And David's heart struck him after he had numbered the people. And David said to Jehovah, I have sinned greatly in what I have done. And now, I beseech You, O Jehovah, take away the iniquity of Your servant, for I have done very foolishly.

And Gad came to David, and told him, and said to him, Shall seven years of famine come upon you and on your land? Or will you flee three months before your enemies while they pursue you? Or shall there be three days' plague in your land? And advise, and see what answer I shall return to Him who sent me.

And David said to Gad, I am in great distress. Let us fall now into the hand of Jehovah, for His mercies are great. And do not let me fall into the hand of man.

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 David spoke to Jehovah when he saw the angel who struck the people, and said, Lo, I have sinned, and I have done wickedly. But these sheep, what have they done? I pray You, let Your hand be against me and against my father's house.

All these Araunah, like a king, gave to the king. And Araunah said to the king, May Jehovah your God accept you.

And his servants said to him, Let there be sought for my lord the king a young virgin. And let her stand before the king, and let her nurse him, and let her lie in your bosom, so that my lord the king may get heat.

But Zadok the priest, and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, and Nathan the prophet, and Shimei, and Rei, and David's mighty men, were not with Adonijah.

And Nathan spoke to Bathsheba the mother of Solomon, saying, Have you not heard that Adonijah the son of Haggith reigns, and David our lord does not know?

And now come, please let me give you counsel, and save your own life and the life of your son Solomon.

Go up and go in to King David, and say to him, My lord, O king, did you not swear to your handmaid, saying, Surely your son Solomon shall reign after me, and he shall sit upon my throne? Why then does Adonijah reign?

Behold, while you are still talking with the king, I also will come in after you and confirm your words.

And she said to him, My lord, you swore by Jehovah your God to your handmaid, saying, Surely your son Solomon shall reign after me, and he shall sit upon my throne.

And he has slain oxen and fat cattle and sheep in abundance, and has called all the sons of the king, and Abiathar the priest, and Joab the commander of the army. But he has not called your servant Solomon.

And you, my lord, O king, the eyes of all Israel are upon you, that you should tell them who shall sit upon the throne of my lord the king after him.

But he has not called me, your servant, and Zadok the priest, and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, and your servant Solomon.

Is this thing done by my lord the king, and have you not shown your servant who should sit on the throne of my lord the king after him?

surely as I swore to you by Jehovah, the God of Israel, saying, Surely Solomon your son shall reign after me, and he shall sit on my throne in my place, even so I will do today.

The king also said to them, Take with you the servants of your lord, and cause Solomon my son to ride on my own mule, and bring him down to Gihon.

And he was still speaking, and behold, Jonathan the son of Abiathar the priest came. And Adonijah said to him, Come in, for you are a mighty man and you bring good news.

And Jonathan answered and said to Adonijah, Truly our lord King David has made Solomon king.

And also the king's servants came to bless our lord King David, saying, May God make the name of Solomon better than your name, and make his throne greater than your throne. And the king bowed himself upon the bed.

And all those who were invited by Adonijah trembled and arose and left, each to his way.

And 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 your house.

And keep the charge of Jehovah your God, to walk in His ways, to keep His statutes, and His commandments, and His judgments, and His testimonies, as it is written in the Law of Moses, so that you may prosper in all that you do and wherever you turn yourself,

that Jehovah may continue His Word which He spoke concerning me, saying, If your sons take heed to their way, to walk before Me in truth with all their heart and with all their soul saying, there shall not be a man of yours cut off from the throne of Israel.

And also you know what Joab the son of Zeruiah did to me, what he did to the two commanders of the armies of Israel, to Abner the son of Ner, and to Amasa the son of Jether, that he murdered them, and shed the blood of war in peace, and put the blood of war upon his girdle on his loins, and in his shoes on his feet.

And you shall do according to your wisdom and shall not let his gray head go down to the grave in peace.

But show kindness to the sons of Barzillai the Gileadite, and let them be of those that eat at your table. For so they came to me when I fled because of Absalom your brother.

And now, do not hold him guiltless. For you are a wise man, and you know what you ought to do to him. But bring his gray head down to the grave with blood.

And the days that David reigned over Israel were forty years. He reigned seven years in Hebron, and he reigned thirty-three years in Jerusalem.

And now I ask one favor of you; do not turn away your face. And she said to him, Speak.

And he said, Please speak to Solomon the king, for he will not turn away your face, that he give me Abishag the Shunammite for my wife.

And she said, I desire one small favor of you. Do not turn away my face. And the king said to her, Ask on, my mother, for I will not turn away your face.

And she said, Let Abishag the Shunammite be given to your brother Adonijah for a wife.

And the king said to Abiathar the priest, Go to Anathoth, to your fields, for you are worthy of death. But I will not put you to death at this time, because you carried the ark of the Lord God before David my father, and because you have been afflicted in all that in which my father was afflicted.

For it shall be, on the day you go out and pass over the torrent Kidron, you shall know for certain that you shall surely die. Your blood shall be on your own head.

And Shimei said to the king, Your saying is good. As my lord the king has said, so will your servant do. And Shimei lived in Jerusalem many days.

And it happened at the end of three years, two of the servants of Shimei ran away to Achish son of Maachah, king of Gath. And they told Shimei, saying, Behold, your servants are in Gath.

And the king said to Shimei, You know all the wickedness that your heart knows, what you did to David my father. And Jehovah shall return your wickedness on your own head.

And Solomon said, You have shown to Your servant David my father great mercy, according as he walked before You in truth and in righteousness and in uprightness of heart with You. And You have kept this great kindness for him, that You have given him a son to sit on his throne, as it is today.

And now, O Jehovah my God, You have made Your servant king instead of David my father. And I am a little child; I do not know to go out or come in!

And Your servant is in the midst of Your people whom You have chosen, a numerous people who cannot be numbered nor counted for multitude.

And give to Your servant an understanding heart, to judge Your people, to discern between good and bad. For who is able to judge this, Your great people?

And God said to him, Because you have asked this thing, and have not asked for yourself long life, and have not asked riches for yourself, nor have asked the life of your enemies, but have asked for yourself understanding to judge justly,

behold, I have done according to your words. Lo, I have given you a wise and an understanding heart, so that there was none like you before you, and after you none shall arise like you.

And I also have given you that which you have not asked, both riches and honor, so that there shall not be any among the kings like you all your days.

And if you will walk in My ways, to keep My statutes and My commandments, as your father David walked, then I will lengthen your days.

And it happened the third day after I gave birth, this woman bore a child also. And we were together; there was no stranger with us in the house, except the two of us in the house.

And she arose at midnight and took my son from beside me, while your servant was sleeping, and laid it in her bosom, and laid her dead child in my bosom.

And the other woman said, No, but the living is my son, and the dead is your son. And this one said, No, but the dead is your son, and the living is my son. So they spoke before the king.

And the king said, The one says, This is my son who lives, and your son is the dead. And the other says, No, but your son is the dead, and my son is the living.

And these were the rulers which he had: Azariah the son of Zadok the priest,

Elihoreph and Ahiah, the sons of Shisha were the scribes. Jehoshaphat the son of Ahilud the recorder,

And Benaiah the son of Jehoiada was over the army. And Zadok and Abiathar were priests.

And Solomon had twelve officers over all Israel, who provided food for the king and his household. Each man had his month in a year to provide food.

These are their names: the son of Hur in Mount Ephraim;

the son of Geber in Ramoth-gilead; to him were the towns of Jair, Manasseh's son, which are in Gilead; to him was the region of Argob, which is in Bashan, sixty great cities with walls and bronze bars;

Geber the son of Uri was in the land of Gilead, the land of Sihon king of the Amorites, and Og king of Bashan; and he was the only officer in the land;

Judah and Israel were many, as the sand by the sea in multitude; eating and drinking and making merry.

They also brought barley and straw for the horses and mules, to the place where the officers were, every man according to his charge.

And he spoke three thousand proverbs, and his songs were a thousand and five.

You know how David my father could not build a house to the name of Jehovah his God because of the wars which were around him on every side, until Jehovah put them under the soles of his feet.

And behold, I purpose to build a house to the name of Jehovah my God, as Jehovah spoke to David my father, saying, Your son whom I will set on your throne in your place; he shall build a house to My name.

And now command that they cut me cedar trees out of Lebanon, and my servants shall be with your servants. And I will give you hire for your servants according to all that you shall say. For you know that not a man among us can cut timber like the Sidonians.

And Hiram sent to Solomon saying, I have heard that for which you sent to me. I will do all your desire concerning timber of cedar, and concerning timber of fir.

And Solomon gave Hiram twenty thousand measures of wheat for food for his household, and twenty measures of pure oil. So Solomon gave to Hiram year by year.

And he sent them to Lebanon, ten thousand a month, by courses. They were a month in Lebanon, and two months at home. And Adoniram was over the labor force.

besides the chief of Solomon's overseers who were over the work, thirty-three hundred, who ruled over the people who labored in the work.

And it happened in the four hundred and eightieth year after the sons of Israel had come out of the land of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon's reign over Israel, in the month Zif, which is the second month, he began to build the house of Jehovah.

And when it was being built, the house was built of stone made ready beforehand. And there was not heard in the house a hammer or an axe, or any iron tool, while it was being built.

As to this house which you are building, if you will walk in My statutes and do My judgments and keep all My commandments, to walk in them, then I will perform My work with you which I spoke to David your father.

And the other cherub was ten cubits. Both the cherubs were of one measure and one size.

As to the entrance of the holy place he made doors of olive wood. The lintel and side posts were a fifth part,

and the two doors were of olive wood. And he carved on them carvings of cherubs and palm trees and open flowers, and overlaid them with gold and spread gold on the cherubs and on the palm trees.

And the two doors were of fir tree. The two leaves of the one door were folding, and the two leaves of the other door were folding.

In the fourth year, in the month Zif, the foundation of the house of Jehovah was laid.

And in the eleventh year, in the month Bul, which is the eighth month, the house was finished as to all its parts, and as to all its plans. So he was seven years in building it.

And windows were in three rows, and light was against light in three rows.

And all the doors and posts were square, with the windows. And the front of a window was against a window in three rows.

And he made a porch of pillars. Its length was fifty cubits, and its breadth thirty cubits. And the porch was before them, and the pillars and the roof were over them.

And he made a porch of the throne where he judged, the porch of judgment. And it was covered with cedar from floor to floor.

As to his house where he lived, the other court was within the porch, as this work was. Solomon also made a house for Pharaoh's daughter, whom he had taken, like this porch.

All these were of costly stones, according to the measures of hewn stones, sawed with saws, inside and out, even from the foundation to the coping, and so on the outside toward the great court.

And above were costly stones, according to the measures of hewn stone and cedar.

And he made the pillars. And two rows were all around on the one grating, to cover the capitals on the top with the pomegranates. And so he did for the other capital.

And the capitals on the top of the pillars in the porch were lily-work, four cubits.

And the capitals on the two pillars had pomegranates on the upper part, over against the belly which was by the grating; and the pomegranates were two hundred in rows all around on the other capital.

And under its brim were gourds, going around it, ten by the cubit, going all around the sea. The gourds were cast in two rows when it was cast.

It stood on twelve oxen, three facing the north, and three facing the west, and three facing the south, and three facing the east. The sea was set on top of them, and all their hinder parts were inward.

And the work of the bases was this way: they had borders, and the borders were between the stays.

And on the borders that were between the ledges were lions, oxen, and cherubs. And a pedestal was on the stays above. And beneath the lions and oxen were wreaths of hanging-work.

And the one base had four bronze wheels and axles of bronze. And its four feet were supports to them; under the basin were casted supports with wreaths at each side.

And its mouth within and above the capital was a cubit. And its mouth was round like the work of a pedestal, a cubit and half of the cubit. And also on its mouth were carvings; and their borders were square, not round.

And under the borders were four wheels. And the axletrees of the wheels were in the base. And the height of a wheel was a cubit and a half.

And the work of the wheels was like the work of a chariot wheel, their axletrees, and their rims, and their hub, and their spokes, were all cast.

And there were four supports to the four corners of one base, and the supports were of the very base itself.

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 the four hundred pomegranates for the two gratings; two rows of pomegranates for each grating, to cover the two bowls of the capitals which were on the face of the pillars,

and the pots, and the shovels, and the basins. All these vessels which Hiram made for King Solomon for the house of Jehovah were of burnished bronze.