So they sought a beautiful young woman in all the territory of Israel, and they found Abishag the Shunnamite and brought her to the king.

Now Adonijah the son of Haggith was exalting himself, saying, "I will be king," so he prepared for himself a chariot and horsemen and fifty men running before him.

And Adonijah sacrificed sheep, oxen, and fattened animals near the stone of Zoheleth, which is beside En Rogel. He invited all of his brothers, the sons of the king, and all the men of Judah, the servants of the king.

Come, go to King David and say to him, 'Have you not, my lord the king, sworn to your servant, "Surely Solomon your son shall become king after me. And he will sit on my throne"? But why is Adonijah king?'

While you are still there speaking with the king, I will enter after you, and {I will confirm your words}."

She said to him, "My lord, you swore by Yahweh your God to your servant, 'Solomon your son surely shall become king after me, and he will sit upon my throne!'

He has sacrificed oxen and sheep and fattened animals {in abundance}, and he has invited all the sons of the king, Abiathar the priest, Joab the commander of the army, but Solomon your servant he did not invite.

But as for you, my lord the king, the eyes of all of Israel are on you, to tell them who shall sit on the throne of my lord the king after him.

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

While she was still speaking with the king, Nathan the prophet came [in].

"For he went down today and sacrificed oxen, sheep, and fattened animals {in abundance}. He invited all the sons of the king, the commanders of the army, and Abiathar the priest, and look, they are eating and drinking before him. They have also said, "Long live King Adonijah!

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."

Then the king swore and said, "{As Yahweh lives}, who has saved my life from all trouble,

The king said to them, "Take with you all the servants of your lord, and let them make Solomon my son ride on my mule, and bring him down to Gihon.

Then Zadok the priest took the horn of oil from the tent, and he anointed Solomon. They blew on the trumpet, and all the people said, "Long live King Solomon!"

All the people went up after him, and the people were playing on the flutes and rejoicing [with] great joy, and the earth shook with their noise.

And Adonijah and all the invited guests who were with him heard [it]. Now they were finished eating when Joab heard the sound of the trumpet and said, "{Why is there such a noise in the city?}"

While he was still speaking, suddenly Jonathan the son of Abiathar the priest came. Adonijah said, "Come, for you are a man of valor, and you bring good news."

Then all the invited guests who [were] for Adonijah trembled and got up and went, each on his way.

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!'"

Solomon said, "If he is a son of noble character, not a hair of his [head] will fall to the ground, but if evil is found in him, then he will die."

"I [am about to] go the way of all the world. Be strong and be {courageous}.

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.'"

And look, Shimei the son of Gera the son of the Benjaminite from Bahurim is with you. Now he {cursed me severely} when I went to Mahanaim, but he came down to meet me at the Jordan, so I swore to him by Yahweh, 'I surely will not kill you with the sword.'

So then, do not leave him unpunished, for you [are] a wise man, and you will know what you must do to him. You must bring his grey hair down to Sheol with blood."

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."

Then Bathsheba said, "Very well, I will speak to the king concerning you."

She said, "I have one small request I am asking from you. Do {not refuse me}." The king said to her, "Ask, my mother, for I will {not refuse you}."

So then, {as Yahweh lives}, who has established me and seated me on the throne of my father David and who has established for me a dynasty as he promised, then surely Adonijah will be put to death today."

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."

So Solomon banished Abiathar from being priest to Yahweh, thus fulfilling the word which Yahweh had spoken concerning the house of Eli in Shiloh.

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.

And their blood will return on the head of Joab and on the head of his descendants forever, but for David and his descendants and for his house and his throne, [there] will be peace forever from Yahweh."

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.

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.'

Then the king said to Shimei, "You know all the evil which your heart knows, what you did to David my father. Now Yahweh will return the evil on your head,

but King Solomon will be blessed and the throne of David will be established before Yahweh forever."

Solomon intermarried with Pharaoh the king of Egypt, and he took the daughter of Pharaoh and brought her to the city of David until he finished building his house, the house of Yahweh, and the walls of Jerusalem all around.

behold, I do hereby do according to your word. I hereby give you a wise and discerning heart; there was no one like you before you, nor afterwards will one like you arise.

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.

If you will walk in my ways by keeping my statutes and my commandments, as David your father walked, then I will lengthen your days."

Then Solomon awoke, and look, [it was] a dream, and he came [to] Jerusalem and stood before the ark of the covenant of [the] Lord, and he offered burnt offerings and presented fellowship offerings, and he held a feast for all of his servants.

So she got up in the middle of the night, and she took my son from beside me while your servant was asleep, and she put him in her lap, and she put her dead son in my lap.

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.

King Solomon was king over all Israel.

Solomon had twelve governors over all Israel, and they sustained the king and his palace, {each one was to sustain for each month of the year}.

Ben-Hesed [was] in the Arubbot; Socoh and all the land of Hepher [were] his.

Ben-Abinadab [was] in all of Naphat of Dor; Taphath the daughter of Solomon was his wife.

Baanah the son of Ahilud [was] in Taanach and Megiddo and all Beth-Shean which [is] beside Zarethan below Jezreel, of Beth-Shean up to Abel-Meholah up to the other side of Jokmeam.

Shimei the son of Ela [was] in Benjamin.

Now Solomon was ruling over all the kingdoms from the River [to] the land of [the] Philistines, and up to the border of Egypt, who [were] bringing tribute and [were] serving Solomon all the days of his life.

ten stall-fed oxen and twenty pasture-fed oxen and a hundred sheep, besides deer and buck gazelles and roebucks and well-fed fowls.

For he [was] ruling over all the west of the River from Tiphsah up to Gaza, over all the kings west of the River; and he had peace from every side all around.

Judah and Israel lived in security, each man under his vine and under his fig tree, from Dan as far as Beersheba, all the days of Solomon.

These governors sustained King Solomon and all who came near to the table of King Solomon, each [in] his month; they did not omit anything.

God gave wisdom to Solomon and very great discernment, as well as {breadth of understanding}, as the sand which is on the edge of the seashore.

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}.

He spoke concerning the trees, from the cedar which [is] in Lebanon up to the hyssop which grows on the wall; he also spoke concerning the animals, concerning the birds, concerning the creeping things, and concerning the fish.

They came from all the nations to hear the wisdom of Solomon; from all the kings of the earth who had heard [of] his wisdom.

But now Yahweh my God has given me rest all around me. There is no adversary, and there is no bad occurrence.

Here I am, intending to build a house for the name of Yahweh my God, as Yahweh promised to my father David, saying, 'Your son, whom I will set in your place on your throne, shall build the house for my name.'

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."

Hiram sent to Solomon, saying, "I have heard what you have sent to me; I will do all of your desire concerning the timber of cedars and concerning the timber of cypresses.

My servants will bring [them] down from Lebanon to the sea, and I will make them [into] rafts in the sea [to float to] the place which you indicated to me. Then I shall break them up there, and you may carry [them further], and {you shall meet my needs} by giving food for my house."

Then Solomon gave to Hiram twenty thousand dry measures of wheat [as] food for his household, and twenty dry measures of {specially prepared olive oil}; thus Solomon gave to Hiram year by year.

Then King Solomon conscripted a forced labor from all Israel, and the forced labor [numbered] thirty thousand men.

and he built a structure against the wall of the temple [running] all along the walls of the house, for the outer sanctuary and for the inner sanctuary, and made side rooms all around.

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.

He also built the structure against all of the temple five cubits in height and fastened it to the temple with beams of cedar.

"[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.

And I will dwell {among} the {Israelites}, and I will not forsake my people Israel."

All of the temple he overlaid with gold until all of the temple [was] finished; all of the altar which belonged to the inner sanctuary he overlaid with gold.

He placed the cherubim in the middle of the inner house, and they spread out the wings of the cherubim; the wing of the first cherub touched against the wall and the wing of the second cherub [was] touching against the second wall; their wings [spread] to the middle of the house [and were] touching wing to wing.

On all of the walls around the house, he carved engravings of cherubim and palm tree images and budding flowers both inside and out.

He made doors of olive wood for the doorway of the inner sanctuary, [as well as for] the doorpost of the fifth doorframe.

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.

Solomon built his house [over] thirteen years, and he finished all of his house.

All of the doorways and the doorframes [had] four-sided casings, with opening to opposite opening three times.

All of these [were] of precious stones, according to the measurement of dressed stone, sawn with a saw {on all sides}; from [the] foundation up to the eaves and from [the] outside up to the great courtyard.

The great courtyard all around had three rows of dressed stones and a row of cedar beams; for [both] the courtyard of the inner house of Yahweh and for the porch of the house.

He [was] the son of a widow woman from the tribe of Naphtali, and his father [was] a man of Tyre, an artisan of bronze. He was filled with wisdom and with ability and with the knowledge to do all the work with the bronze. And he came to King Solomon, and he did all of his work.

He also made the pillars with two rows around on the lattice, each to cover the capitals which [were] on top, [out of] the pomegranate-shaped ornaments, and thus he did for the second capital [as well].

And capitals [were] on the two pillars above near the bulging section which was beside the lattice, and two hundred pomegranate-shaped ornaments [were] in rows all around on the second capital.

He also made the molten sea, ten cubits {in diameter}, and five cubits [was] its height. A measuring line of thirty cubits would encircle it all around.

Gourds [were] under its rim surrounding it all around; ten to the cubit, surrounding the sea all around with two rows of gourds, [which] were cast when he cast the metal.

[The sea] was standing on twelve oxen, with three facing to the north, three facing to the west, three facing to the south, and three facing to the east. The sea [was] on top of them, with all of their hindquarters [turned] to the inside.

Four of the wheels [were] underneath the frames, and the axles of the wheels [were] on the stands. The height of each wheel [was] a cubit and a half.

The construction of the wheel [was] like the construction of the wheel of the chariot; their axles, their rims, their spokes, and their naves [were] all cast.

On top of the stand [was] half a cubit deep, circular all around, and on the top of the stand [were] its supports and its frames.

He engraved on the plates, on its supports, and on its frame cherubim, lions and images of a palm tree, according to the space for each, with wreaths all around.

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:

and the pots, the shovels, and the bowls for drinking wine. All the vessels of the tent which Hiram had made for King Solomon [for] the house of Yahweh [were] polished bronze.

Solomon left all of the vessels [unweighed] because of their very great abundance, so the weight of the bronze could not be determined.

Solomon also made all of the vessels which [were] in the house of Yahweh: the golden altar and the golden table on which [was] the bread of the presence;

as well as the five lampstands of beaten gold at the south and five lampstands at the north before the presence of the inner sanctuary, with the flower-shaped ornaments, the lamps, and the pair of tongs [all of gold].