David in Old Age

Now King David was old, [a]advanced in age; and they covered him with garments, but he could not keep warm. So his servants said to him, “Have them search for a young virgin for my lord the king, and have her [b]attend the king and become his nurse; and have her lie on your chest, so that my lord the king may keep warm.” So they searched for a beautiful girl throughout the territory of Israel, and found Abishag the (A)Shunammite, and brought her to the king. The girl was very beautiful; and she became the king’s nurse and served him, but the king did not [c]become intimate with her.

Now (B)Adonijah the son of Haggith exalted himself, saying, “I will be king.” So (C)he prepared for himself chariots and horsemen, with fifty men to run before him. And his father had never rebuked him at any time by asking, “Why have you done so?” And he was also a very handsome man, and [d](D)he was born after Absalom. Now [e]he had conferred with (E)Joab the son of Zeruiah and with (F)Abiathar the priest; and they allied themselves with (G)Adonijah. But (H)Zadok the priest, (I)Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, (J)Nathan the prophet, (K)Shimei, Rei, and (L)the mighty men who belonged to David, were not with Adonijah.

Adonijah sacrificed sheep, oxen, and fattened steers by the [f]stone of Zoheleth, which is beside (M)En-rogel; and he invited all his brothers, the king’s sons, and all the men of Judah, the king’s servants. 10 But he did not invite Nathan the prophet, Benaiah, the mighty men, or his brother (N)Solomon.

Nathan and Bathsheba

11 Then Nathan spoke to (O)Bathsheba the mother of Solomon, saying, “Have you not heard that Adonijah the son of Haggith has become king, and David our lord does not know it? 12 So now come, please let me (P)give you advice, and save your life and the life of your son Solomon. 13 Go [g]at once to King David and say to him, ‘Have you not, my lord the king, sworn to your servant, saying, “(Q)Solomon your son certainly shall be king after me, and he shall sit on my throne”? Why then has Adonijah become king?’ 14 Behold, while you are still there speaking with the king, I will come in after you and confirm your words.”

15 So Bathsheba entered to the king in the bedroom. Now (R)the king was very old, and Abishag the Shunammite was serving the king. 16 Then Bathsheba bowed and prostrated herself [h]before the king. And the king said, “What [i]is on your mind?” 17 So she said to him, “My lord, you yourself swore to your servant by the Lord your God, saying, ‘(S)Your son Solomon certainly shall be king after me, and he shall sit on my throne.’ 18 But now, behold, Adonijah is king; and now, my lord the king, you do not know it. 19 (T)He has sacrificed oxen and fattened steers and sheep in abundance, and has invited all the sons of the king, Abiathar the priest, and Joab the commander of the army, but he has not invited Solomon your servant. 20 And as for you, my lord the king, the eyes of all Israel are upon you, to announce to them who shall sit on the throne of my lord the king after him. 21 Otherwise it will come about, (U)as soon as my lord the king [j]lies down with his fathers, that I and my son Solomon will be considered [k]offenders.”

22 And behold, while she was still speaking with the king, Nathan the prophet came in. 23 They informed the king, saying, “Nathan the prophet is here.” And when he came into the king’s presence, he prostrated himself [l]before the king with his face to the ground. 24 Then Nathan said, “My lord the king, have you yourself said, ‘Adonijah shall be king after me, and he shall sit on my throne’? 25 (V)For he has gone down today and has sacrificed oxen and fattened steers and sheep in abundance, and has invited all the king’s sons, the commanders of the army, and Abiathar the priest, and behold, they are eating and drinking in his presence; and they say, ‘(W)Long live King Adonijah!’ 26 (X)But me, even me your servant, Zadok the priest, Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, and your servant Solomon, he has not invited. 27 Has this thing been done by my lord the king, and you have not let your [m]servants know who shall sit on the throne of my lord the king after him?”

28 Then King David responded and said, “Summon Bathsheba to me.” And she came into the king’s presence and stood before the king. 29 Then the king vowed and said, “(Y)As the Lord lives, who has redeemed my life from all distress, 30 certainly as (Z)I vowed to you by the Lord, the God of Israel, saying, ‘Your son Solomon certainly shall be king after me, and he shall sit on my throne in my place’; I will indeed do so this day.” 31 Then Bathsheba bowed with her face to the ground, and prostrated herself before the king and said, “(AA)May my lord King David live forever.”

32 Then King David said, “Summon to me (AB)Zadok the priest, Nathan the prophet, and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada.” And they came into the king’s presence. 33 And the king said to them, “Take with you (AC)the servants of your lord, and have my son Solomon ride on my own mule, and bring him down to (AD)Gihon. 34 And have Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet (AE)anoint him there as king over Israel, and (AF)blow the trumpet and say, ‘(AG)Long live King Solomon!’ 35 Then you shall come up after him, and he shall come and sit on my throne, and he shall be king in my place; for I have appointed him to be ruler over Israel and Judah.” 36 Benaiah the son of Jehoiada answered the king and said, “Amen! May the Lord, the God of my lord the king, say the same. 37 (AH)Just as the Lord has been with my lord the king, so may He be with Solomon, and (AI)make his throne greater than the throne of my lord King David!”

Solomon Anointed King

38 So (AJ)Zadok the priest, Nathan the prophet, Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, (AK)the Cherethites, and the Pelethites went down and had Solomon ride on King David’s mule, and brought him to (AL)Gihon. 39 And Zadok the priest then (AM)took the horn of oil from the tent and (AN)anointed Solomon. Then they (AO)blew the trumpet, and all the people said, “(AP)Long live King Solomon!” 40 And all the people went up after him, and the people were playing on flutes and rejoicing with great joy, so that the earth [n]shook at their noise.

41 Now Adonijah and all the guests who were with him heard this as they finished eating. When Joab heard the sound of the trumpet, he said, “Why is the [o]city making such an uproar?” 42 While he was still speaking, behold, (AQ)Jonathan the son of Abiathar the priest came. Then Adonijah said, “Come in, for (AR)you are a valiant man and you bring good news.” 43 But Jonathan replied to Adonijah, “On the contrary! Our lord King David has made Solomon king! 44 The king has also sent with him Zadok the priest, Nathan the prophet, Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, the Cherethites, and the Pelethites; and they have mounted him on the king’s mule. 45 Furthermore, Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet have anointed him king in Gihon, and they have come up from there rejoicing, (AS)so that the city is going wild. This is the noise which you have heard. 46 Besides, (AT)Solomon has even taken his seat on the throne of the kingdom. 47 Moreover, the king’s servants came to bless our lord King David, saying, ‘May (AU)your God make the name of Solomon better than your name, and his throne greater than your throne!’ And (AV)the king bowed himself on the bed. 48 The king has also said this: ‘Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, who (AW)has granted one to sit on my throne today while my own eyes see it.’”

49 Then all the guests of Adonijah trembled and got up, and each went on his way. 50 Adonijah also was afraid of Solomon, and he got up, and went, and (AX)took hold of the horns of the altar. 51 Now it was reported to Solomon, saying, “Behold, Adonijah is afraid of King Solomon, for behold, he has taken hold of the horns of the altar, saying, ‘May King Solomon swear to me today that he will not put his servant to death with the sword.’” 52 And Solomon said, “If he is a worthy man, (AY)not one of his hairs will fall to the ground; but if wickedness is found in him, he will die.” 53 So King Solomon sent men, and they brought him down from the altar. And he came and prostrated himself before King Solomon, and Solomon said to him, “Go to your house.”

David’s Command to Solomon

As David’s [p](AZ)time to die drew near, he commanded his son Solomon, saying, (BA)I am going the way of all the earth. So (BB)be strong, and [q]prove yourself a man. Do your duty to the Lord your God, to walk in His ways, to [r]keep His statutes, His commandments, His ordinances, and His testimonies, (BC)according to what is written in the Law of Moses, so that (BD)you may succeed in all that you do and wherever you turn, so that (BE)the Lord may fulfill His [s]promise which He spoke regarding me, saying, ‘(BF)If your sons are careful about their way, (BG)to walk before Me in [t]truth with all their heart and all their soul, [u](BH)you shall not be deprived of a man to occupy the throne of Israel.’

“Now you yourself also know what Joab the (BI)son of Zeruiah did to me, what he did to the two commanders of the armies of Israel, to (BJ)Abner the son of Ner and to (BK)Amasa the son of Jether, whom he killed; he also [v]shed the blood of war in peace. And he put the blood of war on his belt that was on his waist, and on his sandals that were on his feet. (BL)So act as your wisdom dictates, and do not let his gray hair go down to [w]Sheol in peace. However, (BM)show kindness to the sons of Barzillai the Gileadite, and (BN)let them be among those who eat at your table; (BO)for [x]they assisted me when I fled from Absalom your brother. And behold, you have with you (BP)Shimei the son of Gera the Benjaminite, of Bahurim; now it was he who cursed me with a painful curse on the day I went to Mahanaim. But when (BQ)he came down to meet me at the Jordan, I swore to him by the Lord, saying, ‘I will not put you to death with the sword.’ But now do not leave him unpunished, (BR)for you are a wise man; and you will know what to do to him, and you will bring his gray hair down to [y]Sheol with blood.”

Death of David

10 Then (BS)David [z]lay down with his fathers, and he was buried in (BT)the city of David. 11 Now (BU)the days that David reigned over Israel were forty years: in Hebron he reigned for (BV)seven years, and in Jerusalem he reigned for thirty-three years. 12 Then (BW)Solomon sat on the throne of his father David, and his kingdom was firmly established.

13 Now Adonijah the son of Haggith came to Bathsheba the mother of Solomon. So she said, “(BX)Do you come peacefully?” And he said, “Peacefully.” 14 Then he said, “I have something to say to you.” And she said, “Speak.” 15 So he said, “You yourself know that (BY)the kingdom was mine and (BZ)that all Israel [aa]intended for me to be king; (CA)however, the kingdom has turned around and become my brother’s, (CB)for it was his from the Lord. 16 So now I am making one request of you; do not [ab]refuse me.” And she said to him, “Speak.” 17 Then he said, “Please speak to Solomon the king—for he will not [ac]refuse you—that he may give me (CC)Abishag the Shunammite as a wife.” 18 And Bathsheba said, “Very well; I will speak to the king for you.”

Adonijah Executed

19 So Bathsheba went to King Solomon, to speak to him for Adonijah. And the king stood to meet her, bowed to her, and sat on his throne; then he (CD)had a throne set up for the king’s mother, and (CE)she sat on his right. 20 Then she said, “I am making one small request of you; (CF)do not [ad]refuse me.” And the king said to her, “Ask, my mother, for I will not [ae]refuse you.” 21 So she said, “(CG)Let Abishag the Shunammite be given to Adonijah your brother as a wife.” 22 But King Solomon answered and said to his mother, “And why are you requesting Abishag the Shunammite for Adonijah? (CH)Request for him the kingdom as well—(CI)since he is my older brother—for him, for (CJ)Abiathar the priest, and for Joab the son of Zeruiah!” 23 Then King Solomon swore by the Lord, saying, “May God do so to me and more so, if Adonijah has (CK)not spoken this word against his own [af]life! 24 Now then, as the Lord lives, who has established me and set me on the throne of David my father, and (CL)has made me a house just as He [ag]promised, Adonijah certainly shall be put to death today!” 25 Then King Solomon (CM)sent the order by Benaiah the son of Jehoiada; and he [ah]struck him so that he died.

26 Then to Abiathar the priest the king said, “(CN)Go to Anathoth to your own field, (CO)for you [ai]deserve to die; but I will not put you to death at this [aj]time, because (CP)you carried the ark of the Lord [ak]God before my father David, and because (CQ)you were afflicted in everything with which my father was afflicted.” 27 So Solomon dismissed Abiathar from being priest to the Lord, to fulfill (CR)the word of the Lord, which He had spoken regarding the house of Eli in Shiloh.

Joab Executed

28 Now the news came to Joab (CS)because Joab had followed Adonijah, (CT)though he had not followed Absalom. So Joab fled to the tent of the Lord and (CU)took hold of the horns of the altar. 29 And it was reported to King Solomon that Joab had fled to the tent of the Lord, and [al]was beside the altar. Then Solomon (CV)sent Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, saying, “(CW)Go, [am]execute him.” 30 So Benaiah came to the tent of the Lord and said to him, “This is what the king has said: ‘Come out.’” But he said, “No, for I will die here.” So Benaiah brought back word to the king, saying, “This is what Joab spoke, and so he answered me.” 31 And the king said to him, “(CX)Do just as he has spoken, and [an]execute him and bury him, (CY)so that you may remove from me and from my father’s house the blood which Joab shed without [ao]justification. 32 (CZ)The Lord will return his blood on his own head, (DA)because he [ap]struck two men more righteous and better than he, and killed them with the sword, while my father David did not know about it: (DB)Abner the son of Ner, commander of the army of Israel, and (DC)Amasa the son of Jether, commander of the army of Judah. 33 (DD)So their blood shall return on the head of Joab and on the head of his [aq]descendants forever; but for David and his [ar]descendants, and his house and his throne, may there be peace from the Lord forever.” 34 Then (DE)Benaiah the son of Jehoiada went up and [as]struck him and put him to death, and he was buried at his own house (DF)in the wilderness. 35 And (DG)the king appointed Benaiah the son of Jehoiada over the army in his place, and the king appointed (DH)Zadok the priest (DI)in place of Abiathar.

Shimei Executed

36 Now the king sent men and summoned (DJ)Shimei, and said to him, “Build yourself a house in Jerusalem and live there, and do not leave there for any other place. 37 For on the day you leave and (DK)cross the [at]brook Kidron, you will know for certain that you will assuredly die; (DL)your blood will be [au]on your own head.” 38 Shimei then said to the king, “The word is good. Just as my lord the king has spoken, so your servant shall do.” So Shimei lived in Jerusalem for many days.

39 But it came about at the end of three years, that two of Shimei’s servants ran away (DM)to Achish son of Maacah, king of Gath. And others told Shimei, saying, “Behold, your servants are in Gath.” 40 Then Shimei got up and saddled his donkey, and went to Gath to Achish, to search for his servants. And Shimei went and brought his servants from Gath. 41 And it was reported to Solomon that Shimei had gone from Jerusalem to Gath, and had returned. 42 So the king sent men and summoned Shimei, and said to him, “Did I not make you swear by the Lord, and solemnly warn you, saying, ‘Know for certain that on the day you depart and go anywhere, you shall assuredly die’? And you said to me, ‘The word I have heard is good.’ 43 Why then have you not kept the oath of the Lord, and the command which I [av]imposed on you?” 44 The king also said to Shimei, “(DN)You yourself know all the evil that [aw]you acknowledge in your heart, which you did to my father David; therefore (DO)the Lord will return your evil on your own head. 45 But King Solomon will be blessed, and (DP)the throne of David will be established before the Lord forever.” 46 (DQ)So the king commanded Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, and he went out and [ax]struck him so that he died.

(DR)And the kingdom was established in the hands of Solomon.

Solomon’s Rule Consolidated

Now (DS)Solomon [ay]formed a marriage alliance with Pharaoh king of Egypt, and took Pharaoh’s daughter (DT)and brought her to the city of David (DU)until he had finished building his own house and the house of the Lord, and (DV)the wall around Jerusalem. (DW)The people were still sacrificing on the high places, because there was no house built for the name of the Lord until those days.

Now (DX)Solomon loved the Lord, (DY)walking in the statutes of his father David, except that he was sacrificing and burning incense on the high places. And (DZ)the king went to (EA)Gibeon to sacrifice there, (EB)because that was the great high place; Solomon offered a thousand burnt offerings on that altar. (EC)In Gibeon the Lord appeared to Solomon (ED)in a dream at night; and God said, “(EE)Ask what you wish Me to give you.”

Solomon’s Prayer

Then Solomon said, “(EF)You have shown great faithfulness to Your servant David my father, (EG)according as he walked before You in [az]truth, righteousness, and uprightness of heart toward You; and (EH)You have [ba]reserved for him this great faithfulness, that You have given him a son to sit on his throne, as it is this day. And now, Lord my God, (EI)You have made Your servant king in place of my father David, yet (EJ)I am like a little boy; (EK)I do not know how to [bb]go out or come in. And (EL)Your servant is in the midst of Your people whom You have chosen, (EM)a great people who are too many to be numbered or counted. So (EN)give Your servant [bc]an understanding heart to judge Your people, (EO)to discern between good and evil. For who is capable of judging this [bd]great people of Yours?”

God’s Answer

10 Now [be]it was pleasing in the sight of the Lord that Solomon had asked this thing. 11 And God said to him, “Because you have asked this thing, and have (EP)not asked for yourself [bf]a long life, nor have asked riches for yourself, nor have you asked for the lives of your enemies, but have asked for yourself discernment to understand justice, 12 behold, (EQ)I have done according to your words. Behold, (ER)I have given you a wise and discerning heart, so that there has been no one like you before you, nor shall one like you arise after you. 13 (ES)I have also given you what you have not asked, both (ET)riches and honor, so that there will not be any among the kings like you all your days. 14 And (EU)if you walk in My ways, keeping My statutes and commandments, as your father David walked, then I will (EV)prolong your days.”

15 Then (EW)Solomon awoke, and behold, it was a dream. And he came to Jerusalem and stood before the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and offered burnt offerings and made peace offerings, and (EX)held a feast for all his servants.

Solomon Wisely Judges

16 Then two women who were prostitutes came to the king and stood before him. 17 The one woman said, “Pardon me, my lord: [bg]this woman and I live in the same house; and I gave birth to a child [bh]while she was in the house. 18 And it happened on the third day after I gave birth, that this woman also gave birth to a child, and we were together. There was no stranger with us in the house, only the two of us in the house. 19 Then this woman’s son died in the night, because she lay on him. 20 So she got up in the middle of the night and took my son from beside me while your servant was asleep, and she laid him at her breast, and laid her dead son at my breast. 21 When I got up in the morning to nurse my son, behold, he was dead! But when I examined him closely in the morning, behold, he was not my son, whom I had borne!” 22 Then the other woman said, “No! For the living one is my son, and the dead one is your son.” But [bi]the first woman said, “No! For the dead one is your son, and the living one is my son.” So they spoke before the king.

23 Then the king said, “[bj]The one says, ‘This is my son who is living, and your son is the dead one’; and [bk]the other says, ‘No! For your son is the dead one, and my son is the living one.’” 24 And the king said, “Get me a sword.” So they brought a sword before the king. 25 And the king said, “Cut the living child in two, and give half to the one and half to the other.” 26 But the woman whose child was the living one spoke to the king, for [bl](EY)she was deeply stirred over her son, and she said, “Pardon me, my lord! Give her the living child, and by no means kill him!” But the other woman was saying, “He shall be neither mine nor yours; cut him!” 27 Then the king replied, “Give [bm]the first woman the living child, and by no means kill him. She is his mother.” 28 When all Israel heard about the judgment which the king had [bn]handed down, they feared the king, because (EZ)they saw that the wisdom of God was in him to [bo]administer justice.

Solomon’s Officials

Now King Solomon was king over all Israel. These were his officials: Azariah the son of Zadok was (FA)the priest; Elihoreph and Ahijah, the sons of Shisha were scribes; (FB)Jehoshaphat the son of Ahilud was the secretary; and (FC)Benaiah the son of Jehoiada was over the army; and Zadok and (FD)Abiathar were priests; and Azariah the son of Nathan was over (FE)the deputies; and Zabud the son of Nathan, a priest, was the king’s confidant; and Ahishar was over the household; and Adoniram the son of Abda was over the forced labor.

Solomon had twelve deputies over all Israel, who provided food for the king and his household; each deputy had to provide food for a month in the year. And these were their names: Ben-hur, in the (FF)hill country of Ephraim; Ben-deker in Makaz and (FG)Shaalbim, and (FH)Beth-shemesh, and Elonbeth-hanan; 10 Ben-hesed in Arubboth ((FI)Socoh was his and all the land of (FJ)Hepher); 11 Ben-abinadab in all [bp]the (FK)hills of Dor (Taphath the daughter of Solomon was his wife); 12 Baana the son of Ahilud in (FL)Taanach and Megiddo, and all (FM)Beth-shean which is beside (FN)Zarethan below Jezreel, from Beth-shean to (FO)Abel-meholah as far as the other side of (FP)Jokmeam; 13 Ben-geber in (FQ)Ramoth-gilead ((FR)the villages of Jair, the son of Manasseh, which are in Gilead were his: (FS)the region of Argob, which is in Bashan, sixty great cities with walls and bronze bars were his); 14 Ahinadab the son of Iddo in (FT)Mahanaim; 15 (FU)Ahimaaz in Naphtali (he also married Basemath the daughter of Solomon); 16 Baana the son of (FV)Hushai in Asher and [bq]Bealoth; 17 Jehoshaphat the son of Paruah in Issachar; 18 (FW)Shimei the son of Ela in Benjamin; 19 Geber the son of Uri in the land of Gilead, (FX)the country of Sihon king of the Amorites and of Og king of Bashan; and he was the only deputy who was in the land.

Solomon’s Power, Wealth, and Wisdom

20 (FY)Judah and Israel were as numerous as the sand that is on the [br]seashore in abundance; they were eating, drinking, and rejoicing.

21 [bs](FZ)Now Solomon was ruling over all the kingdoms (GA)from the Euphrates River to the land of the Philistines and to the border of Egypt; (GB)they brought tribute and served Solomon all the days of his life.

22 Solomon’s [bt]provision for one day was [bu]thirty kors of fine flour and [bv]sixty kors of meal, 23 ten fat oxen, twenty [bw]pasture-fed oxen, and a hundred sheep, besides deer, gazelles, roebucks, and fattened geese. 24 For he was ruling over everything [bx]west of the Euphrates River, from Tiphsah even to (GC)Gaza, (GD)over all the kings [by]west of the River; and (GE)he had peace on all sides surrounding him. 25 (GF)So Judah and Israel lived securely, everyone under his vine and his fig tree, (GG)from Dan even to Beersheba, all the days of Solomon. 26 (GH)Solomon had [bz]forty thousand stalls of horses for his chariots, and twelve thousand horsemen. 27 And those deputies provided food for King Solomon and all who came to King Solomon’s table, each in his month; they allowed nothing to be lacking. 28 They also brought barley and straw for the war horses and (GI)baggage horses to the place where it was required, each deputy according to his duty.

29 Now (GJ)God gave Solomon wisdom and very great discernment and breadth of [ca]mind, (GK)like the sand that is on the seashore. 30 Solomon’s wisdom surpassed the wisdom of all (GL)the [cb]people of the east and (GM)all the wisdom of Egypt. 31 For (GN)he was wiser than all other people, more than (GO)Ethan the Ezrahite, Heman, (GP)Calcol, and [cc]Darda, the sons of Mahol; and his [cd]fame was known in all the surrounding nations. 32 (GQ)He also told three thousand proverbs, and his songs numbered 1,005. 33 He told of trees, from the cedar that is in Lebanon even to the hyssop that grows on the wall; he told also of animals, birds, crawling things, and fish. 34 People (GR)came from all the [ce]nations to hear the wisdom of Solomon, from all the kings of the earth who had heard of his wisdom.

Alliance with King Hiram

[cf](GS)Now Hiram king of Tyre sent his servants to Solomon when he heard that they had anointed him king in place of his father, for (GT)Hiram had [cg]always been a friend of David. Then (GU)Solomon sent word to Hiram, saying, “You know that (GV)David my father was unable to build a house for the name of the Lord his God because of the wars which surrounded him, until the Lord put them under the soles of his feet. But now (GW)the Lord my God has secured me rest on every side; there is neither adversary nor [ch]misfortune. So behold, (GX)I [ci]intend to build a house for the name of the Lord my God, just as the Lord spoke to David my father, saying, ‘Your son, whom I will put on your throne in your place, he will build the house for My name.’ Now then, issue orders that they cut (GY)cedars from Lebanon for me, and my servants will be with your servants; and I will give you wages for your servants in accordance with all that you say, for you yourself know that there is no one among us who knows how to cut timber like the Sidonians.”

When Hiram heard the words of Solomon, he greatly rejoiced; and he said, “Blessed be the Lord today, who has given to David a wise son over this great people.” So Hiram sent word to Solomon, saying, “I have heard the message which you sent me; I will do everything you wish concerning the cedar and juniper timber. My servants will bring the timbers down from Lebanon to the sea; and I will have them made into rafts to go by sea (GZ)to the place where you [cj]direct me, and I will have them broken up there, and you will carry them away. Then (HA)you shall do what I wish, by giving food to my household.” 10 So [ck]Hiram [cl]gave Solomon all that he wished of the cedar and juniper timber. 11 (HB)Solomon then gave [cm]Hiram [cn]twenty thousand kors of wheat as food for his household, and [co]twenty kors of pure oil; this is what Solomon would give Hiram year by year. 12 And (HC)the Lord gave wisdom to Solomon, just as He [cp]promised him; and there was peace between Hiram and Solomon, and the two of them made a covenant.

Conscription of Laborers

13 Now (HD)King Solomon [cq]conscripted forced laborers from all Israel; and the forced laborers numbered thirty thousand men. 14 Then he sent them to Lebanon, ten thousand a month in shifts; they were in Lebanon for a month, and two months at home. And (HE)Adoniram was in charge of the forced laborers. 15 Now (HF)Solomon had seventy thousand porters, and eighty thousand stonemasons in the mountains, 16 (HG)besides Solomon’s 3,300 chief deputies who were in charge of the [cr]project and ruled over the people who were doing the work. 17 Then (HH)the king issued orders, and they quarried large stones, valuable stones, to lay the foundation of the house with cut stones. 18 So Solomon’s builders and [cs]Hiram’s builders and (HI)the Gebalites [ct]cut the stones, and they prepared the timbers and the stones to build the house.

The Building of the Temple

(HJ)Now it came about in the four hundred and eightieth year after the sons of Israel came out of the land of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon’s reign over Israel, in the month of Ziv, that is, the second month, that he [cu]began to build the house of the Lord. And the house which King Solomon built for the Lord was [cv]sixty cubits in its length, and twenty cubits in its width, and its height was thirty cubits. The porch in front of the main room of the house was [cw]twenty cubits in [cx]length, [cy]corresponding to the width of the house, and its width along the front of the house was ten cubits. Also for the house (HK)he made windows with artistic frames. (HL)Against the wall of the house he built stories encompassing the walls of the house around both the main room and the [cz](HM)inner sanctuary; so he made (HN)side chambers all around. The lowest story was [da]five cubits wide, the middle was six cubits wide, and the third was seven cubits wide; for on the outside he [db]made offsets in the wall of the house all around so that the beams would not [dc]be inserted into the walls of the house.

(HO)The house, while it was being built, was built of stone finished at the quarry, and neither hammer, nor axe, nor any iron tool was heard in the house while it was being built.

The doorway for the [dd]lowest side chamber was on the right side of the house; and they would go up by a winding staircase to the middle story, and from the middle to the third. So (HP)he built the house and finished it; and he covered the house with beams and [de]planks of cedar. 10 He also built the stories against the whole house, each [df]five cubits high; and they [dg]were attached to the house with timbers of cedar.

11 Now the word of the Lord came to Solomon, saying, 12 As for this house which you are building, (HQ)if you will walk in My statutes and execute My ordinances and keep all My commandments by walking in them, then I will fulfill My word with you which I spoke to David your father. 13 And (HR)I will dwell among the sons of Israel, and (HS)will not abandon My people Israel.”

14 (HT)So Solomon built the house and finished it. 15 He (HU)built the walls of the house on the inside with boards of cedar; from the floor of the house to the [dh]ceiling he paneled the walls on the inside with wood, and he paneled the floor of the house with boards of juniper. 16 (HV)He also built [di]twenty cubits on the rear part of the house with boards of cedar from the floor to the [dj]ceiling; he built them for it on the inside as an inner sanctuary, as (HW)the Most Holy Place. 17 The house, that is, the main room in front of the inner sanctuary, was [dk]forty cubits long. 18 There was cedar inside the house, carved in the shape of (HX)gourds and open flowers; everything was cedar, there was no stone visible. 19 Then he prepared an inner sanctuary inside the house in order to place there the ark of the covenant of the Lord. 20 [dl]The inner sanctuary was twenty cubits in length, twenty cubits in width, and twenty cubits in height; and he overlaid it with pure gold. He also paneled the altar with cedar. 21 So Solomon overlaid the inside of the house with pure gold. And he extended chains of gold across the front of the inner sanctuary, and he overlaid it with gold. 22 He overlaid the entire house with gold, until all the house was finished. Also (HY)the entire altar which was by the inner sanctuary he overlaid with gold.

23 (HZ)And in the inner sanctuary he made two [dm]cherubim of olive wood, each [dn]ten cubits high. 24 The one wing of the first cherub was five cubits, and the other wing of the first cherub was five cubits; from the end of one wing to the end of the other wing were ten cubits. 25 The second cherub was ten cubits; both of the cherubim were of the same measurement and the same form. 26 The height of the one cherub was ten cubits, and so was that of the other cherub. 27 He placed the cherubim in the midst of the inner house, and (IA)the wings of the cherubim spread out so that the wing of the one was touching the one wall, and the wing of the other cherub was touching the other wall. And their wings were touching [do]end to [dp]end in the center of the house. 28 He also overlaid the cherubim with gold.

29 Then he carved all the surrounding walls of the house with engravings of cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers, for the inner and outer sanctuaries. 30 And he overlaid the floor of the house with gold, for the inner and outer sanctuaries.

31 And for the entrance of the inner sanctuary he made doors of olive wood, the lintel, and five-sided doorposts. 32 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; and he overlaid the cherubim and the palm trees with gold.

33 So too he made for the entrance of the main room four-sided doorposts of olive wood, 34 and (IB)two doors of juniper wood; the two leaves of the one door turned on pivots, and the two [dq]leaves of the other door turned on pivots. 35 He carved on it cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers; and he overlaid them with gold plated on the carved work. 36 And (IC)he built the inner courtyard with three rows of cut stone and a row of cedar beams.

37 (ID)In the fourth year the foundation of the house of the Lord was laid, in the month of Ziv. 38 And in the eleventh year, in the month of Bul, that is, the eighth month, the house was finished in all its parts and in accordance with all its plans. So he was seven years in building it.

Solomon’s Palace

Now (IE)Solomon built his own house over the course of thirteen years, and he finished all of his house. (IF)He built the house of the timber from Lebanon; its length was [dr]a hundred cubits, its width fifty cubits, and its height thirty cubits, on four rows of cedar pillars with cedar beams on the pillars. And it was paneled with cedar above the side chambers which were on the forty-five pillars, fifteen in each row. There were artistic window frames in three rows, and window was opposite window at three [ds]intervals. And all the doorways and doorposts had squared artistic frames, and window was opposite window at three [dt]intervals.

Then he made (IG)the hall of pillars; its length was [du]fifty cubits and its width thirty cubits, and a porch was in front of them and pillars and a (IH)threshold in front of them.

And he made the hall of the (II)throne where he was to judge, the hall of judgment, and (IJ)it was paneled with cedar from floor to floor.

And his house where he was to live, the other courtyard inward from the hall, was of this same workmanship. (IK)He also made a house like this hall for Pharaoh’s daughter, (IL)whom Solomon had married.

All of these were made of valuable stones, of stone cut according to measure, sawed with saws, inside and outside; even from the foundation to the [dv]coping, and from the outside to the large courtyard.

10 And the foundation was of valuable stones, large stones, stones of [dw]ten cubits and stones of eight cubits. 11 And above were valuable stones, cut according to measure, and cedar. 12 So (IM)the large courtyard all around had three rows of cut stone and a row of cedar beams as well as the inner courtyard of the house of the Lord, and (IN)the porch of the house.

Hiram’s Work in the Temple

13 Now (IO)King Solomon sent word and had Hiram brought from Tyre. 14 (IP)He was a widow’s son from the tribe of Naphtali, and his father was a man of Tyre, an artisan in bronze; and (IQ)he was filled with wisdom, skill, and knowledge for doing any work in bronze. So he came to King Solomon and (IR)performed all his work.

15 He fashioned (IS)the two pillars of bronze; [dx](IT)eighteen cubits was the height of [dy]each pillar, and a line of [dz]twelve cubits [ea]measured the circumference of both. 16 He also made two capitals of cast bronze to put on the tops of the pillars; the height of the one capital was [eb]five cubits and the height of the other capital was [ec]five cubits. 17 There were lattices of latticework and wreaths of chainwork for the capitals which were on the top of the pillars; seven for the one capital and seven for the other capital. 18 So he made the pillars, and two rows around on the one lattice to cover the capitals which were on the top of the pomegranates; and so he did for the other capital. 19 The capitals which were on the tops of the pillars in the porch were of lily design, four cubits. 20 So there were capitals on the two pillars, also above and close to the [ed]rounded projection which was beside the lattice; and (IU)the pomegranates totaled two hundred in rows around [ee]both capitals. 21 (IV)And he set up the pillars at the (IW)porch of the [ef]main room: he set up the right pillar and named it [eg]Jachin, and he set up the left pillar and named it [eh]Boaz. 22 On the top of the pillars was the lily design. So the work of the pillars was finished.

23 (IX)He also he made the [ei]Sea of (IY)cast metal [ej]ten cubits from brim to brim, circular in shape, and its height was five cubits, and [ek]it was [el]thirty cubits in circumference. 24 Under its brim (IZ)gourds went around encircling it ten to a cubit, (JA)completely surrounding the Sea; the gourds were in two rows, cast [em]with the rest. 25 (JB)It was standing on twelve oxen, three facing north, three facing west, three facing south, and three facing east; and the Sea was set on top of them, and all their rear parts turned inward. 26 And it was a [en]hand width thick, and its brim was made like the brim of a cup, like a lily blossom; it could hold [eo]two thousand baths.

27 Then (JC)he made the ten stands of bronze; the length of each stand was [ep]four cubits, its width four cubits, and its height was three cubits. 28 This was the design of the stands: they had borders, that is, borders between the crossbars, 29 and on the borders which were between the crossbars were lions, oxen, and cherubim; and on the crossbars there was a pedestal above, and beneath the lions and oxen were wreaths of hanging work. 30 Now each stand had four bronze wheels with bronze axles, and its four feet had supports; beneath the basin were cast supports with wreaths at each side. 31 And its opening inside the crown at the top was a [eq]cubit, and its opening was round like the design of a pedestal, a cubit and a half; and on its opening also there were engravings, and their borders were square, not round. 32 The four wheels were underneath the borders, and the axles of the wheels were on the stand. And the height of a wheel was a cubit and a half. 33 The workmanship of the wheels was like the workmanship of a chariot wheel. Their axles, their rims, their spokes, and their hubs were all cast. 34 Now there were four supports at the four corners of each stand; its supports were part of the stand itself. 35 And on the top of the stand there was a circular form [er]half a cubit high, and on the top of the stand its [es]stays and its borders were part of it. 36 And he engraved on the plates of its stays and on its borders cherubim, lions, and palm trees, as there was clear space on each, with wreaths all around. 37 (JD)He made the ten stands like this: all of them had the [et]same casting, [eu]same measure, and [ev]same form.

38 (JE)And he made ten basins of bronze, [ew]each holding [ex]forty baths; each basin was [ey]four cubits, and on each of the ten stands was one basin. 39 Then he placed the stands, five on the right side of the house and five on the left side of the house; and he set the [ez]Sea of cast metal on the right side of the house eastward toward the south.

40 Now Hiram made the basins and the shovels and the bowls. So Hiram finished doing all the work which he performed for King Solomon in the house of the Lord: 41 the two pillars and the two bowls of the capitals which were on the top of the (JF)two pillars, and the two lattices to cover the two bowls of the capitals which were on the top of the pillars; 42 and the (JG)four hundred pomegranates for the two lattices, two rows of pomegranates for each lattice to cover the two bowls of the capitals which were on the tops of the pillars; 43 and the ten stands with the ten basins on the stands; 44 and (JH)the one [fa]Sea and the twelve oxen under the Sea; 45 and (JI)the buckets, the shovels, and the bowls; indeed, all these utensils which Hiram made for King Solomon in the house of the Lord were of polished bronze. 46 (JJ)The king had them cast in the plain of the Jordan, in the clay ground between (JK)Succoth and (JL)Zarethan. 47 However, Solomon left all the utensils unweighed, because they were too many; (JM)the weight of the bronze could not be determined.

48 Solomon also made all the furniture that was in the house of the Lord: (JN)the golden altar and the golden table on which was set the (JO)bread of the Presence; 49 and the lampstands of pure gold, five on the right side and five on the left, in front of the inner sanctuary; and (JP)the flowers, the lamps, and the tongs, of gold; 50 also the cups, the [fb]shears, the bowls, the ladles, and the (JQ)firepans, 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, that is, for the main room, of gold.

51 (JR)So all the work that King Solomon performed in the house of the Lord was finished. And (JS)Solomon brought in the offerings vowed by his father David, the silver and the gold and the utensils, and he put them in the treasuries of the house of the Lord.

The Ark Brought into the Temple

(JT)Then Solomon assembled the elders of Israel and all (JU)the heads of the tribes, the leaders of the fathers’ households of the sons of Israel, to King Solomon in Jerusalem, (JV)to bring up the ark of the covenant of the Lord from (JW)the city of David, that is, Zion. So all the men of Israel assembled themselves before King Solomon at (JX)the feast, in the month Ethanim, that is, the seventh month. Then all the elders of Israel came, and (JY)the priests took up the ark. And they brought up the ark of the Lord, (JZ)the tent of meeting, and all the holy utensils which were in the tent; the priests and the Levites brought them up. And King Solomon and all the congregation of Israel, who were gathered together to him, (KA)were with him before the ark, sacrificing [fc]so many sheep and oxen that they could not be counted or numbered. Then (KB)the priests brought the ark of the covenant of the Lord (KC)to its place, into the inner sanctuary of the house, to the Most Holy Place, (KD)under the wings of the cherubim. For the cherubim spread their wings over the place of the ark, and the cherubim made a covering over the ark and its carrying poles from above. But (KE)the poles were so long that the ends of the poles could be seen from the holy place in front of the inner sanctuary, but they could not be seen outside; they are there to this day. (KF)There was nothing in the ark except the two tablets of stone which Moses put there at Horeb, where (KG)the Lord made a covenant with the sons of Israel, when they came out of the land of Egypt. 10 And it happened that when the priests came from the holy place, (KH)the cloud filled the house of the Lord, 11 so that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud, for the glory of the Lord filled the house of the Lord.

Solomon Addresses the People

12 (KI)Then Solomon said,

“The Lord has said that (KJ)He would dwell in the thick darkness.
13 (KK)I have truly built You a lofty house,
(KL)A place for Your dwelling forever.”

14 Then the king [fd]turned around and (KM)blessed all the assembly of Israel, while all the assembly of Israel was standing. 15 He said, “(KN)Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, (KO)who spoke with His mouth to my father David, and fulfilled it with His hands, saying, 16 (KP)Since the day that I brought My people Israel from Egypt, I did not choose a city out of all the tribes of Israel in which to build a house so that (KQ)My name would be there, but (KR)I chose David to be over My people Israel.’ 17 (KS)Now it was [fe]in the heart of my father David to build a house for the name of the Lord, the God of Israel. 18 But the Lord said to my father David, ‘Because it was [ff]in your heart to build a house for My name, you did well that it was [fg]in your heart. 19 (KT)Nevertheless you shall not build the house, but your son who [fh]will be born to you, he will build the house for My name.’ 20 Now the Lord has fulfilled His word which He spoke; for (KU)I have risen in place of my father David and I sit on the throne of Israel, just as the Lord [fi]promised, and I have built the house for the name of the Lord, the God of Israel. 21 And there I have set a place for the ark, (KV)in which is the covenant of the Lord, which He made with our fathers when He brought them out of the land of Egypt.”

The Prayer of Dedication

22 Then (KW)Solomon stood before the altar of the Lord in the presence of all the assembly of Israel, and he (KX)spread out his hands toward heaven. 23 And he said, “Lord, God of Israel, (KY)there is no God like You in heaven above or on earth beneath, (KZ)keeping the covenant and showing faithfulness to Your servants who walk before You with all their heart, 24 You who have kept with Your servant, my father David, that which You [fj]promised him; You have spoken with Your mouth and have fulfilled it with Your hand, as it is this day. 25 Now then, Lord, God of Israel, keep with Your servant David my father that which You have [fk]promised him, saying, ‘[fl](LA)You shall not be deprived of a man to sit on the throne of Israel, if only your sons are careful about their way, to walk before Me as you have walked.’ 26 Now then, God of Israel, let Your words, please, be confirmed, (LB)which You have spoken to Your servant, my father David.

27 “But will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold, (LC)heaven and the [fm]highest heaven cannot contain You, how much less this house which I have built! 28 Nevertheless, turn Your attention to the (LD)prayer of Your servant and to his plea, Lord, my God, to listen to the cry and to the prayer which Your servant prays before You today, 29 (LE)so that Your eyes may be open toward this house night and day, toward (LF)the place of which You have said, ‘My name shall be there,’ to listen to the prayer which Your servant will pray toward this place. 30 And (LG)listen to the plea of Your servant and of Your people Israel, (LH)when they pray toward this place; hear in heaven Your dwelling place; hear and (LI)forgive!

31 (LJ)If a person sins against his neighbor and is compelled to take an oath of innocence, and he comes and takes an oath before Your altar in this house, 32 then hear in heaven and act and judge Your servants, (LK)condemning the wicked by [fn]bringing his way on his own head, and acquitting the righteous by giving him according to his righteousness.

33 (LL)When Your people Israel are [fo]defeated before an enemy because they have sinned against You, (LM)if they turn to You again and confess Your name and pray and implore Your [fp]favor in this house, 34 then hear in heaven, and forgive the sin of Your people Israel, and bring them back to the land which You gave their fathers.

35 (LN)When the heavens are shut up and there is no rain because they have sinned against You, and they pray toward this place and praise Your name, and turn from their sin when You afflict them, 36 then hear in heaven and forgive the sin of Your servants and Your people Israel; (LO)indeed, teach them the good way in which they are to walk. And (LP)provide rain on Your land, which You have given to Your people as an inheritance.

37 (LQ)If there is a famine in the land, if there is a plague, if there is [fq]blight or mildew, locust or grasshopper, if their enemy harasses them in the land of their [fr]cities, whatever plague, whatever sickness there is, 38 whatever prayer or plea [fs]is offered by any person or by all Your people Israel, [ft]each knowing the affliction of his own heart, and spreading his [fu]hands toward this house; 39 then hear in heaven, Your dwelling place, and forgive and act, and give to each in accordance with all his ways, (LR)whose heart You know—for (LS)You alone know the hearts of all [fv]mankind— 40 so that they will [fw]fear You all the days that they live on the [fx]land which You have given to our fathers.

41 “Also regarding the foreigner who is not of Your people Israel, when he comes from a far country on account of Your name 42 (for they will hear of Your great name (LT)and Your mighty hand, and of Your outstretched arm); when he comes and prays toward this house, 43 hear in heaven Your dwelling place, and act in accordance with all for which the foreigner calls to You, in order (LU)that all the peoples of the earth may know Your name, to [fy]fear You, as do Your people Israel, and that they may know that [fz]this house which I have built is called by Your name.

44 “When Your people go out to battle against [ga]their enemy, by whatever way You send them, and (LV)they pray to the Lord [gb]toward the city which You have chosen and the house which I have built for Your name, 45 then hear in heaven their prayer and their pleading, and maintain their cause.

46 “When they sin against You (for (LW)there is no person who does not sin) and You are angry with them and turn them over to an enemy, so that [gc]they take them away captive (LX)to the land of the enemy, distant or near; 47 (LY)if they [gd]take it to heart in the land where they have been taken captive, and repent and implore Your [ge]favor in the land of those who have taken them captive, saying, ‘(LZ)We have sinned and done wrong, we have acted wickedly’; 48 (MA)if they return to You with all their heart and with all their soul in the land of their enemies who have taken them captive, and (MB)pray to You toward their land which You have given to their fathers, the city which You have chosen, and the house which I have built for Your name; 49 then hear their prayer and their pleading in heaven, Your dwelling place, and maintain their cause, 50 and forgive Your people who have sinned against You and all their wrongdoings which they have committed against You, and (MC)make them objects of compassion before those who have taken them captive, so that they will have compassion on them 51 ((MD)for they are Your people and Your inheritance which You have brought out of Egypt, (ME)from the midst of the iron furnace), 52 (MF)so that Your eyes may be open to the pleading of Your servant and to the pleading of Your people Israel, to listen to them whenever they call to You. 53 For You have singled them out from all the peoples of the earth as Your inheritance, (MG)just as You spoke through Moses Your servant, when You brought our fathers out of Egypt, Lord [gf]God.”

Solomon’s Benediction

54 (MH)When Solomon had finished praying this entire prayer and plea to the Lord, (MI)he stood up from the altar of the Lord, from kneeling on his knees with his [gg]hands spread toward heaven. 55 And he stood and (MJ)blessed all the assembly of Israel with a loud voice, saying:

56 “Blessed be the Lord, who has given rest to His people Israel (MK)in accordance with everything that He [gh]promised; (ML)not one word has [gi]failed of all His good [gj]promise, which He [gk]promised through Moses His servant. 57 May the Lord our God be with us, as He was with our fathers; (MM)may He not leave us nor forsake us, 58 so that (MN)He may guide our hearts toward Himself, to walk in all His ways and to keep His commandments, His statutes, and His ordinances, which He commanded our fathers. 59 And may these words of mine, with which I have implored the [gl]favor of the Lord, be near to the Lord our God day and night, so that He will maintain the cause of His servant and the cause of His people Israel, [gm]as each day requires, 60 so (MO)that all the peoples of the earth may know that (MP)the Lord is God; there is no one else. 61 (MQ)Your hearts therefore shall be [gn]wholly devoted to the Lord our God, to walk in His statutes and to keep His commandments, as at this day.”

Dedicatory Sacrifices

62 (MR)Then the king and all Israel with him (MS)offered sacrifice before the Lord. 63 And Solomon offered for the sacrifice of peace offerings, which he offered to the Lord, twenty-two thousand oxen and 120,000 sheep. (MT)So the king and all the sons of Israel dedicated the house of the Lord. 64 On the same day the king consecrated the middle of the courtyard that was in front of the house of the Lord, because there he [go]offered the burnt offering, the grain offering, and the fat of the peace offerings; for (MU)the bronze altar that was before the Lord was too small to hold the burnt offering, the grain offering, and the fat of the peace offerings.

65 So (MV)Solomon held the [gp]feast at that time, and all Israel with him, a great assembly (MW)from the entrance of Hamath (MX)to the brook of Egypt, before the Lord our God, for seven days and seven more days, that is, fourteen days. 66 On the eighth day he dismissed the people, and they blessed the king. Then they went to their tents joyful and with happy hearts for all the goodness that the Lord had [gq]shown to David His servant, and to Israel His people.

God’s Promise and Warning

(MY)Now it came about when Solomon had finished building the house of the Lord and (MZ)the king’s house, and (NA)all [gr]that Solomon desired to do, that (NB)the Lord appeared to Solomon a second time, as He had appeared to him at Gibeon. And the Lord said to him, “(NC)I have heard your prayer and your plea which you have offered before Me; I have consecrated this house which you have built, (ND)by putting My name there forever, and (NE)My eyes and My heart will be there [gs]always. As for you, (NF)if you walk before Me as your father David walked, in integrity of heart and honesty, acting in accordance with everything that I have commanded you, and if you keep My statutes and My ordinances, then (NG)I will establish the throne of your kingdom over Israel forever, just as I [gt]promised to your father David, saying, ‘[gu]You shall not be deprived of a man on the throne of Israel.’

(NH)But if you or your sons indeed turn away from following Me, and do not keep My commandments and My statutes which I have placed before you, but you go and serve other gods and worship them, (NI)then I will cut Israel off from the land which I have given them, and (NJ)the house which I have consecrated for My name, I will [gv]expel from My sight. So (NK)Israel will become a saying and an object of derision among all peoples. And this house will become (NL)a heap of ruins; everyone who passes by it will be appalled and [gw]hiss and say, ‘(NM)Why has the Lord done such a thing to this land and this house?’ And they will say, ‘(NN)Because they abandoned the Lord their God, who brought their fathers out of the land of Egypt, and they [gx]adopted other gods and worshiped and served them, for that reason the Lord has brought all this adversity on them.’”

Cities Given to Hiram

10 (NO)Now it came about (NP)at the end of twenty years in which Solomon had built the two houses, the house of the Lord and the king’s house 11 (Hiram king of Tyre had supplied Solomon with cedar and juniper timber and gold, [gy]satisfying all his desire), that King Solomon then gave Hiram twenty cities in the land of Galilee. 12 So Hiram left Tyre to see the cities which Solomon had given him, and they [gz]did not please him. 13 And he said, “What are these cities which you have given me, my brother?” So [ha]they have been called the land of [hb](NQ)Cabul to this day. 14 (NR)And Hiram sent to the king [hc]120 talents of gold.

15 Now this is the account of the forced labor which King Solomon (NS)conscripted to build the house of the Lord, his own house, the [hd](NT)Millo, the wall of Jerusalem, (NU)Hazor, (NV)Megiddo, and (NW)Gezer. 16 For Pharaoh king of Egypt had gone up and overthrown Gezer and burned it with fire, and killed the (NX)Canaanites who lived in the city; and he had (NY)given it as a dowry to his daughter, Solomon’s wife. 17 So Solomon rebuilt Gezer and the lower (NZ)Beth-horon, 18 and (OA)Baalath and Tamar in the wilderness, in the land of Judah, 19 and all the storage cities which Solomon had, that is, (OB)the cities for [he]his chariots and the cities for [hf](OC)his horsemen, and [hg](OD)everything that it pleased Solomon to build in Jerusalem, in Lebanon, and in all the land [hh]under his rule. 20 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 sons of Israel, 21 (OE)their descendants who were left after them in the land, (OF)whom the sons of Israel were unable to completely eliminate, (OG)from them Solomon conscripted (OH)forced laborers, as they are to this day. 22 But Solomon (OI)did not make slaves of the sons of Israel; for they were men of war, his servants, his commanders, his charioteers, his chariot commanders, and his horsemen.

23 These were the [hi](OJ)chief officers who were in charge of Solomon’s work, 550, (OK)who ruled over the people doing the work.

24 As soon as (OL)Pharaoh’s daughter came up from the city of David to her house which Solomon had built for her, (OM)he then built the Millo.

25 Now (ON)three times a year Solomon offered burnt offerings and peace offerings on the altar which he had built for the Lord, burning incense with them on the altar which was before the Lord. So he finished the house.

26 King Solomon also built a (OO)fleet of ships in (OP)Ezion-geber, which is near Eloth on the shore of the [hj]Red Sea, in the land of Edom. 27 (OQ)And Hiram sent his servants with the fleet, sailors who knew the sea, along with the servants of Solomon. 28 And they went to (OR)Ophir and received [hk]420 talents of gold from there, and brought it to King Solomon.

The Queen of Sheba

10 (OS)Now when the (OT)queen of (OU)Sheba heard about the fame of Solomon in relation to the name of the Lord, she came (OV)to test him with riddles. So she came to Jerusalem with a very large entourage, with camels (OW)carrying balsam oil and a very large quantity of gold and precious stones. When she came to Solomon, she spoke to him about everything that was in her heart. And Solomon [hl]answered all her questions; nothing was concealed from the king which he did not explain to her. When the queen of Sheba saw all the wisdom of Solomon, and the house that he had built, and the food of his table, the seating of his servants, the service of his waiters and their attire, his cupbearers, and his burnt offerings which he offered at the house of the Lord, [hm]she was breathless. Then she said to the king, “It was a true [hn]story that I heard in my own land about your words and your wisdom. But I did not believe the [ho]stories until I came and my own eyes saw it all. And behold, the half of it was not reported to me. You have exceeded in wisdom and prosperity the report which I heard. (OX)Blessed are your men, and blessed are these servants of yours who stand before you continually and hear your wisdom! (OY)Blessed be the Lord your God who delighted in you to put you on the throne of Israel; (OZ)because the Lord loves Israel forever, He made you king, (PA)to do justice and righteousness.” 10 Then (PB)she gave the king [hp]120 talents of gold, and a very large amount of balsam oil and precious stones. Never again did such a large quantity of balsam oil come in as that which the queen of Sheba gave King Solomon.

11 (PC)And the ships of Hiram as well, which brought gold from Ophir, brought in from Ophir a very great number of almug trees and precious stones. 12 (PD)The king made from the almug trees supports for the house of the Lord and for the king’s house, and lyres and harps for the singers; such almug trees have not come in again, nor have they been seen to this day.

13 And King Solomon granted the queen of Sheba everything she desired, whatever she requested, besides what he gave her in proportion to [hq]his royal bounty. Then she [hr]departed and went to her own land [hs]together with her servants.

Wealth, Splendor, and Wisdom

14 (PE)Now the weight of gold that came to Solomon in one year was [ht]666 talents of gold, 15 besides that from the traders, and the [hu]wares of the merchants and all the kings of the (PF)Arabs and the governors of the country. 16 (PG)King Solomon made two hundred large shields of beaten gold, [hv]using six hundred shekels of gold on each large shield. 17 And he made (PH)three hundred small shields of beaten gold, [hw]using [hx]three minas of gold on each shield; and (PI)the king put them in the house of the timber of Lebanon. 18 Moreover, the king made a large throne of (PJ)ivory and overlaid it with fine gold. 19 There were six steps to the throne and a round top to the throne at its back, and [hy]armrests [hz]on each side of the seat, and two lions standing beside the [ia]armrests. 20 Twelve lions were standing there on the six steps on the one side and on the other; nothing like it was made for [ib]any other kingdom. 21 Now all King Solomon’s drinking utensils were of gold, and all the utensils of the house of the timber of Lebanon were of pure gold. None was of silver; it was not considered as amounting to anything in the days of Solomon. 22 For (PK)the king had the ships of Tarshish at sea with Hiram’s ships; once every three years the ships of Tarshish would come carrying gold and silver, ivory, monkeys, and peacocks.

23 (PL)So King Solomon became greater than all the kings of the earth in wealth and wisdom. 24 And all the earth was seeking the [ic]attention of Solomon, (PM)to hear his wisdom, which God had put in his heart. 25 And (PN)they were bringing, everyone, [id]a gift: articles of silver and gold, garments, weapons, balsam oil, horses, and mules, so much year by year.

26 (PO)Now Solomon gathered chariots and horsemen; and he had 1,400 chariots and twelve thousand horsemen, and he [ie]stationed them in the (PP)chariot cities and with the king in Jerusalem. 27 (PQ)And the king made silver as common as stones in Jerusalem, and he made cedars as plentiful as sycamore trees that are in the [if]lowland. 28 (PR)Also Solomon’s import of horses was from Egypt and Kue, and the king’s merchants acquired them from Kue for a price. 29 A chariot [ig]was imported from Egypt for six hundred shekels of silver, and a horse for 150; and [ih]by the same means they exported them (PS)to all the kings of the Hittites and to the kings of the Arameans.

Solomon Turns from God

11 Now (PT)King Solomon loved many foreign women along with the daughter of Pharaoh: Moabite, Ammonite, Edomite, Sidonian, and Hittite women, from the nations of which the Lord had said to the sons of Israel, “(PU)You shall not [ii]associate with them, nor shall they [ij]associate with you; they will certainly turn your heart away [ik]to follow their gods.” Solomon clung to these in love. (PV)He had seven hundred wives, who were [il]princesses, and three hundred concubines; and his wives turned his heart away. For when Solomon was old, his wives turned his heart away [im]to follow other gods; and (PW)his heart was not [in]wholly devoted to the Lord his God, as the heart of his father David had been. For Solomon became a follower of (PX)Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, and of [io](PY)Milcom the abhorrent idol of the Ammonites. So Solomon did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, and did not follow the Lord fully, as his father David had done. Then Solomon built a high place for (PZ)Chemosh, the abhorrent idol of Moab, on the mountain that is [ip]east of Jerusalem, and for (QA)Molech, the abhorrent idol of the sons of Ammon. He also did the same for all his foreign wives, who burned incense and sacrificed to their gods.

Now (QB)the Lord was angry with Solomon (QC)because his heart had turned away from the Lord, the God of Israel, (QD)who had appeared to him twice, 10 and (QE)had commanded him regarding this thing, that he was not to follow other gods; but he did not comply with what the Lord had commanded. 11 So the Lord said to Solomon, “Since [iq]you have done this, and you have not kept My covenant and My statutes, which I have commanded you, (QF)I will certainly tear the kingdom away from you, and will give it to your servant. 12 However, I will not do it in your days, only for the sake of your father David; but I will tear it away from the hand of your son. 13 Yet (QG)I will not tear away all the kingdom, but (QH)I will give one tribe to your son for the sake of My servant David, and (QI)for the sake of Jerusalem, which I have chosen.”

God Raises Adversaries

14 Then the Lord raised up an adversary against Solomon, Hadad the Edomite; he was of the [ir]royal line in Edom. 15 For it came about, (QJ)when David was in Edom and Joab the commander of the army had gone up to bury those killed in battle, and had (QK)struck and killed every male in Edom 16 (for Joab and all Israel stayed there for six months, until he had eliminated every male in Edom), 17 that Hadad fled [is]to Egypt, he and certain Edomites of his father’s servants with him, while Hadad was a young boy. 18 They set out from Midian and came to (QL)Paran; and they took men with them from Paran and came to Egypt, to Pharaoh king of Egypt, who gave him a house and assigned him food and gave him land. 19 Now Hadad found great favor in the sight of Pharaoh, so that he gave him in marriage the sister of his own wife, the sister of Tahpenes the queen. 20 And the sister of Tahpenes gave birth to his son Genubath, whom Tahpenes weaned in Pharaoh’s house; and Genubath was in Pharaoh’s house among the sons of Pharaoh. 21 But (QM)when Hadad heard in Egypt that David [it]lay down with his fathers and that Joab the commander of the army was dead, Hadad said to Pharaoh, “Let me go, so that I may go to my own country.” 22 However, Pharaoh said to him, “But what have you lacked with me that you are here, requesting to go to your own country?” And he answered, “Nothing; nevertheless you must let me go.”

23 (QN)God also raised up another adversary against him, Rezon the son of Eliada, who had fled from his master (QO)Hadadezer, king of Zobah. 24 And he gathered men to himself and became leader of a marauding band, (QP)after David killed those of Zobah; and they went to Damascus and stayed [iu]there, and reigned in Damascus. 25 So he was an adversary to Israel all the days of Solomon, along with the harm that Hadad inflicted; and he felt disgust for Israel and reigned over Aram.

26 Then (QQ)Jeroboam the son of Nebat, an Ephraimite of Zeredah, Solomon’s servant, whose mother’s name was Zeruah, a widow, (QR)also [iv]rebelled against the king. 27 Now this was the reason why he [iw]rebelled against the king: (QS)Solomon built the [ix]Millo, and closed up the breach of the city of his father David. 28 Now the man Jeroboam was a valiant warrior, and when (QT)Solomon saw that the young man was [iy]industrious, he appointed him over all the [iz]forced labor of the house of Joseph. 29 And it came about at that time, when Jeroboam went out of Jerusalem, that (QU)the prophet Ahijah the Shilonite found him on the road. Now [ja]Ahijah had clothed himself with a new cloak; and both of them were alone in the field. 30 Then (QV)Ahijah took hold of the new cloak which was on him and tore it into twelve pieces. 31 And he said to Jeroboam, “Take for yourself ten pieces; for this is what the Lord, the God of Israel says: ‘Behold, (QW)I am going to tear the kingdom away from the hand of Solomon and give you ten tribes 32 ((QX)but he shall have one tribe, for the sake of My servant David and for the sake of Jerusalem, (QY)the city which I have chosen from all the tribes of Israel), 33 because they have abandoned Me, and (QZ)have worshiped Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, (RA)Chemosh the god of Moab, and Milcom the god of the sons of Ammon; and they have not walked in My ways, doing what is right in My sight and keeping My statutes and My ordinances, as his father David did. 34 Nevertheless I will not take the whole kingdom out of his hand, but I will make him ruler all the days of his life, for the sake of My servant David whom I chose, who kept My commandments and My statutes; 35 but (RB)I will take the kingdom from his son’s hand and give it to you; that is, ten tribes. 36 But (RC)to his son I will give one tribe, (RD)so that My servant David may always have a lamp before Me in Jerusalem, (RE)the city where I have chosen for Myself to put My name. 37 However I will take you, and you shall reign over all that [jb]you desire, and you shall be king over Israel. 38 Then it shall be, that if you listen to all that I command you and walk in My ways, and do what is right in My sight by keeping My statutes and My commandments, as My servant David did, then (RF)I will be with you and (RG)build you an enduring house as I built for David, and I will give Israel to you. 39 So I will oppress the [jc]descendants of David for this, but not always.’” 40 Solomon sought therefore to put Jeroboam to death; but Jeroboam set out and fled to Egypt to (RH)Shishak king of Egypt, and he was in Egypt until the death of Solomon.

The Death of Solomon

41 (RI)Now the rest of the acts of Solomon and whatever he did, and his wisdom, are they not written in the Book of the Acts of Solomon? 42 So (RJ)the time that Solomon reigned in Jerusalem over all Israel was forty years. 43 Then Solomon [jd](RK)lay down with his fathers and was buried in the city of his father David, and his son (RL)Rehoboam reigned in his place.

Footnotes

  1. 1 Kings 1:1 Lit coming into days
  2. 1 Kings 1:2 Lit stand before
  3. 1 Kings 1:4 Lit know her
  4. 1 Kings 1:6 Lit she gave him birth
  5. 1 Kings 1:7 Lit his words were
  6. 1 Kings 1:9 Or Sliding; or Serpent Stone
  7. 1 Kings 1:13 Lit and enter to
  8. 1 Kings 1:16 Lit to
  9. 1 Kings 1:16 Lit to you
  10. 1 Kings 1:21 I.e., dies
  11. 1 Kings 1:21 Lit sinners
  12. 1 Kings 1:23 Lit to
  13. 1 Kings 1:27 Some mss servant
  14. 1 Kings 1:40 Lit was split
  15. 1 Kings 1:41 Lit sound of the city an uproar
  16. 1 Kings 2:1 Lit days
  17. 1 Kings 2:2 Lit become a man
  18. 1 Kings 2:3 Or carefully perform
  19. 1 Kings 2:4 Lit word
  20. 1 Kings 2:4 Or faithfulness
  21. 1 Kings 2:4 Lit there shall not be cut off to you a man from upon
  22. 1 Kings 2:5 Lit brought blood...on peace
  23. 1 Kings 2:6 I.e., the netherworld
  24. 1 Kings 2:7 Lit so they came near to me
  25. 1 Kings 2:9 I.e., the netherworld
  26. 1 Kings 2:10 I.e., died
  27. 1 Kings 2:15 Lit set their faces toward me
  28. 1 Kings 2:16 Lit turn away my face
  29. 1 Kings 2:17 Lit turn away your face
  30. 1 Kings 2:20 Lit turn away my face
  31. 1 Kings 2:20 Lit turn away your face
  32. 1 Kings 2:23 Lit soul
  33. 1 Kings 2:24 Lit spoke
  34. 1 Kings 2:25 Lit attacked
  35. 1 Kings 2:26 Lit are a man of death
  36. 1 Kings 2:26 Lit day
  37. 1 Kings 2:26 Heb YHWH, usually rendered Lord
  38. 1 Kings 2:29 Lit behold, beside
  39. 1 Kings 2:29 Lit attack
  40. 1 Kings 2:31 Lit attack
  41. 1 Kings 2:31 Or cause
  42. 1 Kings 2:32 Lit attacked
  43. 1 Kings 2:33 Lit seed
  44. 1 Kings 2:33 Lit seed
  45. 1 Kings 2:34 Lit attacked
  46. 1 Kings 2:37 Or wadi
  47. 1 Kings 2:37 I.e., your own responsibility
  48. 1 Kings 2:43 Lit commanded
  49. 1 Kings 2:44 Lit your heart acknowledges
  50. 1 Kings 2:46 Lit attacked
  51. 1 Kings 3:1 Lit made himself a son-in-law of Pharaoh
  52. 1 Kings 3:6 Or faithfulness
  53. 1 Kings 3:6 Lit kept
  54. 1 Kings 3:7 I.e., conduct daily business
  55. 1 Kings 3:9 Or a heart that listens
  56. 1 Kings 3:9 Lit heavy
  57. 1 Kings 3:10 Lit the thing was
  58. 1 Kings 3:11 Lit many days
  59. 1 Kings 3:17 Lit I and this woman
  60. 1 Kings 3:17 Lit with her in
  61. 1 Kings 3:22 Lit this one was saying
  62. 1 Kings 3:23 Lit this one
  63. 1 Kings 3:23 Lit this one
  64. 1 Kings 3:26 Lit her compassion grew hot
  65. 1 Kings 3:27 Lit her the living
  66. 1 Kings 3:28 Lit judged
  67. 1 Kings 3:28 Lit do
  68. 1 Kings 4:11 Or Naphoth-dor
  69. 1 Kings 4:16 Or in Aloth
  70. 1 Kings 4:20 Lit sea
  71. 1 Kings 4:21 Ch 5:1 in Heb
  72. 1 Kings 4:22 Lit bread
  73. 1 Kings 4:22 About 231 cubic feet or 6.5 cubic meters
  74. 1 Kings 4:22 About 462 cubic feet or 13 cubic meters
  75. 1 Kings 4:23 Lit oxen of the pasture
  76. 1 Kings 4:24 Lit beyond
  77. 1 Kings 4:24 Lit beyond
  78. 1 Kings 4:26 One LXX ms reads 4,000, cf. 2 Chr 9:25
  79. 1 Kings 4:29 Lit heart
  80. 1 Kings 4:30 Lit sons
  81. 1 Kings 4:31 In 1 Chr 2:6, Dara
  82. 1 Kings 4:31 Lit name
  83. 1 Kings 4:34 Lit peoples
  84. 1 Kings 5:1 Ch 5:15 in Heb
  85. 1 Kings 5:1 Lit all the days
  86. 1 Kings 5:4 Lit evil occurrence
  87. 1 Kings 5:5 Lit say
  88. 1 Kings 5:9 Lit send to me
  89. 1 Kings 5:10 Heb Hirom
  90. 1 Kings 5:10 Lit was giving
  91. 1 Kings 5:11 In 2 Chr 2:3, Huram
  92. 1 Kings 5:11 About 154,000 cubic feet or 4,360 cubic meters
  93. 1 Kings 5:11 About 154 cubic feet or 4.4 cubic meters
  94. 1 Kings 5:12 Lit spoke to
  95. 1 Kings 5:13 Lit raised up
  96. 1 Kings 5:16 Lit work
  97. 1 Kings 5:18 Heb Hirom’s
  98. 1 Kings 5:18 Or chiseled
  99. 1 Kings 6:1 Lit built
  100. 1 Kings 6:2 About 90 ft. long, 30 ft. wide, and 45 ft. high or 27 m, 9 m, and 14 m
  101. 1 Kings 6:3 About 30 ft. long and 15 ft. deep or 9 m and 4.6 m
  102. 1 Kings 6:3 Lit its length
  103. 1 Kings 6:3 Lit on the face of
  104. 1 Kings 6:5 I.e., Most Holy Place
  105. 1 Kings 6:6 About 7.5 ft. wide, 9 ft. wide, and 11 ft. wide or 2.3 m, 2.7 m, and 3.3 m
  106. 1 Kings 6:6 Lit gave
  107. 1 Kings 6:6 Lit take hold
  108. 1 Kings 6:8 As in LXX and ancient versions; MT middle
  109. 1 Kings 6:9 Or rows
  110. 1 Kings 6:10 About 7.5 ft. or 2.3 m
  111. 1 Kings 6:10 Lit took hold
  112. 1 Kings 6:15 Lit walls of the ceiling
  113. 1 Kings 6:16 About 30 ft. or 9 m
  114. 1 Kings 6:16 Lit walls
  115. 1 Kings 6:17 About 60 ft. or 18 m
  116. 1 Kings 6:20 Lit Before the
  117. 1 Kings 6:23 Heb plural of cherub
  118. 1 Kings 6:23 About 15 ft. or 4.6 m
  119. 1 Kings 6:27 Lit wing
  120. 1 Kings 6:27 Lit wing
  121. 1 Kings 6:34 As in LXX; MT curtains
  122. 1 Kings 7:2 About 150 ft. long, 75 wide, and 45 high or 46 m long, 23 wide, and 14 high;
  123. 1 Kings 7:4 Lit paces
  124. 1 Kings 7:5 Lit paces
  125. 1 Kings 7:6 About 75 ft. long and 45 ft. wide or 23 m long and 7 m wide
  126. 1 Kings 7:9 I.e., top sloping course of stone
  127. 1 Kings 7:10 About 15 and 12 ft. or 4.5 and 3.7 m
  128. 1 Kings 7:15 About 27 ft. or 8 m
  129. 1 Kings 7:15 Lit the one
  130. 1 Kings 7:15 About 18 ft. or 5.5 m
  131. 1 Kings 7:15 Lit went around the other pillar
  132. 1 Kings 7:16 About 7.5 ft. or 2.3 m
  133. 1 Kings 7:16 About 7.5 ft. or 2.3 m
  134. 1 Kings 7:20 Lit belly
  135. 1 Kings 7:20 Lit on the other capital
  136. 1 Kings 7:21 Lit sanctuary
  137. 1 Kings 7:21 I.e., he shall establish
  138. 1 Kings 7:21 I.e., in it is strength
  139. 1 Kings 7:23 I.e., large basin
  140. 1 Kings 7:23 About 15 ft. in diameter and 7.5 ft. high or 4.6 m and 2.3 m high
  141. 1 Kings 7:23 Lit a line of 30 cubits went around it all around;
  142. 1 Kings 7:23 About 45 ft. or 14 m
  143. 1 Kings 7:24 Lit in its casting
  144. 1 Kings 7:26 About 3 in. or 7.6 cm
  145. 1 Kings 7:26 About 12,000 gallons or 45,424 liters
  146. 1 Kings 7:27 About 6 ft. long and wide and 4.5 ft. high or 1.8 m and 1.4 m
  147. 1 Kings 7:31 About 18 in. or 45 cm
  148. 1 Kings 7:35 About 9 in. or 23 cm
  149. 1 Kings 7:35 Lit hands
  150. 1 Kings 7:37 Lit one
  151. 1 Kings 7:37 Lit one
  152. 1 Kings 7:37 Lit one
  153. 1 Kings 7:38 Lit the one basin held
  154. 1 Kings 7:38 About 240 gallons or 908 liters
  155. 1 Kings 7:38 About 6 ft. or 1.8 m
  156. 1 Kings 7:39 I.e., large basin
  157. 1 Kings 7:44 I.e., large basin
  158. 1 Kings 7:50 I.e., a tool to trim wicks
  159. 1 Kings 8:5 Lit sheep and oxen...numbered for multitude
  160. 1 Kings 8:14 Lit turned his face about
  161. 1 Kings 8:17 Lit with
  162. 1 Kings 8:18 Lit with
  163. 1 Kings 8:18 Lit with
  164. 1 Kings 8:19 Lit will come forth from your loins
  165. 1 Kings 8:20 Lit spoke
  166. 1 Kings 8:24 Lit spoken to
  167. 1 Kings 8:25 Lit spoken to
  168. 1 Kings 8:25 Lit There shall not be cut off to you a man from before Me
  169. 1 Kings 8:27 Lit heaven of heavens
  170. 1 Kings 8:32 Lit giving
  171. 1 Kings 8:33 Lit struck
  172. 1 Kings 8:33 Or compassion
  173. 1 Kings 8:37 Lit scorching
  174. 1 Kings 8:37 Lit gates
  175. 1 Kings 8:38 Lit takes place
  176. 1 Kings 8:38 Lit who know each
  177. 1 Kings 8:38 Lit palms
  178. 1 Kings 8:39 Lit the sons of mankind
  179. 1 Kings 8:40 Or revere
  180. 1 Kings 8:40 Lit face of the land
  181. 1 Kings 8:43 Or revere
  182. 1 Kings 8:43 Lit Your name is called upon this house which I have built
  183. 1 Kings 8:44 Lit his
  184. 1 Kings 8:44 Lit in the way of
  185. 1 Kings 8:46 Lit their captors take them captive
  186. 1 Kings 8:47 Lit return to their heart
  187. 1 Kings 8:47 Or compassion
  188. 1 Kings 8:53 Heb YHWH, usually rendered Lord
  189. 1 Kings 8:54 Lit palms
  190. 1 Kings 8:56 Lit spoke
  191. 1 Kings 8:56 Lit fallen
  192. 1 Kings 8:56 Lit word
  193. 1 Kings 8:56 Lit spoke
  194. 1 Kings 8:59 Or compassion
  195. 1 Kings 8:59 Lit the matter of a day in its day
  196. 1 Kings 8:61 Lit complete with
  197. 1 Kings 8:64 Lit made
  198. 1 Kings 8:65 I.e., of Booths
  199. 1 Kings 8:66 Lit done
  200. 1 Kings 9:1 Lit Solomon’s desire which he was pleased to do
  201. 1 Kings 9:3 Lit all the days
  202. 1 Kings 9:5 Lit spoke
  203. 1 Kings 9:5 Lit There shall not be cut off to you a man
  204. 1 Kings 9:7 Lit send
  205. 1 Kings 9:8 Or whistle
  206. 1 Kings 9:9 Lit laid hold of
  207. 1 Kings 9:11 Lit to all
  208. 1 Kings 9:12 Lit were not right in his sight
  209. 1 Kings 9:13 Lit he called them
  210. 1 Kings 9:13 I.e., like nothing
  211. 1 Kings 9:14 About 4.5 tons or 4 metric tons
  212. 1 Kings 9:15 I.e., terraced structure
  213. 1 Kings 9:19 Lit the
  214. 1 Kings 9:19 Lit the
  215. 1 Kings 9:19 Lit the desire of Solomon which he desired to build in Jerusalem
  216. 1 Kings 9:19 Lit of
  217. 1 Kings 9:23 Or officers of the deputies
  218. 1 Kings 9:26 Lit Sea of Reeds
  219. 1 Kings 9:28 About 16 tons or 14 metric tons
  220. 1 Kings 10:3 Lit told her all her words
  221. 1 Kings 10:5 Lit there was no more breath in her
  222. 1 Kings 10:6 Lit word
  223. 1 Kings 10:7 Lit words
  224. 1 Kings 10:10 About 4.5 tons or 4 metric tons
  225. 1 Kings 10:13 Lit the hand of King Solomon
  226. 1 Kings 10:13 Lit turned around
  227. 1 Kings 10:13 Lit she and her
  228. 1 Kings 10:14 About 25 tons or 23 metric tons
  229. 1 Kings 10:15 Or traffic
  230. 1 Kings 10:16 Lit he brought up
  231. 1 Kings 10:17 Lit he brought up
  232. 1 Kings 10:17 About 3.8 lb. or 1.7 kg
  233. 1 Kings 10:19 Lit hands
  234. 1 Kings 10:19 Lit from this and from this at the place of the seat
  235. 1 Kings 10:19 Lit hands
  236. 1 Kings 10:20 Lit all kingdoms
  237. 1 Kings 10:24 Lit face
  238. 1 Kings 10:25 Lit his gift
  239. 1 Kings 10:26 As in ancient versions; MT led
  240. 1 Kings 10:27 Heb Shephelah
  241. 1 Kings 10:29 Lit came up and went out from
  242. 1 Kings 10:29 Lit in the same way by their hand
  243. 1 Kings 11:2 Lit go among
  244. 1 Kings 11:2 Lit go among
  245. 1 Kings 11:2 Lit after their
  246. 1 Kings 11:3 Or women of rank
  247. 1 Kings 11:4 Lit after other
  248. 1 Kings 11:4 Lit complete with
  249. 1 Kings 11:5 In Jer 49:1, 3, Malcam
  250. 1 Kings 11:7 Lit before
  251. 1 Kings 11:11 Lit this has happened with you
  252. 1 Kings 11:14 Lit king’s seed
  253. 1 Kings 11:17 Lit to go into
  254. 1 Kings 11:21 I.e., died
  255. 1 Kings 11:24 Lit in it
  256. 1 Kings 11:26 Lit lifted up a hand
  257. 1 Kings 11:27 Lit lifted up a hand
  258. 1 Kings 11:27 I.e., terraced structure
  259. 1 Kings 11:28 Lit a performer of work
  260. 1 Kings 11:28 Lit burden of
  261. 1 Kings 11:29 Lit he
  262. 1 Kings 11:37 Lit your soul desires
  263. 1 Kings 11:39 Lit seed
  264. 1 Kings 11:43 I.e., died

In his old age King David was confined to his bed; but no matter how many blankets were heaped upon him, he was always cold.

“The cure for this,” his aides told him, “is to find a young virgin to be your concubine and nurse. She will lie in your arms and keep you warm.”

3-4 So they searched the country from one end to the other to find the most beautiful girl in all the land. Abishag, from Shunam, was finally selected. They brought her to the king, and she lay in his arms to warm him (but he had no sexual relations with her).

At about that time, David’s son[a] Adonijah (his mother was Haggith) decided to crown himself king in place of his aged father. So he hired chariots and drivers and recruited fifty men to run down the streets before him as royal footmen. Now his father, King David, had never disciplined him at any time—not so much as by a single scolding! He was a very handsome man and was Absalom’s younger brother. He took General Joab and Abiathar the priest into his confidence, and they agreed to help him become king. But among those who remained loyal to King David and refused to endorse Adonijah were the priests Zadok and Benaiah, the prophet Nathan, Shimei, Rei, and David’s army chiefs.

Adonijah went to En-rogel where he sacrificed sheep, oxen, and fat young goats at the Serpent’s Stone. Then he summoned all of his brothers—the other sons of King David—and all the royal officials of Judah, requesting that they come to his coronation. 10 But he didn’t invite Nathan the prophet, Benaiah, the loyal army officers, or his brother Solomon.

11 Then Nathan the prophet went to Bathsheba, Solomon’s mother, and asked her, “Do you realize that Haggith’s son, Adonijah, is now the king and that our lord David doesn’t even know about it? 12 If you want to save your own life and the life of your son Solomon—do exactly as I say! 13 Go at once to King David and ask him, ‘My lord, didn’t you promise me that my son Solomon would be the next king and would sit upon your throne? Then why is Adonijah reigning?’ 14 And while you are still talking with him, I’ll come and confirm everything you’ve said.”

15 So Bathsheba went into the king’s bedroom. He was an old, old man now, and Abishag was caring for him. 16 Bathsheba bowed low before him.

“What do you want?” he asked her.

17 She replied, “My lord, you vowed to me by the Lord your God that my son Solomon would be the next king and would sit upon your throne. 18 But instead, Adonijah is the new king, and you don’t even know about it. 19 He has celebrated his coronation by sacrificing oxen, fat goats, and many sheep and has invited all your sons and Abiathar the priest and General Joab. But he didn’t invite Solomon. 20 And now, my lord the king, all Israel is waiting for your decision as to whether Adonijah is the one you have chosen to succeed you. 21 If you don’t act, my son Solomon and I will be arrested and executed as criminals as soon as you are dead.”

22-23 While she was speaking, the king’s aides told him, “Nathan the prophet is here to see you.”

Nathan came in and bowed low before the king, 24 and asked, “My lord, have you appointed Adonijah to be the next king? Is he the one you have selected to sit upon your throne? 25 Today he celebrated his coronation by sacrificing oxen, fat goats, and many sheep, and has invited your sons to attend the festivities. He also invited General Joab and Abiathar the priest; and they are feasting and drinking with him and shouting, ‘Long live King Adonijah!’ 26 But Zadok the priest and Benaiah and Solomon and I weren’t invited. 27 Has this been done with your knowledge? For you haven’t said a word as to which of your sons you have chosen to be the next king.”

28 “Call Bathsheba,” David said. So she came back in and stood before the king.

29 And the king vowed, “As the Lord lives who has rescued me from every danger, 30 I decree that your son Solomon shall be the next king and shall sit upon my throne, just as I swore to you before by the Lord God of Israel.”

31 Then Bathsheba bowed low before him[b] again and exclaimed, “Oh, thank you, sir. May my lord the king live forever!”

32 “Call Zadok the priest,” the king ordered, “and Nathan the prophet, and Benaiah.”

When they arrived, 33 he said to them, “Take Solomon and my officers to Gihon. Solomon is to ride on my personal mule, 34 and Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet are to anoint him there as king of Israel. Then blow the trumpets and shout, ‘Long live King Solomon!’ 35 When you bring him back here, place him upon my throne as the new king; for I have appointed him king of Israel and Judah.”

36 “Amen! Praise God!” replied Benaiah, and added, 37 “May the Lord be with Solomon as he has been with you, and may God make Solomon’s reign even greater than yours!”

38 So Zadok the priest, Nathan the prophet, Benaiah, and David’s bodyguard took Solomon to Gihon, riding on King David’s own mule. 39 At Gihon, Zadok took a flask of sacred oil from the Tabernacle and poured it over Solomon; and the trumpets were blown and all the people shouted, “Long live King Solomon!”

40 Then they all returned with him to Jerusalem, making a joyous and noisy celebration all along the way.

41 Adonijah and his guests heard the commotion and shouting just as they were finishing their banquet.

“What’s going on?” Joab demanded. “Why is the city in such an uproar?”

42 And while he was still speaking, Jonathan, the son of Abiathar the priest, rushed in.

“Come in,” Adonijah said to him, “for you are a good man; you must have good news.”

43 “Our lord King David has declared Solomon as king!” Jonathan shouted. 44-45 “The king sent him to Gihon with Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet and Benaiah, protected by the king’s own bodyguard; and he rode on the king’s own mule. And Zadok and Nathan have anointed him as the new king! They have just returned, and the whole city is celebrating and rejoicing. That’s what all the noise is. 46-47 Solomon is sitting on the throne, and all the people are congratulating King David, saying, ‘May God bless you even more through Solomon than he has blessed you personally! May God make Solomon’s reign even greater than yours!’ And the king is lying in bed, acknowledging their blessings. 48 He is saying, ‘Blessed be the Lord God of Israel who has selected one of my sons to sit upon my throne while I am still alive to see it.’”

49-50 Then Adonijah and his guests jumped up from the banquet table and fled in panic; for they were fearful for their lives. Adonijah rushed into the Tabernacle and caught hold of the horns of the sacred altar. 51 When word reached Solomon that Adonijah was claiming sanctuary in the Tabernacle, and pleading for clemency, 52 Solomon replied, “If he behaves himself, he will not be harmed; but if he does not, he shall die.” 53 So King Solomon summoned him, and they brought him down from the altar. He came to bow low before the king; and then Solomon curtly dismissed him.

“Go on home,” he said.

As the time of King David’s death approached, he gave this charge to his son Solomon:

“I am going where every man on earth must some day go. I am counting on you to be a strong and worthy successor. Obey the laws of God and follow all his ways; keep each of his commands written in the law of Moses so that you will prosper in everything you do, wherever you turn. If you do this, then the Lord will fulfill the promise he gave me, that if my children and their descendants watch their step and are faithful to God, one of them shall always be the king of Israel—my dynasty will never end.

“Now listen to my instructions. You know that Joab murdered my two generals, Abner and Amasa. He pretended that it was an act of war, but it was done in a time of peace. You are a wise man and will know what to do—don’t let him die in peace. But be kind to the sons of Barzillai the Gileadite. Make them permanent guests of the king, for they took care of me when I fled from your brother Absalom. And do you remember Shimei, the son of Gera the Benjaminite from Bahurim? He cursed me with a terrible curse as I was going to Mahanaim; but when he came down to meet me at the Jordan River, I promised I wouldn’t kill him. But that promise doesn’t bind you! You are a wise man, and you will know how to arrange a bloody death for him.”

10 Then David died and was buried in Jerusalem. 11 He had reigned over Israel for forty years, seven of them in Hebron and thirty-three in Jerusalem. 12 And Solomon became the new king, replacing his father David; and his kingdom prospered.

13 One day Adonijah, the son of Haggith, came to see Solomon’s mother, Bathsheba.

“Have you come to make trouble?” she asked him.

“No,” he replied, “I come in peace. 14 As a matter of fact, I have a favor to ask of you.”

“What is it?” she asked.

15 “Everything was going well for me,” he said, “and the kingdom was mine: everyone expected me to be the next king. But the tables are turned, and everything went to my brother instead; for that is the way the Lord wanted it. 16 But now I have just a small favor to ask of you; please don’t turn me down.”

“What is it?” she asked.

17 He replied, “Speak to King Solomon on my behalf (for I know he will do anything you request) and ask him to give me Abishag, the Shunammite, as my wife.”

18 “All right,” Bathsheba replied, “I’ll ask him.”

19 So she went to ask the favor of King Solomon. The king stood up from his throne as she entered and bowed low to her. He ordered that a throne for his mother be placed beside his; so she sat at his right hand.

20 “I have one small request to make of you,” she said. “I hope you won’t turn me down.”

“What is it, my mother?” he asked. “You know I won’t refuse you.”

21 “Then let your brother Adonijah marry Abishag,” she replied.

22 “Are you crazy?” he demanded. “If I were to give him Abishag, I would be giving him the kingdom too! For he is my older brother! He and Abiathar the priest and General Joab would take over!” 23-24 Then King Solomon swore with a great oath, “May God strike me dead if Adonijah does not die this very day for this plot against me! I swear it by the living God who has given me the throne of my father David and this kingdom he promised me.”

25 So King Solomon sent Benaiah to execute him, and he killed him with a sword.

26 Then the king said to Abiathar the priest, “Go back to your home in Anathoth. You should be killed, too, but I won’t do it now. For you carried the Ark of the Lord during my father’s reign, and you suffered right along with him in all of his troubles.”

27 So Solomon forced Abiathar to give up his position as the priest of the Lord, thereby fulfilling the decree of Jehovah at Shiloh concerning the descendants of Eli.[c]

28 When Joab heard about Adonijah’s death (Joab had joined Adonijah’s revolt, though not Absalom’s) he ran to the Tabernacle for sanctuary and caught hold of the horns of the altar. 29 When news of this reached King Solomon, he sent Benaiah to execute him.

30 Benaiah went into the Tabernacle and said to Joab, “The king says to come out!”

“No,” he said, “I’ll die here.”

So Benaiah returned to the king for further instructions.

31 “Do as he says,” the king replied. “Kill him there beside the altar and bury him. This will remove the guilt of his senseless murders from me and from my father’s family. 32 Then Jehovah will hold him personally responsible for the murders of two men who were better than he. For my father was no party to the deaths of General Abner, commander-in-chief of the army of Israel, and General Amasa, commander-in-chief of the army of Judah. 33 May Joab and his descendants be forever guilty of these murders, and may the Lord declare David and his descendants guiltless concerning their deaths.”

34 So Benaiah returned to the Tabernacle and killed Joab; and he was buried beside his house in the desert.

35 Then the king appointed Benaiah as commander-in-chief, and Zadok as priest instead of Abiathar.

36-37 The king now sent for Shimei and told him, “Build a house here in Jerusalem, and don’t step outside the city on pain of death. The moment you go beyond Kidron Brook, you die; and it will be your own fault.”

38 “All right,” Shimei replied, “whatever you say.” So he lived in Jerusalem for a long time.

39 But three years later two of Shimei’s slaves escaped to King Achish of Gath. When Shimei learned where they were, 40 he saddled a donkey and went to Gath to visit the king. And when he had found his slaves, he took them back to Jerusalem.

41 When Solomon heard that Shimei had left Jerusalem and had gone to Gath and returned, 42 he sent for him and demanded, “Didn’t I command you in the name of God to stay in Jerusalem or die? You replied, ‘Very well, I will do as you say.’ 43 Then why have you not kept your agreement and obeyed my commandment? 44 And what about all the wicked things you did to my father, King David? May the Lord take revenge on you, 45 but may I receive God’s rich blessings, and may one of David’s descendants always sit upon this throne.”

46 Then, at the king’s command, Benaiah took Shimei outside and killed him.

So Solomon’s grip upon the kingdom became secure.

Solomon made an alliance with Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, and married one of his daughters. He brought her to Jerusalem to live in the City of David until he could finish building his palace and the Temple and the wall around the city.

At that time the people of Israel sacrificed their offerings on altars in the hills, for the Temple of the Lord hadn’t yet been built.

(Solomon loved the Lord and followed all of his father David’s instructions except that he continued to sacrifice in the hills and to offer incense there.) The most famous of the hilltop altars was at Gibeon, and now the king went there and sacrificed one thousand burnt offerings! The Lord appeared to him in a dream that night and told him to ask for anything he wanted, and it would be given to him!

Solomon replied, “You were wonderfully kind to my father David because he was honest and true and faithful to you, and obeyed your commands. And you have continued your kindness to him by giving him a son to succeed him. O Lord my God, now you have made me the king instead of my father David, but I am as a little child who doesn’t know his way around. And here I am among your own chosen people, a nation so great that there are almost too many people to count! Give me an understanding mind so that I can govern your people well and know the difference between what is right and what is wrong. For who by himself is able to carry such a heavy responsibility?”

10 The Lord was pleased with his reply and was glad that Solomon had asked for wisdom. 11 So he replied, “Because you have asked for wisdom in governing my people and haven’t asked for a long life, or riches for yourself, or the defeat of your enemies— 12 yes, I’ll give you what you asked for! I will give you a wiser mind than anyone else has ever had or ever will have! 13 And I will also give you what you didn’t ask for—riches and honor! And no one in all the world will be as rich and famous as you for the rest of your life! 14 And I will give you a long life if you follow me and obey my laws as your father David did.”

15 Then Solomon woke up and realized it had been a dream. He returned to Jerusalem and went into the Tabernacle. And as he stood before the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord, he sacrificed burnt offerings and peace offerings. Then he invited all of his officials to a great banquet.

16 Soon afterwards two young prostitutes came to the king to have an argument settled.

17-18 “Sir,” one of them began, “we live in the same house, just the two of us, and recently I had a baby. When it was three days old, this woman’s baby was born too. 19 But her baby died during the night when she rolled over on it in her sleep and smothered it. 20 Then she got up in the night and took my son from beside me while I was asleep, and laid her dead child in my arms and took mine to sleep beside her. 21 And in the morning when I tried to feed my baby it was dead! But when it became light outside, I saw that it wasn’t my son at all.”

22 Then the other woman interrupted, “It certainly was her son, and the living child is mine.”

“No,” the first woman said, “the dead one is yours and the living one is mine.” And so they argued back and forth before the king.

23 Then the king said, “Let’s get the facts straight: both of you claim the living child, and each says that the dead child belongs to the other. 24 All right, bring me a sword.” So a sword was brought to the king. 25 Then he said, “Divide the living child in two and give half to each of these women!”

26 Then the woman who really was the mother of the child, and who loved him very much, cried out, “Oh no, sir! Give her the child—don’t kill him!”

But the other woman said, “All right, it will be neither yours nor mine; divide it between us!”

27 Then the king said, “Give the baby to the woman who wants him to live, for she is the mother!”

28 Word of the king’s decision spread quickly throughout the entire nation, and all the people were awed as they realized the great wisdom God had given him.

1-6 Here is a list of King Solomon’s cabinet members:

Azariah (son of Zadok) was the High Priest;

Elihoreph and Ahijah (sons of Shisha) were secretaries;

Jehoshaphat (son of Ahilud) was the official historian and in charge of the archives;

Benaiah (son of Jehoiada) was commander-in-chief of the army;

Zadok and Abiathar were priests;

Azariah (son of Nathan) was secretary of state;

Zabud (son of Nathan) was the king’s personal priest and special friend;

Ahishar was manager of palace affairs;

Adoniram (son of Abda) was superintendent of public works.

There were also twelve officials of Solomon’s court—one man from each tribe—responsible for requisitioning food from the people for the king’s household. Each of them arranged provisions for one month of the year.

8-19 The names of these twelve officers were:

Ben-hur, whose area for this taxation was the hill country of Ephraim;

Ben-deker, whose area was Makaz, Shaalbim, Beth-shemesh, and Elon-beth-hanan;

Ben-hesed, whose area was Arubboth, including Socoh and all the land of Hepher;

Ben-abinadab (who married Solomon’s daughter, the princess Taphath), whose area was the highlands of Dor;

Baana (son of Ahilud), whose area was Taanach and Megiddo, all of Beth-shean near Zarethan below Jezreel, and all the territory from Beth-shean to Abel-meholah and over to Jokmeam;

Ben-geber, whose area was Ramoth-gilead, including the villages of Jair (the son of Manasseh) in Gilead; and the region of Argob in Bashan, including sixty walled cities with bronze gates;

Ahinadab (the son of Iddo), whose area was Mahanaim;

Ahimaaz (who married Princess Basemath, another of Solomon’s daughters), whose area was Naphtali;

Baana (son of Hushai), whose areas were Asher and Bealoth;

Jehoshaphat (son of Paruah), whose area was Issachar;

Shimei (son of Ela), whose area was Benjamin;

Geber (son of Uri), whose area was Gilead, including the territories of King Sihon of the Amorites and King Og of Bashan.

A general manager supervised these officials and their work.

20 Israel and Judah were a wealthy, populous, contented nation at this time. 21 King Solomon ruled the whole area from the Euphrates River to the land of the Philistines and down to the borders of Egypt. The conquered peoples of those lands sent taxes to Solomon and continued to serve him throughout his lifetime.

22 The daily food requirements for the palace were 195 bushels of fine flour, 390 bushels of meal, 23 10 oxen from the fattening pens, 20 pasture-fed cattle, 100 sheep, and, from time to time, deer, gazelles, roebucks, and plump fowl.

24 His dominion extended over all the kingdoms west of the Euphrates River, from Tiphsah to Gaza. And there was peace throughout the land.

25 Throughout the lifetime of Solomon, all of Judah and Israel lived in peace and safety; and each family had its own home and garden.

26 Solomon owned forty thousand chariot horses and employed twelve thousand charioteers. 27 Each month the tax officials provided food for King Solomon and his court, 28 also the barley and straw for the royal horses in the stables.

29 God gave Solomon great wisdom and understanding, and a mind with broad interests. 30 In fact, his wisdom excelled that of any of the wise men of the East, including those in Egypt. 31 He was wiser than Ethan the Ezrahite and Heman, Calcol, and Darda, the sons of Mahol; and he was famous among all the surrounding nations. 32 He was the author of 3,000 proverbs and wrote 1,005 songs. 33 He was a great naturalist, with interest in animals, birds, snakes, fish, and trees—from the great cedars of Lebanon down to the tiny hyssop which grows in cracks in the wall. 34 And kings from many lands sent their ambassadors to him for his advice.

King Hiram of Tyre had always been a great admirer of David, so when he learned that David’s son Solomon was the new king of Israel, he sent ambassadors to extend congratulations and good wishes. 2-3 Solomon replied with a proposal about the Temple of the Lord he wanted to build. His father David, Solomon pointed out to Hiram, had not been able to build it because of the numerous wars going on, and he had been waiting for the Lord to give him peace.

“But now,” Solomon said to Hiram, “the Lord my God has given Israel peace on every side; I have no foreign enemies or internal rebellions. So I am planning to build a Temple for the Lord my God, just as he instructed my father that I should do. For the Lord told him, ‘Your son, whom I will place upon your throne, shall build me a Temple.’ Now please assist me with this project. Send your woodsmen to the mountains of Lebanon to cut cedar timber for me, and I will send my men to work beside them, and I will pay your men whatever wages you ask; for as you know, no one in Israel can cut timber like you Sidonians!”

Hiram was very pleased with the message from Solomon. “Praise God for giving David a wise son to be king of the great nation of Israel,” he said. Then he sent this reply to Solomon: “I have received your message and I will do as you have asked concerning the timber. I can supply both cedar and cypress. My men will bring the logs from the Lebanon mountains to the Mediterranean Sea and build them into rafts. We will float them along the coast to wherever you need them; then we will break the rafts apart and deliver the timber to you. You can pay me with food for my household.”

10 So Hiram produced for Solomon as much cedar and cypress timber as he desired, 11 and in return Solomon sent him an annual payment of 125,000 bushels of wheat for his household and 96 gallons of pure olive oil. 12 So the Lord gave great wisdom to Solomon just as he had promised. And Hiram and Solomon made a formal alliance of peace.

13 Then Solomon drafted thirty thousand laborers from all over Israel, 14 and rotated them to Lebanon, ten thousand a month, so that each man was a month in Lebanon and two months at home. Adoniram was the general superintendent of this labor camp. 15 Solomon also had seventy thousand additional laborers, eighty thousand stonecutters in the hill country, 16 and thirty-three hundred foremen. 17 The stonecutters quarried and shaped huge blocks of stone—a very expensive job—for the foundation of the Temple. 18 Men from Gebal helped Solomon’s and Hiram’s builders in cutting the timber and making the boards, and in preparing the stone for the Temple.

It was in the spring of the fourth year of Solomon’s reign that he began the actual construction of the Temple. (This was 480 years after the people of Israel left their slavery in Egypt.) The Temple was ninety feet long, thirty feet wide, and forty-five feet high. All along the front of the Temple was a porch thirty feet long and fifteen feet deep. Narrow windows were used throughout.

An annex of rooms was built along the full length of both sides of the Temple against the outer walls. These rooms were three stories high, the lower floor being 7-1/2 feet wide, the second floor 9 feet wide, and the upper floor 10-1/2 feet wide. The rooms were connected to the walls of the Temple by beams resting on blocks built out from the wall—so the beams were not inserted into the walls themselves.

The stones used in the construction of the Temple were prefinished at the quarry, so the entire structure was built without the sound of hammer, ax, or any other tool at the building site.

The bottom floor of the side rooms was entered from the right side of the Temple, and there were winding stairs going up to the second floor; another flight of stairs led from the second to the third. After completing the Temple, Solomon paneled it all, including the beams and pillars, with cedar. 10 As already stated, there was an annex on each side of the building, attached to the Temple walls by cedar timbers. Each story of the annex was 7-1/2 feet high.

11-12 Then the Lord sent this message to Solomon concerning the Temple he was building: “If you do as I tell you to and follow all of my commandments and instructions, I will do what I told your father David I would do: 13 I will live among the people of Israel and never forsake them.”

14 At last the Temple was finished. 15 The entire inside, from floor to ceiling, was paneled with cedar, and the floors were made of cypress boards. 16 The thirty-foot inner room at the far end of the Temple—the Most Holy Place—was also paneled from the floor to the ceiling with cedar boards. 17 The remainder of the Temple—other than the Most Holy Place—was sixty feet long. 18 Throughout the Temple the cedar paneling laid over the stone walls was carved with designs of rosebuds and open flowers.

19 The inner room was where the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord was placed. 20 This inner sanctuary was thirty feet long, thirty feet wide, and thirty feet high. Its walls and ceiling were overlaid with pure gold, and Solomon made a cedar-wood altar for this room. 21-22 Then he overlaid the interior of the remainder of the Temple—including the cedar altar—with pure gold; and he made gold chains to protect the entrance to the Most Holy Place.

23-28 Within the inner sanctuary Solomon placed two statues of Guardian Angels[d] made from olive wood, each fifteen feet high. They were placed so that their outspread wings reached from wall to wall, while their inner wings touched each other at the center of the room; each wing was 7-1/2 feet long, so each Angel measured fifteen feet from wing tip to wing tip. The two Angels were identical in all dimensions, and each was overlaid with gold.

29 Figures of Guardian Angels, palm trees, and open flowers were carved on all the walls of both rooms of the Temple, 30 and the floor of both rooms was overlaid with gold.

31 The doorway to the inner sanctuary was a five-sided opening, 32 and its two olive-wood doors were carved with Guardian Angels, palm trees, and open flowers, all overlaid with gold.

33 Then he made square doorposts of olive wood for the entrance to the Temple. 34 There were two folding doors of cypress wood, and each door was hinged to fold back upon itself. 35 Angels, palm trees, and open flowers were carved on these doors and carefully overlaid with gold.

36 The wall of the inner court had three layers of hewn stone and one layer of cedar beams.

37 The foundation of the Temple was laid in the month of May in the fourth year of Solomon’s reign, 38 and the entire building was completed in every detail in November of the eleventh year of his reign. So it took seven years to build.

Then Solomon built his own palace, which took thirteen years to construct.

One of the rooms in the palace was called the Hall of the Forest of Lebanon. It was huge—measuring 150 feet long, 75 feet wide, and 45 feet high. The great cedar ceiling beams rested upon four rows of cedar pillars. 3-4 There were forty-five windows in the hall, set in three tiers, one tier above the other, five to a tier, facing each other from three walls. Each of the doorways and windows had a square frame.

Another room was called the Hall of Pillars. It was seventy-five feet long and forty-five feet wide, with a porch in front covered by a canopy that was supported by pillars.

There was also the Throne Room or Judgment Hall, where Solomon sat to hear legal matters; it was paneled with cedar from the floor to the rafters.

His cedar-paneled living quarters surrounded a courtyard behind this hall. (He designed similar living quarters, the same size, in the palace that he built for Pharaoh’s daughter—one of his wives.) These buildings were constructed entirely from huge, expensive stones, cut to measure. 10 The foundation stones were twelve to fifteen feet across. 11 The huge stones in the walls were also cut to measure and were topped with cedar beams. 12 The Great Court had three courses of hewn stone in its walls, topped with cedar beams, just like the inner court of the Temple and the porch of the palace.

13 King Solomon then asked for a man named Hiram to come from Tyre, for he was a skilled craftsman in bronze work. 14 He was half Jewish, being the son of a widow of the tribe of Naphtali, and his father had been a foundry worker from Tyre. So he came to work for King Solomon.

15 He cast two hollow bronze pillars, each twenty-seven feet high and eighteen feet around, with three-inch-thick walls. 16-22 At the tops of the pillars he made two lily-shaped capitals from molten bronze, each 7-1/2 feet high. The upper part of each capital was shaped like a lily, six feet high. Each capital was decorated with seven sets of bronze, chain-designed lattices and four hundred pomegranates in two rows. Hiram set these pillars at the entrance of the Temple. The one on the south was named the Jachin Pillar,[e] and the one on the north, the Boaz Pillar.

23 Then Hiram cast a round bronze tank, 7-1/2 feet high and 15 feet from brim to brim; 45 feet in circumference. 24 On the underside of the rim were two rows of ornaments an inch or two apart,[f] which were cast along with the tank. 25 It rested on twelve bronze[g] oxen standing tail to tail, three facing north, three west, three south, and three east. 26 The sides of the tank were four inches thick; its brim was shaped like a goblet, and it had a twelve thousand gallon capacity.

27-30 Then he made ten four-wheeled movable stands, each 6 feet square and 4-1/2 feet high. They were constructed with undercarriages braced with square[h] crosspieces. These crosspieces were decorated with carved lions, oxen, and Guardian Angels. Above and below the lions and oxen were wreath decorations. Each of these movable stands had four bronze wheels and bronze axles, and at each corner of the stands were supporting posts made of bronze and decorated with wreaths on each side. 31 The top of each stand was a round piece 1-1/2 feet high. Its center was concave, 2-1/4 feet deep, decorated on the outside with wreaths. Its panels were square, not round.

32 The stands rode on four wheels which were connected to axles that had been cast as part of the stands. The wheels were twenty-seven inches high 33 and were similar to chariot wheels. All the parts of the stands were cast from molten bronze, including the axles, spokes, rims, and hubs. 34 There were supports at each of the four corners of the stands, and these, too, were cast with the stands. 35 A nine-inch rim surrounded the tip of each stand, banded with lugs. All was cast as one unit with the stand. 36 Guardian Angels, lions, and palm trees surrounded by wreaths were engraved on the borders of the band wherever there was room. 37 All ten stands were the same size and were made alike, for each was cast from the same mold.

38 Then he made ten brass vats, and placed them on the stands. Each vat was six feet square and contained 240 gallons of water. 39 Five of these vats were arranged on the left and five on the right-hand side of the room. The tank was in the southeast corner, on the right-hand side of the room. 40 Hiram also made the necessary pots, shovels, and basins and at last completed the work in the Temple of the Lord that had been assigned to him by King Solomon.

41-46 Here is a list of the items he made:

Two pillars;

A capital at the top of each pillar;

Latticework covering the bases of the capitals of each pillar;

Four hundred pomegranates in two rows on the latticework, to cover the bases of the two capitals;

Ten movable stands holding ten vats;

One large tank and twelve oxen supporting it;

Pots;

Shovels;

Basins.

All these items were made of burnished bronze and were cast at the plains of the Jordan River between Succoth and Zarethan. 47 The total weight of these pieces was not known because they were too heavy to weigh!

48 All the utensils and furniture used in the Temple were made of solid gold. This included the altar, the table where the Bread of the Presence of God was displayed, 49 the lampstands (five on the right-hand side and five on the left, in front of the Most Holy Place), the flowers, lamps, tongs, 50 cups, snuffers, basins, spoons, firepans, the hinges of the doors to the Most Holy Place, and the main entrance doors of the Temple. Each of these was made of solid gold.

51 When the Temple was finally finished, Solomon took into the treasury of the Temple the silver, the gold, and all the vessels dedicated for that purpose by his father David.

Then Solomon called a convocation at Jerusalem of all the leaders of Israel—the heads of the tribes and clans—to observe the transferring of the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord from the Tabernacle in Zion, the City of David, to the Temple. This celebration occurred at the time of the Tabernacle Festival in the month of October. 3-4 During the festivities the priests carried the Ark to the Temple, along with all the sacred vessels that had previously been in the Tabernacle. King Solomon and all the people gathered before the Ark, sacrificing uncounted sheep and oxen.

Then the priests took the Ark into the inner sanctuary of the Temple—the Most Holy Place—and placed it under the wings of the statues of the Guardian Angels. The Angels had been constructed in such a manner that their wings spread out over the spot where the Ark would be placed; so now their wings overshadowed the Ark and its carrying poles. The poles were so long that they stuck out past the Angels and could be seen from the next room, but not from the outer court; and they remain there to this day. There was nothing in the Ark at that time except the two stone tablets that Moses had placed there at Mount Horeb at the time the Lord made his covenant with the people of Israel after they left Egypt.

10 Look! As the priests are returning from the inner sanctuary, a bright cloud fills the Temple! 11 The priests have to go outside because the glory of the Lord is filling the entire building!

12-13 Now King Solomon prayed this invocation:

“The Lord has said that he would live in the thick darkness;

But, O Lord, I have built you a lovely home on earth, a place for you to live forever.”

14 Then the king turned around and faced the people as they stood before him, and blessed them.

15 “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel,” he said, “who has done today what he promised my father David: 16 for he said to him, ‘When I brought my people from Egypt, I didn’t appoint a place for my Temple, but I appointed a man to be my people’s leader.’ 17 This man was my father David. He wanted to build a Temple for the Lord God of Israel, 18 but the Lord told him not to. ‘I am glad you want to do it,’ he said, 19 ‘but your son is the one who shall build my Temple.’ 20 And now the Lord has done what he promised; for I have followed my father as king of Israel, and now this Temple has been built for the Lord God of Israel. 21 And I have prepared a place in the Temple for the Ark that contains the covenant made by the Lord with our fathers, at the time that he brought them out of the land of Egypt.”

22-23 Then, as all the people watched, Solomon stood before the altar of the Lord with his hands spread out toward heaven and said, “O Lord God of Israel, there is no god like you in heaven or earth, for you are loving and kind and you keep your promises to your people if they do their best to do your will. 24 Today you have fulfilled your promise to my father David, who was your servant; 25 and now, O Lord God of Israel, fulfill your further promise to him: that if his descendants follow your ways and try to do your will as he did, one of them shall always sit upon the throne of Israel. 26 Yes, O God of Israel, fulfill this promise too.

27 “But is it possible that God would really live on earth? Why, even the skies and the highest heavens cannot contain you, much less this Temple I have built! 28 And yet, O Lord my God, you have heard and answered my request: 29 Please watch over this Temple night and day—this place you have promised to live in—and as I face toward the Temple and pray, whether by night or by day, please listen to me and answer my requests. 30 Listen to every plea of the people of Israel whenever they face this place to pray; yes, hear in heaven where you live, and when you hear, forgive.

31 “If a man is accused of doing something wrong and then, standing here before your altar, swears that he didn’t do it, 32 hear him in heaven and do what is right; judge whether or not he did it.

33-34 “And when your people sin and their enemies defeat them, hear them from heaven and forgive them if they turn to you again and confess that you are their God. Bring them back again to this land which you have given to their fathers.

35-36 “And when the skies are shut up and there is no rain because of their sin, hear them from heaven and forgive them when they pray toward this place and confess your name. And after you have punished them, help them to follow the good ways in which they should walk, and send rain upon the land that you have given your people.

37 “If there is a famine in the land caused by plant disease or locusts or caterpillars, or if Israel’s enemies besiege one of her cities, or if the people are struck by an epidemic or plague—or whatever the problem is— 38 then when the people realize their sin and pray toward this Temple, 39 hear them from heaven and forgive and answer all who have made an honest confession; for you know each heart. 40 In this way they will always learn to reverence you as they continue to live in this land that you have given their fathers.

41-42 “And when foreigners hear of your great name and come from distant lands to worship you (for they shall hear of your great name and mighty miracles) and pray toward this Temple, 43 hear them from heaven and answer their prayers. And all the nations of the earth will know and fear your name just as your own people Israel do; and all the earth will know that this is your Temple.

44 “When you send your people out to battle against their enemies and they pray to you, looking toward your chosen city of Jerusalem and toward this Temple that I have built in your name, 45 hear their prayer and help them.

46 “If they sin against you (and who doesn’t?) and you become angry with them and let their enemies lead them away as captives to some foreign land, whether far or near, 47 and they come to their senses and turn to you and cry to you saying, ‘We have sinned, we have done wrong’; 48 if they honestly return to you and pray toward this land that you have given their fathers, and toward this city of Jerusalem that you have chosen, and toward this Temple that I have built for your name, 49 hear their prayers and pleadings from heaven where you live, and come to their assistance.

50 “Forgive your people for all of their evil deeds, and make their captors merciful to them; 51 for they are your people—your inheritance that you brought out from the Egyptian furnace. 52 May your eyes be open and your ears listening to their pleas. O Lord, hear and answer them whenever they cry out to you, 53 for when you brought our fathers out of the land of Egypt, you told your servant Moses that you had chosen Israel from among all the nations of the earth to be your own special people.”

54-55 Solomon had been kneeling with his hands outstretched toward heaven. As he finished this prayer, he rose from before the altar of Jehovah and cried out this blessing upon all the people of Israel:

56 “Blessed be the Lord who has fulfilled his promise and given rest to his people Israel; not one word has failed of all the wonderful promises proclaimed by his servant Moses. 57 May the Lord our God be with us as he was with our fathers; may he never forsake us. 58 May he give us the desire to do his will in everything, and to obey all the commandments and instructions he has given our ancestors. 59 And may these words of my prayer be constantly before him day and night, so that he helps me and all of Israel in accordance with our daily needs. 60 May people all over the earth know that the Lord is God and that there is no other god at all. 61 O my people, may you live good and perfect lives before the Lord our God; may you always obey his laws and commandments, just as you are doing today.”

62-63 Then the king and all the people dedicated the Temple by sacrificing peace offerings to the Lord—a total of 22,000 oxen and 120,000 sheep and goats! 64 As a temporary measure the king sanctified the court in front of the Temple for the burnt offerings, grain offerings, and the fat of the peace offerings: for the bronze altar was too small to handle so much. 65 The celebration lasted for fourteen days, and a great crowd came from one end of the land to the other. 66 Afterwards Solomon sent the people home, happy for all the goodness that the Lord had shown to his servant David and to his people Israel. And they blessed the king.

When Solomon had finished building the Temple and the palace and all the other buildings he had always wanted, 2-3 the Lord appeared to him the second time (the first time had been at Gibeon) and said to him, “I have heard your prayer. I have hallowed this Temple that you have built and have put my name here forever. I will constantly watch over it and rejoice in it. And if you live in honesty and truth as your father David did, always obeying me, then I will cause your descendants to be the kings of Israel forever, just as I promised your father David when I told him, ‘One of your sons shall always be upon the throne of Israel.’

“However, if you or your children turn away from me and worship other gods and do not obey my laws, then I will take away the people of Israel from this land that I have given them. I will take them from this Temple which I have hallowed for my name, and I will cast them out of my sight; and Israel will become a joke to the nations and an example and proverb of sudden disaster. This Temple will become a heap of ruins, and everyone passing by will be amazed and will whistle with astonishment, asking, ‘Why has the Lord done such things to this land and this Temple?’ And the answer will be, ‘The people of Israel abandoned the Lord their God who brought them out of the land of Egypt; they worshiped other gods instead. That is why the Lord has brought this evil upon them.’”

10 At the end of the twenty years during which Solomon built the Temple and the palace, 11-12 he gave twenty cities in the land of Galilee to King Hiram of Tyre as payment for all the cedar and cypress lumber and gold he had furnished for the construction of the palace and Temple. Hiram came from Tyre to see the cities, but he wasn’t at all pleased with them.

13 “What sort of deal is this, my brother?” he asked. “These cities are a wasteland!” (And they are still known as “The Wasteland” today.) 14 For Hiram had sent gold to Solomon valued at $3,500,000!

15 Solomon had conscripted forced labor to build the Temple, his palace, Fort Millo, the wall of Jerusalem, and the cities of Hazor, Megiddo, and Gezer. 16 Gezer was the city the king of Egypt conquered and burned, killing the Israeli population; later he had given the city to his daughter as a dowry—she was one of Solomon’s wives. 17-18 So now Solomon rebuilt Gezer along with Lower Beth-horon, Baalath, and Tamar, a desert city. 19 He also built cities for grain storage, cities in which to keep his chariots, cities for homes for his cavalry and chariot drivers, and resort cities near Jerusalem and in the Lebanon mountains and elsewhere throughout the land.

20-21 Solomon conscripted his labor forces from those who survived in the nations he conquered—the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites. For the people of Israel had not been able to wipe them out completely at the time of the invasion and conquest of Israel, and they continue as slaves even today. 22 Solomon didn’t conscript any Israelis for this work, although they became soldiers, officials, army officers, chariot commanders, and cavalrymen. 23 And there were 550 men of Israel who were overseers of the labor forces.

Miscellaneous Notes:

24 King Solomon moved Pharaoh’s daughter from the City of David—the old sector of Jerusalem—to the new quarters he had built for her in the palace. Then he built Fort Millo.

25 After the Temple was completed, Solomon offered burnt offerings and peace offerings three times a year on the altar he had built. And he also burned incense upon it.

26 King Solomon had a shipyard in Ezion-geber near Eloth on the Red Sea in the land of Edom, where he built a fleet of ships.

27-28 King Hiram supplied experienced sailors to accompany Solomon’s crews. They used to sail back and forth from Ophir, bringing gold to King Solomon, the total value of which was several million dollars each trip.

10 When the queen of Sheba heard how wonderfully the Lord had blessed Solomon with wisdom,[i] she decided to test him with some hard questions. She arrived in Jerusalem with a long train of camels carrying spices, gold, and jewels; and she told him all her problems. Solomon answered all her questions; nothing was too difficult for him, for the Lord gave him the right answers every time.[j] She soon realized that everything she had ever heard about his great wisdom was true. She also saw the beautiful palace he had built, and when she saw the wonderful foods on his table, the great number of servants and aides who stood around in splendid uniforms, his cupbearers, and the many offerings he sacrificed by fire to the Lord—well, there was no more spirit in her!

She exclaimed to him, “Everything I heard in my own country about your wisdom and about the wonderful things going on here is all true. I didn’t believe it until I came, but now I have seen it for myself! And really! The half had not been told me! Your wisdom and prosperity are far greater than anything I’ve ever heard of! Your people are happy and your palace aides are content—but how could it be otherwise, for they stand here day after day listening to your wisdom! Blessed be the Lord your God who chose you and set you on the throne of Israel. How the Lord must love Israel—for he gave you to them as their king! And you give your people a just, good government!”

10 Then she gave the king a gift of $3,500,000 in gold, along with a huge quantity of spices and precious gems; in fact, it was the largest single gift of spices King Solomon had ever received.

11 (And when King Hiram’s ships brought gold to Solomon from Ophir, they also brought along a great supply of algum trees and gems. 12 Solomon used the algum wood to make pillars for the Temple and the palace, and for harps and harpsichords for his choirs. Never before or since has there been such a supply of beautiful wood.)

13 In exchange for the gifts from the queen of Sheba, King Solomon gave her everything she asked him for, besides the presents he had already planned. Then she and her servants returned to their own land.

14 Each year Solomon received gold worth a quarter of a billion dollars, 15 besides sales taxes and profits from trade with the kings of Arabia and the other surrounding territories. 16-17 Solomon had some of the gold beaten into two hundred pieces of armor (gold worth $6,000 went into each piece) and three hundred shields ($1,800 worth of gold in each). And he kept them in his palace in the Hall of the Forest of Lebanon.

18 He also made a huge ivory throne and overlaid it with pure gold. 19 It had six steps and a rounded back, with arm rests; and a lion standing on each side. 20 And there were two lions on each step—twelve in all. There was no other throne in all the world so splendid as that one.

21 All of King Solomon’s cups were of solid gold, and in the Hall of the Forest of Lebanon his entire dining service was made of solid gold. (Silver wasn’t used because it wasn’t considered to be of much value!)

22 King Solomon’s merchant fleet was in partnership with King Hiram’s, and once every three years a great load of gold, silver, ivory, apes, and peacocks arrived at the Israeli ports.

23 So King Solomon was richer and wiser than all the kings of the earth. 24 Great men from many lands came to interview him and listen to his God-given wisdom. 25 They brought him annual tribute of silver and gold dishes, beautiful cloth, myrrh, spices, horses, and mules.

26 Solomon built up a great stable of horses with a vast number of chariots and cavalry—1,400 chariots in all and 12,000 cavalrymen, who lived in the chariot cities and with the king at Jerusalem. 27 Silver was as common as stones in Jerusalem in those days, and cedar was of no greater value than the common sycamore! 28 Solomon’s horses were brought to him from Egypt and southern Turkey, where his agents purchased them at wholesale prices. 29 An Egyptian chariot delivered to Jerusalem cost $400, and the horses were valued at $150 each. Many of these were then resold to the Hittite and Syrian kings.

11 King Solomon married many other girls besides the Egyptian princess. Many of them came from nations where idols were worshiped[k]—Moab, Ammon, Edom, Sidon, and from the Hittites— even though the Lord had clearly instructed his people not to marry into those nations, because the women they married would get them started worshiping their gods. Yet Solomon did it anyway. He had seven hundred wives and three hundred concubines; and sure enough, they turned his heart away from the Lord, especially in his old age. They encouraged him to worship their gods instead of trusting completely in the Lord as his father David had done. Solomon worshiped Ashtoreth, the goddess of the Sidonians, and Milcom, the horrible god of the Ammonites. Thus Solomon did what was clearly wrong and refused to follow the Lord as his father David did. He even built a temple on the Mount of Olives, across the valley from Jerusalem, for Chemosh, the depraved god of Moab, and another for Molech, the unutterably vile god of the Ammonites. Solomon built temples for these foreign wives to use for burning incense and sacrificing to their gods.

9-10 Jehovah was very angry with Solomon about this, for now Solomon was no longer interested in the Lord God of Israel who had appeared to him twice to warn him specifically against worshiping other gods. But he hadn’t listened, 11 so now the Lord said to him, “Since you have not kept our agreement and have not obeyed my laws, I will tear the kingdom away from you and your family and give it to someone else. 12-13 However, for the sake of your father David, I won’t do this while you are still alive. I will take the kingdom away from your son. And even so I will let him be king of one tribe, for David’s sake and for the sake of Jerusalem, my chosen city.”

14 So the Lord caused Hadad the Edomite to grow in power. And Solomon became apprehensive, for Hadad was a member of the royal family of Edom. 15 Years before, when David had been in Edom with Joab to arrange for the burial of some Israeli soldiers who had died in battle, the Israeli army had killed nearly every male in the entire country. 16-18 It took six months to accomplish this, but they finally killed all except Hadad and a few royal officials who took him to Egypt (he was a very small child at the time). They slipped out of Midian and went to Paran, where others joined them and accompanied them to Egypt, and Pharaoh had given them homes and food.

19 Hadad became one of Pharaoh’s closest friends, and he gave him a wife—the sister of Queen Tahpenes. 20 She presented him with a son, Genubath, who was brought up in Pharaoh’s palace among Pharaoh’s own sons. 21 When Hadad, there in Egypt, heard that David and Joab were both dead, he asked Pharaoh for permission to return to Edom.

22 “Why?” Pharaoh asked him. “What do you lack here? How have we disappointed you?”

“Everything is wonderful,” he replied, “but even so, I’d like to go back home.”

23 Another of Solomon’s enemies whom God raised to power was Rezon, one of the officials of King Hadadezer of Zobah who had deserted his post and fled the country. 24 He had become the leader of a gang of bandits—men who fled with him to Damascus (where he later became king) when David destroyed Zobah. 25 During Solomon’s entire lifetime, Rezon and Hadad were his enemies, for they hated Israel intensely.

26 Another rebel leader was Jeroboam (the son of Nebat), who came from the city of Zeredah in Ephraim; his mother was Zeruah, a widow. 27-28 Here is the story of his rebellion: Solomon was rebuilding Fort Millo, repairing the walls of this city his father had built. Jeroboam was very able, and when Solomon saw how industrious he was, he put him in charge of his labor battalions from the tribe of Joseph.

29 One day as Jeroboam was leaving Jerusalem, the prophet Ahijah from Shiloh (who had put on a new robe for the occasion) met him and called him aside to talk to him. And as the two of them were alone in the field, 30 Ahijah tore his new robe into twelve parts 31 and said to Jeroboam, “Take ten of these pieces, for the Lord God of Israel says, ‘I will tear the kingdom from the hand of Solomon and give ten of the tribes to you! 32 But I will leave him one tribe[l] for the sake of my servant David and for the sake of Jerusalem, which I have chosen above all the other cities of Israel. 33 For Solomon has forsaken me and worships Ashtoreth, the goddess of the Sidonians; and Chemosh, the god of Moab; and Milcom, the god of the Ammonites. He has not followed my paths and has not done what I consider right; he has not kept my laws and instructions as his father David did. 34 I will not take the kingdom from him now, however; for the sake of my servant David, my chosen one who obeyed my commandments, I will let Solomon reign for the rest of his life.

35 “‘But I will take away the kingdom from his son and give ten of the tribes to you. 36 His son shall have the other one so that the descendants of David will continue to reign in Jerusalem, the city I have chosen to be the place for my name to be enshrined. 37 And I will place you on the throne of Israel and give you absolute power. 38 If you listen to what I tell you and walk in my path and do whatever I consider right, obeying my commandments as my servant David did, then I will bless you; and your descendants shall rule Israel forever. (I once made this same promise to David. 39 But because of Solomon’s sin, I will punish the descendants of David—though not forever.)’”

40 Solomon tried to kill Jeroboam, but he fled to King Shishak of Egypt and stayed there until the death of Solomon.

41 The rest of what Solomon did and said is written in the book The Acts of Solomon. 42 He ruled in Jerusalem for forty years, 43 and then died and was buried in the city of his father David; and his son Rehoboam reigned in his place.

Footnotes

  1. 1 Kings 1:5 David’s son, implied.
  2. 1 Kings 1:31 bowed low before him, literally, “did reverence to the king.”
  3. 1 Kings 2:27 See 1 Samuel 2:31-35.
  4. 1 Kings 6:23 placed two statues of Guardian Angels, literally, “made two cherubim.”
  5. 1 Kings 7:16 Jachin Pillar and Boaz Pillar. Jachin means “to establish,” and Boaz means “strength.”
  6. 1 Kings 7:24 an inch or two apart, literally, “ten in a cubit.”
  7. 1 Kings 7:25 bronze, implied.
  8. 1 Kings 7:27 square, implied in v. 31.
  9. 1 Kings 10:1 heard how wonderfully the Lord had blessed Solomon with wisdom, literally, “heard of the fame of Solomon concerning the name of the Lord.”
  10. 1 Kings 10:3 the Lord gave him the right answers every time, literally, “there was nothing hidden from the king that he could not explain to her.”
  11. 1 Kings 11:1 where idols were worshiped, implied.
  12. 1 Kings 11:32 I will leave him one tribe. Of the twelve tribes, Judah and Benjamin were left to Solomon’s son. These two tribes were often called “Judah,” the larger of the two.