2 Chronicles 6-10

New King James Version

Solomon’s Prayer of Dedication

6 Then ^(A)Solomon spoke:

Solomon’s Speech upon Completion of the Work^(D)

³ Then the king turned around and ^(E)blessed the whole assembly of Israel, while all the assembly of Israel was standing. ⁴ And he said: “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, who has fulfilled with His hands what He spoke with His mouth to my father David, ^(F)saying, ⁵ ‘Since the day that I brought My people out of the land of Egypt, I have chosen no city from any tribe of Israel in which to build a house, that My name might be there, nor did I choose any man to be a ruler over My people Israel. ^6 (G)Yet I have chosen Jerusalem, that My name may be there, and I ^(H)have chosen David to be over My people Israel.’ ⁷ Now ^(I)it was in the heart of my father David to build a ^[a]temple for the name of the Lord God of Israel. ⁸ But the Lord said to my father David, ‘Whereas it was in your heart to build a temple for My name, you did well in that it was in your heart. ⁹ Nevertheless you shall not build the temple, but your son who will come from your body, he shall build the temple for My ^(J)name.’ ¹⁰ So the Lord has fulfilled His word which He spoke, and I have filled the position of my father David, and ^(K)sit on the throne of Israel, as the Lord promised; and I have built the temple for the name of the Lord God of Israel. ¹¹ And there I have put the ark, ^(L)in which is the covenant of the Lord which He made with the children of Israel.”

Solomon’s Prayer of Dedication^(M)

^12 (N)Then ^[b]Solomon stood before the altar of the Lord in the presence of all the assembly of Israel, and spread out his hands ¹³ (for Solomon had made a bronze platform five cubits long, five cubits wide, and three cubits high, and had set it in the midst of the court; and he stood on it, knelt down on his knees before all the assembly of Israel, and spread out his hands toward heaven); ¹⁴ and he said: “Lord God of Israel, ^(O)there is no God in heaven or on earth like You, who keep Your ^(P)covenant and mercy with Your servants who walk before You with all their hearts. ^15 (Q)You have kept what You promised Your servant David my father; You have both spoken with Your mouth and fulfilled it with Your hand, as it is this day. ¹⁶ Therefore, Lord God of Israel, now keep what You promised Your servant David my father, saying, ^(R)‘You shall not fail to have a man sit before Me on the throne of Israel, ^(S)only if your sons take heed to their way, that they walk in My law as you have walked before Me.’ ¹⁷ And now, O Lord God of Israel, let Your word come true, which You have spoken to Your servant David.

¹⁸ “But will God indeed dwell with men on the earth? ^(T)Behold, heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain You. How much less this ^[c]temple which I have built! ¹⁹ Yet regard the prayer of Your servant and his supplication, O Lord my God, and listen to the cry and the prayer which Your servant is praying before You: ²⁰ that Your eyes may be ^(U)open toward this temple day and night, toward the place where You said You would put Your name, that You may hear the prayer which Your servant makes ^(V)toward this place. ²¹ And may You hear the supplications of Your servant and of Your people Israel, when they pray toward this place. Hear from heaven Your dwelling place, and when You hear, ^(W)forgive.

²² “If anyone sins against his neighbor, and is forced to take an ^(X)oath, and comes and takes an oath before Your altar in this temple, ²³ then hear from heaven, and act, and judge Your servants, bringing retribution on the wicked by bringing his way on his own head, and justifying the righteous by giving him according to his ^(Y)righteousness.

²⁴ “Or if Your people Israel are defeated before an ^(Z)enemy because they have sinned against You, and return and confess Your name, and pray and make supplication before You in this temple, ²⁵ then hear from heaven and forgive the sin of Your people Israel, and bring them back to the land which You gave to them and their fathers.

²⁶ “When the ^(AA)heavens are shut up and there is no rain because they have sinned against You, when they pray toward this place and confess Your name, and turn from their sin because You afflict them, ²⁷ then hear in heaven, and forgive the sin of Your servants, Your people Israel, that You may teach them the good way in which they should walk; and send rain on Your land which You have given to Your people as an inheritance.

²⁸ “When there ^(AB)is famine in the land, pestilence or blight or mildew, locusts or grasshoppers; when their enemies besiege them in the land of their cities; whatever plague or whatever ^(AC)sickness there is; ²⁹ whatever prayer, whatever supplication is made by anyone, or by all Your people Israel, when each one knows his own burden and his own grief, and spreads out his hands to this temple: ³⁰ then hear from heaven Your dwelling place, and forgive, and give to everyone according to all his ways, whose heart You know (for You alone ^(AD)know the ^(AE)hearts of the sons of men), ³¹ that they may fear You, to walk in Your ways as long as they live in the land which You gave to our fathers.

³² “Moreover, concerning a foreigner, ^(AF)who is not of Your people Israel, but has come from a far country for the sake of Your great name and Your mighty hand and Your outstretched arm, when they come and pray in this temple; ³³ then hear from heaven Your dwelling place, and do according to all for which the foreigner calls to You, that all peoples of the earth may know Your name and fear You, as do Your people Israel, and that they may know that ^[d]this temple which I have built is called by Your name.

³⁴ “When Your people go out to battle against their enemies, wherever You send them, and when they pray to You toward this city which You have chosen and the temple which I have built for Your name, ³⁵ then hear from heaven their prayer and their supplication, and maintain their cause.

³⁶ “When they sin against You (for there is ^(AG)no one who does not sin), and You become angry with them and deliver them to the enemy, and they take them ^(AH)captive to a land far or near; ³⁷ yet when they ^[e]come to themselves in the land where they were carried captive, and repent, and make supplication to You in the land of their captivity, saying, ‘We have sinned, we have done wrong, and have committed wickedness’; ³⁸ and when they return to You with all their heart and with all their soul in the land of their captivity, where they have been carried captive, and pray toward their land which You gave to their fathers, the ^(AI)city which You have chosen, and toward the temple which I have built for Your name: ³⁹ then hear from heaven Your dwelling place their prayer and their supplications, and maintain their cause, and forgive Your people who have sinned against You. ⁴⁰ Now, my God, I pray, let Your eyes be ^(AJ)open and let Your ears be attentive to the prayer made in this place.

Solomon Dedicates the Temple^(AO)

7 When ^(AP)Solomon had finished praying, ^(AQ)fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices; and ^(AR)the glory of the Lord filled the ^[f]temple. ^2 (AS)And the priests could not enter the house of the Lord, because the glory of the Lord had filled the Lord’s house. ³ When all the children of Israel saw how the fire came down, and the glory of the Lord on the temple, they bowed their faces to the ground on the pavement, and worshiped and praised the Lord, saying:

^4 (AV)Then the king and all the people offered sacrifices before the Lord. ⁵ King Solomon offered a sacrifice of twenty-two thousand bulls and one hundred and twenty thousand sheep. So the king and all the people dedicated the house of God. ^6 (AW)And the priests attended to their services; the Levites also with instruments of the music of the Lord, which King David had made to praise the Lord, saying, “For His mercy endures forever,” whenever David offered praise by their ^[g]ministry. ^(AX)The priests sounded trumpets opposite them, while all Israel stood.

⁷ Furthermore ^(AY)Solomon consecrated the middle of the court that was in front of the house of the Lord; for there he offered burnt offerings and the fat of the peace offerings, because the bronze altar which Solomon had made was not able to receive the burnt offerings, the grain offerings, and the fat.

^8 (AZ)At that time Solomon kept the feast seven days, and all Israel with him, a very great assembly ^(BA)from the entrance of Hamath to ^(BB)the^[h] Brook of Egypt. ⁹ And on the eighth day they held a ^(BC)sacred assembly, for they observed the dedication of the altar seven days, and the feast seven days. ^10 (BD)On the twenty-third day of the seventh month he sent the people away to their tents, joyful and glad of heart for the good that the Lord had done for David, for Solomon, and for His people Israel. ¹¹ Thus ^(BE)Solomon finished the house of the Lord and the king’s house; and Solomon successfully accomplished all that came into his heart to make in the house of the Lord and in his own house.

God’s Second Appearance to Solomon^(BF)

¹² Then the Lord ^(BG)appeared to Solomon by night, and said to him: “I have heard your prayer, ^(BH)and have chosen this ^(BI)place for Myself as a house of sacrifice. ^13 (BJ)When I shut up heaven and there is no rain, or command the locusts to devour the land, or send pestilence among My people, ¹⁴ if My people who are ^(BK)called by My name will ^(BL)humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, ^(BM)then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land. ¹⁵ Now ^(BN)My eyes will be open and My ears attentive to prayer made in this place. ¹⁶ For now ^(BO)I have chosen and ^[i]sanctified this house, that My name may be there forever; and ^[j]My eyes and ^[k]My heart will be there perpetually. ^17 (BP)As for you, if you walk before Me as your father David walked, and do according to all that I have commanded you, and if you keep My statutes and My judgments, ¹⁸ then I will establish the throne of your kingdom, as I covenanted with David your father, saying, ^(BQ)‘You shall not fail to have a man as ruler in Israel.’

^19 (BR)“But if you turn away and forsake My statutes and My commandments which I have set before you, and go and serve other gods, and worship them, ^20 (BS)then I will uproot them from My land which I have given them; and this house which I have ^[l]sanctified for My name I will cast out of My sight, and will make it a proverb and a ^(BT)byword among all peoples.

²¹ “And as for ^(BU)this ^[m]house, which ^[n]is exalted, everyone who passes by it will be ^(BV)astonished and say, ^(BW)‘Why has the Lord done thus to this land and this house?’ ²² Then they will answer, ‘Because they forsook the Lord God of their fathers, who brought them out of the land of Egypt, and embraced other gods, and worshiped them and served them; therefore He has brought all this calamity on them.’ ”

Solomon’s Additional Achievements^(BX)

8 It ^(BY)came to pass at the end of ^(BZ)twenty years, when Solomon had built the house of the Lord and his own house, ² that the cities which ^[o]Hiram had given to Solomon, Solomon built them; and he settled the children of Israel there. ³ And Solomon went to Hamath Zobah and seized it. ^4 (CA)He also built Tadmor in the wilderness, and all the storage cities which he built in ^(CB)Hamath. ⁵ He built Upper Beth Horon and ^(CC)Lower Beth Horon, fortified cities with walls, gates, and bars, ⁶ also Baalath and all the storage cities that Solomon had, and all the chariot cities and the cities of the cavalry, and all that Solomon ^(CD)desired to build in Jerusalem, in Lebanon, and in all the land of his dominion.

^7 (CE)All the people who were left of the Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites, who were not of Israel— ⁸ that is, their descendants who were left in the land after them, whom the children of Israel did not destroy—from these Solomon raised forced labor, as it is to this day. ⁹ But Solomon did not make the children of Israel ^[p]servants for his work. Some were men of war, captains of his officers, captains of his chariots, and his cavalry. ¹⁰ And others were chiefs of the officials of King Solomon: ^(CF)two hundred and fifty, who ruled over the people.

¹¹ Now Solomon ^(CG)brought the daughter of Pharaoh up from the City of David to the house he had built for her, for he said, “My wife shall not dwell in the house of David king of Israel, because the places to which the ark of the Lord has come are holy.”

¹² Then Solomon offered burnt offerings to the Lord on the altar of the Lord which he had built before the vestibule, ¹³ according to the ^(CH)daily rate, offering according to the commandment of Moses, for the Sabbaths, the New Moons, and the ^(CI)three appointed yearly ^(CJ)feasts—the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the Feast of Weeks, and the Feast of Tabernacles. ¹⁴ And, according to the ^[q]order of David his father, he appointed the ^(CK)divisions of the priests for their service, ^(CL)the Levites for their duties (to praise and serve before the priests) as the duty of each day required, and the ^(CM)gatekeepers by their divisions at each gate; for so David the man of God had commanded. ¹⁵ They did not depart from the command of the king to the priests and Levites concerning any matter or concerning the ^(CN)treasuries.

¹⁶ Now all the work of Solomon was well-ordered ^[r]from the day of the foundation of the house of the Lord until it was finished. So the house of the Lord was completed.

¹⁷ Then Solomon went to ^(CO)Ezion Geber and ^[s]Elath on the seacoast, in the land of Edom. ^18 (CP)And Hiram sent him ships by the hand of his servants, and servants who knew the sea. They went with the servants of Solomon to ^(CQ)Ophir, and acquired four hundred and fifty talents of gold from there, and brought it to King Solomon.

The Queen of Sheba’s Praise of Solomon^(CR)

9 Now ^(CS)when the queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon, she came to Jerusalem to test Solomon with hard questions, having a very great retinue, camels that bore spices, gold in abundance, and precious stones; and when she came to Solomon, she spoke with him about all that was in her heart. ² So Solomon answered all her questions; there was nothing so difficult for Solomon that he could not explain it to her. ³ And when the queen of Sheba had seen the wisdom of Solomon, the house that he had built, ⁴ the food on his table, the seating of his servants, the service of his waiters and their apparel, his ^(CT)cupbearers and their apparel, and his entryway by which he went up to the house of the Lord, there was no more spirit in her.

⁵ Then she said to the king: “It was a true report which I heard in my own land about your words and your wisdom. ⁶ However I did not believe their words until I came and saw with my own eyes; and indeed the half of the greatness of your wisdom was not told me. You exceed the fame of which I heard. ⁷ Happy are your men and happy are these your servants, who stand continually before you and hear your wisdom! ⁸ Blessed be the Lord your God, who delighted in you, setting you on His throne to be king for the Lord your God! Because your God has ^(CU)loved Israel, to establish them forever, therefore He made you king over them, to do justice and righteousness.”

⁹ And she gave the king one hundred and twenty talents of gold, spices in great abundance, and precious stones; there never were any spices such as those the queen of Sheba gave to King Solomon.

¹⁰ Also, the servants of Hiram and the servants of Solomon, ^(CV)who brought gold from Ophir, brought ^[t]algum wood and precious stones. ¹¹ And the king made walkways of the ^[u]algum wood for the house of the Lord and for the king’s house, also harps and stringed instruments for singers; and there were none such as these seen before in the land of Judah.

¹² Now King Solomon gave to the queen of Sheba all she desired, whatever she asked, much more than she had brought to the king. So she turned and went to her own country, she and her servants.

Solomon’s Great Wealth^(CW)

^13 (CX)The weight of gold that came to Solomon yearly was six hundred and sixty-six talents of gold, ¹⁴ besides what the traveling merchants and traders brought. And all the kings of Arabia and governors of the country brought gold and silver to Solomon. ¹⁵ And King Solomon made two hundred large shields of hammered gold; six hundred shekels of hammered gold went into each shield. ¹⁶ He also made three hundred shields of hammered gold; ^[v]three hundred shekels of gold went into each shield. The king put them in the ^(CY)House of the Forest of Lebanon.

¹⁷ Moreover the king made a great throne of ivory, and overlaid it with pure gold. ¹⁸ The throne had six steps, with a footstool of gold, which were fastened to the throne; there were ^[w]armrests on either side of the place of the seat, and two lions stood beside the armrests. ¹⁹ Twelve lions stood there, one on each side of the six steps; nothing like this had been made for any other kingdom.

²⁰ All King Solomon’s drinking vessels were gold, and all the vessels of the House of the Forest of Lebanon were pure gold. Not one was silver, for this was accounted as nothing in the days of Solomon. ²¹ For the king’s ships went to ^(CZ)Tarshish with the servants of ^[x]Hiram. Once every three years the ^[y]merchant ships came, bringing gold, silver, ivory, apes, and ^[z]monkeys.

²² So King Solomon surpassed all the kings of the earth in riches and wisdom. ²³ And all the kings of the earth sought the presence of Solomon to hear his wisdom, which God had put in his heart. ²⁴ Each man brought his present: articles of silver and gold, garments, ^(DA)armor, spices, horses, and mules, at a set rate year by year.

²⁵ Solomon ^(DB)had four thousand stalls for horses and chariots, and twelve thousand horsemen whom he stationed in the chariot cities and with the king at Jerusalem.

^26 (DC)So he reigned over all the kings ^(DD)from ^[aa]the River to the land of the Philistines, as far as the border of Egypt. ^27 (DE)The king made silver as common in Jerusalem as stones, and he made cedar trees ^(DF)as abundant as the sycamores which are in the lowland. ^28 (DG)And they brought horses to Solomon from Egypt and from all lands.

Death of Solomon^(DH)

^29 (DI)Now the rest of the acts of Solomon, first and last, are they not written in the book of Nathan the prophet, in the prophecy of ^(DJ)Ahijah the Shilonite, and in the visions of ^(DK)Iddo the seer concerning Jeroboam the son of Nebat? ^30 (DL)Solomon reigned in Jerusalem over all Israel forty years. ³¹ Then Solomon ^[ab]rested with his fathers, and was buried in the City of David his father. And Rehoboam his son reigned in his place.

The Revolt Against Rehoboam^(DM)

10 And ^(DN)Rehoboam went to Shechem, for all Israel had gone to Shechem to make him king. ² So it happened, when Jeroboam the son of Nebat heard it (he was in Egypt, ^(DO)where he had fled from the presence of King Solomon), that Jeroboam returned from Egypt. ³ Then they sent for him and called him. And Jeroboam and all Israel came and spoke to Rehoboam, saying, ⁴ “Your father made our yoke heavy; now therefore, lighten the burdensome service of your father and his heavy yoke which he put on us, and we will serve you.”

⁵ So he said to them, “Come back to me after three days.” And the people departed.

⁶ Then King Rehoboam consulted the elders who stood before his father Solomon while he still lived, saying, “How do you advise me to answer these people?”

⁷ And they spoke to him, saying, “If you are kind to these people, and please them, and speak good words to them, they will be your servants forever.”

^8 (DP)But he rejected the advice which the elders had given him, and consulted the young men who had grown up with him, who stood before him. ⁹ And he said to them, “What advice do you give? How should we answer this people who have spoken to me, saying, ‘Lighten the yoke which your father put on us’?”

¹⁰ Then the young men who had grown up with him spoke to him, saying, “Thus you should speak to the people who have spoken to you, saying, ‘Your father made our yoke heavy, but you make it lighter on us’—thus you shall say to them: ‘My little finger shall be thicker than my father’s waist! ¹¹ And now, whereas my father put a heavy yoke on you, I will add to your yoke; my father chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with ^[ac]scourges!’ ”

¹² So ^(DQ)Jeroboam and all the people came to Rehoboam on the third day, as the king had directed, saying, “Come back to me the third day.” ¹³ Then the king answered them roughly. King Rehoboam rejected the advice of the elders, ¹⁴ and he spoke to them according to the advice of the young men, saying, ^[ad]“My father made your yoke heavy, but I will add to it; my father chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with ^[ae]scourges!” ¹⁵ So the king did not listen to the people; ^(DR)for the turn of events was from God, that the Lord might fulfill His ^(DS)word, which He had spoken by the hand of Ahijah the Shilonite to Jeroboam the son of Nebat.

¹⁶ Now when all Israel saw that the king did not listen to them, the people answered the king, saying:

So all Israel departed to their tents. ¹⁷ But Rehoboam reigned over the children of Israel who dwelt in the cities of Judah.

¹⁸ Then King Rehoboam sent Hadoram, who was in charge of revenue; but the children of Israel stoned him with stones, and he died. Therefore King Rehoboam mounted his chariot in haste to flee to Jerusalem. ^19 (DT)So Israel has been in rebellion against the house of David to this day.