Thematic Bible
Thematic Bible
Arbitration » Instances of » The two harlots in the presence of king solomon
Right about then, two prostitutes approached the king and requested an audience with him. One woman said, "Your majesty, this woman and I live in the same house. I gave birth to a child while she was in the house. Three days later, this woman also gave birth. We lived alone there. There was nobody else with us in the house. It was just the two of us. read more.
This woman's son died overnight because she laid on top of him. She got up in the middle of the night, took my son from me while your servant was asleep, and laid him to her breast after laying her dead son next to me. The next morning, I got up to nurse my son, and he was dead. But when I examined him carefully in the light of day, he turned out not to be my son whom I had borne!" "Not so," claimed the other woman. "The living child is my son, and the dead one is yours." But the first woman said, "Not so! The dead child is your son and the living one is my son." This is what they testified before the king. The king said, "One of them claims, "This living son is mine, and your son is the dead one' and the other claims "No. Your son is the dead one and my son is the living one.' "Somebody get me a sword." So they brought a sword to the king. "Divide the living child in two!" he ordered. "Give half to the one and half to the other." The woman whose child was still alive cried out to the king, because her heart yearned for her son. "Oh no, your majesty!" she said. "Give her the living child. Please don't kill him." But the other woman said, "Cut him in half! That way, he'll belong to neither one of us." The king announced his decision: "Give the living child to the first woman. Don't kill him. She is his mother." When this decision that the king had handed down was announced, everybody in Israel was amazed at the king, because they all saw that God's wisdom was in him, enabling him to administer justice.
This woman's son died overnight because she laid on top of him. She got up in the middle of the night, took my son from me while your servant was asleep, and laid him to her breast after laying her dead son next to me. The next morning, I got up to nurse my son, and he was dead. But when I examined him carefully in the light of day, he turned out not to be my son whom I had borne!" "Not so," claimed the other woman. "The living child is my son, and the dead one is yours." But the first woman said, "Not so! The dead child is your son and the living one is my son." This is what they testified before the king. The king said, "One of them claims, "This living son is mine, and your son is the dead one' and the other claims "No. Your son is the dead one and my son is the living one.' "Somebody get me a sword." So they brought a sword to the king. "Divide the living child in two!" he ordered. "Give half to the one and half to the other." The woman whose child was still alive cried out to the king, because her heart yearned for her son. "Oh no, your majesty!" she said. "Give her the living child. Please don't kill him." But the other woman said, "Cut him in half! That way, he'll belong to neither one of us." The king announced his decision: "Give the living child to the first woman. Don't kill him. She is his mother." When this decision that the king had handed down was announced, everybody in Israel was amazed at the king, because they all saw that God's wisdom was in him, enabling him to administer justice.
Courts of justice » The accused » Permitted to plead their own cause
Then Agrippa told Paul, "You have permission to speak for yourself." So Paul stretched out his hand and began his defense.
Verse Concepts
"Not so," claimed the other woman. "The living child is my son, and the dead one is yours." But the first woman said, "Not so! The dead child is your son and the living one is my son." This is what they testified before the king.
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When the governor motioned for Paul to speak, he replied:
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Judge » Kings and other rulers as
Right about then, two prostitutes approached the king and requested an audience with him. One woman said, "Your majesty, this woman and I live in the same house. I gave birth to a child while she was in the house. Three days later, this woman also gave birth. We lived alone there. There was nobody else with us in the house. It was just the two of us. read more.
This woman's son died overnight because she laid on top of him. She got up in the middle of the night, took my son from me while your servant was asleep, and laid him to her breast after laying her dead son next to me. The next morning, I got up to nurse my son, and he was dead. But when I examined him carefully in the light of day, he turned out not to be my son whom I had borne!" "Not so," claimed the other woman. "The living child is my son, and the dead one is yours." But the first woman said, "Not so! The dead child is your son and the living one is my son." This is what they testified before the king. The king said, "One of them claims, "This living son is mine, and your son is the dead one' and the other claims "No. Your son is the dead one and my son is the living one.' "Somebody get me a sword." So they brought a sword to the king. "Divide the living child in two!" he ordered. "Give half to the one and half to the other." The woman whose child was still alive cried out to the king, because her heart yearned for her son. "Oh no, your majesty!" she said. "Give her the living child. Please don't kill him." But the other woman said, "Cut him in half! That way, he'll belong to neither one of us." The king announced his decision: "Give the living child to the first woman. Don't kill him. She is his mother." When this decision that the king had handed down was announced, everybody in Israel was amazed at the king, because they all saw that God's wisdom was in him, enabling him to administer justice.
This woman's son died overnight because she laid on top of him. She got up in the middle of the night, took my son from me while your servant was asleep, and laid him to her breast after laying her dead son next to me. The next morning, I got up to nurse my son, and he was dead. But when I examined him carefully in the light of day, he turned out not to be my son whom I had borne!" "Not so," claimed the other woman. "The living child is my son, and the dead one is yours." But the first woman said, "Not so! The dead child is your son and the living one is my son." This is what they testified before the king. The king said, "One of them claims, "This living son is mine, and your son is the dead one' and the other claims "No. Your son is the dead one and my son is the living one.' "Somebody get me a sword." So they brought a sword to the king. "Divide the living child in two!" he ordered. "Give half to the one and half to the other." The woman whose child was still alive cried out to the king, because her heart yearned for her son. "Oh no, your majesty!" she said. "Give her the living child. Please don't kill him." But the other woman said, "Cut him in half! That way, he'll belong to neither one of us." The king announced his decision: "Give the living child to the first woman. Don't kill him. She is his mother." When this decision that the king had handed down was announced, everybody in Israel was amazed at the king, because they all saw that God's wisdom was in him, enabling him to administer justice.
David reigned over all of Israel, administering justice and equity to every one of his people.
Verse Concepts
Meanwhile, Elisha urged the woman whose son he had restored to life, "You must get up and leave with your household to go live wherever you can, because the LORD has called for a famine, and it's going to come over the land for seven years." So the woman followed the instructions given to her by the man of God, and she went to the territory of the Philistines to live for seven years with her household. At the end of the seven years, the woman returned from the territory of the Philistines and went to the king in order to file an appeal regarding her house and her grain field. read more.
The king was talking with Gehazi, the attendant of the man of God. He had asked Gehazi, "Please tell me about all of the great things that Elisha has done." Just as he was telling the king about Elisha's having restored the dead to life, the woman whose son had been restored arrived and appealed to the king for her house and her land! Gehazi told the king, "Your majesty, this is the woman! And here's her son, whom Elisha restored to life!" The king consulted with the woman, who related the story. So the king appointed a court official to represent her and ordered him: "Restore to her everything that belonged to her, including all of the produce that her fields yielded from the day she left the land until now."
The king was talking with Gehazi, the attendant of the man of God. He had asked Gehazi, "Please tell me about all of the great things that Elisha has done." Just as he was telling the king about Elisha's having restored the dead to life, the woman whose son had been restored arrived and appealed to the king for her house and her land! Gehazi told the king, "Your majesty, this is the woman! And here's her son, whom Elisha restored to life!" The king consulted with the woman, who related the story. So the king appointed a court official to represent her and ordered him: "Restore to her everything that belonged to her, including all of the produce that her fields yielded from the day she left the land until now."
Then he would get up early, stand near the passageway to the palace gate, and when anyone arrived to file a legal complaint for a hearing before the king, Absalom would call to him and ask, "You're from what city?" If he replied, "Your servant is from one of Israel's tribes,"
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And blessed be the LORD your God, who is delighted with you! He set you in place on the throne of Israel because the LORD loved Israel forever. That's why he made you to be king, so you could carry out justice and implement righteousness."
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God, endow the king with ability to render your justice, and the king's son to render your right decisions. May he rule your people with right decisions and your oppressed ones with justice. May the mountains bring prosperity to the people and the hills bring righteousness. read more.
May he defend the afflicted of the people and deliver the children of the poor, but crush the oppressor.
May he defend the afflicted of the people and deliver the children of the poor, but crush the oppressor.
Meanwhile, Jesus was made to stand in front of the governor. The governor asked him, "Are you the king of the Jews?" Jesus said, "You say so." While Jesus was being accused by the high priests and elders, he made no reply. Then Pilate asked him, "Don't you hear how many charges they're bringing against you?" read more.
But Jesus did not reply at all, so that the governor was very surprised. At every festival the governor had a custom of releasing to the crowd any prisoner whom they wanted. At that time they were holding a notorious prisoner named Barabbas. So when the people had gathered, Pilate asked them, "Which man do you want me to release for you Barabbas, or Jesus who is called "the Messiah'?" He did this because he knew that they had handed him over out of jealousy. While he was sitting on the judge's seat, his wife sent him a message that said, "Have nothing to do with that righteous man, because today I have suffered terribly due to a dream I had about him." But the high priests and elders persuaded the crowds to ask for Barabbas and to demand that Jesus be put to death. So the governor asked them, "Which of the two men do you want me to release for you?" "Barabbas!" they replied. Pilate asked them, "Then what should I do with Jesus, who is called the Messiah?" They all said, "Let him be crucified!" He asked, "What has he done wrong?" But they kept shouting louder and louder, "Let him be crucified!" Pilate saw that he was getting nowhere, but that a riot was about to break out instead. So he took some water and washed his hands in front of the crowd, saying, "I am innocent of this man's blood. Attend to that yourselves." All the people answered, "Let his blood be on us and our children!" Then he released Barabbas for them, but he had Jesus whipped and handed over to be crucified.
But Jesus did not reply at all, so that the governor was very surprised. At every festival the governor had a custom of releasing to the crowd any prisoner whom they wanted. At that time they were holding a notorious prisoner named Barabbas. So when the people had gathered, Pilate asked them, "Which man do you want me to release for you Barabbas, or Jesus who is called "the Messiah'?" He did this because he knew that they had handed him over out of jealousy. While he was sitting on the judge's seat, his wife sent him a message that said, "Have nothing to do with that righteous man, because today I have suffered terribly due to a dream I had about him." But the high priests and elders persuaded the crowds to ask for Barabbas and to demand that Jesus be put to death. So the governor asked them, "Which of the two men do you want me to release for you?" "Barabbas!" they replied. Pilate asked them, "Then what should I do with Jesus, who is called the Messiah?" They all said, "Let him be crucified!" He asked, "What has he done wrong?" But they kept shouting louder and louder, "Let him be crucified!" Pilate saw that he was getting nowhere, but that a riot was about to break out instead. So he took some water and washed his hands in front of the crowd, saying, "I am innocent of this man's blood. Attend to that yourselves." All the people answered, "Let his blood be on us and our children!" Then he released Barabbas for them, but he had Jesus whipped and handed over to be crucified.
After reading the letter, the governor asked which province Paul was from. On learning that he was from Cilicia, he said, "I will hear your case when your accusers arrive." Then he ordered Paul to be kept in custody in Herod's palace.
If I'm guilty and have done something that deserves death, I'm willing to die. But if there is nothing to their charges against me, no one can hand me over to them as a favor. I appeal to the emperor!" Festus talked it over with the council and then answered, "To the emperor you have appealed; to the emperor you will go!"
Justice » Exemplified » Solomon
Right about then, two prostitutes approached the king and requested an audience with him. One woman said, "Your majesty, this woman and I live in the same house. I gave birth to a child while she was in the house. Three days later, this woman also gave birth. We lived alone there. There was nobody else with us in the house. It was just the two of us. read more.
This woman's son died overnight because she laid on top of him. She got up in the middle of the night, took my son from me while your servant was asleep, and laid him to her breast after laying her dead son next to me. The next morning, I got up to nurse my son, and he was dead. But when I examined him carefully in the light of day, he turned out not to be my son whom I had borne!" "Not so," claimed the other woman. "The living child is my son, and the dead one is yours." But the first woman said, "Not so! The dead child is your son and the living one is my son." This is what they testified before the king. The king said, "One of them claims, "This living son is mine, and your son is the dead one' and the other claims "No. Your son is the dead one and my son is the living one.' "Somebody get me a sword." So they brought a sword to the king. "Divide the living child in two!" he ordered. "Give half to the one and half to the other." The woman whose child was still alive cried out to the king, because her heart yearned for her son. "Oh no, your majesty!" she said. "Give her the living child. Please don't kill him." But the other woman said, "Cut him in half! That way, he'll belong to neither one of us." The king announced his decision: "Give the living child to the first woman. Don't kill him. She is his mother."
This woman's son died overnight because she laid on top of him. She got up in the middle of the night, took my son from me while your servant was asleep, and laid him to her breast after laying her dead son next to me. The next morning, I got up to nurse my son, and he was dead. But when I examined him carefully in the light of day, he turned out not to be my son whom I had borne!" "Not so," claimed the other woman. "The living child is my son, and the dead one is yours." But the first woman said, "Not so! The dead child is your son and the living one is my son." This is what they testified before the king. The king said, "One of them claims, "This living son is mine, and your son is the dead one' and the other claims "No. Your son is the dead one and my son is the living one.' "Somebody get me a sword." So they brought a sword to the king. "Divide the living child in two!" he ordered. "Give half to the one and half to the other." The woman whose child was still alive cried out to the king, because her heart yearned for her son. "Oh no, your majesty!" she said. "Give her the living child. Please don't kill him." But the other woman said, "Cut him in half! That way, he'll belong to neither one of us." The king announced his decision: "Give the living child to the first woman. Don't kill him. She is his mother."
Kings » Who reigned over all israel » Solomon
Zadok the priest brought from his tent a horn filled with oil and anointed Solomon, a trumpet was sounded, and everybody yelled out, "Long live King Solomon!" All the people followed after him, playing on wind pipes and so full of joy that the earth shook because of all the noise! Right about then, Adonijah and all of his guests were just finishing their meal when they heard all the noise. "Why is the city in such an uproar?" Joab asked as he heard the trumpet sounds. read more.
While he was still asking that question, Jonathan, the son of Abiathar the priest arrived, so Adonijah told him, "Come on in, since you're a worthy man and are bringing us good news!" "No," Jonathan answered. "Our lord King David has installed Solomon as king. The king has sent Zadok the priest, Nathan the prophet, Jehoiada's son Benaiah, the special forces and mercenaries, along with Solomon, who is riding the king's personal mule. Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet have anointed him in Gihon, and they just left from there rejoicing, and that's why the city is all in an uproar. That's the noise that you've been hearing! Solomon now sits on the royal throne. In addition to all of this, the king's servants have come along to congratulate our lord King David. They've been telling David "May your God make Solomon's reputation even more famous than yours, and may he make his throne greater than yours!' The king has himself bowed in worship on his own bed and said "Blessed be the LORD God of Israel, who has provided someone to sit on my throne today. I've seen it with my own eyes!'" Terrified, all of Adonijah's guests jumped up and ran away. Afraid of Solomon, Adonijah also jumped up and headed straight for the horns of the altar. "Hey look!" somebody informed Solomon. "Adonijah is terrified of King Solomon! He's gone out, grabbed hold of the horns of the altar, and now he's begging King Solomon, "Swear to me that you won't put your servant to death with a sword!'" "If he's done nothing wrong, not a hair of his head will be harmed," Solomon replied. "But if we find evil in him, he's a dead man." So King Solomon sent for him, and he was brought down from the altar. When he had arrived, he fell on his face in front of King Solomon, so Solomon told him, "Go home!" As David's time to die approached, he addressed his son Solomon with these words: "I'm headed down the road that everyone who lives on earth travels, so be strong and demonstrate that you're a grown man by keeping the charge that the LORD your God entrusted to you. Live life his way, keep his statutes, his commands, his ordinances, and his testimonies, just as they're written down in the Law of Moses, so that you may succeed in everything you do and wherever you go, and so that the LORD may fulfill his promise that he spoke about me when he said, "If your sons pay attention to how they live by walking truthfully in my presence with all their heart and with all their soul, you will never lack a man on the throne of Israel.' "Furthermore, you're aware of what Zeruiah's son Joab did to me and to those two commanders of the armies of Israel, Ner's son Abner and Jether's son Amasa, whom he killed, and how he shed the blood of wartime during times of peace, staining the very belt he wears around his waist and the sandals he wears on his feet. So act consistently with your wisdom, and don't let him die as a peaceful old man. Be gracious to the descendants of Barzillai the Gileadite, and provide for them in your household, because they helped me when I had to run from your brother Absalom. "Pay attention now! You have with you Gera's son Shimei the descendant of Benjamin from Bahurim. He cursed me violently that day when I had to leave for Mahanaim. When he visited me at the Jordan River, I made an oath to the LORD and told him, "I won't execute you with a sword.' But don't let him off unpunished, since you're a wise man and you'll know what you need to do to him. Find a way that he dies in his old age by shedding his blood." After this, David died, as had his ancestors, and he was buried in the City of David. David had reigned over Israel for 40 years. He reigned in Hebron for seven years and in Jerusalem for 33 years. Solomon then assumed his father David's throne, and his kingdom was firmly established. Later, Haggith's son Adonijah approached Solomon's mother. "Are you here on a peaceful mission?" she asked. "Yes," he replied. "I have something to ask you about." "Talk," she told him. So he replied, "You know that the kingdom should have come to me, and that everyone in Israel intended to place me as the next king. However, the kingdom has turned around and now belongs to my brother, because it went to him from the LORD. So now I'm asking one thing from you. Don't refuse me." "Talk," she told him. Then he asked her, "Please talk to King Solomon for me, since he won't refuse you. Ask him to give me Abishag the Shunammite as a wife." "Okay," Bathsheba replied. "I'll talk to the king for you." So Bathsheba went to talk to King Solomon for Adonijah. The king rose to meet her, bowed to her, and sat down on his throne. He ordered a throne be set in place for his mother. She sat on a throne to his right and told him, "I would like to make a minor request of you. Please don't refuse me." "What is your request, mother?" the king asked her. "I won't turn you down." So she asked him, "Give Abishag the Shunammite to your brother Adonijah as a wife." But King Solomon replied to his mother, "Why are you asking Abishag the Shunammite for Adonijah? Why not ask me to give up the kingdom for him, since he's my older brother, and why not ask for Abiathar the priest, and for Zeruiah's son Joab?" Then King Solomon took this oath in the name of the LORD: "May God do so to me, and more besides, if Adonijah hasn't endangered his life by bringing up this subject. Now therefore, as the LORD lives, who has established me and set me on the throne of my father David, and who has established a dynasty, just like he promised, Adonijah will surely be executed today." So King Solomon sent for Jehoiada's son Benaiah, who attacked and killed Adonijah. The king also told Abiathar the priest, "Go home to Anathoth. You deserve to die, but I won't kill you today, because you carried the ark of the Lord GOD before my father David and because you shared all the troubles that my father went through." So Solomon fired Abiathar as the LORD's priest, thus fulfilling the promise that the LORD had spoken in Shiloh concerning Eli's household. When Joab learned what had happened, he ran to the LORD's tent and grabbed hold of the horns of the altar, since Joab had supported Adonijah (though he had not supported Absalom). Somebody informed King Solomon, "Joab just ran to the LORD's tent and now he's standing beside the altar!" But Solomon ordered Jehoiada's son Benaiah, "Go kill him!" So Benaiah went into the LORD's tent and told Joab, "The king orders you to come out!" "No," Joab said, "I'd rather die here!" So Benaiah went and informed the king, "This is how Joab answered me." The king replied to him, "Do just what he asked. Kill him and bury him so that you may remove from me and from my father's household the guilt that Joab shed needlessly. The LORD will repay him for his bloodshed because, without my father David's consent he attacked and murdered two men more righteous and better than he, Ner's son Abner, the commander of Israel's army and Jether's son Amasa, commander of Judah's army. May their blood be repaid to Joab and to his descendants forever, and may there be peace shown from the LORD forever to David, to his descendants, to his household, and to his throne." Jehoiada's son Benaiah then approached Joab, attacked him, killed him, and had him buried at Joab's home in the wilderness. The king appointed Jehoiada's son Benaiah in charge of the army to replace Joab and also appointed Zadok the priest to replace Abiathar. The king sent for Shimei and told him, "Build yourself a house in Jerusalem and live there, but don't go anywhere from there. If you ever leave and cross the Kidron Brook, you can be sure that you'll die. You'll be responsible for your own death." Shimei replied to the king, "What your majesty has decreed is acceptable to me. I'll do what you've said." So Shimei lived in Jerusalem for quite some time. But three years later, two of Shimei's servants escaped to Maacah's son Achish, the king of Gath. Somebody told Shimei, "Look! Your servants went to Gath!" So Shimei got up, saddled a donkey, and traveled to Gath to find his servants. He found them and brought them back from Gath. Later, Solomon found out that Shimei had left Jerusalem, gone to Gath, and had returned, so the king sent for Shimei and asked him, "Didn't I make a promise to the LORD and warn you, "The day you leave and go anywhere else, you can be sure you'll die'? And you told me, "What your majesty has decreed is acceptable to me.' So why haven't you kept the oath you made to the LORD, and why didn't you obey my personal order to you?" The king also reminded Shimei, "You know all the evil things that you admit you did to my father David. Therefore the LORD is going to repay you for all of your evil. But King Solomon will be blessed, and David's throne will be established in the presence of the LORD forever." So the king gave orders to Jehoiada's son Benaiah to go out, attack Shimei, and kill him. That is how the kingdom was established under Solomon's control. Later, Solomon intermarried with the family of Pharaoh, the king of Egypt by taking his daughter and bringing her to the City of David to live until he had completed building his own palace, the LORD's Temple, and the wall around Jerusalem. The people were sacrificing at various high places because the Temple had not yet been built and dedicated to the LORD. Solomon loved the LORD, and lived according to the statutes that his father David obeyed, except that he sacrificed and burned offerings at the high places. The king used to go to Gibeon to sacrifice, since there was a famous high place there, where Solomon once offered 1,000 burnt offerings on that altar. The LORD appeared to Solomon one night in a dream and told him, "Ask me for whatever you want and I'll give it to you." So Solomon said: "You have demonstrated abundant gracious love to your servant David, my father, as he lived in your presence truthfully, righteously, and uprightly in his heart. In addition, you have kept on showing this abundant gracious love by giving him a son to sit on his throne today. Now, LORD my God, you have set me as king to replace my father David, but I'm still young. I don't have any leadership skills. Your servant lives in the midst of your people that you have chosen, a great people that is too numerous to be counted. So give your servant an understanding mind to govern your people, so I can discern between good and evil. Otherwise, how will I be able to govern this great people of yours?" The LORD was pleased that Solomon had asked for this, so God told him: "Because you asked for this, and you didn't ask for a long life for yourself, and you didn't ask for the lives of your enemies, but instead you've asked for discernment so you can understand how to govern, look how I'm going to do precisely what you asked. I'm giving you a wise and discerning mind, so that there will have been no one like you before you and no one will arise after you like you. I'm also giving you what you haven't requested: both riches and honor, so that no other king will be comparable to you during your lifetime. If you will live life my way, keeping my statutes and my commands, just like your father David did, I'll also increase the length of your life." Then Solomon woke up and realized that he had dreamed a dream. Then he went back to Jerusalem, stood before the ark of the LORD's covenant, offered burnt offerings and peace offerings, and threw a party for all of his servants. Right about then, two prostitutes approached the king and requested an audience with him. One woman said, "Your majesty, this woman and I live in the same house. I gave birth to a child while she was in the house. Three days later, this woman also gave birth. We lived alone there. There was nobody else with us in the house. It was just the two of us. This woman's son died overnight because she laid on top of him. She got up in the middle of the night, took my son from me while your servant was asleep, and laid him to her breast after laying her dead son next to me. The next morning, I got up to nurse my son, and he was dead. But when I examined him carefully in the light of day, he turned out not to be my son whom I had borne!" "Not so," claimed the other woman. "The living child is my son, and the dead one is yours." But the first woman said, "Not so! The dead child is your son and the living one is my son." This is what they testified before the king. The king said, "One of them claims, "This living son is mine, and your son is the dead one' and the other claims "No. Your son is the dead one and my son is the living one.' "Somebody get me a sword." So they brought a sword to the king. "Divide the living child in two!" he ordered. "Give half to the one and half to the other." The woman whose child was still alive cried out to the king, because her heart yearned for her son. "Oh no, your majesty!" she said. "Give her the living child. Please don't kill him." But the other woman said, "Cut him in half! That way, he'll belong to neither one of us." The king announced his decision: "Give the living child to the first woman. Don't kill him. She is his mother." When this decision that the king had handed down was announced, everybody in Israel was amazed at the king, because they all saw that God's wisdom was in him, enabling him to administer justice. And so King Solomon ruled over all of Israel. Here's a list of his officials: Zadok's son Azariah was priest, Shisha's sons Elihoreph and Ahijah were his secretaries, Ahilud's son Jehoshaphat was recorder, Jehoiada's son Benaiah commanded the army, Zadok and Abiathar served as priests, Nathan's son Azariah supervised the governors, Nathan's son Zabud the priest was the king's counselor, Ahishar supervised palace matters, and Abda's son Adoniram supervised conscripted labor. Solomon also appointed twelve governors over all of Israel, each of whom were responsible for providing one month's food provisions to the king and to his administration during each year. Here's a list of their names: Ben-hur from the hill country of Ephraim; Ben-deker in Makaz, Shaalbim and Beth-shemesh and Elonbeth-hanan; Ben-hesed served in Arubboth (where he supervised Socoh and all of the territory of Hepher); Ben-abinadab supervised the Dor heights (Solomon's daughter Taphath was his wife); Ahilud's son Baana served Taanach, Megiddo, and all of Beth-shean near Zarethan below Jezreel, including from Beth-shean to Abel-meholah as far as the other side of Jokmeam; Ben-geber in Ramoth-gilead, including the towns that belonged to Manasseh's descendant Jair that are in Gilead; Iddo's son Ahinadab served in Mahanaim; Ahimaaz served in Naphtali (he was married to Solomon's daughter Basemath); Hushai's son Baana served in Asher and Bealoth; Paruah's son Jehoshaphat served in Issachar; Ela's son Shimei served in Benjamin; and Uri's son Geber served in the territory of Gilead, the territory formerly ruled by King Sihon of the Amorites and King Og of Bashan (he was the only governor over that territory). Judah and Israel became as numerous as the sand on the seashore. They enjoyed abundance, and ate, drank, and rejoiced regularly. Solomon ruled over all the kingdoms from the Euphrates River to the territory of the Philistines and south to the border of Egypt. They brought tribute and served Solomon throughout his lifetime. Solomon's daily provisions were 30 kors of fine flour, 60 kors of meal, ten fattened oxen, 20 pasture-fed cattle, 100 sheep, as well as deer, gazelles, roebucks, and domestic poultry. He ruled over everything west of the Euphrates River from Tiphsah to Gaza, over all of the kings west of the Euphrates River, and he enjoyed peace on all sides around him. Judah and Israel lived safely, and everyone enjoyed their own vine and fig tree from Dan to Beer-sheba through all of Solomon's life. Solomon owned 40,000 stalls for the horses that drove his chariots, and he employed 12,000 men to drive them. His officers supplied provisions for King Solomon and for everyone who visited King Solomon's palace, each in their respective month of service responsibility. Nothing ever ran out. They also provided barley and straw for the horses and camels to their respective locations, each consistent with their responsibilities. God gave Solomon wisdom and great discernment. His insights were as numerous as sand on the seashore. Solomon was wiser than any of the eastern leaders and wiser than anyone in Egypt. He was wiser than anyone of his day wiser than Ethan the Ezrahite, Heman, and wiser than Mahol's sons Calcol and Darda. His reputation was known throughout the surrounding nations. Solomon wrote 3,000 proverbs and 1,005 songs. He described trees everything from cedars that grow in Lebanon to hyssop that grows on a garden wall. He described animals, birds, reptiles, and fish. People came from everywhere to hear Solomon's advice. Every king on the earth heard of his wisdom. King Hiram of Tyre sent his servants to Solomon when he learned that Solomon had been anointed king to replace his father, because Hiram had been David's lifelong friend. Solomon sent this message to Hiram: "You know that my father David was unable to build a temple dedicated to the LORD his God because he was busy fighting wars all around him until the LORD defeated his enemies. But now the LORD has given me rest all around, since I have neither foreign adversaries nor domestic crises. So now I'm planning to build a temple dedicated to the LORD my God, just as the LORD told my father when he said, "Your son, whom I will set on your throne to replace you, will build the Temple dedicated to me.' Now therefore please order that cedars of Lebanon be cut for me. My servants will work with your servants, and I will pay your servants whatever wages you set, because you know there is no one among us who knows how to cut timber like the Sidonians do." 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: "I have read the letter that you sent me. I'll do what you've asked about the cedar and cypress timber. My servants will transport them from Lebanon to the sea, where we'll make them into rafts and float them by sea to the port that you tell me to send them. We'll have them prepared for transport there and then you can carry them from there. You can meet my needs by providing provisions for my household." That's how Hiram came to provide Solomon as much cedar and cypress timber as he needed. In return, Solomon paid Hiram 20,000 kors of wheat as food for his household, and 20 kors of beaten oil. Solomon provided this amount every year during the construction. The LORD continued giving Solomon wisdom, just as he had promised, and Hiram and Solomon entered into a peace treaty between themselves. King Solomon conscripted laborers from throughout Israel. The work force numbered 30,000 men. He sent 10,000 men to Lebanon in shifts lasting one month. They worked one month in Lebanon for every two months they worked at home. Adoniram was placed in charge of the conscripted labor. Solomon also employed 70,000 heavy-lift workers and 80,000 stonecutters in the hill country. Solomon also employed 3,300 officials to supervise the work and to manage the people employed in the construction. The king specified that large, expensive stones be quarried so the foundation of the Temple could be laid with cut stones. As a result, Solomon's builders worked with Hiram's builders, accompanied by the Gebalites, to quarry the stone and to prepare the timber and other stone for the Temple's construction. During the month of Ziv, which was the second month of the fourth year of Solomon's reign over Israel, 480 years after the Israelis left the land of Egypt, Solomon began to build the LORD's Temple. The Temple for the LORD that Solomon was building was 60 cubits long and 20 cubits wide. A portico extended in front of the Temple for 20 cubits outward, corresponding to the width of the Temple. Along the front of the Temple its depth was ten cubits. Solomon also constructed windows in the Temple with specially designed frames. Against the wall of the Temple he built a series of rooms that encompassed the exterior of the Temple walls around the inner sanctuary. He built these side chambers all around the building. The lower structures were five cubits wide, the middle structures were six cubits wide and the third structures were seven cubits wide. Offsets were placed all around the Temple so that beams would not protrude through the walls of the Temple. The Temple was constructed of stone precut at the quarry so that no hammer, axe, or any other iron implement would be heard in the Temple while it was being built. A passageway to the side chamber was constructed on the south side of the Temple by which people could ascend winding stairs to the middle story, then from there to the third story. After Solomon built the Temple and finished it, he covered the Temple with beams and planks made of cedar. He constructed this structure to adjoin the entire Temple, five cubits high, and fastened it to the Temple with cedar timbers. Then this message from the LORD came to Solomon: "Concerning this Temple that you're building, if you live your life according to my statutes, carry out my ordinances, and keep all of my commands, and live according to them, then I will do what I promised to your father David. I will reside among the Israelis and will never abandon my people Israel." So Solomon kept on building the Temple and finished it. Then he built the inside walls of the Temple, lining them from floor to ceiling with cedar boards, and overlaying the Temple floor with boards made of cypress wood. He lined 20 cubits of the rear part of the Temple from floor to ceiling with cedar boards specially constructed for the inside to serve as the Most Holy Place. The rest of the main nave in the front was 40 cubits long. Cedar carvings in the form of gourds and blooming flowers covered the entire interior of the Temple so that no stone could be seen. Solomon also prepared an inner sanctuary within the Temple where the LORD's Ark of the Covenant was placed. The inner sanctuary was 20 cubits long, 20 cubits wide, and 20 cubits high, and overlaid with pure gold. The altar was also overlaid with cedar. Solomon overlaid the inside of the Temple with pure gold, fastened gold chains across the front of the inner sanctuary, and overlaid it with gold. He finished the Temple by overlaying it entirely with gold, including overlaying with gold the whole altar that was by the inner sanctuary. Inside the inner sanctuary Solomon placed two cherubim crafted from olive wood, each ten cubits high. Each wing of one cherub was five cubits long, and each wing of the other cherub was five cubits long, so that the distance from the end of one wing to the end of the other wing was ten cubits. Each cherub was ten cubits high, and both were of the same size and shape, the height of one cherub being ten cubits, as was the height of the other. Solomon placed the cherubim in the middle of the inner sanctuary, with their wings spread in such a way that the wing of one was touching the one wall and the opposite wing of the other cherub was touching the opposite wall. Furthermore, their wings in the center of the wall were touching each other wing-to-wing. Each cherub was overlaid with gold. Solomon also inlaid all the inner walls of the Temple both the inner and outer sanctuaries with carved engravings of cherubim, palm trees, and blooming flowers. He also overlaid the floor of the Temple with gold in both the inner and outer sanctuaries. Solomon also provided doors, lintels, and five-sided doorposts for the entrance to the inner sanctuary. He installed two doors made of olive wood, inlaying them with carvings of cherubim, palm trees, and blooming flowers, and overlaying them with gold. Then he added more gold to cover the cherubim and palm trees. Solomon also provided four-sided doorposts made of cypress wood for the entrance to the outer sanctuary, along with two doors of cypress wood, one door of which had two leaves that turned on hinges, as did the other door, which also had two leaves that turned on hinges. Solomon also inlaid the doors with cherubim, palm trees, and blooming flowers. He overlaid them with gold that was carefully applied on the engraved work. He constructed the inner court with three rows of precut stone and a row of cedar beams. The foundation for the LORD's Temple was laid in the month of Ziv during the fourth year of Solomon's reign, and the Temple was completely finished according to its plans and specifications in the eighth month of the eleventh year of Solomon's reign, that is, during the month of Bul. It took about seven years to build. But Solomon took thirteen years to build his own palace, and finally finished it. 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. There were 45 pillars paneled with cedar above the side chambers, with rows of fifteen pillars, with three rows of framed windows facing each other in three ranks. All the doorways and doorposts had rectangular frames, with the doorways facing each other in three tiers. There was also a hall of pillars 50 cubits long and 30 cubits wide, and a porch in front with pillars, and a canopy in front of the pillars. He constructed the Judgment Hall for the throne room where he would be ruling, paneling it with cedar from floor to ceiling. Solomon's personal dwelling quarters, a separate court behind the hall, was of similar workmanship. Solomon also built a house similar to this for Pharaoh's daughter, whom Solomon had married. All of these were made with expensive stones, pre-cut according to specifications, hand-sawed inside and out from the foundation to the coping, including from inside to the great court. The foundation was made of expensive stone, including large stones ten cubits long and stones eight cubits long. Above these were expensive stones cut according to specifications, and cedar. So the great court was surrounded by three rows of cut stone, along with a row of cedar beams, just like the inner court of the LORD's Temple and the porch surrounding the Temple. King Solomon sent for Hiram from Tyre, the son of a widow from the tribe of Naphtali, whose father was from Tyre. A bronze worker, he was wise, knowledgeable, and was skilled in all sorts of bronze working. He went to King Solomon and did all of his work. He fashioned two bronze pillars, each one eighteen cubits high, with a circumference of twelve cubits. He also crafted two capitals of cast bronze and set them on top of the pillars. The height of one capital was five cubits, and the height of the other capital was five cubits. A network of latticework on top of the pillars was inlaid with ornamental wreaths and chains, the top of each pillar containing seven groups of ornamental structures. The pillars contained two rows of ornaments shaped like pomegranates around the latticework covering the top of each pillar. The capitals on top of each pillar above the rounded latticework contained four cubits of lily designs, with the capitals on the two pillars covered by 200 pomegranates in rows around both the capitals above and adjoining the rounded latticework. That's how he designed the pillars at the portico of the sanctuary. When he set up the right pillar, he named it Jachin. When he set up the left pillar, he named it Boaz. The work on the pillars was finished with a lily design on top of the pillars. Hiram also made a sea of cast metal ten cubits from brim to brim, circular in shape and five cubits and 30 cubits in its inner circumference. Under the brim, completely encircling it, were two rows of gourds inlaid as part of the original casting, ten to a cubit. The sea stood on top of twelve oxen. Three faced north, three faced west, three faced south, and three faced east. The sea was set on top of them, and their hind parts faced the center. The reservoir, which held about 2,000 baths, stood about a handbreadth thick, and its rim looked like the brim of a cup or of a lily blossom. Hiram also made ten bronze water carts. Each one was four cubits wide, four cubits long, and three cubits high. The carts were designed with borders between cross-pieces, and on the borders between the cross-pieces were lions, oxen, and cherubim. A pedestal was placed above the cross-pieces, and beneath the lions and oxen there were wreaths hanging down. Each cart had four bronze wheels equipped with bronze axles with four support feet. Beneath the basin were cast support structures made like wreaths on each side. The opening to each water cart inside the crown on top was one cubit wide, with engravings on the opening. The borders to the frames surrounding the opening were square, not round. The four wheels were placed underneath the borders, and the axles for the wheels were on the stand. Each wheel stood one and a half cubits high. The wheels resembled those of a chariot, with their axles, rims, spokes, and hubs made of cast bronze. Four supports stood at the four corners of each cart, built into the carts themselves. On top of each stand was a circular structure one half of one cubit high, with its braces and support frames integral with it, forming a single piece. Hiram engraved ornamental cherubim, lions, and palm trees on the surfaces of the supports and frames wherever there was space to do so, and encircled the artwork with wreaths. He made ten identical water carts by using the same plans, castings, and shapes for all of them. Hiram also fashioned ten bronze basins, each holding about 40 baths, each basin measuring four cubits in diameter, with one basin for each stand. He set five of the stands on the right side of the Temple and five on the left side of the Temple. He set the bronze sea on the right side of the Temple eastward facing the south. Hiram also made the basins, shovels, and bowls to complete the work that he performed for King Solomon in the LORD's Temple, including the two pillars and the bowls for the capitals that stood on top of the two pillars, along with the two lattices that covered the two bowls of the capitals that stood on top of the pillars, plus the 400 pomegranates for the two lattices (that is, the two rows of pomegranates for each lattice to cover the two bowls of the capitals that stood on top of the pillars), the ten stands with the ten basins on the stands, the single bronze sea and the twelve oxen that stood under the sea, and the pots, shovels, and bowls all of these utensils that Hiram made for King Solomon for the LORD's Temple were made from polished bronze. The king had them cast in the clay ground between Succoth and Zarethan in the Jordan plain. Solomon never inventoried the weight of the bronze used, because there were too many utensils, so the weight of the bronze used was never ascertained. Solomon made all the furnishings that were placed in the LORD's Temple, including the golden altar and the golden table on which the bread of the Presence was placed, along with the lamp stands (five on the right side and five on the left in front of the inner sanctuary), all made of pure gold, as well as the flower blossoms, lamps, and tongs of gold, and the cups, snuffers, bowls, spoons, and the fire pans, all made of pure gold, and hinges for the doors of the inner sanctuary, the Most Holy Place, and for the gates of the Temple that led to the nave, also of gold. Thus all the work that King Solomon performed in the LORD's Temple was finished. Then Solomon brought in the articles that had been dedicated by his father David, including silver, gold, and other utensils, and he placed them into storage in the treasuries of the LORD's Temple. Then Solomon gathered together the elders of Israel, including all the heads of the tribes and the leaders of the ancestral households of the Israelis, to meet with him in Jerusalem so they could bring up the Ark of the Covenant of the LORD from Zion, the City of David. So all the men gathered together to meet with King Solomon at the Festival of Tents in the month Ethanim, the seventh month. All the Elders of Israel showed up, and the priests picked up the ark and brought it, the Tent of Meeting, and all the holy implements that were in the tent. The priests and descendants of Levi carried them up to Jerusalem. King Solomon and the entire congregation of Israel that had assembled to be with him stood in front of the ark, sacrificing so many sheep and oxen that they were neither counted nor inventoried. After this, the priests brought the Ark of the Covenant of the LORD to the place prepared for it, into the inner sanctuary of the Temple, under the wings of the cherubim in the Most Holy Place. The wings of the cherubim spread over the resting place for the ark, so that the cherubim made a covering over the ark and its poles when viewed from above. The poles extended so far that their ends could be seen from the Holy Place in front of the inner sanctuary, but they could not be seen from outside. They remain there to this day. The ark was empty except for the two stone tablets that Moses had placed there at Horeb when the LORD had made a covenant with the Israelis after they had come out of the land of Egypt. When the priests left the Holy Place after setting the ark in place, the cloud filled the LORD's Temple so that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud, since the glory of the LORD filled the LORD's Temple. Then Solomon said, "The LORD has said that he lives shrouded in darkness. Now I have been constructing a magnificent Temple dedicated to you that will serve as a place for you to inhabit forever." Then the king turned to face the entire congregation of Israel while the congregation of Israel remained standing. Then Solomon prayed: "Blessed is the LORD God of Israel, who made a commitment to my father David and then personally fulfilled what he had promised when he said: "From the day I brought out my people Israel from Egypt I never chose a city from all the tribes of Israel to build a temple where my name might reside. I have chosen David to be over my people Israel.' "My father David wanted to build a temple for the name of the LORD God of Israel. The LORD told my father David: "Therefore, since you determined to build a temple for my name, you acted well, because it was your choice to do so. Nevertheless, you are not to build the Temple, but your son who will be born to you is to build a temple for my name.' "The LORD has brought to fulfillment what he promised, and now here I stand, having succeeded my father David to sit on the throne of Israel, as the LORD promised. I have built the Temple for the name of the LORD God of Israel. I have placed there the ark in which the covenant is stored that the LORD made with our ancestors when he brought them out of the land of Egypt." Then Solomon took his place in front of the LORD's altar in the presence of the entire congregation of Israel, spread out his hands toward heaven, and said: "LORD God of Israel, there is no one like you, God in heaven above or on the earth below, who watches over his covenant, showing gracious love to your servants who live their lives in your presence with all their hearts. It is you, LORD God, who have kept your promise to my father, your servant David, that you made to him. Indeed, you made a commitment to my father David and then personally fulfilled what you had promised today. "Now therefore, LORD God of Israel, keep your promise that you made to my father, your servant David, when you said, "You will not lack a man to sit on the throne of Israel, if only your descendants will watch their lives, to live in my presence just as you have lived in my presence.' "Now therefore, God of Israel, may your promise that you made to your servant David my father be fulfilled" and yet, will God truly reside on earth? Look! Neither the sky nor the highest heaven can contain you! How much less this Temple that I have built! Pay attention to the prayer of your servant and to his request, LORD my God, and listen to the cry and prayer that your servant is praying in your presence today. Let your eyes always look toward this Temple night and day, toward the location where you have said "My name will reside there.' Listen to the prayer that your servant prays in this direction. Listen to the requests from your servant and from your people Israel as they pray in this direction, listen from the place where you reside in heaven, then hear and forgive. "If a man should sin against his neighbor and he is required to take an oath, and he then comes to take an oath in front of your altar in this Temple, then listen in heaven, act, and judge your servants, condemning the wicked by bringing back to him the consequences of his choices and by justifying the righteous by recompensing him according to his righteousness. "If your people Israel are defeated in a battle with their enemy because they have sinned against you, when they return to you and confess to you, pray, and in this Temple they ask you to show grace to them, then hear in heaven, forgive the sin of your people Israel, and return them to the soil that you gave to their ancestors. "When heaven remains closed, and there is no rain because they have sinned against you, and they pray in the direction of this place, confessing your name and turning from their sin when you afflict them, then hear in heaven and forgive the sin of your servants and of your people Israel. Indeed, teach them the best way to live and send rain on your land that you have given to your people as an inheritance. "If a famine comes to the land, or if plant diseases, mildew, locust, or grasshoppers appear, or if their enemies attack them in their settlements of the land, no matter what the epidemic or illness is, whatever prayer or request is made, no matter whether it's made by a single man or by all of your people Israel, each praying out of his own hurting heart and anguish and stretching out his hands toward this Temple, then hear from heaven, the place where you reside, and forgive, repaying each person according to all of his ways, since you know their hearts for you alone know the hearts of all human beings so they will fear you every day and live on the surface of the land that you have given to our ancestors. "Now concerning the foreigner who is not from your people Israel, when he comes from a land far away for the sake of your name (for people will hear of your great name, your mighty acts, and your obvious power), when he comes and prays facing this Temple, then hear in heaven where you reside, and do whatever the foreigner asks of you, so that all the people of the earth may know your name, fear you as do your people Israel, and so they may know that this Temple that I have built is called by your name. "When your people go out to war against their enemies, no matter what way you send them, and they pray to the LORD in the direction of the city that you have chosen and in the direction of the Temple that I have built for your name, then hear their prayer and their request in heaven, and fight for their cause. "When they sin against you because there isn't a single human being who doesn't sin and you become angry with them and deliver them over to their enemy, who takes them away captive to the land that belongs to their enemy, whether near or far away, if they turn their hearts back to you in the land where they have been taken captive, repent, and pray to you even if they do so in the land of their captivity confessing, "We have sinned, we have committed abominations, and practiced wickedness,' if they return to you with all of their heart and with all of their soul in the land of their enemies who have taken them captive, as they pray to you in the direction of their land that you have given to their ancestors and to the city that you have chosen, and to the Temple that I have built for your name, then hear their prayer and requests in heaven, where you reside, and fight for their cause, forgiving your people who have sinned against you, along with their transgressions by which they have transgressed against you. "Show your compassion in the presence of those who have taken them captive, so they may show compassion on them, since they are your people and your heritage, which you brought out of Egypt, from an iron fire furnace. Do this so your eyes may remain open to the requests of your servant and to the requests of your people's prayers, to listen to them whenever they call out to you, because you have separated them to yourself as your heritage from all the people of the earth, as you spoke through your servant Moses when you brought our ancestors out of Egypt, Lord GOD. When Solomon had completed saying this entire prayer to the LORD, he got up from kneeling with his hands spread out toward heaven in the presence of the LORD's altar, stood up, and blessed all of the assembly of Israel in a loud voice. He said: "Blessed is the LORD, who has given security to his people Israel, just as he promised. Not one of his promises has failed to come about that he gave through his servant Moses. May the LORD our God be with us, just as he was with our ancestors. May he never leave us or abandon us, so that he may turn our hearts toward him, so that we may live life his way, keeping his commands, statutes, and ordinances that he gave to our ancestors. And may what I've had to say to the LORD remain with the LORD our God both day and night, so that he may defend the cause of his servant and the cause of his people Israel, as the need of the day may require it, so that, in turn, all the people of the earth may know that the LORD is God there is no one else. Now let your heart be completely devoted to the LORD our God, to live according to his statutes and to keep his commands, as we are doing today." Then the king and all of Israel with him offered sacrifices to the LORD. Solomon offered peace offerings to the LORD consisting of 22,000 oxen and 120,000 sheep. So the king and all the Israelis dedicated the LORD's Temple. That same day, the king consecrated the middle court that stood in front of the LORD's Temple, because that was where he offered burnt offerings, grain offerings, and fat from the peace offerings and because the bronze altar that was in the LORD's presence was too small to hold the burnt offerings, grain offerings, and fat from the peace offerings. So Solomon observed the Festival of Tents at that time, as did all of Israel with him. A large assembly came up from as far away as Lebo-hamath and the Wadi of Egypt to appear in the presence of the LORD our God, not just for seven days, but for seven days after that, a total of fourteen days. The following day, Solomon sent the people away as they blessed the king. Then they went back to their tents, rejoicing and glad for all the good things that the LORD had done for his servant David and to his people Israel. Later, after Solomon had finished building the LORD's Temple, the royal palace, and everything else that Solomon wanted to do, the LORD appeared to Solomon for a second time, just as he had appeared to him at Gibeon. The LORD told him: "I've heard your prayer and your request that you made to me. I have consecrated this Temple that you have built by placing my name there forever. My eyes and my heart will be there continuously. "Now as for you, if you commune with me like your father did, with an upright heart of integrity and doing everything that I've commanded you and keeping my statutes and ordinances, then I'll make your royal throne secure forever, just as I agreed to do so for your father David when I said, "You are to not lack a man on the throne of Israel.' But if you or your descendants abandon me, and do not keep my commandments and statutes that I have given to you, and if you go away, serve other gods, and worship them, then I will eliminate Israel from the land that I gave them and from the Temple that I've consecrated for my name. I will throw them out of my sight, and Israel will become the butt of jokes and a means of ridicule among people worldwide! "This Temple will become a pile of ruins. Everyone who passes by it will be so astounded that they will ask, "Why did the LORD do this to this land and to this Temple?' They will answer, "Because they abandoned the LORD their God, who brought their ancestors out of the land of Egypt, and they adopted other gods and served them. That's why the Lord has brought all of this disaster on them.'" It took 20 years for Solomon to finish working on the two houses the LORD's Temple and the royal palace after which King Solomon gave Hiram 20 cities in the land of Galilee, because King Hiram of Tyre had provided Solomon with as much cedar, cypress timber, and gold that he wanted. Hiram came out from Tyre to see the cities that Solomon had given him, but he wasn't happy with them, so he asked him, "What are these cities that you have given to me, my brother?" That's why these cities were named "the land of Cabal" to this day. Then Hiram paid the king 120 talents of gold. Here is a summary of the conscripted labor that King Solomon required to build the LORD's Temple, his royal palace, the terrace ramparts in the City of David, the wall of Jerusalem, Hazor, Megiddo, and Gezer. Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, had attacked and captured Gezer, burned it down, killed the Canaanites who lived in the city, and then gave it as a dowry for his daughter, Solomon's wife. So Solomon rebuilt Gezer, lower Beth-horon, Baalath, and Tamar in the wilderness, along with the storage cities that Solomon used for his chariots and for his cavalry, everything that Solomon felt like building in Jerusalem, in Lebanon, and in every territory under his control. The people who survived from the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, who were not related to the Israelis, and whose descendants had survived them and continued to live in the land because the Israelis were unable to completely eliminate them, Solomon placed under conscripted labor, a situation that remains in effect to this day. However, Solomon did not force Israelis into conscripted labor, but they did serve as his soldiers, servants, princes, captains, chariot commanders, and cavalry. There were 550 chief officers who supervised Solomon's activities and managed the staff that was doing the work. As soon as Pharaoh's daughter arrived from the City of David to live in her house that Solomon had built for her, then he fortified the terrace ramparts in the City of David. Three times every year Solomon offered burnt offerings and peace offerings on the altar that he had built to the LORD, burning incense with the offerings in the presence of the Lord. This concludes the record of the Temple construction. King Solomon also built a fleet of ships at Ezion-geber, which is near Eloth on the shore of the Reed Sea in the land of Edom. Hiram sent his servants to sail with the fleet, since they were expert seamen, and so they accompanied Solomon's servants. They sailed as far as Ophir and brought back 420 talents of gold for Solomon. When the queen of Sheba heard about Solomon's reputation with the LORD, she came to test him with difficult questions. She brought along a large retinue, camels laden with spices, and lots of gold and precious stones. Upon her arrival, she spoke with Solomon about everything that was on her mind. Solomon answered all of her questions. Nothing was hidden from Solomon that he did not explain to her. When the queen of Sheba had seen all of Solomon's wisdom for herself, the palace that he had built, the food set at his table, his servants who sat with him, his ministers in attendance and how they were dressed, his personal staff and how they were dressed, and even his personal stairway by which he went up to the LORD's Temple, she was breathless! "Everything I heard about your wisdom and what you have to say is true!" she gasped, "but I didn't believe it at first! But then I came here and I've seen it for myself! It's amazing! I wasn't told half of what's really great about your wisdom. You're far better in person than what the reports have said about you! How blessed are your staff! And how blessed are your employees, who serve you continuously and get to listen to your wisdom! And blessed be the LORD your God, who is delighted with you! He set you in place on the throne of Israel because the LORD loved Israel forever. That's why he made you to be king, so you could carry out justice and implement righteousness." Then she gave the king 120 talents of gold, a vast quantity of spices, and precious stones. No spices ever came again that were comparable to those that the queen of Sheba gave to King Solomon. Hiram's ships that brought gold from Ophir, also brought from Ophir lots of algum wood and precious stones. The king used the algum wood to have supports made for the LORD's Temple and for the royal palace, as well as lyres and harps for the choir, and nothing like that wood has ever come again or even been seen since right to this day. In return, King Solomon gave the queen of Sheba everything she wanted and had requested in addition to what he had given her consistent with his generosity. Afterward, she returned to her own land with her servants. Solomon's annual revenue was 666 talents of gold, not including revenue from traders, merchants, and from all the kings of Arabia and the governors of the land. King Solomon made 200 large shields of beaten gold, overlaying each large shield with the gold from 600 gold pieces, and 300 shields from beaten gold, overlaying each shield with the gold from 300 gold pieces. The king put them in his palace in the Lebanon forest. The king also made a great ivory throne and overlaid it with pure gold. Six steps led up to the throne, which had a round canopy fastened to the rear of the throne and armrests on each side of the seat and two lions standing on either side of each armrest. Twelve lions were placed on both sides of the six steps leading to the throne, and nothing comparable was made for any other kingdoms. All of King Solomon's drinking vessels were made of gold, and all the vessels in his palace in the Lebanon forest were made of pure gold. None were of silver, because silver was never considered to be valuable during Solomon's lifetime, because the king had ships that sailed to Tarshish accompanied by Hiram's ships. Once every three years ships from Tarshish returned, bringing gold, silver, ivory, apes, and peacocks. As a result, King Solomon became greater than all the kings of the earth in regards to wealth and wisdom. All the earth continued to seek audiences with Solomon so they could hear the wise things that God had put in his heart. Everyone kept on bringing gifts on an annual basis, including items made of silver and gold, garments, myrrh, spices, horses, and mules. Solomon accumulated chariots and cavalry. He had 1,400 chariots and 12,000 cavalry soldiers. He stationed them in various chariot cities and with the king in Jerusalem. The king made silver as common as stones in Jerusalem, and made cedar trees as abundant as sycamore trees in the Shephelah. Solomon imported horses from Egypt and Kue, and the king's buyers procured them at market price from Kue. A chariot from Egypt cost 600 pieces of silver, and a horse 150 pieces of silver, but then they were exported to all the Hittite kings and to the Aramean kings. But King Solomon married many foreign women besides the daughter of Pharaoh: women from Moab, Ammon, Edom, and Sidonia, along with Hittite women, too, all of them from nations that the LORD had ordered the Israelis, "You are not to associate with them and they are not to associate with you, because they will most certainly turn your affections away to follow their gods." Solomon became deeply attached to them by falling in love. He had 700 princess wives and 300 mistresses who turned his heart away from the LORD, because as Solomon grew older, his wives turned his affections away after other gods, and his heart was not fully as devoted to the LORD his God as his father David's heart had been. Solomon pursued Astarte, the Sidonian goddess, and Milcom, that detestable Ammonite idol. Solomon practiced what the LORD considered to be evil by not fully following the LORD, as had his father David. Later, Solomon even constructed a high place on the mountain east of Jerusalem that was dedicated to Chemosh, that detestable Moabite idol, and to Molech, the detestable Ammonite idol. Solomon did this for all of his foreign wives, who burned incense and sacrificed to their own gods. The LORD became angry at Solomon because his heart wandered away from the LORD God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice and warned him about this so he would not pursue other gods. But he did not obey what the LORD had commanded, so the LORD told Solomon, "Because you have done this and haven't kept my covenant and statutes that I commanded you, I'm going to tear the kingdom from you and give it to your servant. I'm not going to do this during your lifetime, for the sake of your father David, but I will tear it out of your son's control. For the sake of my servant David and for the sake of Jerusalem, I won't tear away the entire kingdom. I'll leave one tribe for your son to govern." After this, the LORD allowed Hadad the Edomite to oppose Solomon. He was part of the royal line of Edom. During David's military campaign against Edom, when his army commander Joab had gone out to bury the dead, he killed every male in Edom. Joab had his entire army of Israel stay there for six months until he had eliminated every male in Edom. But Hadad escaped to Egypt in the company of some of his father's Edomite servants, while Hadad was still a little child. They left Midian, arrived in Paran, and left from Paran with some men and traveled on to Egypt, where Pharaoh, king of Egypt, gave him a house to live in, assigned a food allotment to him, and gave him some land. Hadad won the affection of the Pharaoh, who gave permission for Hadad to marry the sister of his own wife, Queen Tahpenes. Queen Tahpenes' sister bore him his son Genubath, whom Tahpenes weaned in Pharaoh's palace while Genubath lived in Pharaoh's palace with the Pharaoh's own sons. Later on, Hadad learned in Egypt that David had been buried with his ancestors and that Joab the army commander was dead. So Hadad asked Pharaoh, "Please send me out so I can go back to my own land." Pharaoh asked him, "But have you lacked anything from me that would make you want to go back to your own country?" "No," he answered, "but I still really must leave." God also raised up Eliada's son Rezon, who had escaped from his master King Hadadezer of Zobah. He raised an army and commanded a gang of raiders after David had eliminated those who lived in Zobah. Rezon and his army moved to Damascus, remained there, and Rezon ruled from Damascus. He opposed Israel during Solomon's entire reign, in addition to all of the evil things that Hadad did. Rezon also hated Israel while he reigned over Aram. Solomon had a servant, Nebat's son Jeroboam, who was an Ephraimite from Zeredah. His widowed mother was named Zeruah. Jeroboam rebelled against Solomon, and this is why he rose in rebellion against the king: Solomon had built up the terrace ramparts in the city of his father David in order to repair a weakness. Jeroboam was a valiant soldier, and because Solomon observed that the young man was able to get things done, he set him in charge over all of the conscripted labor from the household of Joseph. During that time, Jeroboam left Jerusalem and the prophet Ahijah the Shilonite met him on the road. Ahijah had wrapped himself up in a new cloak, and both of them were alone on the open road. Ahijah grabbed the new cloak that he was wearing and tore it into twelve pieces! Then he told Jeroboam, "Take ten pieces for yourself, because this is what the LORD God of Israel says: "Pay attention! I'm going to tear the kingdom out of Solomon's control and give you ten tribes. I'll leave him one tribe for the sake of my servant David and one tribe for the sake of Jerusalem, the city that I chose from all of the tribes of Israel. I'm doing this because they have abandoned me and worshipped that Sidonian goddess Astarte, the Moabite god Chemosh, and the Ammonite god Milcom. They haven't lived my way by doing what I consider to be right and observing my statutes and my ordinances, like his father David did. "Nevertheless, I won't take the entire kingdom away from him, but I'll let him reign for the rest of his life, because of my servant David, whom I chose, who obeyed my commandments and statutes, but I will take the kingdom away from his son's control and give ten tribes to you. I'll give one tribe to his son, so my servant David will always have a light shining in my presence in Jerusalem, the city that I chose for myself and where I have placed my name. I'm going to take you and have you reign over whatever you desire. You will be king over Israel. If you listen to everything that I command you to do, and if you live your life my way, and if you do what I consider to be right by observing my statutes and my commandments, just like my servant David did, then I will be with you, I will build an enduring dynasty for you, just like I did for David, and I'll give Israel to you. This is how I'm going to afflict David's descendants because of what they have done, though I won't do it continuously.'" That's why Solomon tried to execute Jeroboam, but Jeroboam got up and fled to Egypt, where he lived as a guest of King Shishak and remained until Solomon had died. Now the rest of Solomon's accomplishments, including everything else he did, as well as records of his wisdom, are recorded in the Book of the Acts of Solomon, are they not? Solomon reigned over all of Israel from Jerusalem for a total of 40 years. Then Solomon died, as had his ancestors, and he was buried in the city of his father David. His son Rehoboam reigned in his place.
While he was still asking that question, Jonathan, the son of Abiathar the priest arrived, so Adonijah told him, "Come on in, since you're a worthy man and are bringing us good news!" "No," Jonathan answered. "Our lord King David has installed Solomon as king. The king has sent Zadok the priest, Nathan the prophet, Jehoiada's son Benaiah, the special forces and mercenaries, along with Solomon, who is riding the king's personal mule. Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet have anointed him in Gihon, and they just left from there rejoicing, and that's why the city is all in an uproar. That's the noise that you've been hearing! Solomon now sits on the royal throne. In addition to all of this, the king's servants have come along to congratulate our lord King David. They've been telling David "May your God make Solomon's reputation even more famous than yours, and may he make his throne greater than yours!' The king has himself bowed in worship on his own bed and said "Blessed be the LORD God of Israel, who has provided someone to sit on my throne today. I've seen it with my own eyes!'" Terrified, all of Adonijah's guests jumped up and ran away. Afraid of Solomon, Adonijah also jumped up and headed straight for the horns of the altar. "Hey look!" somebody informed Solomon. "Adonijah is terrified of King Solomon! He's gone out, grabbed hold of the horns of the altar, and now he's begging King Solomon, "Swear to me that you won't put your servant to death with a sword!'" "If he's done nothing wrong, not a hair of his head will be harmed," Solomon replied. "But if we find evil in him, he's a dead man." So King Solomon sent for him, and he was brought down from the altar. When he had arrived, he fell on his face in front of King Solomon, so Solomon told him, "Go home!" As David's time to die approached, he addressed his son Solomon with these words: "I'm headed down the road that everyone who lives on earth travels, so be strong and demonstrate that you're a grown man by keeping the charge that the LORD your God entrusted to you. Live life his way, keep his statutes, his commands, his ordinances, and his testimonies, just as they're written down in the Law of Moses, so that you may succeed in everything you do and wherever you go, and so that the LORD may fulfill his promise that he spoke about me when he said, "If your sons pay attention to how they live by walking truthfully in my presence with all their heart and with all their soul, you will never lack a man on the throne of Israel.' "Furthermore, you're aware of what Zeruiah's son Joab did to me and to those two commanders of the armies of Israel, Ner's son Abner and Jether's son Amasa, whom he killed, and how he shed the blood of wartime during times of peace, staining the very belt he wears around his waist and the sandals he wears on his feet. So act consistently with your wisdom, and don't let him die as a peaceful old man. Be gracious to the descendants of Barzillai the Gileadite, and provide for them in your household, because they helped me when I had to run from your brother Absalom. "Pay attention now! You have with you Gera's son Shimei the descendant of Benjamin from Bahurim. He cursed me violently that day when I had to leave for Mahanaim. When he visited me at the Jordan River, I made an oath to the LORD and told him, "I won't execute you with a sword.' But don't let him off unpunished, since you're a wise man and you'll know what you need to do to him. Find a way that he dies in his old age by shedding his blood." After this, David died, as had his ancestors, and he was buried in the City of David. David had reigned over Israel for 40 years. He reigned in Hebron for seven years and in Jerusalem for 33 years. Solomon then assumed his father David's throne, and his kingdom was firmly established. Later, Haggith's son Adonijah approached Solomon's mother. "Are you here on a peaceful mission?" she asked. "Yes," he replied. "I have something to ask you about." "Talk," she told him. So he replied, "You know that the kingdom should have come to me, and that everyone in Israel intended to place me as the next king. However, the kingdom has turned around and now belongs to my brother, because it went to him from the LORD. So now I'm asking one thing from you. Don't refuse me." "Talk," she told him. Then he asked her, "Please talk to King Solomon for me, since he won't refuse you. Ask him to give me Abishag the Shunammite as a wife." "Okay," Bathsheba replied. "I'll talk to the king for you." So Bathsheba went to talk to King Solomon for Adonijah. The king rose to meet her, bowed to her, and sat down on his throne. He ordered a throne be set in place for his mother. She sat on a throne to his right and told him, "I would like to make a minor request of you. Please don't refuse me." "What is your request, mother?" the king asked her. "I won't turn you down." So she asked him, "Give Abishag the Shunammite to your brother Adonijah as a wife." But King Solomon replied to his mother, "Why are you asking Abishag the Shunammite for Adonijah? Why not ask me to give up the kingdom for him, since he's my older brother, and why not ask for Abiathar the priest, and for Zeruiah's son Joab?" Then King Solomon took this oath in the name of the LORD: "May God do so to me, and more besides, if Adonijah hasn't endangered his life by bringing up this subject. Now therefore, as the LORD lives, who has established me and set me on the throne of my father David, and who has established a dynasty, just like he promised, Adonijah will surely be executed today." So King Solomon sent for Jehoiada's son Benaiah, who attacked and killed Adonijah. The king also told Abiathar the priest, "Go home to Anathoth. You deserve to die, but I won't kill you today, because you carried the ark of the Lord GOD before my father David and because you shared all the troubles that my father went through." So Solomon fired Abiathar as the LORD's priest, thus fulfilling the promise that the LORD had spoken in Shiloh concerning Eli's household. When Joab learned what had happened, he ran to the LORD's tent and grabbed hold of the horns of the altar, since Joab had supported Adonijah (though he had not supported Absalom). Somebody informed King Solomon, "Joab just ran to the LORD's tent and now he's standing beside the altar!" But Solomon ordered Jehoiada's son Benaiah, "Go kill him!" So Benaiah went into the LORD's tent and told Joab, "The king orders you to come out!" "No," Joab said, "I'd rather die here!" So Benaiah went and informed the king, "This is how Joab answered me." The king replied to him, "Do just what he asked. Kill him and bury him so that you may remove from me and from my father's household the guilt that Joab shed needlessly. The LORD will repay him for his bloodshed because, without my father David's consent he attacked and murdered two men more righteous and better than he, Ner's son Abner, the commander of Israel's army and Jether's son Amasa, commander of Judah's army. May their blood be repaid to Joab and to his descendants forever, and may there be peace shown from the LORD forever to David, to his descendants, to his household, and to his throne." Jehoiada's son Benaiah then approached Joab, attacked him, killed him, and had him buried at Joab's home in the wilderness. The king appointed Jehoiada's son Benaiah in charge of the army to replace Joab and also appointed Zadok the priest to replace Abiathar. The king sent for Shimei and told him, "Build yourself a house in Jerusalem and live there, but don't go anywhere from there. If you ever leave and cross the Kidron Brook, you can be sure that you'll die. You'll be responsible for your own death." Shimei replied to the king, "What your majesty has decreed is acceptable to me. I'll do what you've said." So Shimei lived in Jerusalem for quite some time. But three years later, two of Shimei's servants escaped to Maacah's son Achish, the king of Gath. Somebody told Shimei, "Look! Your servants went to Gath!" So Shimei got up, saddled a donkey, and traveled to Gath to find his servants. He found them and brought them back from Gath. Later, Solomon found out that Shimei had left Jerusalem, gone to Gath, and had returned, so the king sent for Shimei and asked him, "Didn't I make a promise to the LORD and warn you, "The day you leave and go anywhere else, you can be sure you'll die'? And you told me, "What your majesty has decreed is acceptable to me.' So why haven't you kept the oath you made to the LORD, and why didn't you obey my personal order to you?" The king also reminded Shimei, "You know all the evil things that you admit you did to my father David. Therefore the LORD is going to repay you for all of your evil. But King Solomon will be blessed, and David's throne will be established in the presence of the LORD forever." So the king gave orders to Jehoiada's son Benaiah to go out, attack Shimei, and kill him. That is how the kingdom was established under Solomon's control. Later, Solomon intermarried with the family of Pharaoh, the king of Egypt by taking his daughter and bringing her to the City of David to live until he had completed building his own palace, the LORD's Temple, and the wall around Jerusalem. The people were sacrificing at various high places because the Temple had not yet been built and dedicated to the LORD. Solomon loved the LORD, and lived according to the statutes that his father David obeyed, except that he sacrificed and burned offerings at the high places. The king used to go to Gibeon to sacrifice, since there was a famous high place there, where Solomon once offered 1,000 burnt offerings on that altar. The LORD appeared to Solomon one night in a dream and told him, "Ask me for whatever you want and I'll give it to you." So Solomon said: "You have demonstrated abundant gracious love to your servant David, my father, as he lived in your presence truthfully, righteously, and uprightly in his heart. In addition, you have kept on showing this abundant gracious love by giving him a son to sit on his throne today. Now, LORD my God, you have set me as king to replace my father David, but I'm still young. I don't have any leadership skills. Your servant lives in the midst of your people that you have chosen, a great people that is too numerous to be counted. So give your servant an understanding mind to govern your people, so I can discern between good and evil. Otherwise, how will I be able to govern this great people of yours?" The LORD was pleased that Solomon had asked for this, so God told him: "Because you asked for this, and you didn't ask for a long life for yourself, and you didn't ask for the lives of your enemies, but instead you've asked for discernment so you can understand how to govern, look how I'm going to do precisely what you asked. I'm giving you a wise and discerning mind, so that there will have been no one like you before you and no one will arise after you like you. I'm also giving you what you haven't requested: both riches and honor, so that no other king will be comparable to you during your lifetime. If you will live life my way, keeping my statutes and my commands, just like your father David did, I'll also increase the length of your life." Then Solomon woke up and realized that he had dreamed a dream. Then he went back to Jerusalem, stood before the ark of the LORD's covenant, offered burnt offerings and peace offerings, and threw a party for all of his servants. Right about then, two prostitutes approached the king and requested an audience with him. One woman said, "Your majesty, this woman and I live in the same house. I gave birth to a child while she was in the house. Three days later, this woman also gave birth. We lived alone there. There was nobody else with us in the house. It was just the two of us. This woman's son died overnight because she laid on top of him. She got up in the middle of the night, took my son from me while your servant was asleep, and laid him to her breast after laying her dead son next to me. The next morning, I got up to nurse my son, and he was dead. But when I examined him carefully in the light of day, he turned out not to be my son whom I had borne!" "Not so," claimed the other woman. "The living child is my son, and the dead one is yours." But the first woman said, "Not so! The dead child is your son and the living one is my son." This is what they testified before the king. The king said, "One of them claims, "This living son is mine, and your son is the dead one' and the other claims "No. Your son is the dead one and my son is the living one.' "Somebody get me a sword." So they brought a sword to the king. "Divide the living child in two!" he ordered. "Give half to the one and half to the other." The woman whose child was still alive cried out to the king, because her heart yearned for her son. "Oh no, your majesty!" she said. "Give her the living child. Please don't kill him." But the other woman said, "Cut him in half! That way, he'll belong to neither one of us." The king announced his decision: "Give the living child to the first woman. Don't kill him. She is his mother." When this decision that the king had handed down was announced, everybody in Israel was amazed at the king, because they all saw that God's wisdom was in him, enabling him to administer justice. And so King Solomon ruled over all of Israel. Here's a list of his officials: Zadok's son Azariah was priest, Shisha's sons Elihoreph and Ahijah were his secretaries, Ahilud's son Jehoshaphat was recorder, Jehoiada's son Benaiah commanded the army, Zadok and Abiathar served as priests, Nathan's son Azariah supervised the governors, Nathan's son Zabud the priest was the king's counselor, Ahishar supervised palace matters, and Abda's son Adoniram supervised conscripted labor. Solomon also appointed twelve governors over all of Israel, each of whom were responsible for providing one month's food provisions to the king and to his administration during each year. Here's a list of their names: Ben-hur from the hill country of Ephraim; Ben-deker in Makaz, Shaalbim and Beth-shemesh and Elonbeth-hanan; Ben-hesed served in Arubboth (where he supervised Socoh and all of the territory of Hepher); Ben-abinadab supervised the Dor heights (Solomon's daughter Taphath was his wife); Ahilud's son Baana served Taanach, Megiddo, and all of Beth-shean near Zarethan below Jezreel, including from Beth-shean to Abel-meholah as far as the other side of Jokmeam; Ben-geber in Ramoth-gilead, including the towns that belonged to Manasseh's descendant Jair that are in Gilead; Iddo's son Ahinadab served in Mahanaim; Ahimaaz served in Naphtali (he was married to Solomon's daughter Basemath); Hushai's son Baana served in Asher and Bealoth; Paruah's son Jehoshaphat served in Issachar; Ela's son Shimei served in Benjamin; and Uri's son Geber served in the territory of Gilead, the territory formerly ruled by King Sihon of the Amorites and King Og of Bashan (he was the only governor over that territory). Judah and Israel became as numerous as the sand on the seashore. They enjoyed abundance, and ate, drank, and rejoiced regularly. Solomon ruled over all the kingdoms from the Euphrates River to the territory of the Philistines and south to the border of Egypt. They brought tribute and served Solomon throughout his lifetime. Solomon's daily provisions were 30 kors of fine flour, 60 kors of meal, ten fattened oxen, 20 pasture-fed cattle, 100 sheep, as well as deer, gazelles, roebucks, and domestic poultry. He ruled over everything west of the Euphrates River from Tiphsah to Gaza, over all of the kings west of the Euphrates River, and he enjoyed peace on all sides around him. Judah and Israel lived safely, and everyone enjoyed their own vine and fig tree from Dan to Beer-sheba through all of Solomon's life. Solomon owned 40,000 stalls for the horses that drove his chariots, and he employed 12,000 men to drive them. His officers supplied provisions for King Solomon and for everyone who visited King Solomon's palace, each in their respective month of service responsibility. Nothing ever ran out. They also provided barley and straw for the horses and camels to their respective locations, each consistent with their responsibilities. God gave Solomon wisdom and great discernment. His insights were as numerous as sand on the seashore. Solomon was wiser than any of the eastern leaders and wiser than anyone in Egypt. He was wiser than anyone of his day wiser than Ethan the Ezrahite, Heman, and wiser than Mahol's sons Calcol and Darda. His reputation was known throughout the surrounding nations. Solomon wrote 3,000 proverbs and 1,005 songs. He described trees everything from cedars that grow in Lebanon to hyssop that grows on a garden wall. He described animals, birds, reptiles, and fish. People came from everywhere to hear Solomon's advice. Every king on the earth heard of his wisdom. King Hiram of Tyre sent his servants to Solomon when he learned that Solomon had been anointed king to replace his father, because Hiram had been David's lifelong friend. Solomon sent this message to Hiram: "You know that my father David was unable to build a temple dedicated to the LORD his God because he was busy fighting wars all around him until the LORD defeated his enemies. But now the LORD has given me rest all around, since I have neither foreign adversaries nor domestic crises. So now I'm planning to build a temple dedicated to the LORD my God, just as the LORD told my father when he said, "Your son, whom I will set on your throne to replace you, will build the Temple dedicated to me.' Now therefore please order that cedars of Lebanon be cut for me. My servants will work with your servants, and I will pay your servants whatever wages you set, because you know there is no one among us who knows how to cut timber like the Sidonians do." 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: "I have read the letter that you sent me. I'll do what you've asked about the cedar and cypress timber. My servants will transport them from Lebanon to the sea, where we'll make them into rafts and float them by sea to the port that you tell me to send them. We'll have them prepared for transport there and then you can carry them from there. You can meet my needs by providing provisions for my household." That's how Hiram came to provide Solomon as much cedar and cypress timber as he needed. In return, Solomon paid Hiram 20,000 kors of wheat as food for his household, and 20 kors of beaten oil. Solomon provided this amount every year during the construction. The LORD continued giving Solomon wisdom, just as he had promised, and Hiram and Solomon entered into a peace treaty between themselves. King Solomon conscripted laborers from throughout Israel. The work force numbered 30,000 men. He sent 10,000 men to Lebanon in shifts lasting one month. They worked one month in Lebanon for every two months they worked at home. Adoniram was placed in charge of the conscripted labor. Solomon also employed 70,000 heavy-lift workers and 80,000 stonecutters in the hill country. Solomon also employed 3,300 officials to supervise the work and to manage the people employed in the construction. The king specified that large, expensive stones be quarried so the foundation of the Temple could be laid with cut stones. As a result, Solomon's builders worked with Hiram's builders, accompanied by the Gebalites, to quarry the stone and to prepare the timber and other stone for the Temple's construction. During the month of Ziv, which was the second month of the fourth year of Solomon's reign over Israel, 480 years after the Israelis left the land of Egypt, Solomon began to build the LORD's Temple. The Temple for the LORD that Solomon was building was 60 cubits long and 20 cubits wide. A portico extended in front of the Temple for 20 cubits outward, corresponding to the width of the Temple. Along the front of the Temple its depth was ten cubits. Solomon also constructed windows in the Temple with specially designed frames. Against the wall of the Temple he built a series of rooms that encompassed the exterior of the Temple walls around the inner sanctuary. He built these side chambers all around the building. The lower structures were five cubits wide, the middle structures were six cubits wide and the third structures were seven cubits wide. Offsets were placed all around the Temple so that beams would not protrude through the walls of the Temple. The Temple was constructed of stone precut at the quarry so that no hammer, axe, or any other iron implement would be heard in the Temple while it was being built. A passageway to the side chamber was constructed on the south side of the Temple by which people could ascend winding stairs to the middle story, then from there to the third story. After Solomon built the Temple and finished it, he covered the Temple with beams and planks made of cedar. He constructed this structure to adjoin the entire Temple, five cubits high, and fastened it to the Temple with cedar timbers. Then this message from the LORD came to Solomon: "Concerning this Temple that you're building, if you live your life according to my statutes, carry out my ordinances, and keep all of my commands, and live according to them, then I will do what I promised to your father David. I will reside among the Israelis and will never abandon my people Israel." So Solomon kept on building the Temple and finished it. Then he built the inside walls of the Temple, lining them from floor to ceiling with cedar boards, and overlaying the Temple floor with boards made of cypress wood. He lined 20 cubits of the rear part of the Temple from floor to ceiling with cedar boards specially constructed for the inside to serve as the Most Holy Place. The rest of the main nave in the front was 40 cubits long. Cedar carvings in the form of gourds and blooming flowers covered the entire interior of the Temple so that no stone could be seen. Solomon also prepared an inner sanctuary within the Temple where the LORD's Ark of the Covenant was placed. The inner sanctuary was 20 cubits long, 20 cubits wide, and 20 cubits high, and overlaid with pure gold. The altar was also overlaid with cedar. Solomon overlaid the inside of the Temple with pure gold, fastened gold chains across the front of the inner sanctuary, and overlaid it with gold. He finished the Temple by overlaying it entirely with gold, including overlaying with gold the whole altar that was by the inner sanctuary. Inside the inner sanctuary Solomon placed two cherubim crafted from olive wood, each ten cubits high. Each wing of one cherub was five cubits long, and each wing of the other cherub was five cubits long, so that the distance from the end of one wing to the end of the other wing was ten cubits. Each cherub was ten cubits high, and both were of the same size and shape, the height of one cherub being ten cubits, as was the height of the other. Solomon placed the cherubim in the middle of the inner sanctuary, with their wings spread in such a way that the wing of one was touching the one wall and the opposite wing of the other cherub was touching the opposite wall. Furthermore, their wings in the center of the wall were touching each other wing-to-wing. Each cherub was overlaid with gold. Solomon also inlaid all the inner walls of the Temple both the inner and outer sanctuaries with carved engravings of cherubim, palm trees, and blooming flowers. He also overlaid the floor of the Temple with gold in both the inner and outer sanctuaries. Solomon also provided doors, lintels, and five-sided doorposts for the entrance to the inner sanctuary. He installed two doors made of olive wood, inlaying them with carvings of cherubim, palm trees, and blooming flowers, and overlaying them with gold. Then he added more gold to cover the cherubim and palm trees. Solomon also provided four-sided doorposts made of cypress wood for the entrance to the outer sanctuary, along with two doors of cypress wood, one door of which had two leaves that turned on hinges, as did the other door, which also had two leaves that turned on hinges. Solomon also inlaid the doors with cherubim, palm trees, and blooming flowers. He overlaid them with gold that was carefully applied on the engraved work. He constructed the inner court with three rows of precut stone and a row of cedar beams. The foundation for the LORD's Temple was laid in the month of Ziv during the fourth year of Solomon's reign, and the Temple was completely finished according to its plans and specifications in the eighth month of the eleventh year of Solomon's reign, that is, during the month of Bul. It took about seven years to build. But Solomon took thirteen years to build his own palace, and finally finished it. 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. There were 45 pillars paneled with cedar above the side chambers, with rows of fifteen pillars, with three rows of framed windows facing each other in three ranks. All the doorways and doorposts had rectangular frames, with the doorways facing each other in three tiers. There was also a hall of pillars 50 cubits long and 30 cubits wide, and a porch in front with pillars, and a canopy in front of the pillars. He constructed the Judgment Hall for the throne room where he would be ruling, paneling it with cedar from floor to ceiling. Solomon's personal dwelling quarters, a separate court behind the hall, was of similar workmanship. Solomon also built a house similar to this for Pharaoh's daughter, whom Solomon had married. All of these were made with expensive stones, pre-cut according to specifications, hand-sawed inside and out from the foundation to the coping, including from inside to the great court. The foundation was made of expensive stone, including large stones ten cubits long and stones eight cubits long. Above these were expensive stones cut according to specifications, and cedar. So the great court was surrounded by three rows of cut stone, along with a row of cedar beams, just like the inner court of the LORD's Temple and the porch surrounding the Temple. King Solomon sent for Hiram from Tyre, the son of a widow from the tribe of Naphtali, whose father was from Tyre. A bronze worker, he was wise, knowledgeable, and was skilled in all sorts of bronze working. He went to King Solomon and did all of his work. He fashioned two bronze pillars, each one eighteen cubits high, with a circumference of twelve cubits. He also crafted two capitals of cast bronze and set them on top of the pillars. The height of one capital was five cubits, and the height of the other capital was five cubits. A network of latticework on top of the pillars was inlaid with ornamental wreaths and chains, the top of each pillar containing seven groups of ornamental structures. The pillars contained two rows of ornaments shaped like pomegranates around the latticework covering the top of each pillar. The capitals on top of each pillar above the rounded latticework contained four cubits of lily designs, with the capitals on the two pillars covered by 200 pomegranates in rows around both the capitals above and adjoining the rounded latticework. That's how he designed the pillars at the portico of the sanctuary. When he set up the right pillar, he named it Jachin. When he set up the left pillar, he named it Boaz. The work on the pillars was finished with a lily design on top of the pillars. Hiram also made a sea of cast metal ten cubits from brim to brim, circular in shape and five cubits and 30 cubits in its inner circumference. Under the brim, completely encircling it, were two rows of gourds inlaid as part of the original casting, ten to a cubit. The sea stood on top of twelve oxen. Three faced north, three faced west, three faced south, and three faced east. The sea was set on top of them, and their hind parts faced the center. The reservoir, which held about 2,000 baths, stood about a handbreadth thick, and its rim looked like the brim of a cup or of a lily blossom. Hiram also made ten bronze water carts. Each one was four cubits wide, four cubits long, and three cubits high. The carts were designed with borders between cross-pieces, and on the borders between the cross-pieces were lions, oxen, and cherubim. A pedestal was placed above the cross-pieces, and beneath the lions and oxen there were wreaths hanging down. Each cart had four bronze wheels equipped with bronze axles with four support feet. Beneath the basin were cast support structures made like wreaths on each side. The opening to each water cart inside the crown on top was one cubit wide, with engravings on the opening. The borders to the frames surrounding the opening were square, not round. The four wheels were placed underneath the borders, and the axles for the wheels were on the stand. Each wheel stood one and a half cubits high. The wheels resembled those of a chariot, with their axles, rims, spokes, and hubs made of cast bronze. Four supports stood at the four corners of each cart, built into the carts themselves. On top of each stand was a circular structure one half of one cubit high, with its braces and support frames integral with it, forming a single piece. Hiram engraved ornamental cherubim, lions, and palm trees on the surfaces of the supports and frames wherever there was space to do so, and encircled the artwork with wreaths. He made ten identical water carts by using the same plans, castings, and shapes for all of them. Hiram also fashioned ten bronze basins, each holding about 40 baths, each basin measuring four cubits in diameter, with one basin for each stand. He set five of the stands on the right side of the Temple and five on the left side of the Temple. He set the bronze sea on the right side of the Temple eastward facing the south. Hiram also made the basins, shovels, and bowls to complete the work that he performed for King Solomon in the LORD's Temple, including the two pillars and the bowls for the capitals that stood on top of the two pillars, along with the two lattices that covered the two bowls of the capitals that stood on top of the pillars, plus the 400 pomegranates for the two lattices (that is, the two rows of pomegranates for each lattice to cover the two bowls of the capitals that stood on top of the pillars), the ten stands with the ten basins on the stands, the single bronze sea and the twelve oxen that stood under the sea, and the pots, shovels, and bowls all of these utensils that Hiram made for King Solomon for the LORD's Temple were made from polished bronze. The king had them cast in the clay ground between Succoth and Zarethan in the Jordan plain. Solomon never inventoried the weight of the bronze used, because there were too many utensils, so the weight of the bronze used was never ascertained. Solomon made all the furnishings that were placed in the LORD's Temple, including the golden altar and the golden table on which the bread of the Presence was placed, along with the lamp stands (five on the right side and five on the left in front of the inner sanctuary), all made of pure gold, as well as the flower blossoms, lamps, and tongs of gold, and the cups, snuffers, bowls, spoons, and the fire pans, all made of pure gold, and hinges for the doors of the inner sanctuary, the Most Holy Place, and for the gates of the Temple that led to the nave, also of gold. Thus all the work that King Solomon performed in the LORD's Temple was finished. Then Solomon brought in the articles that had been dedicated by his father David, including silver, gold, and other utensils, and he placed them into storage in the treasuries of the LORD's Temple. Then Solomon gathered together the elders of Israel, including all the heads of the tribes and the leaders of the ancestral households of the Israelis, to meet with him in Jerusalem so they could bring up the Ark of the Covenant of the LORD from Zion, the City of David. So all the men gathered together to meet with King Solomon at the Festival of Tents in the month Ethanim, the seventh month. All the Elders of Israel showed up, and the priests picked up the ark and brought it, the Tent of Meeting, and all the holy implements that were in the tent. The priests and descendants of Levi carried them up to Jerusalem. King Solomon and the entire congregation of Israel that had assembled to be with him stood in front of the ark, sacrificing so many sheep and oxen that they were neither counted nor inventoried. After this, the priests brought the Ark of the Covenant of the LORD to the place prepared for it, into the inner sanctuary of the Temple, under the wings of the cherubim in the Most Holy Place. The wings of the cherubim spread over the resting place for the ark, so that the cherubim made a covering over the ark and its poles when viewed from above. The poles extended so far that their ends could be seen from the Holy Place in front of the inner sanctuary, but they could not be seen from outside. They remain there to this day. The ark was empty except for the two stone tablets that Moses had placed there at Horeb when the LORD had made a covenant with the Israelis after they had come out of the land of Egypt. When the priests left the Holy Place after setting the ark in place, the cloud filled the LORD's Temple so that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud, since the glory of the LORD filled the LORD's Temple. Then Solomon said, "The LORD has said that he lives shrouded in darkness. Now I have been constructing a magnificent Temple dedicated to you that will serve as a place for you to inhabit forever." Then the king turned to face the entire congregation of Israel while the congregation of Israel remained standing. Then Solomon prayed: "Blessed is the LORD God of Israel, who made a commitment to my father David and then personally fulfilled what he had promised when he said: "From the day I brought out my people Israel from Egypt I never chose a city from all the tribes of Israel to build a temple where my name might reside. I have chosen David to be over my people Israel.' "My father David wanted to build a temple for the name of the LORD God of Israel. The LORD told my father David: "Therefore, since you determined to build a temple for my name, you acted well, because it was your choice to do so. Nevertheless, you are not to build the Temple, but your son who will be born to you is to build a temple for my name.' "The LORD has brought to fulfillment what he promised, and now here I stand, having succeeded my father David to sit on the throne of Israel, as the LORD promised. I have built the Temple for the name of the LORD God of Israel. I have placed there the ark in which the covenant is stored that the LORD made with our ancestors when he brought them out of the land of Egypt." Then Solomon took his place in front of the LORD's altar in the presence of the entire congregation of Israel, spread out his hands toward heaven, and said: "LORD God of Israel, there is no one like you, God in heaven above or on the earth below, who watches over his covenant, showing gracious love to your servants who live their lives in your presence with all their hearts. It is you, LORD God, who have kept your promise to my father, your servant David, that you made to him. Indeed, you made a commitment to my father David and then personally fulfilled what you had promised today. "Now therefore, LORD God of Israel, keep your promise that you made to my father, your servant David, when you said, "You will not lack a man to sit on the throne of Israel, if only your descendants will watch their lives, to live in my presence just as you have lived in my presence.' "Now therefore, God of Israel, may your promise that you made to your servant David my father be fulfilled" and yet, will God truly reside on earth? Look! Neither the sky nor the highest heaven can contain you! How much less this Temple that I have built! Pay attention to the prayer of your servant and to his request, LORD my God, and listen to the cry and prayer that your servant is praying in your presence today. Let your eyes always look toward this Temple night and day, toward the location where you have said "My name will reside there.' Listen to the prayer that your servant prays in this direction. Listen to the requests from your servant and from your people Israel as they pray in this direction, listen from the place where you reside in heaven, then hear and forgive. "If a man should sin against his neighbor and he is required to take an oath, and he then comes to take an oath in front of your altar in this Temple, then listen in heaven, act, and judge your servants, condemning the wicked by bringing back to him the consequences of his choices and by justifying the righteous by recompensing him according to his righteousness. "If your people Israel are defeated in a battle with their enemy because they have sinned against you, when they return to you and confess to you, pray, and in this Temple they ask you to show grace to them, then hear in heaven, forgive the sin of your people Israel, and return them to the soil that you gave to their ancestors. "When heaven remains closed, and there is no rain because they have sinned against you, and they pray in the direction of this place, confessing your name and turning from their sin when you afflict them, then hear in heaven and forgive the sin of your servants and of your people Israel. Indeed, teach them the best way to live and send rain on your land that you have given to your people as an inheritance. "If a famine comes to the land, or if plant diseases, mildew, locust, or grasshoppers appear, or if their enemies attack them in their settlements of the land, no matter what the epidemic or illness is, whatever prayer or request is made, no matter whether it's made by a single man or by all of your people Israel, each praying out of his own hurting heart and anguish and stretching out his hands toward this Temple, then hear from heaven, the place where you reside, and forgive, repaying each person according to all of his ways, since you know their hearts for you alone know the hearts of all human beings so they will fear you every day and live on the surface of the land that you have given to our ancestors. "Now concerning the foreigner who is not from your people Israel, when he comes from a land far away for the sake of your name (for people will hear of your great name, your mighty acts, and your obvious power), when he comes and prays facing this Temple, then hear in heaven where you reside, and do whatever the foreigner asks of you, so that all the people of the earth may know your name, fear you as do your people Israel, and so they may know that this Temple that I have built is called by your name. "When your people go out to war against their enemies, no matter what way you send them, and they pray to the LORD in the direction of the city that you have chosen and in the direction of the Temple that I have built for your name, then hear their prayer and their request in heaven, and fight for their cause. "When they sin against you because there isn't a single human being who doesn't sin and you become angry with them and deliver them over to their enemy, who takes them away captive to the land that belongs to their enemy, whether near or far away, if they turn their hearts back to you in the land where they have been taken captive, repent, and pray to you even if they do so in the land of their captivity confessing, "We have sinned, we have committed abominations, and practiced wickedness,' if they return to you with all of their heart and with all of their soul in the land of their enemies who have taken them captive, as they pray to you in the direction of their land that you have given to their ancestors and to the city that you have chosen, and to the Temple that I have built for your name, then hear their prayer and requests in heaven, where you reside, and fight for their cause, forgiving your people who have sinned against you, along with their transgressions by which they have transgressed against you. "Show your compassion in the presence of those who have taken them captive, so they may show compassion on them, since they are your people and your heritage, which you brought out of Egypt, from an iron fire furnace. Do this so your eyes may remain open to the requests of your servant and to the requests of your people's prayers, to listen to them whenever they call out to you, because you have separated them to yourself as your heritage from all the people of the earth, as you spoke through your servant Moses when you brought our ancestors out of Egypt, Lord GOD. When Solomon had completed saying this entire prayer to the LORD, he got up from kneeling with his hands spread out toward heaven in the presence of the LORD's altar, stood up, and blessed all of the assembly of Israel in a loud voice. He said: "Blessed is the LORD, who has given security to his people Israel, just as he promised. Not one of his promises has failed to come about that he gave through his servant Moses. May the LORD our God be with us, just as he was with our ancestors. May he never leave us or abandon us, so that he may turn our hearts toward him, so that we may live life his way, keeping his commands, statutes, and ordinances that he gave to our ancestors. And may what I've had to say to the LORD remain with the LORD our God both day and night, so that he may defend the cause of his servant and the cause of his people Israel, as the need of the day may require it, so that, in turn, all the people of the earth may know that the LORD is God there is no one else. Now let your heart be completely devoted to the LORD our God, to live according to his statutes and to keep his commands, as we are doing today." Then the king and all of Israel with him offered sacrifices to the LORD. Solomon offered peace offerings to the LORD consisting of 22,000 oxen and 120,000 sheep. So the king and all the Israelis dedicated the LORD's Temple. That same day, the king consecrated the middle court that stood in front of the LORD's Temple, because that was where he offered burnt offerings, grain offerings, and fat from the peace offerings and because the bronze altar that was in the LORD's presence was too small to hold the burnt offerings, grain offerings, and fat from the peace offerings. So Solomon observed the Festival of Tents at that time, as did all of Israel with him. A large assembly came up from as far away as Lebo-hamath and the Wadi of Egypt to appear in the presence of the LORD our God, not just for seven days, but for seven days after that, a total of fourteen days. The following day, Solomon sent the people away as they blessed the king. Then they went back to their tents, rejoicing and glad for all the good things that the LORD had done for his servant David and to his people Israel. Later, after Solomon had finished building the LORD's Temple, the royal palace, and everything else that Solomon wanted to do, the LORD appeared to Solomon for a second time, just as he had appeared to him at Gibeon. The LORD told him: "I've heard your prayer and your request that you made to me. I have consecrated this Temple that you have built by placing my name there forever. My eyes and my heart will be there continuously. "Now as for you, if you commune with me like your father did, with an upright heart of integrity and doing everything that I've commanded you and keeping my statutes and ordinances, then I'll make your royal throne secure forever, just as I agreed to do so for your father David when I said, "You are to not lack a man on the throne of Israel.' But if you or your descendants abandon me, and do not keep my commandments and statutes that I have given to you, and if you go away, serve other gods, and worship them, then I will eliminate Israel from the land that I gave them and from the Temple that I've consecrated for my name. I will throw them out of my sight, and Israel will become the butt of jokes and a means of ridicule among people worldwide! "This Temple will become a pile of ruins. Everyone who passes by it will be so astounded that they will ask, "Why did the LORD do this to this land and to this Temple?' They will answer, "Because they abandoned the LORD their God, who brought their ancestors out of the land of Egypt, and they adopted other gods and served them. That's why the Lord has brought all of this disaster on them.'" It took 20 years for Solomon to finish working on the two houses the LORD's Temple and the royal palace after which King Solomon gave Hiram 20 cities in the land of Galilee, because King Hiram of Tyre had provided Solomon with as much cedar, cypress timber, and gold that he wanted. Hiram came out from Tyre to see the cities that Solomon had given him, but he wasn't happy with them, so he asked him, "What are these cities that you have given to me, my brother?" That's why these cities were named "the land of Cabal" to this day. Then Hiram paid the king 120 talents of gold. Here is a summary of the conscripted labor that King Solomon required to build the LORD's Temple, his royal palace, the terrace ramparts in the City of David, the wall of Jerusalem, Hazor, Megiddo, and Gezer. Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, had attacked and captured Gezer, burned it down, killed the Canaanites who lived in the city, and then gave it as a dowry for his daughter, Solomon's wife. So Solomon rebuilt Gezer, lower Beth-horon, Baalath, and Tamar in the wilderness, along with the storage cities that Solomon used for his chariots and for his cavalry, everything that Solomon felt like building in Jerusalem, in Lebanon, and in every territory under his control. The people who survived from the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, who were not related to the Israelis, and whose descendants had survived them and continued to live in the land because the Israelis were unable to completely eliminate them, Solomon placed under conscripted labor, a situation that remains in effect to this day. However, Solomon did not force Israelis into conscripted labor, but they did serve as his soldiers, servants, princes, captains, chariot commanders, and cavalry. There were 550 chief officers who supervised Solomon's activities and managed the staff that was doing the work. As soon as Pharaoh's daughter arrived from the City of David to live in her house that Solomon had built for her, then he fortified the terrace ramparts in the City of David. Three times every year Solomon offered burnt offerings and peace offerings on the altar that he had built to the LORD, burning incense with the offerings in the presence of the Lord. This concludes the record of the Temple construction. King Solomon also built a fleet of ships at Ezion-geber, which is near Eloth on the shore of the Reed Sea in the land of Edom. Hiram sent his servants to sail with the fleet, since they were expert seamen, and so they accompanied Solomon's servants. They sailed as far as Ophir and brought back 420 talents of gold for Solomon. When the queen of Sheba heard about Solomon's reputation with the LORD, she came to test him with difficult questions. She brought along a large retinue, camels laden with spices, and lots of gold and precious stones. Upon her arrival, she spoke with Solomon about everything that was on her mind. Solomon answered all of her questions. Nothing was hidden from Solomon that he did not explain to her. When the queen of Sheba had seen all of Solomon's wisdom for herself, the palace that he had built, the food set at his table, his servants who sat with him, his ministers in attendance and how they were dressed, his personal staff and how they were dressed, and even his personal stairway by which he went up to the LORD's Temple, she was breathless! "Everything I heard about your wisdom and what you have to say is true!" she gasped, "but I didn't believe it at first! But then I came here and I've seen it for myself! It's amazing! I wasn't told half of what's really great about your wisdom. You're far better in person than what the reports have said about you! How blessed are your staff! And how blessed are your employees, who serve you continuously and get to listen to your wisdom! And blessed be the LORD your God, who is delighted with you! He set you in place on the throne of Israel because the LORD loved Israel forever. That's why he made you to be king, so you could carry out justice and implement righteousness." Then she gave the king 120 talents of gold, a vast quantity of spices, and precious stones. No spices ever came again that were comparable to those that the queen of Sheba gave to King Solomon. Hiram's ships that brought gold from Ophir, also brought from Ophir lots of algum wood and precious stones. The king used the algum wood to have supports made for the LORD's Temple and for the royal palace, as well as lyres and harps for the choir, and nothing like that wood has ever come again or even been seen since right to this day. In return, King Solomon gave the queen of Sheba everything she wanted and had requested in addition to what he had given her consistent with his generosity. Afterward, she returned to her own land with her servants. Solomon's annual revenue was 666 talents of gold, not including revenue from traders, merchants, and from all the kings of Arabia and the governors of the land. King Solomon made 200 large shields of beaten gold, overlaying each large shield with the gold from 600 gold pieces, and 300 shields from beaten gold, overlaying each shield with the gold from 300 gold pieces. The king put them in his palace in the Lebanon forest. The king also made a great ivory throne and overlaid it with pure gold. Six steps led up to the throne, which had a round canopy fastened to the rear of the throne and armrests on each side of the seat and two lions standing on either side of each armrest. Twelve lions were placed on both sides of the six steps leading to the throne, and nothing comparable was made for any other kingdoms. All of King Solomon's drinking vessels were made of gold, and all the vessels in his palace in the Lebanon forest were made of pure gold. None were of silver, because silver was never considered to be valuable during Solomon's lifetime, because the king had ships that sailed to Tarshish accompanied by Hiram's ships. Once every three years ships from Tarshish returned, bringing gold, silver, ivory, apes, and peacocks. As a result, King Solomon became greater than all the kings of the earth in regards to wealth and wisdom. All the earth continued to seek audiences with Solomon so they could hear the wise things that God had put in his heart. Everyone kept on bringing gifts on an annual basis, including items made of silver and gold, garments, myrrh, spices, horses, and mules. Solomon accumulated chariots and cavalry. He had 1,400 chariots and 12,000 cavalry soldiers. He stationed them in various chariot cities and with the king in Jerusalem. The king made silver as common as stones in Jerusalem, and made cedar trees as abundant as sycamore trees in the Shephelah. Solomon imported horses from Egypt and Kue, and the king's buyers procured them at market price from Kue. A chariot from Egypt cost 600 pieces of silver, and a horse 150 pieces of silver, but then they were exported to all the Hittite kings and to the Aramean kings. But King Solomon married many foreign women besides the daughter of Pharaoh: women from Moab, Ammon, Edom, and Sidonia, along with Hittite women, too, all of them from nations that the LORD had ordered the Israelis, "You are not to associate with them and they are not to associate with you, because they will most certainly turn your affections away to follow their gods." Solomon became deeply attached to them by falling in love. He had 700 princess wives and 300 mistresses who turned his heart away from the LORD, because as Solomon grew older, his wives turned his affections away after other gods, and his heart was not fully as devoted to the LORD his God as his father David's heart had been. Solomon pursued Astarte, the Sidonian goddess, and Milcom, that detestable Ammonite idol. Solomon practiced what the LORD considered to be evil by not fully following the LORD, as had his father David. Later, Solomon even constructed a high place on the mountain east of Jerusalem that was dedicated to Chemosh, that detestable Moabite idol, and to Molech, the detestable Ammonite idol. Solomon did this for all of his foreign wives, who burned incense and sacrificed to their own gods. The LORD became angry at Solomon because his heart wandered away from the LORD God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice and warned him about this so he would not pursue other gods. But he did not obey what the LORD had commanded, so the LORD told Solomon, "Because you have done this and haven't kept my covenant and statutes that I commanded you, I'm going to tear the kingdom from you and give it to your servant. I'm not going to do this during your lifetime, for the sake of your father David, but I will tear it out of your son's control. For the sake of my servant David and for the sake of Jerusalem, I won't tear away the entire kingdom. I'll leave one tribe for your son to govern." After this, the LORD allowed Hadad the Edomite to oppose Solomon. He was part of the royal line of Edom. During David's military campaign against Edom, when his army commander Joab had gone out to bury the dead, he killed every male in Edom. Joab had his entire army of Israel stay there for six months until he had eliminated every male in Edom. But Hadad escaped to Egypt in the company of some of his father's Edomite servants, while Hadad was still a little child. They left Midian, arrived in Paran, and left from Paran with some men and traveled on to Egypt, where Pharaoh, king of Egypt, gave him a house to live in, assigned a food allotment to him, and gave him some land. Hadad won the affection of the Pharaoh, who gave permission for Hadad to marry the sister of his own wife, Queen Tahpenes. Queen Tahpenes' sister bore him his son Genubath, whom Tahpenes weaned in Pharaoh's palace while Genubath lived in Pharaoh's palace with the Pharaoh's own sons. Later on, Hadad learned in Egypt that David had been buried with his ancestors and that Joab the army commander was dead. So Hadad asked Pharaoh, "Please send me out so I can go back to my own land." Pharaoh asked him, "But have you lacked anything from me that would make you want to go back to your own country?" "No," he answered, "but I still really must leave." God also raised up Eliada's son Rezon, who had escaped from his master King Hadadezer of Zobah. He raised an army and commanded a gang of raiders after David had eliminated those who lived in Zobah. Rezon and his army moved to Damascus, remained there, and Rezon ruled from Damascus. He opposed Israel during Solomon's entire reign, in addition to all of the evil things that Hadad did. Rezon also hated Israel while he reigned over Aram. Solomon had a servant, Nebat's son Jeroboam, who was an Ephraimite from Zeredah. His widowed mother was named Zeruah. Jeroboam rebelled against Solomon, and this is why he rose in rebellion against the king: Solomon had built up the terrace ramparts in the city of his father David in order to repair a weakness. Jeroboam was a valiant soldier, and because Solomon observed that the young man was able to get things done, he set him in charge over all of the conscripted labor from the household of Joseph. During that time, Jeroboam left Jerusalem and the prophet Ahijah the Shilonite met him on the road. Ahijah had wrapped himself up in a new cloak, and both of them were alone on the open road. Ahijah grabbed the new cloak that he was wearing and tore it into twelve pieces! Then he told Jeroboam, "Take ten pieces for yourself, because this is what the LORD God of Israel says: "Pay attention! I'm going to tear the kingdom out of Solomon's control and give you ten tribes. I'll leave him one tribe for the sake of my servant David and one tribe for the sake of Jerusalem, the city that I chose from all of the tribes of Israel. I'm doing this because they have abandoned me and worshipped that Sidonian goddess Astarte, the Moabite god Chemosh, and the Ammonite god Milcom. They haven't lived my way by doing what I consider to be right and observing my statutes and my ordinances, like his father David did. "Nevertheless, I won't take the entire kingdom away from him, but I'll let him reign for the rest of his life, because of my servant David, whom I chose, who obeyed my commandments and statutes, but I will take the kingdom away from his son's control and give ten tribes to you. I'll give one tribe to his son, so my servant David will always have a light shining in my presence in Jerusalem, the city that I chose for myself and where I have placed my name. I'm going to take you and have you reign over whatever you desire. You will be king over Israel. If you listen to everything that I command you to do, and if you live your life my way, and if you do what I consider to be right by observing my statutes and my commandments, just like my servant David did, then I will be with you, I will build an enduring dynasty for you, just like I did for David, and I'll give Israel to you. This is how I'm going to afflict David's descendants because of what they have done, though I won't do it continuously.'" That's why Solomon tried to execute Jeroboam, but Jeroboam got up and fled to Egypt, where he lived as a guest of King Shishak and remained until Solomon had died. Now the rest of Solomon's accomplishments, including everything else he did, as well as records of his wisdom, are recorded in the Book of the Acts of Solomon, are they not? Solomon reigned over all of Israel from Jerusalem for a total of 40 years. Then Solomon died, as had his ancestors, and he was buried in the city of his father David. His son Rehoboam reigned in his place.
Magistrates » Should » Judge wisely
Right about then, two prostitutes approached the king and requested an audience with him. One woman said, "Your majesty, this woman and I live in the same house. I gave birth to a child while she was in the house. Three days later, this woman also gave birth. We lived alone there. There was nobody else with us in the house. It was just the two of us. read more.
This woman's son died overnight because she laid on top of him. She got up in the middle of the night, took my son from me while your servant was asleep, and laid him to her breast after laying her dead son next to me. The next morning, I got up to nurse my son, and he was dead. But when I examined him carefully in the light of day, he turned out not to be my son whom I had borne!" "Not so," claimed the other woman. "The living child is my son, and the dead one is yours." But the first woman said, "Not so! The dead child is your son and the living one is my son." This is what they testified before the king. The king said, "One of them claims, "This living son is mine, and your son is the dead one' and the other claims "No. Your son is the dead one and my son is the living one.' "Somebody get me a sword." So they brought a sword to the king. "Divide the living child in two!" he ordered. "Give half to the one and half to the other." The woman whose child was still alive cried out to the king, because her heart yearned for her son. "Oh no, your majesty!" she said. "Give her the living child. Please don't kill him." But the other woman said, "Cut him in half! That way, he'll belong to neither one of us." The king announced his decision: "Give the living child to the first woman. Don't kill him. She is his mother." When this decision that the king had handed down was announced, everybody in Israel was amazed at the king, because they all saw that God's wisdom was in him, enabling him to administer justice.
This woman's son died overnight because she laid on top of him. She got up in the middle of the night, took my son from me while your servant was asleep, and laid him to her breast after laying her dead son next to me. The next morning, I got up to nurse my son, and he was dead. But when I examined him carefully in the light of day, he turned out not to be my son whom I had borne!" "Not so," claimed the other woman. "The living child is my son, and the dead one is yours." But the first woman said, "Not so! The dead child is your son and the living one is my son." This is what they testified before the king. The king said, "One of them claims, "This living son is mine, and your son is the dead one' and the other claims "No. Your son is the dead one and my son is the living one.' "Somebody get me a sword." So they brought a sword to the king. "Divide the living child in two!" he ordered. "Give half to the one and half to the other." The woman whose child was still alive cried out to the king, because her heart yearned for her son. "Oh no, your majesty!" she said. "Give her the living child. Please don't kill him." But the other woman said, "Cut him in half! That way, he'll belong to neither one of us." The king announced his decision: "Give the living child to the first woman. Don't kill him. She is his mother." When this decision that the king had handed down was announced, everybody in Israel was amazed at the king, because they all saw that God's wisdom was in him, enabling him to administer justice.
Parents » Parental affection exemplified by » The true mother of the infant brought to solomon
"Not so," claimed the other woman. "The living child is my son, and the dead one is yours." But the first woman said, "Not so! The dead child is your son and the living one is my son." This is what they testified before the king. The king said, "One of them claims, "This living son is mine, and your son is the dead one' and the other claims "No. Your son is the dead one and my son is the living one.' "Somebody get me a sword." So they brought a sword to the king. read more.
"Divide the living child in two!" he ordered. "Give half to the one and half to the other." The woman whose child was still alive cried out to the king, because her heart yearned for her son. "Oh no, your majesty!" she said. "Give her the living child. Please don't kill him." But the other woman said, "Cut him in half! That way, he'll belong to neither one of us." The king announced his decision: "Give the living child to the first woman. Don't kill him. She is his mother." When this decision that the king had handed down was announced, everybody in Israel was amazed at the king, because they all saw that God's wisdom was in him, enabling him to administer justice.
"Divide the living child in two!" he ordered. "Give half to the one and half to the other." The woman whose child was still alive cried out to the king, because her heart yearned for her son. "Oh no, your majesty!" she said. "Give her the living child. Please don't kill him." But the other woman said, "Cut him in half! That way, he'll belong to neither one of us." The king announced his decision: "Give the living child to the first woman. Don't kill him. She is his mother." When this decision that the king had handed down was announced, everybody in Israel was amazed at the king, because they all saw that God's wisdom was in him, enabling him to administer justice.
Rulers' » Righteous » Instances of » Solomon » Judgment
Right about then, two prostitutes approached the king and requested an audience with him. One woman said, "Your majesty, this woman and I live in the same house. I gave birth to a child while she was in the house. Three days later, this woman also gave birth. We lived alone there. There was nobody else with us in the house. It was just the two of us. read more.
This woman's son died overnight because she laid on top of him. She got up in the middle of the night, took my son from me while your servant was asleep, and laid him to her breast after laying her dead son next to me. The next morning, I got up to nurse my son, and he was dead. But when I examined him carefully in the light of day, he turned out not to be my son whom I had borne!" "Not so," claimed the other woman. "The living child is my son, and the dead one is yours." But the first woman said, "Not so! The dead child is your son and the living one is my son." This is what they testified before the king. The king said, "One of them claims, "This living son is mine, and your son is the dead one' and the other claims "No. Your son is the dead one and my son is the living one.' "Somebody get me a sword." So they brought a sword to the king. "Divide the living child in two!" he ordered. "Give half to the one and half to the other." The woman whose child was still alive cried out to the king, because her heart yearned for her son. "Oh no, your majesty!" she said. "Give her the living child. Please don't kill him." But the other woman said, "Cut him in half! That way, he'll belong to neither one of us." The king announced his decision: "Give the living child to the first woman. Don't kill him. She is his mother." When this decision that the king had handed down was announced, everybody in Israel was amazed at the king, because they all saw that God's wisdom was in him, enabling him to administer justice.
This woman's son died overnight because she laid on top of him. She got up in the middle of the night, took my son from me while your servant was asleep, and laid him to her breast after laying her dead son next to me. The next morning, I got up to nurse my son, and he was dead. But when I examined him carefully in the light of day, he turned out not to be my son whom I had borne!" "Not so," claimed the other woman. "The living child is my son, and the dead one is yours." But the first woman said, "Not so! The dead child is your son and the living one is my son." This is what they testified before the king. The king said, "One of them claims, "This living son is mine, and your son is the dead one' and the other claims "No. Your son is the dead one and my son is the living one.' "Somebody get me a sword." So they brought a sword to the king. "Divide the living child in two!" he ordered. "Give half to the one and half to the other." The woman whose child was still alive cried out to the king, because her heart yearned for her son. "Oh no, your majesty!" she said. "Give her the living child. Please don't kill him." But the other woman said, "Cut him in half! That way, he'll belong to neither one of us." The king announced his decision: "Give the living child to the first woman. Don't kill him. She is his mother." When this decision that the king had handed down was announced, everybody in Israel was amazed at the king, because they all saw that God's wisdom was in him, enabling him to administer justice.
Solomon » His wisdom see » In judicial insight
Right about then, two prostitutes approached the king and requested an audience with him. One woman said, "Your majesty, this woman and I live in the same house. I gave birth to a child while she was in the house. Three days later, this woman also gave birth. We lived alone there. There was nobody else with us in the house. It was just the two of us. read more.
This woman's son died overnight because she laid on top of him. She got up in the middle of the night, took my son from me while your servant was asleep, and laid him to her breast after laying her dead son next to me. The next morning, I got up to nurse my son, and he was dead. But when I examined him carefully in the light of day, he turned out not to be my son whom I had borne!" "Not so," claimed the other woman. "The living child is my son, and the dead one is yours." But the first woman said, "Not so! The dead child is your son and the living one is my son." This is what they testified before the king. The king said, "One of them claims, "This living son is mine, and your son is the dead one' and the other claims "No. Your son is the dead one and my son is the living one.' "Somebody get me a sword." So they brought a sword to the king. "Divide the living child in two!" he ordered. "Give half to the one and half to the other." The woman whose child was still alive cried out to the king, because her heart yearned for her son. "Oh no, your majesty!" she said. "Give her the living child. Please don't kill him." But the other woman said, "Cut him in half! That way, he'll belong to neither one of us." The king announced his decision: "Give the living child to the first woman. Don't kill him. She is his mother." When this decision that the king had handed down was announced, everybody in Israel was amazed at the king, because they all saw that God's wisdom was in him, enabling him to administer justice.
This woman's son died overnight because she laid on top of him. She got up in the middle of the night, took my son from me while your servant was asleep, and laid him to her breast after laying her dead son next to me. The next morning, I got up to nurse my son, and he was dead. But when I examined him carefully in the light of day, he turned out not to be my son whom I had borne!" "Not so," claimed the other woman. "The living child is my son, and the dead one is yours." But the first woman said, "Not so! The dead child is your son and the living one is my son." This is what they testified before the king. The king said, "One of them claims, "This living son is mine, and your son is the dead one' and the other claims "No. Your son is the dead one and my son is the living one.' "Somebody get me a sword." So they brought a sword to the king. "Divide the living child in two!" he ordered. "Give half to the one and half to the other." The woman whose child was still alive cried out to the king, because her heart yearned for her son. "Oh no, your majesty!" she said. "Give her the living child. Please don't kill him." But the other woman said, "Cut him in half! That way, he'll belong to neither one of us." The king announced his decision: "Give the living child to the first woman. Don't kill him. She is his mother." When this decision that the king had handed down was announced, everybody in Israel was amazed at the king, because they all saw that God's wisdom was in him, enabling him to administer justice.
Solomon » Justice of, illustrated in his judgment of the two prostitutes
Right about then, two prostitutes approached the king and requested an audience with him. One woman said, "Your majesty, this woman and I live in the same house. I gave birth to a child while she was in the house. Three days later, this woman also gave birth. We lived alone there. There was nobody else with us in the house. It was just the two of us. read more.
This woman's son died overnight because she laid on top of him. She got up in the middle of the night, took my son from me while your servant was asleep, and laid him to her breast after laying her dead son next to me. The next morning, I got up to nurse my son, and he was dead. But when I examined him carefully in the light of day, he turned out not to be my son whom I had borne!" "Not so," claimed the other woman. "The living child is my son, and the dead one is yours." But the first woman said, "Not so! The dead child is your son and the living one is my son." This is what they testified before the king. The king said, "One of them claims, "This living son is mine, and your son is the dead one' and the other claims "No. Your son is the dead one and my son is the living one.' "Somebody get me a sword." So they brought a sword to the king. "Divide the living child in two!" he ordered. "Give half to the one and half to the other." The woman whose child was still alive cried out to the king, because her heart yearned for her son. "Oh no, your majesty!" she said. "Give her the living child. Please don't kill him." But the other woman said, "Cut him in half! That way, he'll belong to neither one of us." The king announced his decision: "Give the living child to the first woman. Don't kill him. She is his mother." When this decision that the king had handed down was announced, everybody in Israel was amazed at the king, because they all saw that God's wisdom was in him, enabling him to administer justice.
This woman's son died overnight because she laid on top of him. She got up in the middle of the night, took my son from me while your servant was asleep, and laid him to her breast after laying her dead son next to me. The next morning, I got up to nurse my son, and he was dead. But when I examined him carefully in the light of day, he turned out not to be my son whom I had borne!" "Not so," claimed the other woman. "The living child is my son, and the dead one is yours." But the first woman said, "Not so! The dead child is your son and the living one is my son." This is what they testified before the king. The king said, "One of them claims, "This living son is mine, and your son is the dead one' and the other claims "No. Your son is the dead one and my son is the living one.' "Somebody get me a sword." So they brought a sword to the king. "Divide the living child in two!" he ordered. "Give half to the one and half to the other." The woman whose child was still alive cried out to the king, because her heart yearned for her son. "Oh no, your majesty!" she said. "Give her the living child. Please don't kill him." But the other woman said, "Cut him in half! That way, he'll belong to neither one of us." The king announced his decision: "Give the living child to the first woman. Don't kill him. She is his mother." When this decision that the king had handed down was announced, everybody in Israel was amazed at the king, because they all saw that God's wisdom was in him, enabling him to administer justice.
Wisdom » Of solomon
The LORD continued giving Solomon wisdom, just as he had promised, and Hiram and Solomon entered into a peace treaty between themselves.
Verse Concepts
Right about then, two prostitutes approached the king and requested an audience with him. One woman said, "Your majesty, this woman and I live in the same house. I gave birth to a child while she was in the house. Three days later, this woman also gave birth. We lived alone there. There was nobody else with us in the house. It was just the two of us. read more.
This woman's son died overnight because she laid on top of him. She got up in the middle of the night, took my son from me while your servant was asleep, and laid him to her breast after laying her dead son next to me. The next morning, I got up to nurse my son, and he was dead. But when I examined him carefully in the light of day, he turned out not to be my son whom I had borne!" "Not so," claimed the other woman. "The living child is my son, and the dead one is yours." But the first woman said, "Not so! The dead child is your son and the living one is my son." This is what they testified before the king. The king said, "One of them claims, "This living son is mine, and your son is the dead one' and the other claims "No. Your son is the dead one and my son is the living one.' "Somebody get me a sword." So they brought a sword to the king. "Divide the living child in two!" he ordered. "Give half to the one and half to the other." The woman whose child was still alive cried out to the king, because her heart yearned for her son. "Oh no, your majesty!" she said. "Give her the living child. Please don't kill him." But the other woman said, "Cut him in half! That way, he'll belong to neither one of us." The king announced his decision: "Give the living child to the first woman. Don't kill him. She is his mother." When this decision that the king had handed down was announced, everybody in Israel was amazed at the king, because they all saw that God's wisdom was in him, enabling him to administer justice.
This woman's son died overnight because she laid on top of him. She got up in the middle of the night, took my son from me while your servant was asleep, and laid him to her breast after laying her dead son next to me. The next morning, I got up to nurse my son, and he was dead. But when I examined him carefully in the light of day, he turned out not to be my son whom I had borne!" "Not so," claimed the other woman. "The living child is my son, and the dead one is yours." But the first woman said, "Not so! The dead child is your son and the living one is my son." This is what they testified before the king. The king said, "One of them claims, "This living son is mine, and your son is the dead one' and the other claims "No. Your son is the dead one and my son is the living one.' "Somebody get me a sword." So they brought a sword to the king. "Divide the living child in two!" he ordered. "Give half to the one and half to the other." The woman whose child was still alive cried out to the king, because her heart yearned for her son. "Oh no, your majesty!" she said. "Give her the living child. Please don't kill him." But the other woman said, "Cut him in half! That way, he'll belong to neither one of us." The king announced his decision: "Give the living child to the first woman. Don't kill him. She is his mother." When this decision that the king had handed down was announced, everybody in Israel was amazed at the king, because they all saw that God's wisdom was in him, enabling him to administer justice.
"Because you asked for this, and you didn't ask for a long life for yourself, and you didn't ask for the lives of your enemies, but instead you've asked for discernment so you can understand how to govern, look how I'm going to do precisely what you asked. I'm giving you a wise and discerning mind, so that there will have been no one like you before you and no one will arise after you like you.
Verse Concepts
God gave Solomon wisdom and great discernment. His insights were as numerous as sand on the seashore. Solomon was wiser than any of the eastern leaders and wiser than anyone in Egypt. He was wiser than anyone of his day wiser than Ethan the Ezrahite, Heman, and wiser than Mahol's sons Calcol and Darda. read more.
His reputation was known throughout the surrounding nations. Solomon wrote 3,000 proverbs and 1,005 songs. He described trees everything from cedars that grow in Lebanon to hyssop that grows on a garden wall. He described animals, birds, reptiles, and fish. People came from everywhere to hear Solomon's advice. Every king on the earth heard of his wisdom.
His reputation was known throughout the surrounding nations. Solomon wrote 3,000 proverbs and 1,005 songs. He described trees everything from cedars that grow in Lebanon to hyssop that grows on a garden wall. He described animals, birds, reptiles, and fish. People came from everywhere to hear Solomon's advice. Every king on the earth heard of his wisdom.
All the earth continued to seek audiences with Solomon so they could hear the wise things that God had put in his heart.
Verse Concepts