His servants said to him, "Let them search for a young virgin for my lord the king, and let her stand before the king. Let her be of use for him, and let her lie in your lap that my lord the king may be warm."

Then Nathan said to Bathsheba the mother of Solomon, "Have you not heard that Adonijah the son of Haggith has become king, but our lord David does not know?

So then, come, let me advise you please, {that you may save} your life and the life of your son, Solomon.

It shall be that when my lord the king sleeps with his ancestors, I and my son Solomon will be [considered as] sinners."

If it was from my lord the king that this thing has happened, [then all is well,] but if not, you must let your servants know who shall sit on the throne of my lord the king after him."

As Yahweh was with my lord the king, so may he be with Solomon and make his throne greater than the throne of my lord King David."

The servants of the king also came to congratulate our lord King David, saying, 'Your God has made the name of Solomon better than your name and his throne greater than your throne!' So the king worshiped on the bed.

Solomon was told, "Look, Adonijah is afraid of King Solomon, and he has grasped the horns of the altar, saying, 'Let King Solomon swear to me {first} that he will surely not kill his servant with the sword!'"

You shall keep the charge of Yahweh your God, to walk in his ways, to keep his statutes, his commandments, his judgments, and his testimonies, as are written in the law of Moses, so that you may prosper in all that you do and everywhere you turn,

so that Yahweh may establish his word which he spoke concerning me, saying, 'If your sons take heed of their way, to walk before me in faithfulness, with all their heart and with all their soul, no man of yours will be cut off from the throne of Israel.'"

"Moreover, you also know what Joab the son of Zeruiah did to me when he dealt with the two commanders of the armies of Israel, to Abner son of Ner and to Amasa son of Jether, and he murdered them and put the blood of war in [a time of] peace. He put the blood of war on the leather belt that was on his waist and on the sandals which were on his feet.

The days that David reigned over Israel [were] forty years; he reigned seven years in Hebron and thirty-three years in Jerusalem.

He said, "You know that the kingship was mine and that all Israel had set their face toward me as king, but the kingship turned around and became my brother's, for it was from Yahweh for him [to have it].

He said, "Please speak to King Solomon, for he will not refuse you, so that he will give to me Abishag the Shunnamite as wife."

King Solomon answered and said to his mother, "Why are you asking Abishag the Shunnamite for Adonijah? Ask for him also the kingdom, for he is my brother, older than I; and [ask] for him also Abiathar the priest, and for Joab the son of Zeruiah."

To Abiathar the priest, the king said, "Go to Anathoth, to your field, for {you deserve to die}, but on this day I will not kill you, for you carried the ark of the Lord Yahweh before David my father, and because you endured hardship in all the hardship that my father endured."

It was told to King Solomon that Joab had fled to the tent of Yahweh and was beside the altar. So Solomon sent [word] to Benaiah son of Jehoiada, saying, "Go and fall upon him."

Then the king said to him, "Do as he spoke; fall upon him and bury him, and so you shall remove the innocent blood that Joab shed from on me and from on the house of my father.

Yahweh will return his blood on his head, because he fell upon two men, more righteous and better than he, and he killed them with the sword, even though my father did not know it; [namely] Abner son of Ner, commander of the army of Israel, and Amasa son of Jether, commander of the army of Judah.

It shall happen that on the day you go out and cross over the Wadi Kidron, know for certain that {you will surely die}. Your blood will be on your head."

Shimei said to the king, "The word is good that my lord the king has spoken to me; thus will your servant do." So Shimei lived in Jerusalem many days.

It happened that at the end of three years, two of Shimei's slaves fled to Achish, son of Maacah, the king of Gath. They told Shimei, saying, "Your slaves [are] here in Gath."

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

the king sent and summoned Shimei, and he said to him, "Did I not make you swear by Yahweh? I warned you, saying, 'On the day you go out and you go {anywhere whatsoever}, know for certain that {you will surely die}.' And you said to me, 'The word is good; I accept.'

So the king went to Gibeon to sacrifice, for the great high place [was] there. Solomon used to offer a thousand burnt offerings on that altar.

The word was good in the eyes of [the] Lord that Solomon had asked this thing.

Too, what you have not asked I give to you: both riches and honor, [so that] no man among the kings will be like you all of your days.

When all of Israel heard the judgment that the king had rendered, they {stood in awe} of the king, because they realized that the wisdom of God was in him to execute justice.

The wisdom of Solomon was greater than the wisdom of all the people of [the] east and more than all the wisdom of Egypt.

He was wiser than all the men: Ethan the Ezrahite; Heman, Calcol, and Darda the children of Mahol; and {he was very well known}.

Hiram king of Tyre sent his servants to Solomon when he heard that they had anointed him as king in place of his father, for Hiram had always been a friend for David.

"You knew David my father, that he was not able to build a house for the name of Yahweh his God, {in view of the warfare} which surrounded him, until Yahweh placed them under the soles of his feet.

So then, command that they may cut cedars for me from Lebanon, and let my servants be with your servants. The wage of your servants I will give to you according to all that you say, for you know that there is no one among us who knows [how] to cut timber like the Sidonians."

It happened in the four hundred and eightieth year [after] the {Israelites} went out from the land of Egypt, in the fourth year {of Solomon's rule} over Israel, the month of Ziv (that [is] the second month), that he began to build the house for Yahweh.

Now the house that King Solomon built for Yahweh [was] sixty cubits [in] its length and twenty cubits [in] its width and thirty cubits [in] its height.

The lower structure [was] five cubits in its width and the middle [was] six cubits in its width and the third [was] seven cubits in its width, for he made niches for the temple all around to the outside, [so that] beams [would] not attach to the walls of the temple.

Now while the temple was being built, it was built [with] stones finished [at the] quarry, [so that] no hammer or stone shaping tool or any instrument of iron was heard in the temple as it was being built.

"[Regarding] this temple that you are building: if you walk in my ordinances and if you do my judgments and you keep all my commandments to walk in them, then I will establish my promise with you which I made to David your father.

In the eleventh year in the month of Bul, that is, the eighth month, the house was finished [according] to all his specifications and [according] to all his plans. He had built it in seven years.

Hiram also made the basins and the shovels and the bowls for drinking wine; and so Hiram finished doing all of the work {that he was to do} for King Solomon in the house of Yahweh:

At that time, Solomon assembled the elders of Israel, all the heads of the tribes, and the leaders of the {families} of the {Israelites} before King Solomon, in order to bring up the ark of the covenant of Yahweh from the city of David, that is, Zion.

All the men of Israel assembled before King Solomon at the festival in the month of Ethnaim, that is, the seventh month.

So they brought up the ark of Yahweh and the tent of assembly and all of the holy vessels that [were] in the tent; the priests and the Levites brought them up.

King Solomon and all the assembly of Israel who were assembling with him in the presence of the ark [were] sacrificing sheep and oxen that could not be counted nor numbered because of abundance.

Then Solomon said, "Yahweh has said that [he] would dwell in the very thick cloud.

'From the day that I brought out my people Israel from Egypt I have not chosen a city from all the tribes of Israel to build a house where my name might be, but I have chosen David to be over my people Israel.'

but Yahweh said to David my father, 'Because {you desired} to build a house for my name, you did well in that it was within your heart.

For will God really dwell on the earth? Behold, the heavens and the heaven of heavens could not contain you! {How could} this house that I have built?

You must regard the prayer of your servant and his plea! O Yahweh my God, listen to the pleading and to the prayer that your servant [is] praying before you this day,

so that your eyes [will] be open to this house night and day, to the place which you said, 'My name will be there,' to hear the prayer that your servant prays toward this place.

If there should be in the land famine or disease, if there should be blight or mildew or locust or caterpillars, if it happens that his enemy lays siege against him in the land of his gates, if any plague or any disease,

[Do these things] so that they may fear you all the days that they live on the face of the land that you gave to our ancestors.

you shall hear in heaven, the place of your dwelling, and act according to all that the foreigner calls to you, so that all the peoples of the earth may know your name, to fear you as your people Israel, and to know that your name has been invoked over this house that I have built.

If your people go out to battle against his enemy in the way that you shall send them and they pray to Yahweh, toward the city which you have chosen and the house which I have built for your name,

if they return to you with all of their heart and with all of their soul in the land of their enemies who took them captive and they pray to you toward their land which you gave to their ancestors, the city that you have chosen and the house that you built for your name,

You shall forgive your people who sinned against you, [even] for all their transgressions which they committed against you. You shall give them compassion before their captors so that they may have compassion on them,

[O,] that your eyes [may] be open to the plea of your servant and to the plea of your people Israel, to listen to them in all things [when] they call to you.

It happened that when Solomon finished praying to Yahweh all of the prayer and this plea, he got up from before the altar of Yahweh, from kneeling down on his knees with his palms outstretched to heaven.

"Blessed be Yahweh who gave a resting place to his people Israel. According to all that he promised, not one word has fallen from all of his promises [concerning] the good which he spoke through the hand of Moses his servant.

so that all of the people of the earth may know that Yahweh, he [is] God; there is none other.

On that day the king consecrated the middle of the courtyard before the house of Yahweh because he offered there the burnt offerings, the grain offerings, and the fat of the fellowship offerings because the bronze altar that was in the presence of Yahweh was too small to hold the burnt offerings and the grain offerings and the fat of the fellowship offerings.

Solomon held the festival at that time and all of Israel with him, a great assembly from Lebo Hamath up to the wadi of Egypt before Yahweh our God, for seven days [and] seven days, [a total of] fourteen days.

On the eighth day, he sent the people away, and they blessed the king, and they went to their tents rejoicing and {in good spirits} because of all the goodness that Yahweh had shown to David his servant and to Israel his people.

It happened that as Solomon finished the building of the house of Yahweh, the king's house, and all the things Solomon desired to do,

As for you, if you walk before me as David your father walked, with {integrity of heart} and with uprightness, to do according to all that I have commanded you, [and if] you keep my ordinances and my judgments,

"If ever you or any of your descendants turn from [following] me and do not keep my commandments [and] my ordinances that I have set before you and you go and serve other gods and bow down to them,

then I will cut Israel off from the face of the land that I have given to them, [even] the house which I have consecrated for my name I will cast away from my face; and Israel shall become a proverb and an object of taunting among all the peoples.

So Hiram went out from Tyre to see the cities that Solomon had given him, but they were not right in his eyes.

So he said, "What [are] these cities that you have given to me, my brother?" {So they are called the land of Cabul until this day}.

This [is] the account of the forced labor that King Solomon conscripted to build the house of Yahweh and his house, the Millo, the walls of Jerusalem, Hazor, Megiddo, and Gezer.

and [he also built] all of the storage cities which were Solomon's, the cities [for] the chariots, the cities [for] the cavalry, and all of Solomon's desire that he wanted to build in Jerusalem and in Lebanon and in all the land of his dominion.

Solomon sacrificed three times a year: burnt offerings and fellowship offerings on the altar that he had built to Yahweh, and he offered incense with it before Yahweh; and so he completed the house.

So she came to Jerusalem with very great wealth; [with] camels carrying spices, very much gold, and precious stones. She came to Solomon, and she spoke to him all that was on her heart.

I had not believed the report to be true until I came and my eyes had seen, and behold! The half had not been told to me. {Your wisdom and prosperity surpass} the report that I had heard.

Then she gave the king a hundred and twenty talents of gold, abundant spices, and precious stones. Spices as these did not come again in such abundance [as that which] the queen of Sheba brought to King Solomon.

King Solomon gave to the queen of Sheba all of her desire that she asked, besides that which {King Solomon freely offered her}. Then she turned and went to her land with her servants.

The weight of the gold that came to Solomon in one year [was] six hundred and sixty-six talents of gold,

apart from [that of] the men of the traders and the profits of the traders, and all the kings of the Arabs and the governors of the land.

King Solomon was greater than all the kings of the earth with respect to wealth and wisdom.

It happened at the time of Solomon's old age that his wives guided his heart after other gods, and his heart was not fully with Yahweh his God as the heart of David his father [had been].

At that time, Solomon built a high place for Chemosh, the abomination of Moab, on the mountain which {faces} Jerusalem and for Molech, the abomination of the {Ammonites}.

And he had commanded him concerning this matter not to go after other gods, but he did not keep that which Yahweh commanded.

Then Yahweh raised an adversary against Solomon, Hadad the Edomite, from the descendants of that king in Edom.

It had happened that when David was at Edom, Joab the commander of the army went up to bury the slain, and he killed every male in Edom.

Now Hadad heard in Egypt that David had slept with his ancestors and that Joab the commander of the army was dead. Then Hadad said to Pharaoh, "Send me away that I may go to my land."

Pharaoh said to him, "What do you lack with me that you now [are] seeking to go to your land?" He said, "No, but you must surely send me away."

He was an adversary for Israel all the days of Solomon, and [along with] the evil that Hadad [did], he detested Israel [while] he reigned over Aram.

This [is] the reason that he rebelled against the king: [when] Solomon built the Millo, he closed the gap of the city of David his father.

Now the man Jeroboam [was] a man of ability, and Solomon saw that the young man {was a diligent worker}, so he appointed him over all of the forced labor for the house of Joseph.

It happened at that time that Jeroboam went out from Jerusalem, and he accidentally met Ahijah the Shilonite the prophet on the way. Now he had clothed himself with new clothing. While the two of them [were] alone in the field,

It shall be that if you listen to all that I command you and you walk in my ways and you do right in my eyes by keeping my statutes and my commandments, as David my servant did, then I will be with you, and I will build an enduring house for you as I built for David, and I will give Israel to you.

Now the rest of the acts of Solomon and all that he did and his wisdom; [are] they not written on the scroll of the acts of Solomon?

All the days that Solomon reigned in Jerusalem over all of Israel [were] forty years.

It happened that Jeroboam the son of Nebat heard [of it] while he was still in Egypt where he had fled from the face of King Solomon, and Jeroboam had lived in Egypt.

He said to them, "What [are] you advising that we should reply to this people who spoke to me by saying, 'Lighten the yoke your father put on us.'"

Then the youngsters who had grown up with him spoke to him, saying, "Thus you shall say to this people who spoke to you: 'Your father made our yoke heavy, but you lighten [it] for us,' you shall say to them, 'My little finger is thicker than my father's loins.

Then the king answered all the people harshly, [as] he had rejected the advice of the old men that they had offered.

When all of Israel saw that the king would not listen to them, the people answered the king, saying, "{What share do we have in David}? [There is] no inheritance in the son of Jesse. To your tents, Israel! Now look to your house, David!" Then Israel went to their tents.

It happened that just when all of Israel heard that Jeroboam had returned, they sent and called him to the assembly and made him king over all of Israel. Not one [followed] after the house of David except the tribe of Judah alone.

Jeroboam also inaugurated a religious feast in the eighth month on the fifteenth day of the month, like the religious feast which was in Judah, and he offered [sacrifices] on the altar. Thus he did in Bethel, by sacrificing to the calves that he had made; and he placed in Bethel the priests of the high places which he had made.