Thematic Bible
Thematic Bible
Kings » Who reigned over all israel » Solomon
Zadok the priest took the horn of oil from the tabernacle and anointed Solomon. Then they blew the ram's horn, and all the people proclaimed, "Long live King Solomon!" All the people followed him, playing flutes and rejoicing with such a great joy that the earth split open from the sound. Adonijah and all the invited guests who were with him heard [the noise] as they finished eating. Joab heard the sound of the ram's horn and said, "Why is the town in such an uproar?" read more.
He was still speaking when Jonathan son of Abiathar the priest, suddenly arrived. Adonijah said, "Come in, for you are an excellent man, and you must be bringing good news." "Unfortunately not," Jonathan answered him. "Our lord King David has made Solomon king. And with Solomon, the king has sent Zadok the priest, Nathan the prophet, Benaiah son of Jehoiada, the Cherethites, and the Pelethites, and they have had him ride on the king's mule. Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet have anointed him king in Gihon. They have gone from there rejoicing. The town has been in an uproar; that's the noise you heard. Solomon has even taken his seat on the royal throne. "The king's servants have also gone to congratulate our lord King David, saying, 'May your God make the name of Solomon more famous than your name, and may He make his throne greater than your throne.' Then the king bowed in worship on his bed. And the king went on to say this: 'May the Lord God of Israel be praised! Today He has provided one to sit on my throne, and I am a witness.' " Then all of Adonijah's guests got up trembling and went their separate ways. Adonijah was afraid of Solomon, so he got up and went to take hold of the horns of the altar. It was reported to Solomon: "Look, Adonijah fears King Solomon, and he has taken hold of the horns of the altar, saying, 'Let King Solomon first swear to me that he will not kill his servant with the sword.' " Then Solomon said, "If he is a man of character, then not a single hair of his will fall to the ground, but if evil is found in him, then he dies." So King Solomon sent for him, and they took him down from the altar. He came and paid homage to King Solomon, and Solomon said to him, "Go to your home." As the time approached for David to die, he instructed his son Solomon, "As for me, I am going the way of all of the earth. Be strong and brave, and keep your obligation to the Lord your God to walk in His ways and to keep His statutes, commandments, judgments, and testimonies. This is written in the law of Moses, so that you will have success in everything you do and wherever you turn, and so that the Lord will carry out His promise that He made to me: 'If your sons are careful to walk faithfully before Me with their whole mind and heart, you will never fail to have a man on the throne of Israel.' "You also know what Joab son of Zeruiah did to me and what he did to the two commanders of Israel's army, Abner son of Ner and Amasa son of Jether. He murdered them [in a time] of peace to avenge blood shed in war. He spilled that blood on his own waistband and on the sandals of his feet. Act according to your wisdom, and do not let his gray head descend to Sheol in peace. "Show loyalty to the sons of Barzillai the Gileadite and let them be among those who eat at your table because they supported me when I fled from your brother Absalom. "Keep an eye on Shimei son of Gera, the Benjaminite from Bahurim who is with you. He uttered malicious curses against me the day I went to Mahanaim. But he came down to meet me at the Jordan River, and I swore to him by the Lord: 'I will never kill you with the sword.' So don't let him go unpunished, for you are a wise man. You know how to deal with him to bring his gray head down to Sheol with blood." Then David rested with his fathers and was buried in the city of David. The [length of] time David reigned over Israel was 40 years: he reigned seven years in Hebron and 33 years in Jerusalem. Solomon sat on the throne of his father David, and his kingship was firmly established. Now Adonijah son of Haggith came to Bathsheba, Solomon's mother. She asked, "Do you come peacefully?" "Peacefully," he replied, and then asked, "May I talk with you?" "Go ahead," she answered. "You know the kingship was mine," he said. "All Israel expected me to be king, but then the kingship was turned over to my brother, for the Lord gave it to him. So now I have just one request of you; don't turn me down." She said to him, "Go on." He replied, "Please speak to King Solomon since he won't turn you down. Let him give me Abishag the Shunammite as a wife." "Very well," Bathsheba replied. "I will speak to the king for you." So Bathsheba went to King Solomon to speak to him about Adonijah. The king stood up to greet her, bowed to her, sat down on his throne, and had a throne placed for the king's mother. So she sat down at his right hand. Then she said, "I have just one small request of you. Don't turn me down." "[Go ahead and] ask, mother," the king replied, "for I won't turn you down." So she said, "Let Abishag the Shunammite be given to your brother Adonijah as a wife." King Solomon answered his mother, "Why are you requesting Abishag the Shunammite for Adonijah? Since he is my elder brother, you might as well ask the kingship for him, for Abiathar the priest, and for Joab son of Zeruiah." Then Solomon took an oath by the Lord: "May God punish me and do so severely if Adonijah has not made this request at the cost of his life. And now, as the Lord lives, the One who established me, seated me on the throne of my father David, and made me a dynasty as He promised-I swear Adonijah will be put to death today!" Then King Solomon gave the order to Benaiah son of Jehoiada, who struck down Adonijah, and he died. The king said to Abiathar the priest, "Go to your fields in Anathoth. Even though you deserve to die, I will not put you to death today, since you carried the ark of the Lord God in the presence of my father David and you suffered through all that my father suffered." So Solomon banished Abiathar from being the Lord's priest, and it fulfilled the Lord's prophecy He had spoken at Shiloh against Eli's family. The news reached Joab. Since he had supported Adonijah but not Absalom, Joab fled to the Lord's tabernacle and took hold of the horns of the altar. It was reported to King Solomon: "Joab has fled to the Lord's tabernacle and is now beside the altar." Then Solomon sent Benaiah son of Jehoiada and told [him], "Go and strike him down!" So Benaiah went to the tabernacle and said to Joab, "This is what the king says: 'Come out!' " But Joab said, "No, for I will die here." So Benaiah took a message back to the king, "This is what Joab said, and this is how he answered me." The king said to him, "Do just as he says. Strike him down and bury him in order to remove from me and from my father's house the blood that Joab shed without just cause. The Lord will bring back his own blood on his own head because he struck down two men more righteous and better than he, without my father David's knowledge. With his sword, Joab murdered Abner son of Ner, commander of Israel's army, and Amasa son of Jether, commander of Judah's army. Their blood will come back on Joab's head and on the head of his descendants forever, but for David, his descendants, his dynasty, and his throne, there will be peace from the Lord forever." Benaiah son of Jehoiada went up, struck down Joab, and put him to death. He was buried at his house in the wilderness. Then the king appointed Benaiah son of Jehoiada in Joab's place over the army, and he appointed Zadok the priest in Abiathar's place. Then the king summoned Shimei and said to him, "Build a house for yourself in Jerusalem and live there, but don't leave there [and go] anywhere else. On the day you do leave and cross the Kidron Valley, know for sure that you will certainly die. Your blood will be on your own head." Shimei said to the king, "The sentence is fair; your servant will do as my lord the king has spoken." And Shimei lived in Jerusalem for a long time. But then, at the end of three years, two of Shimei's slaves ran away to Achish son of Maacah, king of Gath. Shimei was informed, "Look, your slaves are in Gath." So Shimei saddled his donkey and set out to Achish at Gath to search for his slaves. He went and brought them back from Gath. It was reported to Solomon that Shimei had gone from Jerusalem to Gath and had returned. So the king summoned Shimei and said to him, "Didn't I make you swear by the Lord and warn you, saying, 'On the day you leave and go anywhere else, know for sure that you will certainly die'? And you said to me, 'The sentence is fair; I will obey.' So why have you not kept the Lord's oath and the command that I gave you?" The king also said, "You yourself know all the evil that you did to my father David. Therefore, the Lord has brought back your evil on your head, but King Solomon will be blessed, and David's throne will remain established before the Lord forever." Then the king commanded Benaiah son of Jehoiada, and he went out and struck Shimei down, and he died. So the kingdom was established in Solomon's hand. Solomon made an alliance with Pharaoh king of Egypt by marrying Pharaoh's daughter. Solomon brought her to the city of David until he finished building his palace, the Lord's temple, and the wall surrounding Jerusalem. However, the people were sacrificing on the high places, because until that time a temple for the Lord's name had not been built. Solomon loved the Lord by walking in the statutes of his father David, but he also sacrificed and burned incense on the high places. The king went to Gibeon to sacrifice there because it was the most famous high place. He offered 1,000 burnt offerings on that altar. At Gibeon the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream at night. God said, "Ask. What should I give you?" And Solomon replied, "You have shown great and faithful love to Your servant, my father David, because he walked before You in faithfulness, righteousness, and integrity. You have continued this great and faithful love for him by giving him a son to sit on his throne, as it is today. "Lord my God, You have now made Your servant king in my father David's place. Yet I am just a youth with no experience in leadership. Your servant is among Your people You have chosen, a people too numerous to be numbered or counted. So give Your servant an obedient heart to judge Your people and to discern between good and evil. For who is able to judge this great people of Yours?" Now it pleased the Lord that Solomon had requested this. So God said to him, "Because you have requested this and did not ask for long life or riches for yourself, or the death of your enemies, but you asked discernment for yourself to understand justice, I will therefore do what you have asked. I will give you a wise and understanding heart, so that there has never been anyone like you before and never will be again. In addition, I will give you what you did not ask for: both riches and honor, so that no man in any kingdom will be your equal during your entire life. If you walk in My ways and keep My statutes and commandments just as your father David did, I will give you a long life." Then Solomon woke up and realized it had been a dream. He went to Jerusalem, stood before the ark of the Lord's covenant, and offered burnt offerings and fellowship offerings. Then he held a feast for all his servants. Then two women who were prostitutes came to the king and stood before him. One woman said, "Please my lord, this woman and I live in the same house, and I had a baby while she was in the house. On the third day after I gave birth, she also had a baby and we were alone. No one else was with us in the house; just the two of us were there. During the night this woman's son died because she lay on him. She got up in the middle of the night and took my son from my side while your servant was asleep. She laid him at her breast, and she put her dead son in my arms. When I got up in the morning to nurse my son, I discovered he was dead. That morning, when I looked closely at him I realized that he was not the son I gave birth to." "No," the other woman said. "My son is the living one; your son is the dead one." The first woman said, "No, your son is the dead one; my son is the living one." So they argued before the king. The king replied, "This woman says, 'This is my son who is alive, and your son is dead,' but that woman says, 'No, your son is dead, and my son is alive.' " The king continued, "Bring me a sword." So they brought the sword to the king. Solomon said, "Cut the living boy in two and give half to one and half to the other." The woman whose son was alive spoke to the king because she felt great compassion for her son. "My lord, give her the living baby," she said, "but please don't have him killed!" But the other one said, "He will not be mine or yours. Cut [him in two]!" The king responded, "Give the living baby to the first woman, and don't kill him. She is his mother." All Israel heard about the judgment the king had given, and they stood in awe of the king because they saw that God's wisdom was in him to carry out justice. King Solomon ruled over Israel, and these were his officials: Azariah son of Zadok, priest; Elihoreph and Ahijah the sons of Shisha, secretaries; Jehoshaphat son of Ahilud, historian; Benaiah son of Jehoiada, in charge of the army; Zadok and Abiathar, priests; Azariah son of Nathan, in charge of the deputies; Zabud son of Nathan, a priest and adviser to the king; Ahishar, in charge of the palace; and Adoniram son of Abda, in charge of forced labor. Solomon had 12 deputies for all Israel. They provided food for the king and his household; each one made provision for one month out of the year. These were their names: Ben-hur, in the hill country of Ephraim; Ben-deker, in Makaz, Shaalbim, Beth-shemesh, and Elon-beth-hanan; Ben-hesed, in Arubboth (he had Socoh and the whole land of Hepher); Ben-abinadab, in all Naphath-dor (Taphath daughter of Solomon was his wife); Baana son of Ahilud, in Taanach, Megiddo, and all Beth-shean which is beside Zarethan below Jezreel, from Beth-shean to Abel-meholah, as far as the other side of Jokmeam; Ben-geber, in Ramoth-gilead (he had the villages of Jair son of Manasseh, which are in Gilead, and he had the region of Argob, which is in Bashan, 60 great cities with walls and bronze bars); Ahinadab son of Iddo, [in] Mahanaim; Ahimaaz, in Naphtali (he also had married a daughter of Solomon-Basemath); Baana son of Hushai, in Asher and Bealoth; Jehoshaphat son of Paruah, in Issachar; Shimei son of Ela, in Benjamin; Geber son of Uri, in the land of Gilead, the country of Sihon king of the Amorites and of Og king of Bashan. There was one deputy in the land of Judah. Judah and Israel were as numerous as the sand by the sea; [they were] eating, drinking, and rejoicing. Solomon ruled over all the kingdoms from the Euphrates River to the land of the Philistines and as far as the border of Egypt. They offered tribute and served Solomon all the days of his life. Solomon's provisions for one day were 150 bushels of fine flour and 300 bushels of meal, 10 fattened oxen, 20 range oxen, and 100 sheep, besides deer, gazelles, roebucks, and pen-fed poultry, for he had dominion over everything west of the Euphrates from Tiphsah to Gaza and over all the kings west of the Euphrates. He had peace on all his surrounding borders. Throughout Solomon's [reign], Judah and Israel lived in safety from Dan to Beer-sheba, each man under his own vine and his own fig tree. Solomon had 40,000 stalls of horses for his chariots, and 12,000 horsemen. Each of those deputies for a month in turn provided food for King Solomon and for everyone who came to King Solomon's table. They neglected nothing. Each man brought the barley and the straw for the chariot teams and the other horses to the required place according to his assignment. God gave Solomon wisdom, very great insight, and understanding as [vast] as the sand on the seashore. Solomon's wisdom was greater than the wisdom of all the people of the East, greater than all the wisdom of Egypt. He was wiser than anyone-wiser than Ethan the Ezrahite, and Heman, Calcol, and Darda, sons of Mahol. His reputation extended to all the surrounding nations. Solomon composed 3,000 proverbs, and his songs numbered 1,005. He described trees, from the cedar in Lebanon to the hyssop growing out of the wall. He also taught about animals, birds, reptiles, and fish. People came from everywhere, [sent] by every king on earth who had heard of his wisdom, to listen to Solomon's wisdom. Hiram king of Tyre sent his servants to Solomon when he heard that he had been anointed king in his father's place, for Hiram had always been friends with David. Solomon sent [this message] to Hiram: "You know my father David was not able to build a temple for the name of the Lord his God. This was because of the warfare all around him until the Lord put his enemies under his feet. The Lord my God has now given me rest all around; there is no enemy or crisis. So I plan to build a temple for the name of the Lord my God, according to what the Lord promised my father David: 'I will put your son on your throne in your place, and he will build the temple for My name.' "Therefore, command that cedars from Lebanon be cut down for me. My servants will be with your servants, and I will pay your servants' wages according to whatever you say, for you know that not a man among us knows how to cut timber like the Sidonians." When Hiram heard Solomon's words, he greatly rejoiced and said, "May the Lord be praised today! He has given David a wise son to be over this great people!" Then Hiram sent [a reply] to Solomon, saying, "I have heard your message; I will do everything you want regarding the cedar and cypress timber. My servants will bring [the logs] down from Lebanon to the sea, and I will make them into rafts to go by sea to the place you indicate. I will break them apart there, and you can take them away. You then can meet my needs by providing my household with food." So Hiram provided Solomon with all the cedar and cypress timber he wanted, and Solomon provided Hiram with 100,000 bushels of wheat as food for his household and 110,000 gallons of beaten oil. Solomon did this for Hiram year after year. The Lord gave Solomon wisdom, as He had promised him. There was peace between Hiram and Solomon, and the two of them made a treaty. Then King Solomon drafted forced laborers from all Israel; the labor force numbered 30,000 men. He sent 10,000 to Lebanon each month in shifts; one month they were in Lebanon, two months they were at home. Adoniram was in charge of the forced labor. Solomon had 70,000 porters and 80,000 stonecutters in the mountains, not including his 3,300 deputies in charge of the work. They ruled over the people doing the work. The king commanded them to quarry large, costly stones to lay the foundation of the temple with dressed stones. So Solomon's builders and Hiram's builders, along with the Gebalites, quarried [the stone] and prepared the timber and stone for the temple's construction. Solomon [began to] build the temple for the Lord in the four hundred eightieth year after the Israelites came out from the land of Egypt, in the fourth year of his reign over Israel, in the second month, in the month of Ziv. The temple that King Solomon built for the Lord was 90 feet long, 30 feet wide, and 45 feet high. The portico in front of the temple sanctuary was 30 feet long extending across the temple's width, and 15 feet deep in front of the temple. He also made windows with beveled frames for the temple. He then built a chambered structure along the temple wall, encircling the walls of the temple, that is, the sanctuary and the inner sanctuary. And he made side chambers all around. The lowest chamber was seven and a half feet wide, the middle was nine feet wide, and the third was 10 and a half feet wide. He also provided offset ledges for the temple all around the outside so that nothing would be inserted into the temple walls. The temple's construction used finished stones cut at the quarry so that no hammer, chisel, or any iron tool was heard in the temple while it was being built. The door for the lowest side chamber was on the right side of the temple. They went up a stairway to the middle [chamber], and from the middle to the third. When he finished building the temple, he paneled it with boards and planks of cedar. He built the chambers along the entire temple, joined to the temple with cedar beams; [each story was] seven and a half feet high. The word of the Lord came to Solomon: "As for this temple you are building-if you walk in My statutes, execute My ordinances, and keep all My commandments by walking in them, I will fulfill My promise to you, which I made to your father David. I will live among the Israelites and not abandon My people Israel." When Solomon finished building the temple, he paneled the interior temple walls with cedar boards; from the temple floor to the surface of the ceiling he overlaid the interior with wood. He also overlaid the floor with cypress boards. Then he lined 30 feet of the rear of the temple with cedar boards from the floor to the surface of the ceiling, and he built the interior as an inner sanctuary, the most holy place. The temple, that is, the sanctuary in front of the most holy place, was 60 feet long. The cedar paneling inside the temple was carved with [ornamental] gourds and flower blossoms. Everything was cedar; not a stone could be seen. He prepared the inner sanctuary inside the temple to put the ark of the Lord's covenant there. The interior of the sanctuary was 30 feet long, 30 feet wide, and 30 feet high; he overlaid it with pure gold. He also overlaid the cedar altar. Next, Solomon overlaid the interior of the temple with pure gold, and he hung gold chains across the front of the inner sanctuary and overlaid it with gold. So he added the gold overlay to the entire temple until everything was completely finished, including the entire altar that belongs in the inner sanctuary. In the inner sanctuary he made two cherubim 15 feet high out of olive wood. One wing of the [first] cherub was seven and a half feet long, and the other wing was seven and a half feet long. The wingspan was 15 feet from tip to tip. The second cherub also was 15 feet; both cherubim had the same size and shape. The first cherub's height was 15 feet and so was the second cherub's. Then he put the cherubim inside the inner temple. Since their wings were spread out, the first one's wing touched [one] wall while the second cherub's wing touched the other wall, and in the middle of the temple their wings were touching wing to wing. He also overlaid the cherubim with gold. He carved all the surrounding temple walls with carved engravings-cherubim, palm trees and flower blossoms-in both the inner and outer sanctuaries. He overlaid the temple floor with gold in both the inner and outer sanctuaries. For the entrance of the inner sanctuary, he made olive wood doors. The pillars of the doorposts were five-sided. The two doors were made of olive wood. He carved cherubim, palm trees and flower blossoms on them and overlaid them with gold, hammering gold over the cherubim and palm trees. In the same way, he made four-sided olive wood doorposts for the sanctuary entrance. The two doors were made of cypress wood; the first door had two folding sides, and the second door had two folding panels. He carved cherubim, palm trees and flower blossoms on them and overlaid them with gold applied evenly over the carving. He built the inner courtyard with three rows of dressed stone and a row of trimmed cedar beams. The foundation of the Lord's temple was laid in [Solomon's] fourth year in the month of Ziv. In [his] eleventh year in the eighth month, in the month of Bul, the temple was completed in every detail and according to every specification. So he built it in seven years. Solomon completed his entire palace-complex after 13 years of construction. He built the House of the Forest of Lebanon. It was 150 feet long, 75 feet wide, and 45 feet high on four rows of cedar pillars, with cedar beams on top of the pillars. It was paneled above with cedar at the top of the chambers that [rested] on 45 pillars, fifteen per row. There were three rows of window frames, facing each other in three tiers. All the doors and doorposts had rectangular frames, the openings facing each other in three tiers. He made the hall of pillars 75 feet long and 45 feet wide. A portico was in front of the pillars, and a canopy with pillars was in front of them. He made the Hall of the Throne where he would judge-the Hall of Judgment. It was paneled with cedar from the floor to the rafters. Solomon's own palace where he would live, in the other courtyard behind the hall, was of similar construction. And he made a house like this hall for Pharaoh's daughter, his wife. All of these [buildings] were of costly stones, cut to size and sawed with saws on the inner and outer surfaces, from foundation to coping and from the outside to the great courtyard. The foundation was made of large, costly stones 12 and 15 feet long. Above were also costly stones, cut to size, as well as cedar wood. Around the great courtyard, as well as the inner courtyard of the Lord's temple and the portico of the temple, were three rows of dressed stone and a row of trimmed cedar beams. King Solomon had Hiram brought from Tyre. He was a widow's son from the tribe of Naphtali, and his father was a man of Tyre, a bronze craftsman. Hiram had great skill, understanding, and knowledge to do every kind of bronze work. So he came to King Solomon and carried out all his work. He cast two [hollow] bronze pillars: each 27 feet high and 18 feet in circumference. He also made two capitals of cast bronze to set on top of the pillars; seven and a half feet was the height of the first capital, and seven and a half feet was also the height of the second capital. The capitals on top of the pillars had gratings of latticework, wreaths made of chainwork-seven for the first capital and seven for the second. He made the pillars with two encircling rows of pomegranates on the one grating to cover the capital on top; he did the same for the second capital. And the capitals on top of the pillars in the portico were shaped like lilies, six feet [high]. The capitals on the two pillars were also immediately above the rounded surface next to the grating, and 200 pomegranates were in rows encircling each capital. He set up the pillars at the portico of the sanctuary: he set up the right pillar and named it Jachin; then he set up the left pillar and named it Boaz. The tops of the pillars were shaped like lilies. Then the work of the pillars was completed. He made the cast [metal] reservoir, 15 feet from brim to brim, perfectly round. It was seven and a half feet high and 45 feet in circumference. [Ornamental] gourds encircled it below the brim, 10 every half yard, completely encircling the reservoir. The gourds were cast in two rows when the reservoir was cast. It stood on 12 oxen, three facing north, three facing west, three facing south, and three facing east. The reservoir was on top of them and all their hindquarters were toward the center. The reservoir was three inches thick, and its rim was fashioned like the brim of a cup or of a lily blossom. It held 11,000 gallons. Then he made 10 bronze water carts. Each water cart was six feet long, six feet wide, and four and a half feet high. This was the design of the carts: They had frames; the frames were between the cross-pieces, and on the frames between the cross-pieces were lions, oxen, and cherubim. On the cross-pieces there was a pedestal above, and below the lions and oxen were wreaths of hanging work. Each cart had four bronze wheels with bronze axles. Underneath the four corners of the basin were cast supports, each next to a wreath. And the water cart's opening inside the crown on top was 18 inches wide. The opening was round, made as a pedestal 27 inches wide. On it were carvings, but their frames were square, not round. There were four wheels under the frames, and the wheel axles were part of the water cart; each wheel was 27 inches tall. The wheels' design was similar to that of chariot wheels: their axles, rims, spokes, and hubs were all of cast metal. Four supports were at the four corners of each water cart; each support was one piece with the water cart. At the top of the cart was a band nine inches high encircling it; also, at the top of the cart, its braces and its frames were one piece with it. He engraved cherubim, lions, and palm trees on the plates of its braces and on its frames, wherever each had space, with encircling wreaths. In this way he made the 10 water carts using the same casting, dimensions, and shape for all of them. Then he made 10 bronze basins-each basin holding 220 gallons and each was six feet wide-one basin for each of the 10 water carts. He set five water carts on the right side of the temple and five on the left side. He put the reservoir near the right side of the temple toward the southeast. Then Hiram made the basins, the shovels, and the sprinkling basins. So Hiram finished all the work that he was doing for King Solomon on the Lord's temple: two pillars; bowls for the capitals that were on top of the two pillars; the two gratings for covering both bowls of the capitals that were on top of the pillars; the 400 pomegranates for the two gratings (two rows of pomegranates for each grating covering both capitals' bowls on top of the pillars); the 10 water carts; the 10 basins on the water carts; the reservoir; the 12 oxen underneath the reservoir; and the pots, shovels, and sprinkling basins. All the utensils that Hiram made for King Solomon at the Lord's temple [were made] of burnished bronze. The king had them cast in clay molds in the Jordan Valley between Succoth and Zarethan. Solomon left all the utensils unweighed because there were so many; the weight of the bronze was not determined. Solomon also made all the equipment in the Lord's temple: the gold altar; the gold table that the bread of the Presence was placed on; the pure gold lampstands in front of the inner sanctuary, five on the right and five on the left; the gold flowers, lamps, and tongs; the pure gold ceremonial bowls, wick trimmers, sprinkling basins, ladles, and firepans; and the gold hinges for the doors of the inner temple (that is, the most holy place) and for the doors of the temple sanctuary. So all the work King Solomon did in the Lord's temple was completed. Then Solomon brought in the consecrated things of his father David-the silver, the gold, and the utensils-and put them in the treasuries of the Lord's temple. At that time Solomon assembled the elders of Israel, all the tribal heads and the ancestral leaders of the Israelites before him at Jerusalem in order to bring the ark of the Lord's covenant from Zion, the city of David. So all the men of Israel were assembled in the presence of King Solomon in the seventh month, the month of Ethanim at the festival. All the elders of Israel came, and the priests picked up the ark. The priests and the Levites brought the ark of the Lord, the tent of meeting, and the holy utensils that were in the tent. King Solomon and the entire congregation of Israel, who had gathered around him and were with him in front of the ark, were sacrificing sheep and cattle that could not be counted or numbered, because there were so many. The priests brought the ark of the Lord's covenant to its place, into the inner sanctuary of the temple, to the most holy place beneath the wings of the cherubim. For the cherubim were spreading their wings over the place of the ark, so that the cherubim covered the ark and its poles from above. The poles were so long that their ends were seen from the holy place in front of the inner sanctuary, but they were not seen from outside [the sanctuary]; they are there to this day. Nothing was in the ark except the two stone tablets that Moses had put there at Horeb,where the Lord made a covenant with the Israelites when they came out of the land of Egypt. When the priests came out of the holy place, the cloud filled the Lord's temple, and because of the cloud, the priests were not able to continue ministering, for the glory of the Lord filled the temple. Then Solomon said: The Lord said that He would dwell in thick darkness, but I have indeed built an exalted temple for You, a place for Your dwelling forever. The king turned around and blessed the entire congregation of Israel while they were standing. He said: May the Lord God of Israel be praised! He spoke directly to my father David, and He has fulfilled [the promise] by His power. He said, "Since the day I brought My people Israel out of Egypt, I have not chosen a city to build a temple in among any of the tribes of Israel, so that My name would be there. But I have chosen David to rule My people Israel." It was in the desire of my father David to build a temple for the name of the Lord God of Israel. But the Lord said to my father David, "Since it was your desire to build a temple for My name, you have done well to have this desire. Yet you are not the one to build it; instead, your son, your own offspring, will build it for My name." The Lord has fulfilled what He promised. I have taken the place of my father David, and I 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 provided a place there for the ark, where the Lord's covenant is that He made with our ancestors when He brought them out of the land of Egypt. Then Solomon stood before the altar of the Lord in front of the entire congregation of Israel and spread out his hands toward heaven. He said: Lord God of Israel, there is no God like You in heaven above or on earth below, keeping the gracious covenant with Your servants who walk before You with their whole heart. You have kept what You promised to Your servant, my father David. You spoke directly [to him] and You fulfilled [Your promise] by Your power as it is today. Therefore, Lord God of Israel, keep what You promised to Your servant, my father David: You will never fail to have a man to sit before Me on the throne of Israel, if only your sons guard their walk before Me as you have walked before Me. Now Lord God of Israel, please confirm what You promised to Your servant, my father David. But will God indeed live on earth? Even heaven, the highest heaven, cannot contain You, much less this temple I have built. Listen to Your servant's prayer and his petition, Lord my God, so that You may hear the cry and the prayer that Your servant prays before You today, so that Your eyes may watch over this temple night and day, toward the place where You said: My name will be there, and so that You may hear the prayer that Your servant prays toward this place. Hear the petition of Your servant and Your people Israel, which they pray toward this place. May You hear in Your dwelling place in heaven. May You hear and forgive. When a man sins against his neighbor and is forced to take an oath, and he comes to take an oath before Your altar in this temple, may You hear in heaven and act. May You judge Your servants, condemning the wicked by bringing what he has done on his own head and providing justice for the righteous by rewarding him according to his righteousness. When Your people Israel are defeated before an enemy, because they have sinned against You, and they return to You and praise Your name, and they pray and plead with You for mercy in this temple, may You hear in heaven and forgive the sin of Your people Israel. May You restore them to the land You gave their ancestors. When the skies are shut and there is no rain, because they have sinned against You, and they pray toward this place and praise Your name, and they turn from their sins because You are afflicting them, may You hear in heaven and forgive the sin of Your servants and Your people Israel, so that You may teach them the good way they should walk in. May You send rain on Your land that You gave Your people for an inheritance. When there is famine on the earth, when there is pestilence, when there is blight, mildew, locust, or grasshopper, when their enemy besieges them in the region of their fortified cities, [when there is] any plague or illness, whatever prayer or petition anyone from Your people Israel might have- each man knowing his own afflictions and spreading out his hands toward this temple- may You hear in heaven, Your dwelling place, and may You forgive, act, and repay the man, according to all his ways, since You know his heart, for You alone know every human heart, so that they may fear You all the days they live on the land You gave our ancestors. Even for the foreigner who is not of Your people Israel but has come from a distant land because of Your name- for they will hear of Your great name, mighty hand, and outstretched arm, and will come and pray toward this temple- may You hear in heaven, Your dwelling place, and do according to all the foreigner asks You for. Then all the people on earth will know Your name, to fear You as Your people Israel do and know that this temple I have built is called by Your name. When Your people go out to fight against their enemies, wherever You send them, and they pray to the Lord in the direction of the city You have chosen and the temple I have built for Your name, may You hear their prayer and petition in heaven and uphold their cause. When they sin against You- for there is no one who does not sin- and You are angry with them and hand them over to the enemy, and their captors deport them to the enemy's country- whether distant or nearby- and when they come to their senses in the land where they were deported and repent and petition You in their captors' land: "We have sinned and done wrong; we have been wicked," and when they return to You with their whole mind and heart in the land of their enemies who took them captive, and when they pray to You in the direction of their land that You gave their ancestors, the city You have chosen, and the temple I have built for Your name, may You hear in heaven, Your dwelling place, their prayer and petition and uphold their cause. May You forgive Your people who sinned against You and all their rebellions against You, and may You give them compassion in the eyes of their captors, so that they may be compassionate to them. For they are Your people and Your inheritance; You brought them out of Egypt, out of the middle of an iron furnace. May Your eyes be open to Your servant's petition and to the petition of Your people Israel, listening to them whenever they call to You. For You, Lord God , have set them apart as Your inheritance from all the people on earth, as You spoke through Your servant Moses when You brought their ancestors out of Egypt. When Solomon finished praying this entire prayer and petition to the Lord, he got up from kneeling before the altar of the Lord, with his hands spread out toward heaven, and he stood and blessed the whole congregation of Israel with a loud voice: "May the Lord be praised! He has given rest to His people Israel according to all He has said. Not one of all the good promises He made through His servant Moses has failed. May the Lord our God be with us as He was with our ancestors. May He not abandon us or leave us. May He incline our hearts toward Him to walk in all His ways and to keep His commands, ordinances, and judgments, which He commanded our ancestors. May my words I have made my petition with before the Lord be near the Lord our God day and night, so that He may uphold His servant's cause and the cause of His people Israel, as each day requires, and so that all the peoples of the earth may know that the Lord is God. There is no other! Let your heart be completely devoted to the Lord our God to walk in His ordinances and to keep His commands, as it is today." The king and all Israel with him were offering sacrifices in the Lord's presence. Solomon offered a sacrifice of fellowship offerings to the Lord: 22,000 cattle and 120,000 sheep. In this manner the king and all the Israelites dedicated the Lord's temple. On the same day, the king consecrated the middle of the courtyard that was in front of the Lord's temple because that was where he offered the burnt offering, the grain offering, and the fat of the fellowship offerings since the bronze altar before the Lord was too small to accommodate the burnt offerings, the grain offerings, and the fat of the fellowship offerings. Solomon and all Israel with him-a great assembly, from the entrance of Hamath to the Brook of Egypt-observed the festival at that time in the presence of the Lord our God, seven days, and seven [more] days-14 days. On the fifteenth day he sent the people away. So they blessed the king and went home to their tents rejoicing and with joyful hearts for all the goodness that the Lord had done for His servant David and for His people Israel. When Solomon finished building the temple of the Lord, the royal palace, and all that Solomon desired to do, the Lord appeared to Solomon a second time just as He had appeared to him at Gibeon. The Lord said to him: I have heard your prayer and petition you have made before Me. I have consecrated this temple you have built, to put My name there forever; My eyes and My heart will be there at all times. As for you, if you walk before Me as your father David walked, with integrity of heart and uprightness, doing everything I have commanded you, and if you keep My statutes and ordinances, I will establish your royal throne over Israel forever, as I promised your father David: You will never fail to have a man on the throne of Israel. If you or your sons turn away from following Me and do not keep My commands-My statutes that I have set before you-and if you go and serve other gods and worship them, I will cut off Israel from the land I gave them, and I will reject the temple I have sanctified for My name. Israel will become an object of scorn and ridicule among all the peoples. Though this temple is [now] exalted, every passerby will be appalled and will hiss. They will say: Why did the Lord do this to this land and this temple? Then they will say: Because they abandoned the Lord their God who brought their ancestors out of the land of Egypt. They clung to other gods and worshiped and served them. Because of this, the Lord brought all this ruin on them. At the end of 20 years during which Solomon had built the two houses, the Lord's temple and the royal palace- Hiram king of Tyre having supplied him with cedar and cypress logs and gold for his every wish-King Solomon gave Hiram 20 towns in the land of Galilee. So Hiram went out from Tyre to look over the towns that Solomon had given him, but he was not pleased with them. So he said, "What are these towns you've given me, my brother?" So he called them the Land of Cabul, as they are [still called] today. Now Hiram had sent the king 9,000 pounds of gold. This is the account of the forced labor that King Solomon had imposed to build the Lord's temple, his own palace, the supporting terraces, the wall of Jerusalem, and Hazor, Megiddo, and Gezer. Pharaoh king of Egypt had attacked and captured Gezer. He then burned it down, killed the Canaanites who lived in the city, and gave it as a dowry to his daughter, Solomon's wife. Then Solomon rebuilt Gezer, Lower Beth-horon, Baalath, Tamar in the Wilderness of Judah, all the storage cities that belonged to Solomon, the chariot cities, the cavalry cities, and whatever Solomon desired to build in Jerusalem, Lebanon, or anywhere else in the land of his dominion. As for all the peoples who remained of the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites, who were not Israelites- their descendants who remained in the land after them, those whom the Israelites were unable to annihilate-Solomon imposed forced labor on them; [it is this way] until today. But Solomon did not consign the Israelites to slavery; they were soldiers, his servants, his commanders, his captains, and commanders of his chariots and his cavalry. These were the deputies who were over Solomon's work: 550 who ruled over the people doing the work. Pharaoh's daughter moved from the city of David to the house that Solomon had built for her; he then built the terraces. Three times a year Solomon offered burnt offerings and fellowship offerings on the altar he had built for the Lord, and he burned incense with them in the Lord's presence. So he completed the temple. King Solomon put together a fleet of ships at Ezion-geber, which is near Eloth on the shore of the Red Sea in the land of Edom. With the fleet, Hiram sent his servants, experienced seamen, along with Solomon's servants. They went to Ophir and acquired gold there-16 tons-and delivered it to Solomon. The queen of Sheba heard about Solomon's fame connected with the name of the Lord and came to test him with difficult questions. She came to Jerusalem with a very large retinue, with camels bearing spices, gold in great abundance, and precious stones. She came to Solomon and spoke to him about everything that was on her mind. So Solomon answered all her questions; nothing was too difficult for the king to explain to her. When the queen of Sheba observed all of Solomon's wisdom, the palace he had built, the food at his table, his servants' residence, his attendants' service and their attire, his cupbearers, and the burnt offerings he offered at the Lord's temple, it took her breath away. She said to the king, "The report I heard in my own country about your words and about your wisdom is true. But I didn't believe the reports until I came and saw with my own eyes. Indeed, I was not even told half. Your wisdom and prosperity far exceed the report I heard. How happy are your men. How happy are these servants of yours, who always stand in your presence hearing your wisdom. May the Lord your God be praised! He delighted in you and put you on the throne of Israel, because of the Lord's eternal love for Israel. He has made you king to carry out justice and righteousness." Then she gave the king four and a half tons of gold, a great quantity of spices, and precious stones. Never again did such a quantity of spices arrive as those the queen of Sheba gave to King Solomon. In addition, Hiram's fleet that carried gold from Ophir brought from Ophir a large quantity of almug wood and precious stones. The king made the almug wood into steps for the Lord's temple and the king's palace and into harps and lyres for the singers. Never [before] had such almug wood come, and [the like] has not been seen [again] even to this very day. King Solomon gave the queen of Sheba her every desire-whatever she asked-besides what he had given her out of his royal bounty. Then she, along with her servants, returned to her own country. The weight of gold that came to Solomon annually was 25 tons, besides what came from merchants, traders' merchandise, and all the Arabian kings and governors of the land. King Solomon made 200 large shields of hammered gold; 15 pounds of gold went into each shield. He made 300 small shields of hammered gold; about four pounds of gold went into each shield. The king put them in the House of the Forest of Lebanon. The king also made a large ivory throne and overlaid it with fine gold. The throne had six steps; there was a rounded top at the back of the throne, armrests on either side of the seat, and two lions standing beside the armrests. Twelve lions were standing there on the six steps, one at each end. Nothing like it had ever been made in any other kingdom. All of King Solomon's drinking cups were gold, and all the utensils of the House of the Forest of Lebanon were pure gold. There was no silver, since it was considered as nothing in Solomon's time, for the king had ships of Tarshish at sea with Hiram's fleet, and once every three years the ships of Tarshish would arrive bearing gold, silver, ivory, apes, and peacocks. King Solomon surpassed all the kings of the world in riches and in wisdom. The whole world wanted an audience with Solomon to hear the wisdom that God had put in his heart. Every man would bring his annual tribute: items of silver and gold, clothing, weapons, spices, and horses and mules. Solomon accumulated 1,400 chariots and 12,000 horsemen and stationed them in the chariot cities and with the king in Jerusalem. The king made silver as common in Jerusalem as stones, and he made cedar as abundant as sycamore in the Judean foothills. Solomon's horses were imported from Egypt and Kue. The king's traders bought them from Kue at the going price. A chariot was imported from Egypt for 15 pounds [of silver], and a horse for about four pounds. In the same way, they exported them to all the kings of the Hittites and to the kings of Aram through their agents. King Solomon loved many foreign women in addition to Pharaoh's daughter: Moabite, Ammonite, Edomite, Sidonian, and Hittite women from the nations that the Lord had told the Israelites about, "Do not intermarry with them, and they must not intermarry with you, because they will turn you away [from Me] to their gods." Solomon was deeply attached to these women and loved [them]. He had 700 wives who were princesses and 300 concubines, and they turned his heart away [from the Lord]. When Solomon was old, his wives seduced him [to follow] other gods. His heart was not completely with the Lord his God, as his father David's heart had been. Solomon followed Ashtoreth, the goddess of the Sidonians, and Milcom, the detestable idol of the Ammonites. Solomon did what was evil in the Lord's sight, and unlike his father David, he did not completely follow the Lord. At that time, Solomon built a high place for Chemosh, the detestable idol of Moab, and for Milcom, the detestable idol of the Ammonites on the hill across from Jerusalem. He did the same for all his foreign wives, who were burning incense and offering sacrifices to their gods. The Lord was angry with Solomon, because his heart had turned away from the Lord God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice. He had commanded him about this, so that he would not follow other gods, but Solomon did not do what the Lord had commanded. Then the Lord said to Solomon, "Since you have done this and did not keep My covenant and My statutes, which I commanded you, I will tear the kingdom away from you and give it to your servant. However, I will not do it during your lifetime because of your father David; I will tear it out of your son's hand. Yet, I will not tear the entire kingdom away from him. I will give one tribe to your son because of my servant David and because of Jerusalem that I chose." So the Lord raised up Hadad the Edomite as an enemy against Solomon. He was of the royal family in Edom. Earlier, when David was in Edom, Joab, the commander of the army, had gone to bury the dead and had struck down every male in Edom. For Joab and all Israel had remained there six months, until he had killed every male in Edom. Hadad fled to Egypt, along with some Edomites from his father's servants. At the time Hadad was a small boy. Hadad and his men set out from Midian and went to Paran. They took men with them from Paran and went to Egypt, to Pharaoh king of Egypt, who gave Hadad a house, ordered that he [be given] food, and gave him land. Pharaoh liked Hadad so much that he gave him a wife, the sister of his own wife, Queen Tahpenes. Tahpenes' sister gave birth to Hadad's son Genubath. Tahpenes [herself] weaned him in Pharaoh's palace, and Genubath [lived] there along with Pharaoh's sons. When Hadad heard in Egypt that David rested with his fathers and that Joab, the commander of the army, was dead, Hadad said to Pharaoh, "Let me leave, so I can go to my own country." But Pharaoh asked him, "What do you lack here with me for you to want to go back to your own country?" "Nothing," he replied, "but please let me leave." God raised up Rezon son of Eliada as an enemy against Solomon. Rezon had fled from his master Hadadezer king of Zobah and gathered men to himself. He became captain of a raiding party when David killed the Zobaites. He went to Damascus, lived there, and became king in Damascus. Rezon was Israel's enemy throughout Solomon's reign, adding to the trouble Hadad [had caused]. He ruled over Aram, but he loathed Israel. Now Solomon's servant, Jeroboam son of Nebat, was an Ephraimite from Zeredah. His widowed mother's name was Zeruah. Jeroboam rebelled against Solomon, and this is the reason he rebelled against the king: Solomon had built the supporting terraces [and] repaired the opening in the wall of the city of his father David. Now the man Jeroboam was capable, and Solomon noticed the young man because he was getting things done. So he appointed him over the entire labor force of the house of Joseph. During that time, the prophet Ahijah the Shilonite met Jeroboam on the road as Jeroboam came out of Jerusalem. Now Ahijah had wrapped himself with a new cloak, and the two of them were alone in the open field. Then Ahijah took hold of the new cloak he had on, tore it into 12 pieces, and said to Jeroboam, "Take 10 pieces for yourself, for this is what the Lord God of Israel says: 'I am about to tear the kingdom out of Solomon's hand. I will give you 10 tribes, but one tribe will remain his because of my servant David and because of Jerusalem, the city I chose out of all the tribes of Israel. For they have abandoned Me; they have bowed the knee to Ashtoreth, the goddess of the Sidonians, to Chemosh, the god of Moab, and to Milcom, the god of the Ammonites. They have not walked in My ways to do right in My eyes and to carry out My statutes and My judgments as his father David did. " 'However, I will not take the whole kingdom from his hand but will let him be ruler all the days of his life because of My servant David, whom I chose and who kept My commandments and My statutes. I will take 10 tribes of the kingdom from his son's hand and give them to you. I will give one tribe to his son, so that My servant David will always have a lamp before Me in Jerusalem, the city I chose for Myself to put My name there. I will appoint you, and you will reign as king over all you want, and you will be king over Israel. " 'After that, if you obey all I command you, walk in My ways, and do what is right in My sight in order to keep My statutes and My commandments as My servant David did, I will be with you. I will build you a lasting dynasty just as I built for David, and I will give you Israel. I will humble David's descendants, because of [their unfaithfulness], but not forever.' " Therefore, Solomon tried to kill Jeroboam, but he fled to Egypt, to Shishak king of Egypt, where he remained until Solomon's death. The rest of the events of Solomon's [reign], along with all his accomplishments and his wisdom, are written about in the Book of Solomon's Events. The length of Solomon's reign in Jerusalem over all Israel totaled 40 years. Solomon rested with his fathers and was buried in the city of his father David. His son Rehoboam became king in his place.
He was still speaking when Jonathan son of Abiathar the priest, suddenly arrived. Adonijah said, "Come in, for you are an excellent man, and you must be bringing good news." "Unfortunately not," Jonathan answered him. "Our lord King David has made Solomon king. And with Solomon, the king has sent Zadok the priest, Nathan the prophet, Benaiah son of Jehoiada, the Cherethites, and the Pelethites, and they have had him ride on the king's mule. Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet have anointed him king in Gihon. They have gone from there rejoicing. The town has been in an uproar; that's the noise you heard. Solomon has even taken his seat on the royal throne. "The king's servants have also gone to congratulate our lord King David, saying, 'May your God make the name of Solomon more famous than your name, and may He make his throne greater than your throne.' Then the king bowed in worship on his bed. And the king went on to say this: 'May the Lord God of Israel be praised! Today He has provided one to sit on my throne, and I am a witness.' " Then all of Adonijah's guests got up trembling and went their separate ways. Adonijah was afraid of Solomon, so he got up and went to take hold of the horns of the altar. It was reported to Solomon: "Look, Adonijah fears King Solomon, and he has taken hold of the horns of the altar, saying, 'Let King Solomon first swear to me that he will not kill his servant with the sword.' " Then Solomon said, "If he is a man of character, then not a single hair of his will fall to the ground, but if evil is found in him, then he dies." So King Solomon sent for him, and they took him down from the altar. He came and paid homage to King Solomon, and Solomon said to him, "Go to your home." As the time approached for David to die, he instructed his son Solomon, "As for me, I am going the way of all of the earth. Be strong and brave, and keep your obligation to the Lord your God to walk in His ways and to keep His statutes, commandments, judgments, and testimonies. This is written in the law of Moses, so that you will have success in everything you do and wherever you turn, and so that the Lord will carry out His promise that He made to me: 'If your sons are careful to walk faithfully before Me with their whole mind and heart, you will never fail to have a man on the throne of Israel.' "You also know what Joab son of Zeruiah did to me and what he did to the two commanders of Israel's army, Abner son of Ner and Amasa son of Jether. He murdered them [in a time] of peace to avenge blood shed in war. He spilled that blood on his own waistband and on the sandals of his feet. Act according to your wisdom, and do not let his gray head descend to Sheol in peace. "Show loyalty to the sons of Barzillai the Gileadite and let them be among those who eat at your table because they supported me when I fled from your brother Absalom. "Keep an eye on Shimei son of Gera, the Benjaminite from Bahurim who is with you. He uttered malicious curses against me the day I went to Mahanaim. But he came down to meet me at the Jordan River, and I swore to him by the Lord: 'I will never kill you with the sword.' So don't let him go unpunished, for you are a wise man. You know how to deal with him to bring his gray head down to Sheol with blood." Then David rested with his fathers and was buried in the city of David. The [length of] time David reigned over Israel was 40 years: he reigned seven years in Hebron and 33 years in Jerusalem. Solomon sat on the throne of his father David, and his kingship was firmly established. Now Adonijah son of Haggith came to Bathsheba, Solomon's mother. She asked, "Do you come peacefully?" "Peacefully," he replied, and then asked, "May I talk with you?" "Go ahead," she answered. "You know the kingship was mine," he said. "All Israel expected me to be king, but then the kingship was turned over to my brother, for the Lord gave it to him. So now I have just one request of you; don't turn me down." She said to him, "Go on." He replied, "Please speak to King Solomon since he won't turn you down. Let him give me Abishag the Shunammite as a wife." "Very well," Bathsheba replied. "I will speak to the king for you." So Bathsheba went to King Solomon to speak to him about Adonijah. The king stood up to greet her, bowed to her, sat down on his throne, and had a throne placed for the king's mother. So she sat down at his right hand. Then she said, "I have just one small request of you. Don't turn me down." "[Go ahead and] ask, mother," the king replied, "for I won't turn you down." So she said, "Let Abishag the Shunammite be given to your brother Adonijah as a wife." King Solomon answered his mother, "Why are you requesting Abishag the Shunammite for Adonijah? Since he is my elder brother, you might as well ask the kingship for him, for Abiathar the priest, and for Joab son of Zeruiah." Then Solomon took an oath by the Lord: "May God punish me and do so severely if Adonijah has not made this request at the cost of his life. And now, as the Lord lives, the One who established me, seated me on the throne of my father David, and made me a dynasty as He promised-I swear Adonijah will be put to death today!" Then King Solomon gave the order to Benaiah son of Jehoiada, who struck down Adonijah, and he died. The king said to Abiathar the priest, "Go to your fields in Anathoth. Even though you deserve to die, I will not put you to death today, since you carried the ark of the Lord God in the presence of my father David and you suffered through all that my father suffered." So Solomon banished Abiathar from being the Lord's priest, and it fulfilled the Lord's prophecy He had spoken at Shiloh against Eli's family. The news reached Joab. Since he had supported Adonijah but not Absalom, Joab fled to the Lord's tabernacle and took hold of the horns of the altar. It was reported to King Solomon: "Joab has fled to the Lord's tabernacle and is now beside the altar." Then Solomon sent Benaiah son of Jehoiada and told [him], "Go and strike him down!" So Benaiah went to the tabernacle and said to Joab, "This is what the king says: 'Come out!' " But Joab said, "No, for I will die here." So Benaiah took a message back to the king, "This is what Joab said, and this is how he answered me." The king said to him, "Do just as he says. Strike him down and bury him in order to remove from me and from my father's house the blood that Joab shed without just cause. The Lord will bring back his own blood on his own head because he struck down two men more righteous and better than he, without my father David's knowledge. With his sword, Joab murdered Abner son of Ner, commander of Israel's army, and Amasa son of Jether, commander of Judah's army. Their blood will come back on Joab's head and on the head of his descendants forever, but for David, his descendants, his dynasty, and his throne, there will be peace from the Lord forever." Benaiah son of Jehoiada went up, struck down Joab, and put him to death. He was buried at his house in the wilderness. Then the king appointed Benaiah son of Jehoiada in Joab's place over the army, and he appointed Zadok the priest in Abiathar's place. Then the king summoned Shimei and said to him, "Build a house for yourself in Jerusalem and live there, but don't leave there [and go] anywhere else. On the day you do leave and cross the Kidron Valley, know for sure that you will certainly die. Your blood will be on your own head." Shimei said to the king, "The sentence is fair; your servant will do as my lord the king has spoken." And Shimei lived in Jerusalem for a long time. But then, at the end of three years, two of Shimei's slaves ran away to Achish son of Maacah, king of Gath. Shimei was informed, "Look, your slaves are in Gath." So Shimei saddled his donkey and set out to Achish at Gath to search for his slaves. He went and brought them back from Gath. It was reported to Solomon that Shimei had gone from Jerusalem to Gath and had returned. So the king summoned Shimei and said to him, "Didn't I make you swear by the Lord and warn you, saying, 'On the day you leave and go anywhere else, know for sure that you will certainly die'? And you said to me, 'The sentence is fair; I will obey.' So why have you not kept the Lord's oath and the command that I gave you?" The king also said, "You yourself know all the evil that you did to my father David. Therefore, the Lord has brought back your evil on your head, but King Solomon will be blessed, and David's throne will remain established before the Lord forever." Then the king commanded Benaiah son of Jehoiada, and he went out and struck Shimei down, and he died. So the kingdom was established in Solomon's hand. Solomon made an alliance with Pharaoh king of Egypt by marrying Pharaoh's daughter. Solomon brought her to the city of David until he finished building his palace, the Lord's temple, and the wall surrounding Jerusalem. However, the people were sacrificing on the high places, because until that time a temple for the Lord's name had not been built. Solomon loved the Lord by walking in the statutes of his father David, but he also sacrificed and burned incense on the high places. The king went to Gibeon to sacrifice there because it was the most famous high place. He offered 1,000 burnt offerings on that altar. At Gibeon the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream at night. God said, "Ask. What should I give you?" And Solomon replied, "You have shown great and faithful love to Your servant, my father David, because he walked before You in faithfulness, righteousness, and integrity. You have continued this great and faithful love for him by giving him a son to sit on his throne, as it is today. "Lord my God, You have now made Your servant king in my father David's place. Yet I am just a youth with no experience in leadership. Your servant is among Your people You have chosen, a people too numerous to be numbered or counted. So give Your servant an obedient heart to judge Your people and to discern between good and evil. For who is able to judge this great people of Yours?" Now it pleased the Lord that Solomon had requested this. So God said to him, "Because you have requested this and did not ask for long life or riches for yourself, or the death of your enemies, but you asked discernment for yourself to understand justice, I will therefore do what you have asked. I will give you a wise and understanding heart, so that there has never been anyone like you before and never will be again. In addition, I will give you what you did not ask for: both riches and honor, so that no man in any kingdom will be your equal during your entire life. If you walk in My ways and keep My statutes and commandments just as your father David did, I will give you a long life." Then Solomon woke up and realized it had been a dream. He went to Jerusalem, stood before the ark of the Lord's covenant, and offered burnt offerings and fellowship offerings. Then he held a feast for all his servants. Then two women who were prostitutes came to the king and stood before him. One woman said, "Please my lord, this woman and I live in the same house, and I had a baby while she was in the house. On the third day after I gave birth, she also had a baby and we were alone. No one else was with us in the house; just the two of us were there. During the night this woman's son died because she lay on him. She got up in the middle of the night and took my son from my side while your servant was asleep. She laid him at her breast, and she put her dead son in my arms. When I got up in the morning to nurse my son, I discovered he was dead. That morning, when I looked closely at him I realized that he was not the son I gave birth to." "No," the other woman said. "My son is the living one; your son is the dead one." The first woman said, "No, your son is the dead one; my son is the living one." So they argued before the king. The king replied, "This woman says, 'This is my son who is alive, and your son is dead,' but that woman says, 'No, your son is dead, and my son is alive.' " The king continued, "Bring me a sword." So they brought the sword to the king. Solomon said, "Cut the living boy in two and give half to one and half to the other." The woman whose son was alive spoke to the king because she felt great compassion for her son. "My lord, give her the living baby," she said, "but please don't have him killed!" But the other one said, "He will not be mine or yours. Cut [him in two]!" The king responded, "Give the living baby to the first woman, and don't kill him. She is his mother." All Israel heard about the judgment the king had given, and they stood in awe of the king because they saw that God's wisdom was in him to carry out justice. King Solomon ruled over Israel, and these were his officials: Azariah son of Zadok, priest; Elihoreph and Ahijah the sons of Shisha, secretaries; Jehoshaphat son of Ahilud, historian; Benaiah son of Jehoiada, in charge of the army; Zadok and Abiathar, priests; Azariah son of Nathan, in charge of the deputies; Zabud son of Nathan, a priest and adviser to the king; Ahishar, in charge of the palace; and Adoniram son of Abda, in charge of forced labor. Solomon had 12 deputies for all Israel. They provided food for the king and his household; each one made provision for one month out of the year. These were their names: Ben-hur, in the hill country of Ephraim; Ben-deker, in Makaz, Shaalbim, Beth-shemesh, and Elon-beth-hanan; Ben-hesed, in Arubboth (he had Socoh and the whole land of Hepher); Ben-abinadab, in all Naphath-dor (Taphath daughter of Solomon was his wife); Baana son of Ahilud, in Taanach, Megiddo, and all Beth-shean which is beside Zarethan below Jezreel, from Beth-shean to Abel-meholah, as far as the other side of Jokmeam; Ben-geber, in Ramoth-gilead (he had the villages of Jair son of Manasseh, which are in Gilead, and he had the region of Argob, which is in Bashan, 60 great cities with walls and bronze bars); Ahinadab son of Iddo, [in] Mahanaim; Ahimaaz, in Naphtali (he also had married a daughter of Solomon-Basemath); Baana son of Hushai, in Asher and Bealoth; Jehoshaphat son of Paruah, in Issachar; Shimei son of Ela, in Benjamin; Geber son of Uri, in the land of Gilead, the country of Sihon king of the Amorites and of Og king of Bashan. There was one deputy in the land of Judah. Judah and Israel were as numerous as the sand by the sea; [they were] eating, drinking, and rejoicing. Solomon ruled over all the kingdoms from the Euphrates River to the land of the Philistines and as far as the border of Egypt. They offered tribute and served Solomon all the days of his life. Solomon's provisions for one day were 150 bushels of fine flour and 300 bushels of meal, 10 fattened oxen, 20 range oxen, and 100 sheep, besides deer, gazelles, roebucks, and pen-fed poultry, for he had dominion over everything west of the Euphrates from Tiphsah to Gaza and over all the kings west of the Euphrates. He had peace on all his surrounding borders. Throughout Solomon's [reign], Judah and Israel lived in safety from Dan to Beer-sheba, each man under his own vine and his own fig tree. Solomon had 40,000 stalls of horses for his chariots, and 12,000 horsemen. Each of those deputies for a month in turn provided food for King Solomon and for everyone who came to King Solomon's table. They neglected nothing. Each man brought the barley and the straw for the chariot teams and the other horses to the required place according to his assignment. God gave Solomon wisdom, very great insight, and understanding as [vast] as the sand on the seashore. Solomon's wisdom was greater than the wisdom of all the people of the East, greater than all the wisdom of Egypt. He was wiser than anyone-wiser than Ethan the Ezrahite, and Heman, Calcol, and Darda, sons of Mahol. His reputation extended to all the surrounding nations. Solomon composed 3,000 proverbs, and his songs numbered 1,005. He described trees, from the cedar in Lebanon to the hyssop growing out of the wall. He also taught about animals, birds, reptiles, and fish. People came from everywhere, [sent] by every king on earth who had heard of his wisdom, to listen to Solomon's wisdom. Hiram king of Tyre sent his servants to Solomon when he heard that he had been anointed king in his father's place, for Hiram had always been friends with David. Solomon sent [this message] to Hiram: "You know my father David was not able to build a temple for the name of the Lord his God. This was because of the warfare all around him until the Lord put his enemies under his feet. The Lord my God has now given me rest all around; there is no enemy or crisis. So I plan to build a temple for the name of the Lord my God, according to what the Lord promised my father David: 'I will put your son on your throne in your place, and he will build the temple for My name.' "Therefore, command that cedars from Lebanon be cut down for me. My servants will be with your servants, and I will pay your servants' wages according to whatever you say, for you know that not a man among us knows how to cut timber like the Sidonians." When Hiram heard Solomon's words, he greatly rejoiced and said, "May the Lord be praised today! He has given David a wise son to be over this great people!" Then Hiram sent [a reply] to Solomon, saying, "I have heard your message; I will do everything you want regarding the cedar and cypress timber. My servants will bring [the logs] down from Lebanon to the sea, and I will make them into rafts to go by sea to the place you indicate. I will break them apart there, and you can take them away. You then can meet my needs by providing my household with food." So Hiram provided Solomon with all the cedar and cypress timber he wanted, and Solomon provided Hiram with 100,000 bushels of wheat as food for his household and 110,000 gallons of beaten oil. Solomon did this for Hiram year after year. The Lord gave Solomon wisdom, as He had promised him. There was peace between Hiram and Solomon, and the two of them made a treaty. Then King Solomon drafted forced laborers from all Israel; the labor force numbered 30,000 men. He sent 10,000 to Lebanon each month in shifts; one month they were in Lebanon, two months they were at home. Adoniram was in charge of the forced labor. Solomon had 70,000 porters and 80,000 stonecutters in the mountains, not including his 3,300 deputies in charge of the work. They ruled over the people doing the work. The king commanded them to quarry large, costly stones to lay the foundation of the temple with dressed stones. So Solomon's builders and Hiram's builders, along with the Gebalites, quarried [the stone] and prepared the timber and stone for the temple's construction. Solomon [began to] build the temple for the Lord in the four hundred eightieth year after the Israelites came out from the land of Egypt, in the fourth year of his reign over Israel, in the second month, in the month of Ziv. The temple that King Solomon built for the Lord was 90 feet long, 30 feet wide, and 45 feet high. The portico in front of the temple sanctuary was 30 feet long extending across the temple's width, and 15 feet deep in front of the temple. He also made windows with beveled frames for the temple. He then built a chambered structure along the temple wall, encircling the walls of the temple, that is, the sanctuary and the inner sanctuary. And he made side chambers all around. The lowest chamber was seven and a half feet wide, the middle was nine feet wide, and the third was 10 and a half feet wide. He also provided offset ledges for the temple all around the outside so that nothing would be inserted into the temple walls. The temple's construction used finished stones cut at the quarry so that no hammer, chisel, or any iron tool was heard in the temple while it was being built. The door for the lowest side chamber was on the right side of the temple. They went up a stairway to the middle [chamber], and from the middle to the third. When he finished building the temple, he paneled it with boards and planks of cedar. He built the chambers along the entire temple, joined to the temple with cedar beams; [each story was] seven and a half feet high. The word of the Lord came to Solomon: "As for this temple you are building-if you walk in My statutes, execute My ordinances, and keep all My commandments by walking in them, I will fulfill My promise to you, which I made to your father David. I will live among the Israelites and not abandon My people Israel." When Solomon finished building the temple, he paneled the interior temple walls with cedar boards; from the temple floor to the surface of the ceiling he overlaid the interior with wood. He also overlaid the floor with cypress boards. Then he lined 30 feet of the rear of the temple with cedar boards from the floor to the surface of the ceiling, and he built the interior as an inner sanctuary, the most holy place. The temple, that is, the sanctuary in front of the most holy place, was 60 feet long. The cedar paneling inside the temple was carved with [ornamental] gourds and flower blossoms. Everything was cedar; not a stone could be seen. He prepared the inner sanctuary inside the temple to put the ark of the Lord's covenant there. The interior of the sanctuary was 30 feet long, 30 feet wide, and 30 feet high; he overlaid it with pure gold. He also overlaid the cedar altar. Next, Solomon overlaid the interior of the temple with pure gold, and he hung gold chains across the front of the inner sanctuary and overlaid it with gold. So he added the gold overlay to the entire temple until everything was completely finished, including the entire altar that belongs in the inner sanctuary. In the inner sanctuary he made two cherubim 15 feet high out of olive wood. One wing of the [first] cherub was seven and a half feet long, and the other wing was seven and a half feet long. The wingspan was 15 feet from tip to tip. The second cherub also was 15 feet; both cherubim had the same size and shape. The first cherub's height was 15 feet and so was the second cherub's. Then he put the cherubim inside the inner temple. Since their wings were spread out, the first one's wing touched [one] wall while the second cherub's wing touched the other wall, and in the middle of the temple their wings were touching wing to wing. He also overlaid the cherubim with gold. He carved all the surrounding temple walls with carved engravings-cherubim, palm trees and flower blossoms-in both the inner and outer sanctuaries. He overlaid the temple floor with gold in both the inner and outer sanctuaries. For the entrance of the inner sanctuary, he made olive wood doors. The pillars of the doorposts were five-sided. The two doors were made of olive wood. He carved cherubim, palm trees and flower blossoms on them and overlaid them with gold, hammering gold over the cherubim and palm trees. In the same way, he made four-sided olive wood doorposts for the sanctuary entrance. The two doors were made of cypress wood; the first door had two folding sides, and the second door had two folding panels. He carved cherubim, palm trees and flower blossoms on them and overlaid them with gold applied evenly over the carving. He built the inner courtyard with three rows of dressed stone and a row of trimmed cedar beams. The foundation of the Lord's temple was laid in [Solomon's] fourth year in the month of Ziv. In [his] eleventh year in the eighth month, in the month of Bul, the temple was completed in every detail and according to every specification. So he built it in seven years. Solomon completed his entire palace-complex after 13 years of construction. He built the House of the Forest of Lebanon. It was 150 feet long, 75 feet wide, and 45 feet high on four rows of cedar pillars, with cedar beams on top of the pillars. It was paneled above with cedar at the top of the chambers that [rested] on 45 pillars, fifteen per row. There were three rows of window frames, facing each other in three tiers. All the doors and doorposts had rectangular frames, the openings facing each other in three tiers. He made the hall of pillars 75 feet long and 45 feet wide. A portico was in front of the pillars, and a canopy with pillars was in front of them. He made the Hall of the Throne where he would judge-the Hall of Judgment. It was paneled with cedar from the floor to the rafters. Solomon's own palace where he would live, in the other courtyard behind the hall, was of similar construction. And he made a house like this hall for Pharaoh's daughter, his wife. All of these [buildings] were of costly stones, cut to size and sawed with saws on the inner and outer surfaces, from foundation to coping and from the outside to the great courtyard. The foundation was made of large, costly stones 12 and 15 feet long. Above were also costly stones, cut to size, as well as cedar wood. Around the great courtyard, as well as the inner courtyard of the Lord's temple and the portico of the temple, were three rows of dressed stone and a row of trimmed cedar beams. King Solomon had Hiram brought from Tyre. He was a widow's son from the tribe of Naphtali, and his father was a man of Tyre, a bronze craftsman. Hiram had great skill, understanding, and knowledge to do every kind of bronze work. So he came to King Solomon and carried out all his work. He cast two [hollow] bronze pillars: each 27 feet high and 18 feet in circumference. He also made two capitals of cast bronze to set on top of the pillars; seven and a half feet was the height of the first capital, and seven and a half feet was also the height of the second capital. The capitals on top of the pillars had gratings of latticework, wreaths made of chainwork-seven for the first capital and seven for the second. He made the pillars with two encircling rows of pomegranates on the one grating to cover the capital on top; he did the same for the second capital. And the capitals on top of the pillars in the portico were shaped like lilies, six feet [high]. The capitals on the two pillars were also immediately above the rounded surface next to the grating, and 200 pomegranates were in rows encircling each capital. He set up the pillars at the portico of the sanctuary: he set up the right pillar and named it Jachin; then he set up the left pillar and named it Boaz. The tops of the pillars were shaped like lilies. Then the work of the pillars was completed. He made the cast [metal] reservoir, 15 feet from brim to brim, perfectly round. It was seven and a half feet high and 45 feet in circumference. [Ornamental] gourds encircled it below the brim, 10 every half yard, completely encircling the reservoir. The gourds were cast in two rows when the reservoir was cast. It stood on 12 oxen, three facing north, three facing west, three facing south, and three facing east. The reservoir was on top of them and all their hindquarters were toward the center. The reservoir was three inches thick, and its rim was fashioned like the brim of a cup or of a lily blossom. It held 11,000 gallons. Then he made 10 bronze water carts. Each water cart was six feet long, six feet wide, and four and a half feet high. This was the design of the carts: They had frames; the frames were between the cross-pieces, and on the frames between the cross-pieces were lions, oxen, and cherubim. On the cross-pieces there was a pedestal above, and below the lions and oxen were wreaths of hanging work. Each cart had four bronze wheels with bronze axles. Underneath the four corners of the basin were cast supports, each next to a wreath. And the water cart's opening inside the crown on top was 18 inches wide. The opening was round, made as a pedestal 27 inches wide. On it were carvings, but their frames were square, not round. There were four wheels under the frames, and the wheel axles were part of the water cart; each wheel was 27 inches tall. The wheels' design was similar to that of chariot wheels: their axles, rims, spokes, and hubs were all of cast metal. Four supports were at the four corners of each water cart; each support was one piece with the water cart. At the top of the cart was a band nine inches high encircling it; also, at the top of the cart, its braces and its frames were one piece with it. He engraved cherubim, lions, and palm trees on the plates of its braces and on its frames, wherever each had space, with encircling wreaths. In this way he made the 10 water carts using the same casting, dimensions, and shape for all of them. Then he made 10 bronze basins-each basin holding 220 gallons and each was six feet wide-one basin for each of the 10 water carts. He set five water carts on the right side of the temple and five on the left side. He put the reservoir near the right side of the temple toward the southeast. Then Hiram made the basins, the shovels, and the sprinkling basins. So Hiram finished all the work that he was doing for King Solomon on the Lord's temple: two pillars; bowls for the capitals that were on top of the two pillars; the two gratings for covering both bowls of the capitals that were on top of the pillars; the 400 pomegranates for the two gratings (two rows of pomegranates for each grating covering both capitals' bowls on top of the pillars); the 10 water carts; the 10 basins on the water carts; the reservoir; the 12 oxen underneath the reservoir; and the pots, shovels, and sprinkling basins. All the utensils that Hiram made for King Solomon at the Lord's temple [were made] of burnished bronze. The king had them cast in clay molds in the Jordan Valley between Succoth and Zarethan. Solomon left all the utensils unweighed because there were so many; the weight of the bronze was not determined. Solomon also made all the equipment in the Lord's temple: the gold altar; the gold table that the bread of the Presence was placed on; the pure gold lampstands in front of the inner sanctuary, five on the right and five on the left; the gold flowers, lamps, and tongs; the pure gold ceremonial bowls, wick trimmers, sprinkling basins, ladles, and firepans; and the gold hinges for the doors of the inner temple (that is, the most holy place) and for the doors of the temple sanctuary. So all the work King Solomon did in the Lord's temple was completed. Then Solomon brought in the consecrated things of his father David-the silver, the gold, and the utensils-and put them in the treasuries of the Lord's temple. At that time Solomon assembled the elders of Israel, all the tribal heads and the ancestral leaders of the Israelites before him at Jerusalem in order to bring the ark of the Lord's covenant from Zion, the city of David. So all the men of Israel were assembled in the presence of King Solomon in the seventh month, the month of Ethanim at the festival. All the elders of Israel came, and the priests picked up the ark. The priests and the Levites brought the ark of the Lord, the tent of meeting, and the holy utensils that were in the tent. King Solomon and the entire congregation of Israel, who had gathered around him and were with him in front of the ark, were sacrificing sheep and cattle that could not be counted or numbered, because there were so many. The priests brought the ark of the Lord's covenant to its place, into the inner sanctuary of the temple, to the most holy place beneath the wings of the cherubim. For the cherubim were spreading their wings over the place of the ark, so that the cherubim covered the ark and its poles from above. The poles were so long that their ends were seen from the holy place in front of the inner sanctuary, but they were not seen from outside [the sanctuary]; they are there to this day. Nothing was in the ark except the two stone tablets that Moses had put there at Horeb,where the Lord made a covenant with the Israelites when they came out of the land of Egypt. When the priests came out of the holy place, the cloud filled the Lord's temple, and because of the cloud, the priests were not able to continue ministering, for the glory of the Lord filled the temple. Then Solomon said: The Lord said that He would dwell in thick darkness, but I have indeed built an exalted temple for You, a place for Your dwelling forever. The king turned around and blessed the entire congregation of Israel while they were standing. He said: May the Lord God of Israel be praised! He spoke directly to my father David, and He has fulfilled [the promise] by His power. He said, "Since the day I brought My people Israel out of Egypt, I have not chosen a city to build a temple in among any of the tribes of Israel, so that My name would be there. But I have chosen David to rule My people Israel." It was in the desire of my father David to build a temple for the name of the Lord God of Israel. But the Lord said to my father David, "Since it was your desire to build a temple for My name, you have done well to have this desire. Yet you are not the one to build it; instead, your son, your own offspring, will build it for My name." The Lord has fulfilled what He promised. I have taken the place of my father David, and I 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 provided a place there for the ark, where the Lord's covenant is that He made with our ancestors when He brought them out of the land of Egypt. Then Solomon stood before the altar of the Lord in front of the entire congregation of Israel and spread out his hands toward heaven. He said: Lord God of Israel, there is no God like You in heaven above or on earth below, keeping the gracious covenant with Your servants who walk before You with their whole heart. You have kept what You promised to Your servant, my father David. You spoke directly [to him] and You fulfilled [Your promise] by Your power as it is today. Therefore, Lord God of Israel, keep what You promised to Your servant, my father David: You will never fail to have a man to sit before Me on the throne of Israel, if only your sons guard their walk before Me as you have walked before Me. Now Lord God of Israel, please confirm what You promised to Your servant, my father David. But will God indeed live on earth? Even heaven, the highest heaven, cannot contain You, much less this temple I have built. Listen to Your servant's prayer and his petition, Lord my God, so that You may hear the cry and the prayer that Your servant prays before You today, so that Your eyes may watch over this temple night and day, toward the place where You said: My name will be there, and so that You may hear the prayer that Your servant prays toward this place. Hear the petition of Your servant and Your people Israel, which they pray toward this place. May You hear in Your dwelling place in heaven. May You hear and forgive. When a man sins against his neighbor and is forced to take an oath, and he comes to take an oath before Your altar in this temple, may You hear in heaven and act. May You judge Your servants, condemning the wicked by bringing what he has done on his own head and providing justice for the righteous by rewarding him according to his righteousness. When Your people Israel are defeated before an enemy, because they have sinned against You, and they return to You and praise Your name, and they pray and plead with You for mercy in this temple, may You hear in heaven and forgive the sin of Your people Israel. May You restore them to the land You gave their ancestors. When the skies are shut and there is no rain, because they have sinned against You, and they pray toward this place and praise Your name, and they turn from their sins because You are afflicting them, may You hear in heaven and forgive the sin of Your servants and Your people Israel, so that You may teach them the good way they should walk in. May You send rain on Your land that You gave Your people for an inheritance. When there is famine on the earth, when there is pestilence, when there is blight, mildew, locust, or grasshopper, when their enemy besieges them in the region of their fortified cities, [when there is] any plague or illness, whatever prayer or petition anyone from Your people Israel might have- each man knowing his own afflictions and spreading out his hands toward this temple- may You hear in heaven, Your dwelling place, and may You forgive, act, and repay the man, according to all his ways, since You know his heart, for You alone know every human heart, so that they may fear You all the days they live on the land You gave our ancestors. Even for the foreigner who is not of Your people Israel but has come from a distant land because of Your name- for they will hear of Your great name, mighty hand, and outstretched arm, and will come and pray toward this temple- may You hear in heaven, Your dwelling place, and do according to all the foreigner asks You for. Then all the people on earth will know Your name, to fear You as Your people Israel do and know that this temple I have built is called by Your name. When Your people go out to fight against their enemies, wherever You send them, and they pray to the Lord in the direction of the city You have chosen and the temple I have built for Your name, may You hear their prayer and petition in heaven and uphold their cause. When they sin against You- for there is no one who does not sin- and You are angry with them and hand them over to the enemy, and their captors deport them to the enemy's country- whether distant or nearby- and when they come to their senses in the land where they were deported and repent and petition You in their captors' land: "We have sinned and done wrong; we have been wicked," and when they return to You with their whole mind and heart in the land of their enemies who took them captive, and when they pray to You in the direction of their land that You gave their ancestors, the city You have chosen, and the temple I have built for Your name, may You hear in heaven, Your dwelling place, their prayer and petition and uphold their cause. May You forgive Your people who sinned against You and all their rebellions against You, and may You give them compassion in the eyes of their captors, so that they may be compassionate to them. For they are Your people and Your inheritance; You brought them out of Egypt, out of the middle of an iron furnace. May Your eyes be open to Your servant's petition and to the petition of Your people Israel, listening to them whenever they call to You. For You, Lord God , have set them apart as Your inheritance from all the people on earth, as You spoke through Your servant Moses when You brought their ancestors out of Egypt. When Solomon finished praying this entire prayer and petition to the Lord, he got up from kneeling before the altar of the Lord, with his hands spread out toward heaven, and he stood and blessed the whole congregation of Israel with a loud voice: "May the Lord be praised! He has given rest to His people Israel according to all He has said. Not one of all the good promises He made through His servant Moses has failed. May the Lord our God be with us as He was with our ancestors. May He not abandon us or leave us. May He incline our hearts toward Him to walk in all His ways and to keep His commands, ordinances, and judgments, which He commanded our ancestors. May my words I have made my petition with before the Lord be near the Lord our God day and night, so that He may uphold His servant's cause and the cause of His people Israel, as each day requires, and so that all the peoples of the earth may know that the Lord is God. There is no other! Let your heart be completely devoted to the Lord our God to walk in His ordinances and to keep His commands, as it is today." The king and all Israel with him were offering sacrifices in the Lord's presence. Solomon offered a sacrifice of fellowship offerings to the Lord: 22,000 cattle and 120,000 sheep. In this manner the king and all the Israelites dedicated the Lord's temple. On the same day, the king consecrated the middle of the courtyard that was in front of the Lord's temple because that was where he offered the burnt offering, the grain offering, and the fat of the fellowship offerings since the bronze altar before the Lord was too small to accommodate the burnt offerings, the grain offerings, and the fat of the fellowship offerings. Solomon and all Israel with him-a great assembly, from the entrance of Hamath to the Brook of Egypt-observed the festival at that time in the presence of the Lord our God, seven days, and seven [more] days-14 days. On the fifteenth day he sent the people away. So they blessed the king and went home to their tents rejoicing and with joyful hearts for all the goodness that the Lord had done for His servant David and for His people Israel. When Solomon finished building the temple of the Lord, the royal palace, and all that Solomon desired to do, the Lord appeared to Solomon a second time just as He had appeared to him at Gibeon. The Lord said to him: I have heard your prayer and petition you have made before Me. I have consecrated this temple you have built, to put My name there forever; My eyes and My heart will be there at all times. As for you, if you walk before Me as your father David walked, with integrity of heart and uprightness, doing everything I have commanded you, and if you keep My statutes and ordinances, I will establish your royal throne over Israel forever, as I promised your father David: You will never fail to have a man on the throne of Israel. If you or your sons turn away from following Me and do not keep My commands-My statutes that I have set before you-and if you go and serve other gods and worship them, I will cut off Israel from the land I gave them, and I will reject the temple I have sanctified for My name. Israel will become an object of scorn and ridicule among all the peoples. Though this temple is [now] exalted, every passerby will be appalled and will hiss. They will say: Why did the Lord do this to this land and this temple? Then they will say: Because they abandoned the Lord their God who brought their ancestors out of the land of Egypt. They clung to other gods and worshiped and served them. Because of this, the Lord brought all this ruin on them. At the end of 20 years during which Solomon had built the two houses, the Lord's temple and the royal palace- Hiram king of Tyre having supplied him with cedar and cypress logs and gold for his every wish-King Solomon gave Hiram 20 towns in the land of Galilee. So Hiram went out from Tyre to look over the towns that Solomon had given him, but he was not pleased with them. So he said, "What are these towns you've given me, my brother?" So he called them the Land of Cabul, as they are [still called] today. Now Hiram had sent the king 9,000 pounds of gold. This is the account of the forced labor that King Solomon had imposed to build the Lord's temple, his own palace, the supporting terraces, the wall of Jerusalem, and Hazor, Megiddo, and Gezer. Pharaoh king of Egypt had attacked and captured Gezer. He then burned it down, killed the Canaanites who lived in the city, and gave it as a dowry to his daughter, Solomon's wife. Then Solomon rebuilt Gezer, Lower Beth-horon, Baalath, Tamar in the Wilderness of Judah, all the storage cities that belonged to Solomon, the chariot cities, the cavalry cities, and whatever Solomon desired to build in Jerusalem, Lebanon, or anywhere else in the land of his dominion. As for all the peoples who remained of the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites, who were not Israelites- their descendants who remained in the land after them, those whom the Israelites were unable to annihilate-Solomon imposed forced labor on them; [it is this way] until today. But Solomon did not consign the Israelites to slavery; they were soldiers, his servants, his commanders, his captains, and commanders of his chariots and his cavalry. These were the deputies who were over Solomon's work: 550 who ruled over the people doing the work. Pharaoh's daughter moved from the city of David to the house that Solomon had built for her; he then built the terraces. Three times a year Solomon offered burnt offerings and fellowship offerings on the altar he had built for the Lord, and he burned incense with them in the Lord's presence. So he completed the temple. King Solomon put together a fleet of ships at Ezion-geber, which is near Eloth on the shore of the Red Sea in the land of Edom. With the fleet, Hiram sent his servants, experienced seamen, along with Solomon's servants. They went to Ophir and acquired gold there-16 tons-and delivered it to Solomon. The queen of Sheba heard about Solomon's fame connected with the name of the Lord and came to test him with difficult questions. She came to Jerusalem with a very large retinue, with camels bearing spices, gold in great abundance, and precious stones. She came to Solomon and spoke to him about everything that was on her mind. So Solomon answered all her questions; nothing was too difficult for the king to explain to her. When the queen of Sheba observed all of Solomon's wisdom, the palace he had built, the food at his table, his servants' residence, his attendants' service and their attire, his cupbearers, and the burnt offerings he offered at the Lord's temple, it took her breath away. She said to the king, "The report I heard in my own country about your words and about your wisdom is true. But I didn't believe the reports until I came and saw with my own eyes. Indeed, I was not even told half. Your wisdom and prosperity far exceed the report I heard. How happy are your men. How happy are these servants of yours, who always stand in your presence hearing your wisdom. May the Lord your God be praised! He delighted in you and put you on the throne of Israel, because of the Lord's eternal love for Israel. He has made you king to carry out justice and righteousness." Then she gave the king four and a half tons of gold, a great quantity of spices, and precious stones. Never again did such a quantity of spices arrive as those the queen of Sheba gave to King Solomon. In addition, Hiram's fleet that carried gold from Ophir brought from Ophir a large quantity of almug wood and precious stones. The king made the almug wood into steps for the Lord's temple and the king's palace and into harps and lyres for the singers. Never [before] had such almug wood come, and [the like] has not been seen [again] even to this very day. King Solomon gave the queen of Sheba her every desire-whatever she asked-besides what he had given her out of his royal bounty. Then she, along with her servants, returned to her own country. The weight of gold that came to Solomon annually was 25 tons, besides what came from merchants, traders' merchandise, and all the Arabian kings and governors of the land. King Solomon made 200 large shields of hammered gold; 15 pounds of gold went into each shield. He made 300 small shields of hammered gold; about four pounds of gold went into each shield. The king put them in the House of the Forest of Lebanon. The king also made a large ivory throne and overlaid it with fine gold. The throne had six steps; there was a rounded top at the back of the throne, armrests on either side of the seat, and two lions standing beside the armrests. Twelve lions were standing there on the six steps, one at each end. Nothing like it had ever been made in any other kingdom. All of King Solomon's drinking cups were gold, and all the utensils of the House of the Forest of Lebanon were pure gold. There was no silver, since it was considered as nothing in Solomon's time, for the king had ships of Tarshish at sea with Hiram's fleet, and once every three years the ships of Tarshish would arrive bearing gold, silver, ivory, apes, and peacocks. King Solomon surpassed all the kings of the world in riches and in wisdom. The whole world wanted an audience with Solomon to hear the wisdom that God had put in his heart. Every man would bring his annual tribute: items of silver and gold, clothing, weapons, spices, and horses and mules. Solomon accumulated 1,400 chariots and 12,000 horsemen and stationed them in the chariot cities and with the king in Jerusalem. The king made silver as common in Jerusalem as stones, and he made cedar as abundant as sycamore in the Judean foothills. Solomon's horses were imported from Egypt and Kue. The king's traders bought them from Kue at the going price. A chariot was imported from Egypt for 15 pounds [of silver], and a horse for about four pounds. In the same way, they exported them to all the kings of the Hittites and to the kings of Aram through their agents. King Solomon loved many foreign women in addition to Pharaoh's daughter: Moabite, Ammonite, Edomite, Sidonian, and Hittite women from the nations that the Lord had told the Israelites about, "Do not intermarry with them, and they must not intermarry with you, because they will turn you away [from Me] to their gods." Solomon was deeply attached to these women and loved [them]. He had 700 wives who were princesses and 300 concubines, and they turned his heart away [from the Lord]. When Solomon was old, his wives seduced him [to follow] other gods. His heart was not completely with the Lord his God, as his father David's heart had been. Solomon followed Ashtoreth, the goddess of the Sidonians, and Milcom, the detestable idol of the Ammonites. Solomon did what was evil in the Lord's sight, and unlike his father David, he did not completely follow the Lord. At that time, Solomon built a high place for Chemosh, the detestable idol of Moab, and for Milcom, the detestable idol of the Ammonites on the hill across from Jerusalem. He did the same for all his foreign wives, who were burning incense and offering sacrifices to their gods. The Lord was angry with Solomon, because his heart had turned away from the Lord God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice. He had commanded him about this, so that he would not follow other gods, but Solomon did not do what the Lord had commanded. Then the Lord said to Solomon, "Since you have done this and did not keep My covenant and My statutes, which I commanded you, I will tear the kingdom away from you and give it to your servant. However, I will not do it during your lifetime because of your father David; I will tear it out of your son's hand. Yet, I will not tear the entire kingdom away from him. I will give one tribe to your son because of my servant David and because of Jerusalem that I chose." So the Lord raised up Hadad the Edomite as an enemy against Solomon. He was of the royal family in Edom. Earlier, when David was in Edom, Joab, the commander of the army, had gone to bury the dead and had struck down every male in Edom. For Joab and all Israel had remained there six months, until he had killed every male in Edom. Hadad fled to Egypt, along with some Edomites from his father's servants. At the time Hadad was a small boy. Hadad and his men set out from Midian and went to Paran. They took men with them from Paran and went to Egypt, to Pharaoh king of Egypt, who gave Hadad a house, ordered that he [be given] food, and gave him land. Pharaoh liked Hadad so much that he gave him a wife, the sister of his own wife, Queen Tahpenes. Tahpenes' sister gave birth to Hadad's son Genubath. Tahpenes [herself] weaned him in Pharaoh's palace, and Genubath [lived] there along with Pharaoh's sons. When Hadad heard in Egypt that David rested with his fathers and that Joab, the commander of the army, was dead, Hadad said to Pharaoh, "Let me leave, so I can go to my own country." But Pharaoh asked him, "What do you lack here with me for you to want to go back to your own country?" "Nothing," he replied, "but please let me leave." God raised up Rezon son of Eliada as an enemy against Solomon. Rezon had fled from his master Hadadezer king of Zobah and gathered men to himself. He became captain of a raiding party when David killed the Zobaites. He went to Damascus, lived there, and became king in Damascus. Rezon was Israel's enemy throughout Solomon's reign, adding to the trouble Hadad [had caused]. He ruled over Aram, but he loathed Israel. Now Solomon's servant, Jeroboam son of Nebat, was an Ephraimite from Zeredah. His widowed mother's name was Zeruah. Jeroboam rebelled against Solomon, and this is the reason he rebelled against the king: Solomon had built the supporting terraces [and] repaired the opening in the wall of the city of his father David. Now the man Jeroboam was capable, and Solomon noticed the young man because he was getting things done. So he appointed him over the entire labor force of the house of Joseph. During that time, the prophet Ahijah the Shilonite met Jeroboam on the road as Jeroboam came out of Jerusalem. Now Ahijah had wrapped himself with a new cloak, and the two of them were alone in the open field. Then Ahijah took hold of the new cloak he had on, tore it into 12 pieces, and said to Jeroboam, "Take 10 pieces for yourself, for this is what the Lord God of Israel says: 'I am about to tear the kingdom out of Solomon's hand. I will give you 10 tribes, but one tribe will remain his because of my servant David and because of Jerusalem, the city I chose out of all the tribes of Israel. For they have abandoned Me; they have bowed the knee to Ashtoreth, the goddess of the Sidonians, to Chemosh, the god of Moab, and to Milcom, the god of the Ammonites. They have not walked in My ways to do right in My eyes and to carry out My statutes and My judgments as his father David did. " 'However, I will not take the whole kingdom from his hand but will let him be ruler all the days of his life because of My servant David, whom I chose and who kept My commandments and My statutes. I will take 10 tribes of the kingdom from his son's hand and give them to you. I will give one tribe to his son, so that My servant David will always have a lamp before Me in Jerusalem, the city I chose for Myself to put My name there. I will appoint you, and you will reign as king over all you want, and you will be king over Israel. " 'After that, if you obey all I command you, walk in My ways, and do what is right in My sight in order to keep My statutes and My commandments as My servant David did, I will be with you. I will build you a lasting dynasty just as I built for David, and I will give you Israel. I will humble David's descendants, because of [their unfaithfulness], but not forever.' " Therefore, Solomon tried to kill Jeroboam, but he fled to Egypt, to Shishak king of Egypt, where he remained until Solomon's death. The rest of the events of Solomon's [reign], along with all his accomplishments and his wisdom, are written about in the Book of Solomon's Events. The length of Solomon's reign in Jerusalem over all Israel totaled 40 years. Solomon rested with his fathers and was buried in the city of his father David. His son Rehoboam became king in his place.
Palace » Of solomon
Solomon completed his entire palace-complex after 13 years of construction. He built the House of the Forest of Lebanon. It was 150 feet long, 75 feet wide, and 45 feet high on four rows of cedar pillars, with cedar beams on top of the pillars. It was paneled above with cedar at the top of the chambers that [rested] on 45 pillars, fifteen per row. read more.
There were three rows of window frames, facing each other in three tiers. All the doors and doorposts had rectangular frames, the openings facing each other in three tiers. He made the hall of pillars 75 feet long and 45 feet wide. A portico was in front of the pillars, and a canopy with pillars was in front of them. He made the Hall of the Throne where he would judge-the Hall of Judgment. It was paneled with cedar from the floor to the rafters. Solomon's own palace where he would live, in the other courtyard behind the hall, was of similar construction. And he made a house like this hall for Pharaoh's daughter, his wife. All of these [buildings] were of costly stones, cut to size and sawed with saws on the inner and outer surfaces, from foundation to coping and from the outside to the great courtyard. The foundation was made of large, costly stones 12 and 15 feet long. Above were also costly stones, cut to size, as well as cedar wood. Around the great courtyard, as well as the inner courtyard of the Lord's temple and the portico of the temple, were three rows of dressed stone and a row of trimmed cedar beams.
There were three rows of window frames, facing each other in three tiers. All the doors and doorposts had rectangular frames, the openings facing each other in three tiers. He made the hall of pillars 75 feet long and 45 feet wide. A portico was in front of the pillars, and a canopy with pillars was in front of them. He made the Hall of the Throne where he would judge-the Hall of Judgment. It was paneled with cedar from the floor to the rafters. Solomon's own palace where he would live, in the other courtyard behind the hall, was of similar construction. And he made a house like this hall for Pharaoh's daughter, his wife. All of these [buildings] were of costly stones, cut to size and sawed with saws on the inner and outer surfaces, from foundation to coping and from the outside to the great courtyard. The foundation was made of large, costly stones 12 and 15 feet long. Above were also costly stones, cut to size, as well as cedar wood. Around the great courtyard, as well as the inner courtyard of the Lord's temple and the portico of the temple, were three rows of dressed stone and a row of trimmed cedar beams.
Solomon » Ivory throne of
He made the Hall of the Throne where he would judge—the Hall of Judgment. It was paneled with cedar from the floor to the rafters.
Verse Concepts
The king also made a large ivory throne and overlaid it with fine gold. The throne had six steps; there was a rounded top at the back of the throne, armrests on either side of the seat, and two lions standing beside the armrests. Twelve lions were standing there on the six steps, one at each end. Nothing like it had ever been made in any other kingdom.
Solomon » Builds his house, the forest of lebanon
He built the House of the Forest of Lebanon. It was 150 feet long, 75 feet wide, and 45 feet high on four rows of cedar pillars, with cedar beams on top of the pillars. It was paneled above with cedar at the top of the chambers that [rested] on 45 pillars, fifteen per row. There were three rows of window frames, facing each other in three tiers. read more.
All the doors and doorposts had rectangular frames, the openings facing each other in three tiers. He made the hall of pillars 75 feet long and 45 feet wide. A portico was in front of the pillars, and a canopy with pillars was in front of them. He made the Hall of the Throne where he would judge-the Hall of Judgment. It was paneled with cedar from the floor to the rafters.
All the doors and doorposts had rectangular frames, the openings facing each other in three tiers. He made the hall of pillars 75 feet long and 45 feet wide. A portico was in front of the pillars, and a canopy with pillars was in front of them. He made the Hall of the Throne where he would judge-the Hall of Judgment. It was paneled with cedar from the floor to the rafters.
Solomon » Porches of judgment
He made the Hall of the Throne where he would judge—the Hall of Judgment. It was paneled with cedar from the floor to the rafters.
Verse Concepts