Nothing was in the ark except the two tablets that Moses had put in it at Horeb, where the Lord had made a covenant with the Israelites when they came out of Egypt.

And it came to pass when the priests were come out of the holy place (for all the priests that were present were hallowed without observing the courses;

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.

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

so that the priests could not stand to minister by reason of the cloud: for the glory of Yahweh filled the house of God.

Then said Solomon: Jehovah said that he would dwell in the thick darkness.

Now I have constructed a magnificent temple dedicated to you that will serve as a place for you to inhabit forever."

And he said, Blessed be the LORD God of Israel, who hath with his hands fulfilled that which he spoke with his mouth to my father David, saying,

“Since the day I brought My people Israel
out of the land of Egypt,
I have not chosen a city to build a temple in
among any of the tribes of Israel,
so that My name would be there,
and I have not chosen a man
to be ruler over My people Israel.

But I have chosen Jerusalem
so that My name will be there,
and I have chosen David
to be over My people Israel.”

And so it came to pass, that it was near the heart of David my father, - to build a house, to the Name of Yahweh, God of Israel.

But Jehovah said to David my father, Whereas it was in thy heart to build a house unto my name, thou didst well that it was in thy heart;

nevertheless thou shalt not build the house; but thy son that shall come forth out of thy loins, he shall build the house unto my name.

Now Yahweh has fulfilled his word that he spoke. I have risen in the place of David my father and am seated on the throne of Israel as Yahweh has spoken. I have built the house for the name of Yahweh, the God of Israel.

I have put the ark there,
where Yahweh’s covenant is
that He made with the Israelites.

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, Jehovah, God of Israel! there is no God like thee, in the heavens or on the earth, who keepest covenant and mercy with thy servants that walk before thee with all their heart;

that you have kept for your servant David my father what you spoke to him. You spoke with your mouth, and by your hand you have fulfilled [it] on this day.

And now, Jehovah, God of Israel, keep with thy servant David my father that which thou hast promised him saying, There shall not fail thee a man in my sight to sit on the throne of Israel, if only thy sons take heed to their way to walk in my law, as thou hast walked before me.

And now, O Yahweh, God of Israel, let your word that you have spoken to your servant David be confirmed.

"But will God indeed dwell with humankind upon the earth? Look, the heavens and {the highest heavens} cannot contain you! Surely then this house that I have built [will not contain you!]

Listen to Your servant’s prayer and his petition,
Lord my God,
so that You may hear the cry and the prayer
that Your servant prays before You,

so that Your eyes watch over this temple
day and night,
toward the place where You said
You would put Your name;
and so that You may hear the prayer
Your servant prays toward this place.

And listen to the pleas of your servant and your people Israel when they pray toward this place, that you yourself might hear from the place of your dwelling, from the heavens, that you might hear and forgive.

then hear thou from heaven, and work and judge thy servants, that thou reward the evil and bring his way upon his head, and justify the righteous and give him according to his righteousness.

then may you yourself hear from the heavens and forgive the sin of your people Israel and again bring them back to the land that you gave to them and to their ancestors.

If heaven be shut up, that there be no rain, because they have sinned against thee; yet if they pray at this place and confess thy name and turn from their sins at thy scourging;

may You hear in heaven
and forgive the sin of Your servants
and Your people Israel,
so that You may teach them the good way
they should walk in.
May You send rain on Your land
that You gave Your people for an inheritance.

"If there is a famine in the land; if there is disease, blight, mildew, locust, and caterpillar; if it happens that his enemy lays siege to him in the land [and] his gates; any kind of plague, any kind of disease,

[then] any prayer, any plea that is [made] by any person and by all your people Israel, each one who knows his own affliction and his own anguish and [who] spreads out his hands to this house,

so that they may fear You
and walk in Your ways
all the days they live on the land
You gave our ancestors.

Moreover concerning the foreigner, that is not of thy people Israel, when he shall come from a far country for thy great name's sake, and thy mighty hand, and thine outstretched arm; when they shall come and pray toward this house:

may You hear in heaven in Your dwelling place,
and do all the foreigner asks You.
Then all the peoples of the earth will know Your name,
to fear You as Your people Israel do
and know that this temple I have built
is called by Your name.

When Your people go out to fight against their enemies,
wherever You send them,
and they pray to You
in the direction of this city You have chosen
and the temple that I have built for Your name,

When they sin against you--for there is no person who does not sin--and you become angry with them and place them before their enemy that they carry them away as captives to a land far or near,

And if they take thought, in the land where they are prisoners, turning again to you, crying out in prayer to you in that land, and saying, We are sinners, we have done wrong, we have done evil;

and when they return to You with their whole mind and heart
in the land of their captivity where they were taken captive,
and when they pray in the direction of their land
that You gave their ancestors,
and the city You have chosen,
and toward the temple I have built for Your name,

then wilt thou hear out of the heavens - out of the settled place of thine abode - their prayer and their supplications, and maintain their cause, - and forgive thy people, that wherein they sinned against thee?

Now, my God, I beseech thee, let thine eyes be open and let thine ears be attentive unto the prayer that is made in this place.

Now therefore:

Arise, Lord God, come to Your resting place,
You and Your powerful ark.
May Your priests, Lord God, be clothed with salvation,
and may Your godly people rejoice in goodness.

so that the priests could not enter into the house of Yahweh, - because the glory of Yahweh filled the house of Yahweh;

And all the children of Israel saw how the fire came down and the glory of the LORD upon the house, and stooped with their faces to the earth upon the pavement and bowed themselves and confessed unto the LORD, that he was good and that his mercy lasted ever.

So that king Solomon offered twenty two thousand oxen, and a hundred and twenty thousand sheep. And so the king and all the people hallowed the house of God.

And the priests stood at their posts with the Levites, with the instruments of the song of Yahweh that King David had made to give thanks to Yahweh--for his loyal love [is] everlasting--whenever David offered praise by their hand. Now the priests sounded trumpets [standing] opposite them, and all Israel stood.

Since the bronze altar that Solomon had made could not accommodate the burnt offering, the grain offering, and the fat of the fellowship offerings, Solomon first consecrated the middle of the courtyard that was in front of the Lord’s temple and then offered the burnt offerings and the fat of the fellowship offerings there.

So Solomon and all Israel with him—a very great assembly, from the entrance to Hamath to the Brook of Egypt—observed the festival at that time for seven days.

And on the twenty-third day of the seventh month he sent the people away to their tents rejoicing and festive of heart on account of the goodness that Yahweh had done for David, Solomon, and Israel his people.

So Solomon finished the Lord’s temple and the royal palace. Everything that had entered Solomon’s heart to do for the Lord’s temple and for his own palace succeeded.

When I hold back the heavens so that there is not rain, and when I command the locust to devour the earth, and if I send disease among my people,

Yet if my people that are named after my name, shall humble themselves and pray and seek my presence, and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and be merciful to their sins, and will heal their land.

Now my eyes shall be open, and my ears attentive, to the prayer that is made in this place.

And I have now chosen and consecrated this temple so that My name may be there forever; My eyes and My heart will be there at all times.

Now [as for] you, if you will walk before me as David your father walked and do according to all that I have commanded you and will keep my ordinances and judgments,

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.

However, if you turn away and abandon My statutes and My commands that I have set before you and if you go and serve other gods and worship them,

then I will uproot Israel from the soil that I gave them, and this temple that I have sanctified for My name I will banish from My presence; I will make it an object of scorn and ridicule among all the peoples.

And this house, which is high, shall be an astonishment to every one that passes by it; so that he shall say, Why has Jehovah done thus to this land and to this house?

Others will then answer, 'Because they abandoned the Lord God of their ancestors, who led them out of Egypt. They embraced other gods whom they worshiped and served. That is why he brought all this disaster down on them.'"

And it happened [that] at the end of twenty years [in] which Solomon had built the house of Yahweh and his own house,

Solomon also built the cities that Huram had given to him, and he settled the {Israelites} in them.

He built Tadmor in the wilderness along with all the storage cities that he built in Hamath.

Baalath, all the storage cities that belonged to Solomon, all the chariot cities, the cavalry cities, and everything Solomon desired to build in Jerusalem, Lebanon, or anywhere else in the land of his dominion.

All the people that were left of the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites, who were not of Israel,

their children that were left after them in the land, whom the children of Israel had not destroyed, upon them did Solomon impose tribute-service until this day.

And these [were] the commanders of the garrisons that belonged to King Solomon, two hundred and fifty who exercised authority over the people.

And Solomon brought up the daughter of Pharaoh from 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, for those [places] to which the ark of Yahweh has come [are] holy.

At that time Solomon offered burnt offerings to the Lord on the Lord’s altar he had made in front of the portico.

He observed the daily requirements for sacrifices that Moses had specified for Sabbaths, new moon festivals, and the three annual celebrations -- the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the Feast of Weeks, and the Feast of Temporary Shelters.

And so Solomon completed all of the work, from the day that the foundation stone of the LORD's Temple was laid until the LORD's Temple was completely finished.

At that time Solomon went to Ezion-geber and to Eloth on the seashore in the land of Edom.

And Huram sent him by his servants ships, and servants that had knowledge of the sea; and they went with the servants of Solomon to Ophir, and fetched thence four hundred and fifty talents of gold, and brought them to king Solomon.

The queen of Sheba heard of Solomon’s fame, so she came to test Solomon with difficult questions at Jerusalem with a very large entourage, with camels bearing spices, gold in abundance, and precious stones. She came to Solomon and spoke with him about everything that was on her mind.

And Solomon {answered all her questions}. Not a word was hidden from Solomon that he did not answer for her.

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

and the food of his table, and the position of his officers, the duty of his servants and their clothing, his cupbearers and their clothing, and his burnt offerings that he offered at the house of Yahweh, there was no longer any breath in her.

And she said to the king, It was a true report that I heard in mine own land of thine affairs and of thy wisdom;

but I did not believe their words until I came and saw with my own eyes. And behold, half the greatness of your wisdom was not reported to me; you surpass the rumors that I had heard.

Happy are thy men, and happy are these thy servants, that stand continually before thee, and hear thy wisdom.

And she gave to the king one hundred and twenty talents of gold and a very great amount of spices and precious stones. And there were no spices such as those that the queen of Sheba gave to King Solomon.

And the servants also of Huram, and the servants of Solomon, that brought gold from Ophir, brought algum-trees and precious stones.

With the timber the king made steps for the Lord's temple and royal palace as well as stringed instruments for the musicians. No one had seen anything like them in the land of Judah prior to that.)

King Solomon gave the queen of Sheba her every desire, whatever she asked—far more than she had brought the king. Then she, along with her servants, returned to her own country.

The weight of gold that came to Solomon annually was 25 tons,

besides that which the traders and merchants brought: and all the kings of Arabia and the governors of the country brought gold and silver to Solomon.

and six steps are to the throne, and a footstool of gold, to the throne they are fastened, and hands are on this side and on that on the place of the sitting, and two lions are standing near the hands,

and twelve lions are standing there on the six steps on this side, and on that: it hath not been made so for any kingdom.

For the king had ships that went to Tarshish with the servants of Huram; once every three years came the ships of Tarshish, bringing gold, and silver, ivory, and apes, and peacocks.

Thus King Solomon was greater than all the kings of the earth in wealth and wisdom.

And all the kings of the earth sought the face of Solomon to hear his wisdom that God put in his heart.

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.

And the king made silver in Jerusalem as stones, and he made cedar as the sycamore trees that [are] in the Shephelah for abundance.

And it happened [that] when Jeroboam the son of Nebat heard [it]--now he [was] in Egypt, where he had fled from the presence of King Solomon--Jeroboam returned from Egypt.

Thy father made our yoke grievous; and now lighten the grievous servitude of thy father, and his heavy yoke that he put upon us, and we will serve thee.

And king Rehoboam took counsel with the old men that had stood before Solomon his father while he yet lived, saying, What counsel give ye me to return answer to this people?

But he forsook the advice of the elders that advised him and took counsel of the young men who had grown up with him who were {serving} before him.

And he said to them, "What do you advise that we should say in return to this people, who said to me, 'Lighten the yoke that your father has put upon us'?"

Then the young men who had grown up with him told him, “This is what you should say to the people who said to you, ‘Your father made our yoke heavy, but you, make it lighter on us!’ This is what you should say to them: ‘My little finger is thicker than my father’s loins.

My father imposed heavy demands on you; I will make them even heavier. My father punished you with ordinary whips; I will punish you with whips that really sting your flesh.'"

and followed the advice of the younger ones. He said, "My father imposed heavy demands on you; I will make them even heavier. My father punished you with ordinary whips; I will punish you with whips that really sting your flesh."

The king did not listen to the people because the turn of events came from God, in order that the Lord might carry out His word that He had spoken through Ahijah the Shilonite to Jeroboam son of Nebat.