Thematic Bible
Thematic Bible
Ark of the covenant » Brought by solomon into the temple with great solemnity
Then Solomon assembled the respected leaders of Israel, all the heads of the tribes, and the leaders of the Israelite families. They came to Jerusalem to take the Ark of the Covenant of Jehovah from the City of David, which is Zion. The men of Israel gathered around the king at the Festival of Booths in the seventh month. When all the leaders of Israel had arrived, the Levites picked up the ark. read more.
They brought the Ark, the Tent of Meeting, and all the holy utensils in it to the Temple. The priests and the Levites carried them while King Solomon and the whole assembly from Israel were offering countless sheep and cattle sacrifices in front of the Ark. The priests brought Jehovah's Ark of the Covenant to its place in the inner room of the Temple, the most holy place, under the wings of the cherubim (angels). The cherubim (angels) outstretched wings were over the place where the Ark rested so that the cherubim became a covering above the Ark and its poles. The poles were so long that their ends could be seen in the holy place by anyone standing in front of the inner room. However they could not be seen outside. They are still there today.
They brought the Ark, the Tent of Meeting, and all the holy utensils in it to the Temple. The priests and the Levites carried them while King Solomon and the whole assembly from Israel were offering countless sheep and cattle sacrifices in front of the Ark. The priests brought Jehovah's Ark of the Covenant to its place in the inner room of the Temple, the most holy place, under the wings of the cherubim (angels). The cherubim (angels) outstretched wings were over the place where the Ark rested so that the cherubim became a covering above the Ark and its poles. The poles were so long that their ends could be seen in the holy place by anyone standing in front of the inner room. However they could not be seen outside. They are still there today.
King Solomon summoned all the leaders of the tribes and clans of Israel to come to him in Jerusalem. They were to take Jehovah's Ark of the Covenant from Zion, David's City, to the Temple. They all assembled during the festival. It was the seventh month, the month of Ethanim. As soon as all the elders gathered, the priests lifted the Ark read more.
and carried it to the Temple. The Levites and the priests also moved the Tent of Jehovah's presence and all its equipment to the Temple. King Solomon and all the people of Israel assembled in front of the Ark and sacrificed a large number of sheep and cattle, too many to count. Then the priests carried the Ark of the Covenant into the Temple and put it in the Most Holy Place, beneath the cherubim (angel).
and carried it to the Temple. The Levites and the priests also moved the Tent of Jehovah's presence and all its equipment to the Temple. King Solomon and all the people of Israel assembled in front of the Ark and sacrificed a large number of sheep and cattle, too many to count. Then the priests carried the Ark of the Covenant into the Temple and put it in the Most Holy Place, beneath the cherubim (angel).
Dedication » Subjects of » Temple of solomon
King Solomon offered twenty-two thousand cattle and one hundred and twenty thousand sheep as sacrifices to Jehovah. Thus the king and all the people dedicated God's Temple.
Verse Concepts
King Solomon summoned all the leaders of the tribes and clans of Israel to come to him in Jerusalem. They were to take Jehovah's Ark of the Covenant from Zion, David's City, to the Temple. They all assembled during the festival. It was the seventh month, the month of Ethanim. As soon as all the elders gathered, the priests lifted the Ark read more.
and carried it to the Temple. The Levites and the priests also moved the Tent of Jehovah's presence and all its equipment to the Temple. King Solomon and all the people of Israel assembled in front of the Ark and sacrificed a large number of sheep and cattle, too many to count. Then the priests carried the Ark of the Covenant into the Temple and put it in the Most Holy Place, beneath the cherubim (angel). Their outstretched wings covered the box and the poles it was carried by. The ends of the poles could be seen by anyone standing directly in front of the Most Holy Place, but from nowhere else. There was nothing inside the Ark of the Covenant except the two stone tablets that Moses had placed there at Mount Sinai, when Jehovah made a covenant with the people of Israel as they were coming from Egypt. As the priests were leaving the Temple, it was suddenly filled with a cloud. It shined with the dazzling light of Jehovah's presence. They could not go back in to perform their duties. Solomon prayed: Jehovah, you have placed the sun in the sky, yet you have chosen to live in clouds and darkness. Now I have built a majestic temple for you, a place for you to live in for a very long time. King Solomon turned to face the people standing there. He asked God's blessing on them. He said: Praise Jehovah the God of Israel! He kept the promise he made to my father David, when he told him: Since the time I brought my people out of Egypt, I have not chosen any city in all the land of Israel in which a temple should be built where I would be worshiped. But I chose you, David, to rule my people.' Solomon continued: My father David planned to build a temple for the worship of Jehovah the God of Israel, Jehovah said to him: 'You were right in wanting to build a temple for me. However you will never build it. It is your son who will build my temple.' Now Jehovah has kept his promise. I have succeeded my father as king of Israel. And I have built the Temple for the worship of Jehovah the God of Israel. I also provided a place in the Temple for the Ark of the Covenant containing the stone tablets of the covenant Jehovah made with our ancestors when he brought them out of Egypt. In the presence of the people Solomon stood in front of the altar. He raised his arms and prayed: Jehovah God of Israel, there is no god like you in heaven above or on earth below! You keep your covenant with your people and show them your love when they live in wholehearted obedience to you. You kept the promise you made to my father David. Every word has been fulfilled. Jehovah, God of Israel, I pray that you will also keep the other promise you made to my father when you told him there would always be one of his descendants ruling as king of Israel, provided they obeyed you as carefully as he did. So now, O God of Israel, let your word come true that you promised to my father David, your servant. Can you, O God, really live on earth? Not even heaven or the heaven of heavens is large enough to hold you. How can this Temple I have built be large enough? Jehovah my God, I am your servant. Listen to my prayer. Grant the requests I make to you today. Watch over this Temple day and night. For this is the place where you have chosen to be worshiped. Hear me when I face this Temple and pray. Hear my prayers and the prayers of your people. In your home in heaven hear us and forgive us. When a person is accused of wronging another and is brought to your altar in this Temple to take an oath that he is innocent, O Jehovah, listen in heaven and judge your servants. Punish the guilty one, as he deserves. Justify the one who is innocent. When your people Israel have sinned against you their enemies defeat them. They can turn to you and come to this Temple, humbly praying to you for forgiveness. Listen to them in heaven. Forgive the sins of your people and bring them back to the land that you gave to their ancestors. When you hold back the rain because your people have sinned against you. And when they repent in this Temple, humbly praying to you, listen to them in heaven. Forgive the sins of the king and of the people of Israel, and teach them to do what is right. Then, O Jehovah, send rain on this land of yours, which you gave to your people as a permanent possession. When there is famine in the land or an epidemic or scorching winds or swarms of locusts, or when their enemies attack your people, or when disease or sickness among them destroys the crops, listen to their prayers. If any of your people Israel, out of heartfelt sorrow, stretch out their hands in prayer toward this Temple, hear their prayer. Listen to them in your home in heaven, help them and forgive them. You alone know the thoughts of the human heart. Deal with each person, as he deserves, so that your people may obey you all the time they live in the land you gave to our ancestors. When a foreigner who lives in a distant land hears of your fame and of the great things you have done for your people and comes to worship you and to pray at this Temple, For they will have news of your great name and your strong hand and your out-stretched arm. When he comes to pray in this house: Listen to him and give him his desire. Let all the peoples of the earth know about your name. Let them worship you as your people Israel, and that they may see that this house which I have built is truly named by your name. When your people go to war against their enemies, they pray to you, O Jehovah, toward the city you have chosen and the temple I built for your name. Hear their prayer for mercy in heaven, and do what is right for them. They may sin against you, for everyone sins. You may become angry with them and hand them over to an enemy far or near who takes them to another country as captives. If they come to their senses and are sorry for what they have done, and plead with you in the land where they are captives, saying: We have sinned. We have done wrong. We have been wicked. If they change their attitude toward you in the land of their enemies where they are captives, if they pray to you toward the land that you gave their ancestors, and the city you have chosen, and the temple I have built for your name, then in heaven, the place where you live, hear their prayer for mercy. Do what is right for them. Forgive your people, who have sinned against you. Forgive all their wrongs when they rebelled against you. Cause those who captured them to have mercy on them. They are your own people. You brought them out of Egypt from the middle of an iron smelter. May your eyes always see my plea and your people Israel's plea so that you will listen to them whenever they call on you. You Jehovah set them apart from all the people of the world. They are your own as you promised through your servant Moses when you brought our ancestors out of Egypt. When Solomon finished praying this prayer for mercy to Jehovah, he stood in front of Jehovah's altar, where he had been kneeling with his hands stretched out toward heaven. Then he stood and in a loud voice blessed the entire assembly of Israel: THANKS TO JEHOVAH! He has given his people Israel rest, as he has promised. None of the good promises he made through his servant Moses has failed to come true. May Jehovah our God be with us as he was with our ancestors. May he not leave us or abandon us. May he bend our hearts toward him. Then we will follow him and obey his commands, laws, and rules, which he commanded our ancestors to obey. May these words I have prayed to Jehovah be near Jehovah our God day and night. Then he will give his people Israel and me justice every day as it is needed. In this way all the people of the earth may know that Jehovah is God and there is no other god. Let your hearts be committed to Jehovah our God. Then you will live by his laws and keep his commands as you have today. Then the king and all Israel offered sacrifices to Jehovah. Solomon sacrificed twenty-two thousand cattle and one hundred twenty thousand sheep as fellowship offerings to Jehovah. So the king and all the people of Israel dedicated Jehovah's Temple.
and carried it to the Temple. The Levites and the priests also moved the Tent of Jehovah's presence and all its equipment to the Temple. King Solomon and all the people of Israel assembled in front of the Ark and sacrificed a large number of sheep and cattle, too many to count. Then the priests carried the Ark of the Covenant into the Temple and put it in the Most Holy Place, beneath the cherubim (angel). Their outstretched wings covered the box and the poles it was carried by. The ends of the poles could be seen by anyone standing directly in front of the Most Holy Place, but from nowhere else. There was nothing inside the Ark of the Covenant except the two stone tablets that Moses had placed there at Mount Sinai, when Jehovah made a covenant with the people of Israel as they were coming from Egypt. As the priests were leaving the Temple, it was suddenly filled with a cloud. It shined with the dazzling light of Jehovah's presence. They could not go back in to perform their duties. Solomon prayed: Jehovah, you have placed the sun in the sky, yet you have chosen to live in clouds and darkness. Now I have built a majestic temple for you, a place for you to live in for a very long time. King Solomon turned to face the people standing there. He asked God's blessing on them. He said: Praise Jehovah the God of Israel! He kept the promise he made to my father David, when he told him: Since the time I brought my people out of Egypt, I have not chosen any city in all the land of Israel in which a temple should be built where I would be worshiped. But I chose you, David, to rule my people.' Solomon continued: My father David planned to build a temple for the worship of Jehovah the God of Israel, Jehovah said to him: 'You were right in wanting to build a temple for me. However you will never build it. It is your son who will build my temple.' Now Jehovah has kept his promise. I have succeeded my father as king of Israel. And I have built the Temple for the worship of Jehovah the God of Israel. I also provided a place in the Temple for the Ark of the Covenant containing the stone tablets of the covenant Jehovah made with our ancestors when he brought them out of Egypt. In the presence of the people Solomon stood in front of the altar. He raised his arms and prayed: Jehovah God of Israel, there is no god like you in heaven above or on earth below! You keep your covenant with your people and show them your love when they live in wholehearted obedience to you. You kept the promise you made to my father David. Every word has been fulfilled. Jehovah, God of Israel, I pray that you will also keep the other promise you made to my father when you told him there would always be one of his descendants ruling as king of Israel, provided they obeyed you as carefully as he did. So now, O God of Israel, let your word come true that you promised to my father David, your servant. Can you, O God, really live on earth? Not even heaven or the heaven of heavens is large enough to hold you. How can this Temple I have built be large enough? Jehovah my God, I am your servant. Listen to my prayer. Grant the requests I make to you today. Watch over this Temple day and night. For this is the place where you have chosen to be worshiped. Hear me when I face this Temple and pray. Hear my prayers and the prayers of your people. In your home in heaven hear us and forgive us. When a person is accused of wronging another and is brought to your altar in this Temple to take an oath that he is innocent, O Jehovah, listen in heaven and judge your servants. Punish the guilty one, as he deserves. Justify the one who is innocent. When your people Israel have sinned against you their enemies defeat them. They can turn to you and come to this Temple, humbly praying to you for forgiveness. Listen to them in heaven. Forgive the sins of your people and bring them back to the land that you gave to their ancestors. When you hold back the rain because your people have sinned against you. And when they repent in this Temple, humbly praying to you, listen to them in heaven. Forgive the sins of the king and of the people of Israel, and teach them to do what is right. Then, O Jehovah, send rain on this land of yours, which you gave to your people as a permanent possession. When there is famine in the land or an epidemic or scorching winds or swarms of locusts, or when their enemies attack your people, or when disease or sickness among them destroys the crops, listen to their prayers. If any of your people Israel, out of heartfelt sorrow, stretch out their hands in prayer toward this Temple, hear their prayer. Listen to them in your home in heaven, help them and forgive them. You alone know the thoughts of the human heart. Deal with each person, as he deserves, so that your people may obey you all the time they live in the land you gave to our ancestors. When a foreigner who lives in a distant land hears of your fame and of the great things you have done for your people and comes to worship you and to pray at this Temple, For they will have news of your great name and your strong hand and your out-stretched arm. When he comes to pray in this house: Listen to him and give him his desire. Let all the peoples of the earth know about your name. Let them worship you as your people Israel, and that they may see that this house which I have built is truly named by your name. When your people go to war against their enemies, they pray to you, O Jehovah, toward the city you have chosen and the temple I built for your name. Hear their prayer for mercy in heaven, and do what is right for them. They may sin against you, for everyone sins. You may become angry with them and hand them over to an enemy far or near who takes them to another country as captives. If they come to their senses and are sorry for what they have done, and plead with you in the land where they are captives, saying: We have sinned. We have done wrong. We have been wicked. If they change their attitude toward you in the land of their enemies where they are captives, if they pray to you toward the land that you gave their ancestors, and the city you have chosen, and the temple I have built for your name, then in heaven, the place where you live, hear their prayer for mercy. Do what is right for them. Forgive your people, who have sinned against you. Forgive all their wrongs when they rebelled against you. Cause those who captured them to have mercy on them. They are your own people. You brought them out of Egypt from the middle of an iron smelter. May your eyes always see my plea and your people Israel's plea so that you will listen to them whenever they call on you. You Jehovah set them apart from all the people of the world. They are your own as you promised through your servant Moses when you brought our ancestors out of Egypt. When Solomon finished praying this prayer for mercy to Jehovah, he stood in front of Jehovah's altar, where he had been kneeling with his hands stretched out toward heaven. Then he stood and in a loud voice blessed the entire assembly of Israel: THANKS TO JEHOVAH! He has given his people Israel rest, as he has promised. None of the good promises he made through his servant Moses has failed to come true. May Jehovah our God be with us as he was with our ancestors. May he not leave us or abandon us. May he bend our hearts toward him. Then we will follow him and obey his commands, laws, and rules, which he commanded our ancestors to obey. May these words I have prayed to Jehovah be near Jehovah our God day and night. Then he will give his people Israel and me justice every day as it is needed. In this way all the people of the earth may know that Jehovah is God and there is no other god. Let your hearts be committed to Jehovah our God. Then you will live by his laws and keep his commands as you have today. Then the king and all Israel offered sacrifices to Jehovah. Solomon sacrificed twenty-two thousand cattle and one hundred twenty thousand sheep as fellowship offerings to Jehovah. So the king and all the people of Israel dedicated Jehovah's Temple.
Kings » Who reigned over all israel » Solomon
Zadok took the container of olive oil that he had brought from the Tent of Jehovah's presence, and anointed Solomon. They blew the trumpet, and all the people shouted: Long live King Solomon! All the people followed him. They blew flutes and celebrated so loudly that their voices shook the ground. Adonijah and all his guests heard this while they were eating. When Joab heard the sound of the horn, he asked: Why all this noise in the city? read more.
He was still speaking when Jonathan, son of the priest Abiathar, arrived. Come in, Adonijah said: You are an honorable man. You must be bringing good news. Not at all, Jonathan answered Adonijah. His Majesty King David has made Solomon king! The king sent the priest Zadok, the prophet Nathan, Benaiah son of Jehoiada, the Cherethites, and the Pelethites with him. They placed him on the king's mule. The priest Zadok and the prophet Nathan anointed him king at Gihon. They came from there celebrating. The city is excited. That is the sound you heard. Solomon is seated on the royal throne. Even the royal officials have come to congratulate His Majesty King David, saying: May your God make Solomon's name more famous than yours and his reign greater than your reign. The king himself bowed down on his bed and prayed: 'Let us praise Jehovah the God of Israel. Today he made one of my descendants succeed me as king.' He let me live to see it! Adonijah's guests were afraid. So they all left. Adonijah, in great fear of Solomon, went to the Tent of Jehovah's presence and grabbed hold of the corners of the altar. King Solomon was told that Adonijah was afraid of him and that he was holding on to the corners of the altar. He heard that he said: First, I want King Solomon to swear to me that he will not have me put to death. Solomon replied: If he is loyal, not even a hair on his head will be touched. If he is not, he will die. King Solomon then sent for Adonijah and had him brought down from the altar. Adonijah went to the king and bowed low before him. The king said to him: You may go home. David was about to die. He called his son Solomon and gave him his last instructions: It is my time to die. I go the way of all people of the earth. Be strong and be a man. Do what Jehovah your God orders you to do. Obey all his laws and commands, as written in the Law of Moses. That way wherever you go you may prosper in everything you do. If you obey Jehovah he will keep the promise he made when he told me, 'Your descendants will rule Israel as long as they are careful to obey my commands faithfully with all their heart and being.' Remember what Joab did to me by killing the two commanders of Israel's armies, Abner son of Ner and Amasa son of Jether. You remember how he murdered them in time of peace. This was revenge for deaths they had caused in time of war. He killed innocent men. I bear the responsibility for what he did. I suffer the consequences. You know what to do. You must not let him die a natural death. But show kindness to the sons of Barzillai from Gilead and take care of them. They were kind to me when I was fleeing from your brother Absalom. There is also Shimei son of Gera, from the town of Bahurim in Benjamin. He cursed me with a bitter curse the day I went to Mahanaim. When he met me at the Jordan River, I gave him my solemn promise in the name of Jehovah, saying, 'I will not have you killed by the sword.' However you must not let him go unpunished. You know what to do. You must make sure he is put to death. David died and was buried in David's City. He was king of Israel for forty years. He ruled seven years in Hebron and thirty-three years in Jerusalem. Solomon succeeded his father David as king. His royal power was firmly established. Adonijah, son of Haggith, went to Bathsheba, Solomon's mother. Is this a friendly visit? She asked. Yes, he answered. I have something to discuss with you. He said. What is it? She asked. He said: You know the kingship was mine. All Israel expected me to be their king. But the kingship has been turned over to my brother because Jehovah gave it to him. I have one request to make to you. Do not say no to me. She responded: Tell me. He said: Will you go to Solomon the king for he will not say 'No' to you. And make my request that he give me Abishag the Shunammite for a wife? Bathsheba said: Indeed, I will make your request to the king. So Bathsheba went to King Solomon to talk to him for Adonijah. The king stood up to meet her and bowed down to her. He took his place on the king's throne and she sat at his right hand on the seat made ready for the king's mother. Then she said: I have one small request to make of you. Do not say 'No' to me. The king replied: Speak mother for I will not say no to you. She said: Let Abishag the Shunammite be given to Adonijah your brother for a wife. Then King Solomon answered: Why are you requesting me to give Abishag the Shunammite to Adonijah? Take the kingdom for him in addition, for he is my older brother, and Abiathar the priest and Joab, the son of Zeruiah, are on his side. King Solomon took an oath by Jehovah, saying: May God's punishment be on me if Adonijah does not give payment for these words with his life. Now by the living God Jehovah who has given me my throne from David my father. He made me one of a line of kings. He gave me his word. Adonijah will be put to death this day. King Solomon sent Benaiah, the son of Jehoiada to attack and kill him. The king spoke to Abiathar the priest: Go to your fields at Anathoth. You deserve death. But I will not put you to death now, because you carried the Ark of Jehovah God before David my father. You were with him in all his troubles. Solomon did not allow Abiathar to be priest any longer. So the word of Jehovah came true concerning the sons of Eli in Shiloh. Joab received news of this for Joab had been one of Adonijah's supporters. He was not on Absalom's side. Then Joab went in flight to the Tent of Jehovah and put his hands on the corners of the altar. When King Solomon heard about this he sent Benaiah son of Jehoiada to kill him. Benaiah went to the Tent of Jehovah and told Joab: Come out. Joab said: No! Let me die here. So Benaiah returned to the king and gave him the answer Joab gave him. The king said: Do as he said. Kill him there and bury him in the earth. This will remove the guilt of his senseless murders from my father's family and me. Jehovah will punish Joab for those murders he committed without my father David's knowledge. Joab killed two innocent men who were better men than he: Abner, commander of the army of Israel, and Amasa, commander of the army of Judah. Jehovah will repay him for the blood Joab shed. The blood will fall on Joab and on his descendants as long as they live. Jehovah will always give success to David's descendants who sit on his throne. So Benaiah went to the Tent of Jehovah's presence and killed Joab. He was buried at his home in the wilderness. The king made Benaiah commander of the army in Joab's place and put Zadok the priest in Abiathar's place. The king sent for Shimei and said to him: Build a house for yourself here in Jerusalem. Live in it and do not leave the city. If you ever leave and go beyond Kidron Brook, you will die and it will be your fault. As you say, Your Majesty, Shimei answered. I will do what you say. So he lived in Jerusalem a long time. Three years later, however, two of Shimei's slaves ran away to the king of Gath, Achish son of Maacah. When Shimei heard that they were in Gath, he saddled his donkey and went to King Achish in Gath, to find his slaves. He found them and brought them back home. When Solomon heard what Shimei did, he sent for him and said: I made you promise in Jehovah's name not to leave Jerusalem. I warned you that if you ever did, you would die. Did you not agree to it and say that you would obey me? Why did you break your promise and disobey my command? You know very well all the wrong that you did to my father David. Jehovah will punish you for it. But he will bless me, and he will make David's kingdom secure forever. The king gave orders to Benaiah son of Jehoiada. He killed Shimei. Solomon was now in complete control. Solomon made an alliance with the king of Egypt by marrying his daughter. He brought her to live in David's City until he finished building his palace, the Temple, and the wall around Jerusalem. A Temple had not yet been built for Jehovah. The people were still offering sacrifices at many different altars. Solomon loved Jehovah. He followed the instructions of his father David. He also slaughtered animals and offered them as sacrifices on different altars. One time he went to Gibeon to offer sacrifices because that was where the most used altar was. He offered hundreds of burnt offerings there in the past. That night Jehovah appeared to him in a dream and asked him: What do you want me to give you? Solomon answered: You always showed great love for my father David, your servant. He was good, loyal, and honest in his relation with you. You have continued to show him your great and constant love by giving him a son who today rules in his place. O Jehovah God, you allowed me to succeed my father as king, even though I am very young and do not know how to rule. I am among the people you have chosen to be your own. They are a people who are so many that they cannot be counted. Give me the wisdom I need to rule your people with justice. Help me know the difference between good and evil. Otherwise, how would I ever be able to rule this great people of yours? Jehovah was pleased that Solomon asked for this. He said to him: Because you have asked for the wisdom to rule justly, instead of long life for yourself or riches or the death of your enemies, I will do what you have asked. I will give you more wisdom and understanding than anyone has ever had. There has never been nor will ever be anyone like you. I will also give you what you did not ask for. All your life you will have wealth and honor, more than that of any other king. If you obey me and keep my laws and commands, as your father David did, I will give you a long life. Solomon woke up and was aware that God had spoken to him in the dream. Then he went to Jerusalem and stood in front of Jehovah's Ark of the Covenant. He offered burnt offerings and fellowship offerings to Jehovah. Then he gave a feast for all his officials. One day two women who were prostitutes came to the king. One of them said: Your Majesty, this woman and I live in the same house. I gave birth to a baby boy at home while she was there. Two days after my child was born she also gave birth to a baby boy. Only the two of us were there in the house. No one else was there. One night she accidentally rolled over on her baby and smothered it. She got up during the night and took my son from my side while I was asleep. She took him to her bed and put the dead child in my bed. The next morning I woke up and was going to nurse my baby. It was dead. I looked at it more closely and saw that it was not my child. The other woman said: The living child is mine, and the dead one is yours! The first woman answered back: The dead child is yours, and the living one is mine! They argued before the king. King Solomon said: Each of you claims that the living child is hers and that the dead child belongs to the other one. He sent for a sword. When it arrived, he said: Cut the living child in two and give each woman half of it. With a heart full of love for her son the real mother said: Please, Your Majesty, do not kill the child! Give it to her! But the other woman said: Do not give it to either of us cut it in two. Then Solomon said: Do not kill the child! Give it to the first woman. She is the real mother. The people of Israel heard of Solomon's decision and were all filled with deep respect for him. They knew then that God had given him the wisdom to settle disputes fairly. Solomon was king over all Israel. His high officials were as follows: The priest: Azariah son of Zadok, the court secretaries: Elihoreph and Ahijah, sons of Shisha In charge of the records: Jehoshaphat son of Ahilud. Commander of the army: Benaiah son of Jehoiada. Priests: Zadok and Abiathar. Chief of the district governors: Azariah son of Nathan Royal Adviser: the priest Zabud son of Nathan. In charge of the palace servants: Ahishar In charge of the forced labor: Adoniram son of Abda. Solomon appointed twelve men as district governors in Israel. They provided food from their districts for the king and his household, each man being responsible for one month out of the year. The following are the names of these twelve officers and the districts they were in charge of: Benhur: the mountains of Ephraim, Bendeker: the cities of Makaz, Shaalbim, Beth Shemesh, Elon, and Beth Hanan, Benhesed: the cities of Arubboth and Socoh and all the territory of Hepher, Benabinadab, who was married to Solomon's daughter Taphath: the whole region of Dor. Baana son of Ahilud: the cities of Taanach, Megiddo, and all the region near Beth Shan, near the town of Zarethan, south of the town of Jezreel, as far as the city of Abel Meholah and the city of Jokmeam. Bengeber: the city of Ramoth in Gilead, and the villages in Gilead belonging to the clan of Jair, a descendant of Manasseh, and the region of Argob in Bashan, sixty large towns in all, fortified with walls and with bronze bars on the gates. Ahinadab son of Iddo: the district of Mahanaim. Ahimaaz, who was married to Basemath, another of Solomon's daughters: the territory of Naphtali. Baana son of Hushai: the region of Asher and the town of Bealoth. Jehoshaphat son of Paruah: the territory of Issachar. Shimei son of Ela: the territory of Benjamin. Geber son of Uri: the region of Gilead, which had been ruled by King Sihon of the Amorites and King Og of Bashan. Besides these twelve, there was one governor over all the land. The people of Judah and Israel were as numerous as the grains of sand on the seashore. They ate and drank and were very happy. Solomon's kingdom included all the nations from the Euphrates River to Philistia and the Egyptian border. They paid him taxes and were subject to him all his life. The supplies Solomon needed each day were one hundred and fifty bushels of fine flour and three hundred bushels of meal. Also needed were ten stall-fed cattle, twenty pasture-fed cattle, and one hundred sheep, besides deer, gazelles, roebucks, and fowl (cuckoo). Solomon ruled over all the land west of the Euphrates River, from Tiphsah on the Euphrates as far west as the city of Gaza. All the kings west of the Euphrates were subject to him. He was at peace with all the neighboring countries. As long as he lived, the people throughout Judah and Israel lived in safety. Each family had its own grapevines and fig trees. Solomon had forty thousand stalls for his chariot horses and twelve thousand cavalry horses. His twelve governors supplied the food King Solomon needed for all who ate in the palace. They always supplied everything needed, each one in the month assigned. Each governor also supplied his share of barley and straw as needed for the chariot horses and the work animals. God gave Solomon great wisdom and insight, and knowledge too great to be measured. Solomon was wiser than the wise men of the East or the wise men of Egypt. He was the wisest of all men. He was wiser than Ethan the Ezrahite, and Heman, Calcol, and Darda, and the sons of Mahol. His fame spread throughout all the neighboring countries. He wrote three thousand proverbs and more than a thousand songs. He spoke of trees and plants, from the Lebanon cedars to the hyssop that grows on walls. He talked about animals, birds, reptiles, and fish. Kings all over the world heard of his wisdom and sent people to listen to the Wisdom of Solomon. When King Hiram of Tyre heard that Solomon succeeded his father as king he sent ambassadors to Solomon. He had always been a friend of David's. Solomon sent this message to Hiram: You know my father David could not build a Temple for the worship of Jehovah due to the constant wars he had to fight. There were enemies in countries all around him. First Jehovah had to give him victory over all his enemies. Jehovah my God has given me peace on all my borders. I have no enemies, and there is no danger of attack. Jehovah promised my father David: 'Your son, whom I will make king after you, will build a Temple for me. I have decided to build that Temple for the worship of Jehovah my God.' Send your men to Lebanon to cut down cedars for me. My men will work with them. I will pay your men whatever you decide. You may already know, my men do not know how to cut down trees as well as yours do. Hiram was extremely pleased when he received Solomon's message. He said: Praise Jehovah today for giving David such a wise son to succeed him as king of the great nation of Israel! Then Hiram sent Solomon the following message: I received your message. I am ready to do what you ask. I will provide the cedars and the pine trees. My men will bring the logs from Lebanon to the sea and will tie them together in rafts to float them down the coast to the place you choose. My men will untie them. There your men will take charge of them. On your part, I would like you to supply the food for my men. So Hiram supplied Solomon with all the cedar and pine logs he wanted. Solomon provided Hiram with one hundred thousand bushels of wheat and one hundred and ten thousand gallons of pure olive oil every year to feed his men. Jehovah kept his promise and gave Solomon wisdom. There was peace between Hiram and Solomon for they made a treaty with each other. King Solomon drafted thirty thousand men as forced labor from all over Israel. He appointed Adoniram to be in charge of them. He divided them into three groups of ten thousand men. Each group spent one month in Lebanon and two months back home. Solomon also had eighty thousand stonecutters in the mountains. There were seventy thousand men to carry the stones. He placed three thousand three hundred foremen there to supervise their work. King Solomon command that they cut fine large stones for the foundation of the Temple. Solomon's and Hiram's workers and men from the city of Gebal prepared the stones and the timber to build the Temple. Solomon began work on the Temple. It was four hundred and eighty years after the people of Israel left Egypt, during the fourth year of Solomon's reign over Israel, in the second month, the month of Ziv. The Temple Solomon built was ninety feet long, thirty feet wide, and forty-five feet high inside. The entrance room was fifteen feet deep and thirty feet wide. It was as wide as the sanctuary. He made windows for the Temple. Their openings were narrower on the outside than on the inside. A third-story annex, seven and one half feet high, was built against the outside walls. It was on the sides and the back of the Temple. Each room in the lowest story was seven and one half feet wide. The middle story was nine feet wide. The top story was ten and one half feet wide. The Temple wall on each floor was thinner than on the floor below, so that the rooms could rest on the wall without having their beams built into it. The stones with which the Temple was built were prepared at the quarry. That way there was no noise made by hammers, axes, or any other iron tools as the Temple was built. The entrance to the lowest story of the annex was on the south side of the Temple. It had stairs leading up to the second and third stories. King Solomon finished building the Temple. He put in a ceiling made of beams and boards of cedar. The three-story annex, each story seven and one half feet high, was built against the outside walls of the Temple. Cedar beams were used to join it to them. Jehovah spoke to Solomon: If you obey all my laws and commands, I will do for you what I promised your father David. I will live among my people Israel in this Temple that you are building. I will never abandon them. Solomon finished building the Temple. The inside walls were covered with cedar panels from the floor to the ceiling. The floor was made of pine. An inner room, called the Most Holy Place, was built in the rear of the Temple. It was thirty feet long and was partitioned off by cedar boards reaching from the floor to the ceiling. The room in front of the Most Holy Place was sixty feet long. The cedar panels were decorated with carvings of gourds and flowers. The entire interior was covered with cedar. The stones of the walls could not be seen. An inner room was built in the rear of the Temple. The Ark of the Covenant was to be placed there. This inner room was thirty feet long, thirty feet wide, and thirty feet high, all covered with pure gold. The altar was covered with cedar panels. The inside of the Temple was covered with gold. Gold chains were placed across the entrance of the inner room. The whole interior of the Temple was covered with gold, as well as the altar in the Most Holy Place. Two cherubim made of olive wood were placed in the Most Holy Place. Each one was fifteen feet tall. Each had two wings, each wing was seven and one half feet long. The distance from one wing tip to the other was fifteen feet. The other cherub was fifteen feet tall. Both were the same size and shape. They were placed side by side in the Most Holy Place. Their outstretched wings touched each other in the middle of the room, and the other two wings touched the walls. The two cherubim were covered with gold. The walls of the main room and of the inner room were all decorated with carved figures of cherubim, palm trees, and flowers. Even the floor was covered with gold. A double door made of olive wood was hung at the entrance of the Most Holy Place. There was a pointed arch on top of the doorway. The doors were decorated with carved figures of cherubim, palm trees, and flowers. The doors, the cherubim, and the palm trees were covered with gold. A rectangular doorframe of olive wood was made for the entrance to the main room. There were two folding doors made of pine and decorated with carved figures of cherubim, palm trees, and flowers, which were evenly covered with gold. An inner court was built in front of the Temple. They enclosed it with walls that had one layer of cedar beams for every three layers of stone. The foundation of the Temple was laid in the second month, the month of Ziv, in the fourth year of Solomon's reign. In the eighth month, the month of Bul, in the eleventh year of Solomon's reign, the Temple was completely finished exactly as it had been planned. It took Solomon seven years to build it. Solomon took thirteen years to build a palace for himself. The Hall of the Forest of Lebanon was one hundred and fifty feet long, seventy-five feet wide, and forty-five feet high. It had three rows of cedar pillars, fifteen in each row, with cedar beams resting on them. The ceiling was of cedar, extending over storerooms, which were supported by the pillars. On each of the two sidewalls there were three rows of windows. All the doors and doorframes were rectangular. There were three doors facing each other on opposite sides of the palace. Solomon made the Hall of Pillars seventy-five feet long and forty-five feet wide. In front of the hall was an entrance hall with pillars. He made the hall for the throne. It was a place where he could sit on his throne and judge. The hall was covered with cedar from floor to ceiling. His own private quarters were in a different location than the hall containing the throne. They were similar in design. Solomon also built private quarters like this for his wife, Pharaoh's daughter. From the foundation to the roof, all these buildings, including the large courtyard, were built with high-grade stone blocks. The stone blocks were cut to size and trimmed with saws on their inner and outer faces. The foundation was made with large, high-grade expensive stones. Some were twelve feet and others fifteen feet long. Above the foundation were cedar beams and high-grade expensive stone blocks, which were cut to size. The large courtyard had three layers of cut stone blocks and a layer of cedar beams, like the inner courtyard of Jehovah's Temple and the entrance hall. King Solomon sent for a man named Huram, a craftsman living in the city of Tyre. Huram was knowledgeable and skilled in making things out of copper. He was the son of a widow from the tribe of Naphtali. His father had been from Tyre. He went to do all of King Solomon's work. Huram cast two copper columns. Each one was twenty-seven feet tall and eighteen feet in circumference. They were placed at the entrance of the Temple. He also made two copper crowns. Each one was seven and one half feet tall. They were to be placed on top of the columns. The top of each column was decorated with a design of interwoven chains. They had two rows of copper pomegranates. The crowns on the top of the columns were shaped like lilies, six feet tall, and were placed on a rounded section which was above the chain design. There were two hundred pomegranates in two rows around each crown. Huram placed these two copper columns in front of the entrance of the Temple. The column on the south side was named Jachin and the one on the north was named Boaz. The lily-shaped copper crowns were on top of the columns. The work on the columns was completed. Hiram made a round tank of copper, seven and one half feet deep, fifteen feet in diameter, and forty-five feet in circumference. All around the outer edge of the rim of the tank were two rows of copper gourds. They were all cast in one piece with the rest of the tank. The tank rested on the backs of twelve copper bulls that faced outward. Three faced in each direction. The sides of the tank were three inches thick. Its rim was like the rim of a cup. It curved outward like the petals of a lily. The tank held about ten thousand gallons. Huram also made ten copper carts. Each cart was six feet long, six feet wide, and four and one half feet high. They were made of square panels set in frames. There were figures of lions, bulls, and cherubim on the panels. And there were spiral relief figures on the frames above and underneath the lions and bulls. Each cart had four copper wheels with copper axles. At the four corners were copper supports for a basin. The supports were decorated with spiral relief figures. There was a circular frame on top for the basin. It projected eighteen inches upward from the top of the cart and seven inches down into it. It had carvings around it. The wheels were under the panels. They were twenty-five inches high. The axles were of one piece with the carts. The wheels were like chariot wheels. Their axles, rims, spokes, and hubs were all of copper. There were four supports at the bottom corners of each cart. They were of one piece with the cart. There was a nine-inch band around the top of each cart. Its supports and the panels were of one piece with the cart. The supports and panels were decorated with figures of cherubim, lions, and palm trees, wherever there was space for them, with spiral figures all around. This is how the carts were made. They were all alike, having the same size and shape. Huram made ten basins, one for each cart. Each basin was six feet in diameter and held two hundred gallons. He placed five of the carts on the south side of the Temple. The other five were placed on the north side. The tank was placed at the southeast corner. Huram made the pots and spades and the basins. Huram finished all the work he did for King Solomon in the house of Jehovah. The two pillars and the two cups of the crowns which were on the tops of the two pillars; and the network covering the two cups of the crowns on the tops of the pillars, The four hundred apples for the network, two lines of apples for every network, covering the two cups of the crowns on the pillars; The ten bases, with the ten washing-vessels on them; The great water-vessel (molten sea) (copper sea), with the twelve oxen under it; And the pots and the spades and the basins; all the vessels which Huram made for King Solomon, for the house of Jehovah, were of polished brass. He made them of liquid metal in the lowland district of the Jordan River. This was at the river crossing at Adama, between Succoth and Zarethan. Solomon did not weigh all the utensils because so much copper was used. No one tried to determine how much the copper weighed. Solomon made all the furnishings for Jehovah's Temple: the gold altar, the gold table on which the bread of the presence was placed, lamps stands of pure gold, five on the south side and five on the north in front of the inner room, flowers, lamps, gold tongs, dishes, snuffers, bowls, saucers, incense burners of pure gold, the gold sockets for the doors of the inner room (the Most Holy Place), and the doors of the temple. All the work King Solomon did on Jehovah's Temple was finished. He brought the holy things that belonged to his father David: the silver, gold, and utensils and put them in the storerooms of Jehovah's Temple. King Solomon summoned all the leaders of the tribes and clans of Israel to come to him in Jerusalem. They were to take Jehovah's Ark of the Covenant from Zion, David's City, to the Temple. They all assembled during the festival. It was the seventh month, the month of Ethanim. As soon as all the elders gathered, the priests lifted the Ark and carried it to the Temple. The Levites and the priests also moved the Tent of Jehovah's presence and all its equipment to the Temple. King Solomon and all the people of Israel assembled in front of the Ark and sacrificed a large number of sheep and cattle, too many to count. Then the priests carried the Ark of the Covenant into the Temple and put it in the Most Holy Place, beneath the cherubim (angel). Their outstretched wings covered the box and the poles it was carried by. The ends of the poles could be seen by anyone standing directly in front of the Most Holy Place, but from nowhere else. There was nothing inside the Ark of the Covenant except the two stone tablets that Moses had placed there at Mount Sinai, when Jehovah made a covenant with the people of Israel as they were coming from Egypt. As the priests were leaving the Temple, it was suddenly filled with a cloud. It shined with the dazzling light of Jehovah's presence. They could not go back in to perform their duties. Solomon prayed: Jehovah, you have placed the sun in the sky, yet you have chosen to live in clouds and darkness. Now I have built a majestic temple for you, a place for you to live in for a very long time. King Solomon turned to face the people standing there. He asked God's blessing on them. He said: Praise Jehovah the God of Israel! He kept the promise he made to my father David, when he told him: Since the time I brought my people out of Egypt, I have not chosen any city in all the land of Israel in which a temple should be built where I would be worshiped. But I chose you, David, to rule my people.' Solomon continued: My father David planned to build a temple for the worship of Jehovah the God of Israel, Jehovah said to him: 'You were right in wanting to build a temple for me. However you will never build it. It is your son who will build my temple.' Now Jehovah has kept his promise. I have succeeded my father as king of Israel. And I have built the Temple for the worship of Jehovah the God of Israel. I also provided a place in the Temple for the Ark of the Covenant containing the stone tablets of the covenant Jehovah made with our ancestors when he brought them out of Egypt. In the presence of the people Solomon stood in front of the altar. He raised his arms and prayed: Jehovah God of Israel, there is no god like you in heaven above or on earth below! You keep your covenant with your people and show them your love when they live in wholehearted obedience to you. You kept the promise you made to my father David. Every word has been fulfilled. Jehovah, God of Israel, I pray that you will also keep the other promise you made to my father when you told him there would always be one of his descendants ruling as king of Israel, provided they obeyed you as carefully as he did. So now, O God of Israel, let your word come true that you promised to my father David, your servant. Can you, O God, really live on earth? Not even heaven or the heaven of heavens is large enough to hold you. How can this Temple I have built be large enough? Jehovah my God, I am your servant. Listen to my prayer. Grant the requests I make to you today. Watch over this Temple day and night. For this is the place where you have chosen to be worshiped. Hear me when I face this Temple and pray. Hear my prayers and the prayers of your people. In your home in heaven hear us and forgive us. When a person is accused of wronging another and is brought to your altar in this Temple to take an oath that he is innocent, O Jehovah, listen in heaven and judge your servants. Punish the guilty one, as he deserves. Justify the one who is innocent. When your people Israel have sinned against you their enemies defeat them. They can turn to you and come to this Temple, humbly praying to you for forgiveness. Listen to them in heaven. Forgive the sins of your people and bring them back to the land that you gave to their ancestors. When you hold back the rain because your people have sinned against you. And when they repent in this Temple, humbly praying to you, listen to them in heaven. Forgive the sins of the king and of the people of Israel, and teach them to do what is right. Then, O Jehovah, send rain on this land of yours, which you gave to your people as a permanent possession. When there is famine in the land or an epidemic or scorching winds or swarms of locusts, or when their enemies attack your people, or when disease or sickness among them destroys the crops, listen to their prayers. If any of your people Israel, out of heartfelt sorrow, stretch out their hands in prayer toward this Temple, hear their prayer. Listen to them in your home in heaven, help them and forgive them. You alone know the thoughts of the human heart. Deal with each person, as he deserves, so that your people may obey you all the time they live in the land you gave to our ancestors. When a foreigner who lives in a distant land hears of your fame and of the great things you have done for your people and comes to worship you and to pray at this Temple, For they will have news of your great name and your strong hand and your out-stretched arm. When he comes to pray in this house: Listen to him and give him his desire. Let all the peoples of the earth know about your name. Let them worship you as your people Israel, and that they may see that this house which I have built is truly named by your name. When your people go to war against their enemies, they pray to you, O Jehovah, toward the city you have chosen and the temple I built for your name. Hear their prayer for mercy in heaven, and do what is right for them. They may sin against you, for everyone sins. You may become angry with them and hand them over to an enemy far or near who takes them to another country as captives. If they come to their senses and are sorry for what they have done, and plead with you in the land where they are captives, saying: We have sinned. We have done wrong. We have been wicked. If they change their attitude toward you in the land of their enemies where they are captives, if they pray to you toward the land that you gave their ancestors, and the city you have chosen, and the temple I have built for your name, then in heaven, the place where you live, hear their prayer for mercy. Do what is right for them. Forgive your people, who have sinned against you. Forgive all their wrongs when they rebelled against you. Cause those who captured them to have mercy on them. They are your own people. You brought them out of Egypt from the middle of an iron smelter. May your eyes always see my plea and your people Israel's plea so that you will listen to them whenever they call on you. You Jehovah set them apart from all the people of the world. They are your own as you promised through your servant Moses when you brought our ancestors out of Egypt. When Solomon finished praying this prayer for mercy to Jehovah, he stood in front of Jehovah's altar, where he had been kneeling with his hands stretched out toward heaven. Then he stood and in a loud voice blessed the entire assembly of Israel: THANKS TO JEHOVAH! He has given his people Israel rest, as he has promised. None of the good promises he made through his servant Moses has failed to come true. May Jehovah our God be with us as he was with our ancestors. May he not leave us or abandon us. May he bend our hearts toward him. Then we will follow him and obey his commands, laws, and rules, which he commanded our ancestors to obey. May these words I have prayed to Jehovah be near Jehovah our God day and night. Then he will give his people Israel and me justice every day as it is needed. In this way all the people of the earth may know that Jehovah is God and there is no other god. Let your hearts be committed to Jehovah our God. Then you will live by his laws and keep his commands as you have today. Then the king and all Israel offered sacrifices to Jehovah. Solomon sacrificed twenty-two thousand cattle and one hundred twenty thousand sheep as fellowship offerings to Jehovah. So the king and all the people of Israel dedicated Jehovah's Temple. On that day the king designated the courtyard in front of Jehovah's Temple as a holy place. He sacrificed the burnt offerings, grain offerings, and the fat from the fellowship offerings because the copper altar in front of Jehovah was too small to hold all of them. At that time Solomon and all Israel celebrated the festival. A large crowd had come from the territory between the border of Hamath and the River of Egypt to be near Jehovah our God for seven days. On the eighth day he dismissed the people. They blessed the king and went to their tents. They rejoiced with cheerful hearts for all the blessings Jehovah had given his servant David and his people Israel. Solomon finished building Jehovah's Temple, the royal palace, and everything else he wanted to build. Jehovah came to him again in a vision just as he had done at Gibeon. Jehovah said: I have heard your prayers and your supplication you made. I have made this house holy. I put my name there forever. My eyes and my heart will be there at all times. As for you, if you will walk before me, as David your father did, uprightly and with a true heart, doing what I have given you orders to do, keeping my laws and my decisions; I will make the seat of your rule over Israel certain forever. I gave my word to David your father. I said: You will never be without a man to be king in Israel. But if you turn from my ways, you or your children, and do not keep my orders and my laws which I have put before you, but go and make yourselves servants to other gods and give them worship: I will have Israel cut off from the land I gave them. I will abandon this house even though I have made it holy for myself. I will put you out of my sight. Israel will be a public example, and a word of shame among all peoples. This house will become a mass of broken walls. Everyone who goes by will be overcome with wonder at it and make whistling sounds. They will say: Why has Jehovah done this to this land and to this house? The answer will be: 'Because they turned away from Jehovah their God. The one who took their fathers out of the land of Egypt. They took for themselves other gods and gave them worship and became their servants: that is why Jehovah has sent this evil on them.' It took twenty years for Solomon to build two houses, the Temple of Jehovah and the king's house. Hiram, king of Tyre, had given Solomon cedar-trees and cypress-trees and gold, as much as he needed. King Solomon gave Hiram twenty towns in the land of Galilee. But when Hiram came from Tyre to see the towns that Solomon had given him, he was not pleased with them. He said: What sort of towns are these you have given me, my brother? So they were named the land of Cabul, to this day. Hiram sent the king a hundred and twenty talent of gold. King Solomon used forced labor to build the Temple and the palace, to fill in land on the east side of the city, and to build the city wall. He also used it to rebuild the cities of Hazor, Megiddo, and Gezer. The king of Egypt attacked Gezer and captured it. They killed its inhabitants and set fire to the city. He gave it as a wedding present to his daughter when she married Solomon. Solomon rebuilt it. Using his forced labor, Solomon also rebuilt Lower Beth Horon, Baalath, Tamar in the wilderness of Judah, the cities where his supplies were kept, the cities for his horses and chariots, and everything else he wanted to build in Jerusalem, in Lebanon, and elsewhere in his kingdom. Solomon used the descendants of the people of Canaan whom the Israelites had not killed when they took possession of their land as his forced labor. These included Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites. Their descendants continue to be slaves down to the present time. Solomon did not make slaves of Israelites. They served as his soldiers, officers, commanders, chariot captains, and cavalry. There were five hundred and fifty officials in charge of the forced labor working on Solomon's various building projects. Solomon filled in the land on the east side of the city, after his wife, the daughter of the king of Egypt, had moved from David's City to the palace Solomon built for her. Three times a year Solomon offered burnt offerings and fellowship offerings on the altar he had built to Jehovah. He also burned incense to Jehovah. He finished building the Temple. King Solomon also built a fleet of ships at Eziongeber. This is near Elath on the shore of the Gulf of Aqaba, in the land of Edom. King Hiram sent experienced sailors from his fleet to serve with Solomon's men. They sailed to the land of Ophir and brought back to Solomon about sixteen tons of gold. The queen of Sheba heard of Solomon's fame. She traveled to Jerusalem to test him with difficult questions. So she came to Jerusalem with a very large caravan. The camels carried spices and very much gold and precious stones. When she approached Solomon, she talked about everything she had on her mind (heart). Solomon answered all her questions. Nothing was hidden from the king that he did not explain to her. When the queen of Sheba perceived all the Wisdom of Solomon, the house that he had built, the food of his table, the seating of his servants, the attendance of his waiters and their attire, his cupbearers, and his stairway by which he went up to the house of Jehovah, she was overwhelmed. She said to the king: The report I heard in my country about your acts and your wisdom was true. But I had no faith in what was said about you, till I came and saw for myself. Now I see that what I was told was not the half of it! Your wisdom and your wealth are much greater than they said. Happy are your wives, happy are your servants whose place is ever before you, hearing your words of wisdom. Praise Jehovah your God! He delighted in you and made you king of Israel. Jehovah's love for Israel is long lasting, he has made you king, to be their judge in righteousness. She gave the king a hundred and twenty talents of gold, and a great store of spices and jewels. Never again was such a wealth of spices seen as that which the queen of Sheba gave King Solomon. Hiram's fleet that brought gold from Ophir also brought a large quantity of sandalwood and precious stones from Ophir. With the sandalwood (possibly the algum tree) the king made supports for Jehovah's Temple and the royal palace, and lyres and harps for the singers. Never again was sandalwood like this imported into Israel, nor has any been seen there to this day. King Solomon gave the queen of Sheba all her desire. Whatever she requested in addition to what he gave her freely from the impulse of his heart. She and her servants went back to her country. Each year King Solomon received about twenty-five tons of gold. This was in addition to what came to him from the business of the traders, and from all the kings of the Arabians, and from the rulers of the country. Solomon made two hundred large shields of hammered gold. About fifteen pounds of gold went into each shield. He made three hundred smaller body-covers of hammered gold. Three pounds of gold was in every cover. The king put them in the house of the Woods of Lebanon. The king made a great ivory throne plated with the best gold. There were six steps going up to it. The top of it was round at the back. There were arms on the two sides of the throne and two lions by the side of the arms. Twelve lions were placed on one side and on the other side on the six steps: there was nothing like it in any kingdom. All King Solomon's drinking vessels were of gold. All the vessels of the house of the Woods of Lebanon were of the best gold. Not one was of silver, for no one gave a thought to silver in the days of King Solomon. For the king had Tarshish-ships at sea with the ships of Hiram. Once every three years the Tarshish-ships came with gold and silver and ivory and apes (monkeys) and peacocks. King Solomon was greater than all the kings of the earth in wealth and in wisdom. They came from all over the earth to see Solomon and to listen to his wisdom, which God had put in his heart. Everyone took presents such as vessels of silver and vessels of gold, and robes, and coats of metal, and spices, and horses, and beasts of transport, regularly year by year. Solomon gathered war-carriages and horsemen. He had one thousand, four hundred carriages and twelve thousand horsemen, whom he kept, some in the carriage-towns and some with the king at Jerusalem. The king made silver as common as stones in Jerusalem and cedars like the sycamore-trees of the lowlands in number. Solomon's string of horses came from Egypt and from Kue. The king's traders got them at a price from Kue. A war-carriage might be obtained from Egypt for six hundred shekels of silver, and a horse for a hundred and fifty. They got them at the same rate for all the kings of the Hittites and the kings of Aram. Solomon loved many women. They were of the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Zidonians, and Hittites. Jehovah warned the children of Israel about these nations. He said: You are not to take wives from them and they are not to take wives from you. They will certainly turn your hearts to go after their gods. Solomon loved his wives anyway. He had seven hundred wives, daughters of kings, and three hundred other wives. His wives influenced his heart to turn away. When Solomon was old he allowed his heart to be turned away to other gods by his wives. His heart was no longer true to Jehovah his God as the heart of his father David had been. Solomon went after Ashtoreth, the goddess of the Zidonians, and Milcom, the disgusting god of the Ammonites. Solomon did evil in the eyes of Jehovah. He did not walk in Jehovah's ways with all his heart as David his father did. Then Solomon put up a high place for Chemosh, the disgusting god of Moab, in the mountain near Jerusalem. And for Molech, the disgusting god worshipped by the children of Ammon. He did likewise for all his strange wives, who made offerings with burning of perfumes to their gods. Jehovah was angry with Solomon. This is because his heart turned away from Jehovah, the God of Israel, who had twice come to him in a vision. Jehovah had given him orders about this very thing that he was not to go after other gods. But he did not obey the orders of Jehovah. So Jehovah said to Solomon: Because you have done this, and have not kept the agreement and laws I gave you, I will take the kingdom away from you by force and will give it to your servant. I will not do it in your lifetime, because of your father David, but I will take it from your son. Still I will not take the entire kingdom from him. I will give one tribe to your son, because of my servant David, and because of Jerusalem, the town of my selection. Jehovah sent Hadad the Edomite to make trouble for Solomon. He was of the king's seed in Edom. When David had sent destruction on Edom, and Joab, the commander of the army went to bury the dead. They put to death every male in Edom. Joab and all Israel stayed there six months until they had destroyed every male in Edom. Hadad was a young boy at the time. He and some of his father's Edomite servants fled to Egypt. They left Midian and went to Paran. Taking some men from Paran with them, they went to Pharaoh the king of Egypt. Pharaoh gave Hadad a home, a food allowance, and land. Pharaoh approved of Hadad. So he gave Hadad his sister-in-law, the sister of Queen Tahpenes, to be Hadad's wife. Tahpenes' sister had a son named Genubath. Tahpenes presented the boy to Pharaoh in the palace, and Genubath lived in the palace among Pharaoh's children. When the news reached Hadad in Egypt that David had died and that Joab the commander of the army was dead, Hadad said to the king: Let me go back to my own country. Why? The king asked. Have I failed to give you something? Is that why you want to go back home? Hadad answered: Just let me go. He went back to his country. As king of Edom, Hadad was an evil, bitter enemy of Israel. God also caused Rezon son of Eliada to turn against Solomon. Rezon had fled from his master, King Hadadezer of Zobah, and had become the leader of a gang of outlaws. This happened after David defeated Hadadezer and slaughtered his Syrian allies. Rezon and his gang lived in Damascus, where his followers made him king of Syria. He was trouble to Israel all through the days of Solomon. This is the damage Hadad did: he was cruel to Israel while he was ruler over Edom. Jeroboam rebelled against the king. He was the son of Nebat, an Ephraimite from Zeredah, a servant of Solomon, whose mother was Zeruah, a widow. This is how he rebelled: Solomon was building the Millo (supporting terraces) and making good the damaged parts of the town of his father David. Jeroboam was a capable and responsible man. Solomon saw that he was a good worker and made him overseer of all the work given to the sons of Joseph. When Jeroboam was going out of Jerusalem, the prophet Ahijah the Shilonite came across him on the road. Ahijah was wearing a new robe. They were by themselves in the open country. Ahijah took his new robe in his hands and tore it into twelve pieces. He said to Jeroboam: Take ten of the parts, for this is what Jehovah said: 'I will take the kingdom away from Solomon by force. I will give ten tribes to you. But one tribe will be his because of my servant David, and because of Jerusalem. Out of the tribes of Israel he will have the town I have made mine. I am going to do this because Solomon has rejected me and has worshiped foreign gods. Astarte, the goddess of Sidon; Chemosh, the god of Moab; and Molech, the god of Ammon. Solomon disobeyed me. He has done wrong! He has not obeyed my laws and commands as his father David did. I will not take the entire kingdom away from Solomon. I will keep him in power as long as he lives. This I will do for the sake of my servant David, whom I chose and who obeyed my laws and commands. I will take the kingdom away from Solomon's son and will give you ten tribes. I will let Solomon's son keep one tribe. That way I will always have a descendant of my servant David ruling in Jerusalem, the city I have chosen as the place where I am worshiped. Jeroboam, I will make you king of Israel. You will rule over all the territory that you want. If you obey me completely I will always be with you. You must live by my laws, and win my approval by doing what I command, as my servant David did. I will make you king of Israel and will make sure that your descendants rule after you, just as I have done for David. Because of Solomon's sin I will punish the descendants of David, but not forever.' For this reason Solomon tried to kill Jeroboam. Jeroboam escaped to King Shishak of Egypt and stayed there until Solomon's death. Everything else that Solomon did, his career, and his wisdom, are all recorded in The History of Solomon. He was king in Jerusalem over all Israel for forty years. He died and was buried in David's City. His son Rehoboam succeeded him as king.
He was still speaking when Jonathan, son of the priest Abiathar, arrived. Come in, Adonijah said: You are an honorable man. You must be bringing good news. Not at all, Jonathan answered Adonijah. His Majesty King David has made Solomon king! The king sent the priest Zadok, the prophet Nathan, Benaiah son of Jehoiada, the Cherethites, and the Pelethites with him. They placed him on the king's mule. The priest Zadok and the prophet Nathan anointed him king at Gihon. They came from there celebrating. The city is excited. That is the sound you heard. Solomon is seated on the royal throne. Even the royal officials have come to congratulate His Majesty King David, saying: May your God make Solomon's name more famous than yours and his reign greater than your reign. The king himself bowed down on his bed and prayed: 'Let us praise Jehovah the God of Israel. Today he made one of my descendants succeed me as king.' He let me live to see it! Adonijah's guests were afraid. So they all left. Adonijah, in great fear of Solomon, went to the Tent of Jehovah's presence and grabbed hold of the corners of the altar. King Solomon was told that Adonijah was afraid of him and that he was holding on to the corners of the altar. He heard that he said: First, I want King Solomon to swear to me that he will not have me put to death. Solomon replied: If he is loyal, not even a hair on his head will be touched. If he is not, he will die. King Solomon then sent for Adonijah and had him brought down from the altar. Adonijah went to the king and bowed low before him. The king said to him: You may go home. David was about to die. He called his son Solomon and gave him his last instructions: It is my time to die. I go the way of all people of the earth. Be strong and be a man. Do what Jehovah your God orders you to do. Obey all his laws and commands, as written in the Law of Moses. That way wherever you go you may prosper in everything you do. If you obey Jehovah he will keep the promise he made when he told me, 'Your descendants will rule Israel as long as they are careful to obey my commands faithfully with all their heart and being.' Remember what Joab did to me by killing the two commanders of Israel's armies, Abner son of Ner and Amasa son of Jether. You remember how he murdered them in time of peace. This was revenge for deaths they had caused in time of war. He killed innocent men. I bear the responsibility for what he did. I suffer the consequences. You know what to do. You must not let him die a natural death. But show kindness to the sons of Barzillai from Gilead and take care of them. They were kind to me when I was fleeing from your brother Absalom. There is also Shimei son of Gera, from the town of Bahurim in Benjamin. He cursed me with a bitter curse the day I went to Mahanaim. When he met me at the Jordan River, I gave him my solemn promise in the name of Jehovah, saying, 'I will not have you killed by the sword.' However you must not let him go unpunished. You know what to do. You must make sure he is put to death. David died and was buried in David's City. He was king of Israel for forty years. He ruled seven years in Hebron and thirty-three years in Jerusalem. Solomon succeeded his father David as king. His royal power was firmly established. Adonijah, son of Haggith, went to Bathsheba, Solomon's mother. Is this a friendly visit? She asked. Yes, he answered. I have something to discuss with you. He said. What is it? She asked. He said: You know the kingship was mine. All Israel expected me to be their king. But the kingship has been turned over to my brother because Jehovah gave it to him. I have one request to make to you. Do not say no to me. She responded: Tell me. He said: Will you go to Solomon the king for he will not say 'No' to you. And make my request that he give me Abishag the Shunammite for a wife? Bathsheba said: Indeed, I will make your request to the king. So Bathsheba went to King Solomon to talk to him for Adonijah. The king stood up to meet her and bowed down to her. He took his place on the king's throne and she sat at his right hand on the seat made ready for the king's mother. Then she said: I have one small request to make of you. Do not say 'No' to me. The king replied: Speak mother for I will not say no to you. She said: Let Abishag the Shunammite be given to Adonijah your brother for a wife. Then King Solomon answered: Why are you requesting me to give Abishag the Shunammite to Adonijah? Take the kingdom for him in addition, for he is my older brother, and Abiathar the priest and Joab, the son of Zeruiah, are on his side. King Solomon took an oath by Jehovah, saying: May God's punishment be on me if Adonijah does not give payment for these words with his life. Now by the living God Jehovah who has given me my throne from David my father. He made me one of a line of kings. He gave me his word. Adonijah will be put to death this day. King Solomon sent Benaiah, the son of Jehoiada to attack and kill him. The king spoke to Abiathar the priest: Go to your fields at Anathoth. You deserve death. But I will not put you to death now, because you carried the Ark of Jehovah God before David my father. You were with him in all his troubles. Solomon did not allow Abiathar to be priest any longer. So the word of Jehovah came true concerning the sons of Eli in Shiloh. Joab received news of this for Joab had been one of Adonijah's supporters. He was not on Absalom's side. Then Joab went in flight to the Tent of Jehovah and put his hands on the corners of the altar. When King Solomon heard about this he sent Benaiah son of Jehoiada to kill him. Benaiah went to the Tent of Jehovah and told Joab: Come out. Joab said: No! Let me die here. So Benaiah returned to the king and gave him the answer Joab gave him. The king said: Do as he said. Kill him there and bury him in the earth. This will remove the guilt of his senseless murders from my father's family and me. Jehovah will punish Joab for those murders he committed without my father David's knowledge. Joab killed two innocent men who were better men than he: Abner, commander of the army of Israel, and Amasa, commander of the army of Judah. Jehovah will repay him for the blood Joab shed. The blood will fall on Joab and on his descendants as long as they live. Jehovah will always give success to David's descendants who sit on his throne. So Benaiah went to the Tent of Jehovah's presence and killed Joab. He was buried at his home in the wilderness. The king made Benaiah commander of the army in Joab's place and put Zadok the priest in Abiathar's place. The king sent for Shimei and said to him: Build a house for yourself here in Jerusalem. Live in it and do not leave the city. If you ever leave and go beyond Kidron Brook, you will die and it will be your fault. As you say, Your Majesty, Shimei answered. I will do what you say. So he lived in Jerusalem a long time. Three years later, however, two of Shimei's slaves ran away to the king of Gath, Achish son of Maacah. When Shimei heard that they were in Gath, he saddled his donkey and went to King Achish in Gath, to find his slaves. He found them and brought them back home. When Solomon heard what Shimei did, he sent for him and said: I made you promise in Jehovah's name not to leave Jerusalem. I warned you that if you ever did, you would die. Did you not agree to it and say that you would obey me? Why did you break your promise and disobey my command? You know very well all the wrong that you did to my father David. Jehovah will punish you for it. But he will bless me, and he will make David's kingdom secure forever. The king gave orders to Benaiah son of Jehoiada. He killed Shimei. Solomon was now in complete control. Solomon made an alliance with the king of Egypt by marrying his daughter. He brought her to live in David's City until he finished building his palace, the Temple, and the wall around Jerusalem. A Temple had not yet been built for Jehovah. The people were still offering sacrifices at many different altars. Solomon loved Jehovah. He followed the instructions of his father David. He also slaughtered animals and offered them as sacrifices on different altars. One time he went to Gibeon to offer sacrifices because that was where the most used altar was. He offered hundreds of burnt offerings there in the past. That night Jehovah appeared to him in a dream and asked him: What do you want me to give you? Solomon answered: You always showed great love for my father David, your servant. He was good, loyal, and honest in his relation with you. You have continued to show him your great and constant love by giving him a son who today rules in his place. O Jehovah God, you allowed me to succeed my father as king, even though I am very young and do not know how to rule. I am among the people you have chosen to be your own. They are a people who are so many that they cannot be counted. Give me the wisdom I need to rule your people with justice. Help me know the difference between good and evil. Otherwise, how would I ever be able to rule this great people of yours? Jehovah was pleased that Solomon asked for this. He said to him: Because you have asked for the wisdom to rule justly, instead of long life for yourself or riches or the death of your enemies, I will do what you have asked. I will give you more wisdom and understanding than anyone has ever had. There has never been nor will ever be anyone like you. I will also give you what you did not ask for. All your life you will have wealth and honor, more than that of any other king. If you obey me and keep my laws and commands, as your father David did, I will give you a long life. Solomon woke up and was aware that God had spoken to him in the dream. Then he went to Jerusalem and stood in front of Jehovah's Ark of the Covenant. He offered burnt offerings and fellowship offerings to Jehovah. Then he gave a feast for all his officials. One day two women who were prostitutes came to the king. One of them said: Your Majesty, this woman and I live in the same house. I gave birth to a baby boy at home while she was there. Two days after my child was born she also gave birth to a baby boy. Only the two of us were there in the house. No one else was there. One night she accidentally rolled over on her baby and smothered it. She got up during the night and took my son from my side while I was asleep. She took him to her bed and put the dead child in my bed. The next morning I woke up and was going to nurse my baby. It was dead. I looked at it more closely and saw that it was not my child. The other woman said: The living child is mine, and the dead one is yours! The first woman answered back: The dead child is yours, and the living one is mine! They argued before the king. King Solomon said: Each of you claims that the living child is hers and that the dead child belongs to the other one. He sent for a sword. When it arrived, he said: Cut the living child in two and give each woman half of it. With a heart full of love for her son the real mother said: Please, Your Majesty, do not kill the child! Give it to her! But the other woman said: Do not give it to either of us cut it in two. Then Solomon said: Do not kill the child! Give it to the first woman. She is the real mother. The people of Israel heard of Solomon's decision and were all filled with deep respect for him. They knew then that God had given him the wisdom to settle disputes fairly. Solomon was king over all Israel. His high officials were as follows: The priest: Azariah son of Zadok, the court secretaries: Elihoreph and Ahijah, sons of Shisha In charge of the records: Jehoshaphat son of Ahilud. Commander of the army: Benaiah son of Jehoiada. Priests: Zadok and Abiathar. Chief of the district governors: Azariah son of Nathan Royal Adviser: the priest Zabud son of Nathan. In charge of the palace servants: Ahishar In charge of the forced labor: Adoniram son of Abda. Solomon appointed twelve men as district governors in Israel. They provided food from their districts for the king and his household, each man being responsible for one month out of the year. The following are the names of these twelve officers and the districts they were in charge of: Benhur: the mountains of Ephraim, Bendeker: the cities of Makaz, Shaalbim, Beth Shemesh, Elon, and Beth Hanan, Benhesed: the cities of Arubboth and Socoh and all the territory of Hepher, Benabinadab, who was married to Solomon's daughter Taphath: the whole region of Dor. Baana son of Ahilud: the cities of Taanach, Megiddo, and all the region near Beth Shan, near the town of Zarethan, south of the town of Jezreel, as far as the city of Abel Meholah and the city of Jokmeam. Bengeber: the city of Ramoth in Gilead, and the villages in Gilead belonging to the clan of Jair, a descendant of Manasseh, and the region of Argob in Bashan, sixty large towns in all, fortified with walls and with bronze bars on the gates. Ahinadab son of Iddo: the district of Mahanaim. Ahimaaz, who was married to Basemath, another of Solomon's daughters: the territory of Naphtali. Baana son of Hushai: the region of Asher and the town of Bealoth. Jehoshaphat son of Paruah: the territory of Issachar. Shimei son of Ela: the territory of Benjamin. Geber son of Uri: the region of Gilead, which had been ruled by King Sihon of the Amorites and King Og of Bashan. Besides these twelve, there was one governor over all the land. The people of Judah and Israel were as numerous as the grains of sand on the seashore. They ate and drank and were very happy. Solomon's kingdom included all the nations from the Euphrates River to Philistia and the Egyptian border. They paid him taxes and were subject to him all his life. The supplies Solomon needed each day were one hundred and fifty bushels of fine flour and three hundred bushels of meal. Also needed were ten stall-fed cattle, twenty pasture-fed cattle, and one hundred sheep, besides deer, gazelles, roebucks, and fowl (cuckoo). Solomon ruled over all the land west of the Euphrates River, from Tiphsah on the Euphrates as far west as the city of Gaza. All the kings west of the Euphrates were subject to him. He was at peace with all the neighboring countries. As long as he lived, the people throughout Judah and Israel lived in safety. Each family had its own grapevines and fig trees. Solomon had forty thousand stalls for his chariot horses and twelve thousand cavalry horses. His twelve governors supplied the food King Solomon needed for all who ate in the palace. They always supplied everything needed, each one in the month assigned. Each governor also supplied his share of barley and straw as needed for the chariot horses and the work animals. God gave Solomon great wisdom and insight, and knowledge too great to be measured. Solomon was wiser than the wise men of the East or the wise men of Egypt. He was the wisest of all men. He was wiser than Ethan the Ezrahite, and Heman, Calcol, and Darda, and the sons of Mahol. His fame spread throughout all the neighboring countries. He wrote three thousand proverbs and more than a thousand songs. He spoke of trees and plants, from the Lebanon cedars to the hyssop that grows on walls. He talked about animals, birds, reptiles, and fish. Kings all over the world heard of his wisdom and sent people to listen to the Wisdom of Solomon. When King Hiram of Tyre heard that Solomon succeeded his father as king he sent ambassadors to Solomon. He had always been a friend of David's. Solomon sent this message to Hiram: You know my father David could not build a Temple for the worship of Jehovah due to the constant wars he had to fight. There were enemies in countries all around him. First Jehovah had to give him victory over all his enemies. Jehovah my God has given me peace on all my borders. I have no enemies, and there is no danger of attack. Jehovah promised my father David: 'Your son, whom I will make king after you, will build a Temple for me. I have decided to build that Temple for the worship of Jehovah my God.' Send your men to Lebanon to cut down cedars for me. My men will work with them. I will pay your men whatever you decide. You may already know, my men do not know how to cut down trees as well as yours do. Hiram was extremely pleased when he received Solomon's message. He said: Praise Jehovah today for giving David such a wise son to succeed him as king of the great nation of Israel! Then Hiram sent Solomon the following message: I received your message. I am ready to do what you ask. I will provide the cedars and the pine trees. My men will bring the logs from Lebanon to the sea and will tie them together in rafts to float them down the coast to the place you choose. My men will untie them. There your men will take charge of them. On your part, I would like you to supply the food for my men. So Hiram supplied Solomon with all the cedar and pine logs he wanted. Solomon provided Hiram with one hundred thousand bushels of wheat and one hundred and ten thousand gallons of pure olive oil every year to feed his men. Jehovah kept his promise and gave Solomon wisdom. There was peace between Hiram and Solomon for they made a treaty with each other. King Solomon drafted thirty thousand men as forced labor from all over Israel. He appointed Adoniram to be in charge of them. He divided them into three groups of ten thousand men. Each group spent one month in Lebanon and two months back home. Solomon also had eighty thousand stonecutters in the mountains. There were seventy thousand men to carry the stones. He placed three thousand three hundred foremen there to supervise their work. King Solomon command that they cut fine large stones for the foundation of the Temple. Solomon's and Hiram's workers and men from the city of Gebal prepared the stones and the timber to build the Temple. Solomon began work on the Temple. It was four hundred and eighty years after the people of Israel left Egypt, during the fourth year of Solomon's reign over Israel, in the second month, the month of Ziv. The Temple Solomon built was ninety feet long, thirty feet wide, and forty-five feet high inside. The entrance room was fifteen feet deep and thirty feet wide. It was as wide as the sanctuary. He made windows for the Temple. Their openings were narrower on the outside than on the inside. A third-story annex, seven and one half feet high, was built against the outside walls. It was on the sides and the back of the Temple. Each room in the lowest story was seven and one half feet wide. The middle story was nine feet wide. The top story was ten and one half feet wide. The Temple wall on each floor was thinner than on the floor below, so that the rooms could rest on the wall without having their beams built into it. The stones with which the Temple was built were prepared at the quarry. That way there was no noise made by hammers, axes, or any other iron tools as the Temple was built. The entrance to the lowest story of the annex was on the south side of the Temple. It had stairs leading up to the second and third stories. King Solomon finished building the Temple. He put in a ceiling made of beams and boards of cedar. The three-story annex, each story seven and one half feet high, was built against the outside walls of the Temple. Cedar beams were used to join it to them. Jehovah spoke to Solomon: If you obey all my laws and commands, I will do for you what I promised your father David. I will live among my people Israel in this Temple that you are building. I will never abandon them. Solomon finished building the Temple. The inside walls were covered with cedar panels from the floor to the ceiling. The floor was made of pine. An inner room, called the Most Holy Place, was built in the rear of the Temple. It was thirty feet long and was partitioned off by cedar boards reaching from the floor to the ceiling. The room in front of the Most Holy Place was sixty feet long. The cedar panels were decorated with carvings of gourds and flowers. The entire interior was covered with cedar. The stones of the walls could not be seen. An inner room was built in the rear of the Temple. The Ark of the Covenant was to be placed there. This inner room was thirty feet long, thirty feet wide, and thirty feet high, all covered with pure gold. The altar was covered with cedar panels. The inside of the Temple was covered with gold. Gold chains were placed across the entrance of the inner room. The whole interior of the Temple was covered with gold, as well as the altar in the Most Holy Place. Two cherubim made of olive wood were placed in the Most Holy Place. Each one was fifteen feet tall. Each had two wings, each wing was seven and one half feet long. The distance from one wing tip to the other was fifteen feet. The other cherub was fifteen feet tall. Both were the same size and shape. They were placed side by side in the Most Holy Place. Their outstretched wings touched each other in the middle of the room, and the other two wings touched the walls. The two cherubim were covered with gold. The walls of the main room and of the inner room were all decorated with carved figures of cherubim, palm trees, and flowers. Even the floor was covered with gold. A double door made of olive wood was hung at the entrance of the Most Holy Place. There was a pointed arch on top of the doorway. The doors were decorated with carved figures of cherubim, palm trees, and flowers. The doors, the cherubim, and the palm trees were covered with gold. A rectangular doorframe of olive wood was made for the entrance to the main room. There were two folding doors made of pine and decorated with carved figures of cherubim, palm trees, and flowers, which were evenly covered with gold. An inner court was built in front of the Temple. They enclosed it with walls that had one layer of cedar beams for every three layers of stone. The foundation of the Temple was laid in the second month, the month of Ziv, in the fourth year of Solomon's reign. In the eighth month, the month of Bul, in the eleventh year of Solomon's reign, the Temple was completely finished exactly as it had been planned. It took Solomon seven years to build it. Solomon took thirteen years to build a palace for himself. The Hall of the Forest of Lebanon was one hundred and fifty feet long, seventy-five feet wide, and forty-five feet high. It had three rows of cedar pillars, fifteen in each row, with cedar beams resting on them. The ceiling was of cedar, extending over storerooms, which were supported by the pillars. On each of the two sidewalls there were three rows of windows. All the doors and doorframes were rectangular. There were three doors facing each other on opposite sides of the palace. Solomon made the Hall of Pillars seventy-five feet long and forty-five feet wide. In front of the hall was an entrance hall with pillars. He made the hall for the throne. It was a place where he could sit on his throne and judge. The hall was covered with cedar from floor to ceiling. His own private quarters were in a different location than the hall containing the throne. They were similar in design. Solomon also built private quarters like this for his wife, Pharaoh's daughter. From the foundation to the roof, all these buildings, including the large courtyard, were built with high-grade stone blocks. The stone blocks were cut to size and trimmed with saws on their inner and outer faces. The foundation was made with large, high-grade expensive stones. Some were twelve feet and others fifteen feet long. Above the foundation were cedar beams and high-grade expensive stone blocks, which were cut to size. The large courtyard had three layers of cut stone blocks and a layer of cedar beams, like the inner courtyard of Jehovah's Temple and the entrance hall. King Solomon sent for a man named Huram, a craftsman living in the city of Tyre. Huram was knowledgeable and skilled in making things out of copper. He was the son of a widow from the tribe of Naphtali. His father had been from Tyre. He went to do all of King Solomon's work. Huram cast two copper columns. Each one was twenty-seven feet tall and eighteen feet in circumference. They were placed at the entrance of the Temple. He also made two copper crowns. Each one was seven and one half feet tall. They were to be placed on top of the columns. The top of each column was decorated with a design of interwoven chains. They had two rows of copper pomegranates. The crowns on the top of the columns were shaped like lilies, six feet tall, and were placed on a rounded section which was above the chain design. There were two hundred pomegranates in two rows around each crown. Huram placed these two copper columns in front of the entrance of the Temple. The column on the south side was named Jachin and the one on the north was named Boaz. The lily-shaped copper crowns were on top of the columns. The work on the columns was completed. Hiram made a round tank of copper, seven and one half feet deep, fifteen feet in diameter, and forty-five feet in circumference. All around the outer edge of the rim of the tank were two rows of copper gourds. They were all cast in one piece with the rest of the tank. The tank rested on the backs of twelve copper bulls that faced outward. Three faced in each direction. The sides of the tank were three inches thick. Its rim was like the rim of a cup. It curved outward like the petals of a lily. The tank held about ten thousand gallons. Huram also made ten copper carts. Each cart was six feet long, six feet wide, and four and one half feet high. They were made of square panels set in frames. There were figures of lions, bulls, and cherubim on the panels. And there were spiral relief figures on the frames above and underneath the lions and bulls. Each cart had four copper wheels with copper axles. At the four corners were copper supports for a basin. The supports were decorated with spiral relief figures. There was a circular frame on top for the basin. It projected eighteen inches upward from the top of the cart and seven inches down into it. It had carvings around it. The wheels were under the panels. They were twenty-five inches high. The axles were of one piece with the carts. The wheels were like chariot wheels. Their axles, rims, spokes, and hubs were all of copper. There were four supports at the bottom corners of each cart. They were of one piece with the cart. There was a nine-inch band around the top of each cart. Its supports and the panels were of one piece with the cart. The supports and panels were decorated with figures of cherubim, lions, and palm trees, wherever there was space for them, with spiral figures all around. This is how the carts were made. They were all alike, having the same size and shape. Huram made ten basins, one for each cart. Each basin was six feet in diameter and held two hundred gallons. He placed five of the carts on the south side of the Temple. The other five were placed on the north side. The tank was placed at the southeast corner. Huram made the pots and spades and the basins. Huram finished all the work he did for King Solomon in the house of Jehovah. The two pillars and the two cups of the crowns which were on the tops of the two pillars; and the network covering the two cups of the crowns on the tops of the pillars, The four hundred apples for the network, two lines of apples for every network, covering the two cups of the crowns on the pillars; The ten bases, with the ten washing-vessels on them; The great water-vessel (molten sea) (copper sea), with the twelve oxen under it; And the pots and the spades and the basins; all the vessels which Huram made for King Solomon, for the house of Jehovah, were of polished brass. He made them of liquid metal in the lowland district of the Jordan River. This was at the river crossing at Adama, between Succoth and Zarethan. Solomon did not weigh all the utensils because so much copper was used. No one tried to determine how much the copper weighed. Solomon made all the furnishings for Jehovah's Temple: the gold altar, the gold table on which the bread of the presence was placed, lamps stands of pure gold, five on the south side and five on the north in front of the inner room, flowers, lamps, gold tongs, dishes, snuffers, bowls, saucers, incense burners of pure gold, the gold sockets for the doors of the inner room (the Most Holy Place), and the doors of the temple. All the work King Solomon did on Jehovah's Temple was finished. He brought the holy things that belonged to his father David: the silver, gold, and utensils and put them in the storerooms of Jehovah's Temple. King Solomon summoned all the leaders of the tribes and clans of Israel to come to him in Jerusalem. They were to take Jehovah's Ark of the Covenant from Zion, David's City, to the Temple. They all assembled during the festival. It was the seventh month, the month of Ethanim. As soon as all the elders gathered, the priests lifted the Ark and carried it to the Temple. The Levites and the priests also moved the Tent of Jehovah's presence and all its equipment to the Temple. King Solomon and all the people of Israel assembled in front of the Ark and sacrificed a large number of sheep and cattle, too many to count. Then the priests carried the Ark of the Covenant into the Temple and put it in the Most Holy Place, beneath the cherubim (angel). Their outstretched wings covered the box and the poles it was carried by. The ends of the poles could be seen by anyone standing directly in front of the Most Holy Place, but from nowhere else. There was nothing inside the Ark of the Covenant except the two stone tablets that Moses had placed there at Mount Sinai, when Jehovah made a covenant with the people of Israel as they were coming from Egypt. As the priests were leaving the Temple, it was suddenly filled with a cloud. It shined with the dazzling light of Jehovah's presence. They could not go back in to perform their duties. Solomon prayed: Jehovah, you have placed the sun in the sky, yet you have chosen to live in clouds and darkness. Now I have built a majestic temple for you, a place for you to live in for a very long time. King Solomon turned to face the people standing there. He asked God's blessing on them. He said: Praise Jehovah the God of Israel! He kept the promise he made to my father David, when he told him: Since the time I brought my people out of Egypt, I have not chosen any city in all the land of Israel in which a temple should be built where I would be worshiped. But I chose you, David, to rule my people.' Solomon continued: My father David planned to build a temple for the worship of Jehovah the God of Israel, Jehovah said to him: 'You were right in wanting to build a temple for me. However you will never build it. It is your son who will build my temple.' Now Jehovah has kept his promise. I have succeeded my father as king of Israel. And I have built the Temple for the worship of Jehovah the God of Israel. I also provided a place in the Temple for the Ark of the Covenant containing the stone tablets of the covenant Jehovah made with our ancestors when he brought them out of Egypt. In the presence of the people Solomon stood in front of the altar. He raised his arms and prayed: Jehovah God of Israel, there is no god like you in heaven above or on earth below! You keep your covenant with your people and show them your love when they live in wholehearted obedience to you. You kept the promise you made to my father David. Every word has been fulfilled. Jehovah, God of Israel, I pray that you will also keep the other promise you made to my father when you told him there would always be one of his descendants ruling as king of Israel, provided they obeyed you as carefully as he did. So now, O God of Israel, let your word come true that you promised to my father David, your servant. Can you, O God, really live on earth? Not even heaven or the heaven of heavens is large enough to hold you. How can this Temple I have built be large enough? Jehovah my God, I am your servant. Listen to my prayer. Grant the requests I make to you today. Watch over this Temple day and night. For this is the place where you have chosen to be worshiped. Hear me when I face this Temple and pray. Hear my prayers and the prayers of your people. In your home in heaven hear us and forgive us. When a person is accused of wronging another and is brought to your altar in this Temple to take an oath that he is innocent, O Jehovah, listen in heaven and judge your servants. Punish the guilty one, as he deserves. Justify the one who is innocent. When your people Israel have sinned against you their enemies defeat them. They can turn to you and come to this Temple, humbly praying to you for forgiveness. Listen to them in heaven. Forgive the sins of your people and bring them back to the land that you gave to their ancestors. When you hold back the rain because your people have sinned against you. And when they repent in this Temple, humbly praying to you, listen to them in heaven. Forgive the sins of the king and of the people of Israel, and teach them to do what is right. Then, O Jehovah, send rain on this land of yours, which you gave to your people as a permanent possession. When there is famine in the land or an epidemic or scorching winds or swarms of locusts, or when their enemies attack your people, or when disease or sickness among them destroys the crops, listen to their prayers. If any of your people Israel, out of heartfelt sorrow, stretch out their hands in prayer toward this Temple, hear their prayer. Listen to them in your home in heaven, help them and forgive them. You alone know the thoughts of the human heart. Deal with each person, as he deserves, so that your people may obey you all the time they live in the land you gave to our ancestors. When a foreigner who lives in a distant land hears of your fame and of the great things you have done for your people and comes to worship you and to pray at this Temple, For they will have news of your great name and your strong hand and your out-stretched arm. When he comes to pray in this house: Listen to him and give him his desire. Let all the peoples of the earth know about your name. Let them worship you as your people Israel, and that they may see that this house which I have built is truly named by your name. When your people go to war against their enemies, they pray to you, O Jehovah, toward the city you have chosen and the temple I built for your name. Hear their prayer for mercy in heaven, and do what is right for them. They may sin against you, for everyone sins. You may become angry with them and hand them over to an enemy far or near who takes them to another country as captives. If they come to their senses and are sorry for what they have done, and plead with you in the land where they are captives, saying: We have sinned. We have done wrong. We have been wicked. If they change their attitude toward you in the land of their enemies where they are captives, if they pray to you toward the land that you gave their ancestors, and the city you have chosen, and the temple I have built for your name, then in heaven, the place where you live, hear their prayer for mercy. Do what is right for them. Forgive your people, who have sinned against you. Forgive all their wrongs when they rebelled against you. Cause those who captured them to have mercy on them. They are your own people. You brought them out of Egypt from the middle of an iron smelter. May your eyes always see my plea and your people Israel's plea so that you will listen to them whenever they call on you. You Jehovah set them apart from all the people of the world. They are your own as you promised through your servant Moses when you brought our ancestors out of Egypt. When Solomon finished praying this prayer for mercy to Jehovah, he stood in front of Jehovah's altar, where he had been kneeling with his hands stretched out toward heaven. Then he stood and in a loud voice blessed the entire assembly of Israel: THANKS TO JEHOVAH! He has given his people Israel rest, as he has promised. None of the good promises he made through his servant Moses has failed to come true. May Jehovah our God be with us as he was with our ancestors. May he not leave us or abandon us. May he bend our hearts toward him. Then we will follow him and obey his commands, laws, and rules, which he commanded our ancestors to obey. May these words I have prayed to Jehovah be near Jehovah our God day and night. Then he will give his people Israel and me justice every day as it is needed. In this way all the people of the earth may know that Jehovah is God and there is no other god. Let your hearts be committed to Jehovah our God. Then you will live by his laws and keep his commands as you have today. Then the king and all Israel offered sacrifices to Jehovah. Solomon sacrificed twenty-two thousand cattle and one hundred twenty thousand sheep as fellowship offerings to Jehovah. So the king and all the people of Israel dedicated Jehovah's Temple. On that day the king designated the courtyard in front of Jehovah's Temple as a holy place. He sacrificed the burnt offerings, grain offerings, and the fat from the fellowship offerings because the copper altar in front of Jehovah was too small to hold all of them. At that time Solomon and all Israel celebrated the festival. A large crowd had come from the territory between the border of Hamath and the River of Egypt to be near Jehovah our God for seven days. On the eighth day he dismissed the people. They blessed the king and went to their tents. They rejoiced with cheerful hearts for all the blessings Jehovah had given his servant David and his people Israel. Solomon finished building Jehovah's Temple, the royal palace, and everything else he wanted to build. Jehovah came to him again in a vision just as he had done at Gibeon. Jehovah said: I have heard your prayers and your supplication you made. I have made this house holy. I put my name there forever. My eyes and my heart will be there at all times. As for you, if you will walk before me, as David your father did, uprightly and with a true heart, doing what I have given you orders to do, keeping my laws and my decisions; I will make the seat of your rule over Israel certain forever. I gave my word to David your father. I said: You will never be without a man to be king in Israel. But if you turn from my ways, you or your children, and do not keep my orders and my laws which I have put before you, but go and make yourselves servants to other gods and give them worship: I will have Israel cut off from the land I gave them. I will abandon this house even though I have made it holy for myself. I will put you out of my sight. Israel will be a public example, and a word of shame among all peoples. This house will become a mass of broken walls. Everyone who goes by will be overcome with wonder at it and make whistling sounds. They will say: Why has Jehovah done this to this land and to this house? The answer will be: 'Because they turned away from Jehovah their God. The one who took their fathers out of the land of Egypt. They took for themselves other gods and gave them worship and became their servants: that is why Jehovah has sent this evil on them.' It took twenty years for Solomon to build two houses, the Temple of Jehovah and the king's house. Hiram, king of Tyre, had given Solomon cedar-trees and cypress-trees and gold, as much as he needed. King Solomon gave Hiram twenty towns in the land of Galilee. But when Hiram came from Tyre to see the towns that Solomon had given him, he was not pleased with them. He said: What sort of towns are these you have given me, my brother? So they were named the land of Cabul, to this day. Hiram sent the king a hundred and twenty talent of gold. King Solomon used forced labor to build the Temple and the palace, to fill in land on the east side of the city, and to build the city wall. He also used it to rebuild the cities of Hazor, Megiddo, and Gezer. The king of Egypt attacked Gezer and captured it. They killed its inhabitants and set fire to the city. He gave it as a wedding present to his daughter when she married Solomon. Solomon rebuilt it. Using his forced labor, Solomon also rebuilt Lower Beth Horon, Baalath, Tamar in the wilderness of Judah, the cities where his supplies were kept, the cities for his horses and chariots, and everything else he wanted to build in Jerusalem, in Lebanon, and elsewhere in his kingdom. Solomon used the descendants of the people of Canaan whom the Israelites had not killed when they took possession of their land as his forced labor. These included Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites. Their descendants continue to be slaves down to the present time. Solomon did not make slaves of Israelites. They served as his soldiers, officers, commanders, chariot captains, and cavalry. There were five hundred and fifty officials in charge of the forced labor working on Solomon's various building projects. Solomon filled in the land on the east side of the city, after his wife, the daughter of the king of Egypt, had moved from David's City to the palace Solomon built for her. Three times a year Solomon offered burnt offerings and fellowship offerings on the altar he had built to Jehovah. He also burned incense to Jehovah. He finished building the Temple. King Solomon also built a fleet of ships at Eziongeber. This is near Elath on the shore of the Gulf of Aqaba, in the land of Edom. King Hiram sent experienced sailors from his fleet to serve with Solomon's men. They sailed to the land of Ophir and brought back to Solomon about sixteen tons of gold. The queen of Sheba heard of Solomon's fame. She traveled to Jerusalem to test him with difficult questions. So she came to Jerusalem with a very large caravan. The camels carried spices and very much gold and precious stones. When she approached Solomon, she talked about everything she had on her mind (heart). Solomon answered all her questions. Nothing was hidden from the king that he did not explain to her. When the queen of Sheba perceived all the Wisdom of Solomon, the house that he had built, the food of his table, the seating of his servants, the attendance of his waiters and their attire, his cupbearers, and his stairway by which he went up to the house of Jehovah, she was overwhelmed. She said to the king: The report I heard in my country about your acts and your wisdom was true. But I had no faith in what was said about you, till I came and saw for myself. Now I see that what I was told was not the half of it! Your wisdom and your wealth are much greater than they said. Happy are your wives, happy are your servants whose place is ever before you, hearing your words of wisdom. Praise Jehovah your God! He delighted in you and made you king of Israel. Jehovah's love for Israel is long lasting, he has made you king, to be their judge in righteousness. She gave the king a hundred and twenty talents of gold, and a great store of spices and jewels. Never again was such a wealth of spices seen as that which the queen of Sheba gave King Solomon. Hiram's fleet that brought gold from Ophir also brought a large quantity of sandalwood and precious stones from Ophir. With the sandalwood (possibly the algum tree) the king made supports for Jehovah's Temple and the royal palace, and lyres and harps for the singers. Never again was sandalwood like this imported into Israel, nor has any been seen there to this day. King Solomon gave the queen of Sheba all her desire. Whatever she requested in addition to what he gave her freely from the impulse of his heart. She and her servants went back to her country. Each year King Solomon received about twenty-five tons of gold. This was in addition to what came to him from the business of the traders, and from all the kings of the Arabians, and from the rulers of the country. Solomon made two hundred large shields of hammered gold. About fifteen pounds of gold went into each shield. He made three hundred smaller body-covers of hammered gold. Three pounds of gold was in every cover. The king put them in the house of the Woods of Lebanon. The king made a great ivory throne plated with the best gold. There were six steps going up to it. The top of it was round at the back. There were arms on the two sides of the throne and two lions by the side of the arms. Twelve lions were placed on one side and on the other side on the six steps: there was nothing like it in any kingdom. All King Solomon's drinking vessels were of gold. All the vessels of the house of the Woods of Lebanon were of the best gold. Not one was of silver, for no one gave a thought to silver in the days of King Solomon. For the king had Tarshish-ships at sea with the ships of Hiram. Once every three years the Tarshish-ships came with gold and silver and ivory and apes (monkeys) and peacocks. King Solomon was greater than all the kings of the earth in wealth and in wisdom. They came from all over the earth to see Solomon and to listen to his wisdom, which God had put in his heart. Everyone took presents such as vessels of silver and vessels of gold, and robes, and coats of metal, and spices, and horses, and beasts of transport, regularly year by year. Solomon gathered war-carriages and horsemen. He had one thousand, four hundred carriages and twelve thousand horsemen, whom he kept, some in the carriage-towns and some with the king at Jerusalem. The king made silver as common as stones in Jerusalem and cedars like the sycamore-trees of the lowlands in number. Solomon's string of horses came from Egypt and from Kue. The king's traders got them at a price from Kue. A war-carriage might be obtained from Egypt for six hundred shekels of silver, and a horse for a hundred and fifty. They got them at the same rate for all the kings of the Hittites and the kings of Aram. Solomon loved many women. They were of the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Zidonians, and Hittites. Jehovah warned the children of Israel about these nations. He said: You are not to take wives from them and they are not to take wives from you. They will certainly turn your hearts to go after their gods. Solomon loved his wives anyway. He had seven hundred wives, daughters of kings, and three hundred other wives. His wives influenced his heart to turn away. When Solomon was old he allowed his heart to be turned away to other gods by his wives. His heart was no longer true to Jehovah his God as the heart of his father David had been. Solomon went after Ashtoreth, the goddess of the Zidonians, and Milcom, the disgusting god of the Ammonites. Solomon did evil in the eyes of Jehovah. He did not walk in Jehovah's ways with all his heart as David his father did. Then Solomon put up a high place for Chemosh, the disgusting god of Moab, in the mountain near Jerusalem. And for Molech, the disgusting god worshipped by the children of Ammon. He did likewise for all his strange wives, who made offerings with burning of perfumes to their gods. Jehovah was angry with Solomon. This is because his heart turned away from Jehovah, the God of Israel, who had twice come to him in a vision. Jehovah had given him orders about this very thing that he was not to go after other gods. But he did not obey the orders of Jehovah. So Jehovah said to Solomon: Because you have done this, and have not kept the agreement and laws I gave you, I will take the kingdom away from you by force and will give it to your servant. I will not do it in your lifetime, because of your father David, but I will take it from your son. Still I will not take the entire kingdom from him. I will give one tribe to your son, because of my servant David, and because of Jerusalem, the town of my selection. Jehovah sent Hadad the Edomite to make trouble for Solomon. He was of the king's seed in Edom. When David had sent destruction on Edom, and Joab, the commander of the army went to bury the dead. They put to death every male in Edom. Joab and all Israel stayed there six months until they had destroyed every male in Edom. Hadad was a young boy at the time. He and some of his father's Edomite servants fled to Egypt. They left Midian and went to Paran. Taking some men from Paran with them, they went to Pharaoh the king of Egypt. Pharaoh gave Hadad a home, a food allowance, and land. Pharaoh approved of Hadad. So he gave Hadad his sister-in-law, the sister of Queen Tahpenes, to be Hadad's wife. Tahpenes' sister had a son named Genubath. Tahpenes presented the boy to Pharaoh in the palace, and Genubath lived in the palace among Pharaoh's children. When the news reached Hadad in Egypt that David had died and that Joab the commander of the army was dead, Hadad said to the king: Let me go back to my own country. Why? The king asked. Have I failed to give you something? Is that why you want to go back home? Hadad answered: Just let me go. He went back to his country. As king of Edom, Hadad was an evil, bitter enemy of Israel. God also caused Rezon son of Eliada to turn against Solomon. Rezon had fled from his master, King Hadadezer of Zobah, and had become the leader of a gang of outlaws. This happened after David defeated Hadadezer and slaughtered his Syrian allies. Rezon and his gang lived in Damascus, where his followers made him king of Syria. He was trouble to Israel all through the days of Solomon. This is the damage Hadad did: he was cruel to Israel while he was ruler over Edom. Jeroboam rebelled against the king. He was the son of Nebat, an Ephraimite from Zeredah, a servant of Solomon, whose mother was Zeruah, a widow. This is how he rebelled: Solomon was building the Millo (supporting terraces) and making good the damaged parts of the town of his father David. Jeroboam was a capable and responsible man. Solomon saw that he was a good worker and made him overseer of all the work given to the sons of Joseph. When Jeroboam was going out of Jerusalem, the prophet Ahijah the Shilonite came across him on the road. Ahijah was wearing a new robe. They were by themselves in the open country. Ahijah took his new robe in his hands and tore it into twelve pieces. He said to Jeroboam: Take ten of the parts, for this is what Jehovah said: 'I will take the kingdom away from Solomon by force. I will give ten tribes to you. But one tribe will be his because of my servant David, and because of Jerusalem. Out of the tribes of Israel he will have the town I have made mine. I am going to do this because Solomon has rejected me and has worshiped foreign gods. Astarte, the goddess of Sidon; Chemosh, the god of Moab; and Molech, the god of Ammon. Solomon disobeyed me. He has done wrong! He has not obeyed my laws and commands as his father David did. I will not take the entire kingdom away from Solomon. I will keep him in power as long as he lives. This I will do for the sake of my servant David, whom I chose and who obeyed my laws and commands. I will take the kingdom away from Solomon's son and will give you ten tribes. I will let Solomon's son keep one tribe. That way I will always have a descendant of my servant David ruling in Jerusalem, the city I have chosen as the place where I am worshiped. Jeroboam, I will make you king of Israel. You will rule over all the territory that you want. If you obey me completely I will always be with you. You must live by my laws, and win my approval by doing what I command, as my servant David did. I will make you king of Israel and will make sure that your descendants rule after you, just as I have done for David. Because of Solomon's sin I will punish the descendants of David, but not forever.' For this reason Solomon tried to kill Jeroboam. Jeroboam escaped to King Shishak of Egypt and stayed there until Solomon's death. Everything else that Solomon did, his career, and his wisdom, are all recorded in The History of Solomon. He was king in Jerusalem over all Israel for forty years. He died and was buried in David's City. His son Rehoboam succeeded him as king.
Sheep » Offered in sacrifice under the law
Make an altar of earth for me. Sacrifice your sheep and your cattle as offerings to be completely burned and as peace offerings. In every place that I set-aside for you to worship me, I will come to you and bless you.
Verse Concepts
Solomon sacrificed twenty-two thousand cattle and one hundred twenty thousand sheep as fellowship offerings to Jehovah. So the king and all the people of Israel dedicated Jehovah's Temple.
Verse Concepts
Should you are offer one of your sheep or goats; it must be a male without any defects.
Verse Concepts
King Solomon and all the people of Israel assembled in front of the Ark and sacrificed a large number of sheep and cattle, too many to count.
Verse Concepts
Tabernacle » Brought to the temple by solomon
King Solomon summoned all the leaders of the tribes and clans of Israel to come to him in Jerusalem. They were to take Jehovah's Ark of the Covenant from Zion, David's City, to the Temple.
Verse Concepts
They brought the Ark, the Tent of Meeting, and all the holy utensils in it to the Temple. The priests and the Levites carried them
Verse Concepts
and carried it to the Temple. The Levites and the priests also moved the Tent of Jehovah's presence and all its equipment to the Temple. King Solomon and all the people of Israel assembled in front of the Ark and sacrificed a large number of sheep and cattle, too many to count.
The First Temple » The ark of God brought into with great solemnity
Then Solomon assembled the respected leaders of Israel, all the heads of the tribes, and the leaders of the Israelite families. They came to Jerusalem to take the Ark of the Covenant of Jehovah from the City of David, which is Zion. The men of Israel gathered around the king at the Festival of Booths in the seventh month. When all the leaders of Israel had arrived, the Levites picked up the ark. read more.
They brought the Ark, the Tent of Meeting, and all the holy utensils in it to the Temple. The priests and the Levites carried them while King Solomon and the whole assembly from Israel were offering countless sheep and cattle sacrifices in front of the Ark. The priests brought Jehovah's Ark of the Covenant to its place in the inner room of the Temple, the most holy place, under the wings of the cherubim (angels). The cherubim (angels) outstretched wings were over the place where the Ark rested so that the cherubim became a covering above the Ark and its poles. The poles were so long that their ends could be seen in the holy place by anyone standing in front of the inner room. However they could not be seen outside. They are still there today. There was nothing in the Ark except the two tablets Moses placed there at Horeb, where Jehovah made a covenant with the Israelites after they left Egypt.
They brought the Ark, the Tent of Meeting, and all the holy utensils in it to the Temple. The priests and the Levites carried them while King Solomon and the whole assembly from Israel were offering countless sheep and cattle sacrifices in front of the Ark. The priests brought Jehovah's Ark of the Covenant to its place in the inner room of the Temple, the most holy place, under the wings of the cherubim (angels). The cherubim (angels) outstretched wings were over the place where the Ark rested so that the cherubim became a covering above the Ark and its poles. The poles were so long that their ends could be seen in the holy place by anyone standing in front of the inner room. However they could not be seen outside. They are still there today. There was nothing in the Ark except the two tablets Moses placed there at Horeb, where Jehovah made a covenant with the Israelites after they left Egypt.
King Solomon summoned all the leaders of the tribes and clans of Israel to come to him in Jerusalem. They were to take Jehovah's Ark of the Covenant from Zion, David's City, to the Temple. They all assembled during the festival. It was the seventh month, the month of Ethanim. As soon as all the elders gathered, the priests lifted the Ark read more.
and carried it to the Temple. The Levites and the priests also moved the Tent of Jehovah's presence and all its equipment to the Temple. King Solomon and all the people of Israel assembled in front of the Ark and sacrificed a large number of sheep and cattle, too many to count. Then the priests carried the Ark of the Covenant into the Temple and put it in the Most Holy Place, beneath the cherubim (angel). Their outstretched wings covered the box and the poles it was carried by. The ends of the poles could be seen by anyone standing directly in front of the Most Holy Place, but from nowhere else. There was nothing inside the Ark of the Covenant except the two stone tablets that Moses had placed there at Mount Sinai, when Jehovah made a covenant with the people of Israel as they were coming from Egypt.
and carried it to the Temple. The Levites and the priests also moved the Tent of Jehovah's presence and all its equipment to the Temple. King Solomon and all the people of Israel assembled in front of the Ark and sacrificed a large number of sheep and cattle, too many to count. Then the priests carried the Ark of the Covenant into the Temple and put it in the Most Holy Place, beneath the cherubim (angel). Their outstretched wings covered the box and the poles it was carried by. The ends of the poles could be seen by anyone standing directly in front of the Most Holy Place, but from nowhere else. There was nothing inside the Ark of the Covenant except the two stone tablets that Moses had placed there at Mount Sinai, when Jehovah made a covenant with the people of Israel as they were coming from Egypt.