⁴ And the king went to Gibeon to sacrifice there, ^(A)for that was the great high place. Solomon used to offer a thousand burnt offerings on that altar. ^5 (B)At Gibeon ^(C)the Lord appeared to Solomon ^(D)in a dream by night, and God said, “Ask what I shall give you.” ⁶ And Solomon said, “You have shown great and steadfast love to your servant David my father, because ^(E)he walked before you in faithfulness, in righteousness, and in uprightness of heart toward you. And you have kept for him this great and steadfast love and ^(F)have given him a son to sit on his throne this day. ⁷ And now, O Lord my God, ^(G)you have made your servant king in place of David my father, ^(H)although I am but a little child. I do not know ^(I)how to go out or come in. ^8 (J)And your servant is in the midst of your people whom you have chosen, a great people, ^(K)too many to be numbered or counted for multitude. ^9 (L)Give your servant therefore an understanding mind ^(M)to govern your people, that I may ^(N)discern between good and evil, for who is able to govern this your great people?”

¹⁰ It pleased the Lord that Solomon had asked this. ¹¹ And God said to him, “Because you have asked this, and have not asked for yourself long life or riches or the life of your enemies, but have asked for yourself understanding to discern what is right, ¹² behold, ^(O)I now do according to your word. Behold, ^(P)I give you a wise and discerning mind, so that none like you has been before you and none like you shall arise after you. ^13 (Q)I give you also what you have not asked, ^(R)both riches and honor, so that no other king shall compare with you, all your days. ¹⁴ And if you will walk in my ways, keeping my statutes and my commandments, ^(S)as your father David walked, then ^(T)I will lengthen your days.”

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

Solomon Builds the Temple

6 ^(A)In the four hundred and eightieth year after the people of Israel came out of the land of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon's reign over Israel, in the month of Ziv, which is the second month, ^(B)he began to build the house of the Lord. ^2 (C)The house that King Solomon built for the Lord was sixty cubits^[a] long, twenty cubits wide, and thirty cubits high. ³ The vestibule in front of the nave of the house was twenty cubits long, equal to the width of the house, and ten cubits deep in front of the house. ⁴ And ^(D)he made for the house windows with recessed frames.^{[b] 5 (E)}He also built a structure^[c] against the wall of the house, running around the walls of the house, both the nave and ^(F)the inner sanctuary. And he made ^(G)side chambers all around. ⁶ The lowest story^[d] was five cubits broad, the middle one was six cubits broad, and the third was seven cubits broad. For around the outside of the house he made offsets on the wall in order that the supporting beams should not be inserted into the walls of the house.

⁷ When the house was built, ^(H)it was with stone prepared at the quarry, so that neither hammer nor axe nor any tool of iron was heard in the house while it was being built.

⁸ The entrance for the lowest^[e] story was on the south side of the house, and one went up by stairs to the middle story, and from the middle story to the third. ^9 (I)So he built the house and finished it, and he made the ceiling of the house of beams and planks of cedar. ¹⁰ He built the structure against the whole house, five cubits high, and it was joined to the house with timbers of cedar.

¹¹ Now the word of the Lord came to Solomon, ¹² “Concerning this house that you are building, ^(J)if you will walk in my statutes and obey my rules and keep all my commandments and walk in them, then I will establish my word with you, ^(K)which I spoke to David your father. ¹³ And ^(L)I will dwell among the children of Israel ^(M)and will not forsake my people Israel.”

^14 (N)So Solomon built the house and finished it.