And the king turned his face and blessed the whole congregation of Israel. And all the congregation of Israel stood.

And he said, Blessed be Jehovah, the God of Israel, who has with His hands fulfilled that which He spoke with His mouth to my father David, saying,

From the day that I brought My people out of the land of Egypt I have not chosen any city among all the tribes of Israel to build a house in, so that My name might be there. Nor have I chosen 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 Jehovah, the God of Israel.

But you shall not build the house; but your son, who shall come forth out of your loins, shall build the house for My name.

And Jehovah has lifted up His Word that He has spoken. For I have risen up in place of David my father, and am set on the throne of Israel, as Jehovah promised, and I have built the house for the name of Jehovah, the God of Israel.

And I have put the ark in it, in which is the covenant of Jehovah which He made with the sons of Israel.

And he stood before the altar of Jehovah in the presence of all the congregation of Israel, and spread forth his hands.

For Solomon had made a bronze scaffold, five cubits long and five cubits broad and three cubits high. And he had set it in the midst of the court. And he stood on it, and kneeled down on his knees before all the congregation of Israel, and spread forth his hands toward Heaven.

And he said, O Jehovah, the God of Israel, there is no God like You in Heaven or in earth. You keep Your covenant and show mercy to Your servants who walk before You with all their hearts.

And now, O Jehovah, the God of Israel, keep with Your servant David my father that which You have promised him, saying, There shall not fail you a man in My sight to sit on the throne of Israel, if only your sons take heed to their way to walk in My Law, as you have walked before Me.

And now, O Jehovah, the God of Israel, let Your Word be proven true, which You have spoken to Your servant David.

But truly will God in deed dwell with men on the earth? Behold, Heavens and heaven of the heavens cannot contain You! How much less this house which I have built?

And You have turned toward the prayer of Your servant, and to his cry, O Jehovah my God, to listen to the cry and the prayer which Your servant prays before You.

I pray that Your eyes may be open on this house day and night, on the place of which You have said that You would put Your name there, to listen to the prayer which Your servant prays toward this place.

And You will listen to the cries of Your servant, and of Your people Israel, which they shall pray toward this place, and You will hear from Your dwelling place, from Heaven, and shall hear and forgive.

If a man sins against his neighbor, and if an oath is laid on him to make him swear, and if the oath comes before Your altar in this house,

then hear from Heaven, and do, and judge Your servants by repaying the wicked, by bringing his way back on his own head, and by justifying the righteous, by giving to him according to his righteousness.

And if Your people Israel be put to the worse before the enemy because they have sinned against You, and if they shall return and confess Your name, and shall pray and cry before You in this house,

then hear from Heaven, and forgive the sin of Your people Israel, and bring them again into the land which You give to them and to their fathers.

When the heavens shall be shut up, and there is no rain because they have sinned against You; if they pray toward this place, and confess Your name, and turn from their sin when You afflict them,

then hear from Heaven and forgive the sin of Your servants and of Your people Israel, when You have taught them the good way in which they should walk. And send rain on Your land which You have given to Your people for an inheritance.

If there is famine in the land, if there is a plague, if blasting or mildew, locusts or ravagers, if their enemies have distressed them in the gates of their land, with any plague and any sickness;

then hear from Heaven, Your dwelling-place, and forgive, and give to every man according to all his ways, whose heart You know. For You only know the hearts of the sons of men.

Do this so that they may fear You, to walk in Your ways, as long as they live in the land which You gave to our fathers.

And also to the stranger who is not of Your people Israel, but has come from a far country for Your great name's sake, and Your mighty hand, and Your stretched out arm, if they come and pray in this house;

then hear from Heaven, from Your dwelling-place, and do according to all that the stranger calls to You for, so that all people of the earth may know Your name, and fear You, as Your people Israel, and may know that this house which I have built is called by Your name.

If Your people go out to war against their enemies by the way that You shall send them, and if they pray to You toward this city which You have chosen, and the house which I have built for Your name,

If they sin against You (for there is no man who does not sin), and if You are angry with them and deliver them up before their enemies, and they carry them away captives to a land far off or near,

yet if they think within themselves in the land where they are carried captive, and turn and pray to You in the land of their captivity, saying, We have sinned, we have done wrong and have dealt wickedly;

if they return to You with all their heart and with all their soul in the land of their captivity where they have carried them captives, and if they pray toward their land which You gave to their fathers and toward the city which You have chosen, and toward the house which I have built for Your name;

Now, my God, I beseech You, let Your eyes be open and Your ears hear the prayer made in this place.

And now arise, O Jehovah God, into Your resting-place, You, and the ark of Your strength. Let Your priests, O Jehovah God, be clothed with salvation, and let Your saints rejoice in goodness.

O Jehovah God, do not turn away the face of Your anointed. Remember the good deeds of David Your servant.

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

And the priests could not enter into the house of Jehovah because the glory of Jehovah had filled Jehovah's house.

And when all the sons of Israel saw how the fire came down, and the glory of Jehovah on the house, they bowed their faces to the ground on the pavement, and worshiped and praised Jehovah, saying, For He is good, for His mercy endures forever.

And the king and all the people offered sacrifices before Jehovah.

And King Solomon offered a sacrifice of twenty-two thousand oxen, and a hundred and twenty thousand sheep. And the king and all the people dedicated the house of God.

And the priests waited on their offices, and the Levites with instruments of music of Jehovah, which David the king had made to praise Jehovah, because His mercy endures forever, when David praised by their ministry. And the priests sounded trumpets before them, and all Israel stood.

And Solomon made the middle of the court before the house of Jehovah holy. For there he offered burnt offerings and the fat of the peace offerings, because the bronze altar which Solomon had made was not able to receive the burnt offerings, and the food offerings, and the fat.

And at the same time Solomon kept the feast seven days, and all Israel with him, a very great congregation, from the entering in of Hamath to the river of Egypt.

And in the eighth day they made a solemn assembly. For they kept the dedication of the altar seven days, and the feast seven days.

And on the twenty-third day of the seventh month he sent the people away into their tents, glad and merry in heart for the goodness that Jehovah had shown to David, and to Solomon, and to Israel His people.

So Solomon finished the house of Jehovah, and the king's house. And all that came into Solomon's heart to make in the house of Jehovah, and in his own house, he did with success.

If I shut up the heavens, and there is no rain, or if I command the locusts to devour the land, or if I send a plague among My people;

Now My eyes shall be open, and My ears shall be open to the prayer of this place.

then I will make the throne of your kingdom sure, as I have covenanted with David your father, saying, There shall not fail you a man to be ruler in Israel.

then I will pluck them up by the roots out of My land which I have given them. And this house which I have sanctified for My name, I will cast out of My sight, and I will make it to be a proverb and a byword among all nations.

And this house, which is high, shall be a wonder to everyone who passes by it, so that they shall shudder and say, Why has Jehovah done this to this land and to this house?

And it shall be answered, Because they forsook Jehovah, the God of their fathers who brought them forth out of the land of Egypt, and laid hold on other gods and worshiped them and served them. Therefore He has brought all this evil on them.

And it happened at the end of twenty years, Solomon had built the house of Jehovah and his own house.

As to the cities that Hiram had given to Solomon, Solomon had built them, and he caused the sons of Israel to live there.

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

And he built Beth-horon the upper and Beth-horon the lower, fenced cities with walls, gates, and bars.

And he built Baalath, and all the store cities which Solomon had, and all the chariot cities, and the cities of the horsemen, and all that Solomon desired to build in Jerusalem, and in Lebanon, and in all the land of his dominion.

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

of their sons who were left after them in the land, whom the sons of Israel did not destroy, Solomon made them subject to forced labor until this day.

And of the sons of Israel, Solomon did not make any servants for his work. But they were men of war, and commanders of his officers, and commanders of his chariots, and his horsemen.

And these were the chief of King Solomon's officers, two hundred and fifty who bore rule over the people.

And Solomon brought up the daughter of Pharaoh out of the city of David to the house which he had built for her. For he said, My wife shall not dwell in the house of David king of Israel, because the places into which the ark of Jehovah has come are holy.

And Solomon offered burnt offerings to Jehovah on the altar of Jehovah which he had built before the porch,

even as the duty of every day required, offering according to the commandment of Moses, on the sabbaths and on the new moons, and on the solemn feasts, three times in the year, even in the Feast of Unleavened Bread, and in the Feast of Weeks, and in the Feast of Tabernacles.

And according to the order of David his father, he appointed the divisions of the priests to their service, and the Levites to their charges, to praise and minister before the priests, as the duty of every day required; and the gatekeepers by their divisions at every gate; for so David the man of God had commanded.

And they did not depart from the command of the king to the priests and Levites concerning any matter, or concerning the treasures.

And all the work of Solomon was prepared until the day of the foundation of the house of Jehovah, and until it was finished. And the house of Jehovah was complete.

And Solomon went to Ezion-geber, and to Eloth, at the seaside in the land of Edom.

And Hiram sent ships to him by the hand of his servants, and servants who knew the sea. And they went with the servants of Solomon to Ophir, and took four hundred and fifty talents of gold from there, and brought them to King Solomon.

And the queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon, and came to test Solomon with hard questions at Jerusalem, with a very great company, and camels that carried spices, and gold in abundance, and precious stones. And she came in to Solomon and spoke with him of all that was in her heart.

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

and the food of his table, and the sitting of his servants, the attendance of his ministers, and their apparel, and his cupbearers and their apparel, and his burnt offerings that he offered up in the house of Jehovah, there was no more spirit in her.

And she said to the king, The word that I heard in my own land of your acts and of your wisdom is true.

But I did not believe their words until I came, and my eyes had seen. And behold, the one half of the greatness of your wisdom was not told me. You are greater than the fame which I heard.

And she gave the king a hundred and twenty talents of gold, and an abundance of spices, and precious stones. And there has not been any such spice as the queen of Sheba gave King Solomon.

And also the servants of Hiram, and the servants of Solomon who brought gold from Ophir, brought algum trees and precious stones.

And the king made terraces to the house of Jehovah with the algum trees, and terraces to the king's palace, and lyres and harps for singers. And there were none such seen before in the land of Judah.

And King Solomon gave to the queen of Sheba all her desire, whatever she asked, besides what she had brought to the king. And she returned and went away to her own land, she and her servants.

And the weight of gold that came to Solomon in one year was six hundred and sixty-six talents of gold,

besides that from the traders, and that the merchants brought. And all the kings of Arabia and governors of the country brought gold and silver to Solomon.

And he made three hundred shields of beaten gold. Three hundred shekels of gold went to one shield. And the king put them in the house of the forest of Lebanon.

And the king made a great throne of ivory and overlaid it with pure gold.

And there were six steps to the throne, with a footstool of gold, fastened to the throne. And there were stays on each side of the sitting place, and two lions standing by the stays.

And twelve lions stood there on the one side, and on the other, on the six steps. There was not the like made in any kingdom.

And all the drinking vessels of King Solomon were of gold, and all the vessels of the house of the forest of Lebanon were of pure gold. None were of silver. It was not prized in the days of Solomon.

For the king's ships went to Tarshish with the servants of Hiram. Once every three years the ships of Tarshish came bringing gold and silver, ivory, and apes, and peacocks.

And King Solomon was greater than all the kings of the earth in riches and wisdom.

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

And they each brought his present, vessels of silver and vessels of gold, and clothing, weapons, and spices, horses, and mules, a ration year by year.

And Solomon had four thousand stalls for horses and chariots, and twelve thousand horsemen, whom he put in the chariot cities and with the king at Jerusalem.

And he reigned over all the kings from the River even to the land of the Philistines, and to the border of Egypt.

And the king made silver in Jerusalem like stones, and he made cedar trees as the sycamore trees in the low plains.

And they brought to Solomon horses out of Egypt and out of all lands.

And the rest of the acts of Solomon, first and last, are they not written in the book of Nathan the prophet, and in the prophecy of Ahijah of Shiloh, and in the visions of Iddo the seer against Jeroboam the son of Nebat?

And Solomon slept with his fathers, and he was buried in the city of David his father. And his son Rehoboam reigned in his place.

And it happened when Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who was in Egypt where he had fled from the presence of Solomon the king, heard it, Jeroboam returned out of Egypt.

And they sent and called him. And Jeroboam and all Israel came and spoke to Rehoboam, saying,

Your father made our yoke heavy. And now lighten the heavy service of your father, and his heavy yoke which he put on us, and we will serve you.

And he said to them, Come again to me after three days. And the people departed.

And King Rehoboam consulted with the old men who had stood before Solomon his father while he yet lived, saying, What advice do you give me to return answer to this people?

And they spoke to him saying, If you are kind to this people and please them, and speak good words to them, they will be your servants forever.