And Solomon the son of David waxed strong in his kingdom, and the LORD his God was with him and magnified him on high.

And so Solomon, and all the congregation with him, went to the hill altar of Gibeon: for there was the tabernacle of witness of God, which Moses the servant of the LORD made in the wilderness.

And Solomon said unto God, "Thou hast showed great mercy unto David my father, and hast made me king in his stead.

And now LORD God, let thy promise unto David my father be true. For thou hast made me king over a people like the dust of the earth in multitude.

Then God said to Solomon, "Because thou hadst this in thine heart, and didst not ask treasure and riches, and honour and the lives of thine enemies, neither yet long life; But hast asked wisdom and knowledge, to judge my people, over which I have made thee king:

And Solomon gathered chariots and horsemen: that he had a thousand and four hundred chariots, and twelve thousand horsemen, which he bestowed in the chariot cities and about the king at Jerusalem.

And the king made silver and gold at Jerusalem as plenteous as stones, and cedar trees as plenty as the mulberry trees that grow in the valleys.

They came and brought out of Egypt a chariot for five hundred sicles, and a horse for one hundred and fifty. And so brought they to all the kings of the Hittites and to the kings of Syria through the hands of the said merchants.

and told out three score and ten thousand men to bear burdens and four score thousand to hew in the mountain, and three thousand and six hundred to oversee them.

And Solomon sent to Hiram king of Tyre, saying, "As thou didst deal with David my father and didst send him cedar wood, to build him a house to dwell in, even so deal with me now:

that I may build a house for the name of the LORD my God, to consecrate it to him to burn sweet odours and to set shewbread before him perpetually, and for burnt sacrifices morning and evening, and on the Sabbath days, and the first day of every new moon, and in the solemn feasts of the LORD our God, so to continue ever in Israel.

So that who can be able to build him a house: when that heaven, neither heaven above all heavens, is able to receive him - what am I then that I should build him a house? Nay, but to burn sacrifice before him:

send me now therefore a cunning man to work in gold, silver, brass, iron, scarlet, crimson and Jacinth colour, and that can skill to grave, to be with the cunning men that are with me in Judah and Jerusalem, which David my father did prepare.

And send me also cedar trees, fir trees and algum trees out of Lebanon. For I know well thy servants can skill to hew timber in Lebanon. And see, my men shall be with thine,

And behold, I sent for thy servants the cutters and hewers of timber twenty thousand quarters of beaten wheat, and twenty thousand quarters of barley, and twenty thousand baths of wine, and twenty thousand baths of oil.

And Hiram king of Tyre answered in writing and sent to Solomon, "Because the LORD loveth his people, therefore he hath made thee king over them."

and is the son of a woman of the daughters of Dan, - howbeit his father was a Tyrian - and he can skill to work in gold, silver, brass, iron, stone, timber, scarlet, Jacinth, bysse and crimson: and grave all manner of gravings, and to find out all manner of subtle work that shall be set before him, with thy cunning men, and with the cunning men of my lord David thy father.

And now the wheat, barley, oil and wine which my lord hath said, let him send his servants.

And we will cut wood out of Lebanon, as much as thou shalt need, and will bring it to thee in ships by sea to port Joppa: and thence thou mayest carry them to Jerusalem."

And Solomon numbered all the strangers that were in the land of Israel, after the time his father David had numbered them. And they were found a hundred and eighty thousand and six hundred.

And he set eighty thousand of them to bear burdens, and eighty thousand to hew in the mountain, and three thousand and six hundred to courage and to set the people a work.

And Solomon began to build the house of the LORD at Jerusalem in mount Moriah, which was showed David his father when he prepared a place in the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite.

And this is the foundation of Solomon in building the house of God. The length was three score cubits after the old cubit, and the breadth twenty.

And the porch at the end was as large as the house breadth, twenty cubits; and the height was a hundred and twenty cubits. And he overlaid it on the inner side with pure gold.

And he made in the house most holy two Cherubs of image work, and overlaid them with gold.

And the wings of the Cherubs were twenty cubits long. The one wing was five cubits and touched the wall of the house, and the other wing was likewise five cubits and touched the wing of the other Cherub.

And the one wing of the other Cherub was five cubits, and touched the wall of the house, and the other wing was five cubits also, and raught to the wing of the other Cherub.

So that the wings of the said Cherubs raught twenty cubits. And they stood on their feet and looked inwards.

And he made before the house two pillars of thirty five cubits long. And the head that was above on the top of one of them was five cubits.

And he made such chains as was in the quyre, and put them on the heads of the pillars, and made a hundred pomegranates and put them on the chains.

And he reared up the pillars before the temple: one on the righthand and another on the left, and called the right Jachin and the left Boaz.

And he made an altar of brass twenty cubits long and twenty cubits broad and ten cubits high.

And he cast a brazen sea of ten cubits from brim to brim, and round in compass and five cubits high: and a line of thirty cubits might have compassed it round about.

And the images of oxen did compass it round about under it: that is to wit, two rows of oxen cast when it was cast did compass that sea which was ten cubits wide, round about.

And it stood also upon twelve oxen: of which three looked North, three West, three South and three East, and the sea upon them above on high, and the hinder parts of them inward.

And he made ten lavers: and put five on the right hand and five on the left, to wash with all. And in them they thrust the flesh of the burnt offerings. But the sea was for the priests to wash in.

And he made ten candlesticks of gold in their fashions, and put them in the temple: five on the righthand and five on the left.

And he made also ten tables and put them in the temple: five on the right side and five on the left. And he made a hundred basins of gold.

And he set the sea in the right side of the East end, toward the South.

The two pillars with their scalps of the two heads that were on the tops of the pillars: and the two wreaths to cover the two scalps of the heads that were on the tops of the pillars:

and four hundred pomegranates for the two wreaths, two rows of pomegranates for every wreath, to cover the two scalps of the heads that were on the pillars.

In the plain of Jordan did the king cast them, in the thick earth, between Succoth and Zeredah -

And so was all the work that Solomon made for the house of the LORD finished. And when the work that Solomon made in the house of the LORD was finished: then Solomon brought in the gifts dedicated by David his father - the silver and the gold and all the Jewels - and put them among the treasure of the house of God.

And all the men of Israel resorted unto the king in the feast of the seventh month.

And when all the elders of Israel were come, the Levites took up the Ark.

And the priests and the Levites brought away the Ark and the tabernacle of witness, and all the holy vessels that were in the tabernacle.

And the priests brought the Ark of the Covenant of the LORD unto his place in the quire of the temple and place most holy: even under the wings of the Cherubs,

that the Cherubs stretched out their wings over the place of the Ark and covered the Ark and her staves above on high.

Moreover there was nothing in the Ark save the two tables which Moses put therein at Horeb, when the LORD made a covenant with the children of Israel, after they were come out of Egypt.

And when the priests were come out of the holy place - for all the priests that were found sanctified themselves and did not wait by course -

the Levites with all those that were under Asaph, Heman and Jeduthun, and among their children and brethren, were arrayed in bysse and sang with cymbals, psalteries, and harps standing East from the altar, and with them a hundred and twenty priests blowing trumpets.

And the trumpet blowers and the singers so agreed, that it seemed but one voice in praising and thanking the LORD. And as the voice of the trumpets, cymbals and instruments of melody arose, and as they praised the LORD, how that he was good and that his mercy lasteth ever, the house of the LORD was filled with a cloud:

Then Solomon said, "The LORD hath spoken it, how that he will dwell in darkness.

And I have built a habitation for thee and a place to dwell in forever."

'Since the time I brought my people out of the land of Egypt, I chose no city among all the tribes of Israel to build a house in, that my name might be there, neither chose I any man to be a ruler over my people Israel.

And it was in the heart of David my father to build a house for the name of the LORD God of Israel:

But the LORD said to David my father, 'Forasmuch as it was in thine heart, to build a house for my name, thou didst well that thou hadst it in thine heart.

And the LORD hath made good his saying that he hath spoken. For I arose in the room of David my father, and sat on the seat of Israel, as the LORD promised, and have built a house for the name of the LORD God of Israel.

And he stepped forth before the altar of the LORD in the presence of all the congregation of Israel, and stretched out his hands.

Now Solomon had made a brazen pulpit of five cubits long and five cubits broad, and three of height, and had set it in the midst of the great court, upon that he stepped and kneeled down upon his knees before all the congregation of Israel and stretched out his hands to heaven,

and said, "LORD God of Israel there is no God like thee either in heaven or in earth, which keepest covenant and showest mercy unto thy servants that walk before thee with all their hearts.

Now, LORD God of Israel, make good unto my father David thy servant that which thou hast promised him, saying, 'Thou shalt not be without one or other in my sight that shall sit upon the seat of Israel. Of this condition, yet: if thy children will take heed to their ways to walk in my law, as thou hast walked before me.'

Howbeit, in very deed, can God dwell with man on earth? Behold, neither heaven or heaven above all heavens is able to contain thee! How should the house then which I have built for thee do it?

Hearken therefore unto the prayers of thy servant and of thy people Israel, which they pray in this place. But hear thou out of thy dwelling place heaven: and when thou hearest it, be merciful.

If a man sin against his neighbour, and an adjuration be laid to his charge, to adjure him withal, and the adjuration come before thine altar in this house:

Likewise, if thy people Israel be put to the worse before their enemies, because they have sinned against thee; Yet if they turn and confess thy name, and make intercession and pray before thee in this house;

Then hear thou from heaven and be merciful unto the sin of thy servants and of thy people Israel, that thou show them a good way to walk in, and send rain upon thy land which thou hast given unto thy people, for an inheritance.

If there chance dearth in the land, pestilence, burning or smiting of corn, grasshoppers or caterpillars, or that their enemies besiege them in the cities of their own land, or whatsoever plague or sickness it be.

Then all the supplications and prayers that shall be made of all men among all thy people Israel, which shall know every man his own sore and his own grief, and shall stretch out their hands towards this house;

that they may fear thee and walk in thy ways as long as they live upon the earth, which thou gavest to our fathers.

When thy people shall go out to war, against their enemies the way that thou shalt send them; If they pray to thee, the way toward this city which thou hast chosen, and house which I have built for thy name;

then hear from heaven their supplication and prayer, and help them in their right.

yet if their hearts come to them again in the land where they be in captivity, and turn and pray unto thee in the land where they be in captivity, saying, 'We have sinned and have done evil and wickedly,'

and turn again to thee, with all their hearts and all their souls, in the land of their captivity where they be kept in bondage, and so pray toward their land which thou gavest unto their fathers, and city which thou hast chosen, and to his house which I have built for thy name;

So now my God let thine eyes be open and thine ears attent unto the prayers made in this place.

Arise now, LORD God in thy resting place - both thou and the Ark of thy strength - and let thy priests put on victory and thy saints rejoice in goodness.

And when Solomon had made an end of praying, there came down fire from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices. And the glory of the LORD filled the house:

And the priests waited on their offices, and the Levites with instruments of music of the LORD which king David made to confess unto the LORD that his mercy lasteth ever, when David gave praise through their hands. And the priests blew trumpets fast by them: and all Israel stood.

And Solomon kept a feast the same season of seven days, and all Israel with him, an exceeding great congregation, even from Hamath unto the river of Egypt.

And the twenty third day of the seventh month, he let the people depart unto their tents, glad and merry in heart for the goodness that the LORD had showed to David, to Solomon and to Israel his people.

And so Solomon finished the house of the LORD and the king's house and all that came in his heart to make in the house of the LORD and in his own house, and that prosperously.

Thereto mine eyes shall be open and mine ears attent unto the prayers made in this place.

then I will establish the seat of thy kingdom, according to the covenant I made with David thy father, saying: thou shalt have ever one or other that shall rule in Israel.

And this house that is so high, shall be a wonder to all that passeth thereby that they shall say, 'Why hath the LORD dealt on this fashion with this land and with this house?'

And it shall be answered then, 'Because they forsook the LORD God of their fathers which brought them out of the land of Egypt, and caught hold on other gods, and bowed to them and served them: even therefore brought he on them all this evil.'"

And after twenty years, when Solomon had built the house of the LORD, and his own house:

he built the cities that Hiram gave him, and put of the children of Israel in them.

And he built Tadmor in the wilderness and all the store cities which he built in Hamath.

And Baalath and all the store cities that Solomon had, and all the chariot cities and the cities of Horsemen, and all that Solomon had lust to build in Jerusalem and Lebanon, and throughout all the land of his dominion.

even the children of them, which were left after them in the land, and were not consumed of the children of Israel - them did Solomon make tributaries unto this day.

But of the children of Israel did Solomon make no bondmen in his work: but they were men of war and rulers and great lords with him, and captains over his chariots and Horsemen.

And Solomon brought the daughter of Pharaoh out of the city of David into the house that he had made for her. For he said, "My wife shall not dwell in the house of David king of Israel, for it is holy, because the Ark of the LORD came into it."

And from thenceforth Solomon offered burnt offerings unto the LORD on the altar of the LORD which he had built before the porch;

to offer day by day according to the commandment of Moses, and in the Sabbaths and new moons, and the three solemn feasts of the year: the feast of sweetbread, the feast of weeks and the feast of booths.

And Solomon put the sorts of priests in companies as David his father had ordered them, unto the offices, and the Levites unto their wait, for to praise and minister before the priests day by day, and the porters by course at every gate. For so had David the man of God commanded.

And then went king Solomon to Eziongeber and to Eloth and to the seaside in the land of Edom.

And the queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon and came to prove him with riddles at Jerusalem, with a very great company, and with camels that bare sweet odours and plenty of gold and precious stone. And when she was come to Solomon, she communed with him of all that was in her heart.

And when the queen of Sheba had seen the wisdom of Solomon and the house that he had built,

and the meat of his table and the sitting of his servants and the standing of his waiters, and their apparel, and his butlers with their apparel, and his parlor out of which he went into the house of the LORD, there was no more heart in her.

And then she said to the king, "The saying which I heard in mine own land, of thine acts and of thy wisdom, is truth.