-
I. The Reign of Solomon
Chapter 1
Solomon at Gibeon. Solomon, son of David, strengthened his hold on the kingdom, for the Lord, his God, was with him, making him ever greater.
-
David had, however, brought up the ark of God from Kiriath-jearim to Jerusalem, where he had provided a place and pitched a tent for it;
-
Solomon answered God: “You have shown great favor to David my father, and you have made me king to succeed him.
-
Now, Lord God, may your word to David my father be confirmed, for you have made me king over a people as numerous as the dust of the earth.
-
Moreover, Solomon sent this message to Huram, king of Tyre: “As you dealt with David my father, and sent him cedars to build a house for his dwelling—
-
Now, send me men skilled at work in gold, silver, bronze, and iron, in purple, crimson, and violet fabrics, and who know how to do engraved work, to join the skilled craftsmen who are with me in Judah and Jerusalem, whom David my father appointed.
-
He added: “Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, who made heaven and earth, for having given King David a wise son of intelligence and understanding, who will build a house for the Lord and also his own royal house.
-
son of a Danite woman and of a father from Tyre; he knows how to work with gold, silver, bronze, and iron, with stone and wood, with purple, violet, fine linen, and crimson, and also how to do all kinds of engraved work and to devise every type of design that may be given him and your craftsmen and the craftsmen of my lord David your father.
-
Thereupon Solomon took a census of all the alien men resident in the land of Israel (following the census David his father had taken of them); they were found to number one hundred fifty-three thousand six hundred.
-
Chapter 3
Building of the Temple. Then Solomon began to build the house of the Lord in Jerusalem on Mount Moriah, which had been shown to David his father, in the place David had prepared, the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite.
-
Chapter 5
Dedication of the Temple. When all the work undertaken by Solomon for the house of the Lord was completed, he brought in the votive offerings of David his father, putting the silver, the gold, and other articles in the treasuries of the house of God.
-
Then Solomon assembled the elders of Israel and all the heads of the tribes, the princes in the ancestral houses of the Israelites, to Jerusalem to bring up the ark of the Lord’s covenant from the City of David, which is Zion.
-
He said: “Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, who with his own mouth spoke a promise to David my father and by his hand fulfilled it, saying:
-
but now I have chosen Jerusalem, that my name may be there, and I have chosen David to rule my people Israel.
-
When David my father wished to build a house for the name of the Lord, the God of Israel,
-
“Now the Lord has fulfilled the word he spoke. I have succeeded David my father, and I sit on the throne of Israel, as the Lord has said, and I have built this house for the name of the Lord, the God of Israel.
-
the covenant that you kept toward your servant, David my father. That which you promised him, your mouth has spoken and your hand has fulfilled this very day.
-
And now, Lord, God of Israel, keep toward your servant, David my father, what you promised: There shall never be wanting someone from your line to sit before me on the throne of Israel, provided that your descendants keep to their way, walking by my law, as you have.
-
Now, Lord, God of Israel, may the words which you spoke to David your servant be confirmed.
-
Lord God, do not reject the plea of your anointed, remember the devotion of David, your servant.”
-
The priests were standing at their stations, as were the Levites, with the musical instruments of the Lord which King David had made to give thanks to the Lord, “whose love endures forever,” when David offered praise through them. The priests opposite them blew the trumpets and all Israel stood.
-
On the twenty-third day of the seventh month he dismissed the people to their tents, rejoicing and glad of heart because of all the blessings the Lord had given to David, to Solomon, and to his people Israel.
-
As for you, if you walk before me as David your father did, doing all that I have commanded you and keeping my statutes and ordinances,
-
I will establish the throne of your kingship as I covenanted with David your father when I said, There shall never be wanting someone from your line as ruler in Israel.
-
Solomon’s Piety. Solomon brought the daughter of Pharaoh up from the City of David to the house which he had built for her, for he said, “No wife of mine shall dwell in the house of David, king of Israel, for the places where the ark of the Lord has come are holy.”