He asked some men who lived there, ‘Where is the temple prostitute who sat by the road at Enaim?’ But the men said, ‘There has not been any prostitute here.’

So Hirah went back to Judah, with the goat. He told him, ‘I did not find her. The men who lived there said, “There has not been any temple prostitute here.” ’

You must not bring the money that people pay to these prostitutes into the Lord's temple. Do not use it to offer a gift that you have promised to the Lord your God. He hates prostitutes, both men and women.

So they gave him 70 pieces of silver from the temple of their god, Baal-Berith. Abimelech used this money to pay some wicked men to help him.

They went out of the city to pick grapes in their fields. They squeezed the grapes to make wine. They went to the temple of their god and they had a party. They ate a lot of food and they drank a lot of wine. At their party, they cursed Abimelech.

The city's leaders who lived in the tower of Shechem heard the news. They went to hide in the strong building of El-berith's temple.

Somebody told Abimelech that all the leaders were there together in the temple.

The people were very happy at the feast. They shouted, ‘Bring Samson here for us to see him! He can help us to enjoy our party.’ So they brought Samson out of the prison. The people were happy to see him. They made him stand between the pillars of the temple.

A young man held Samson's hand to lead him. Samson said to him, ‘Put me where I can touch the pillars which hold up the temple's roof. I want to rest my body on them.’

The temple was full of men and women, as well as all the Philistine rulers. About 3,000 people were on the roof as they watched Samson. They were laughing at him.

Samson shouted out, ‘Let me die with the Philistines!’ Then he pushed the pillars with all his strength. The temple fell down on the rulers and all the other people in it. In that way, Samson killed more people as he died than he had killed while he lived.

Hannah and Eli

One day they had offered sacrifices at Shiloh. They had finished eating and drinking. Hannah stood up to pray to God. Eli the priest was sitting on his chair beside the door of the Lord's temple.

They carried it into the temple of Dagon, their god. They put the box next to the idol of Dagon.

The next morning, they got up early again. They saw that Dagon had fallen down in front of the Lord's Covenant Box again! His head and both his hands had broken off. They were lying on the step of the temple's door. Only his body remained together.

Because of that, even today Dagon's priests and other people never walk on the step of Dagon's temple in Ashdod.

They cut off Saul's head and they removed his armour. Then they sent men through all the country of the Philistines with the news of Saul's death. These men told the news everywhere that the Philistine people lived and in the temples of their idols.

They put Saul's armour in the temple of their god Ashtoreth. Then they hung Saul's dead body on the wall of Beth Shan town.

Solomon asks for wisdom

Solomon made an agreement with Pharaoh, who was the king of Egypt. Solomon married Pharaoh's daughter. He brought her to live in the City of David. She lived there until Solomon could finish building his own house, the Lord's temple, and the wall around Jerusalem.

Because there was not yet a temple where people could give honour to the Lord, they offered sacrifices at altars in other places.

Solomon prepares to build the temple

Hiram was the king of Tyre. He heard that Solomon had become king of Israel after his father David. Hiram had always been a friend of King David, so he sent his men to say ‘hello’ to Solomon.

‘You know that my father David could not build a temple for the Lord his God. This was because he had to fight battles against enemies that were all around Israel. He did that until the Lord helped him to win against all of them.

So I have decided to build a temple to give honour to the Lord my God. The Lord said to my father David, “I will put your son on your throne to rule as king after you. He will build a temple for people to give honour to my name.”

The king commanded the workers to cut large pieces of stone from the rocks. They cut the best stones into the right shape to build the foundation of the temple.

Solomon's men and Hiram's men worked together with men from Gebal. They cut the stones and the wood and they prepared them to build the temple.

Solomon builds the temple

Solomon began to build the Lord's temple 480 years after the Israelites had left Egypt. It was in the fourth year that he had ruled Israel as king. He started the work in the month called Ziv, the second month of the year.