God Appears Again to Solomon

9 When Solomon had finished building the house of the Lord and the king’s house and all that Solomon desired to build,^{(A) 2} the Lord appeared to Solomon a second time, as he had appeared to him at Gibeon.^{(B) 3} The Lord said to him, “I have heard your prayer and your plea that you made before me; I have consecrated this house that you have built and put my name there forever; my eyes and my heart will be there for all time.^{(C) 4} As for you, if you will walk before me as David your father walked, with integrity of heart and uprightness, doing according to all that I have commanded you and keeping my statutes and my ordinances,^{(D) 5} then I will establish your royal throne over Israel forever, as I promised your father David, saying, ‘You shall never lack a successor on the throne of Israel.’^(E)

⁶ “If you turn aside from following me, you or your children, and do not keep my commandments and my statutes that I have set before you but go and serve other gods and worship them,^{(F) 7} then I will cut Israel off from the land that I have given them, and the house that I have consecrated for my name I will cast out of my sight, and Israel will become a proverb and a taunt among all peoples.^{(G) 8} This house will become a heap of ruins;^[a] everyone passing by it will be astonished and will hiss, and they will say, ‘Why has the Lord done such a thing to this land and to this house?’^{(H) 9} Then they will say, ‘Because they abandoned the Lord their God, who brought their ancestors out of the land of Egypt, and embraced other gods, worshiping them and serving them; therefore the Lord brought this disaster upon them.’ ”

¹⁰ At the end of twenty years, in which Solomon had built the two houses, the house of the Lord and the king’s house,^{(I) 11} King Hiram of Tyre having supplied Solomon with cedar and cypress timber and gold, as much as he desired, King Solomon gave to Hiram twenty cities in the land of Galilee.^{(J) 12} But when Hiram came from Tyre to see the cities that Solomon had given him, they did not please him. ¹³ Therefore he said, “What kind of cities are these that you have given me, my brother?” So they are called the land of Cabul^[b] to this day.^{(K) 14} But Hiram had sent to the king one hundred twenty talents of gold.

Other Acts of Solomon

¹⁵ This is the account of the forced labor that King Solomon conscripted to build the house of the Lord and his own house, the Millo and the wall of Jerusalem, Hazor, Megiddo, Gezer^{(L) 16} (Pharaoh king of Egypt had gone up and captured Gezer and burned it down, had killed the Canaanites who lived in the city, and had given it as dowry to his daughter, Solomon’s wife;^{(M) 17} so Solomon rebuilt Gezer), Lower Beth-horon,^{(N) 18} Baalath, Tadmor in the wilderness, within the land, ¹⁹ as well as all of Solomon’s storage cities, the cities for his chariots, the cities for his cavalry, and whatever Solomon desired to build in Jerusalem, in Lebanon, and in all the land of his dominion.^{(O) 20} All the people who were left of the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, who were not of the people of Israel^(P)— ²¹ their descendants who were still left in the land, whom the Israelites were unable to destroy completely—these Solomon conscripted for slave labor, and so they are to this day.^{(Q) 22} But of the Israelites Solomon made no slaves; they were the soldiers; they were his officials, his commanders, his captains, and the commanders of his chariotry and cavalry.^(R)

²³ These were the chief officers who were over Solomon’s work: five hundred fifty who had charge of the people who carried on the work.^(S)

²⁴ But Pharaoh’s daughter went up from the city of David to her own house that Solomon had built for her; then he built the Millo.^(T)

²⁵ Three times a year Solomon used to offer up burnt offerings and sacrifices of well-being on the altar that he built for the Lord, offering incense^[c] before the Lord. So he completed the house.^(U)

Solomon’s Commercial Activity

²⁶ King Solomon built a fleet of ships at Ezion-geber, which is near Eloth on the shore of the Red Sea,^[d] in the land of Edom.^{(V) 27} Hiram sent his servants with the fleet, sailors who were familiar with the sea, together with the servants of Solomon.^{(W) 28} They went to Ophir and imported from there four hundred twenty talents of gold that they delivered to King Solomon.^(X)

Visit of the Queen of Sheba

10 When the queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon (fame due to^[e] the name of the Lord), she came to test him with riddles.^{(Y) 2} She came to Jerusalem with a very great retinue, with camels bearing spices and very much gold and precious stones, and when she came to Solomon, she told him all that was on her mind. ³ Solomon answered all her questions; there was nothing hidden from the king that he could not explain to her. ⁴ When the queen of Sheba had observed all the wisdom of Solomon, the house that he had built, ⁵ the food of his table, the seating of his officials, and the attendance of his servants, their clothing, his valets, and his burnt offerings that he offered at the house of the Lord, it took her breath away.^(Z)

⁶ So she said to the king, “The report was true that I heard in my own land of your accomplishments and of your wisdom, ⁷ but I did not believe the reports until I came and my own eyes saw it. Not even half had been told me; your wisdom and prosperity far surpass the report that I had heard. ⁸ Happy are your wives!^[f] Happy are these your servants who continually attend you and hear your wisdom! ⁹ Blessed be the Lord your God, who has delighted in you and set you on the throne of Israel! Because the Lord loved Israel forever, he has made you king to execute justice and righteousness.”^{(AA) 10} Then she gave the king one hundred twenty talents of gold, a great quantity of spices, and precious stones; never again did spices come in such quantity as that which the queen of Sheba gave to King Solomon.

¹¹ Moreover, the fleet of Hiram, which carried gold from Ophir, brought from Ophir a great quantity of almug wood and precious stones.^{(AB) 12} From the almug wood the king made supports for the house of the Lord and for the king’s house, lyres also and harps for the singers; no such almug wood has come or been seen to this day.^(AC)

¹³ Meanwhile, King Solomon gave to the queen of Sheba every desire that she expressed, as well as what he gave her out of Solomon’s royal bounty. Then she returned to her own land with her servants.

¹⁴ The weight of gold that came to Solomon in one year was six hundred sixty-six talents of gold,^{(AD) 15} besides that which came from the traders and from the business of the merchants and from all the kings of Arabia and the governors of the land. ¹⁶ King Solomon made two hundred large shields of beaten gold; six hundred shekels of gold went into each large shield.^{(AE) 17} He made three hundred shields of beaten gold; three minas of gold went into each shield; and the king put them in the House of the Forest of Lebanon.^{(AF) 18} The king also made a great ivory throne and overlaid it with the finest gold.^{(AG) 19} The throne had six steps. The top of the throne was rounded in the back, and on each side of the seat were arm rests and two lions standing beside the arm rests, ²⁰ while twelve lions were standing, one on each end of a step on the six steps. Nothing like it was ever made in any kingdom. ²¹ All King Solomon’s drinking vessels were of gold, and all the vessels of the House of the Forest of Lebanon were of pure gold; none were of silver—it was not considered as anything in the days of Solomon. ²² For the king had a fleet of ships of Tarshish at sea with the fleet of Hiram. Once every three years the fleet of ships of Tarshish used to come bringing gold, silver, ivory, apes, and peacocks.^[g](AH)

²³ Thus King Solomon excelled all the kings of the earth in riches and in wisdom.^{(AI) 24} The whole earth sought the presence of Solomon to hear his wisdom, which God had put into his mind.^{(AJ) 25} Every one of them brought a present, objects of silver and gold, garments, weaponry, spices, horses, and mules, so much year by year.

²⁶ Solomon gathered together chariots and horses; he had fourteen hundred chariots and twelve thousand horses, which he stationed in the chariot cities and with the king in Jerusalem.^{(AK) 27} The king made silver as common in Jerusalem as stone, and he made cedar as plentiful as the sycamores of the Shephelah. ²⁸ Solomon’s import of horses was from Egypt and Kue, and the king’s traders received them from Kue at a price.^{(AL) 29} A chariot could be imported from Egypt for six hundred shekels of silver and a horse for one hundred fifty, so through the king’s traders they were exported to all the kings of the Hittites and the kings of Aram.^(AM)

¹⁴ Now when the apostles at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had accepted the word of God, they sent Peter and John to them.^{(A) 15} The two went down and prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit^{(B) 16} (for as yet the Spirit had not come^[a] upon any of them; they had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus).^{(C) 17} Then Peter and John^[b] laid their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit.^{(D) 18} Now when Simon saw that the Spirit was given through the laying on of the apostles’ hands, he offered them money, ¹⁹ saying, “Give me also this power so that anyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit.” ²⁰ But Peter said to him, “May your silver perish with you, because you thought you could obtain God’s gift with money!^{(E) 21} You have no part or share in this, for your heart is not right before God.^{(F) 22} Repent therefore of this wickedness of yours, and pray to the Lord that, if possible, the intent of your heart may be forgiven you. ²³ For I see that you are in the gall of bitterness and the chains of wickedness.”^{(G) 24} Simon answered, “Pray for me to the Lord, that nothing of what you^[c] have said may happen to me.”

²⁵ Now after Peter and John^[d] had testified and spoken the word of the Lord, they returned to Jerusalem, proclaiming the good news to many villages of the Samaritans.^(H)

Philip and the Ethiopian Eunuch

²⁶ Then an angel of the Lord said to Philip, “Get up and go toward the south^[e] to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” (This is a wilderness road.)^{(I) 27} So he got up and went. Now there was an Ethiopian eunuch, a court official of the Candace, the queen of the Ethiopians, in charge of her entire treasury. He had come to Jerusalem to worship^{(J) 28} and was returning home; seated in his chariot, he was reading the prophet Isaiah. ²⁹ Then the Spirit said to Philip, “Go over to this chariot and join it.”^{(K) 30} So Philip ran up to it and heard him reading the prophet Isaiah. He asked, “Do you understand what you are reading?” ³¹ He replied, “How can I, unless someone guides me?” And he invited Philip to get in and sit beside him. ³² Now the passage of the scripture that he was reading was this:

³⁴ The eunuch asked Philip, “About whom, may I ask you, does the prophet say this, about himself or about someone else?” ³⁵ Then Philip began to speak, and starting with this scripture he proclaimed to him the good news about Jesus.^{(M) 36} As they were going along the road, they came to some water, and the eunuch said, “Look, here is water! What is to prevent me from being baptized?”^{[f](N) 38} He commanded the chariot to stop, and both of them, Philip and the eunuch, went down into the water, and Philip^[g] baptized him. ³⁹ When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord snatched Philip away; the eunuch saw him no more and went on his way rejoicing.^{(O) 40} But Philip found himself at Azotus, and as he was passing through the region he proclaimed the good news to all the towns until he came to Caesarea.

Psalm 130

Waiting for Divine Redemption

A Song of Ascents.