Beginning

David’s Charge to Israel

28 Then David assembled all the commanders of Israel, the commanders of the tribes and the commanders of working groups who served the king, and the commanders of thousands, the commanders of hundreds, and the commanders over all the property of the king and his sons, with the court officials and mighty warriors, and all the mighty warriors of ability, at Jerusalem. ² And King David rose to his feet and said, “Listen to me, my brothers and my people. I myself wanted^[a] to build a house of rest for the ark of the covenant of Yahweh and the footstool of our God, and I prepared to build. ³ But God said to me, ‘You may not build a house for my name because you are a man of war, and you have shed blood.’ ⁴ But Yahweh the God of Israel chose me from all of the house of my father to be king over Israel forever, for he chose Judah as leader, and in the house of Judah, the house of my father, and among the sons of my father he took pleasure in me to reign over all Israel. ⁵ And from all my sons—for Yahweh has given many sons to me—he has chosen Solomon my son to sit on the throne of the kingdom of Yahweh over Israel. ⁶ And he said to me, ‘Solomon your son, he himself shall build my house and my courts, for I have chosen him as a son to myself, and I myself will be as a father to him, ⁷ and I will establish his kingdom forever if he firmly performs^[b] my commandments and my judgments as he has to this day.’ ⁸ So now in the sight of all Israel, the assembly of Yahweh, and in the hearing of our God, observe and seek all the commandments of Yahweh your God so that you may take possession of this good land and bestow it as an inheritance to your children after you forever.”

David’s Charge to Solomon

⁹ “And you, Solomon my son, know the God of your father and serve him with a whole heart and a willing mind, for Yahweh searches all hearts and understands every plan and all thoughts. If you seek him, he will be found by you, but if you abandon him, he will reject you forever. ¹⁰ Look now, for Yahweh has chosen you to build a house for the sanctuary; be strong and do it!”

¹¹ Then David gave to Solomon his son the plan of the vestibule and of its houses, its treasuries, its upper rooms, its inner chambers, and of the house of the lid of the ark, ¹² and the plan of all that he had in mind^[c] for the courtyards of the house of Yahweh and for all the surrounding storage rooms, the treasuries of the house of God, and the treasuries for sanctified objects, ¹³ and for the working groups of the priests and the Levites, and for all the work of the service of the house of Yahweh, and for all the vessels for the service of the house of Yahweh, ¹⁴ and for the gold, according to the weight of the gold for all the vessels of the service, and the service of all the vessels of silver according to the weight of all the vessels for every kind of service.^{[d] 15} And the weight of the golden lampstands and the golden lamps, the weight of each lampstand and each lamp,^[e] and the silver according to the weight of a lampstand and its lamp, according to the use of each lampstand,^{[f] 16} and the weight of gold for the tables of the arranged bread, each table,^[g] and silver for the tables of silver, ¹⁷ and pure gold for the three-pronged meat forks, and the bowls and the pitchers, and for the golden bowls, by weight for each bowl,^[h] and for the silver bowls, by weight for each bowl,^{[i] 18} and for the altar of incense made of refined gold, by weight, and gold for the plan for the chariot—the cherubim with outspread and covering wings over the ark of the covenant of Yahweh. ¹⁹ “All this I give you in writing; from the hand of Yahweh he instructed me about all the workings of this plan.”

²⁰ Then David said to Solomon his son, “Be strong and courageous, and do this! Do not be afraid and do not be dismayed, for Yahweh God, my God, is with you. He will not fail you and will not forsake you until all the work of the service of the house of Yahweh is finished. ²¹ And behold, the working groups of the priests and the Levites for all the service of the house of God; and with you in all the work for all those willing with the skill for every service, and the commanders and all the people for all your commands.”

Offerings for the Temple

29 Then David the king said to all the assembly, “God has chosen Solomon my son alone, a young man and inexperienced, and the work is great, for the citadel is not for humankind, but for Yahweh God. ² So I have provided for the house of my God according to all my strength, the gold for the things of gold, the silver for the things of silver, the bronze for the things of bronze, the iron for the things of iron, and the wood for the things of wood, along with an abundance of onyx stones, stones for settings, stones of turquoise, and variegated stones, and all kinds of precious stones and alabaster stones. ³ And moreover, with respect to my provisions for the house of my God I have a treasure of gold and silver that I have given to the house of my God above all that I have provided for the holy house: ⁴ three thousand talents of gold from the gold of Ophir and seven thousand talents of refined silver to overlay the walls of the houses, ⁵ gold for the golden things and silver for the silver things, for all the work by the hand of skilled craftsmen. Now who will offer willingly, consecrating himself^[j] today to Yahweh?”

⁶ Then the commanders of the families,^[k] the commanders of the tribes of Israel, and the commanders of thousands and hundreds, and the commanders of the work of the king offered themselves willingly. ⁷ And they gave for the service of the house of God five thousand talents and ten thousand darics of gold, ten thousand talents of silver, eighteen thousand talents of bronze, and one hundred thousand talents of iron. ⁸ And whoever had precious stones gave them to the treasury of the house of Yahweh under the authority^[l] of Jehiel the Gershonite. ⁹ And the people rejoiced over their freewill offering, for with a whole heart they had willingly offered to Yahweh, and King David also rejoiced with great joy.

¹⁰ Then David blessed Yahweh in the sight of all the assembly, and David said, “Blessed are you, O Yahweh, God of Israel, our father forever and ever! ¹¹ To you, O Yahweh, is the greatness and the power and the splendor and the glory and the strength, for everything in the heavens and in the earth. Yours, O Yahweh, is the kingdom and exaltation over all as head! ¹² And wealth and glory are from you, and you rule over all. And in your hand is power and might. And in your hand is power to make great and to give strength to all. ¹³ And now, our God, we give thanks to you and offer praise to the name of your splendor. ¹⁴ And indeed, who am I, and who are my people that we retain power to offer according to these offerings willingly? For everything is from you, and from your hand we have given to you. ¹⁵ For we are strangers before you and sojourners like all our ancestors.^[m] Our days are like the shadow upon earth, and there is no hope of abiding. ¹⁶ O Yahweh our God, all this abundance that we have provided to build for you a house for your holy name is from your hand, and all of it is yours. ¹⁷ And I know, my God, that you yourself test the heart and are pleased with uprightness. I, in the uprightness of my heart, have willingly offered all these things, and now I have seen your people who are found here willingly offer to you. ¹⁸ O Yahweh, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, our ancestors,^[n] keep this forever as a plan and thoughts of the heart of your people, and establish their heart toward you. ¹⁹ Grant to Solomon my son a heart of peace to keep your commands, your statutes, and your regulations to do everything, and to build the citadel for which I have provided.” ²⁰ And David said to all the assembly, “Bless Yahweh your God!” And all the assembly blessed Yahweh, the God of their ancestors.^[o] And they bowed down and prostrated themselves before Yahweh and the king.

Solomon’s Coronation

²¹ And they offered sacrifices to Yahweh, and on that next day they offered burnt offerings to Yahweh: one thousand bulls, one thousand rams, one thousand lambs, with their libations and sacrifices in abundance for all Israel. ²² And they ate and drank before Yahweh on that day with great joy. And they made Solomon the son of David king the second time, and they anointed him commander for Yahweh, and Zadok the priest.

²³ Then Solomon sat upon the throne of Yahweh as king in place of David his father. And he prospered, and all Israel obeyed him. ²⁴ And all the officials and mighty warriors, and also all the sons of King David, pledged allegiance to^[p] King Solomon. ²⁵ And Yahweh made Solomon exceedingly great in the sight of all Israel, and he bestowed upon him royal splendor that was not bestowed upon any king before him in Israel.

The Death of King David

²⁶ And David the son of Jesse reigned over all Israel. ²⁷ And the days that he reigned over Israel were forty years. In Hebron he reigned seven years, and in Jerusalem he reigned thirty-three years. ²⁸ And he died in a good old age, full of days, wealth, and honor. And Solomon his son reigned in his place. ²⁹ Now the words of King David, from the first to the last, see, they are written among the words of Samuel the seer, and among the words of Nathan the prophet, and among the words of Gad the seer, ³⁰ with all the accounts of his kingdom, his power, and the times that came upon him, and upon Israel, and upon all the kingdoms of the earth.

Solomon Worships at Gibeon

1 And Solomon the son of David strengthened himself concerning his kingdom, and Yahweh his God was with him and made him exceedingly great. ² And Solomon spoke to all Israel, to the commanders of thousands and of hundreds, and to the judges, and to all the leaders for all Israel, the heads of the families.^{[a] 3} And Solomon and the whole assembly with him went to the high place that was at Gibeon, for the tent of assembly^[b] of God that Moses the servant of Yahweh had made in the desert was there. ⁴ (But the ark of God David had brought up from Kiriath-Jearim to the place David had prepared for it, for David had pitched a tent for it in Jerusalem.) ⁵ And the bronze altar that Bezalel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, had made was there before the tabernacle of Yahweh. And Solomon and the assembly sought it out. ⁶ And Solomon went up there to the bronze altar before Yahweh, which was at the tent of assembly,^[c] and he offered upon it a thousand burnt offerings.

Solomon’s Prayer for Wisdom

⁷ On that night God appeared to Solomon and said to him, “Ask what I shall give to you.” ⁸ Then Solomon said to God, “You yourself have shown steadfast^[d] loyal love to David my father and have made me king in his place. ⁹ Now, O Yahweh God, let your word to David my father be fulfilled, for you yourself have made me king over a people as numerous as the dust of the earth. ¹⁰ Now, give to me wisdom and knowledge that I may go out and come in before this people, for who can judge this, your great people?”

¹¹ Then God said to Solomon, “Because this was with your heart and you did not ask for wealth, possessions, honor, and the lives of your enemies, and also did not ask for long life,^[e] but have asked for wisdom and knowledge that you might judge my people over whom I have made you king, ¹² wisdom and knowledge is given to you. And I will also give to you wealth, possessions, and honor, the like of which was not had by the kings who were before you, nor will there be the like after you.” ¹³ So Solomon went from the high place which was at Gibeon to Jerusalem before the tent of assembly.^[f] And he reigned over Israel.

Solomon’s Wealth

¹⁴ And Solomon gathered chariots and horsemen. And he had one thousand four hundred chariots and twelve thousand horsemen, and he placed them in the chariot cities and with the king in Jerusalem. ¹⁵ And the king made silver and gold in Jerusalem like the stones. And he made cedar as abundant as the sycamore fig trees that were in the Shephelah. ¹⁶ And Solomon’s horses were imported from Egypt and from Kue. The traders of the king received them from Kue at a price. ¹⁷ They went up and exported a chariot from Egypt for six hundred shekels of silver and a horse for one hundred and fifty shekels. And these were likewise exported^[g] to all the kings of the Hittites and the kings of Aram.^[h]