Heleb the son of Baanah the Netophathite, Ittai the son of Ribai from Gibeah of the sons of Benjamin,

Benaiah [the] Pirathonite, Hiddai from the wadis of Gaash,

Igal the son of Nathan from Zobah, Bani the Gadite

The king said to Joab, the commander of the army who [was] with him: "Please go about through all the tribes of Israel from Dan to Beersheba, and count the people that I may know the number of the people."

But the word of the king prevailed over Joab and over the commanders of the army, so Joab and the commanders of the army went out from before the king to count the people of Israel.

Then Gad came to David, and he told him and said to him, "Shall seven years of famine in the land come to you? Or three months of your fleeing from your enemies while he [is] pursuing you? Or should there be three days of pestilence in your land? Now consider and decide what I must return to the one who sent me a word."

Then Yahweh sent a plague into Israel from the morning {until the agreed time}, and from the people from Dan to Beersheba, seventy thousand men died.

Then Araunah said, "Why has my lord the king come to his servant?" David said, "To buy from you the threshing floor, to build an altar to Yahweh who brought a halt to the plague on the people."

Then the king said to Araunah, "No, but {I will certainly buy} it from you for a price; I don't want to offer to Yahweh my God burnt offerings that cost me nothing." So David bought the threshing floor and the cattle for fifty shekels of silver.

David built an altar to Yahweh there, and he offered burnt offerings and fellowship offerings. Then Yahweh responded to [his] prayer for the land and brought the plague to a halt from upon Israel.

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,

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!"

Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet anointed him as king at Gihon, and they have gone up from there rejoicing. The city has gone wild; this [is] the sound which you heard.

Then King Solomon sent and brought him down from upon the altar. He came and did obeisance to King Solomon. Solomon said to him, "Go to your house."

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.'"

Regarding the sons of Barzillai the Gileadite, you shall do loyal love and let them be among those who eat at your table, because they met me when I fled from Absalom your brother.

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.'

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].

Now one request I am asking from you, and you must {not refuse me}." Then she said to him, "Go on."

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

Then the king said to him, "Do as he spoke; fall upon him and bury him, and so you shall remove the innocent blood that Joab shed from on me and from on the house of my father.

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."

Then the king sent and summoned Shimei, and he said to him, "Build yourself a house in Jerusalem and live there, but you must not go out {anywhere whatsoever} from there.

So Shimei got up and saddled his donkey, and he went to Gath, to Achish, to search for his slaves. So Shimei went and brought his slaves from Gath.

When Solomon was told that Shimei had gone from Jerusalem to Gath and had returned,

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.

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.

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.

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.

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."

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

It happened in the four hundred and eightieth year [after] the {Israelites} went out from the land of Egypt, in the fourth year {of Solomon's rule} over Israel, the month of Ziv (that [is] the second month), that he began to build the house for Yahweh.

The doorway of the side room in the middle of the side of the temple [was] on the south; they went up with a stairway to the middle and from the middle to the third [floor].

He lined the walls {of the inside of the house} with boards of cedar; from the floor of the temple up to the rafters of the ceiling he covered [them with] wood {on the inside}. He also covered the floor of the temple with cypress boards.

He built twenty cubits from the rear of the house with boards of cedar from the floor up to the ceiling, and he built for it an inner sanctuary on the inside, as the {most holy place}.

Five cubits [was] the first wing of the cherub, and five cubits the second wing of the cherub, from the tip of his [one] wing up to the tip of his [other] wing.

He made the hall of the throne where he [would] pronounce judgment, the hall of justice, and [it was] covered with cedar from the floor to the rafters.

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.

King Solomon invited and received Hiram from Tyre.

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.

Its opening from [the] inside of the capital and above [was] a cubit; its pedestal [was] a round work of a cubit and a half; moreover, on its opening [were] the carvings with four-sided frames, not circular.

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.

The cups, the snuffers, the bowls for drinking wine, the bowls for the incense, and the firepans [were made from] beaten gold; the facades for the doors of the inner house, for the {most holy place}, for the doors of the main hall of the temple [were of] gold.

At that time, Solomon assembled the elders of Israel, all the heads of the tribes, and the leaders of the {families} of the {Israelites} before King Solomon, in order to bring up the ark of the covenant of Yahweh from the city of David, that is, Zion.

for the cherubim [were] spreading their wings over the place of the ark. The cherubim overshadowed the ark and its poles from above.

The poles [were] long, and the ends of the poles could be seen from the holy place {in front of} the inner sanctuary, but they could not be seen [from] the outside, and they are there until this day.

There was not [anything] in the ark {except} the two tablets of stone which Moses had placed there at Horeb, where Yahweh {made} [a covenant] with the {Israelites} after they went out from the land of Egypt.

When the priests went out from the holy place, the cloud filled the house of Yahweh.

'From the day that I brought out my people Israel from Egypt I have not chosen a city from all the tribes of Israel to build a house where my name might be, but I have chosen David to be over my people Israel.'

However, you will not build the house, but your son who has come from your loins, he shall build the house for my name.'

So then, O Yahweh, God of Israel, keep for your servant David my father what you promised to him, saying, 'For you, no man will be cut off from before me who [will be] sitting on the throne of Israel, if only your sons keep their ways to walk before me just as you have walked before me.'

You must listen to the plea of your servant and your people Israel which they pray [toward] this place; and you must hear from the place where you live, from heaven you must hear and you must forgive.

When your people Israel are defeated before the enemy {because} they sinned against you, and [when] they turn to you and confess your name and pray and beg for mercy from you in this house,

When you shut up the heavens so there is no rain because they have sinned against you, then they pray to this place and they confess your name and they return from their sin because you punished them,

Also for the foreigner who is not from your people Israel, and he comes from a distant land because of your name,

for they [are] your people and your inheritance whom you brought from Egypt from the middle of the smelter of iron.

For you have separated them for yourself as an inheritance from all the peoples of the earth, as you promised through the hand of Moses your servant when you brought out our ancestors from Egypt, my Lord Yahweh!"

It happened that when Solomon finished praying to Yahweh all of the prayer and this plea, he got up from before the altar of Yahweh, from kneeling down on his knees with his palms outstretched to heaven.

"Blessed be Yahweh who gave a resting place to his people Israel. According to all that he promised, not one word has fallen from all of his promises [concerning] the good which he spoke through the hand of Moses his servant.

Solomon held the festival at that time and all of Israel with him, a great assembly from Lebo Hamath up to the wadi of Egypt before Yahweh our God, for seven days [and] seven days, [a total of] fourteen days.

then I will establish the throne of your kingdom over Israel forever, as I promised David your father, saying, 'A man will not be cut off for you from upon the throne of Israel.'

"If ever you or any of your descendants turn from [following] me and do not keep my commandments [and] my ordinances that I have set before you and you go and serve other gods and bow down to them,

then I will cut Israel off from the face of the land that I have given to them, [even] the house which I have consecrated for my name I will cast away from my face; and Israel shall become a proverb and an object of taunting among all the peoples.

And they will say, 'Because they have forsaken Yahweh their God who brought their ancestors out from the land of Egypt and they embraced other gods and bowed down to them and served them. Therefore, Yahweh brought on them all of this disaster.'"

So Hiram went out from Tyre to see the cities that Solomon had given him, but they were not right in his eyes.

All of the people who were remaining from the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites who [were] not of the {Israelites},

But from the {Israelites} Solomon did not make a slave, but they [were] the men of war, his officers, his commanders, his captains, and the commanders of his chariots and his cavalry.

As soon as the daughter of Pharaoh went up from the city of David to her house which he built for her, then he built the Millo.

They went to Ophir and imported from there four hundred and twenty talents of gold, and they brought it to King Solomon.

{Solomon answered all of her questions}; there was not a thing hidden from the king which he could not explain to her.

Moreover, the fleet of ships of Hiram which carried the gold from Ophir [also] brought from Ophir abundant amounts of almug wood and precious stones.

apart from [that of] the men of the traders and the profits of the traders, and all the kings of the Arabs and the governors of the land.

The import of the horses which were Solomon's [was] from Egypt and from Kue; the traders of the king received [horses] from Kue at a price.

A chariot went up and went out from Egypt at six hundred silver [shekels] and a horse at a hundred and fifty. So it was for all the kings of the Hittites and for the kings of Aram; by their hand they were exported.

from the nations which Yahweh had said to the {Israelites}, "You shall not {marry them}, and they shall not {marry you}. They will certainly turn your heart after other gods." But Solomon clung to them to love.

Yahweh was angry with Solomon, for he had turned his heart from Yahweh, the God of Israel who had appeared to him twice.

So Yahweh said to Solomon, "Because this was with you, and you did not keep my covenant and my ordinances which I have commanded you, I will certainly tear the kingdom from you, and I will give it to your servant.

However, I will not do it in your days, for the sake of David your father; from the hand of your son I will tear it [away].

Then Yahweh raised an adversary against Solomon, Hadad the Edomite, from the descendants of that king in Edom.

But Hadad himself had fled, and some Edomite men from the servants of his father with him, to go to Egypt, when Hadad [was] a young boy.

They had set out from Midian until they came to Paran where they took men from Paran with them and came [to] Egypt, [to] Pharaoh king of Egypt. He gave to him a house and assigned food for him and gave him land.

God had [also] raised Rezon the son of Eliada as an adversary against him, who had fled from Hadadezer the king of Zobah, his master.

Now Jeroboam the son of Nebat, an Ephraimite from Zeredah (now the name of his mother [was] Zeruah, a widow woman), a servant of Solomon {rebelled against the king}.

It happened at that time that Jeroboam went out from Jerusalem, and he accidentally met Ahijah the Shilonite the prophet on the way. Now he had clothed himself with new clothing. While the two of them [were] alone in the field,

Then he said to Jeroboam, "Take for yourself ten pieces, for thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel: 'Behold, I [am about] to tear the kingdom from the hand of Solomon, and I will give to you ten tribes,

but one tribe shall be for him, for the sake of my servant David and for the sake of Jerusalem, the city which I have chosen from all the tribes of Israel;

But I will not take all of the kingdom from his hand, but I will make him a leader all the days of his life for the sake of David my servant whom I chose, who kept my commandments and my ordinances.

But I will take the kingship from the hand of his son, and I will give ten tribes to you.

It happened that Jeroboam the son of Nebat heard [of it] while he was still in Egypt where he had fled from the face of King Solomon, and Jeroboam had lived in Egypt.

So the king did not listen to the people, for it was a turning of events from Yahweh in order to fulfill his word which Yahweh had spoken through the hand of Ahijah the Shilonite to Jeroboam the son of Nebat.

'Thus says Yahweh: "You shall not go up and you shall not fight with your brothers the {Israelites}. Return each of you to his house, for this thing was from me." '" So they heeded the word of Yahweh, and they returned to go home according to the word of Yahweh.

Then Jeroboam built Shechem in the hill country of Ephraim, and he resided in it. Then he went out from there and built Penuel.

And the king had decided, so he made two golden calves and he said to them, "{You have been going up to Jerusalem long enough}; here are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up from the land of Egypt."

Then he built the houses on the high places, and he appointed priests {from all walks of life} who were not from the sons of Levi.

Suddenly a man of God from Judah came to Bethel, by the word of Yahweh, while Jeroboam [was] standing at the altar to offer incense.