King Solomon and the Beginning of His Reign

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1 Kings 2:12 - 1 Kings 10:29

Solomon sat on David his father's throne; and his kingdom was firmly established.

Then Adonijah the son of Haggith came to Bathsheba the mother of Solomon. She said, "Do you come peaceably?"He said, "Peaceably.

He said moreover, I have something to tell you."She said, "Say on."

He said, "You know that the kingdom was mine, and that all Israel set their faces on me, that I should reign. However the kingdom is turned around, and has become my brother's; for it was his from The LORD.

Now I ask one petition of you. Don't deny me."She said to him, "Say on."

He said, "Please speak to Solomon the king (for he will not tell you 'no'), that he give me Abishag the Shunammite as wife."

Bathsheba said, "Alright. I will speak for you to the king."

Bathsheba therefore went to king Solomon, to speak to him for Adonijah. The king rose up to meet her, and bowed himself to her, and sat down on his throne, and caused a throne to be set for the king's mother; and she sat on his right hand.

Then she said, "I ask one small petition of you; don't deny me."The king said to her, "Ask on, my mother; for I will not deny you."

She said, "Let Abishag the Shunammite be given to Adonijah your brother as wife."

King Solomon answered his mother, "Why do you ask Abishag the Shunammite for Adonijah? Ask for him the kingdom also; for he is my elder brother; even for him, and for Abiathar the priest, and for Joab the son of Zeruiah."

Then king Solomon swore by The LORD, saying, "God do so to me, and more also, if Adonijah has not spoken this word against his own life.

Now therefore as the LORD lives, who has established me, and set me on my father David's throne, and who has made me a house as he promised, surely Adonijah shall be put to death today."

King Solomon sent Benaiah the son of Jehoiada; and he fell on him, so that he died.

To Abiathar the priest the king said, "Go to Anathoth, to your own fields; for you are worthy of death. But I will not at this time put you to death, because you bore the Lord God's ark before David my father, and because you were afflicted in all in which my father was afflicted."

So Solomon thrust Abiathar out from being priest to The LORD, that he might fulfill The LORD's word, which he spoke concerning the house of Eli in Shiloh.

This news came to Joab; for Joab had followed Adonijah, although he didn't follow Absalom. Joab fled to The LORD's Tent, and held onto the horns of the altar.

King Solomon was told, "Joab has fled to The LORD's Tent, and behold, he is by the altar." Then Solomon sent Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, saying, "Go, fall on him."

Benaiah came to The LORD's Tent, and said to him, "Thus says the king, 'Come out!'"He said, "No; but I will die here."Benaiah brought the king word again, saying, "Thus said Joab, and thus he answered me."

The king said to him, "Do as he has said, and fall on him, and bury him; that you may take away the blood, which Joab shed without cause, from me and from my father's house.

The LORD will return his blood on his own head, because he fell on two men more righteous and better than he, and killed them with the sword, and my father David didn't know it: Abner the son of Ner, captain of the army of Israel, and Amasa the son of Jether, captain of the army of Judah.

So their blood will return on the head of Joab, and on the head of his offspring forever. But for David, for his offspring, for his house, and for his throne, there will be peace forever from The LORD."

Then Benaiah the son of Jehoiada went up and fell on him, and killed him; and he was buried in his own house in the wilderness.

The king put Benaiah the son of Jehoiada in his place over the army; and the king put Zadok the priest in the place of Abiathar.

The king sent and called for Shimei, and said to him, "Build yourself a house in Jerusalem, and live there, and don't go anywhere else.

For on the day you go out and pass over the brook Kidron, know for certain that you will surely die. Your blood will be on your own head."

Shimei said to the king, "What you say is good. As my lord the king has said, so will your servant do." Shimei lived in Jerusalem many days.

At the end of three years, two of Shimei's slaves ran away to Achish, son of Maacah, king of Gath. They told Shimei, saying, "Behold, your slaves are in Gath."

Shimei arose, saddled his donkey, and went to Gath to Achish, to seek his slaves; and Shimei went, and brought his slaves from Gath.

Solomon was told that Shimei had gone from Jerusalem to Gath, and had come again.

The king sent and called for Shimei, and said to him, "Didn't I adjure you by The LORD, and warn you, saying, 'Know for certain, that on the day you go out, and walk anywhere else, you shall surely die?' You said to me, 'The saying that I have heard is good.'

Why then have you not kept the oath of The LORD, and the commandment that I have instructed you with?"

The king said moreover to Shimei, "You know in your heart all the wickedness that you did to David my father. Therefore the LORD will return your wickedness on your own head.

But king Solomon will be blessed, and David's throne will be established before the LORD forever."

So the king commanded Benaiah the son of Jehoiada; and he went out, and fell on him, so that he died. The kingdom was established in the hand of Solomon.

1 Kings 3

Solomon Asks for Wisdom

Solomon made an alliance with Pharaoh king of Egypt, and took Pharaoh's daughter, and brought her into David's city, until he had finished building his own house, The LORD's house, and the wall around Jerusalem.

However the people sacrificed in the high places, because there was not yet a house built for The LORD's name.

Solomon loved The LORD, walking in the statutes of David his father; except that he sacrificed and burned incense in the high places.

The king went to Gibeon to sacrifice there; for that was the great high place. Solomon offered a thousand burnt offerings on that altar.

In Gibeon, the LORD appeared to Solomon in a dream by night; and God said, "Ask for what I should give you."

Solomon said, "You have shown to your servant David my father great loving kindness, because he walked before you in truth, in righteousness, and in uprightness of heart with you. You have kept for him this great loving kindness, that you have given him a son to sit on his throne, as it is today.

Now, the LORD my God, you have made your servant king instead of David my father. I am just a little child. I don't know how to go out or come in.

Your servant is among your people which you have chosen, a great people, that can't be numbered or counted for multitude.

Give your servant therefore an understanding heart to judge your people, that I may discern between good and evil; for who is able to judge this great people of yours?"

This request pleased the Lord, that Solomon had asked this thing.

God said to him, "Because you have asked this thing, and have not asked for yourself long life, nor have you asked for riches for yourself, nor have you asked for the life of your enemies, but have asked for yourself understanding to discern justice;

behold, I have done according to your word. Behold, I have given you a wise and understanding heart; so that there has been no one like you before you, and after you none will arise like you.

I have also given you that which you have not asked, both riches and honor, so that there will not be any among the kings like you for all your days.

If you will walk in my ways, to keep my statutes and my commandments, as your father David walked, then I will lengthen your days."

Solomon awoke; and behold, it was a dream. Then he came to Jerusalem, and stood before the ark of The LORD's covenant, and offered up burnt offerings, offered peace offerings, and made a feast for all his servants.

Then two women who were prostitutes came to the king, and stood before him.

The one woman said, "Oh, my lord, I and this woman dwell in one house. I delivered a child with her in the house.

The third day after I delivered, this woman delivered also. We were together. There was no stranger with us in the house, just us two in the house.

This woman's child died in the night, because she lay on it.

She arose at midnight, and took my son from beside me, while your servant slept, and laid it in her bosom, and laid her dead child in my bosom.

When I rose in the morning to nurse my child, behold, it was dead; but when I had looked at it in the morning, behold, it was not my son, whom I bore."

The other woman said, "No; but the living one is my son, and the dead one is your son."The first one said, "No; but the dead one is your son, and the living one is my son." Thus they spoke before the king.

Then the king said, "One says, 'This is my son who lives, and your son is the dead;' and the other says, 'No; but your son is the dead one, and my son is the living one.'"

The king said, "Get me a sword." So they brought a sword before the king.

The king said, "Divide the living child in two, and give half to the one, and half to the other."

Then the woman whose the living child was spoke to the king, for her heart yearned over her son, and she said, "Oh, my lord, give her the living child, and in no way kill him!"But the other said, "He shall be neither mine nor yours. Divide him."

Then the king answered, "Give her the living child, and definitely do not kill him. She is his mother."

All Israel heard of the judgment which the king had judged; and they feared the king; for they saw that the wisdom of God was in him, to do justice.

1 Kings 4

Solomon's Officials, Daily Provision, and Wisdom

King Solomon was king over all Israel.

These were the princes whom he had: Azariah the son of Zadok, the priest;

Elihoreph and Ahijah, the sons of Shisha, scribes; Jehoshaphat the son of Ahilud, the recorder;

Benaiah the son of Jehoiada was over the army; Zadok and Abiathar were priests;

Azariah the son of Nathan was over the officers; Zabud the son of Nathan was chief minister, the king's friend;

Ahishar was over the household; and Adoniram the son of Abda was over the men subject to forced labor.

Solomon had twelve officers over all Israel, who provided food for the king and his household. Each man had to make provision for a month in the year.

These are their names: Ben Hur, in the hill country of Ephraim;

Ben Deker, in Makaz, in Shaalbim, Beth Shemesh, and Elon Beth Hanan;

Ben Hesed, in Arubboth (Socoh and all the land of Hepher belonged to him);

Ben Abinadab, in all the height of Dor (he had Taphath, Solomon's daughter, as wife);

Baana the son of Ahilud, in Taanach and Megiddo, and all Beth Shean which is beside Zarethan, beneath Jezreel, from Beth Shean to Abel Meholah, as far as beyond Jokmeam;

Ben Geber, in Ramoth Gilead (the towns of Jair the son of Manasseh, which are in Gilead, belonged to him; and the region of Argob, which is in Bashan, sixty great cities with walls and bronze bars, belonged to him);

Ahinadab the son of Iddo, in Mahanaim;

Ahimaaz, in Naphtali (he also took Basemath the daughter of Solomon as wife);

Baana the son of Hushai, in Asher and Bealoth;

Jehoshaphat the son of Paruah, in Issachar;

Shimei the son of Ela, in Benjamin;

Geber the son of Uri, in the land of Gilead, the country of Sihon king of the Amorites and of Og king of Bashan; and he was the only officer who was in the land.

Judah and Israel were numerous as the sand which is by the sea in multitude, eating and drinking and making merry.

Solomon ruled over all the kingdoms from the River to the land of the Philistines, and to the border of Egypt. They brought tribute and served Solomon all the days of his life.

Solomon's provision for one day was thirty cors of fine flour, sixty measures of meal,

ten head of fat cattle, twenty head of cattle out of the pastures, and one hundred sheep, besides deer, and gazelles, and roebucks, and fattened fowl.

For he had dominion over all on this side the River, from Tiphsah even to Gaza, over all the kings on this side the River: and he had peace on all sides around him.

Judah and Israel lived safely, every man under his vine and under his fig tree, from Dan even to Beersheba, all the days of Solomon.

Solomon had forty thousand stalls of horses for his chariots, and twelve thousand horsemen.

Those officers provided food for king Solomon, and for all who came to king Solomon's table, every man in his month. They let nothing be lacking.

They also brought Barley and straw for the horses and swift steeds to the place where the officers were, each man according to his duty.

God gave Solomon abundant wisdom and understanding, and very great understanding, even as the sand that is on the seashore.

Solomon's wisdom excelled the wisdom of all the children of the east and all the wisdom of Egypt.

For he was wiser than all men; than Ethan the Ezrahite, Heman, Calcol, and Darda, the sons of Mahol: and his fame was in all the nations all around.

He spoke three thousand proverbs; and his songs numbered one thousand five.

He spoke of trees, from the cedar that is in Lebanon even to the hyssop that grows out of the wall; he also spoke of animals, of birds, of creeping things, and of fish.

People of all nations came to hear the wisdom of Solomon, sent by all kings of the earth, who had heard of his wisdom.

1 Kings 5

Preparations for the Temple

Hiram king of Tyre sent his servants to Solomon; for he had heard that they had anointed him king in the place of his father, and Hiram had always loved David.

Solomon sent to Hiram, saying,

"You know that David my father could not build a house for the name of the LORD his God because of the wars which were around him on every side, until the LORD put his enemies under the soles of his feet.

But now the LORD my God has given me rest on every side. There is no enemy and no evil occurrence.

Behold, I intend to build a house for the name of the LORD my God, as the LORD spoke to David my father, saying, 'Your son, whom I will set on your throne in your place shall build the house for my name.'

Now therefore command that cedar trees be cut for me out of Lebanon. My servants will be with your servants; and I will give you wages for your servants according to all that you say. For you know that there is nobody among us who knows how to cut timber like the Sidonians."

When Hiram heard the words of Solomon, he rejoiced greatly, and said, "Blessed is the LORD today, who has given to David a wise son to rule over this great people."

Hiram sent to Solomon, saying, "I have heard the message which you have sent to me. I will do all your desire concerning timber of cedar, and concerning cypress timber.

My servants will bring them down from Lebanon to the sea. I will make them into rafts to go by sea to the place that you specify to me, and will cause them to be broken up there, and you will receive them. You will accomplish my desire, in giving food for my household."

So Hiram gave Solomon cedar timber and cypress timber according to all his desire.

Solomon gave Hiram twenty thousand cors of wheat for food to his household, and twenty cors of pure oil. Solomon gave this to Hiram year by year.

The LORD gave Solomon wisdom, as he promised him. There was peace between Hiram and Solomon, and the two of them made a treaty together.

King Solomon raised a levy out of all Israel; and the levy was thirty thousand men.

He sent them to Lebanon, ten thousand a month by courses; for a month they were in Lebanon, and two months at home; and Adoniram was over the men subject to forced labor.

Solomon had seventy thousand who bore burdens, and eighty thousand who were stone cutters in the mountains;

besides Solomon's chief officers who were over the work, three thousand and three hundred, who ruled over the people who labored in the work.

The king commanded, and they cut out large stones, costly stones, to lay the foundation of the house with worked stone.

Solomon's builders and Hiram's builders and the Gebalites cut them, and prepared the timber and the stones to build the house.

1 Kings 6

The Building of Solomon's Temple

In the four hundred and eightieth year after the children of Israel had come out of the land of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon's reign over Israel, in the month Ziv, which is the second month, he began to build The LORD's house.

The house which king Solomon built for the LORD had a length of sixty cubits, and its width twenty, and its height thirty cubits.

The porch in front of the temple of the house had a length of twenty cubits, which was along the width of the house. Ten cubits was its width in front of the house.

He made windows of fixed lattice work for the house.

Against the wall of the house, he built floors all around, against the walls of the house all around, both of the temple and of the inner sanctuary; and he made side rooms all around.

The lowest floor was five cubits wide, and the middle was six cubits wide, and the third was seven cubits wide; for on the outside he made offsets in the wall of the house all around, that the beams should not be inserted into the walls of the house.

The house, when it was under construction, was built of stone prepared at the quarry; and no hammer or ax or any tool of iron was heard in the house while it was under construction.

The door for the middle side rooms was in the right side of the house. They went up by winding stairs into the middle floor, and out of the middle into the third.

So he built the house, and finished it; and he covered the house with beams and planks of cedar.

He built the floors all along the house, each five cubits high; and they rested on the house with timber of cedar.

The LORD's word came to Solomon, saying,

"Concerning this house which you are building, if you will walk in my statutes, and execute my ordinances, and keep all my commandments to walk in them; then I will establish my word with you, which I spoke to David your father.

I will dwell among the children of Israel, and will not forsake my people Israel."

So Solomon built the house, and finished it.

He built the walls of the house within with boards of cedar: from the floor of the house to the walls of the ceiling, he covered them on the inside with wood; and he covered the floor of the house with cypress boards.

He built twenty cubits on the back part of the house with boards of cedar from the floor to the ceiling. He built them for it within, for an inner sanctuary, even for the most holy place.

In front of the temple sanctuary was forty cubits.

There was cedar on the house within, carved with buds and open flowers. All was cedar. No stone was visible.

He prepared an inner sanctuary in the middle of the house within, to set the ark of The LORD's covenant there.

Within the inner sanctuary was twenty cubits in length, and twenty cubits in width, and twenty cubits in its height; and he overlaid it with pure gold; and he covered the altar with cedar.

So Solomon overlaid the house within with pure gold. He drew chains of gold across before the inner sanctuary, and he overlaid it with gold.

He overlaid the whole house with gold, until all the house was finished. He also overlaid the whole altar that belonged to the inner sanctuary with gold.

In the inner sanctuary he made two cherubim of olive wood, each ten cubits high.

Five cubits was the one wing of the cherub, and five cubits the other wing of the cherub. From the tip of one wing to the tip of the other was ten cubits.

The other cherub was ten cubits. Both the cherubim were of one measure and one form.

One cherub was ten cubits high, and so was the other cherub.

He set the cherubim within the inner house. The wings of the cherubim were stretched out, so that the wing of the one touched the one wall, and the wing of the other cherub touched the other wall; and their wings touched one another in the middle of the house.

He overlaid the cherubim with gold.

He carved all the walls of the house around with carved figures of cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers, inside and outside.

He overlaid the floor of the house with gold, inside and outside.

For the entrance of the inner sanctuary, he made doors of olive wood. The lintel and door posts were a fifth part of the wall.

So he made two doors of olive wood; and he carved on them carvings of cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers, and overlaid them with gold. He spread the gold on the cherubim and on the palm trees.

He also did so for the entrance of the temple door posts of olive wood, out of a fourth part of the wall;

and two doors of cypress wood. The two leaves of the one door were folding, and the two leaves of the other door were folding.

He carved cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers; and he overlaid them with gold fitted on the engraved work.

He built the inner court with three courses of cut stone and a course of cedar beams.

The foundation of The LORD's house was laid in the fourth year, in the month Ziv.

In the eleventh year, in the month Bul, which is the eighth month, the house was finished throughout all its parts, and according to all its specifications. So he spent seven years building it.

1 Kings 7

The Building of Solomon's Palace

Solomon was building his own house thirteen years, and he finished all his house.

For he built the House of the Forest of Lebanon. Its length was one hundred cubits, its width fifty cubits, and its height thirty cubits, on four rows of cedar pillars, with cedar beams on the pillars.

It was covered with cedar above over the forty-five beams, that were on the pillars, fifteen in a row.

There were beams in three rows, and window was facing window in three ranks.

All the doors and posts were made square with beams: and window was facing window in three ranks.

He made the porch of pillars. Its length was fifty cubits and its width thirty cubits; with a porch before them, and pillars and a threshold before them.

He made the porch of the throne where he was to judge, even the porch of judgment; and it was covered with cedar from floor to floor.

His house where he was to dwell, the other court within the porch, was of the like work. He made also a house for Pharaoh's daughter (whom Solomon had taken as wife), like this porch.

All these were of costly stones, even of cut stone, according to measure, sawed with saws, inside and outside, even from the foundation to the coping, and so on the outside to the great court.

The foundation was of costly stones, even great stones, stones of ten cubits, and stones of eight cubits.

Above were costly stones, even cut stone, according to measure, and cedar wood.

The great court around had three courses of cut stone, and a course of cedar beams; like the inner court of The LORD's house and the porch of the house.

King Solomon sent and brought Hiram out of Tyre.

He was the son of a widow of the tribe of Naphtali, and his father was a man of Tyre, a worker in brass; and he was filled with wisdom and understanding and skill, to work all works in brass. He came to king Solomon, and performed all his work.

For he fashioned the two pillars of brass, eighteen cubits high apiece; and a line of twelve cubits encircled either of them.

He made two capitals of molten brass, to set on the tops of the pillars. The height of the one capital was five cubits, and the height of the other capital was five cubits.

There were nets of checker work, and wreaths of chain work, for the capitals which were on the top of the pillars; seven for the one capital, and seven for the other capital.

So he made the pillars; and there were two rows around on the one network, to cover the capitals that were on the top of the pillars: and he did so for the other capital.

The capitals that were on the top of the pillars in the porch were of lily work, four cubits.

There were capitals above also on the two pillars, close by the belly which was beside the network. There were two hundred pomegranates in rows around the other capital.

He set up the pillars at the porch of the temple. He set up the right pillar, and called its name Jachin; and he set up the left pillar, and called its name Boaz.

On the top of the pillars was lily work: so the work of the pillars was finished.

He made the molten sea of ten cubits from brim to brim, round in shape. Its height was five cubits; and a line of thirty cubits encircled it.

Under its brim around there were buds which encircled it for ten cubits, encircling the sea. The buds were in two rows, cast when it was cast.

It stood on twelve oxen, three looking toward the north, and three looking toward the west, and three looking toward the south, and three looking toward the east; and the sea was set on them above, and all their hindquarters were inward.

It was a hand width thick. Its brim was worked like the brim of a cup, like the flower of a lily. It held two thousand baths.

He made the ten bases of brass. The length of one base was four cubits, four cubits its width, and three cubits its height.

The work of the bases was like this: they had panels; and there were panels between the ledges;

and on the panels that were between the ledges were lions, oxen, and cherubim; and on the ledges there was a pedestal above; and beneath the lions and oxen were wreaths of hanging work.

Every base had four bronze wheels, and axles of brass; and the four feet of it had supports. The supports were cast beneath the basin, with wreaths at the side of each.

Its mouth within the capital and above was a cubit. Its mouth was round after the work of a pedestal, a cubit and a half; and also on its mouth were engravings, and their panels were square, not round.

The four wheels were underneath the panels; and the axles of the wheels were in the base. The height of a wheel was a cubit and half a cubit.

The work of the wheels was like the work of a chariot wheel. Their axles, and their rims, and their spokes, and their naves, were all of cast metal.

There were four supports at the four corners of each base. Its supports were of the base itself.

In the top of the base there was a round band half a cubit high; and on the top of the base its supports and its panels were of the same.

On the plates of its supports, and on its panels, he engraved cherubim, lions, and palm trees, each in its space, with wreaths all around.

He made the ten bases in this way: all of them had one casting, one measure, and one form.

He made ten basins of brass. One basin contained forty baths; and every basin was four cubits; and on every one of the ten bases one basin.

He set the bases, five on the right side of the house, and five on the left side of the house. He set the sea on the right side of the house eastward and toward the south.

Hiram made the basins, the shovels, and the basins. So Hiram finished doing all the work that he worked for king Solomon in The LORD's house:

the two pillars; the two bowls of the capitals that were on the top of the pillars; the two networks to cover the two bowls of the capitals that were on the top of the pillars;

the four hundred pomegranates for the two networks; two rows of pomegranates for each network, to cover the two bowls of the capitals that were on the pillars;

the ten bases; the ten basins on the bases;

the one sea; the twelve oxen under the sea;

the pots; the shovels; and the basins: even all these vessels, which Hiram made for king Solomon, in The LORD's house, were of burnished brass.

The king cast them in the plain of the Jordan, in the clay ground between Succoth and Zarethan.

Solomon left all the vessels unweighed, because there were so many of them. The weight of the brass could not be determined.

Solomon made all the vessels that were in The LORD's house: the golden altar and the table that the show bread was on, of gold;

and the lamp stands, five on the right side, and five on the left, before the inner sanctuary, of pure gold; and the flowers, the lamps, and the tongs, of gold;

the cups, the snuffers, the basins, the spoons, and the fire pans, of pure gold; and the hinges, both for the doors of the inner house, the most holy place, and for the doors of the house, of the temple, of gold.

Thus all the work that king Solomon did in The LORD's house was finished. Solomon brought in the things which David his father had dedicated, the silver, the gold, and the vessels, and put them in the treasuries of The LORD's house.

1 Kings 8

Ark Brought to the Temple; Solomon's Prayer of Dedication

Then Solomon assembled the elders of Israel, with all the heads of the tribes, the princes of the fathers' households of the children of Israel, to king Solomon in Jerusalem, to bring up the ark of The LORD's covenant out of David's city, which is Zion.

All the men of Israel assembled themselves to king Solomon at the feast, in the month Ethanim, which is the seventh month.

All the elders of Israel came, and the priests picked up the ark.

They brought up The LORD's ark, the Tent of Meeting, and all the holy vessels that were in the Tent. The priests and the Levites brought these up.

King Solomon and all the congregation of Israel, who were assembled to him, were with him before the ark, sacrificing sheep and cattle, that could not be counted or numbered for multitude.

The priests brought in the ark of The LORD's covenant to its place, into the inner sanctuary of the house, to the most holy place, even under the cherubim's wings.

For the cherubim spread their wings out over the place of the ark, and the cherubim covered the ark and its poles above.

The poles were so long that the ends of the poles were seen from the holy place before the inner sanctuary; but they were not seen outside. They are there to this day.

There was nothing in the ark except the two stone tablets which Moses put there at Horeb, when the LORD made a covenant with the children of Israel, when they came out of the land of Egypt.

It came to pass, when the priests had come out of the holy place, that the cloud filled The LORD's house,

so that the priests could not stand to minister by reason of the cloud; for The LORD's glory filled The LORD's house.

Then Solomon said, "The LORD has said that he would dwell in the thick darkness.

I have surely built you a house of habitation, a place for you to dwell in forever."

The king turned his face around, and blessed all the assembly of Israel; and all the assembly of Israel stood.

He said, "Blessed is The LORD, the God of Israel, who spoke with his mouth to David your father, and has with his hand fulfilled it, saying,

'Since the day that I brought my people Israel out of Egypt, I chose no city out of all the tribes of Israel to build a house, that my name might be there; but I chose David to be over my people Israel.'

"Now it was in the heart of David my father to build a house for the name of The LORD, the God of Israel.

But the LORD said to David my father, 'Whereas it was in your heart to build a house for my name, you did well that it was in your heart.

Nevertheless, you shall not build the house; but your son who shall come out of your body, he shall build the house for my name.'

The LORD has established his word that he spoke; for I have risen up in the place of David my father, and I sit on the throne of Israel, as the LORD promised, and have built the house for the name of The LORD, the God of Israel.

There I have set a place for the ark, in which is The LORD's covenant, which he made with our fathers, when he brought them out of the land of Egypt."

Solomon stood before The LORD's altar in the presence of all the assembly of Israel, and spread out his hands toward heaven;

and he said, "The LORD, the God of Israel, there is no God like you, in heaven above, or on earth beneath; who keeps covenant and loving kindness with your servants, who walk before you with all their heart;

who has kept with your servant David my father that which you promised him. Yes, you spoke with your mouth, and have fulfilled it with your hand, as it is today.

Now therefore, may The LORD, the God of Israel, keep with your servant David my father that which you have promised him, saying, 'There shall not fail from you a man in my sight to sit on the throne of Israel, if only your children take heed to their way, to walk before me as you have walked before me.'

"Now therefore, God of Israel, please let your word be verified, which you spoke to your servant David my father.

But will God in very deed dwell on the earth? Behold, heaven and the heaven of heavens can't contain you; how much less this house that I have built!

Yet have respect for the prayer of your servant, and for his supplication, the LORD my God, to listen to the cry and to the prayer which your servant prays before you today;

that your eyes may be open toward this house night and day, even toward the place of which you have said, 'My name shall be there;' to listen to the prayer which your servant prays toward this place.

Listen to the supplication of your servant, and of your people Israel, when they pray toward this place. Yes, hear in heaven, your dwelling place; and when you hear, forgive.

"If a man sins against his neighbor, and an oath is laid on him to cause him to swear, and he comes and swears before your altar in this house;

then hear in heaven, and act, and judge your servants, condemning the wicked, to bring his way on his own head, and justifying the righteous, to give him according to his righteousness.

"When your people Israel are struck down before the enemy, because they have sinned against you; if they turn again to you, and confess your name, and pray and make supplication to you in this house;

then hear in heaven, and forgive the sin of your people Israel, and bring them again to the land which you gave to their fathers.

"When the sky is shut up, and there is no rain, because they have sinned against you; if they pray toward this place, and confess your name, and turn from their sin, when you afflict them,

then hear in heaven, and forgive the sin of your servants, and of your people Israel, when you teach them the good way in which they should walk; and send rain on your land, which you have given to your people for an inheritance.

"If there is famine in the land, if there is pestilence, if there is blight, mildew, locust or caterpillar; if their enemy besieges them in the land of their cities; whatever plague, whatever sickness there is;

whatever prayer and supplication is made by any man, or by all your people Israel, who shall each know the plague of his own heart, and spread out his hands toward this house,

then hear in heaven, your dwelling place, and forgive, and act, and give to every man according to all his ways, whose heart you know; (for you, even you only, know the hearts of all the children of men;)

that they may fear you all the days that they live in the land which you gave to our fathers.

"Moreover concerning the foreigner, who is not of your people Israel, when he comes out of a far country for your name's sake

(for they shall hear of your great name, and of your mighty hand, and of your outstretched arm); when he comes and prays toward this house;

hear in heaven, your dwelling place, and do according to all that the foreigner calls to you for; that all the peoples of the earth may know your name, to fear you, as do your people Israel, and that they may know that this house which I have built is called by your name.

"If your people go out to battle against their enemy, by whatever way you shall send them, and they pray to the LORD toward the city which you have chosen, and toward the house which I have built for your name;

then hear in heaven their prayer and their supplication, and maintain their cause.

If they sin against you (for there is no man who doesn't sin), and you are angry with them, and deliver them to the enemy, so that they carry them away captive to the land of the enemy, far off or near;

yet if they repent in the land where they are carried captive, and turn again, and make supplication to you in the land of those who carried them captive, saying, 'We have sinned, and have done perversely; we have dealt wickedly;'

if they return to you with all their heart and with all their soul in the land of their enemies, who carried them captive, and pray to you toward their land, which you gave to their fathers, the city which you have chosen, and the house which I have built for your name;

then hear their prayer and their supplication in heaven, your dwelling place, and maintain their cause;

and forgive your people who have sinned against you, and all their transgressions in which they have transgressed against you; and give them compassion before those who carried them captive, that they may have compassion on them

(for they are your people, and your inheritance, which you brought out of Egypt, from the middle of the iron furnace);

that your eyes may be open to the supplication of your servant, and to the supplication of your people Israel, to listen to them whenever they cry to you.

For you separated them from among all the peoples of the earth, to be your inheritance, as you spoke by Moses your servant, when you brought our fathers out of Egypt, Lord God."

It was so, that when Solomon had finished praying all this prayer and supplication to The LORD, he arose from before The LORD's altar, from kneeling on his knees with his hands spread out toward heaven.

He stood, and blessed all the assembly of Israel with a loud voice, saying,

"Blessed be The LORD, who has given rest to his people Israel, according to all that he promised. There has not failed one word of all his good promise, which he promised by Moses his servant.

May the LORD our God be with us, as he was with our fathers. Let him not leave us or forsake us;

that he may incline our hearts to him, to walk in all his ways, and to keep his commandments, and his statutes, and his ordinances, which he commanded our fathers.

Let these my words, with which I have made supplication before The LORD, be near to the LORD our God day and night, that he may maintain the cause of his servant, and the cause of his people Israel, as every day requires;

that all the peoples of the earth may know that the LORD himself is God. There is no one else.

"Let your heart therefore be perfect with the LORD our God, to walk in his statutes, and to keep his commandments, as it is today."

The king, and all Israel with him, offered sacrifice before The LORD.

Solomon offered for the sacrifice of peace offerings, which he offered to The LORD, twenty two thousand head of cattle, and one hundred twenty thousand sheep. So the king and all the children of Israel dedicated The LORD's house.

The same day the king made the middle of the court holy that was before The LORD's house; for there he offered the burnt offering, and the meal offering, and the fat of the peace offerings, because the bronze altar that was before the LORD was too little to receive the burnt offering, the meal offering, and the fat of the peace offerings.

So Solomon held the feast at that time, and all Israel with him, a great assembly, from the entrance of Hamath to the brook of Egypt, before the LORD our God, seven days and seven more days, even fourteen days.

On the eighth day he sent the people away; and they blessed the king, and went to their tents joyful and glad in their hearts for all the goodness that the LORD had shown to David his servant, and to Israel his people.

1 Kings 9

God's covenant with Solomon; Solomon's works

When Solomon had finished the building of The LORD's house, the king's house, and all Solomon's desire which he was pleased to do,

The LORD appeared to Solomon the second time, as he had appeared to him at Gibeon.

The LORD said to him, "I have heard your prayer and your supplication, that you have made before me. I have made this house holy, which you have built, to put my name there forever; and my eyes and my heart shall be there perpetually.

As for you, if you will walk before me, as David your father walked, in integrity of heart, and in uprightness, to do according to all that I have commanded you, and will keep my statutes and my ordinances;

then I will establish the throne of your kingdom over Israel forever, as I promised to David your father, saying, 'There shall not fail from you a man on the throne of Israel.'

But if you turn away from following me, you or your children, and not keep my commandments and my statutes which I have set before you, but go and serve other gods, and worship them;

then I will cut off Israel out of the land which I have given them; and I will cast this house, which I have made holy for my name, out of my sight; and Israel will be a proverb and a byword among all peoples.

Though this house is so high, yet everyone who passes by it will be astonished and hiss; and they will say, 'Why has the LORD done this to this land, and to this house?'

and they will answer, 'Because they abandoned the LORD their God, who brought their fathers out of the land of Egypt, and laid hold of other gods, and worshiped them, and served them. Therefore the LORD has brought all this evil on them.'"

At the end of twenty years, in which Solomon had built the two houses, The LORD's house and the king's house

(now Hiram the king of Tyre had furnished Solomon with cedar trees and cypress trees, and with gold, according to all his desire), King Solomon gave Hiram twenty cities in the land of Galilee.

Hiram came out of Tyre to see the cities which Solomon had given him; and they didn't please him.

He said, "What cities are these which you have given me, my brother?" He called them the land of Cabul to this day.

Hiram sent to the king one hundred twenty talents of gold.

This is the reason of the levy which king Solomon raised, to build The LORD's house, his own house, Millo, Jerusalem's wall, Hazor, Megiddo, and Gezer.

Pharaoh king of Egypt had gone up, taken Gezer, burned it with fire, killed the Canaanites who lived in the city, and given it for a wedding gift to his daughter, Solomon's wife.

Solomon built in the land Gezer, Beth Horon the lower,

Baalath, Tamar in the wilderness,

all the storage cities that Solomon had, the cities for his chariots, the cities for his horsemen, and that which Solomon desired to build for his pleasure in Jerusalem, and in Lebanon, and in all the land of his dominion.

As for all the people who were left of the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, who were not of the children of Israel;

their children who were left after them in the land, whom the children of Israel were not able utterly to destroy, of them Solomon raised a levy of bondservants to this day.

But of the children of Israel Solomon made no bondservants; but they were the men of war, his servants, his princes, his captains, and rulers of his chariots and of his horsemen.

These were the five hundred fifty chief officers who were over Solomon's work, who ruled over the people who labored in the work.

But Pharaoh's daughter came up out of David's city to her house which Solomon had built for her. Then he built Millo.

Solomon offered burnt offerings and peace offerings on the altar which he built to the LORD three times per year, burning incense with them, on the altar that was before The LORD. So he finished the house.

King Solomon made a fleet of ships in Ezion Geber, which is beside Eloth, on the shore of the Red Sea, in the land of Edom.

Hiram sent in the fleet his servants, sailors who had knowledge of the sea, with the servants of Solomon.

They came to Ophir, and fetched from there gold, four hundred and twenty talents, and brought it to king Solomon.

1 Kings 10

The Queen of Sheba Visits Solomon

When the queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon concerning The LORD's name, she came to test him with hard questions.

She came to Jerusalem with a very great caravan, with camels that bore spices, very much gold, and precious stones; and when she had come to Solomon, she talked with him about all that was in her heart.

Solomon answered all her questions. There was not anything hidden from the king which he didn't tell her.

When the queen of Sheba had seen all the wisdom of Solomon, the house that he had built,

the food of his table, the sitting of his servants, the attendance of his officials, their clothing, his cup bearers, and his ascent by which he went up to The LORD's house; there was no more spirit in her.

She said to the king, "It was a true report that I heard in my own land of your acts, and of your wisdom.

However I didn't believe the words until I came and my eyes had seen it. Behold, not even half was told me! Your wisdom and prosperity exceed the fame which I heard.

Happy are your men, happy are these your servants, who stand continually before you, who hear your wisdom.

Blessed is the LORD your God, who delighted in you, to set you on the throne of Israel. Because the LORD loved Israel forever, therefore he made you king, to do justice and righteousness."

She gave the king one hundred twenty talents of gold, and a very great quantity of spices, and precious stones. Never again was there such an abundance of spices as these which the queen of Sheba gave to king Solomon.

The fleet of Hiram that brought gold from Ophir, also brought in from Ophir great quantities of almug trees and precious stones.

The king made of the almug trees pillars for The LORD's house, and for the king's house, harps also and stringed instruments for the singers; no such almug trees came or were seen, to this day.

King Solomon gave to the queen of Sheba all her desire, whatever she asked, besides that which Solomon gave her of his royal bounty. So she turned and went to her own land, she and her servants.

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

besides that which the traders brought, and the traffic of the merchants, and of all the kings of the mixed people, and of the governors of the country.

King Solomon made two hundred bucklers of beaten gold; six hundred shekels of gold went to one buckler.

he made three hundred shields of beaten gold; three minas of gold went to one shield; and the king put them in the House of the Forest of Lebanon.

Moreover the king made a great throne of ivory, and overlaid it with the finest gold.

There were six steps to the throne, and the top of the throne was round behind; and there were armrests on either side by the place of the seat, and two lions standing beside the armrests.

Twelve lions stood there on the one side and on the other on the six steps. Nothing like it was made in any kingdom.

All king Solomon's drinking vessels were of gold, and all the vessels of the House of the Forest of Lebanon were of pure gold. None were of silver, because it was considered of little value in the days of Solomon.

For the king had a fleet of Tarshish at sea with Hiram's fleet. Once every three years the fleet of Tarshish came, bringing gold, silver, ivory, apes, and peacocks.

So king Solomon exceeded all the kings of the earth in riches and in wisdom.

All the earth sought the presence of Solomon, to hear his wisdom, which God had put in his heart.

Year after year, every man brought his tribute, vessels of silver, vessels of gold, clothing, armor, spices, horses, and mules.

Solomon gathered together chariots and horsemen. He had one thousand four hundred chariots, and twelve thousand horsemen, that he kept in the chariot cities and with the king at Jerusalem.

The king made silver as common as stones in Jerusalem, and cedars as common as the sycamore trees that are in the lowland.

The horses which Solomon had were brought out of Egypt. The king's merchants received them in droves, each drove at a price.

A chariot came up and went out of Egypt for six hundred shekels of silver, and a horse for one hundred fifty shekels; and so they exported them to all the kings of the Hittites, and to the kings of Syria.