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."

So the LORD sent a pestilence upon Israel from the morning even to the time appointed: and there died of the people from Dan even to Beer-sheba seventy thousand men.

And when the angel stretched out his hand upon Jerusalem to destroy it, Jehovah turned from the evil, and said to the angel who destroyed the people, Enough! And stay your hand. And the angel of Jehovah was by the threshing-place of Araunah the Jebusite.

And Araunah said, Why is my lord the king come to his servant? And David said, To buy the threshing-floor of thee, to build an altar to the LORD, that the plague may be stayed from the people.

Araunah responded to David, "May your majesty the king take it and offer whatever pleases him. Here are oxen for a burnt offering, along with the threshing sledges and yokes from the oxen for wood!

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.

And David built there an altar to the LORD, and offered burnt-offerings and peace-offerings. So the LORD was entreated for the land, and the plague was stayed from Israel.

And his father grieved him not from his days, saying, Wherefore didst thou thus? and he good of form, exceedingly; and she bare him after Absalom.

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!"

All the people followed him, playing flutes and rejoicing with such a great joy that the earth split open from the sound.

And Adonijah heard, and all the invited guests with him. And they stopped eating. And Joab heard the sound of the ram's horn, and said, What is this noise roaring from the city?

And Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet have anointed him king in Gihon: and they have come from thence rejoicing, so that the city resounded. This is the noise that ye have heard.

So king Solomon sent, and they brought him down from the altar. And he came and bowed himself to king Solomon: and Solomon said to him, Go to thy 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.'

But do not let him be free from punishment, for you are a wise man; and it will be clear to you what you have to do with him; see that his white head goes down to the underworld in blood.

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.

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 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 the king said to him, Do as he hath said, and fall upon him, and bury him; that thou mayest take away the innocent blood which Joab shed, from me, and from the house of my father.

Their blood shall therefore return upon the head of Joab, and upon the head of his seed for ever: but upon David, and upon his seed, and upon his house, and upon his throne, shall there be peace forever from the LORD.

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.

And it will be from the end of three years, and two servants to Shimei, will flee to Achish, son of Maachah, king of Gath: and they will announce to Shimci, saying, Behold, thy servants in Gath.

And Shimei arose, and saddled his ass, and went to Gath to Achish to seek his servants: and Shimei went and brought his servants from Gath.

And it was told to Solomon that Shimei had gone from Jerusalem to Gath, and had returned.

Then the king sent for Shimei, and said to him, Did I not make you take an oath by the Lord, protesting to you and saying, Be certain that on the day when you go out from here, wherever you go, death will overtake you? and you said to me, Very well!

So give your servant a discerning mind so he can make judicial decisions for your people and distinguish right from wrong. Otherwise no one is able to make judicial decisions for this great nation of yours."

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.

Here's a list of their names: Ben-hur from the hill country of Ephraim;

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:

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.

ten calves fattened in the stall, twenty calves from the pasture, and a hundred sheep, not to mention rams, gazelles, deer, and well-fed birds.

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 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.

Thou knewest David my father, that he was not able to build a house for the name of Jehovah his God from the face of wars which surrounded him, until Jehovah will give them under the soles of his feet

And now Jehovah my God caused rest to me from round about; not an adversary and not an evil event

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."

As soon as Hiram received the message from Solomon, he became so ecstatic that he exclaimed, "Blessed be the LORD today, who has given David a wise son to rule this great people!" Then he sent this message to Solomon:

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.

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

apart from the heads of the officers of Solomon, who are over the work, three thousand and three hundred, those ruling over the people who are working in the business.

Solomon's and Hiram's construction workers, along with men from Byblos, did the chiseling and prepared the wood and stones for the building of the temple.

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 porch in front of the main hall of the temple was 30 feet long, corresponding to the width of the temple. It was 15 feet wide, extending out from the front of the temple.

And the house in its building was built of stone completed from the quarry: and hammers and the axe, every instrument of iron was not heard in the house in its building.

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].

Then this message from the LORD came to Solomon:

And I will be ever among the children of Israel, and will not go away from my people.

He built the walls of the house within with boards of cedar: from the floor of the house to the walls of the ceiling, he covered them on the inside with wood; and he covered the floor of the house with boards of fir.

He built twenty cubits on the hinder part of the house with boards of cedar from the floor to the walls [of the ceiling]: he built [them] for it within, for an oracle, even for the most holy place.

And the oracle in the midst of the house from within he prepared to give there the ark of the covenant of Jehovah.

And Solomon will overlay the house from the inside with gold shut up: and he will close up with chains of gold to the face of the oracle; and he will overlay it with gold.

Inside the inner sanctuary Solomon placed two cherubim crafted from olive wood, each ten cubits high.

Five cubits was the one wing of the cherub, and five cubits the other wing of the cherub: from the uttermost part of the one wing to the uttermost part of the other were ten cubits.

And all the walls of the house round about he carved with engravings of cherubims and palm trees and opening flower-buds from within and to without

And the bottom of the house he overlaid with gold from within and to without

So also he made side posts for the entrance of the temple from the olive tree, a fourth part.

He also made two doors out of wood from evergreens; each door had two folding leaves.

He built his own palace out of timber supplied from the forest of Lebanon. It was 100 cubits long, 50 cubits wide, 20 cubits tall, and was constructed on four rows of cedar pillars, with cedar beams interlocking the pillars.

And it was covered with cedar from above upon the ribs which were upon the forty and five pillars, fifteen to the row.

He made the porch of the throne where he was to judge, even the porch of judgment: and it was covered with cedar from floor to floor.

And his house where he dwelt there, another enclosure, from the house to the porch was according to this work And he will make a house for Pharaoh's daughter which Solomon took, according to this porch.

All these were of costly stones, even of cut stone, according to measure, sawed with saws, inside and outside, even from the foundation to the coping, and so on the outside to the great court.

And from above precious stones according to the measure of the cuttings and the cedars.

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.

And the crowns upon the two pillars also from above from over against the belly which was beyond the net: the pomegranates two hundred in rows round about upon the second crown.

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.

And ornaments from beneath to its lip round about surrounding it, ten by the cubit, folding round the sea round about: two rows of ornaments being cast in its casting.

It stood upon twelve oxen, three looking to the north, and three looking to the sea, and three looking to the south, and three looking to the sunrising: and the sea upon them from above, and all their behinds inside:

And upon the borders which were between the joinings, lions, oxen, and cherubs: and upon the joinings thus from above: and from beneath to the lions and to the oxen, wreaths, a work of descent

And four wheels of brass to the one base, and axles of brass: and its four steps, shoulders to them: from under to the wash basin the shoulders molten from beyond each of the wreaths.

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.

Each stand had four supports, one per side projecting out from the stand.

And in the top of the base was a round compass of a half a cubit high. And on the top of the base its sides and its borders were from it.

And he put five bases on the right side of the house, and five on the left side of the house. And he set the sea on the right side of the house, eastward, across from the south.

and the pots, shovels, and bowls. All these items King Solomon assigned Hiram to make for the Lord's temple were made from polished bronze.

And Solomon left all the vessels unweighed from their exceeding number; the weight of the brass was not ascertained.

And the chandeliers, five from the right, and five from the left, before the oracle, of gold shut up; and the flower, and the lamps, and the tongs of gold.

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 so long that the ends of the poles were seen from the holy place before the oracle; but they were not seen outside: and there they are to 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.

And the priests will not be able to stand to serve from the face of the cloud for the glory of Jehovah filled the house of Jehovah.

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.

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

And I have set there a place for the ark, in which is the covenant of the LORD, which he made with our fathers, when he brought them from the land of Egypt.

And he will say, Jehovah the God of Israel, none like thee, the God in the heavens from above and upon the earth from beneath, watching the covenant and the mercy to thy servants going before thee with all their heart:

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.

Listen from heaven and make a just decision about your servants' claims. Condemn the guilty party, declare the other innocent, and give both of them what they deserve.

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,