So Solomon, and all the assembly with him, went to the high place that was at Gibeon; for there was the Tent of Meeting of God, which Moses the servant of the LORD had made in the wilderness.

But David had brought the ark of God up from Kiriath Jearim to the place that David had prepared for it; for he had pitched a tent for it at Jerusalem.

Solomon went up there to the bronze altar before the LORD, which was at the Tent of Meeting, and offered one thousand burnt offerings on it.

In that night God appeared to Solomon, and said to him, "Ask what I shall give you."

Now give me wisdom and knowledge, that I may go out and come in before this people; for who can judge this your people, that is so great?"

God said to Solomon, "Because this was in your heart, and you have not asked riches, wealth, or honor, nor the life of those who hate you, neither yet have asked long life; but have asked wisdom and knowledge for yourself, that you may judge my people, over whom I have made you king:

So Solomon came from the high place that was at Gibeon, from before the Tent of Meeting, to Jerusalem; and he reigned over Israel.

Solomon gathered chariots and horsemen: and he had one thousand four hundred chariots, and twelve thousand horsemen, that he placed in the chariot cities, and with the king at Jerusalem.

The horses which Solomon had were brought out of Egypt and from Kue; the king's merchants purchased them from Kue.

They brought up and brought out of Egypt a chariot for six hundred pieces of silver, and a horse for one hundred fifty: and so for all the kings of the Hittites, and the kings of Syria, they brought them out by their means.

Solomon counted out seventy thousand men to bear burdens, and eighty thousand men who were stone cutters in the mountains, and three thousand and six hundred to oversee them.

Behold, I am about to build a house for the name of the LORD my God, to dedicate it to him, and to burn before him incense of sweet spices, and for the continual show bread, and for the burnt offerings morning and evening, on the Sabbaths, and on the new moons, and on the set feasts of the LORD our God. This is an ordinance forever to Israel.

"Send me also cedar trees, fir trees, and algum trees, out of Lebanon; for I know that your servants know how to cut timber in Lebanon: and behold, my servants shall be with your servants,

Behold, I will give to your servants, the cutters who cut timber, twenty thousand measures of beaten wheat, and twenty thousand measures of barley, and twenty thousand baths of wine, and twenty thousand baths of oil."

"Now therefore the wheat and the barley, the oil and the wine, which my lord has spoken of, let him send to his servants:

and we will cut wood out of Lebanon, as much as you shall need; and we will bring it to you in floats by sea to Joppa; and you shall carry it up to Jerusalem."

He set seventy thousand of them to bear burdens, and eighty thousand who were stone cutters in the mountains, and three thousand six hundred overseers to set the people at work.

Then Solomon began to build the house of the LORD at Jerusalem on Mount Moriah, where [the LORD] appeared to David his father, at the place that David had designated, on the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite.

The porch that was in front, its length, according to the breadth of the house, was twenty cubits, and the height one hundred twenty; and he overlaid it within with pure gold.

The greater house he made a ceiling with fir wood, which he overlaid with fine gold, and ornamented it with palm trees and chains.

He made the most holy house: its length, according to the breadth of the house, was twenty cubits, and its breadth twenty cubits; and he overlaid it with fine gold, amounting to six hundred talents.

The weight of the nails was fifty shekels of gold. He overlaid the upper rooms with gold.

He made the veil of blue, and purple, and crimson, and fine linen, and ornamented it with cherubim.

Also he made the molten sea of ten cubits from brim to brim, round in compass; and its height was five cubits; and a line of thirty cubits encircled it.

Under it was the likeness of oxen, which encircled it, for ten cubits, encircling the sea. The oxen were in two rows, cast when it was cast.

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

It was a handbreadth thick; and its brim was worked like the brim of a cup, like the flower of a lily: it received and held three thousand baths.

one sea, and the twelve oxen under it.

Thus Solomon made all these vessels in great abundance: for the weight of the brass could not be found out.

and the snuffers, and the basins, and the spoons, and the fire pans, of pure gold: and as for the entry of the house, the inner doors of it for the most holy place, and the doors of the main hall of the temple were of gold.

Then Solomon assembled the elders of Israel, and all the heads of the tribes, the ancestral leaders of the children of Israel, to Jerusalem, to bring up 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 the king at the feast, which was in the seventh month.

The poles were so long that the ends of the poles were seen from the ark before the inner sanctuary; but they were not seen outside. And there it is to this day.

There was nothing in the ark except the two tablets which Moses put at Horeb, when the LORD made a covenant with the children of Israel, when they came out of Egypt.

It happened, when the priests had come out of the holy place, (for all the priests who were present had sanctified themselves, and did not keep their divisions;

also the Levites who were the singers, all of them, even Asaph, Heman, Jeduthun, and their sons and their brothers, arrayed in fine linen, with cymbals and stringed instruments and harps, stood at the east end of the altar, and with them one hundred twenty priests sounding with trumpets;)

it happened, when the trumpeters and singers were as one, to make one sound to be heard in praising and thanking the LORD; and when they lifted up their voice with the trumpets and cymbals and instruments of music, and praised the LORD, saying, "For he is good; for his loving kindness endures forever," then the house was filled with a cloud, even the house of the LORD,

He said, "Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel, who spoke with his mouth to David my father, and has with his hands fulfilled it, saying,

'Since the day that I brought forth my people out of the land of Egypt, I chose no city out of all the tribes of Israel to build a house in, that my name might be there; nor did I choose any man to be a leader over my people Israel:

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

But the LORD said to David my father, 'Whereas it was in your heart to build a house for my name, you did well that it was in your heart:

nevertheless you shall not build the house; but your son who shall come forth out of your body, he shall build the house for my name.'

(for Solomon had made a bronze scaffold, five cubits long, and five cubits broad, and three cubits high, and had set it in the midst of the court; and on it he stood, and kneeled down on his knees before all the assembly of Israel, and spread forth his hands toward heaven;)

who have kept with your servant David my father that which you promised him: yes, you spoke with your mouth, and have fulfilled it with your hand, as it is this day.

Yet have respect for the prayer of your servant, and to his supplication, LORD my God, to listen to the cry and to the prayer which your servant prays before you;

"If your people go out to battle against their enemies, by whatever way you shall send them, and they pray to you toward this city which you have chosen, and the house which I have built for your name;

yet if they shall repent themselves in the land where they are carried captive, and turn again, and make supplication to you in the land of their captivity, saying, 'We have sinned, we have done perversely, and have dealt wickedly;'

"Now therefore arise, LORD God, into your resting place, you, and the ark of your strength: let your priests, LORD God, be clothed with salvation, and let your saints rejoice in what is good.

So Solomon held the feast at that time seven days, and all Israel with him, a very great assembly, from Lebo Hamath to the brook of Egypt.

then I will pluck them up by the roots out of my land which I have given them; and this house, which I have made holy for my name, I will cast out of my sight, and I will make it a proverb and a byword among all peoples.

This house, which is so high, everyone who passes by it shall be astonished, and shall say, 'Why has the LORD done thus to this land, and to this house?'

They shall answer, 'Because they abandoned the LORD, the God of their fathers, who brought them forth out of the land of Egypt, and took other gods, worshiped them, and served them. Therefore he has brought all these disasters on them.'"

It happened at the end of twenty years, in which Solomon had built the house of the LORD, and his own house,

Solomon went to Hamath Zobah, and prevailed against it.

Solomon brought up the daughter of Pharaoh out of the City of David to the house that he had built for her; for he said, "My wife shall not dwell in the house of David king of Israel, because the places where the ark of the LORD has come are holy."

He appointed, according to the ordinance of David his father, the divisions of the priests to their service, and the Levites to their offices, to praise, and to minister before the priests, as the duty of every day required; the doorkeepers also by their divisions at every gate: for so had David the man of God commanded.

Now all the work of Solomon was prepared to the day of the foundation of the house of the LORD, and until it was finished. So the house of the LORD was completed.

When the queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon, she came to prove Solomon with hard questions at Jerusalem, with a very great train, and camels that bore spices, and gold in abundance, and precious stones: and when she had come to Solomon, she talked with him of all that was in her heart.

She said to the king, "It was a true report that I heard in my own land of your acts, and of your wisdom.

However I did not believe their words, until I came, and my eyes had seen it; and behold, the half of the greatness of your wisdom was not told me: you exceed the fame that I heard.

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

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

Twelve lions stood there on the one side and on the other on the six steps: there was nothing like it made in any kingdom.

Solomon had four thousand stalls for horses and chariots, and twelve thousand horsemen, that he stationed in the chariot cities, and with the king at Jerusalem.

They brought horses for Solomon out of Egypt, and out of all lands.

Now the rest of the acts of Solomon, first and last, aren't they written in the history of Nathan the prophet, and in the prophecy of Ahijah the Shilonite, and in the visions of Iddo the seer concerning Jeroboam the son of Nebat?

It happened, when Jeroboam the son of Nebat heard of it, (for he was in Egypt, where he had fled from the presence of king Solomon), that Jeroboam returned out of Egypt.

King Rehoboam took counsel with the old men, who had stood before Solomon his father while he yet lived, saying, "What counsel do you give me to return answer to this people?"

He said to them, "What counsel do you give, that we may return answer to this people, who have spoken to me, saying, 'Make the yoke that your father put on us lighter?'"

The young men who had grown up with him spoke to him, saying, "Thus you shall tell the people who spoke to you, saying, 'Your father made our yoke heavy, but make it lighter on us;' thus you shall say to them, 'My little finger is thicker than my father's waist.

Now whereas my father burdened you with a heavy yoke, I will add to your yoke. My father chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions.'"

and spoke to them after the counsel of the young men, saying, "My father made your yoke heavy, but I will add to it. My father chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions."

So the king did not listen to the people; for it was brought about of God, that the LORD might establish his word, which he spoke by Ahijah the Shilonite to Jeroboam the son of Nebat.

When all Israel saw that the king did not listen to them, the people answered the king, saying, "What portion have we in David? Neither have we inheritance in the son of Jesse. Every man to your tents, Israel. Now see to your own house, David." So all Israel departed to their tents.

The priests and the Levites who were in all Israel resorted to him out of all their border.

After them, out of all the tribes of Israel, such as set their hearts to seek the LORD, the God of Israel, came to Jerusalem to sacrifice to the LORD, the God of their fathers.

After her he took Maacah the daughter of Absalom; and she bore him Abijah, and Attai, and Ziza, and Shelomith.

Rehoboam loved Maacah the daughter of Absalom above all his wives and his concubines: (for he took eighteen wives, and sixty concubines, and became the father of twenty-eight sons and sixty daughters.)

It happened, when the kingdom of Rehoboam was established, and he was strong, that he forsook the law of the LORD, and all Israel with him.

It happened in the fifth year of king Rehoboam, that Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem, because they had trespassed against the LORD,

with twelve hundred chariots, and sixty thousand horsemen. The people were without number who came with him out of Egypt: the Lubim, the Sukkiim, and the Ethiopians.

When the LORD saw that they humbled themselves, the word of the LORD came to Shemaiah, saying, "They have humbled themselves. I will not destroy them; but I will grant them some deliverance, and my wrath shall not be poured out on Jerusalem by the hand of Shishak.

So Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem, and took away the treasures of the house of the LORD, and the treasures of the king's house. He took it all away. He also took away the shields of gold which Solomon had made.

It was so, that as often as the king entered into the house of the LORD, the guard came and bore them, and brought them back into the guard room.

So king Rehoboam strengthened himself in Jerusalem, and reigned: for Rehoboam was forty-one years old when he began to reign, and he reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city which the LORD had chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, to put his name there: and his mother's name was Naamah the Ammonitess.

Now the acts of Rehoboam, first and last, aren't they written in the histories of Shemaiah the prophet and of Iddo the seer, after the way of genealogies? There were wars between Rehoboam and Jeroboam continually.

Abijah joined battle with an army of valiant men of war, even four hundred thousand chosen men: and Jeroboam set the battle in array against him with eight hundred thousand chosen men, who were mighty men of valor.

Yet Jeroboam the son of Nebat, the servant of Solomon the son of David, rose up, and rebelled against his lord.

Haven't you driven out the priests of the LORD, the sons of Aaron, and the Levites, and made priests for yourselves after the ways of the peoples of other lands? so that whoever comes to consecrate himself with a young bull and seven rams, the same may be a priest of those who are no gods.

Behold, God is with us at our head, and his priests with the trumpets of alarm to sound an alarm against you. children of Israel, do not fight against the LORD, the God of your fathers; for you shall not prosper."

Then the men of Judah gave a shout: and as the men of Judah shouted, it happened, that God struck Jeroboam and all Israel before Abijah and Judah.

Thus the children of Israel were brought under at that time, and the children of Judah prevailed, because they relied on the LORD, the God of their fathers.

The rest of the acts of Abijah, and his ways, and his sayings, are written in the commentary of the prophet Iddo.

Also he took away out of all the cities of Judah the high places and the sun images: and the kingdom was quiet before him.

For he said to Judah, "Let us build these cities, and make walls around them, with towers, gates, and bars. The land is yet before us, because we have sought the LORD our God; we have sought him, and he has given us rest on every side." So they built and prospered.

Asa had an army that bore bucklers and spears, out of Judah three hundred thousand; and out of Benjamin, that bore shields and drew bows, two hundred eighty thousand: all these were mighty men of valor.

There came out against them Zerah the Ethiopian with an army of a million troops, and three hundred chariots; and he came to Mareshah.

Then Asa went out to meet him, and they set the battle in array in the valley of Zephathah at Mareshah.

and he went out to meet Asa, and said to him, "Hear me, Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin. The LORD is with you, while you are with him; and if you seek him, he will be found by you; but if you forsake him, he will forsake you.

In those times there was no peace to him who went out, nor to him who came in; but great troubles were on all the inhabitants of the lands.