Now King David was old and getting on in years. Although they covered him with bedclothes, he could not get warm.

The girl was of unsurpassed beauty, and she became the king’s caregiver. She served him, but he was not intimate with her.

But his father had never once reprimanded him by saying, “Why do you act this way?” In addition, he was quite handsome and was born after Absalom.

So Bathsheba went to the king in his bedroom. Since the king was very old, Abishag the Shunammite was serving him.

At that moment, while she was still speaking with the king, Nathan the prophet arrived,

and it was announced to the king, “Nathan the prophet is here.” He came into the king’s presence and bowed to him with his face to the ground.

Just as the Lord 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.”

He was still speaking when Jonathan son of Abiathar the priest, suddenly arrived. Adonijah said, “Come in, for you are an excellent man, and you must be bringing good news.”

Adonijah was afraid of Solomon, so he got up and went to take hold of the horns of the altar.

It was reported to Solomon: “Look, Adonijah fears King Solomon, and he has taken hold of the horns of the altar, saying, ‘Let King Solomon first swear to me that he will not kill his servant with the sword.’”

Then David rested with his fathers and was buried in the city of David.

The length of time David reigned over Israel was 40 years: he reigned seven years in Hebron and 33 years in Jerusalem.

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

“You know the kingship was mine,” he said. “All Israel expected me to be king, but then the kingship was turned over to my brother, for the Lord gave it to him.

It was reported to King Solomon: “Joab has fled to the Lord’s tabernacle and is now beside the altar.” Then Solomon sent Benaiah son of Jehoiada and told him, “Go and strike him down!”

Benaiah son of Jehoiada went up, struck down Joab, and put him to death. He was buried at his house in the wilderness.

But then, at the end of three years, two of Shimei’s slaves ran away to Achish son of Maacah, king of Gath. Shimei was informed, “Look, your slaves are in Gath.”

It was reported to Solomon that Shimei had gone from Jerusalem to Gath and had returned.

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

The king went to Gibeon to sacrifice there because it was the most famous high place. He offered 1,000 burnt offerings on that altar.

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

On the third day after I gave birth, she also had a baby and we were alone. No one else was with us in the house; just the two of us were there.

She got up in the middle of the night and took my son from my side while your servant was asleep. She laid him at her breast, and she put her dead son in my arms.

When I got up in the morning to nurse my son, I discovered he was dead. That morning, when I looked closely at him I realized that he was not the son I gave birth to.”

The woman whose son was alive spoke to the king because she felt great compassion for her son. “My lord, give her the living baby,” she said, “but please don’t have him killed!”

But the other one said, “He will not be mine or yours. Cut him in two!”

All Israel heard about the judgment the king had given, and they stood in awe of the king because they saw that God’s wisdom was in him to carry out justice.

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

Geber son of Uri, in the land of Gilead, the country of Sihon king of the Amorites and of Og king of Bashan.

There was one deputy in the land of Judah.

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

He was wiser than anyone—wiser than Ethan the Ezrahite, and Heman, Calcol, and Darda, sons of Mahol. His reputation extended to all the surrounding nations.

“You know my father David was not able to build a temple for the name of Yahweh his God. This was because of the warfare all around him until the Lord put his enemies under his feet.

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.

He sent 10,000 to Lebanon each month in shifts; one month they were in Lebanon, two months they were at home. Adoniram was in charge of the forced labor.

The temple that King Solomon built for the Lord was 90 feet long, 30 feet wide, and 45 feet high.

The portico in front of the temple sanctuary was 30 feet long extending across the temple’s width, and 15 feet deep in front of the temple.

The lowest chamber was 7½ feet wide, the middle was nine feet wide, and the third was 10½ feet wide. He also provided offset ledges for the temple all around the outside so that nothing would be inserted into the temple walls.

The temple’s construction used finished stones cut at the quarry so that no hammer, chisel, or any iron tool was heard in the temple while it was being built.

The door for the lowest side chamber was on the right side of the temple. They went up a stairway to the middle chamber, and from the middle to the third.

He built the chambers along the entire temple, joined to the temple with cedar beams; each story was 7½ feet high.

The temple, that is, the sanctuary in front of the most holy place, was 60 feet long.

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

The interior of the sanctuary was 30 feet long, 30 feet wide, and 30 feet high; he overlaid it with pure gold. He also overlaid the cedar altar.

So he added the gold overlay to the entire temple until everything was completely finished, including the entire altar that belongs to the inner sanctuary.

One wing of the first cherub was 7½ feet long, and the other wing was 7½ feet long. The wingspan was 15 feet from tip to tip.

The second cherub also was 15 feet; both cherubim had the same size and shape.

The first cherub’s height was 15 feet and so was the second cherub’s.

The foundation of the Lord’s temple was laid in Solomon’s fourth year in the month of Ziv.

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

He built the House of the Forest of Lebanon. It was 150 feet long, 75 feet wide, and 45 feet high on four rows of cedar pillars, with cedar beams on top of the pillars.

It was paneled above with cedar at the top of the chambers that rested on 45 pillars, 15 per row.

He made the hall of pillars 75 feet long and 45 feet wide. A portico was in front of the pillars, and a canopy with pillars was in front of them.

He made the Hall of the Throne where he would judge—the Hall of Judgment. It was paneled with cedar from the floor to the rafters.

Solomon’s own palace where he would live, in the other courtyard behind the hall, was of similar construction. And he made a house like this hall for Pharaoh’s daughter, his wife.

The foundation was made of large, costly stones 12 and 15 feet long.

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

He also made two capitals of cast bronze to set on top of the pillars; 7½ feet was the height of the first capital, and 7½ feet was also the height of the second capital.

The tops of the pillars were shaped like lilies. Then the work of the pillars was completed.

He made the cast metal reservoir, 15 feet from brim to brim, perfectly round. It was 7½ feet high and 45 feet in circumference.

Ornamental gourds encircled it below the brim, 10 every half yard, completely encircling the reservoir. The gourds were cast in two rows when the reservoir was cast.

It stood on 12 oxen, three facing north, three facing west, three facing south, and three facing east. The reservoir was on top of them and all their hindquarters were toward the center.

The reservoir was three inches thick, and its rim was fashioned like the brim of a cup or of a lily blossom. It held 11,000 gallons.

Then he made 10 bronze water carts. Each water cart was six feet long, six feet wide, and 4½ feet high.

This was the design of the carts: They had frames; the frames were between the cross-pieces,

and on the frames between the cross-pieces were lions, oxen, and cherubim. On the cross-pieces there was a pedestal above, and below the lions and oxen were wreaths of hanging work.

And the water cart’s opening inside the crown on top was 18 inches wide. The opening was round, made as a pedestal 27 inches wide. On it were carvings, but their frames were square, not round.

There were four wheels under the frames, and the wheel axles were part of the water cart; each wheel was 27 inches tall.

The wheels’ design was similar to that of chariot wheels: their axles, rims, spokes, and hubs were all of cast metal.

Four supports were at the four corners of each water cart; each support was one piece with the water cart.

At the top of the cart was a band nine inches high encircling it; also, at the top of the cart, its braces and its frames were one piece with it.

Then he made 10 bronze basins—each basin holding 220 gallons and each was six feet wide—one basin for each of the 10 water carts.

Then Hiram made the basins, the shovels, and the sprinkling basins.

So Hiram finished all the work that he was doing for King Solomon on the Lord’s temple:

Solomon left all the utensils unweighed because there were so many; the weight of the bronze was not determined.

Solomon also made all the equipment in the Lord’s temple: the gold altar; the gold table that the bread of the Presence was placed on;

So all the work King Solomon did in the Lord’s temple was completed. Then Solomon brought in the consecrated things of his father David—the silver, the gold, and the utensils—and put them in the treasuries of the Lord’s temple.

Nothing was in the ark except the two stone tablets that Moses had put there at Horeb, where the Lord made a covenant with the Israelites when they came out of the land of Egypt.

It was in the desire of my father David
to build a temple for the name of Yahweh, the God of Israel.

But the Lord said to my father David,
“Since it was your desire to build a temple for My name,
you have done well to have this desire.

May the Lord our God be with us as He was with our ancestors. May He not abandon us or leave us

On the same day, the king consecrated the middle of the courtyard that was in front of the Lord’s temple because that was where he offered the burnt offering, the grain offering, and the fat of the fellowship offerings since the bronze altar before the Lord was too small to accommodate the burnt offerings, the grain offerings, and the fat of the fellowship offerings.

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

She came to Jerusalem with a very large entourage, with camels bearing spices, gold in great abundance, and precious stones. She came to Solomon and spoke to him about everything that was on her mind.

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

But I didn’t believe the reports until I came and saw with my own eyes. Indeed, I was not even told half. Your wisdom and prosperity far exceed the report I heard.

The weight of gold that came to Solomon annually was 25 tons,

The throne had six steps; there was a rounded top at the back of the throne, armrests on either side of the seat, and two lions standing beside the armrests.

All of 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, since it was considered as nothing in Solomon’s time,

A chariot was imported from Egypt for 15 pounds of silver, and a horse for about four pounds. In the same way, they exported them to all the kings of the Hittites and to the kings of Aram through their agents.

from the nations that the Lord had told the Israelites about, “Do not intermarry with them, and they must not intermarry with you, because they will turn you away from Me to their gods.” Solomon was deeply attached to these women and loved them.

When Solomon was old, his wives seduced him to follow other gods. He was not completely devoted to Yahweh his God, as his father David had been.

Solomon did what was evil in the Lord’s sight, and unlike his father David, he did not completely follow Yahweh.

The Lord was angry with Solomon, because his heart had turned away from Yahweh, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice.

So the Lord raised up Hadad the Edomite as an enemy against Solomon. He was of the royal family in 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.

Hadad fled to Egypt, along with some Edomites from his father’s servants. At the time Hadad was a small boy.

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

Rezon was Israel’s enemy throughout Solomon’s reign, adding to the trouble Hadad had caused. He ruled over Aram, but he loathed Israel.

Now Solomon’s servant, Jeroboam son of Nebat, was an Ephraimite from Zeredah. His widowed mother’s name was Zeruah. Jeroboam rebelled against Solomon,

Now the man Jeroboam was capable, and Solomon noticed the young man because he was getting things done. So he appointed him over the entire labor force of the house of Joseph.

Solomon rested with his fathers and was buried in the city of his father David. His son Rehoboam became king in his place.

When Jeroboam son of Nebat heard about it, for he was still in Egypt where he had fled from King Solomon’s presence, Jeroboam stayed in Egypt.