2 Chronicles 1-7

New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition

Solomon Requests Wisdom

1 Solomon son of David strengthened himself in his kingdom; the Lord his God was with him and made him exceedingly great.^(A)

² Solomon summoned all Israel, the commanders of the thousands and of the hundreds, the judges, and all the leaders of all Israel, the heads of families.^{(B) 3} Then Solomon and the whole assembly with him went to the high place that was at Gibeon, for God’s tent of meeting, which Moses the servant of the Lord had made in the wilderness, was there.^{(C) 4} (But David had brought the ark of God up from Kiriath-jearim to the place that David had prepared for it, for he had pitched a tent for it in Jerusalem.)^{(D) 5} Moreover, the bronze altar that Bezalel son of Uri son of Hur had made was there in front of the tabernacle of the Lord. And Solomon and the assembly inquired at it.^{(E) 6} Solomon went up there to the bronze altar before the Lord, which was at the tent of meeting, and offered a thousand burnt offerings on it.^(F)

⁷ That night God appeared to Solomon and said to him, “Ask what I should give you.”^{(G) 8} Solomon said to God, “You have shown great and steadfast love to my father David and have made me succeed him as king.^{(H) 9} O Lord God, let your promise to my father David now be fulfilled, for you have made me king over a people as numerous as the dust of the earth.^{(I) 10} Give me now wisdom and knowledge to go out and come in before this people, for who can rule this great people of yours?”^{(J) 11} God answered Solomon, “Because this was in your heart and you have not asked for possessions, wealth, honor, or the life of those who hate you and have not even asked for long life but have asked for wisdom and knowledge for yourself that you may rule my people over whom I have made you king,^{(K) 12} wisdom and knowledge are granted to you. I will also give you riches, possessions, and honor, such as none of the kings had who were before you, and none after you shall have the like.”^{(L) 13} So Solomon came from^[a] the high place at Gibeon, from the tent of meeting, to Jerusalem. And he reigned over Israel.

Solomon’s Military and Commercial Activity

¹⁴ 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.^{(M) 15} The king made silver and gold as common in Jerusalem as stone, and he made cedar as plentiful as the sycamores of the Shephelah.^{(N) 16} Solomon’s import of horses was from Egypt and Kue; the king’s traders received them from Kue at the prevailing price.^{(O) 17} They imported from Egypt (and then exported) a chariot for six hundred shekels of silver and a horse for one hundred fifty, so through them these were exported to all the kings of the Hittites and the kings of Aram.

Preparations for Building the Temple

2 ^[b]Solomon decided to build a temple for the name of the Lord and a royal palace for himself.^{(P) 2 [c]}Solomon conscripted seventy thousand laborers and eighty thousand stonecutters in the hill country, with three thousand six hundred to oversee them.^(Q)

Alliance with Huram of Tyre

³ Solomon sent word to King Huram of Tyre, “Once you dealt with my father David and sent him cedar to build himself a house to live in.^{(R) 4} I am now about to build a house for the name of the Lord my God and dedicate it to him for offering fragrant incense before him, and for the regular offering of the rows of bread, and for burnt offerings morning and evening, on the Sabbaths and the new moons and the appointed festivals of the Lord our God, as ordained forever for Israel.^{(S) 5} The house that I am about to build will be great, for our God is greater than other gods.^{(T) 6} But who is able to build him a house, since heaven, even highest heaven, cannot contain him? Who am I to build a house for him except as a place to make offerings before him?^{(U) 7} So now send me an artisan skilled to work in gold, silver, bronze, and iron and in purple, crimson, and blue fabrics, trained also in engraving, to join the skilled workers who are with me in Judah and Jerusalem, whom my father David provided.^{(V) 8} Send me also cedar, cypress, and algum timber from Lebanon, for I know that your servants are skilled in cutting Lebanon timber. My servants will work with your servants^{(W) 9} to prepare timber for me in abundance, for the house I am about to build will be great and wonderful. ¹⁰ I will provide for your servants, those who cut the timber, twenty thousand cors of crushed wheat, twenty thousand cors of barley, twenty thousand baths^[d] of wine, and twenty thousand baths^[e] of oil.”^(X)

¹¹ Then King Huram of Tyre answered in a letter that he sent to Solomon, “Because the Lord loves his people, he has made you king over them.”^{(Y) 12} Huram also said, “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, who made heaven and earth, who has given King David a wise son endowed with discretion and understanding who will build a temple for the Lord and a royal palace for himself.^(Z)

¹³ “I have dispatched Huram-abi, a skilled artisan endowed with understanding, ¹⁴ the son of one of the Danite women, his father a Tyrian. He is trained to work in gold, silver, bronze, iron, stone, and wood and in purple, blue, and crimson fabrics and fine linen and to do all sorts of engraving and execute any design that may be assigned him, with your artisans, the artisans of my lord, your father David.^{(AA) 15} Now, as for the wheat, barley, oil, and wine of which my lord has spoken, let him send them to his servants.^{(AB) 16} We will cut whatever timber you need from Lebanon and bring it to you as rafts by sea to Joppa; you will take it up to Jerusalem.”^(AC)

¹⁷ Then Solomon took a census of all the aliens who were residing in the land of Israel, after the census that his father David had taken, and there were found to be one hundred fifty-three thousand six hundred.^{(AD) 18} Seventy thousand of them he assigned as laborers, eighty thousand as stonecutters in the hill country, and three thousand six hundred as overseers to make the people work.^(AE)

Solomon Builds the Temple

3 Solomon began to build the house of the Lord in Jerusalem on Mount Moriah, where the Lord had appeared to his father David, at the place that David had designated, on the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite.^{(AF) 2} He began to build on the second day of the second month of the fourth year of his reign. ³ These are Solomon’s measurements^[f] for building the house of God: the length, in cubits of the old standard, was sixty cubits and the width twenty cubits. ⁴ The vestibule in front of the nave of the house was twenty cubits long, across the width of the house,^[g] and its height was one hundred twenty cubits. He overlaid it on the inside with pure gold. ⁵ The great hall he lined with cypress, covered it with fine gold, and made palms and chains on it.^{(AG) 6} He adorned the house with settings of precious stones. The gold was gold from Parvaim. ⁷ So he lined the house with gold: its beams, its thresholds, its walls, and its doors; and he carved cherubim on the walls.^(AH)

⁸ He made the most holy place; its length, corresponding to the width of the house, was twenty cubits, and its width was twenty cubits; he overlaid it with six hundred talents of fine gold.^{(AI) 9} The weight of the nails was fifty shekels of gold. He overlaid the upper chambers with gold.

¹⁰ In the most holy place he made two carved cherubim and overlaid^[h] them with gold.^{(AJ) 11} The wings of the cherubim together extended twenty cubits: one wing of the one, five cubits long, touched the wall of the house, and its other wing, five cubits long, touched the wing of the other cherub; ¹² and of this cherub, one wing, five cubits long, touched the wall of the house, and the other wing, also five cubits long, was joined to the wing of the first cherub. ¹³ The wings of these cherubim extended twenty cubits; the cherubim^[i] stood on their feet facing the main hall. ¹⁴ And Solomon^[j] made the curtain of blue and purple and crimson fabrics and fine linen and worked cherubim into it.^(AK)

¹⁵ In front of the house he made two pillars thirty-five cubits high, each with a capital of five cubits on its top.^{(AL) 16} He made encircling^[k] chains and put them on the tops of the pillars, and he made one hundred pomegranates and put them on the chains. ¹⁷ He set up the pillars in front of the temple, one on the right, the other on the left; the one on the right he called Jachin, and the one on the left, Boaz.^(AM)

Furnishings of the Temple

4 He made an altar of bronze, twenty cubits long, twenty cubits wide, and ten cubits high.^{(AN) 2} Then he made the molten sea; it was round, ten cubits from rim to rim and five cubits high. A line of thirty cubits would encircle it completely.^{(AO) 3} Under it were figures of bulls all around, each of ten cubits, surrounding the sea; there were two rows of bulls, cast when it was cast.^{(AP) 4} It stood on twelve bulls, three facing north, three facing west, three facing south, and three facing east; the sea was set on them. The hindquarters of each were toward the inside. ⁵ Its thickness was a handbreadth; its rim was made like the rim of a cup, like the flower of a lily; it held three thousand baths.^{[l](AQ) 6} He also made ten basins in which to wash and set five on the right side and five on the left. In these they were to rinse what was used for the burnt offering. The sea was for the priests to wash in.^(AR)

⁷ He made ten golden lampstands as prescribed and set them in the temple, five on the right side and five on the left.^{(AS) 8} He also made ten tables and placed them in the temple, five on the right side and five on the left. And he made one hundred basins of gold.^{(AT) 9} He made the court of the priests and the great court and doors for the court; he overlaid their doors with bronze.^{(AU) 10} He set the sea at the southeast corner of the house.^(AV)

¹¹ And Huram made the pots, the shovels, and the basins. Thus Huram finished the work that he did for King Solomon on the house of God:^{(AW) 12} the two pillars, the bowls, and the two capitals on the top of the pillars; and the two latticeworks to cover the two bowls of the capitals that were on the top of the pillars;^{(AX) 13} 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.^{(AY) 14} He made the stands, the basins on the stands,^{(AZ) 15} the one sea, and the twelve bulls underneath it. ¹⁶ The pots, the shovels, the forks, and all the equipment for these Huram-abi made of burnished bronze for King Solomon for the house of the Lord.^{(BA) 17} In the plain of the Jordan the king cast them, in the clay ground between Succoth and Zeredah.^{(BB) 18} Solomon made all these things in great quantities, so that the weight of the bronze was not determined.^(BC)

¹⁹ So Solomon made all the things that were in the house of God: the golden altar, the tables for the bread of the Presence,^{(BD) 20} the lampstands and their lamps of pure gold to burn before the inner sanctuary, as prescribed;^{(BE) 21} the flowers, the lamps, and the tongs, of purest gold; ²² the snuffers, basins, ladles, and firepans, of pure gold. As for the entrance to the temple: the inner doors to the most holy place and the doors of the main hall of the temple were of gold.

5 Thus all the work that Solomon did for the house of the Lord was finished. Solomon brought in the things that his father David had dedicated and stored the silver, the gold, and all the vessels in the treasuries of the house of God.^(BF)

The Ark Brought into the Temple

² Then Solomon assembled the elders of Israel and all the heads of the tribes, the leaders of the ancestral houses of the people of Israel, in Jerusalem, to bring up the ark of the covenant of the Lord out of the city of David, which is Zion.^{(BG) 3} And all the Israelites assembled before the king at the festival that is in the seventh month. ⁴ And all the elders of Israel came, and the Levites carried the ark.^{(BH) 5} So they brought up the ark, the tent of meeting, and all the holy vessels that were in the tent; the priests and the Levites brought them up. ⁶ King Solomon and all the congregation of Israel, who had assembled before him, were before the ark, sacrificing so many sheep and oxen that they could not be numbered or counted. ⁷ Then the priests brought the ark of the covenant of the Lord to its place, in the inner sanctuary of the house, in the most holy place, underneath the wings of the cherubim. ⁸ For the cherubim spread out their wings over the place of the ark, so that the cherubim made a covering above the ark and its poles. ⁹ The poles were so long that the ends of the poles were seen from the holy place^[m] in front of the inner sanctuary, but they could not be seen from outside; they are there to this day.^{(BI) 10} There was nothing in the ark except the two tablets that Moses put there at Horeb, where the Lord made a covenant^[n] with the people of Israel when they came out of Egypt.^(BJ)

¹¹ Now when the priests came out of the holy place (for all the priests who were present had sanctified themselves, without regard to their divisions),^{(BK) 12} all the Levitical singers, Asaph, Heman, and Jeduthun, their sons and kindred, arrayed in fine linen, with cymbals, harps, and lyres, stood east of the altar with one hundred twenty priests who were trumpeters.^{(BL) 13} It was the duty of the trumpeters and singers together to make themselves heard in unison in praise and thanksgiving to the Lord, and when the song was raised, with trumpets and cymbals and other musical instruments, in praise to the Lord,

the house, the house of the Lord, was filled with a cloud,^{(BM) 14} so that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud, for the glory of the Lord filled the house of God.^(BN)

Dedication of the Temple

6 Then Solomon said, “The Lord has said that he would reside in thick darkness.^{(BO) 2} I have built you an exalted house, a place for you to dwell forever.”

³ Then the king turned around and blessed all the assembly of Israel, while all the assembly of Israel stood. ⁴ And he said, “Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, who with his hand has fulfilled what he promised with his mouth to my father David, saying, ⁵ ‘Since the day that I brought my people out of the land of Egypt, I have not chosen a city from any of the tribes of Israel in which to build a house, so that my name might be there, and I chose no one as ruler over my people Israel, ⁶ but I have chosen Jerusalem in order that my name may be there, and I have chosen David to be over my people Israel.’^{(BP) 7} My father David had it in mind to build a house for the name of the Lord, the God of Israel.^{(BQ) 8} But the Lord said to my father David, ‘You did well to consider building a house for my name; ⁹ nevertheless, you shall not build the house, but your son who shall be born to you shall build the house for my name.’ ¹⁰ Now the Lord has fulfilled his promise that he made, for I have succeeded my father David and sit on the throne of Israel, as the Lord promised, and have built the house for the name of the Lord, the God of Israel. ¹¹ There I have set the ark, in which is the covenant of the Lord that he made with the people of Israel.”^(BR)

Solomon’s Prayer of Dedication

¹² Then Solomon^[o] stood before the altar of the Lord in the presence of the whole assembly of Israel and spread out his hands.^{(BS) 13} Solomon had made a bronze platform five cubits long, five cubits wide, and three cubits high and had set it in the court, and he stood on it. Then he knelt on his knees in the presence of the whole assembly of Israel and spread out his hands toward heaven.^{(BT) 14} He said, “O Lord, God of Israel, there is no God like you in heaven or on earth, keeping covenant and steadfast love with your servants who walk before you with all their heart^(BU)— ¹⁵ you who have kept for your servant, my father David, what you promised to him. Indeed, you promised with your mouth and this day have fulfilled with your hand.^{(BV) 16} Therefore, O Lord, God of Israel, keep for your servant my father David that which you promised him, saying, ‘There shall never fail you a successor before me to sit on the throne of Israel, if only your children keep to their way, to walk in my law as you have walked before me.’^{(BW) 17} Therefore, O Lord, God of Israel, let your word be confirmed that you promised to your servant David.

¹⁸ “But will God indeed dwell with mortals on earth? Even heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain you, much less this house that I have built!^{(BX) 19} Regard your servant’s prayer and his plea, O Lord my God, heeding the cry and the prayer that your servant prays to you. ²⁰ May your eyes be open day and night toward this house, the place where you promised to set your name, and may you heed the prayer that your servant prays toward this place. ²¹ And hear the plea of your servant and of your people Israel when they pray toward this place; may you hear from heaven your dwelling place; hear and forgive.^(BY)

²² “If someone sins against a neighbor and is required to take an oath and comes and swears before your altar in this house,^{(BZ) 23} may you hear from heaven, and act, and judge your servants, repaying the guilty by bringing their conduct on their own heads and vindicating the righteous by rewarding them according to their righteousness.

²⁴ “When your people Israel, having sinned against you, are defeated before an enemy but turn again to you, confess your name, pray and plead with you in this house,^{(CA) 25} then hear from heaven, forgive the sin of your people Israel, and bring them again to the land that you gave to them and to their ancestors.

²⁶ “When heaven is shut up and there is no rain because they have sinned against you and then they pray toward this place, confess your name, and turn from their sin because you punish them,^{(CB) 27} then hear in heaven and forgive the sin of your servants, your people Israel, when you teach them the good way in which they should walk, and grant rain on your land, which you have given to your people as an inheritance.

²⁸ “If there is famine in the land, if there is plague, blight, mildew, locust, or caterpillar; if their enemies besiege them in any of the settlements of the lands; whatever suffering, whatever sickness there is;^{(CC) 29} whatever prayer, whatever plea there is from any individual or from all your people Israel, all knowing their own suffering and their own sorrows so that they stretch out their hands toward this house; ³⁰ then hear from heaven, your dwelling place, forgive, and render to all whose hearts you know, according to all their ways, for only you know the human heart.^{(CD) 31} Thus may they fear you and walk in your ways all the days that they live in the land that you gave to our ancestors.

³² “Likewise when foreigners, who are not of your people Israel, come from a distant land because of your great name and your mighty hand and your outstretched arm, when they come and pray toward this house,^{(CE) 33} then hear from heaven your dwelling place and do whatever the foreigners ask of you, so that all the peoples of the earth may know your name and fear you, as do your people Israel, and so they may know that your name has been invoked on this house that I have built.^(CF)

³⁴ “If your people go out to battle against their enemies, by whatever way you shall send them, and they pray to you toward this city that you have chosen and the house that I have built for your name, ³⁵ then hear from heaven their prayer and their plea and maintain their cause.

³⁶ “If they sin against you—for there is no one who does not sin—and you are angry with them and give them to an enemy, so that they are carried away captive to a land far off or near,^{(CG) 37} then if they come to their senses in the land to which they have been taken captive and repent and plead with you in the land of their captivity, saying, ‘We have sinned and have done wrong; we have acted wickedly,’^{(CH) 38} if they repent with all their heart and soul in the land of their captivity, to which they were taken captive, and pray toward their land that you gave to their ancestors, the city that you have chosen, and the house that I have built for your name, ³⁹ then hear from heaven your dwelling place their prayer and their pleas, maintain their cause, and forgive your people who have sinned against you. ⁴⁰ Now, O my God, let your eyes be open and your ears attentive to prayer from this place.^(CI)

Solomon Dedicates the Temple

7 When Solomon had ended his prayer, fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices, and the glory of the Lord filled the temple.^{(CK) 2} The priests could not enter the house of the Lord because the glory of the Lord filled the Lord’s house. ³ When all the people of Israel saw the fire come down and the glory of the Lord on the temple, they bowed down on the pavement with their faces to the ground and worshiped and gave thanks to the Lord, saying,

⁴ Then the king and all the people offered sacrifice before the Lord.^{(CM) 5} King Solomon offered as a sacrifice twenty-two thousand oxen and one hundred twenty thousand sheep. So the king and all the people dedicated the house of God. ⁶ The priests stood at their posts, the Levites also, with the instruments for music to the Lord that King David had made for giving thanks to the Lord—for his steadfast love endures forever—whenever David offered praises through their playing. Opposite them the priests sounded trumpets, and all Israel stood.^(CN)

⁷ Solomon consecrated the middle of the court that was in front of the house of the Lord, for there he offered the burnt offerings and the fat of the offerings of well-being because the bronze altar Solomon had made could not hold the burnt offering and the grain offering and the fat parts.^(CO)

⁸ At that time Solomon held the festival for seven days, and all Israel with him, a very great congregation, from Lebo-hamath to the Wadi of Egypt.^{(CP) 9} On the eighth day they held a solemn assembly, for they had observed the dedication of the altar seven days and the festival seven days.^{(CQ) 10} On the twenty-third day of the seventh month he sent the people away to their homes, joyful and in good spirits because of the goodness that the Lord had shown to David and to Solomon and to his people Israel.^(CR)

¹¹ Thus Solomon finished the house of the Lord and the king’s house; all that Solomon had planned to do in the house of the Lord and in his own house he successfully accomplished.^(CS)

God’s Second Appearance to Solomon

¹² Then the Lord appeared to Solomon in the night and said to him, “I have heard your prayer and have chosen this place for myself as a house of sacrifice.^{(CT) 13} When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain or command the locust to devour the land or send pestilence among my people,^{(CU) 14} if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, pray, seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.^{(CV) 15} Now my eyes will be open and my ears attentive to the prayer that is made in this place.^{(CW) 16} For now I have chosen and consecrated this house so that my name may be there forever; my eyes and my heart will be there for all time.^{(CX) 17} As for you, if you walk before me as your father David walked, doing according to all that I have commanded you and keeping my statutes and my ordinances,^{(CY) 18} then I will establish your royal throne, as I made a covenant^[p] with your father David saying, ‘You shall never lack a successor to rule over Israel.’^(CZ)

¹⁹ “But if you^[q] turn aside and forsake my statutes and my commandments that I have set before you and go and serve other gods and worship them,^{(DA) 20} then I will pluck you^[r] up from the land that I have given you,^[s] and this house, which I have consecrated for my name, I will cast out of my sight and will make it a proverb and a byword among all peoples.^{(DB) 21} And regarding this house, now exalted, everyone passing by will be astonished and say, ‘Why has the Lord done such a thing to this land and to this house?’^{(DC) 22} Then they will say, ‘Because they abandoned the Lord the God of their ancestors who brought them out of the land of Egypt, and they embraced other gods and worshiped them and served them; therefore he has brought all this calamity upon them.’ ”