The Daily Audio Bible

King Solomon Prays for Wisdom^(A)

1 Solomon, the son of King David, took firm control of the kingdom of Israel, and the Lord his God blessed him and made him very powerful.

² King Solomon gave an order to all the officers in charge of units of a thousand men and of a hundred men, all the government officials, all the heads of families, and all the rest of the people, ³ commanding them to go with him to the place of worship at Gibeon. They went there because that was where the Tent of the Lord's presence was located, which Moses, the Lord's servant, had made in the wilderness. (^4 (B)The Covenant Box, however, was in Jerusalem, kept in a tent which King David had set up when he brought the Box from Kiriath Jearim.) ^5 (C)The bronze altar which had been made by Bezalel, the son of Uri and grandson of Hur, was also in Gibeon in front of the Tent of the Lord's presence. King Solomon and all the people worshiped the Lord there. ⁶ In front of the Tent the king worshiped the Lord by offering sacrifices on the bronze altar; he had a thousand animals killed and burned whole on it.

⁷ That night God appeared to Solomon and asked, “What would you like me to give you?”

⁸ Solomon answered, “You always showed great love for my father David, and now you have let me succeed him as king. ^9 (D)O Lord God, fulfill the promise you made to my father. You have made me king over a people who are so many that they cannot be counted, ¹⁰ so give me the wisdom and knowledge I need to rule over them. Otherwise, how would I ever be able to rule this great people of yours?”

¹¹ God replied to Solomon, “You have made the right choice. Instead of asking for wealth or treasure or fame or the death of your enemies or even for long life for yourself, you have asked for wisdom and knowledge so that you can rule my people, over whom I have made you king. ¹² I will give you wisdom and knowledge. And in addition, I will give you more wealth, treasure, and fame than any king has ever had before or will ever have again.”

King Solomon's Power and Wealth^(E)

¹³ So Solomon left^[a] the place of worship at Gibeon, where the Tent of the Lord's presence was, and returned to Jerusalem. There he ruled over Israel. ^14 (F)He built up a force of fourteen hundred chariots and twelve thousand cavalry horses. Some of them he kept in Jerusalem, and the rest he stationed in various other cities. ¹⁵ During his reign silver and gold became as common in Jerusalem as stone, and cedar was as plentiful as ordinary sycamore in the foothills of Judah. ^16 (G)The king's agents controlled the export of horses from Musri^[b] and Cilicia,^{[c] 17} and the export of chariots from Egypt. They supplied the Hittite and Syrian kings with horses and chariots, selling chariots for 600 pieces of silver each and horses for 150 each.^[d]

Preparations for Building the Temple^(H)

2 King Solomon decided to build a temple where the Lord would be worshiped, and also to build a palace for himself. ² He put 70,000 men to work transporting materials, and 80,000 to work cutting stone in the hill country. There were 3,600 others responsible for supervising the work.

³ Solomon sent a message to King Hiram of Tyre: “Do business with me as you did with my father, King David, when you sold him cedar logs for building his palace. ⁴ I am building a temple to honor the Lord my God. It will be a holy place where my people and I will worship him by burning incense of fragrant spices, where we will present offerings of sacred bread to him continuously, and where we will offer burnt offerings every morning and evening, as well as on Sabbaths, New Moon Festivals, and other holy days honoring the Lord our God. He has commanded Israel to do this forever. ⁵ I intend to build a great temple, because our God is greater than any other god. ^6 (I)Yet no one can really build a temple for God, because even all the vastness of heaven cannot contain him. How then can I build a temple that would be anything more than a place to burn incense to God? ⁷ Now send me a man with skill in engraving, in working gold, silver, bronze, and iron, and in making blue, purple, and red cloth. He will work with the craftsmen of Judah and Jerusalem whom my father David selected. ⁸ I know how skillful your lumbermen are, so send me cedar, cypress, and juniper logs from Lebanon. I am ready to send my men to assist yours ⁹ in preparing large quantities of timber, because this temple I intend to build will be large and magnificent. ¹⁰ As provisions for your lumbermen, I will send you 100,000 bushels of wheat, 100,000 bushels of barley, 110,000 gallons of wine, and 110,000 gallons of olive oil.”

¹¹ King Hiram sent Solomon a letter in reply. He wrote, “Because the Lord loves his people, he has made you their king. ¹² Praise the Lord God of Israel, Creator of heaven and earth! He has given King David a wise son, full of understanding and skill, who now plans to build a temple for the Lord and a palace for himself. ¹³ I am sending you a wise and skillful master metalworker named Huram. ¹⁴ His mother was a member of the tribe of Dan and his father was a native of Tyre. He knows how to make things out of gold, silver, bronze, iron, stone, and wood. He can work with blue, purple, and red cloth, and with linen. He can do all sorts of engraving and can follow any design suggested to him. Let him work with your skilled workers and with those who worked for your father, King David. ¹⁵ So now send us the wheat, barley, wine, and olive oil that you promised. ¹⁶ In the mountains of Lebanon we will cut down all the cedars you need, tie them together in rafts, and float them by sea as far as Joppa. From there you can take them to Jerusalem.”

Construction of the Temple Begins^(J)

¹⁷ King Solomon took a census of all the foreigners living in the land of Israel, similar to the census his father David had taken. There were 153,600 resident foreigners. ¹⁸ He assigned 70,000 of them to transport materials and 80,000 to cut stones in the mountains, and appointed 3,600 supervisors to make sure the work was done.

3 ^(K)King David, Solomon's father, had already prepared a place for the Temple. It was in Jerusalem, on Mount Moriah, where the Lord appeared to David, at the place which Araunah the Jebusite had used as a threshing place. King Solomon began the construction ² in the second month of the fourth year that he was king. ³ The Temple which King Solomon built was 90 feet long and 30 feet wide. ⁴ The entrance room was the full width of the Temple, 30 feet, and was 180 feet high. The inside of the room was overlaid with pure gold. ⁵ The main room was paneled with cedar and overlaid with fine gold, in which were worked designs of palm trees and chain patterns. ⁶ The king decorated the Temple with beautiful precious stones and with gold imported from the land of Parvaim. ⁷ He used the gold to overlay the Temple walls, the rafters, the entryways, and the doors. On the walls the workers carved designs of winged creatures.^{[e] 8 (L)}The inner room, called the Most Holy Place, was 30 feet long and 30 feet wide, which was the full width of the Temple. Twenty-five tons of gold were used to cover the walls of the Most Holy Place; ⁹ twenty ounces of gold were used for making nails, and the walls of the upper rooms were also covered with gold.

^10 (M)The king also had his workers make two winged creatures out of metal, cover them with gold, and place them in the Most Holy Place, ^11-13 where they stood side by side facing the entrance. Each had two wings, each wing 7½ feet long, which were spread out so that they touched each other in the center of the room and reached to the wall on either side of the room, stretching across the full width of 30 feet. ^14 (N)A curtain for the Most Holy Place was made of linen and of other material, which was dyed blue, purple, and red, with designs of the winged creatures worked into it.

The Two Bronze Columns^(O)

¹⁵ The king had two columns made, each one 52 feet tall, and placed them in front of the Temple. Each one had a capital 7½ feet tall. ¹⁶ The tops of the columns were decorated with a design of interwoven chains and one hundred bronze pomegranates.^{[f] 17} The columns were set at the sides of the Temple entrance: the one on the south side was named Jachin^[g] and the one on the north side was named Boaz.^[h]

Dead to Sin but Alive in Union with Christ

6 What shall we say, then? Should we continue to live in sin so that God's grace will increase? ² Certainly not! We have died to sin—how then can we go on living in it? ³ For surely you know that when we were baptized into union with Christ Jesus, we were baptized into union with his death. ^4 (A)By our baptism, then, we were buried with him and shared his death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from death by the glorious power of the Father, so also we might live a new life.

⁵ For since we have become one with him in dying as he did, in the same way we shall be one with him by being raised to life as he was. ⁶ And we know that our old being has been put to death with Christ on his cross, in order that the power of the sinful self might be destroyed, so that we should no longer be the slaves of sin. ⁷ For when we die, we are set free from the power of sin. ⁸ Since we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. ⁹ For we know that Christ has been raised from death and will never die again—death will no longer rule over him. ¹⁰ And so, because he died, sin has no power over him; and now he lives his life in fellowship with God. ¹¹ In the same way you are to think of yourselves as dead, so far as sin is concerned, but living in fellowship with God through Christ Jesus.

¹² Sin must no longer rule in your mortal bodies, so that you obey the desires of your natural self. ¹³ Nor must you surrender any part of yourselves to sin to be used for wicked purposes. Instead, give yourselves to God, as those who have been brought from death to life, and surrender your whole being to him to be used for righteous purposes. ¹⁴ Sin must not be your master; for you do not live under law but under God's grace.

Slaves of Righteousness

¹⁵ What, then? Shall we sin, because we are not under law but under God's grace? By no means! ¹⁶ Surely you know that when you surrender yourselves as slaves to obey someone, you are in fact the slaves of the master you obey—either of sin, which results in death, or of obedience, which results in being put right with God. ¹⁷ But thanks be to God! For though at one time you were slaves to sin, you have obeyed with all your heart the truths found in the teaching you received. ¹⁸ You were set free from sin and became the slaves of righteousness. ¹⁹ (I use everyday language because of the weakness of your natural selves.) At one time you surrendered yourselves entirely as slaves to impurity and wickedness for wicked purposes. In the same way you must now surrender yourselves entirely as slaves of righteousness for holy purposes.

²⁰ When you were the slaves of sin, you were free from righteousness. ²¹ What did you gain from doing the things that you are now ashamed of? The result of those things is death! ²² But now you have been set free from sin and are the slaves of God. Your gain is a life fully dedicated to him, and the result is eternal life. ²³ For sin pays its wage—death; but God's free gift is eternal life in union with Christ Jesus our Lord.

A Prayer of Confidence^[a]

²⁰ If you listen to advice and are willing to learn, one day you will be wise.

²¹ People may plan all kinds of things, but the Lord's will is going to be done.