1 Kings 4-10

Modern English Version

The Court of Solomon

4 So King Solomon was king over all Israel. ² These were the officials in his court:

⁷ Solomon had twelve officers over all Israel who made provision for the king and his household. Each man was assigned a month to make provision. ⁸ These are their names:

The Wealth of Solomon

²⁰ Judah and Israel had a large populace, as numerous as the sand by the sea. They ate and drank and were happy. ²¹ Solomon reigned over all kingdoms from the River^[a] to the land of the Philistines and to the border of Egypt. The people brought presents and served Solomon all the days of his life.

²² Solomon’s provision for one day was thirty kors^[b] of fine flour and sixty kors^[c] of meal, ²³ ten fat oxen and twenty pasture-fed cattle, a hundred sheep in addition to deer, roebucks, gazelle, and fatted poultry. ²⁴ For he had dominion over all the region on this side of the River^[d] from Tiphsah to Gaza, over all the kings on this side of the River,^[e] and he had peace on all borders of his land. ²⁵ Judah and Israel lived safely, every man under his vine and under his fig tree, from Dan to Beersheba all the days of Solomon.

²⁶ Solomon had forty thousand stalls of horses for his chariots and twelve thousand horsemen.

²⁷ Those officers made provision for King Solomon and for all who came to King Solomon’s table, every man in his month, and they lacked nothing. ²⁸ Barley also and straw for the horses and dromedaries were brought to the place where the officers were, every man according to his charge.

²⁹ God gave Solomon wisdom and great depth of understanding as well as compassion, as vast as the sand on the seashore. ³⁰ Solomon’s wisdom excelled the wisdom of all the people of the East country and all the wisdom of Egypt. ³¹ For he was wiser than all other men, wiser than Ethan the Ezrahite, Heman, Kalkol, and Darda, the sons of Mahol; his fame spread throughout all the surrounding nations. ³² He spoke three thousand proverbs, and his songs numbered a thousand and five. ³³ He spoke of trees, from the cedar tree that is in Lebanon to the hyssop that springs out of the wall. He also spoke of beasts and of fowl and of insects and fish. ³⁴ People from all over came to hear the wisdom of Solomon, from all kings of the earth, who had heard of his wisdom.

Plans to Build the Temple^(A)

5 Now Hiram king of Tyre sent his servants to Solomon, for he had heard that they had anointed him king in place of his father, and Hiram had always loved David. ² And Solomon sent word to Hiram, saying,

³ “You know how David my father was unable to build a house for the name of the Lord his God because of the wars all around him, until the Lord put his enemies under his feet. ⁴ But now the Lord my God has given me peace on every side, so that there is neither adversary nor misfortune. ⁵ So know that I plan to build a house to honor the name of the Lord my God, just as the Lord spoke to my father David, saying, ‘Your son, whom I will set on your throne after you, shall build a house to honor My name.’

⁶ “Now therefore command that cedar trees from Lebanon be cut down for me, and my servants shall be with your servants, and I will pay your servants whatever you command, for you know that there are none among my people who can cut timber like the Sidonians.”

⁷ When Hiram heard the words of Solomon, he rejoiced greatly and said, “Blessed be the Lord this day, who has given David a wise son over this great people.”

⁸ Hiram sent to Solomon, saying,

“I have considered the things which you contacted me about, and I will do all you asked concerning timber of cedar and fir. ⁹ My servants shall bring them down from Lebanon to the sea, and I will send them by sea in floats to the place that you shall name and will cause them to be discharged into your care there, and in return you will meet my wishes by giving food for my household.”

¹⁰ So Hiram gave Solomon cedar trees and fir trees as he desired. ¹¹ Solomon gave Hiram twenty thousand kors^[f] of wheat for his household and twenty baths^[g] of pure oil. This is what Solomon gave to Hiram each year. ¹² The Lord gave Solomon wisdom, as He promised, and there was peace between Hiram and Solomon as they made a treaty together.

¹³ King Solomon drafted men from all Israel, totaling thirty thousand men. ¹⁴ He sent them to Lebanon in turns, ten thousand a month, with each spending a month in Lebanon and two months at home. Adoniram administered the labor force. ¹⁵ Solomon had seventy thousand porters and eighty thousand stonecutters in the mountains, ¹⁶ not counting the chief of Solomon’s officers who were over the work, three thousand three hundred, who ruled over the people who did the work. ¹⁷ At the king’s command, they quarried out great, costly stones in order to lay the foundation of the house with dressed stones. ¹⁸ Solomon’s builders and Hiram’s builders, along with the stonemasons, cut them and prepared timber and stones to build the house.

Solomon Builds the Temple^(B)

6 In the four hundred and eightieth year after the children of Israel came out of the land of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon’s reign over Israel, in the month Ziv (which is the second month), he began to build the house of the Lord.

² The house which King Solomon built for the Lord had a length of sixty cubits, a width of twenty cubits, and a height of thirty cubits.^{[h] 3} The porch in front of the temple was twenty cubits^[i] in length, the same as the width of the house, and ten cubits^[j] deep in front of the house. ⁴ He made beveled windows for the house. ⁵ He also built a structure against the wall of the house, running around the walls of the house, both of the temple and of the inner sanctuary, and he made side chambers all around. ⁶ The lowest story was five cubits^[k] broad, the middle one was six cubits^[l] broad, and the third was seven cubits^[m] broad. For around the outside of the house, he made offsets on the wall so that the supporting beams should not be inserted into the walls of the house.

⁷ The house was built of 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 door for the middle chamber was in the right side of the house, and it had winding stairs into the middle chamber and out of the middle into the third. ⁹ So he built the house and finished it and covered it with beams and boards of cedar. ¹⁰ Then he built chambers against the whole house, five cubits high, and they rested on the house with timber of cedar.

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

¹⁴ So Solomon built the house and finished it. ¹⁵ He built the interior walls of the house with boards of cedar. From the floor of the house to the ceiling, he covered them on the inside with wood; and he covered the floor of the house with planks of fir. ¹⁶ He lined twenty cubits on the sides of the house, both the floor and the walls, with boards of cedar, and he even lined them within, even the inner sanctuary and the Most Holy Place. ¹⁷ The house, that is, the nave in front of the inner sanctuary, was forty cubits^[n] long. ¹⁸ The cedar of the house within had carvings of gourds and open flowers. All was cedar. There was no stone seen.

¹⁹ He prepared the inner sanctuary in the inner part of the house in order to set there the ark of the covenant of the Lord. ²⁰ The inner sanctuary was twenty cubits long, twenty cubits wide, and twenty cubits high. He overlaid it with pure gold. He also overlaid the altar of cedar. ²¹ So Solomon overlaid the interior of the house with pure gold, and he made a partition with gold chains in front of the inner sanctuary, and he overlaid it with gold. ²² He overlaid the whole house with gold as well as the whole altar that was by the inner sanctuary.

²³ Within the inner sanctuary, he made two cherubim from olive wood, each ten cubits high. ²⁴ One wing of the cherub was five cubits, and the other wing was also five cubits. From the furthest part of the one wing to the furthest part of the other was ten cubits. ²⁵ The other cherub was ten cubits. Both the cherubim were the same shape and size. ²⁶ The height of the one cherub was ten cubits, and so was that of the other cherub. ²⁷ He set the cherubim within the inner sanctuary, and they stretched forth the wings of the cherubim, so that the wing of the one touched the one wall and the wing of the other cherub touched the other wall, and their wings touched one another in the middle of the house. ²⁸ He overlaid the cherubim with gold.

²⁹ He carved all the walls of the house with carved figures of cherubim and palm trees and open flowers both inside and out. ³⁰ He overlaid the floor of the house with gold, both inside and out.

³¹ For the entrance to the inner sanctuary, he made doors of olive wood; the lintel and doorposts were five-sided. ³² The two doors were also made of olive wood. He carved on them cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers, overlaid them with gold, and spread gold upon the cherubim and upon the palm trees. ³³ So also he made for the entrance to the nave four-sided posts of olive wood. ³⁴ The two doors were made from fir tree, with two leaves of each door folding. ³⁵ He carved on them cherubim and palm trees and open flowers and covered them with gold fitted upon the carved work.

³⁶ He built the inner court with three rows of hewed stone and a row of cedar beams.

³⁷ In the fourth year, in the month Ziv, the foundation of the house of the Lord was laid, ³⁸ and in the eleventh year, in the month Bul (which is the eighth month), the house was completely finished. All the details and plans were met. So he took seven years to build it.

Solomon’s Palace Built

7 Solomon was building his own house for thirteen years, and he finished all his house. ² He built the House of the Forest of Lebanon. Its length was a hundred cubits, and its width was fifty cubits, and its height was thirty cubits,^[o] built on four rows of cedar pillars with cedar beams upon the pillars. ³ It was covered with cedar over the top of the beams, which sat upon forty-five pillars, fifteen in a row. ⁴ There were window frames in three rows and window opposite window in three tiers. ⁵ All the doors and posts were rectangular with the openings facing each other in three tiers.

⁶ He made a porch of pillars with a length of fifty cubits and a breadth of thirty cubits.^[p] There was a porch in front with pillars, and a canopy in front of them.

⁷ Then he made a porch for the throne, from which he would judge, and called it the Hall of Judgment. It was covered with cedar from one side of the floor to the other. ⁸ His own house where he lived, in the other court back of the hall, was similar in style. Solomon also made a house like this for Pharaoh’s daughter, whom he had taken as a wife.

⁹ All these were built with costly stones, cut to size and sawed with saws on the inside and outside, from the foundation up to the coping, throughout the outside toward the great court. ¹⁰ The foundation was of large, costly stones, stones of ten^[q] and eight^[r] cubits in size. ¹¹ Above were costly stones cut to size, along with cedars. ¹² The great court was enclosed with three rows of hewed stones and a row of cedar beams. So were the inner court of the house of the Lord and the porch of the house.

The Furnishings of the Temple^(C)

¹³ Now King Solomon sent and called Huram out of Tyre. ¹⁴ He was the son of a widow from the tribe of Naphtali, and his father was a man of Tyre who worked in bronze, and he was filled with wisdom and understanding and skill to make all sorts of items in bronze. So he came to King Solomon and performed all his work.

¹⁵ He cast two pillars of bronze eighteen cubits high each and twelve cubits^[s] in circumference. ¹⁶ He made two capitals of cast bronze to set on the tops of the pillars. The height of the one capital was five cubits,^[t] and the height of the other capital was five cubits. ¹⁷ He made lattices of checker work with wreaths of chainwork for the capitals on top of the pillars: seven for one capital and seven for the other. ¹⁸ Likewise he made pomegranates in two rows around the one latticework to cover the capital that was on the top of the pillar, and he did the same for the other capital. ¹⁹ The capitals that were on top of the pillars in the porch were four cubits^[u] high and in the shape of lilies. ²⁰ The capitals on top of the two pillars also had pomegranates above, by the convex surface which was next to the latticework. There were two hundred pomegranates in rows encircling each capital. ²¹ He set up the pillars in the porch of the temple. He set up the right pillar and called it Jakin, and he set up the left pillar and called it Boaz. ²² The tops of the pillars were in the shape of lilies. This completed the work on the pillars.

²³ He made a cast metal sea, ten cubits from one side to the other. It was round and had a height of five cubits, and a line of thirty cubits^[v] encircled it. ²⁴ Under the brim all the way around there were gourds, ten in a cubit. When it was cast, the gourds were placed in two rows going all the way around it.

²⁵ It stood on top of twelve oxen with three facing north, three facing toward the west, three facing toward the south, and three facing toward the east. The sea was set on them, and their hindquarters were turned inward. ²⁶ It was a hand-breadth^[w] thick, and the brim was made similar to the brim of a cup, like a lily blossom. It could hold two thousand baths.^[x]

²⁷ He made ten stands out of bronze, each measuring four cubits long, four cubits wide, and three cubits high.^{[y] 28} The work of the stands looked like this: They had panels, and the panels were set in the frames. ²⁹ And on the panels that were set in the frames were lions, oxen, and cherubim. On the frames both above and below the lions and oxen, there were wreaths of beveled work. ³⁰ Every stand had four bronze wheels and axles of bronze, and at the four corners were supports for a basin. The supports were cast with wreaths at the side of each. ³¹ Its opening was within a crown that projected upward one cubit. Its opening was round, like the work of a pedestal, a cubit and a half deep.^[z] At its opening there were engravings, and its panels were four-sided, not round. ³² Underneath the panels were four wheels, and the axles of the wheels were joined to the stand, and the height of a wheel was a cubit and a half. ³³ The wheels worked like chariot wheels in that their axles and rims and spokes and hubs were all cast metal.

³⁴ There were four supports for the four corners of each stand, and the supports were part of one piece with the stand itself. ³⁵ On the top of the stand, there was a round band half a cubit^[aa] high, and on the top of the stand its stays and its panels were of one piece with it. ³⁶ On the surface of its stays and on its panels, he engraved cherubim, lions, and palm trees, according to the space of each, with wreaths all around. ³⁷ In this way he made the ten stands, with them all having the same shape, measure, and size.

³⁸ Then he made ten basins of bronze, with each basin able to hold forty baths,^[ab] each being four cubits. Upon every one of the ten stands sat one basin. ³⁹ He put five stands on the right side of the house, and five on the left side of the house. He set the sea on the right side of the house toward the southeast. ⁴⁰ Huram also made the pots, the shovels, and the basins.

So Huram finished all the work in making items for King Solomon for use in the house of the Lord: ⁴¹ the two pillars, the two bowls of the capitals that were on the top of the two pillars, the two latticeworks to cover the two bowls of the capitals that were upon the top of the pillars; ⁴² and the four hundred pomegranates for the two latticeworks, two rows of pomegranates for each latticework, to cover the two bowls of the capitals that were on the pillars; ⁴³ the ten stands and ten basins on the stands; ⁴⁴ one sea and twelve oxen under the sea; ⁴⁵ the pots, the shovels, and the basins.

All these vessels that Huram made for King Solomon for the house of the Lord were of burnished bronze. ⁴⁶ In the plain of the Jordan the king cast them, in the clay ground between Sukkoth and Zarethan. ⁴⁷ Solomon left all the vessels unweighed because there were so many. The weight of the bronze was also never measured.

⁴⁸ Solomon made all the vessels that were needed for the house of the Lord: the altar of gold, the table of gold on which was showbread, ⁴⁹ the candlesticks of pure gold, five on the right side and five on the left before the inner sanctuary; the flowers, the lamps, and the tongs, of gold; ⁵⁰ the cups, snuffers, basins, dishes for incense, fire pans, of pure gold; the sockets for the doors of the innermost part of the house, the Most Holy Place, and for the doors of the nave of the temple, of gold.

⁵¹ All the work that King Solomon made for the house of the Lord was completed. And Solomon brought in the things which David his father had dedicated—the silver, the gold, and the cups—and he put them among the treasures of the house of the Lord.

The Ark Brought to the Temple^(D)

8 Then Solomon assembled the elders of Israel and all the heads of the tribes, the chief of the fathers of the children of Israel, before King Solomon in Jerusalem, so that they could ensure that the ark of the covenant of the Lord would be brought out of the City of David in Zion. ² All the men of Israel assembled themselves before King Solomon at the feast in the month Ethanim, which is the seventh month.

³ All the elders of Israel came, and the priests carried the ark. ⁴ The priests and Levites brought up the ark of the Lord, the tabernacle of the congregation, and all the holy implements that were in the tabernacle. ⁵ King Solomon and all the congregation of Israel who were assembled before him stood together in front of the ark, sacrificing so many sheep and oxen that they could not be told or numbered.

⁶ The priests brought in the ark of the covenant of the Lord to its place in the inner sanctuary of the house, to the Most Holy Place under the wings of the cherubim. ⁷ For the cherubim spread forth their two wings over the place of the ark and covered the ark and the poles from above. ⁸ The poles were so long that the ends of the poles could be seen out in the holy place in front of the inner sanctuary, but they could not be seen from outside, and they are there to this day. ⁹ There was nothing in the ark except for the two tablets of stone that Moses put there at Horeb when the Lord made a covenant with the children of Israel after they had come out of the land of Egypt.

¹⁰ And when the priests came out of the holy place, the cloud filled the house of the Lord, ¹¹ so that the priests could not continue to minister because of the cloud, for the glory of the Lord filled the house of the Lord.

¹² Then Solomon spoke, saying, “The Lord said that He would dwell in the thick darkness. ¹³ I have surely built You a house to dwell in, a settled place for You to abide in forever.”

¹⁴ Then the king turned around and blessed all the congregation of Israel (and all the congregation of Israel stood), ¹⁵ and he said,

“Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, who spoke with His mouth to my father David and has with His hand fulfilled His word, saying, ¹⁶ ‘Since the day that I brought forth My people Israel out of Egypt, I chose no city from any tribe of Israel to build a house where My name might be praised, but I chose David to be over My people Israel.’

¹⁷ “My father David had it in mind to build a house for the name of the Lord God of Israel. ¹⁸ The Lord said to my father David, ‘Whereas it was in your heart to build a house for My name, you had good intentions. ¹⁹ Nevertheless, you shall not build the house, but your son who will come out of your loins, he shall build the house for My name.’

²⁰ “The Lord has fulfilled His word that He spoke, and I have been elevated to the position of my father David, to sit on the throne of Israel as the Lord promised, and have built a house for the name of the Lord God of Israel. ²¹ I have set a place there for the ark, which houses the covenant of the Lord which He made with our fathers when He brought them out of the land of Egypt.”

Solomon’s Prayer of Dedication^(E)

²² Then Solomon stood in front of the altar of the Lord in the presence of all the congregation of Israel and spread his hands toward heaven. ²³ and he said,

“Lord God of Israel, there is no God like You in heaven above or on earth below who keeps covenant and mercy with Your servants who walk before You with all their hearts, ²⁴ who have kept what You promised Your servant David my father. You spoke also with Your mouth and have fulfilled it with Your hand, as it is this day.

²⁵ “Therefore, Lord God of Israel, now keep what You promised Your servant David my father, saying, ‘You will not fail to have a man sit before Me on the throne of Israel, so long as your sons take heed to their way, that they walk before Me as you have walked before Me.’ ²⁶ Now, O God of Israel, let Your word, I pray, be fulfilled, which You spoke to Your servant David my father.

²⁷ “But will God indeed dwell on the earth? See, heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain You. How much less can this house that I have built? ²⁸ Yet give consideration to the prayer of Your servant and to his supplication, O Lord my God; listen to the cry and to the prayer which Your servant prays before You today, ²⁹ that Your eyes may be upon this house night and day, even toward the place of which You have said, ‘My name shall be there,’ that You may listen to the prayer which Your servant shall make toward this place. ³⁰ Please listen to the supplication of Your servant and of Your people Israel when they pray toward this place. May You hear in heaven, Your dwelling place, and when You hear, forgive.

³¹ “If any man sins against his neighbor, and an oath be laid upon him to cause him to swear, and the oath comes before Your altar in this house, ³² then may You hear in heaven and act and judge Your servants, condemning the wicked, bringing his way on his own head, and justifying the righteous, giving him according to his righteousness.

³³ “When Your people Israel are defeated by their enemies, because they have sinned against You, and they turn back to You and call upon Your name and pray and make supplication to You in this house, ³⁴ then may You hear in heaven and forgive the sin of Your people Israel and bring them again to the land which You gave to their fathers.

³⁵ “When heaven is shut up, and there is no rain, because they have sinned against You, if they pray toward this place and call upon Your name and turn from their sin when You afflict them, ³⁶ then may You hear in heaven and forgive the sin of Your servants and Your people Israel, that You may teach them the good way in which they should walk and give rain upon Your land which You have given to Your people as an inheritance.

³⁷ “When there is famine in the land, if there is plague, blight, mildew, locust, or grasshopper; if their enemy besieges them in the land of their cities; whatever plague, whatever sickness there is; ³⁸ whatever prayer, whatever supplication is made by anyone, or by all Your people Israel, each knowing the affliction of his own heart, and spreading his hands toward this house; ³⁹ then hear in heaven Your dwelling place, and forgive, and act, and render to everyone according to all his ways, whose hearts You know—for only You know the hearts of the sons of men— ⁴⁰ so that they may fear You all the days that they live in the land that You gave to our fathers.

⁴¹ “Also concerning the foreigner who is not of Your people Israel and comes from a far country for Your name’s sake ⁴² (for they will hear of Your great name and of Your strong hand and of Your outstretched arm), when he comes and prays toward this house, ⁴³ may You hear in heaven, Your dwelling place, and do all that the foreigner asks of You, so all people of the earth will know Your name, to fear You as Your people Israel do, and that they may know that this house, which I have built, is called by Your name.

⁴⁴ “If Your people go out to battle against their enemy wherever You send them, and they pray to the Lord toward the city which You have chosen and toward the house that I have built for Your name, ⁴⁵ then may You hear their prayer and supplication in heaven and maintain their cause.

⁴⁶ “If they sin against You (for there is no man who does not sin), and You get angry with them and hand them over to the enemy so that they are carried away as captives to the land of the enemy, far or near, ⁴⁷ yet when they come to their senses while in the land where they were carried captives and repent and make supplication to You, saying, ‘We have sinned and have acted perversely and have committed wickedness,’ ⁴⁸ and so return to You with all their hearts and with all their souls in the land of their enemies, who carried them away as captives, and pray to You toward their land, which You gave to their fathers, the city which You have chosen and the house which I have built for Your name, ⁴⁹ then may You hear their prayers and supplications in heaven, Your dwelling place, and maintain their cause, ⁵⁰ and forgive Your people who have sinned against You and all their transgressions which they committed against You and grant them compassion before those who carried them away as captives, so they will have compassion on them. ⁵¹ For they are Your people and Your inheritance whom You brought forth out of Egypt from the midst of the furnace of iron.

⁵² “Let Your eyes be open to the supplication of Your servant and to the supplication of Your people Israel, to listen to them regarding all for which they call upon You. ⁵³ For You did call them out from among all the people of the earth to be Your inheritance, as You spoke by the hand of Moses Your servant when You brought our fathers out of Egypt, O Lord God.”

⁵⁴ Now when Solomon finished praying this prayer and making supplication to the Lord, he arose from before the altar of the Lord, from kneeling on his knees with his hands spread up to heaven. ⁵⁵ He stood up and blessed all the congregation of Israel with a loud voice, saying,

⁵⁶ “Blessed be the Lord who has given rest to His people Israel according to all that He promised. Not one word of His promises which He gave by the hand of Moses His servant has failed. ⁵⁷ The Lord our God be with us, as He was with our fathers. Let Him neither leave us nor forsake us, ⁵⁸ that He may incline our hearts to Him, to walk in all His ways and to keep His commandments, statutes, and judgments, which He commanded our fathers. ⁵⁹ And let these my words, with which I have made supplication before the Lord, be close to the Lord our God day and night, that He will maintain the cause of His servant and the cause of His people Israel at all times as the situation demands, ⁶⁰ so that all the people of the earth may know that the Lord is God and that there is none else. ⁶¹ Let your hearts, therefore, be perfect with the Lord our God, to walk in His statutes and keep His commandments, as at this day.”

The Dedication of the Temple^(F)

⁶² The king and all Israel with him offered sacrifices before the Lord. ⁶³ Solomon offered a sacrifice of peace offerings, which he offered to the Lord, twenty-two thousand oxen and a hundred and twenty thousand sheep. So the king and all the children of Israel dedicated the house of the Lord.

⁶⁴ The same day the king consecrated the middle of the court that was in front of the house of the Lord, for there he offered burnt offerings and meat offerings and the fat of the peace offerings, because the bronze altar that was before the Lord was too little to receive the burnt offerings and meat offerings and the fat of the peace offerings.

⁶⁵ At that time, Solomon held a feast for all Israel, a great congregation, from the entry of Lebo Hamath to the Brook of Egypt, before the Lord our God, seven days and another seven days, a total of fourteen days. ⁶⁶ On the eighth day he sent the people away, and they blessed the king and went to their tents rejoicing in their hearts for all the goodness that the Lord had done for David His servant and for Israel His people.

The Lord Appears to Solomon^(G)

9 When Solomon had finished building the house of the Lord and the king’s house and all else he desired, ² the Lord appeared to Solomon a second time, as He had appeared to him at Gibeon. ³ The Lord said to him,

“I have heard your prayer and supplication, which you made before Me. I have consecrated this house which you built by putting My name there forever. And My eyes and My heart shall be there perpetually.

⁴ “If you will walk before Me, as your father David walked, in integrity of heart and uprightness, so that you are obedient to do all that I have commanded you, and will keep My statutes and My judgments, ⁵ then I will establish the throne of your kingdom upon Israel forever, just as I promised to your father David, saying, ‘You shall not fail to have a man upon the throne of Israel.’

⁶ “But if you and your sons turn in any way from following Me and do not keep My commandments and My statutes which I have set before you, but go and serve other gods and worship them, ⁷ then I will cut Israel out of the land which I have given them, and I will cast this house, which I have consecrated for My name, out of My sight, and Israel shall be a proverb and a byword among all people. ⁸ And everyone who passes by this high house will be astonished and will hiss, and they shall say, ‘Why has the Lord done this to this land, and to this house?’ ⁹ And they will answer, ‘Because they forsook the Lord their God, who brought their fathers out of the land of Egypt, and took hold of other gods and have worshipped and served them. That is why the Lord has brought all this disaster upon them.’ ”

Solomon’s Other Activities^(H)

¹⁰ When twenty years had passed since Solomon had built the two houses, the house of the Lord and the king’s house ¹¹ (now Hiram the king of Tyre had furnished Solomon with cedar and fir trees, along with gold, as he had requested), King Solomon gave Hiram twenty cities in the land of Galilee. ¹² Hiram came out from Tyre to see the cities Solomon had given him, and he was not pleased with them. ¹³ He said, “What cities are these which you have given me, my brother?” And he called them the land of Kabul to this day. ¹⁴ Hiram sent to the king one hundred and twenty talents^[ac] of gold.

¹⁵ This is the account of the forced labor which King Solomon conscripted to build the house of the Lord and his own house, Millo, the wall of Jerusalem, Hazor, Megiddo, and Gezer. ¹⁶ For Pharaoh, king of Egypt, had gone up against and conquered Gezer and burned it with fire and slain the Canaanites that lived in the city and given it as a present to his daughter, Solomon’s wife. ¹⁷ Solomon built Gezer and Lower Beth Horon ¹⁸ and Baalath and Tadmor in the wilderness, in the land, ¹⁹ and all the storage cities that Solomon had, cities for his chariots and cities for his horsemen and all that which Solomon desired to build in Jerusalem and in Lebanon and in all the land of his dominion.

²⁰ All the people who were left of the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites, who were not children of Israel, ²¹ the descendants of those who were left in the land and whom the people of Israel were not able to utterly destroy, were conscripted by Solomon for slave labor to this day. ²² But Solomon did not make any children of Israel into slaves, but instead used them as men of war, as his servants, his leaders, his captains, rulers of his chariots, and his horsemen. ²³ These were the chief officers over Solomon’s work, five hundred and fifty, who ruled over the people who did the labor.

²⁴ But Pharaoh’s daughter moved out of the City of David to her house which Solomon had built for her, and he then built Millo.

²⁵ Three times a year Solomon offered burnt offerings and peace offerings on the altar that he built to the Lord, and he burned incense on the altar that was before the Lord. So he finished the house.

²⁶ King Solomon built a fleet of ships in Ezion Geber, which is beside Elath on the shore of the Red Sea in the land of Edom. ²⁷ Hiram sent shipmen who had knowledge of the sea to serve alongside Solomon’s men. ²⁸ They went to Ophir and acquired four hundred and twenty talents^[ad] of gold there and brought it to King Solomon.

The Queen of Sheba^(I)

10 Now when the queen of Sheba heard of Solomon’s fame connected to the name of the Lord, she came to test him with hard questions. 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 not anything too difficult for the king which he could not answer. ⁴ When the queen of Sheba observed Solomon’s wisdom and the house he had built ⁵ and the meat of his table and the sitting of his servants and the attendance of his ministers and their clothing and his cupbearers and his entryway by which he went up to the house of the Lord, it took her breath away.

⁶ She said to the king, “What I heard in my own land about your acts and your wisdom was true! ⁷ I did not believe it until I came and saw it with my own eyes! In fact, I was not even told half. Your wisdom and prosperity are greater than the stories I heard! ⁸ Happy are your men, and happy are these your servants who stand continually before you and hear your wisdom! ⁹ Blessed be the Lord your God, who delighted in you and set you on the throne of Israel, because the Lord loved Israel forever; therefore He made you king in order to execute judgment and justice.”

¹⁰ She gave the king a hundred and twenty talents^[ae] of gold and a great amount of spices and precious stones. No one gave as many spices as the queen of Sheba gave to King Solomon.

¹¹ The ships of Hiram, which brought gold from Ophir, also brought from Ophir a large quantity of almug wood and precious stones. ¹² The king made pillars for the house of the Lord out of the almug trees and harps also and psalteries for singers for the king’s house. Never before had such almug wood been brought, nor has any such been seen to this day.

¹³ King Solomon gave to the queen of Sheba all she desired, no matter what she asked for, in addition to what Solomon gave her from his royal bounty. So she turned and went to her own country, she and her servants.

Solomon’s Wealth^(J)

¹⁴ Now the weight of gold that came to Solomon in one year was six hundred and sixty-six talents^[af] of gold. ¹⁵ In addition, he collected from the merchantmen and the traffic of the spice merchants and from all the kings of Arabia and the governors of the country.

¹⁶ King Solomon made two hundred large shields of beaten gold made of six hundred shekels^[ag] of gold each. ¹⁷ He made three hundred shields of beaten gold with three pounds^[ah] of gold in each shield. And the king put them in the House of the Forest of Lebanon.

¹⁸ The king also made a great throne of ivory and overlaid it with the best gold. ¹⁹ The throne had six steps, and the back of the throne was round, and there were armrests on either side of the seat with two lions standing beside the armrests. ²⁰ Twelve lions stood on the sides of the six steps, and there was no other like it in any kingdom. ²¹ All of King Solomon’s drinking cups were made of gold, and all the cups of the House of the Forest of Lebanon were made of pure gold. None were made of silver, for it was not considered valuable in the days of Solomon. ²² For the king had ships at sea at Tarshish with the ships of Hiram. Every three years the ships of Tarshish came bringing gold, silver, ivory, apes, and peacocks.

²³ So King Solomon exceeded all the kings of the earth in terms of riches and wisdom. ²⁴ All the earth came to Solomon to hear his wisdom, which God had put in his heart. ²⁵ Everyone brought an annual tribute in the form of presents, silver and gold cups, garments, armor, spices, horses, and mules.

²⁶ Solomon gathered together chariots and horsemen. He had one thousand four hundred chariots and twelve thousand horsemen whom he stationed in the cities for chariots and with the king at Jerusalem. ²⁷ The king made silver to be in Jerusalem as plentiful as stones, and he made cedars to be as plentiful as sycamore trees in the valley. ²⁸ Solomon had horses brought out of Egypt along with linen yarn. The king’s merchants received the linen yarn at a price. ²⁹ He brought chariots from Egypt at a price of six hundred shekels of silver and a horse for a hundred and fifty.^[ai] And he exported them to all the kings of the Hittites and the kings of Aram, by their means.