do you come in peace?” “Yes, in peace,” he replied.

Then he said, “I have something to tell you.” “Say it,” she answered.

“You know that the kingship was mine,” he said. “All Israel expected that I should reign, but the kingship has turned to my brother, for it has come to him from the LORD.

So now I have just one request of you; do not deny me.” “State your request,” she told him.

Adonijah replied, “Please speak to King Solomon, since he will not turn you down. Let him give me Abishag the Shunammite as my wife.”

“Very well,” Bathsheba replied. “I will speak to the king for you.”

So Bathsheba went to King Solomon to speak to him for Adonijah. The king stood up to greet her, bowed to her, and sat down on his throne. Then the king had a throne brought for his mother, who sat down at his right hand.

“I have just one small request of you,” she said. “Do not deny me.” “Make your request, my mother,” the king replied, “for I will not deny you.”

So Bathsheba said, “Let Abishag the Shunammite be given to your brother Adonijah as his wife.”

King Solomon answered his mother, “Why do you request Abishag the Shunammite for Adonijah? Since he is my older brother, you might as well request the kingdom for him and for Abiathar the priest and for Joab son of Zeruiah!”

Then King Solomon swore by the LORD: “May God punish me, and ever so severely, if Adonijah has not made this request at the expense of his life.

And now, as surely as the LORD lives—the One who established me, who set me on the throne of my father David, and who founded for me a dynasty as He promised—surely Adonijah shall be put to death today!”

So King Solomon gave orders to Benaiah son of Jehoiada, and he struck down Adonijah and he died.

Then the king said to Abiathar the priest, “Go back to your fields in Anathoth. Even though you deserve to die, I will not put you to death at this time, since you carried the ark of the Lord GOD before my father David, and you suffered through all that my father suffered.”

So Solomon banished Abiathar from the priesthood of the LORD and thus fulfilled the word that the LORD had spoken at Shiloh against the house of Eli.

When the news reached Joab, who had conspired with Adonijah but not with Absalom, he fled to the tent of the LORD and took hold of the horns of the altar.

It was reported to King Solomon: “Joab has fled to the tent of the LORD and is now beside the altar.” So Solomon sent Benaiah son of Jehoiada, saying, “Go, strike him down!”

And Benaiah entered the tent of the LORD and said to Joab, “The king says, ‘Come out!’” But Joab replied, “No, I will die here.” So Benaiah relayed the message to the king, saying, “This is how Joab answered me.”

And the king replied, “Do just as he says. Strike him down and bury him, and so remove from me and from the house of my father the innocent blood that Joab shed.

The LORD will bring his bloodshed back upon his own head, for without the knowledge of my father David he struck down two men more righteous and better than he when he put to the sword Abner son of Ner, commander of Israel’s army, and Amasa son of Jether, commander of Judah’s army.

Their blood will come back upon the heads of Joab and his descendants forever; but for David, his descendants, his house, and his throne, there shall be peace from the LORD forever.”

So Benaiah son of Jehoiada went up, struck down Joab, and killed him. He was buried at his own home in the wilderness.

And the king appointed Benaiah son of Jehoiada in Joab’s place over the army, and he appointed Zadok the priest in Abiathar’s place.

Then the king summoned Shimei and said to him, “Build a house for yourself in Jerusalem and live there, but do not go anywhere else.

On the day you go out and cross the Kidron Valley, know for sure that you will die; your blood will be on your own head.”

“The sentence is fair,” Shimei replied. “Your servant will do as my lord the king has spoken.” And Shimei lived in Jerusalem for a long time.

After three years, however, two of Shimei’s slaves ran away to Achish son of Maacah, king of Gath. And Shimei was told, “Look, your slaves are in Gath.”

So Shimei saddled his donkey and set out to Achish at Gath in search of his slaves, and he brought them back from Gath.

When Solomon was told that Shimei had gone from Jerusalem to Gath and had returned,

the king summoned Shimei and said to him, “Did I not make you swear by the LORD and warn you, ‘On the day you leave and go elsewhere, know for sure that you will die’? And you told me, ‘The sentence is fair; I will comply.’

So why have you not kept your oath to the LORD and the command that I gave you?”

The king also said, “You know in your heart all the evil that you did to my father David. Therefore the LORD will bring your evil back upon your head.

But King Solomon will be blessed and David’s throne will remain secure before the LORD forever.”

Then the king commanded Benaiah son of Jehoiada, and he went out and struck Shimei down, and he died. Thus the kingdom was firmly established in the hand of Solomon.

Later, Solomon formed an alliance with Pharaoh king of Egypt by marrying his daughter. Solomon brought her to the City of David until he had finished building his palace and the house of the LORD, as well as the wall around Jerusalem.

The people, however, were still sacrificing on the high places because a house for the Name of the LORD had not yet been built.

And Solomon loved the LORD and walked in the statutes of his father David, except that he sacrificed and burned incense on the high places.

Now the king went to Gibeon to sacrifice there, for it was the great high place. Solomon offered a thousand burnt offerings on the altar there.

One night at Gibeon the LORD appeared to Solomon in a dream, and God said, “Ask, and I will give it to you!”

Solomon replied, “You have shown much loving devotion to Your servant, my father David, because he walked before You in faithfulness, righteousness, and uprightness of heart. And You have maintained this loving devotion by giving him a son to sit on his throne this very day.

And now, O LORD my God, You have made Your servant king in my father David’s place. But I am only a little child, not knowing how to go out or come in.

Your servant is here among the people You have chosen, a people too numerous to count or number.

Therefore give Your servant an understanding heart to judge Your people and to discern between good and evil. For who is able to govern this great people of Yours?”

Now it pleased the Lord that Solomon had made this request.

So God said to him, “Since you have asked for this instead of requesting long life or wealth for yourself or death for your enemies—but you have asked for discernment to administer justice—

behold, I will do what you have asked. I will give you a wise and discerning heart, so that there will never have been another like you, nor will there ever be.

Moreover, I will give you what you did not request—both riches and honor—so that during all your days no man in any kingdom will be your equal.

So if you walk in My ways and keep My statutes and commandments, just as your father David did, I will prolong your days.”

Then Solomon awoke, and indeed it had been a dream. So he returned to Jerusalem, stood before the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. Then he held a feast for all his servants.

At that time two prostitutes came to the king and stood before him.

One woman said, “Please, my lord, this woman and I live in the same house, and I gave birth while she was in the house.

On the third day after I gave birth, this woman also had a baby. We were alone, with no one in the house but the two of us.

During the night this woman’s son died because she rolled over on him.

So she got up in the middle of the night and took my son from my side while I was asleep. She laid him in her bosom and put her dead son at my bosom.

The next morning, when I got up to nurse my son, I discovered he was dead. But when I examined him, I realized that he was not the son I had borne.”

“No,” said the other woman, “the living one is my son and the dead one is your son.” But the first woman insisted, “No, the dead one is yours and the living one is mine.” So they argued before the king.

Then the king replied, “This woman says, ‘My son is alive and yours is dead,’ but that woman says, ‘No, your son is dead and mine is alive.’”

The king continued, “Bring me a sword.” So they brought him a sword,

and the king declared, “Cut the living child in two and give half to one and half to the other.”

Then the woman whose son was alive spoke to the king because she yearned with compassion for her son. “Please, my lord,” she said, “give her the living baby. Do not kill him!” But the other woman said, “He will be neither mine nor yours. Cut him in two!”

Then the king gave his ruling: “Give the living baby to the first woman. By no means should you kill him; she is his mother.”

When all Israel heard of the judgment the king had given, they stood in awe of him, for they saw that the wisdom of God was in him to administer justice.

So King Solomon ruled over Israel,

and these were his chief officials: Azariah son of Zadok was the priest;

Elihoreph and Ahijah, the sons of Shisha, were secretaries; Jehoshaphat son of Ahilud was the recorder;

Benaiah son of Jehoiada was in charge of the army; Zadok and Abiathar were priests;

Azariah son of Nathan was in charge of the governors; Zabud son of Nathan was a priest and adviser to the king;

Ahishar was in charge of the palace; and Adoniram son of Abda was in charge of the forced labor.

Solomon had twelve governors over all Israel to provide food for the king and his household. Each one would arrange provisions for one month of the year,

and these were their names: Ben-hur in the hill country of Ephraim;

Ben-deker in Makaz, in Shaalbim, in Beth-shemesh, and in Elon-beth-hanan;

Ben-hesed in Arubboth (Socoh and all the land of Hepher belonged to him);

Ben-abinadab in Naphath-dor (Taphath, a daughter of Solomon, was his wife);

Baana son of Ahilud in Taanach, in Megiddo, and in all of Beth-shean next to Zarethan below Jezreel, from Beth-shean to Abel-meholah and on past Jokmeam;

Ben-geber in Ramoth-gilead (the villages of Jair son of Manasseh in Gilead belonged to him, as well as the region of Argob in Bashan with its sixty great cities with walls and bronze bars);

Ahinadab son of Iddo in Mahanaim;

Ahimaaz in Naphtali (he had married Basemath, a daughter of Solomon);

Baana son of Hushai in Asher and in Aloth;

Jehoshaphat son of Paruah in Issachar;

Shimei son of Ela in Benjamin;

Geber son of Uri in the land of Gilead, including the territories of Sihon king of the Amorites and of Og king of Bashan. There was also one governor in the land of Judah.

The people of Judah and Israel were as numerous as the sand on the seashore, and they were eating and drinking and rejoicing.

And Solomon reigned over all the kingdoms from the Euphrates to the land of the Philistines, as far as the border of Egypt. These kingdoms offered tribute and served Solomon all the days of his life.

Solomon’s provisions for a single day were thirty cors of fine flour, sixty cors of meal,

ten fat oxen, twenty range oxen, and a hundred sheep, as well as deer, gazelles, roebucks, and fattened poultry.

For Solomon had dominion over everything west of the Euphrates—over all the kingdoms from Tiphsah to Gaza—and he had peace on all sides.

Throughout the days of Solomon, Judah and Israel dwelt securely from Dan to Beersheba, each man under his own vine and his own fig tree.

Solomon had 4,000 stalls for his chariot horses and 12,000 horses.

Each month the governors in turn provided food for King Solomon and all who came to his table. They saw to it that nothing was lacking.

Each one also brought to the required place their quotas of barley and straw for the chariot horses and other horses.

And God gave Solomon wisdom, exceedingly deep insight, and understanding beyond measure, like the sand on the seashore.

Solomon’s wisdom was greater than that of all the men of the East, greater than all the wisdom of Egypt.

He was wiser than all men—wiser than Ethan the Ezrahite, and wiser than Heman, Calcol, and Darda, the sons of Mahol. And his fame spread throughout the surrounding nations.

Solomon composed three thousand proverbs, and his songs numbered a thousand and five.

He spoke of trees, from the cedar in Lebanon to the hyssop growing in the wall, and he taught about animals, birds, reptiles, and fish.

So men of all nations came to listen to Solomon’s wisdom, sent by all the kings of the earth, who had heard of his wisdom.

Now when Hiram king of Tyre heard that Solomon had been anointed king in his father’s place, he sent envoys to Solomon; for Hiram had always been a friend of David.

And Solomon relayed this message to Hiram:

“As you are well aware, due to the wars waged on all sides against my father David, he could not build a house for the Name of the LORD his God until the LORD had put his enemies under his feet.

But now the LORD my God has given me rest on every side, and there is no adversary or crisis.

So behold, I plan to build a house for the Name of the LORD my God, according to what the LORD said to my father David: ‘I will put your son on your throne in your place, and he will build the house for My Name.’

Now therefore, order that cedars of Lebanon be cut down for me. My servants will be with your servants, and I will pay your servants whatever wages you set, for you know that there are none among us as skilled in logging as the Sidonians.”

When Hiram received Solomon’s message, he rejoiced greatly and said, “Blessed be the LORD this day! He has given David a wise son over this great people!”

Then Hiram sent a reply to Solomon, saying: “I have received your message; I will do all you desire regarding the cedar and cypress timber.

My servants will haul the logs from Lebanon to the Sea, and I will float them as rafts by sea to the place you specify. There I will separate the logs, and you can take them away. And in exchange, you can meet my needs by providing my household with food.”

So Hiram provided Solomon with all the cedar and cypress timber he wanted,

and year after year Solomon would provide Hiram with 20,000 cors of wheat as food for his household, as well as 20,000 baths of pure olive oil.

And the LORD gave Solomon wisdom, as He had promised him. There was peace between Hiram and Solomon, and the two of them made a treaty.

Then King Solomon conscripted a labor force of 30,000 men from all Israel.

He sent them to Lebanon in monthly shifts of 10,000 men, so that they would spend one month in Lebanon and two months at home. And Adoniram was in charge of the forced labor.

Solomon had 70,000 porters and 80,000 stonecutters in the mountains,

not including his 3,300 foremen who supervised the workers.

And the king commanded them to quarry large, costly stones to lay the foundation of the temple with dressed stones.

So Solomon’s and Hiram’s builders, along with the Gebalites, quarried the stone and prepared the timber and stone for the construction of the temple.

In the four hundred and eightieth year after the Israelites had come out of the land of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon’s reign over Israel, in the month of Ziv, the second month, he began to build the house of the LORD.

The house that King Solomon built for the LORD was sixty cubits long, twenty cubits wide, and thirty cubits high.

The portico at the front of the main hall of the temple was twenty cubits long, extending across the width of the temple and projecting out ten cubits in front of the temple.

He also had narrow windows framed high in the temple.

Against the walls of the temple and the inner sanctuary, Solomon built a chambered structure around the temple, in which he constructed the side rooms.

The bottom floor was five cubits wide, the middle floor six cubits, and the third floor seven cubits. He also placed offset ledges around the outside of the temple, so that nothing would be inserted into its walls.

The temple was constructed using finished stones cut at the quarry, so that no hammer or chisel or any other iron tool was heard in the temple while it was being built.

The entrance to the bottom floor was on the south side of the temple. A stairway led up to the middle level, and from there to the third floor.

So Solomon built the temple and finished it, roofing it with beams and planks of cedar.

He built chambers all along the temple, each five cubits high and attached to the temple with beams of cedar.

Then the word of the LORD came to Solomon, saying:

“As for this temple you are building, if you walk in My statutes, carry out My ordinances, and keep all My commandments by walking in them, I will fulfill through you the promise I made to your father David.

And I will dwell among the Israelites and will not abandon My people Israel.”

So Solomon built the temple and finished it.

He lined the interior walls with cedar paneling from the floor of the temple to the ceiling, and he covered the floor with cypress boards.

He partitioned off the twenty cubits at the rear of the temple with cedar boards from floor to ceiling to form within the temple an inner sanctuary, the Most Holy Place.

And the main hall in front of this room was forty cubits long.

The cedar paneling inside the temple was carved with gourds and open flowers. Everything was cedar; not a stone could be seen.

Solomon also prepared the inner sanctuary within the temple to set the ark of the covenant of the LORD there.

The inner sanctuary was twenty cubits long, twenty cubits wide, and twenty cubits high. He overlaid the inside with pure gold, and he also overlaid the altar of cedar.

So Solomon overlaid the inside of the temple with pure gold, and he extended gold chains across the front of the inner sanctuary, which was overlaid with gold.

So he overlaid with gold the whole interior of the temple, until everything was completely finished. He also overlaid with gold the entire altar that belonged to the inner sanctuary.

In the inner sanctuary he made two cherubim, each ten cubits high, out of olive wood.

One wing of the first cherub was five cubits long, and the other wing was five cubits long as well. So the full wingspan was ten cubits.

The second cherub also measured ten cubits; both cherubim had the same size and shape,

and the height of each cherub was ten cubits.

And he placed the cherubim inside the innermost room of the temple. Since their wings were spread out, the wing of the first cherub touched one wall, while the wing of the second cherub touched the other wall, and in the middle of the room their wingtips touched.

He also overlaid the cherubim with gold.

Then he carved the walls all around the temple, in both the inner and outer sanctuaries, with carved engravings of cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers.

And he overlaid the temple floor with gold in both the inner and outer sanctuaries.

For the entrance to the inner sanctuary, Solomon constructed doors of olive wood with five-sided doorposts.

The double doors were made of olive wood, and he carved into them cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers and overlaid the cherubim and palm trees with hammered gold.

In the same way he made four-sided doorposts of olive wood for the sanctuary entrance.

The two doors were made of cypress wood, and each had two folding panels.

He carved into them cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers, and he overlaid them with gold hammered evenly over the carvings.

Solomon built the inner courtyard with three rows of dressed stone and one row of trimmed cedar beams.

The foundation of the house of the LORD was laid in the fourth year of Solomon’s reign, in the month of Ziv.

In the eleventh year, in the month of Bul, the eighth month, the temple was finished in every detail and according to every specification. So he built the temple in seven years.

Solomon, however, took thirteen years to complete the construction of his entire palace.

He built the House of the Forest of Lebanon a hundred cubits long, fifty cubits wide, and thirty cubits high, with four rows of cedar pillars supporting the cedar beams.

The house was roofed with cedar above the beams that rested on the pillars—forty-five beams, fifteen per row.

There were three rows of high windows facing one another in three tiers.

All the doorways had rectangular frames, with the openings facing one another in three tiers.

Solomon made his colonnade fifty cubits long and thirty cubits wide, with a portico in front of it and a canopy with pillars in front of the portico.

In addition, he built a hall for the throne, the Hall of Justice, where he was to judge. It was paneled with cedar from floor to ceiling.

And the palace where Solomon would live, set further back, was of similar construction. He also made a palace like this hall for Pharaoh’s daughter, whom he had married.

All these buildings were constructed with costly stones, cut to size and trimmed with saws inside and out from the foundation to the eaves, and from the outside to the great courtyard.

The foundations were laid with large, costly stones, some ten cubits long and some eight cubits long.

Above these were costly stones, cut to size, and cedar beams.

The great courtyard was surrounded by three rows of dressed stone and a row of trimmed cedar beams, as were the inner courtyard and portico of the house of the LORD.

Now King Solomon sent to bring Huram from Tyre.

He was the son of a widow from the tribe of Naphtali, and his father was a man of Tyre, a craftsman in bronze. Huram had great skill, understanding, and knowledge for every kind of bronze work. So he came to King Solomon and carried out all his work.

He cast two pillars of bronze, each eighteen cubits high and twelve cubits in circumference.

He also made two capitals of cast bronze to set on top of the pillars, each capital five cubits high.

For the capitals on top of the pillars he made a network of lattice, with wreaths of chainwork, seven for each capital.

Likewise, he made the pillars with two rows of pomegranates around each grating to cover each capital atop the pillars.

And the capitals atop the pillars in the portico were shaped like lilies, four cubits high.

On the capitals of both pillars, just above the rounded projection next to the network, were the two hundred pomegranates in rows encircling each capital.

Thus he set up the pillars at the portico of the temple. The pillar to the south he named Jachin, and the pillar to the north he named Boaz.

And the tops of the pillars were shaped like lilies. So the work of the pillars was completed.

He also made the Sea of cast metal. It was circular in shape, measuring ten cubits from rim to rim, five cubits in height, and thirty cubits in circumference.

Below the rim, ornamental buds encircled it, ten per cubit all the way around the Sea, cast in two rows as a part of the Sea.

The Sea stood on twelve oxen, three facing north, three facing west, three facing south, and three facing east. The Sea rested on them, with all their hindquarters toward the center.

It was a handbreadth thick, and its rim was fashioned like the brim of a cup, like a lily blossom. It could hold two thousand baths.

In addition, he made ten movable stands of bronze, each four cubits long, four cubits wide, and three cubits high.

This was the design of the stands: They had side panels attached to uprights,

and on the panels between the uprights were lions, oxen, and cherubim. On the uprights was a pedestal above, and below the lions and oxen were wreaths of beveled work.

Each stand had four bronze wheels with bronze axles and a basin resting on four supports, with wreaths at each side.

The opening to each stand inside the crown at the top was one cubit deep, with a round opening like the design of a pedestal, a cubit and a half wide. And around its opening were engravings, but the panels of the stands were square, not round.

There were four wheels under the panels, and the axles of the wheels were attached to the stand; each wheel was a cubit and a half in diameter.

The wheels were made like chariot wheels; their axles, rims, spokes, and hubs were all of cast metal.

Each stand had four handles, one for each corner, projecting from the stand.

At the top of each stand was a circular band half a cubit high. The supports and panels were cast as a unit with the top of the stand.

He engraved cherubim, lions, and palm trees on the surfaces of the supports and panels, wherever each had space, with wreaths all around.

In this way he made the ten stands, each with the same casting, dimensions, and shape.

He also made ten bronze basins, each holding forty baths and measuring four cubits across, one basin for each of the ten stands.

He set five stands on the south side of the temple and five on the north, and he put the Sea on the south side, at the southeast corner of the temple.

Additionally, Huram made the pots, shovels, and sprinkling bowls. So Huram finished all the work that he had undertaken for King Solomon in the house of the LORD:

the two pillars; the two bowl-shaped capitals atop the pillars; the two sets of network covering both bowls of the capitals atop the pillars;

the four hundred pomegranates for the two sets of network (two rows of pomegranates for each network covering both the bowl-shaped capitals atop the pillars);

the ten stands; the ten basins on the stands;

the Sea; the twelve oxen underneath the Sea;

and the pots, shovels, and sprinkling bowls. All the articles that Huram made for King Solomon in the house of the LORD were made of burnished bronze.

The king had them cast in clay molds in the plain of the Jordan between Succoth and Zarethan.

Solomon left all these articles unweighed, because there were so many. The weight of the bronze could not be determined.

Solomon also made all the furnishings for the house of the LORD: the golden altar; the golden table on which was placed the Bread of the Presence;

the lampstands of pure gold in front of the inner sanctuary, five on the right side and five on the left; the gold flowers, lamps, and tongs;

the pure gold basins, wick trimmers, sprinkling bowls, ladles, and censers; and the gold hinges for the doors of the inner temple (that is, the Most Holy Place) as well as for the doors of the main hall of the temple.

So all the work that King Solomon had performed for the house of the LORD was completed. Then Solomon brought in the items his father David had dedicated—the silver, the gold, and the furnishings—and he placed them in the treasuries of the house of the LORD.

At that time Solomon assembled before him in Jerusalem the elders of Israel—all the tribal heads and family leaders of the Israelites—to bring up the ark of the covenant of the LORD from Zion, the City of David.

And all the men of Israel came together to King Solomon at the feast in the seventh month, the month of Ethanim.

When all the elders of Israel had arrived, the priests took up the ark,

and they brought up the ark of the LORD and the Tent of Meeting with all its sacred furnishings. So the priests and Levites carried them up.

There, before the ark, King Solomon and the whole congregation of Israel who had assembled with him sacrificed so many sheep and oxen that they could not be counted or numbered.

Then the priests brought the ark of the covenant of the LORD to its place in the inner sanctuary of the temple, the Most Holy Place, beneath the wings of the cherubim.

For the cherubim spread their wings over the place of the ark and overshadowed the ark and its poles.

The poles extended far enough that their ends were visible from the Holy Place in front of the inner sanctuary, but not from outside the Holy Place; and they are there to this day.

There was nothing in the ark except the two stone tablets that Moses had placed in it at Horeb, where the LORD had made a covenant with the Israelites after they had come out of the land of Egypt.

And when the priests came out of the Holy Place, the cloud filled the house of the LORD

so that the priests could not stand there to minister because of the cloud. For the glory of the LORD filled the house of the LORD.

Then Solomon declared: “The LORD has said that He would dwell in the thick cloud.

I have indeed built You an exalted house, a place for You to dwell forever.”

And as the whole assembly of Israel stood there, the king turned around and blessed them all

and said: “Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel, who has fulfilled with His own hand what He spoke with His mouth to my father David, saying,

‘Since the day I brought My people Israel out of Egypt, I have not chosen a city from any tribe of Israel in which to build a house so that My Name would be there. But I have chosen David to be over My people Israel.’

Now it was in the heart of my father David to build a house for the Name of the LORD, the God of Israel.

But the LORD said to my father David, ‘Since it was in your heart to build a house for My Name, you have done well to have this in your heart.

Nevertheless, you are not the one to build it; but your son, your own offspring, will build the house for My Name.’

Now the LORD has fulfilled the word that He spoke. I have succeeded my father David, and I sit on the throne of Israel, as the LORD promised. I have built the house for the Name of the LORD, the God of Israel.

And there I have provided a place for the ark, which contains the covenant of the LORD that He made with our fathers when He brought them out of the land of Egypt.”

Then Solomon stood before the altar of the LORD in front of the whole assembly of Israel, spread out his hands toward heaven,

and said: “O LORD, God of Israel, there is no God like You in heaven above or on earth below, keeping Your covenant of loving devotion with Your servants who walk before You with all their hearts.

You have kept Your promise to Your servant, my father David. What You spoke with Your mouth You have fulfilled with Your hand this day.

Therefore now, O LORD, God of Israel, keep for Your servant, my father David, what You promised when You said: ‘You will never fail to have a man to sit before Me on the throne of Israel, if only your descendants guard their way to walk before Me as you have done.’

And now, O God of Israel, please confirm what You promised to Your servant, my father David.

But will God indeed dwell upon the earth? The heavens, even the highest heavens, cannot contain You, much less this temple I have built.

Yet regard the prayer and plea of Your servant, O LORD my God, so that You may hear the cry and the prayer that Your servant is praying before You today.

May Your eyes be open toward this temple night and day, toward the place of which You said, ‘My Name shall be there,’ so that You may hear the prayer that Your servant prays toward this place.

Hear the plea of Your servant and of Your people Israel when they pray toward this place. May You hear from heaven, Your dwelling place. May You hear and forgive.

When a man sins against his neighbor and is required to take an oath, and he comes to take an oath before Your altar in this temple,

then may You hear from heaven and act. May You judge Your servants, condemning the wicked man by bringing down on his own head what he has done, and justifying the righteous man by rewarding him according to his righteousness.

When Your people Israel are defeated before an enemy because they have sinned against You, and they return to You and confess Your name, praying and pleading with You in this temple,

then may You hear from heaven and forgive the sin of Your people Israel. May You restore them to the land You gave to their fathers.

When the skies are shut and there is no rain because Your people have sinned against You, and they pray toward this place and confess Your name, and they turn from their sins because You have afflicted them,

then may You hear from heaven and forgive the sin of Your servants, Your people Israel, so that You may teach them the good way in which they should walk. May You send rain on the land that You gave Your people as an inheritance.

When famine or plague comes upon the land, or blight or mildew or locusts or grasshoppers, or when their enemy besieges them in their cities, whatever plague or sickness may come,

then may whatever prayer or petition Your people Israel make—each knowing his own afflictions and spreading out his hands toward this temple—

be heard by You from heaven, Your dwelling place. And may You forgive and act, and repay each man according to all his ways, since You know his heart—for You alone know the hearts of all men—

so that they may fear You all the days they live in the land that You gave to our fathers.

And as for the foreigner who is not of Your people Israel but has come from a distant land because of Your name—

for they will hear of Your great name and mighty hand and outstretched arm—when he comes and prays toward this temple,

then may You hear from heaven, Your dwelling place, and do according to all for which the foreigner calls to You. Then all the peoples of the earth will know Your name and fear You, as do Your people Israel, and they will know that this house I have built is called by Your Name.

When Your people go to war against their enemies, wherever You send them, and when they pray to the LORD in the direction of the city You have chosen and the house I have built for Your Name,

then may You hear from heaven their prayer and their plea, and may You uphold their cause.

When they sin against You—for there is no one who does not sin—and You become angry with them and deliver them to an enemy who takes them as captives to his own land, whether far or near,

and when they come to their senses in the land to which they were taken, and they repent and plead with You in the land of their captors, saying, ‘We have sinned and done wrong; we have acted wickedly,’

and when they return to You with all their heart and soul in the land of the enemies who took them captive, and when they pray to You in the direction of the land that You gave to their fathers, the city You have chosen, and the house I have built for Your Name,

then may You hear from heaven, Your dwelling place, their prayer and petition, and may You uphold their cause.

May You forgive Your people who have sinned against You and all the transgressions they have committed against You, and may You grant them compassion in the eyes of their captors to show them mercy.

For they are Your people and Your inheritance; You brought them out of Egypt, out of the furnace for iron.

May Your eyes be open to the pleas of Your servant and of Your people Israel, and may You listen to them whenever they call to You.

For You, O Lord GOD, have set them apart from all the peoples of the earth as Your inheritance, as You spoke through Your servant Moses when You brought our fathers out of Egypt.”

Now when Solomon had finished praying this entire prayer and petition to the LORD, he got up before the altar of the LORD, where he had been kneeling with his hands spread out toward heaven.

And he stood and blessed the whole assembly of Israel in a loud voice, saying:

“Blessed be the LORD, who has given rest to His people Israel according to all that He promised. Not one word has failed of all the good promises He made through His servant Moses.

May the LORD our God be with us, as He was with our fathers. May He never leave us or forsake us.

May He incline our hearts to Himself, to walk in all His ways and to keep the commandments and statutes and ordinances He commanded our fathers.

And may these words with which I have made my petition before the LORD be near to the LORD our God day and night, so that He may uphold the cause of His servant and of His people Israel as each day requires,

so that all the peoples of the earth may know that the LORD is God. There is no other!

So let your heart be fully devoted to the LORD our God, as it is this day, to walk in His statutes and to keep His commandments.”

Then the king and all Israel with him offered sacrifices before the LORD.

And Solomon offered as peace offerings to the LORD 22,000 oxen and 120,000 sheep. So the king and all the Israelites dedicated the house of the LORD.

On that same day the king consecrated the middle of the courtyard in front of the house of the LORD, and there he offered the burnt offerings, the grain offerings, and the fat of the peace offerings, since the bronze altar before the LORD was too small to contain all these offerings.

So at that time Solomon and all Israel with him—a great assembly of people from Lebo-hamath to the Brook of Egypt—kept the feast before the LORD our God for seven days and seven more days—fourteen days in all.

On the fifteenth day Solomon sent the people away. So they blessed the king and went home, joyful and glad in heart for all the good things that the LORD had done for His servant David and for His people Israel.

Now when Solomon had finished building the house of the LORD and the royal palace, and had achieved all that he had desired to do,

the LORD appeared to him a second time, as He had appeared to him at Gibeon.

And the LORD said to him: “I have heard your prayer and petition before Me. I have consecrated this temple, which you have built, by putting My Name there forever; My eyes and My heart will be there for all time.

And as for you, if you walk before Me as your father David walked, with a heart of integrity and uprightness, doing all I have commanded you, and if you keep My statutes and ordinances,

then I will establish your royal throne over Israel forever, as I promised your father David when I said, ‘You will never fail to have a man on the throne of Israel.’

But if indeed you or your sons turn away from following Me and do not keep the commandments and statutes I have set before you, and if you go off to serve and worship other gods,

then I will cut off Israel from the land that I have given them, and I will banish from My presence this temple I have sanctified for My Name. Then Israel will become an object of scorn and ridicule among all peoples.

And when this temple has become a heap of rubble, all who pass by it will be appalled and will hiss and say, ‘Why has the LORD done such a thing to this land and to this temple?’

And others will answer, ‘Because they have forsaken the LORD their God who brought their fathers out of the land of Egypt, and have embraced other gods, worshiping and serving them—because of this, the LORD has brought all this disaster upon them.’”

Now at the end of the twenty years during which Solomon built these two houses, the house of the LORD and the royal palace,

King Solomon gave twenty towns in the land of Galilee to Hiram king of Tyre, who had supplied him with cedar and cypress logs and gold for his every desire.

So Hiram went out from Tyre to inspect the towns that Solomon had given him, but he was not pleased with them.

“What are these towns you have given me, my brother?” asked Hiram, and he called them the Land of Cabul, as they are called to this day.

And Hiram had sent the king 120 talents of gold.

This is the account of the forced labor that King Solomon imposed to build the house of the LORD, his own palace, the supporting terraces, and the wall of Jerusalem, as well as Hazor, Megiddo, and Gezer.

Pharaoh king of Egypt had attacked and captured Gezer. He had set it on fire, killed the Canaanites who lived in the city, and given it as a dowry to his daughter, Solomon’s wife.

So Solomon rebuilt Gezer, Lower Beth-horon,

Baalath, and Tamar in the Wilderness of Judah,

as well as all the store cities that Solomon had for his chariots and horses—whatever he desired to build in Jerusalem, Lebanon, and throughout the land of his dominion.

As for all the people who remained of the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites (the people who were not Israelites)—

their descendants who remained in the land, those whom the Israelites were unable to devote to destruction—Solomon conscripted these people to be forced laborers, as they are to this day.

But Solomon did not consign any of the Israelites to slavery, because they were his men of war, his servants, his officers, his captains, and the commanders of his chariots and cavalry.

They were also the chief officers over Solomon’s projects: 550 supervisors over the people who did the work.

As soon as Pharaoh’s daughter had come up from the City of David to the palace that Solomon had built for her, he built the supporting terraces.

Three times a year Solomon offered burnt offerings and peace offerings on the altar he had built for the LORD, burning incense with them before the LORD. So he completed the temple.

King Solomon also assembled a fleet of ships at Ezion-geber, which is near Eloth in Edom, on the shore of the Red Sea.

And Hiram sent his servants, sailors who knew the sea, to serve in the fleet with Solomon’s servants.

They sailed to Ophir and imported gold from there—420 talents—and delivered it to Solomon.

Now when the queen of Sheba heard about the fame of Solomon concerning the name of the LORD, she came to test him with difficult questions.

She arrived in Jerusalem with a very large caravan—with camels bearing spices, gold in great abundance, and precious stones. And she came to Solomon and spoke to him all that was on her mind.

And Solomon answered all her questions; nothing was too difficult for the king to explain.

When the queen of Sheba saw all the wisdom of Solomon, the palace he had built,

the food at his table, the seating of his servants, the service and attire of his attendants, his cupbearers, and the burnt offerings he presented at the house of the LORD, it took her breath away.

She said to the king, “The report I heard in my own country about your words and wisdom is true.

But I did not believe these things until I came and saw with my own eyes. Indeed, not even half was told to me. Your wisdom and prosperity have far exceeded the report I heard.

How blessed are your men! How blessed are these servants of yours who stand continually before you and hear your wisdom!

Blessed be the LORD your God, who has delighted in you to set you on the throne of Israel. Because of the LORD’s eternal love for Israel, He has made you king to carry out justice and righteousness.”

Then she gave the king 120 talents of gold, a great quantity of spices, and precious stones. Never again were spices in such abundance brought in as those the queen of Sheba gave to King Solomon.

(The fleet of Hiram that brought gold from Ophir also brought from Ophir a great cargo of almug wood and precious stones.

The king made the almug wood into steps for the house of the LORD and for the king’s palace, and into lyres and harps for the singers. Never before had such almug wood been brought in, nor has such been seen again to this day.)

King Solomon gave the queen of Sheba all she desired—whatever she asked—besides what he had given her out of his royal bounty. Then she left and returned to her own country, along with her servants.

The weight of gold that came to Solomon each year was 666 talents,

not including the revenue from the merchants, traders, and all the Arabian kings and governors of the land.

King Solomon made two hundred large shields of hammered gold; six hundred shekels of gold went into each shield.

He also made three hundred small shields of hammered gold; three minas of gold went into each shield. And the king put them in the House of the Forest of Lebanon.

Additionally, the king made a great throne of ivory and overlaid it with pure gold.

The throne had six steps, and its back had a rounded top. There were armrests on both sides of the seat, with a lion standing beside each armrest.

Twelve lions stood on the six steps, one at either end of each step. Nothing like this had ever been made for any kingdom.

All King Solomon’s drinking cups were gold, and all the utensils of the House of the Forest of Lebanon were pure gold. There was no silver, because it was accounted as nothing in the days of Solomon.

For the king had the ships of Tarshish at sea with Hiram’s fleet, and once every three years the ships of Tarshish would arrive bearing gold, silver, ivory, apes, and peacocks.

So King Solomon surpassed all the kings of the earth in riches and wisdom.

The whole world sought an audience with Solomon to hear the wisdom that God had put in his heart.

Year after year, each visitor would bring his tribute: articles of silver and gold, clothing, weapons, spices, horses, and mules.

Solomon accumulated 1,400 chariots and 12,000 horses, which he stationed in the chariot cities and also with him in Jerusalem.

The king made silver as common in Jerusalem as stones, and cedar as abundant as sycamore in the foothills.

Solomon’s horses were imported from Egypt and Kue; the royal merchants purchased them from Kue.

A chariot could be imported from Egypt for six hundred shekels of silver, and a horse for a hundred and fifty. Likewise, they exported them to all the kings of the Hittites and to the kings of Aram.

King Solomon, however, loved many foreign women along with the daughter of Pharaoh—women of Moab, Ammon, Edom, and Sidon, as well as Hittite women.

These women were from the nations about which the LORD had told the Israelites, “You must not intermarry with them, for surely they will turn your hearts after their gods.” Yet Solomon clung to these women in love.

He had seven hundred wives of royal birth and three hundred concubines—and his wives turned his heart away.

For when Solomon grew old, his wives turned his heart after other gods, and he was not wholeheartedly devoted to the LORD his God, as his father David had been.

Solomon followed Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians and Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites.

So Solomon did evil in the sight of the LORD; unlike his father David, he did not follow the LORD completely.

At that time on a hill east of Jerusalem, Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the abomination of Moab and for Molech the abomination of the Ammonites.

He did the same for all his foreign wives, who burned incense and sacrificed to their gods.

Now the LORD grew angry with Solomon, because his heart had turned away from the LORD, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice.

Although He had warned Solomon explicitly not to follow other gods, Solomon did not keep the LORD’s command.

Then the LORD said to Solomon, “Because you have done this and have not kept My covenant and My statutes, which I have commanded you, I will tear the kingdom away from you and give it to your servant.

Nevertheless, for the sake of your father David, I will not do it during your lifetime; I will tear it out of the hand of your son.

Yet I will not tear the whole kingdom away from him. I will give one tribe to your son for the sake of My servant David and for the sake of Jerusalem, which I have chosen.”

Then the LORD raised up against Solomon an adversary, Hadad the Edomite, from the royal line of Edom.

Earlier, when David was in Edom, Joab the commander of the army had gone to bury the dead and had struck down every male in Edom.

Joab and all Israel had stayed there six months, until he had killed every male in Edom.

But Hadad, still just a young boy, had fled to Egypt, along with some Edomites who were servants of his father.

Hadad and his men set out from Midian and went to Paran. They took men from Paran with them and went to Egypt, to Pharaoh king of Egypt, who gave Hadad a house and land and provided him with food.

There Hadad found such great favor in the sight of Pharaoh that he gave to him in marriage the sister of Queen Tahpenes, his own wife.

And the sister of Tahpenes bore Hadad a son named Genubath. Tahpenes herself weaned him in Pharaoh’s palace, and Genubath lived there among the sons of Pharaoh.

When Hadad heard in Egypt that David had rested with his fathers and that Joab, the commander of the army, was dead, he said to Pharaoh, “Let me go, that I may return to my own country.”

But Pharaoh asked him, “What have you lacked here with me that you suddenly want to go back to your own country?” “Nothing,” Hadad replied, “but please let me go.”

And God raised up against Solomon another adversary, Rezon the son of Eliada, who had fled from his master, Hadadezer king of Zobah,

and had gathered men to himself. When David killed the Zobaites, Rezon captained a band of raiders and went to Damascus, where they settled and gained control.

Rezon was Israel’s enemy throughout the days of Solomon, adding to the trouble caused by Hadad. So Rezon ruled over Aram with hostility toward Israel.

Now Jeroboam son of Nebat was an Ephraimite from Zeredah whose mother was a widow named Zeruah. Jeroboam was a servant of Solomon, but he rebelled against the king,

and this is the account of his rebellion against the king. Solomon had built the supporting terraces and repaired the gap in the wall of the city of his father David.

Now Jeroboam was a mighty man of valor. So when Solomon noticed that the young man was industrious, he put him in charge of the whole labor force of the house of Joseph.

During that time, the prophet Ahijah the Shilonite met Jeroboam on the road as he was going out of Jerusalem. Now Ahijah had wrapped himself in a new cloak, and the two of them were alone in the open field.

And Ahijah took hold of the new cloak he was wearing, tore it into twelve pieces,

and said to Jeroboam, “Take ten pieces for yourself, for this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: ‘Behold, I will tear the kingdom out of the hand of Solomon, and I will give you ten tribes.

But one tribe will remain for the sake of My servant David and for the sake of Jerusalem, the city I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel.

For they have forsaken Me to worship Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, Chemosh the god of the Moabites, and Milcom the god of the Ammonites. They have not walked in My ways, nor done what is right in My eyes, nor kept My statutes and judgments, as Solomon’s father David did.

Nevertheless, I will not take the whole kingdom out of Solomon’s hand, because I have made him ruler all the days of his life for the sake of David My servant, whom I chose because he kept My commandments and statutes.

But I will take ten tribes of the kingdom from the hand of his son and give them to you.

I will give one tribe to his son, so that My servant David will always have a lamp before Me in Jerusalem, the city where I chose to put My Name.

But as for you, I will take you, and you shall reign over all that your heart desires, and you will be king over Israel.

If you listen to all that I command you, walk in My ways, and do what is right in My sight in order to keep My statutes and commandments as My servant David did, then I will be with you. I will build you a lasting dynasty just as I built for David, and I will give Israel to you.

Because of this, I will humble David’s descendants—but not forever.’”

Solomon therefore sought to kill Jeroboam. But Jeroboam arose and fled to Egypt, to Shishak king of Egypt, where he remained until the death of Solomon.

As for the rest of the acts of Solomon—all that he did, as well as his wisdom—are they not written in the Book of the Acts of Solomon?

Thus the time that Solomon reigned in Jerusalem over all Israel was forty years.