2 Chronicles 7-9

Evangelical Heritage Version

The Dedication of the Temple

7 When Solomon finished praying, fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices. The Glory of the Lord filled the house. ² The priests were not able to go into the House of the Lord because the Glory of the Lord filled the House of the Lord. ³ When all the people of Israel saw the fire coming down and the Glory of the Lord over the house, they bowed to the ground with their faces on the pavement, and they worshipped, giving thanks to the Lord:

⁴ The king and all the people were offering sacrifices before the Lord. ⁵ King Solomon offered a sacrifice of twenty-two thousand cattle and one hundred twenty thousand sheep. The king and all the people dedicated the House of God.

⁶ The priests stood at their assigned positions. The Levites, using the musical instruments for the Lord, which King David had made to give thanks to the Lord because his mercy endures forever, were offering the praises written by David. The priests who blew the trumpets stood across from them. All Israel was standing there.

⁷ Solomon consecrated the center of the courtyard that was in front of the Lord’s house, so that he could present the burnt offerings and the fat of the fellowship offerings there, because the bronze altar which Solomon had made was not large enough to hold the burnt offerings, the grain offerings, and the fat from the fellowship offerings.

⁸ At that time Solomon celebrated the festival^[a] for seven days, and all Israel was with him, a very large assembly of people, who had come from as far away as Lebo Hamath and the Stream of Egypt. ⁹ On the eighth day they held a solemn assembly, because they had spent seven days on the dedication of the altar and on the festival. ¹⁰ On the twenty-third day of the seventh month, Solomon sent the people to their homes. When they left, they were joyful, and their hearts were glad because of the good things which the Lord had done for David, for Solomon, and for his people Israel.

¹¹ Solomon completed the Lord’s house and the king’s house. Solomon accomplished everything that was on his heart, everything he wanted to accomplish for the house for the Lord and for the house for the king.

The Lord Renews His Promises to Solomon

¹² Then the Lord appeared to Solomon at night and said to him:

Solomon’s Other Accomplishments

8 At the end of the twenty years during which Solomon had built the house of the Lord and his own house, ² Solomon also rebuilt^[b] the cities that Huram had given to him, and he settled Israelites in them.

³ Solomon went to Hamath Zobah and seized it. ⁴ He built Tadmor in the wilderness and all the towns for storehouses in Hamath. ⁵ He built Upper Beth Horon and Lower Beth Horon as fortified cities with walls and barred gates. ⁶ He also built Baalath, all the towns for storehouses which belonged to him, and all the cities which housed the chariots and the charioteers. Solomon built everything he desired in Jerusalem, in Lebanon, and in all the land of his kingdom.

⁷ All the people who remained from the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, who were not part of the people of Israel— ⁸ their descendants remaining in the land, who had not been completely destroyed by Israel—were drafted for forced labor by Solomon. They are serving right up to this day. ⁹ But Solomon did not press the people of Israel into service. Rather, they were soldiers, leaders among his officers, and commanders of his chariots and charioteers.

¹⁰ There were two hundred fifty^[c] leaders of King Solomon’s officials who exercised authority over the people.

¹¹ Solomon brought Pharaoh’s daughter up from the City of David to the house which he had built for her, because he said, “My wife will not live in the house of David, king of Israel, because those places to which the Ark of the Lord has come are holy.”

¹² At that time Solomon offered whole burnt offerings to the Lord on the altar of the Lord, which he had built in front of the porch, ¹³ in keeping with the day-by-day requirement for burnt offerings commanded by Moses for the sabbaths, for the new moons, and for the appointed festivals three times during the year, namely, the Festival of Unleavened Bread, the Festival of Weeks, and the Festival of Shelters.

¹⁴ He appointed the divisions of the priests to serve according to the regulations of his father David, as well as the Levites for their offices of praise and service in the presence of the priests, in keeping with each day’s requirement. He also appointed the gatekeepers by their divisions, gate by gate, because this was the command of David, the man of God. ¹⁵ They did not turn aside from the king’s command for the priests and the Levites concerning any matter, including the treasuries.

¹⁶ So all Solomon’s work was accomplished, from the day that the foundation of the Lord’s house was laid until its completion. So the House of the Lord was finished.

¹⁷ Then Solomon went to Ezion Geber and to Elat on the shore of the sea in the land of Edom. ¹⁸ Huram sent him ships and experienced crews, who knew the sea. They were under the direction of his officers. They went to Ophir with Solomon’s crews, and from there they obtained four hundred fifty talents^[d] of gold and brought it to King Solomon.

The Queen of Sheba Visits Solomon

9 The Queen of Sheba heard about Solomon’s fame, so she came to Jerusalem to test Solomon with difficult questions. She came with a very great entourage,^[e] with camels carrying spices, a large quantity of gold, and precious stones. She came to Solomon and spoke with him about everything that was on her heart.

² Solomon answered all her questions. There was nothing hidden from Solomon that he could not explain to her.

³ When the Queen of Sheba saw the wisdom of Solomon, the house which he had built, ⁴ the food on his table, the council meeting of his officials, the careful attention of his ministers and their attire, also his cupbearers and their attire, and the passageway by which he went up to the House of the Lord,^[f] it took her breath away.

⁵ She said to the king, “The report I heard in my land about your accomplishments^[g] and about your wisdom is true. ⁶ I did not believe the report, until I came and saw it with my own eyes. Now I find that I was not informed about even half of the greatness of your wisdom. You surpass the report that I heard. ⁷ Blessed are your men! Blessed are your servants, who continually stand before you and hear your wisdom!

⁸ “Blessed be the Lord your God, who has been delighted with you and has placed you on his throne as king to serve the Lord your God. Because of your God’s love for Israel and his purpose of establishing Israel forever, he has placed you over them as king to administer justice and righteousness.”

⁹ Then she gave the king one hundred twenty talents^[h] of gold, a very great quantity of spices and incense,^[i] and precious stones. There was nothing comparable to these spices and incense that the Queen of Sheba gave to King Solomon.

¹⁰ In addition, the servants of Huram and Solomon who brought gold from Ophir also brought algum^[j] wood and precious stones. ¹¹ The king made the algum wood into steps^[k] for the Lord’s house and for the house of the king and into lyres and harps for the singers. Nothing like them had ever been seen before in the land of Judah.

¹² King Solomon gave the Queen of Sheba everything she desired, whatever she asked for, more than what she had brought to the king. Then she returned to her land along with her servants.

Solomon’s Wealth

¹³ The weight of the gold that came to Solomon in one year was six hundred sixty-six talents,^{[l] 14} not counting what the traders and merchants were bringing. All the kings of Arabia and the governors of the land also kept bringing gold and silver to Solomon.

¹⁵ King Solomon made two hundred large shields of hammered gold. Seven and a half pounds^[m] of hammered gold went into each shield. ¹⁶ He made three hundred small shields of hammered gold. Almost four pounds^[n] of gold went into each shield. The king put them in the House of the Forest of Lebanon.

¹⁷ The king made a large ivory throne and overlaid it with pure gold. ¹⁸ There were six steps up to the throne. A golden footstool was attached to the throne, and there were armrests on either side of the seat. There were two lions standing beside the armrests ¹⁹ and twelve lions standing on the steps, one on each end of each step. Nothing like it had ever been made for any kingdom.

²⁰ All of King Solomon’s drinking vessels were gold. All the utensils in the House of the Forest of Lebanon were pure gold.^[o] Silver was not thought to be worth anything in the days of Solomon, ²¹ because the king’s ships would go to Tarshish^[p] with the servants of Huram, and once every three years the Tarshish ships would return, bringing gold, silver, ivory, monkeys, and peacocks.^[q]

²² King Solomon was greater than all the kings of the earth in wealth and wisdom. ²³ All the kings of the earth were seeking an audience with Solomon to hear his wisdom, which God had put in his heart. ²⁴ Each of them would bring his gift: articles of silver and gold, clothing, scents,^[r] spices, horses, and mules, year after year.

²⁵ Solomon had four thousand teams^[s] of horses and chariots and twelve thousand charioteers. He stationed them in the chariot cities and in Jerusalem with him.

²⁶ He was ruling over all the kings from the Euphrates to the land of the Philistines, to the border of Egypt.

²⁷ The king made silver in Jerusalem as plentiful as ordinary stones, and the cedars were like the sycamore fig trees, which are so abundant in the Shephelah.^[t]

²⁸ Horses were imported for Solomon from Egypt and from all the lands.

The Death of Solomon

²⁹ The rest of the acts of Solomon, from the first to the last, are they not written in the records of Nathan the prophet, in the prophecy of Ahijah from Shiloh, and in the visions of Iddo the seer about Jeroboam son of Nebat?

³⁰ Solomon ruled in Jerusalem and over all Israel for forty years, ³¹ and then Solomon rested with his fathers and was buried in the city of his father David. His son Rehoboam became king in his place.