1 Kings, Chapters 3-11: BIBLE, New International Version == BIBLE-CENTER

¹ Solomon made an alliance with Pharaoh king of Egypt and married his daughter. He brought her to the City of David until he finished building his palace and the temple of the LORD , and the wall around Jerusalem.

² The people, however, were still sacrificing at the high places, because a temple had not yet been built for the Name of the LORD .

³ Solomon showed his love for the LORD by walking according to the statutes of his father David, except that he offered sacrifices and burned incense on the high places.

⁴ The king went to Gibeon to offer sacrifices, for that was the most important high place, and Solomon offered a thousand burnt offerings on that altar.

⁵ At Gibeon the LORD appeared to Solomon during the night in a dream, and God said, "Ask for whatever you want me to give you."

⁶ Solomon answered, "You have shown great kindness to your servant, my father David, because he was faithful to you and righteous and upright in heart. You have continued this great kindness to him and have given him a son to sit on his throne this very day.

⁷ "Now, O LORD my God, you have made your servant king in place of my father David. But I am only a little child and do not know how to carry out my duties.

⁸ Your servant is here among the people you have chosen, a great people, too numerous to count or number.

⁹ So give your servant a discerning heart to govern your people and to distinguish between right and wrong. For who is able to govern this great people of yours?"

¹⁰ The Lord was pleased that Solomon had asked for this.

¹¹ So God said to him, "Since you have asked for this and not for long life or wealth for yourself, nor have asked for the death of your enemies but for discernment in administering justice,

¹² I will do what you have asked. I will give you a wise and discerning heart, so that there will never have been anyone like you, nor will there ever be.

¹³ Moreover, I will give you what you have not asked for-both riches and honor-so that in your lifetime you will have no equal among kings.

¹⁴ And if you walk in my ways and obey my statutes and commands as David your father did, I will give you a long life."

¹⁵ Then Solomon awoke-and he realized it had been a dream.
He returned to Jerusalem, stood before the ark of the Lord's covenant and sacrificed burnt offerings and fellowship offerings.¹ Then he gave a feast for all his court.

¹⁶ Now two prostitutes came to the king and stood before him.

¹⁷ One of them said, "My lord, this woman and I live in the same house. I had a baby while she was there with me.

¹⁸ The third day after my child was born, this woman also had a baby. We were alone; there was no one in the house but the two of us.

¹⁹ "During the night this woman's son died because she lay on him.

²⁰ So she got up in the middle of the night and took my son from my side while I your servant was asleep. She put him by her breast and put her dead son by my breast.

²¹ The next morning, I got up to nurse my son-and he was dead! But when I looked at him closely in the morning light, I saw that it wasn't the son I had borne."

²² The other woman said, "No! The living one is my son; the dead one is yours."
But the first one insisted, "No! The dead one is yours; the living one is mine." And so they argued before the king.

²³ The king said, "This one says, 'My son is alive and your son is dead,' while that one says, 'No! Your son is dead and mine is alive.' "

²⁴ Then the king said, "Bring me a sword." So they brought a sword for the king.

²⁵ He then gave an order: "Cut the living child in two and give half to one and half to the other."

²⁶ The woman whose son was alive was filled with compassion for her son and said to the king, "Please, my lord, give her the living baby! Don't kill him!"
But the other said, "Neither I nor you shall have him. Cut him in two!"

²⁷ Then the king gave his ruling: "Give the living baby to the first woman. Do not kill him; she is his mother."

²⁸ When all Israel heard the verdict the king had given, they held the king in awe, because they saw that he had wisdom from God to administer justice.

¹ So King Solomon ruled over all Israel.

² And these were his chief officials:

³ Elihoreph and Ahijah, sons of Shisha-secretaries;
Jehoshaphat son of Ahilud-recorder;

⁴ Benaiah son of Jehoiada-commander in chief;
Zadok and Abiathar-priests;

⁵ Azariah son of Nathan-in charge of the district officers;
Zabud son of Nathan-a priest and personal adviser to the king;

⁶ Ahishar-in charge of the palace;
Adoniram son of Abda-in charge of forced labor.

⁷ Solomon also had twelve district governors over all Israel, who supplied provisions for the king and the royal household. Each one had to provide supplies for one month in the year.

⁸ These are their names:

⁹ Ben-Deker-in Makaz, Shaalbim, Beth Shemesh and Elon Bethhanan;

¹⁰ Ben-Hesed-in Arubboth (Socoh and all the land of Hepher were his);

¹¹ Ben-Abinadab-in Naphoth Dor¹ (he was married to Taphath daughter of Solomon);

¹² Baana son of Ahilud-in Taanach and Megiddo, and in all of Beth Shan next to Zarethan below Jezreel, from Beth Shan to Abel Meholah across to Jokmeam;

¹³ Ben-Geber-in Ramoth Gilead (the settlements of Jair son of Manasseh in Gilead were his, as well as the district of Argob in Bashan and its sixty large walled cities with bronze gate bars);

¹⁴ Ahinadab son of Iddo-in Mahanaim;

¹⁵ Ahimaaz-in Naphtali (he had married Basemath daughter of Solomon);

¹⁶ Baana son of Hushai-in Asher and in Aloth;

¹⁷ Jehoshaphat son of Paruah-in Issachar;

¹⁸ Shimei son of Ela-in Benjamin;

¹⁹ Geber son of Uri-in Gilead (the country of Sihon king of the Amorites and the country of Og king of Bashan). He was the only governor over the district.

²⁰ The people of Judah and Israel were as numerous as the sand on the seashore; they ate, they drank and they were happy.

²¹ And Solomon ruled over all the kingdoms from the River² to the land of the Philistines, as far as the border of Egypt. These countries brought tribute and were Solomon's subjects all his life.

²² Solomon's daily provisions were thirty cors³ of fine flour and sixty cors⁴ of meal,

²³ ten head of stall-fed cattle, twenty of pasture-fed cattle and a hundred sheep and goats, as well as deer, gazelles, roebucks and choice fowl.

²⁴ For he ruled over all the kingdoms west of the River, from Tiphsah to Gaza, and had peace on all sides.

²⁵ During Solomon's lifetime Judah and Israel, from Dan to Beersheba, lived in safety, each man under his own vine and fig tree.

²⁶ Solomon had four⁵ thousand stalls for chariot horses, and twelve thousand horses.⁶

²⁷ The district officers, each in his month, supplied provisions for King Solomon and all who came to the king's table. They saw to it that nothing was lacking.

²⁸ They also brought to the proper place their quotas of barley and straw for the chariot horses and the other horses.

²⁹ God gave Solomon wisdom and very great insight, and a breadth of understanding as measureless as the sand on the seashore.

³⁰ Solomon's wisdom was greater than the wisdom of all the men of the East, and greater than all the wisdom of Egypt.

³¹ He was wiser than any other man, including Ethan the Ezrahite-wiser than Heman, Calcol and Darda, the sons of Mahol. And his fame spread to all the surrounding nations.

³² He spoke three thousand proverbs and his songs numbered a thousand and five.

³³ He described plant life, from the cedar of Lebanon to the hyssop that grows out of walls. He also taught about animals and birds, reptiles and fish.

³⁴ Men of all nations came to listen to Solomon's wisdom, sent by all the kings of the world, who had heard of his wisdom.

¹ When Hiram king of Tyre heard that Solomon had been anointed king to succeed his father David, he sent his envoys to Solomon, because he had always been on friendly terms with David.

² Solomon sent back this message to Hiram:

³ "You know that because of the wars waged against my father David from all sides, he could not build a temple for the Name of the LORD his God until the LORD put his enemies under his feet.

⁴ But now the LORD my God has given me rest on every side, and there is no adversary or disaster.

⁵ I intend, therefore, to build a temple for the Name of the LORD my God, as the LORD told my father David, when he said, 'Your son whom I will put on the throne in your place will build the temple for my Name.'

⁶ "So give orders that cedars of Lebanon be cut for me. My men will work with yours, and I will pay you for your men whatever wages you set. You know that we have no one so skilled in felling timber as the Sidonians."

⁷ When Hiram heard Solomon's message, he was greatly pleased and said, "Praise be to the LORD today, for he has given David a wise son to rule over this great nation."

⁸ So Hiram sent word to Solomon:

⁹ My men will haul them down from Lebanon to the sea, and I will float them in rafts by sea to the place you specify. There I will separate them and you can take them away. And you are to grant my wish by providing food for my royal household."

¹⁰ In this way Hiram kept Solomon supplied with all the cedar and pine logs he wanted,

¹¹ and Solomon gave Hiram twenty thousand cors¹ of wheat as food for his household, in addition to twenty thousand baths² ,³ of pressed olive oil. Solomon continued to do this for Hiram year after year.

¹² The LORD gave Solomon wisdom, just as he had promised him. There were peaceful relations between Hiram and Solomon, and the two of them made a treaty.

¹³ King Solomon conscripted laborers from all Israel-thirty thousand men.

¹⁴ He sent them off to Lebanon in shifts of ten thousand a month, so that they spent one month in Lebanon and two months at home. Adoniram was in charge of the forced labor.

¹⁵ Solomon had seventy thousand carriers and eighty thousand stonecutters in the hills,

¹⁶ as well as thirty-three hundred⁴ foremen who supervised the project and directed the workmen.

¹⁷ At the king's command they removed from the quarry large blocks of quality stone to provide a foundation of dressed stone for the temple.

¹⁸ The craftsmen of Solomon and Hiram and the men of Gebal⁵ cut and prepared the timber and stone for the building of the temple.

¹ In the four hundred and eightieth¹ year after the Israelites had come out of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon's reign over Israel, in the month of Ziv, the second month, he began to build the temple of the LORD .

² The temple that King Solomon built for the LORD was sixty cubits long, twenty wide and thirty high.²

³ The portico at the front of the main hall of the temple extended the width of the temple, that is twenty cubits,³ and projected ten cubits⁴ from the front of the temple.

⁴ He made narrow clerestory windows in the temple.

⁵ Against the walls of the main hall and inner sanctuary he built a structure around the building, in which there were side rooms.

⁶ The lowest floor was five cubits⁵ wide, the middle floor six cubits⁶ and the third floor seven.⁷ He made offset ledges around the outside of the temple so that nothing would be inserted into the temple walls.

⁷ In building the temple, only blocks dressed at the quarry were used, and no hammer, chisel or any other iron tool was heard at the temple site while it was being built.

⁸ The entrance to the lowest⁸ floor was on the south side of the temple; a stairway led up to the middle level and from there to the third.

⁹ So he built the temple and completed it, roofing it with beams and cedar planks.

¹⁰ And he built the side rooms all along the temple. The height of each was five cubits, and they were attached to the temple by beams of cedar.

¹¹ The word of the LORD came to Solomon:

¹² "As for this temple you are building, if you follow my decrees, carry out my regulations and keep all my commands and obey them, I will fulfill through you the promise I gave to David your father.

¹³ And I will live among the Israelites and will not abandon my people Israel."

¹⁴ So Solomon built the temple and completed it.

¹⁵ He lined its interior walls with cedar boards, paneling them from the floor of the temple to the ceiling, and covered the floor of the temple with planks of pine.

¹⁶ He partitioned off twenty cubits⁹ at the rear of the temple with cedar boards from floor to ceiling to form within the temple an inner sanctuary, the Most Holy Place.

¹⁷ The main hall in front of this room was forty cubits¹⁰ long.

¹⁸ The inside of the temple was cedar, carved with gourds and open flowers. Everything was cedar; no stone was to be seen.

¹⁹ He prepared the inner sanctuary within the temple to set the ark of the covenant of the LORD there.

²⁰ The inner sanctuary was twenty cubits long, twenty wide and twenty high.¹¹ He overlaid the inside with pure gold, and he also overlaid the altar of cedar.

²¹ Solomon covered the inside of the temple with pure gold, and he extended gold chains across the front of the inner sanctuary, which was overlaid with gold.

²² So he overlaid the whole interior with gold. He also overlaid with gold the altar that belonged to the inner sanctuary.

²³ In the inner sanctuary he made a pair of cherubim of olive wood, each ten cubits¹² high.

²⁴ One wing of the first cherub was five cubits long, and the other wing five cubits-ten cubits from wing tip to wing tip.

²⁵ The second cherub also measured ten cubits, for the two cherubim were identical in size and shape.

²⁶ The height of each cherub was ten cubits.

²⁷ He placed the cherubim inside the innermost room of the temple, with their wings spread out. The wing of one cherub touched one wall, while the wing of the other touched the other wall, and their wings touched each other in the middle of the room.

²⁸ He overlaid the cherubim with gold.

²⁹ On the walls all around the temple, in both the inner and outer rooms, he carved cherubim, palm trees and open flowers.

³⁰ He also covered the floors of both the inner and outer rooms of the temple with gold.

³¹ For the entrance of the inner sanctuary he made doors of olive wood with five-sided jambs.

³² And on the two olive wood doors he carved cherubim, palm trees and open flowers, and overlaid the cherubim and palm trees with beaten gold.

³³ In the same way he made four-sided jambs of olive wood for the entrance to the main hall.

³⁴ He also made two pine doors, each having two leaves that turned in sockets.

³⁵ He carved cherubim, palm trees and open flowers on them and overlaid them with gold hammered evenly over the carvings.

³⁶ And he built the inner courtyard of three courses of dressed stone and one course of trimmed cedar beams.

³⁷ The foundation of the temple of the LORD was laid in the fourth year, in the month of Ziv.

³⁸ In the eleventh year in the month of Bul, the eighth month, the temple was finished in all its details according to its specifications. He had spent seven years building it.

¹ It took Solomon thirteen years, however, to complete the construction of his palace.

² He built the Palace of the Forest of Lebanon a hundred cubits long, fifty wide and thirty high,¹ with four rows of cedar columns supporting trimmed cedar beams.

³ It was roofed with cedar above the beams that rested on the columns-forty-five beams, fifteen to a row.

⁴ Its windows were placed high in sets of three, facing each other.

⁵ All the doorways had rectangular frames; they were in the front part in sets of three, facing each other.²

⁶ He made a colonnade fifty cubits long and thirty wide.³ In front of it was a portico, and in front of that were pillars and an overhanging roof.

⁷ He built the throne hall, the Hall of Justice, where he was to judge, and he covered it with cedar from floor to ceiling.⁴

⁸ And the palace in which he was to live, set farther back, was similar in design. Solomon also made a palace like this hall for Pharaoh's daughter, whom he had married.

⁹ All these structures, from the outside to the great courtyard and from foundation to eaves, were made of blocks of high-grade stone cut to size and trimmed with a saw on their inner and outer faces.

¹⁰ The foundations were laid with large stones of good quality, some measuring ten cubits⁵ and some eight.⁶

¹¹ Above were high-grade stones, cut to size, and cedar beams.

¹² The great courtyard was surrounded by a wall of three courses of dressed stone and one course of trimmed cedar beams, as was the inner courtyard of the temple of the LORD with its portico.

¹³ King Solomon sent to Tyre and brought Huram,⁷

¹⁴ whose mother was a widow from the tribe of Naphtali and whose father was a man of Tyre and a craftsman in bronze. Huram was highly skilled and experienced in all kinds of bronze work. He came to King Solomon and did all the work assigned to him.

¹⁵ He cast two bronze pillars, each eighteen cubits high and twelve cubits around,⁸ by line.

¹⁶ He also made two capitals of cast bronze to set on the tops of the pillars; each capital was five cubits⁹ high.

¹⁷ A network of interwoven chains festooned the capitals on top of the pillars, seven for each capital.

¹⁸ He made pomegranates in two rows¹⁰ encircling each network to decorate the capitals on top of the pillars.¹¹ He did the same for each capital.

¹⁹ The capitals on top of the pillars in the portico were in the shape of lilies, four cubits¹² high.

²⁰ On the capitals of both pillars, above the bowl-shaped part next to the network, were the two hundred pomegranates in rows all around.

²¹ He erected the pillars at the portico of the temple. The pillar to the south he named Jakin¹³ and the one to the north Boaz.¹⁴

²² The capitals on top were in the shape of lilies. And so the work on the pillars was completed.

²³ He made the Sea of cast metal, circular in shape, measuring ten cubits¹⁵ from rim to rim and five cubits high. It took a line of thirty cubits¹⁶ to measure around it.

²⁴ Below the rim, gourds encircled it-ten to a cubit. The gourds were cast in two rows in one piece with the Sea.

²⁵ The Sea stood on twelve bulls, three facing north, three facing west, three facing south and three facing east. The Sea rested on top of them, and their hindquarters were toward the center.

²⁶ It was a handbreadth¹⁷ in thickness, and its rim was like the rim of a cup, like a lily blossom. It held two thousand baths.¹⁸

²⁷ He also made ten movable stands of bronze; each was four cubits long, four wide and three high.¹⁹

²⁸ This is how the stands were made: They had side panels attached to uprights.

²⁹ On the panels between the uprights were lions, bulls and cherubim-and on the uprights as well. Above and below the lions and bulls were wreaths of hammered work.

³⁰ Each stand had four bronze wheels with bronze axles, and each had a basin resting on four supports, cast with wreaths on each side.

³¹ On the inside of the stand there was an opening that had a circular frame one cubit²⁰ deep. This opening was round, and with its basework it measured a cubit and a half.²¹ Around its opening there was engraving. The panels of the stands were square, not round.

³² The four wheels were under the panels, and the axles of the wheels were attached to the stand. The diameter of each wheel was a cubit and a half.

³³ The wheels were made like chariot wheels; the axles, rims, spokes and hubs were all of cast metal.

³⁴ Each stand had four handles, one on each corner, projecting from the stand.

³⁵ At the top of the stand there was a circular band half a cubit²² deep. The supports and panels were attached to the top of the stand.

³⁶ He engraved cherubim, lions and palm trees on the surfaces of the supports and on the panels, in every available space, with wreaths all around.

³⁷ This is the way he made the ten stands. They were all cast in the same molds and were identical in size and shape.

³⁸ He then made ten bronze basins, each holding forty baths²³ and measuring four cubits across, one basin to go on each of the ten stands.

³⁹ He placed five of the stands on the south side of the temple and five on the north. He placed the Sea on the south side, at the southeast corner of the temple.

⁴⁰ He also made the basins and shovels and sprinkling bowls.
So Huram finished all the work he had undertaken for King Solomon in the temple of the LORD :

⁴¹ the two pillars;
the two bowl-shaped capitals on top of the pillars;
the two sets of network decorating the two bowl-shaped capitals on top of the pillars;

⁴² the four hundred pomegranates for the two sets of network (two rows of pomegranates for each network, decorating the bowl-shaped capitals on top of the pillars);

⁴³ the ten stands with their ten basins;

⁴⁴ the Sea and the twelve bulls under it;

⁴⁵ the pots, shovels and sprinkling bowls.

⁴⁶ The king had them cast in clay molds in the plain of the Jordan between Succoth and Zarethan.

⁴⁷ Solomon left all these things unweighed, because there were so many; the weight of the bronze was not determined.

⁴⁸ Solomon also made all the furnishings that were in the LORD's temple:

⁴⁹ the lampstands of pure gold (five on the right and five on the left, in front of the inner sanctuary);
the gold floral work and lamps and tongs;

⁵⁰ the pure gold basins, wick trimmers, sprinkling bowls, dishes and censers;
and the gold sockets for the doors of the innermost room, the Most Holy Place, and also for the doors of the main hall of the temple.

⁵¹ When all the work King Solomon had done for the temple of the LORD was finished, he brought in the things his father David had dedicated-the silver and gold and the furnishings-and he placed them in the treasuries of the LORD's temple.

¹ Then King Solomon summoned into his presence at Jerusalem the elders of Israel, all the heads of the tribes and the chiefs of the Israelite families, to bring up the ark of the LORD's covenant from Zion, the City of David.

² All the men of Israel came together to King Solomon at the time of the festival in the month of Ethanim, the seventh month.

³ When all the elders of Israel had arrived, the priests took up the ark,

⁴ and they brought up the ark of the LORD and the Tent of Meeting and all the sacred furnishings in it. The priests and Levites carried them up,

⁵ and King Solomon and the entire assembly of Israel that had gathered about him were before the ark, sacrificing so many sheep and cattle that they could not be recorded or counted.

⁶ The priests then brought the ark of the LORD's covenant to its place in the inner sanctuary of the temple, the Most Holy Place, and put it beneath the wings of the cherubim.

⁷ The cherubim spread their wings over the place of the ark and overshadowed the ark and its carrying poles.

⁸ These poles were so long that their ends could be seen from the Holy Place in front of the inner sanctuary, but not from outside the Holy Place; and they are still there today.

⁹ There was nothing in the ark except the two stone tablets that Moses had placed in it at Horeb, where the LORD made a covenant with the Israelites after they came out of Egypt.

¹⁰ When the priests withdrew from the Holy Place, the cloud filled the temple of the LORD .

¹¹ And the priests could not perform their service because of the cloud, for the glory of the LORD filled his temple.

¹² Then Solomon said, "The LORD has said that he would dwell in a dark cloud;

¹³ I have indeed built a magnificent temple for you, a place for you to dwell forever."

¹⁴ While the whole assembly of Israel was standing there, the king turned around and blessed them.

¹⁵ Then he said:

¹⁶ 'Since the day I brought my people Israel out of Egypt, I have not chosen a city in any tribe of Israel to have a temple built for my Name to be there, but I have chosen David to rule my people Israel.'

¹⁷ "My father David had it in his heart to build a temple for the Name of the LORD , the God of Israel.

¹⁸ But the LORD said to my father David, 'Because it was in your heart to build a temple for my Name, you did well to have this in your heart.

¹⁹ Nevertheless, you are not the one to build the temple, but your son, who is your own flesh and blood-he is the one who will build the temple for my Name.'

²⁰ "The LORD has kept the promise he made: I have succeeded David my father and now I sit on the throne of Israel, just as the LORD promised, and I have built the temple for the Name of the LORD , the God of Israel.

²¹ I have provided a place there for the ark, in which is the covenant of the LORD that he made with our fathers when he brought them out of Egypt."

²² Then Solomon stood before the altar of the LORD in front of the whole assembly of Israel, spread out his hands toward heaven

²³ and said:

²⁴ You have kept your promise to your servant David my father; with your mouth you have promised and with your hand you have fulfilled it-as it is today.

²⁵ "Now LORD , God of Israel, keep for your servant David my father the promises you made to him when you said, 'You shall never fail to have a man to sit before me on the throne of Israel, if only your sons are careful in all they do to walk before me as you have done.'

²⁶ And now, O God of Israel, let your word that you promised your servant David my father come true.

²⁷ "But will God really dwell on earth? The heavens, even the highest heaven, cannot contain you. How much less this temple I have built!

²⁸ Yet give attention to your servant's prayer and his plea for mercy, O LORD my God. Hear the cry and the prayer that your servant is praying in your presence this day.

²⁹ May your eyes be open toward this temple night and day, this place of which you said, 'My Name shall be there,' so that you will hear the prayer your servant prays toward this place.

³⁰ Hear the supplication of your servant and of your people Israel when they pray toward this place. Hear from heaven, your dwelling place, and when you hear, forgive.

³¹ "When a man wrongs his neighbor and is required to take an oath and he comes and swears the oath before your altar in this temple,

³² then hear from heaven and act. Judge between your servants, condemning the guilty and bringing down on his own head what he has done. Declare the innocent not guilty, and so establish his innocence.

³³ "When your people Israel have been defeated by an enemy because they have sinned against you, and when they turn back to you and confess your name, praying and making supplication to you in this temple,

³⁴ then hear from heaven and forgive the sin of your people Israel and bring them back to the land you gave to their fathers.

³⁵ "When the heavens are shut up and there is no rain because your people have sinned against you, and when they pray toward this place and confess your name and turn from their sin because you have afflicted them,

³⁶ then hear from heaven and forgive the sin of your servants, your people Israel. Teach them the right way to live, and send rain on the land you gave your people for an inheritance.

³⁷ "When famine or plague comes to the land, or blight or mildew, locusts or grasshoppers, or when an enemy besieges them in any of their cities, whatever disaster or disease may come,

³⁸ and when a prayer or plea is made by any of your people Israel-each one aware of the afflictions of his own heart, and spreading out his hands toward this temple-

³⁹ then hear from heaven, your dwelling place. Forgive and act; deal with each man according to all he does, since you know his heart (for you alone know the hearts of all men),

⁴⁰ so that they will fear you all the time they live in the land you gave our fathers.

⁴¹ "As for the foreigner who does not belong to your people Israel but has come from a distant land because of your name-

⁴² for men will hear of your great name and your mighty hand and your outstretched arm-when he comes and prays toward this temple,

⁴³ then hear from heaven, your dwelling place, and do whatever the foreigner asks of you, so that all the peoples of the earth may know your name and fear you, as do your own people Israel, and may know that this house I have built bears your Name.

⁴⁴ "When your people go to war against their enemies, wherever you send them, and when they pray to the LORD toward the city you have chosen and the temple I have built for your Name,

⁴⁵ then hear from heaven their prayer and their plea, and uphold their cause.

⁴⁶ "When they sin against you-for there is no one who does not sin-and you become angry with them and give them over to the enemy, who takes them captive to his own land, far away or near;

⁴⁷ and if they have a change of heart in the land where they are held captive, and repent and plead with you in the land of their conquerors and say, 'We have sinned, we have done wrong, we have acted wickedly';

⁴⁸ and if they turn back to you with all their heart and soul in the land of their enemies who took them captive, and pray to you toward the land you gave their fathers, toward the city you have chosen and the temple I have built for your Name;

⁴⁹ then from heaven, your dwelling place, hear their prayer and their plea, and uphold their cause.

⁵⁰ And forgive your people, who have sinned against you; forgive all the offenses they have committed against you, and cause their conquerors to show them mercy;

⁵¹ for they are your people and your inheritance, whom you brought out of Egypt, out of that iron-smelting furnace.

⁵² "May your eyes be open to your servant's plea and to the plea of your people Israel, and may you listen to them whenever they cry out to you.

⁵³ For you singled them out from all the nations of the world to be your own inheritance, just as you declared through your servant Moses when you, O Sovereign LORD , brought our fathers out of Egypt."

⁵⁴ When Solomon had finished all these prayers and supplications to the LORD , he rose from before the altar of the LORD , where he had been kneeling with his hands spread out toward heaven.

⁵⁵ He stood and blessed the whole assembly of Israel in a loud voice, saying:

⁵⁶ "Praise be to the LORD , who has given rest to his people Israel just as he promised. Not one word has failed of all the good promises he gave through his servant Moses.

⁵⁷ May the LORD our God be with us as he was with our fathers; may he never leave us nor forsake us.

⁵⁸ May he turn our hearts to him, to walk in all his ways and to keep the commands, decrees and regulations he gave our fathers.

⁵⁹ And may these words of mine, which I have prayed before the LORD , be near to the LORD our God day and night, that he may uphold the cause of his servant and the cause of his people Israel according to each day's need,

⁶⁰ so that all the peoples of the earth may know that the LORD is God and that there is no other.

⁶¹ But your hearts must be fully committed to the LORD our God, to live by his decrees and obey his commands, as at this time."

⁶² Then the king and all Israel with him offered sacrifices before the LORD .

⁶³ Solomon offered a sacrifice of fellowship offerings¹ to the LORD : twenty-two thousand cattle and a hundred and twenty thousand sheep and goats. So the king and all the Israelites dedicated the temple of the LORD .

⁶⁴ On that same day the king consecrated the middle part of the courtyard in front of the temple of the LORD , and there he offered burnt offerings, grain offerings and the fat of the fellowship offerings, because the bronze altar before the LORD was too small to hold the burnt offerings, the grain offerings and the fat of the fellowship offerings.

⁶⁵ So Solomon observed the festival at that time, and all Israel with him-a vast assembly, people from Lebo² Hamath to the Wadi of Egypt. They celebrated it before the LORD our God for seven days and seven days more, fourteen days in all.

⁶⁶ On the following day he sent the people away. They blessed the king and then went home, joyful and glad in heart for all the good things the LORD had done for his servant David and his people Israel.

¹ When Solomon had finished building the temple of the LORD and the royal palace, and had achieved all he had desired to do,

² the LORD appeared to him a second time, as he had appeared to him at Gibeon.

³ The LORD said to him:

⁴ "As for you, if you walk before me in integrity of heart and uprightness, as David your father did, and do all I command and observe my decrees and laws,

⁵ I will establish your royal throne over Israel forever, as I promised David your father when I said, 'You shall never fail to have a man on the throne of Israel.'

⁶ "But if you¹ or your sons turn away from me and do not observe the commands and decrees I have given you² and go off to serve other gods and worship them,

⁷ then I will cut off Israel from the land I have given them and will reject this temple I have consecrated for my Name. Israel will then become a byword and an object of ridicule among all peoples.

⁸ And though this temple is now imposing, all who pass by will be appalled and will scoff and say, 'Why has the LORD done such a thing to this land and to this temple?'

⁹ People will answer, 'Because they have forsaken the LORD their God, who brought their fathers out of Egypt, and have embraced other gods, worshiping and serving them-that is why the LORD brought all this disaster on them.' "

¹⁰ At the end of twenty years, during which Solomon built these two buildings-the temple of the LORD and the royal palace-

¹¹ King Solomon gave twenty towns in Galilee to Hiram king of Tyre, because Hiram had supplied him with all the cedar and pine and gold he wanted.

¹² But when Hiram went from Tyre to see the towns that Solomon had given him, he was not pleased with them.

¹³ "What kind of towns are these you have given me, my brother?" he asked. And he called them the Land of Cabul,³ a name they have to this day.

¹⁴ Now Hiram had sent to the king 120 talents⁴ of gold.

¹⁵ Here is the account of the forced labor King Solomon conscripted to build the LORD's temple, his own palace, the supporting terraces,⁵ the wall of Jerusalem, and Hazor, Megiddo and Gezer.

¹⁶ (Pharaoh king of Egypt had attacked and captured Gezer. He had set it on fire. He killed its Canaanite inhabitants and then gave it as a wedding gift to his daughter, Solomon's wife.

¹⁷ And Solomon rebuilt Gezer.) He built up Lower Beth Horon,

¹⁸ Baalath, and Tadmor⁶ in the desert, within his land,

¹⁹ as well as all his store cities and the towns for his chariots and for his horses⁷ -whatever he desired to build in Jerusalem, in Lebanon and throughout all the territory he ruled.

²⁰ All the people left from the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites (these peoples were not Israelites),

²¹ that is, their descendants remaining in the land, whom the Israelites could not exterminate⁸ -these Solomon conscripted for his slave labor force, as it is to this day.

²² But Solomon did not make slaves of any of the Israelites; they were his fighting men, his government officials, his officers, his captains, and the commanders of his chariots and charioteers.

²³ They were also the chief officials in charge of Solomon's projects-550 officials supervising the men who did the work.

²⁴ After Pharaoh's daughter had come up from the City of David to the palace Solomon had built for her, he constructed the supporting terraces.

²⁵ Three times a year Solomon sacrificed burnt offerings and fellowship offerings⁹ on the altar he had built for the LORD , burning incense before the LORD along with them, and so fulfilled the temple obligations.

²⁶ King Solomon also built ships at Ezion Geber, which is near Elath in Edom, on the shore of the Red Sea.¹⁰

²⁷ And Hiram sent his men-sailors who knew the sea-to serve in the fleet with Solomon's men.

²⁸ They sailed to Ophir and brought back 420 talents¹¹ of gold, which they delivered to King Solomon.

¹ When the queen of Sheba heard about the fame of Solomon and his relation to the name of the LORD , she came to test him with hard questions.

² Arriving at Jerusalem with a very great caravan-with camels carrying spices, large quantities of gold, and precious stones-she came to Solomon and talked with him about all that she had on her mind.

³ Solomon answered all her questions; nothing was too hard for the king to explain to her.

⁴ When the queen of Sheba saw all the wisdom of Solomon and the palace he had built,

⁵ the food on his table, the seating of his officials, the attending servants in their robes, his cupbearers, and the burnt offerings he made at¹ the temple of the LORD , she was overwhelmed.

⁶ She said to the king, "The report I heard in my own country about your achievements and your wisdom is true.

⁷ But I did not believe these things until I came and saw with my own eyes. Indeed, not even half was told me; in wisdom and wealth you have far exceeded the report I heard.

⁸ How happy your men must be! How happy your officials, who continually stand before you and hear your wisdom!

⁹ Praise be to the LORD your God, who has delighted in you and placed you on the throne of Israel. Because of the LORD's eternal love for Israel, he has made you king, to maintain justice and righteousness."

¹⁰ And she gave the king 120 talents² of gold, large quantities of spices, and precious stones. Never again were so many spices brought in as those the queen of Sheba gave to King Solomon.

¹¹ (Hiram's ships brought gold from Ophir; and from there they brought great cargoes of almugwood³ and precious stones.

¹² The king used the almugwood to make supports for the temple of the LORD and for the royal palace, and to make harps and lyres for the musicians. So much almugwood has never been imported or seen since that day.)

¹³ King Solomon gave the queen of Sheba all she desired and asked for, besides what he had given her out of his royal bounty. Then she left and returned with her retinue to her own country.

¹⁴ The weight of the gold that Solomon received yearly was 666 talents,⁴

¹⁵ not including the revenues from merchants and traders and from all the Arabian kings and the governors of the land.

¹⁶ King Solomon made two hundred large shields of hammered gold; six hundred bekas⁵ of gold went into each shield.

¹⁷ He also made three hundred small shields of hammered gold, with three minas⁶ of gold in each shield. The king put them in the Palace of the Forest of Lebanon.

¹⁸ Then the king made a great throne inlaid with ivory and overlaid with fine gold.

¹⁹ The throne had six steps, and its back had a rounded top. On both sides of the seat were armrests, with a lion standing beside each of them.

²⁰ Twelve lions stood on the six steps, one at either end of each step. Nothing like it had ever been made for any other kingdom.

²¹ All King Solomon's goblets were gold, and all the household articles in the Palace of the Forest of Lebanon were pure gold. Nothing was made of silver, because silver was considered of little value in Solomon's days.

²² The king had a fleet of trading ships⁷ at sea along with the ships of Hiram. Once every three years it returned, carrying gold, silver and ivory, and apes and baboons.

²³ King Solomon was greater in riches and wisdom than all the other kings of the earth.

²⁴ The whole world sought audience with Solomon to hear the wisdom God had put in his heart.

²⁵ Year after year, everyone who came brought a gift-articles of silver and gold, robes, weapons and spices, and horses and mules.

²⁶ Solomon accumulated chariots and horses; he had fourteen hundred chariots and twelve thousand horses,⁸ which he kept in the chariot cities and also with him in Jerusalem.

²⁷ The king made silver as common in Jerusalem as stones, and cedar as plentiful as sycamore-fig trees in the foothills.

²⁸ Solomon's horses were imported from Egypt⁹ and from Kue¹⁰ - the royal merchants purchased them from Kue.

²⁹ They imported a chariot from Egypt for six hundred shekels¹¹ of silver, and a horse for a hundred and fifty.¹² They also exported them to all the kings of the Hittites and of the Arameans.

¹ King Solomon, however, loved many foreign women besides Pharaoh's daughter-Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians and Hittites.

² They were from nations about which the LORD had told the Israelites, "You must not intermarry with them, because they will surely turn your hearts after their gods." Nevertheless, Solomon held fast to them in love.

³ He had seven hundred wives of royal birth and three hundred concubines, and his wives led him astray.

⁴ As Solomon grew old, his wives turned his heart after other gods, and his heart was not fully devoted to the LORD his God, as the heart of David his father had been.

⁵ He followed Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, and Molech¹ the detestable god of the Ammonites.

⁶ So Solomon did evil in the eyes of the LORD ; he did not follow the LORD completely, as David his father had done.

⁷ On a hill east of Jerusalem, Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the detestable god of Moab, and for Molech the detestable god of the Ammonites.

⁸ He did the same for all his foreign wives, who burned incense and offered sacrifices to their gods.

⁹ The LORD became angry with Solomon because his heart had turned away from the LORD , the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice.

¹⁰ Although he had forbidden Solomon to follow other gods, Solomon did not keep the LORD's command.

¹¹ So the LORD said to Solomon, "Since this is your attitude and you have not kept my covenant and my decrees, which I commanded you, I will most certainly tear the kingdom away from you and give it to one of your subordinates.

¹² Nevertheless, for the sake of David your father, I will not do it during your lifetime. I will tear it out of the hand of your son.

¹³ Yet I will not tear the whole kingdom from him, but will give him one tribe for the sake of David my servant and for the sake of Jerusalem, which I have chosen."

¹⁴ Then the LORD raised up against Solomon an adversary, Hadad the Edomite, from the royal line of Edom.

¹⁵ Earlier when David was fighting with Edom, Joab the commander of the army, who had gone up to bury the dead, had struck down all the men in Edom.

¹⁶ Joab and all the Israelites stayed there for six months, until they had destroyed all the men in Edom.

¹⁷ But Hadad, still only a boy, fled to Egypt with some Edomite officials who had served his father.

¹⁸ They set out from Midian and went to Paran. Then taking men from Paran with them, they went to Egypt, to Pharaoh king of Egypt, who gave Hadad a house and land and provided him with food.

¹⁹ Pharaoh was so pleased with Hadad that he gave him a sister of his own wife, Queen Tahpenes, in marriage.

²⁰ The sister of Tahpenes bore him a son named Genubath, whom Tahpenes brought up in the royal palace. There Genubath lived with Pharaoh's own children.

²¹ While he was in Egypt, Hadad heard that David rested with his fathers and that Joab the commander of the army was also dead. Then Hadad said to Pharaoh, "Let me go, that I may return to my own country."

²² "What have you lacked here that you want to go back to your own country?" Pharaoh asked.
"Nothing," Hadad replied, "but do let me go!"

²³ And God raised up against Solomon another adversary, Rezon son of Eliada, who had fled from his master, Hadadezer king of Zobah.

²⁴ He gathered men around him and became the leader of a band of rebels when David destroyed the forces² of Zobah ; the rebels went to Damascus, where they settled and took control.

²⁵ Rezon was Israel's adversary as long as Solomon lived, adding to the trouble caused by Hadad. So Rezon ruled in Aram and was hostile toward Israel.

²⁶ Also, Jeroboam son of Nebat rebelled against the king. He was one of Solomon's officials, an Ephraimite from Zeredah, and his mother was a widow named Zeruah.

²⁷ Here is the account of how he rebelled against the king: Solomon had built the supporting terraces³ and had filled in the gap in the wall of the city of David his father.

²⁸ Now Jeroboam was a man of standing, and when Solomon saw how well the young man did his work, he put him in charge of the whole labor force of the house of Joseph.

²⁹ About that time Jeroboam was going out of Jerusalem, and Ahijah the prophet of Shiloh met him on the way, wearing a new cloak. The two of them were alone out in the country,

³⁰ and Ahijah took hold of the new cloak he was wearing and tore it into twelve pieces.

³¹ Then he said to Jeroboam, "Take ten pieces for yourself, for this is what the LORD , the God of Israel, says: 'See, I am going to tear the kingdom out of Solomon's hand and give you ten tribes.

³² But for the sake of my servant David and the city of Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, he will have one tribe.

³³ I will do this because they have⁴ forsaken me and worshiped Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, Chemosh the god of the Moabites, and Molech the god of the Ammonites, and have not walked in my ways, nor done what is right in my eyes, nor kept my statutes and laws as David, Solomon's father, did.

³⁴ " 'But I will not take the whole kingdom out of Solomon's hand; I have made him ruler all the days of his life for the sake of David my servant, whom I chose and who observed my commands and statutes.

³⁵ I will take the kingdom from his son's hands and give you ten tribes.

³⁶ I will give one tribe to his son so that David my servant may always have a lamp before me in Jerusalem, the city where I chose to put my Name.

³⁷ However, as for you, I will take you, and you will rule over all that your heart desires; you will be king over Israel.

³⁸ If you do whatever I command you and walk in my ways and do what is right in my eyes by keeping my statutes and commands, as David my servant did, I will be with you. I will build you a dynasty as enduring as the one I built for David and will give Israel to you.

³⁹ I will humble David's descendants because of this, but not forever.' "

⁴⁰ Solomon tried to kill Jeroboam, but Jeroboam fled to Egypt, to Shishak the king, and stayed there until Solomon's death.

⁴¹ As for the other events of Solomon's reign-all he did and the wisdom he displayed-are they not written in the book of the annals of Solomon?

⁴² Solomon reigned in Jerusalem over all Israel forty years.

⁴³ Then he rested with his fathers and was buried in the city of David his father. And Rehoboam his son succeeded him as king.

1 Kings, Chapter 3

1 Kings, Chapter 4

1 Kings, Chapter 5

1 Kings, Chapter 6

1 Kings, Chapter 7

1 Kings, Chapter 8

1 Kings, Chapter 9

1 Kings, Chapter 10

1 Kings, Chapter 11


	After registering, you can subscribe to any Bible reading plan. Personalized settings and other services for registered users are planned, so we recommend registering now. Registration is free.