Solomon’s Officials

4 Now King Solomon was king over all Israel. ² These were his officials: Azariah the son of Zadok was ^(A)the priest; ³ Elihoreph and Ahijah, the sons of Shisha were secretaries; ^(B)Jehoshaphat the son of Ahilud was the recorder; ⁴ and ^(C)Benaiah the son of Jehoiada was over the army; and Zadok and ^(D)Abiathar were priests; ⁵ and Azariah the son of Nathan was over ^(E)the deputies; and Zabud the son of Nathan, a priest, was the king’s friend; ⁶ and Ahishar was over the household; and Adoniram the son of Abda was over the men subject to forced labor.

⁷ Solomon had twelve deputies over all Israel, who ^[a]provided for the king and his household; each man had to ^[b]provide for a month in the year. ⁸ These are their names: Ben-hur, in the ^(F)hill country of Ephraim; ⁹ Ben-deker in Makaz and ^(G)Shaalbim and ^(H)Beth-shemesh and Elonbeth-hanan; ¹⁰ Ben-hesed, in Arubboth (^(I)Socoh was his and all the land of ^(J)Hepher); ¹¹ Ben-abinadab, in all ^[c]the ^(K)height of Dor (Taphath the daughter of Solomon was his wife); ¹² Baana the son of Ahilud, in ^(L)Taanach and Megiddo, and all ^(M)Beth-shean which is beside ^(N)Zarethan below Jezreel, from Beth-shean to ^(O)Abel-meholah as far as the other side of ^(P)Jokmeam; ¹³ Ben-geber, in ^(Q)Ramoth-gilead (^(R)the towns of Jair, the son of Manasseh, which are in Gilead were his: ^(S)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 ^(T)Mahanaim; ^15 (U)Ahimaaz, in Naphtali (he also married Basemath the daughter of Solomon); ¹⁶ Baana the son of ^(V)Hushai, in Asher and ^[d]Bealoth; ¹⁷ Jehoshaphat the son of Paruah, in Issachar; ^18 (W)Shimei the son of Ela, in Benjamin; ¹⁹ Geber the son of Uri, in the land of Gilead, ^(X)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 (Y)Judah and Israel were as numerous as the sand that is on the ^[e]seashore in abundance; they were eating and drinking and rejoicing.

^21 [f](Z)Now Solomon ruled over all the kingdoms ^(AA)from the ^[g]River to the land of the Philistines and to the border of Egypt; ^(AB)they brought tribute and served Solomon all the days of his life.

²² Solomon’s ^[h]provision for one day was thirty ^[i]kors of fine flour and sixty ^[j]kors of meal, ²³ ten fat oxen, twenty ^[k]pasture-fed oxen, a hundred sheep besides deer, gazelles, roebucks, and fattened fowl. ²⁴ For he had dominion over everything ^[l]west of the ^[m]River, from Tiphsah even to ^(AC)Gaza, ^(AD)over all the kings ^[n]west of the ^[o]River; and ^(AE)he had peace on all sides around about him. ^25 (AF)So Judah and Israel lived in safety, every man under his vine and his fig tree, ^(AG)from Dan even to Beersheba, all the days of Solomon. ^26 (AH)Solomon had ^[p]40,000 stalls of horses for his chariots, and 12,000 horsemen. ²⁷ Those deputies ^[q]provided for King Solomon and all who came to King Solomon’s table, each in his month; they left nothing lacking. ²⁸ They also brought barley and straw for the horses and ^(AI)swift steeds to the place where it should be, each according to his charge.

²⁹ Now ^(AJ)God gave Solomon wisdom and very great discernment and breadth of ^[r]mind, ^(AK)like the sand that is on the seashore. ³⁰ Solomon’s wisdom surpassed the wisdom of all ^(AL)the sons of the east and ^(AM)all the wisdom of Egypt. ³¹ For ^(AN)he was wiser than all men, than ^(AO)Ethan the Ezrahite, Heman, ^(AP)Calcol and ^[s]Darda, the sons of Mahol; and his ^[t]fame was known in all the surrounding nations. ^32 (AQ)He also spoke 3,000 proverbs, and his songs were 1,005. ³³ He spoke of trees, from the cedar that is in Lebanon even to the hyssop that grows on the wall; he spoke also of animals and birds and creeping things and fish. ^34 [u]Men ^(AR)came from all peoples to hear the wisdom of Solomon, from all the kings of the earth who had heard of his wisdom.

Alliance with King Hiram

5 ^[v](AS)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 ^(AT)Hiram had ^[w]always been a friend of David. ² Then ^(AU)Solomon sent word to Hiram, saying, ³ “You know that ^(AV)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. ⁴ But now ^(AW)the Lord my God has given me rest on every side; there is neither adversary nor ^[x]misfortune. ⁵ Behold, ^(AX)I ^[y]intend to build a house for the name of the Lord my God, as the Lord spoke to David my father, saying, ‘Your son, whom I will set on your throne in your place, he will build the house for My name.’ ⁶ Now therefore, command that they cut for me ^(AY)cedars from Lebanon, and my servants will be with your servants; and I will give you wages for your servants according to all that you say, for you know that there is no one among us who knows how to cut timber like the Sidonians.”

⁷ When Hiram heard the words of Solomon, he rejoiced greatly and said, “Blessed be the Lord today, who has given to David a wise son over this great people.” ⁸ So Hiram sent word to Solomon, saying, “I have heard the message which you have sent me; I will do ^[z]what you desire concerning the cedar and cypress timber. ⁹ My servants will bring them down from Lebanon to the sea; and I will make them into rafts to go by sea ^(AZ)to the place where you ^[aa]direct me, and I will have them broken up there, and you shall carry them away. Then ^(BA)you shall accomplish my desire by giving food to my household.” ¹⁰ So ^[ab]Hiram ^[ac]gave Solomon ^[ad]as much as he desired of the cedar and cypress timber. ^11 (BB)Solomon then gave Hiram 20,000 ^[ae]kors of wheat as food for his household, and twenty ^[af]kors of beaten oil; thus Solomon would give Hiram year by year. ^12 (BC)The Lord gave wisdom to Solomon, just as He ^[ag]promised him; and there was peace between Hiram and Solomon, and the two of them made a covenant.

Conscription of Laborers

¹³ Now ^(BD)King Solomon ^[ah]levied forced laborers from all Israel; and the forced laborers ^[ai]numbered 30,000 men. ¹⁴ He sent them to Lebanon, 10,000 a month in relays; they were in Lebanon a month and two months at home. And ^(BE)Adoniram was over the forced laborers. ¹⁵ Now ^(BF)Solomon had 70,000 ^[aj]transporters, and 80,000 hewers of stone in the mountains, ^16 (BG)besides Solomon’s 3,300 chief deputies who were over the ^[ak]project and who ruled over the people who were doing the work. ¹⁷ Then ^(BH)the king commanded, and they quarried great stones, costly stones, to lay the foundation of the house with cut stones. ¹⁸ So Solomon’s builders and ^[al]Hiram’s builders and ^(BI)the Gebalites ^[am]cut them, and prepared the timbers and the stones to build the house.

The Building of the Temple

6 ^(BJ)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 which is the second month, that he ^[an]began to build the house of the Lord. ² As for the house which King Solomon built for the Lord, its length was sixty ^[ao]cubits and its width twenty cubits and its height thirty cubits. ³ The porch in front of the nave of the house was twenty cubits ^[ap]in length, ^[aq]corresponding to the width of the house, and its ^[ar]depth along the front of the house was ten cubits. ⁴ Also for the house ^(BK)he made windows with artistic frames. ^5 (BL)Against the wall of the house he built stories encompassing the walls of the house around both the nave and the ^(BM)inner sanctuary; thus he made ^(BN)side chambers all around. ⁶ The lowest story was five cubits wide, and the middle was six cubits wide, and the third was seven cubits wide; for on the outside he ^[as]made offsets in the wall of the house all around in order that the beams would not ^[at]be inserted in the walls of the house.

^7 (BO)The house, while it was being built, was built of stone ^[au]prepared at the quarry, and there was neither hammer nor axe nor any iron tool heard in the house while it was being built.

⁸ The doorway for the ^[av]lowest side chamber was on the right side of the house; and they would go up by winding stairs to the middle story, and from the middle to the third. ⁹ So ^(BP)he built the house and finished it; and he covered the house with beams and ^[aw]planks of cedar. ¹⁰ He also built the stories against the whole house, each five ^[ax]cubits high; and they ^[ay]were fastened to the house with timbers of cedar.

¹¹ Now the word of the Lord came to Solomon saying, ¹² “Concerning this house which you are building, ^(BQ)if you will walk in My statutes and execute My ordinances and keep all My commandments by walking in them, then I will carry out My word with you which I spoke to David your father. ^13 (BR)I will dwell among the sons of Israel, and ^(BS)will not forsake My people Israel.”

^14 (BT)So Solomon built the house and finished it. ¹⁵ Then he ^(BU)built the walls of the house on the inside with boards of cedar; from the floor of the house to the ^[az]ceiling he overlaid the walls on the inside with wood, and he overlaid the floor of the house with boards of cypress. ^16 (BV)He built twenty cubits on the rear part of the house with boards of cedar from the floor to the ^[ba]ceiling; he built them for it on the inside as an inner sanctuary, even as ^(BW)the most holy place. ¹⁷ The house, that is, the nave in front of the inner sanctuary, was forty ^[bb]cubits long. ¹⁸ There was cedar on the house within, carved in the shape of ^(BX)gourds and open flowers; all was cedar, there was no stone seen. ¹⁹ Then he prepared an inner sanctuary within the house in order to place there the ark of the covenant of the Lord. ^20 [bc]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 overlaid the altar with cedar. ²¹ So Solomon overlaid the inside of the house with pure gold. And he drew chains of gold across the front of the inner sanctuary, and he overlaid it with gold. ²² He overlaid the whole house with gold, until all the house was finished. Also ^(BY)the whole altar which was by the inner sanctuary he overlaid with gold.

^23 (BZ)Also in the inner sanctuary he made two cherubim of olive wood, each ten cubits high. ²⁴ Five cubits was the one wing of the cherub and five cubits the other wing of the cherub; from the end of one wing to the end of the other wing were ten cubits. ²⁵ The other cherub was ten cubits; both the cherubim were of the same measure and the same form. ²⁶ The height of the one cherub was ten cubits, and so was the other cherub. ²⁷ He placed the cherubim in the midst of the inner house, and ^(CA)the wings of the cherubim were 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. So their wings were touching each other in the center of the house. ²⁸ He also overlaid the cherubim with gold.

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

³¹ 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 spread the gold on the cherubim and on the palm trees.

³³ So also he made for the entrance of the nave four-sided doorposts of olive wood ³⁴ and ^(CB)two doors of cypress wood; the two leaves of the one door turned on pivots, and the two ^[bd]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 evenly applied on the engraved work. ^36 (CC)He built the inner court with three rows of cut stone and a row of cedar beams.

^37 (CD)In the fourth year the foundation of the house of the Lord was laid, in the month of Ziv. ³⁸ In the eleventh year, in the month of Bul, which is the eighth month, the house was finished throughout all its parts and according to all its plans. So he was seven years in building it.

Cornelius’s Vision

10 Now there was a man at ^(A)Caesarea named Cornelius, a centurion of what was ^(B)called the Italian ^[a]cohort, ² a devout man and ^(C)one who feared God with all his household, and ^(D)gave many ^[b]alms to the Jewish people and prayed to God continually. ³ About ^(E)the ^[c]ninth hour of the day he clearly saw ^(F)in a vision ^(G)an angel of God who had just come in and said to him, “Cornelius!” ⁴ And ^(H)fixing his gaze on him and being much alarmed, he said, “What is it, Lord?” And he said to him, “Your prayers and ^[d]alms ^(I)have ascended ^(J)as a memorial before God. ⁵ Now dispatch some men to ^(K)Joppa and send for a man named Simon, who is also called Peter; ⁶ he is staying with a tanner named ^(L)Simon, whose house is by the sea.” ⁷ When the angel who was speaking to him had left, he summoned two of his ^[e]servants and a devout soldier of those who were his personal attendants, ⁸ and after he had explained everything to them, he sent them to ^(M)Joppa.

⁹ On the next day, as they were on their way and approaching the city, ^(N)Peter went up on ^(O)the housetop about ^(P)the ^[f]sixth hour to pray. ¹⁰ But he became hungry and was desiring to eat; but while they were making preparations, he ^(Q)fell into a trance; ¹¹ and he *saw ^(R)the ^[g]sky opened up, and an ^[h]object like a great sheet coming down, lowered by four corners to the ground, ¹² and there were in it all kinds of four-footed animals and ^[i]crawling creatures of the earth and birds of the ^[j]air. ¹³ A voice came to him, “Get up, Peter, ^[k]kill and eat!” ¹⁴ But Peter said, “By no means, ^(S)Lord, for ^(T)I have never eaten anything ^[l]unholy and unclean.” ¹⁵ Again a voice came to him a second time, “^(U)What God has cleansed, no longer consider ^[m]unholy.” ¹⁶ This happened three times, and immediately the ^[n]object was taken up into the ^[o]sky.

¹⁷ Now while Peter was greatly perplexed in ^[p]mind as to what ^(V)the vision which he had seen might be, behold, ^(W)the men who had been sent by Cornelius, having asked directions for Simon’s house, appeared at the gate; ¹⁸ and calling out, they were asking whether Simon, who was also called Peter, was staying there. ¹⁹ While Peter was reflecting on ^(X)the vision, ^(Y)the Spirit said to him, “Behold, ^[q]three men are looking for you. ²⁰ But get up, go downstairs and ^(Z)accompany them ^[r]without misgivings, for I have sent them Myself.” ²¹ Peter went down to the men and said, “Behold, I am the one you are looking for; what is the reason for which you have come?” ²² They said, “Cornelius, a centurion, a righteous and ^(AA)God-fearing man well spoken of by the entire nation of the Jews, ^(AB)was divinely directed by a ^(AC)holy angel to send for you to come to his house and hear ^[s](AD)a message from you.” ²³ So he invited them in and gave them lodging.

Peter at Caesarea

And on the next day he got up and went away with them, and ^(AE)some of ^(AF)the brethren from ^(AG)Joppa accompanied him. ²⁴ On the following day he entered ^(AH)Caesarea. Now Cornelius was waiting for them and had called together his relatives and close friends. ²⁵ When Peter entered, Cornelius met him, and fell at his feet and ^[t](AI)worshiped him. ²⁶ But Peter raised him up, saying, “^(AJ)Stand up; I too am just a man.” ²⁷ As he talked with him, he entered and *found ^(AK)many people assembled. ²⁸ And he said to them, “You yourselves know how ^(AL)unlawful it is for a man who is a Jew to associate with a foreigner or to visit him; and yet ^(AM)God has shown me that I should not call any man ^[u]unholy or unclean. ²⁹ That is why I came without even raising any objection when I was sent for. So I ask for what reason you have sent for me.”

³⁰ Cornelius said, “^(AN)Four days ago to this hour, I was praying in my house during ^(AO)the ^[v]ninth hour; and behold, ^(AP)a man stood before me in shining garments, ³¹ and he *said, ‘Cornelius, your prayer has been heard and your ^[w]alms have been remembered before God. ³² Therefore send to ^(AQ)Joppa and invite Simon, who is also called Peter, to come to you; he is staying at the house of Simon the tanner by the sea.’ ³³ So I sent for you immediately, and you have ^[x]been kind enough to come. Now then, we are all here present before God to hear all that you have been commanded by the Lord.”

Gentiles Hear Good News

^34 (AR)Opening his mouth, Peter said:

“I most certainly understand now that ^(AS)God is not one to show partiality, ³⁵ but ^(AT)in every nation the man who ^[y](AU)fears Him and ^[z]does what is right is welcome to Him. ³⁶ The word which He sent to the sons of Israel, ^(AV)preaching ^[aa](AW)peace through Jesus Christ (He is ^(AX)Lord of all)— ³⁷ you yourselves know the thing which took place throughout all Judea, starting from Galilee, after the baptism which John proclaimed. ^38 [ab]You know of ^(AY)Jesus of Nazareth, how God ^(AZ)anointed Him with the Holy Spirit and with power, ^[ac](BA)and how He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for ^(BB)God was with Him. ³⁹ We are ^(BC)witnesses of all the things He did both in the ^[ad]land of the Jews and in Jerusalem. They also ^(BD)put Him to death by hanging Him on a ^[ae]cross. ^40 (BE)God raised Him up on the third day and granted that He become visible, ^41 (BF)not to all the people, but to ^(BG)witnesses who were chosen beforehand by God, that is, to us ^(BH)who ate and drank with Him after He arose from the dead. ⁴² And He ^(BI)ordered us to ^[af]preach to the people, and solemnly to ^(BJ)testify that this is the One who has been ^(BK)appointed by God as ^(BL)Judge of the living and the dead. ⁴³ Of Him ^(BM)all the prophets bear witness that through ^(BN)His name everyone who believes in Him receives forgiveness of sins.”

⁴⁴ While Peter was still speaking these words, ^(BO)the Holy Spirit fell upon all those who were listening to the ^[ag]message. ^45 (BP)All the ^[ah]circumcised believers who came with Peter were amazed, because the gift of the Holy Spirit had been ^(BQ)poured out on the Gentiles also. ⁴⁶ For they were hearing them ^(BR)speaking with tongues and exalting God. Then Peter answered, ⁴⁷ “^(BS)Surely no one can refuse the water for these to be baptized who ^(BT)have received the Holy Spirit just as we did, can he?” ⁴⁸ And he ^(BU)ordered them to be baptized ^(BV)in the name of Jesus Christ. Then they asked him to stay on for a few days.