So they sought for a fair damsel throughout all the borders of Israel, and found Abishag a Shunamite, and brought her to the king.

Then Adonijah the son of Haggith exalted himself, saying, I will be king: and he prepared him chariots and horsemen, and fifty men to run before him.

And Adonijah slew sheep, and oxen, and fat cattle, by the stone of Zoheleth, which is by En-rogel, and called all his brethren the king's sons, and all the men of Judah the king's servants:

Behold, while thou art yet talking there with the king, I will also come in after thee, and confirm thy words.

And he hath slain oxen, and fat cattle, and sheep in abundance, and hath called all the sons of the king, and Abiathar the priest, and Joab the captain of the host: but Solomon thy servant hath he not called.

And thou, my lord, O king, the eyes of all Israel are upon thee, that thou shouldst tell them who shall sit on the throne of my lord the king after him.

And lo, while she was yet talking with the king, Nathan the prophet also came in.

For he hath gone down this day, and hath slain oxen, and fat cattle, and sheep in abundance, and hath called all the king's sons, and the captains of the host, and Abiathar the priest; and behold, they eat and drink before him, and say, God save king Adonijah.

And the king swore, and said, As the LORD liveth, that hath redeemed my soul out of all distress,

Even as I swore to thee by the LORD God of Israel, saying, Assuredly Solomon thy son shall reign after me, and he shall sit upon my throne in my stead; even so will I certainly do this day.

And Zadok the priest took a horn of oil out of the tabernacle, and anointed Solomon. And they blew the trumpet; and all the people said, God save king Solomon.

And all the people came up after him, and the people piped with pipes, and rejoiced with great joy, so that the earth rent with the sound of them.

And Adonijah and all the guests that were with him heard it as they had made an end of eating. And when Joab heard the sound of the trumpet, he said, Why is this noise of the city being in an uproar?

And while he yet spoke, behold, Jonathan the son of Abiathar the priest came: and Adonijah said to him, Come in; for thou art a valiant man, and bringest good tidings.

And all the guests that were with Adonijah were afraid, and arose, and went every man his way.

And it was told Solomon, saying, Behold, Adonijah feareth king Solomon: for lo, he hath caught hold on the horns of the altar, saying, Let king Solomon swear to me to-day that he will not slay his servant with the sword.

And Solomon said, If he will show himself a worthy man, there shall not a hair of him fall to the earth: but if wickedness shall be found in him, he shall die.

I go the way of all the earth: be thou strong therefore, and show thyself a man;

And keep the charge of the LORD thy God, to walk in his ways, to keep his statutes, and his commandments, and his judgments, and his testimonies, as it is written in the law of Moses, that thou mayest prosper in all that thou doest, and whithersoever thou turnest thyself.

That the LORD may continue his word which he spoke concerning me, saying, If thy children take heed to their way, to walk before me in truth with all their heart and with all their soul, there shall not fail thee (said he) a man on the throne of Israel.

And behold, thou hast with thee Shimei the son of Gera, a Benjaminite of Bahurim, who cursed me with a grievous curse in the day when I went to Mahanaim: but he came down to meet me at Jordan, and I swore to him by the LORD, saying, I will not put thee to death with the sword.

And he said, Thou knowest that the kingdom was mine, and that all Israel set their faces on me, that I should reign: but the kingdom is turned about, and hath become my brother's: for it was his from the LORD.

And he said, Speak, I pray thee, to Solomon the king, (for he will not say to thee no,) that he give me Abishag the Shunamite for a wife.

And Bath-sheba said, Well; I will speak for thee to the king.

Then she said, I desire one small petition of thee; I pray thee, deny me not. And the king said to her, Ask on, my mother: for I will not deny thee.

And to Abiathar the priest said the king, Depart to Anathoth, to thy own fields; for thou art worthy of death: but I will not at this time put thee to death, because thou didst bear the ark of the Lord GOD before David my father, and because thou hast been afflicted in all in which my father was afflicted.

So Solomon removed Abiathar from being priest to the LORD; that he might fulfill the word of the LORD, which he spoke concerning the house of Eli in Shiloh.

And Benaiah came to the tabernacle of the LORD, and said to him, Thus saith the king, Come forth. And he said, No; but I will die here. And Benaiah brought the king word again, saying, Thus said Joab, and thus he answered me.

And Shimei said to the king, The saying is good: as my lord the king hath said, so will thy servant do. And Shimei dwelt in Jerusalem many days.

The king said moreover to Shimei, Thou knowest all the wickedness which thy heart is privy to, that thou didst to David my father: therefore the LORD will return thy wickedness upon thy own head;

And Solomon made affinity with Pharaoh king of Egypt, and took Pharaoh's daughter, and brought her into the city of David, until he had made an end of building his own house, and the house of the LORD, and the wall of Jerusalem on every side.

And I have also given thee that which thou hast not asked, both riches, and honor: so that there shall not be any among the kings like to thee all thy days,

And if thou wilt walk in my ways, to keep my statutes and my commandments, as thy father David did walk, then I will lengthen thy days.

And Solomon awoke; and behold, it was a dream. And he came to Jerusalem, and stood before the ark of the covenant of the LORD, and offered up burnt-offerings, and offered peace-offerings, and made a feast to all his servants.

And she arose at midnight, and took my son from beside me, while thy handmaid slept, and laid it in her bosom, and laid her dead child in my bosom.

And all Israel heard of the judgment which the king had judged; and they feared the king: for they saw that the wisdom of God was in him, to do judgment.

So king Solomon was king over all Israel.

And Solomon had twelve officers over all Israel, who provided victuals for the king and his household: each man his month in a year made provision.

The son of Hesed, in Aruboth; to him pertained Sochoh, and all the land of Hepher:

The son of Abinadab, in all the region of Dor; who had Taphath the daughter of Solomon for a wife:

Baana the son of Ahilud; to him pertained Taanach and Megiddo, and all Beth-shean, which is by Zartanah beneath Jezreel, from Beth-shean to Abel-meholah, even to the place that is beyond Jokneam:

Shimei the son of Elah, in Benjamin:

And Solomon reigned over all kingdoms from the river to the land of the Philistines, and to the border of Egypt: they brought presents, and served Solomon all the days of his life.

For he had dominion over all the region on this side the river, from Tiphsah even to Azzah, over all the kings on this side of the river: and he had peace on all sides around him.

And Judah and Israel dwelt safely, every man under his vine and under his fig-tree, from Dan even to Beer-sheba, all the days of Solomon.

And those officers provided victuals for king Solomon, and for all that came to king Solomon's table, every man in his month: they lacked nothing.

And Solomon's wisdom excelled the wisdom of all the children of the east country, and all the wisdom of Egypt.

For he was wiser than all men; than Ethan the Ezrahite, and Heman, and Chalcol, and Darda, the sons of Mahol: and his fame was in all the surrounding nations.

And he spoke of trees, from the cedar tree that is in Lebanon even to the hyssop that springeth out of the wall: he spoke also of beasts, and of fowls, and of creeping animals, and of fishes.

And there came of all people to hear the wisdom of Solomon, from all kings of the earth, who had heard of his wisdom.

And behold, I purpose to build a house to the name of the LORD my God, as the LORD spoke to David my father, saying, Thy son, whom I will set upon thy throne in thy room, he shall build a house to my name.

Now therefore command thou, that they hew me cedar trees out of Lebanon; and my servants shall be with thy servants: and to thee will I give hire for thy servants according to all that thou shalt appoint: for thou knowest that there is not among us any that is skilled in hewing timber like the Sidonians.

And Hiram sent to Solomon, saying, I have considered the things which thou sentest to me for: and I will perform all thy desire concerning timber of cedar, and concerning timber of fir.

My servants shall bring them down from Lebanon to the sea: and I will convey them by sea in floats to the place that thou shalt appoint me, and will cause them to be discharged there, and thou shalt receive them: and thou shalt accomplish my desire, in giving food for my household.

So Hiram gave Solomon cedar trees and fir trees according to all his desire.

And Solomon gave Hiram twenty thousand measures of wheat for food to his household, and twenty measures of pure oil: thus gave Solomon to Hiram year by year.

And king Solomon raised a levy out of all Israel; and the levy was thirty thousand men.

And against the wall of the house he built chambers round about, against the walls of the house round about, both of the temple and of the oracle: and he made chambers round about:

The nethermost chamber was five cubits broad, and the middle was six cubits broad, and the third was seven cubits broad: for without in the wall of the house he made narrowed rests round about, that the beams should not be fastened in the walls of the house.

And the house, when it was in building, was built of stone made ready before it was brought thither; so that there was neither hammer nor ax nor any tool of iron heard in the house, while it was in building.

And then he built chambers against all the house, five cubits high: and they rested on the house with timber of cedar.

Concerning this house which thou art in building, if thou wilt walk in my statutes, and execute my judgments, and keep all my commandments to walk in them; then will I perform my word with thee, which I spoke to David thy father:

And I will dwell among the children of Israel, and will not forsake my people Israel.

And the cedar of the house within was carved with knobs and open flowers: all was cedar; there was no stone seen.

And the whole house he overlaid with gold, until he had finished all the house: also the whole altar that was by the oracle he overlaid with gold.

And he set the cherubim within the inner house: and they stretched forth the wings of the cherubim, so that the wing of the one touched the one wall, and the wing of the other cherub touched the other wall; and their wings touched one another in the midst of the house.

And he carved all the walls of the house around with carved figures of cherubim, and palm trees, and open flowers, within and without.

And for the entrance of the oracle he made doors of olive tree: the lintel and side-posts were a fifth part of the wall.

So also he made for the door of the temple posts of olive tree a fourth part of the wall.

And in the eleventh year, in the month Bul (which is the eighth month) was the house finished throughout all its parts, and according to all the fashion of it. So was he seven years in building it.

But Solomon was building his own house thirteen years, and he finished all his house.

And all the doors and posts were square, with the windows: and light was against light in three ranks.

All these were of costly stones, according to the measures of hewn stones, sawed with saws, within and without, even from the foundation to the coping, and so on the outside towards the great court.

He was a widow's son of the tribe of Naphtali, and his father was a man of Tyre, a worker in brass: and he was filled with wisdom, and understanding, and ingenious to work all works in brass. And he came to king Solomon, and wrought all his work.

It stood upon twelve oxen, three looking towards the north, and three looking towards the west, and three looking towards the south, and three looking towards the east: and the sea was set above upon them, and all their hinder parts were inward.

And under the borders were four wheels; and the axletrees of the wheels were joined to the base: and the hight of a wheel was a cubit and half a cubit.

And the work of the wheels was like the work of a chariot wheel: their axletrees, and their naves, and their fellies, and their spokes, were all molten.

After this manner he made the ten bases: all of them had one casting, one measure, and one size.

And Hiram made the lavers, and the shovels, and the basins. So Hiram made an end of doing all the work that he executed for king Solomon for the house of the LORD:

And the pots, and the shovels, and the basins: and all these vessels which Hiram made to king Solomon for the house of the LORD, were of bright brass.

And Solomon left all the vessels unweighed, because they were very numerous: neither was the weight of the brass ascertained.

And Solomon made all the vessels that pertained to the house of the LORD: the altar of gold, and the table of gold, upon which was the show-bread,

So was ended all the work that king Solomon made for the house of the LORD. And Solomon brought in the things which David his father had dedicated; even the silver, and the gold, and the vessels, he placed among the treasures of the house of the LORD.

Then Solomon assembled the elders of Israel, and all the heads of the tribes, the chief of the fathers of the children of Israel, to king Solomon in Jerusalem, that they might bring the ark of the covenant of the LORD out of the city of David, which is Zion.

And all the men of Israel assembled themselves to king Solomon at the feast in the month Ethanim, which is the seventh month.

And all the elders of Israel came, and the priests took up the ark.

And they brought 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.

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

And the king turned his face about, and blessed all the congregation of Israel: and all the congregation of Israel were standing.

Since the day that I brought forth my people Israel from Egypt, I have chosen no city out of all the tribes of Israel to build a house, that my name might be therein; but I chose David to be over my people Israel.

And the LORD said to David my father, Whereas it was in thy heart to build a house to my name, thou didst well that it was in thy heart.

And Solomon stood before the altar of the LORD in the presence of all the congregation of Israel, and spread forth his hands towards Heaven:

And he said, LORD God of Israel, there is no God like thee, in heaven above, or on earth beneath, who keepest covenant and mercy with thy servants that walk before thee with all their heart.

But will God indeed dwell on the earth? behold, the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain thee; how much less this house that I have built?

Whatever prayer and supplication shall be made by any man, or by all thy people Israel, who shall know every man the plague of his own heart, and spread forth his hands towards this house:

Then hear thou in heaven thy dwelling-place, and forgive, and do, and give to every man according to his ways, whose heart thou knowest; (for thou, even thou only, knowest the hearts of all the children of men;)

That they may fear thee all the days that they live in the land which thou gavest to our fathers.

Hear thou in heaven thy dwelling-place, and do according to all that the stranger calleth to thee for: that all people of the earth may know thy name, to fear thee, as do thy people Israel; and that they may know that this house which I have built is called by thy name.

And so return to thee with all their heart, and with all their soul, in the land of their enemies, who led them away captive, and pray to thee towards their land, which thou gavest to their fathers, the city which thou hast chosen, and the house which I have built for thy name:

And forgive thy people that have sinned against thee, and all their transgressions in which they have transgressed against thee, and give them compassion before them who carried them captive, that they may have compassion on them: