1 Kings 1:1-13:33

Lexham English Bible

David’s Last Days

1 Now King David had become old, advanced in years,^[a] and they covered him with garments, but he was not warm. ² His servants said to him, “Let them search for a young virgin for my lord the king, and let her stand before the king. Let her be of use for him, and let her lie in your lap that my lord the king may be warm.” ³ So they sought a beautiful young woman in all the territory of Israel, and they found Abishag the Shunnamite and brought her to the king. ⁴ Now the young woman was very beautiful; she was of use for the king, and she served him, but the king did not have sexual relations with her.^[b]

Adonijah Seeks David’s Throne

⁵ Now Adonijah the son of Haggith was exalting himself, saying, “I will be king,” so he prepared for himself a chariot and horsemen and fifty men running before him. ⁶ His father did not rebuke him at any time^[c] by saying, “Why did you do so?” Now he was also very handsome of appearance; she had borne him after Absalom.^{[d] 7} He conferred^[e] with Joab the son of Zeruiah and with Abiathar the priest, and they supported Adonijah.^{[f] 8} But Zadok the priest, Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, Nathan the prophet, Shimei, Rei, and the mighty warriors were David’s; they were not with Adonijah.

⁹ And Adonijah sacrificed sheep, oxen, and fattened animals near the stone of Zoheleth, which is beside En Rogel. He invited all of his brothers, the sons of the king, and all the men of Judah, the servants of the king. ¹⁰ But he did not invite Nathan the prophet or Benaiah or the mighty warriors or Solomon his brother.

Solomon’s Intercessors

¹¹ Then Nathan said to Bathsheba the mother of Solomon, “Have you not heard that Adonijah the son of Haggith has become king, but our lord David does not know? ¹² So then, come, let me advise you please, that you may save^[g] your life and the life of your son, Solomon. ¹³ Come, go to King David and say to him, ‘Have you not, my lord the king, sworn to your servant, “Surely Solomon your son shall become king after me. And he will sit on my throne”? But why is Adonijah king?’ ¹⁴ While you are still there speaking with the king, I will enter after you, and I will confirm your words.”^[h]

¹⁵ So Bathsheba went to the king in the private room. Now the king was very old, and Abishag the Shunnamite was attending the king. ¹⁶ Bathsheba knelt and bowed down before the king, and the king asked, “What do you want?”^{[i] 17} She said to him, “My lord, you swore by Yahweh your God to your servant, ‘Solomon your son surely shall become king after me, and he will sit upon my throne!’ ¹⁸ But now, look! Adonijah has become king! And now, my lord the king, you do not know! ¹⁹ He has sacrificed oxen and sheep and fattened animals in abundance,^[j] and he has invited all the sons of the king, Abiathar the priest, Joab the commander of the army, but Solomon your servant he did not invite. ²⁰ But as for you, my lord the king, the eyes of all of Israel are on you, to tell them who shall sit on the throne of my lord the king after him. ²¹ It shall be that when my lord the king sleeps with his ancestors,^[k] I and my son Solomon will be considered as sinners.”

²² While she was still speaking with the king, Nathan the prophet came in. ²³ They told the king, “Nathan the prophet is here.” He came into the presence of the king and bowed down before the king with his face to the ground. ²⁴ Nathan said, “My lord the king, have you said, ‘Adonijah shall be king after me and he shall sit on my throne’?

²⁵ “For he went down today and sacrificed oxen, sheep, and fattened animals in abundance.^[l] He invited all the sons of the king, the commanders of the army, and Abiathar the priest, and look, they are eating and drinking before him. They have also said, “Long live King Adonijah! ²⁶ But me, your servant, Zadok the priest, Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, and Solomon your servant he did not invite. ²⁷ If it was from my lord the king that this thing has happened, then all is well, but if not, you must let your servants know who shall sit on the throne of my lord the king after him.” ²⁸ Then King David answered and said, “Summon Bathsheba for me.” Then she came before the king and stood in his presence.^{[m] 29} Then the king swore and said, “As Yahweh lives,^[n] who has saved my life from all trouble, ³⁰ surely as I swore to you by Yahweh the God of Israel, saying, ‘Solomon your son shall surely be king after me, and he shall sit on my throne in my place,’ surely I shall do so this very day.” ³¹ Then Bathsheba knelt with her face to the ground and did obeisance to the king, and she said, “May my lord, King David, live forever.”

Solomon Is Crowned King

³² Then King David said, “Summon Zadok the priest, Nathan the prophet, and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada,” and they came before the king. ³³ The king said to them, “Take with you all the servants of your lord, and let them make Solomon my son ride on my mule, and bring him down to Gihon. ³⁴ Let Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet anoint him there as king over Israel. Blow on the trumpet and say, ‘Long live King Solomon!’ ³⁵ Then you shall go up after him, and let him come and sit on my throne; he shall be king in my place. I have appointed him to be leader over Israel and Judah.” ³⁶ Then Benaiah the son of Jehoiada answered the king and said, “Amen! So may Yahweh, the God of my lord the king, confirm it! ³⁷ As Yahweh was with my lord the king, so may he be with Solomon and make his throne greater than the throne of my lord King David.” ³⁸ Then Zadok the priest, Nathan the prophet, Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, the Kerethites, and the Pelethites went down, and they let Solomon ride on the mule of King David, and they brought him to Gihon. ³⁹ Then Zadok the priest took the horn of oil from the tent, and he anointed Solomon. They blew on the trumpet, and all the people said, “Long live King Solomon!” ⁴⁰ All the people went up after him, and the people were playing on the flutes and rejoicing with great joy, and the earth shook with their noise.

Adonijah’s Response to the Coronation of Solomon

⁴¹ And Adonijah and all the invited guests who were with him heard it. Now they were finished eating when Joab heard the sound of the trumpet and said, “Why is there such a noise in the city?”^{[o] 42} While he was still speaking, suddenly Jonathan the son of Abiathar the priest came. Adonijah said, “Come, for you are a man of valor, and you bring good news.” ⁴³ Jonathan answered and said to Adonijah, “But our lord King David has made Solomon king! ⁴⁴ He sent Zadok the priest with the king, and Nathan the prophet, Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, the Kerethites, and the Pelethites; they made him ride on the king’s mule. ⁴⁵ Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet anointed him as king at Gihon, and they have gone up from there rejoicing. The city has gone wild; this is the sound which you heard. ⁴⁶ And also, Solomon sits on the throne of the kingdom! ⁴⁷ The servants of the king also came to congratulate our lord King David, saying, ‘Your God has made the name of Solomon better than your name and his throne greater than your throne!’ So the king worshiped on the bed. ⁴⁸ What is more, the king said, ‘May Yahweh the God of Israel be blessed, who has given this day one sitting on my throne, and my eyes are seeing it!’”

⁴⁹ Then all the invited guests who were for Adonijah trembled and got up and went, each on his way. ⁵⁰ Adonijah was afraid because of Solomon, and he got up and went and grasped the horns of the altar. ⁵¹ Solomon was told, “Look, Adonijah is afraid of King Solomon, and he has grasped the horns of the altar, saying, ‘Let King Solomon swear to me first^[p] that he will surely not kill his servant with the sword!’” ⁵² Solomon said, “If he is a son of noble character, not a hair of his head will fall to the ground, but if evil is found in him, then he will die.” ⁵³ Then King Solomon sent and brought him down from upon the altar. He came and did obeisance to King Solomon. Solomon said to him, “Go to your house.”

David’s Instructions for Solomon

2 The days of David came near for him to die, and he charged Solomon his son, saying, ² “I am about to go the way of all the world. Be strong and be courageous.^{[q] 3} You shall keep the charge of Yahweh your God, to walk in his ways, to keep his statutes, his commandments, his judgments, and his testimonies, as are written in the law of Moses, so that you may prosper in all that you do and everywhere you turn, ⁴ so that Yahweh may establish his word which he spoke concerning me, saying, ‘If your sons take heed of their way, to walk before me in faithfulness, with all their heart and with all their soul, no man of yours will be cut off from the throne of Israel.’”

⁵ “Moreover, you also know what Joab the son of Zeruiah did to me when he dealt with the two commanders of the armies of Israel, to Abner son of Ner and to Amasa son of Jether, and he murdered them and put the blood of war in a time of peace. He put the blood of war on the leather belt that was on his waist and on the sandals which were on his feet. ⁶ You must act according to your wisdom, but you must not let his gray hair go down to Sheol in peace. ⁷ Regarding the sons of Barzillai the Gileadite, you shall do loyal love and let them be among those who eat at your table, because they met me when I fled from Absalom your brother. ⁸ And look, Shimei the son of Gera the son of the Benjaminite from Bahurim is with you. Now he cursed me severely^[r] when I went to Mahanaim, but he came down to meet me at the Jordan, so I swore to him by Yahweh, ‘I surely will not kill you with the sword.’ ⁹ So then, do not leave him unpunished, for you are a wise man, and you will know what you must do to him. You must bring his grey hair down to Sheol with blood.”

¹⁰ Then David slept with his ancestors^[s] and was buried in the city of David. ¹¹ The days that David reigned over Israel were forty years; he reigned seven years in Hebron and thirty-three years in Jerusalem. ¹² Then Solomon sat on the throne of David his father, and his kingdom was firmly established.

Adonijah’s Persistence

¹³ Adonijah the son of Haggith came to Bathsheba the mother of Solomon, and she said, “Are you coming in peace?”^[t] He said, “Peace.” ¹⁴ Then he said, “May I have a word with you?”^[u] Then she said, “Go on.” ¹⁵ He said, “You know that the kingship was mine and that all Israel had set their face toward me as king, but the kingship turned around and became my brother’s, for it was from Yahweh for him to have it. ¹⁶ Now one request I am asking from you, and you must not refuse me.”^[v] Then she said to him, “Go on.” ¹⁷ He said, “Please speak to King Solomon, for he will not refuse you, so that he will give to me Abishag the Shunnamite as wife.” ¹⁸ Then Bathsheba said, “Very well, I will speak to the king concerning you.”

Solomon’s Responses to Adonijah, Joab, and Shimei

¹⁹ Bathsheba came to King Solomon to speak to him concerning Adonijah, and the king got up to meet her, bowed down to her, and then sat on his throne. Then he set up a throne for the king’s mother, and she sat on his right. ²⁰ She said, “I have one small request I am asking from you. Do not refuse me.”^[w] The king said to her, “Ask, my mother, for I will not refuse you.”^{[x] 21} Then she said, “Let Abishag the Shunnamite be given to Adonijah your brother as wife.” ²² King Solomon answered and said to his mother, “Why are you asking Abishag the Shunnamite for Adonijah? Ask for him also the kingdom, for he is my brother, older than I; and ask for him also Abiathar the priest, and for Joab the son of Zeruiah.” ²³ Then King Solomon swore by Yahweh, saying, “Thus may God do to me and thus may he add, if Adonijah hasn’t spoken this thing at the expense of his life. ²⁴ So then, as Yahweh lives,^[y] who has established me and seated me on the throne of my father David and who has established for me a dynasty as he promised, then surely Adonijah will be put to death today.” ²⁵ King Solomon sent through the hand of Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, so he struck him, and he died.

²⁶ To Abiathar the priest, the king said, “Go to Anathoth, to your field, for you deserve to die,^[z] but on this day I will not kill you, for you carried the ark of the Lord Yahweh before David my father, and because you endured hardship in all the hardship that my father endured.” ²⁷ So Solomon banished Abiathar from being priest to Yahweh, thus fulfilling the word which Yahweh had spoken concerning the house of Eli in Shiloh.

²⁸ When the message came to Joab (now Joab had supported^[aa] Adonijah but had not supported^[ab] Absalom), he fled to the tent of Yahweh and grasped the horns of the altar. ²⁹ It was told to King Solomon that Joab had fled to the tent of Yahweh and was beside the altar. So Solomon sent word to Benaiah son of Jehoiada, saying, “Go and fall upon him.” ³⁰ So Benaiah went to the tent of Yahweh, and he said to him, “Thus says the king: ‘Come out.’” And he said, “No, for I want to die here.” So Benaiah returned a word to the king, saying, “Thus Joab spoke, and thus he answered me.” ³¹ Then the king said to him, “Do as he spoke; fall upon him and bury him, and so you shall remove the innocent blood that Joab shed from on me and from on the house of my father. ³² Yahweh will return his blood on his head, because he fell upon two men, more righteous and better than he, and he killed them with the sword, even though my father did not know it; namely Abner son of Ner, commander of the army of Israel, and Amasa son of Jether, commander of the army of Judah. ³³ And their blood will return on the head of Joab and on the head of his descendants forever, but for David and his descendants and for his house and his throne, there will be peace forever from Yahweh.” ³⁴ So Benaiah son of Jehoiada went up, and he fell on him and killed him, and he was buried in his house in the wilderness. ³⁵ Then the king appointed Benaiah the son of Jehoiada in his place over the army, and the king appointed Zadok the priest in place of Abiathar.

³⁶ Then the king sent and summoned Shimei, and he said to him, “Build yourself a house in Jerusalem and live there, but you must not go out anywhere whatsoever^[ac] from there. ³⁷ It shall happen that on the day you go out and cross over the Wadi^[ad] Kidron, know for certain that you will surely die.^[ae] Your blood will be on your head.” ³⁸ Shimei said to the king, “The word is good that my lord the king has spoken to me; thus will your servant do.” So Shimei lived in Jerusalem many days.

³⁹ It happened that at the end of three years, two of Shimei’s slaves fled to Achish, son of Maacah, the king of Gath. They told Shimei, saying, “Your slaves are here in Gath.” ⁴⁰ So Shimei got up and saddled his donkey, and he went to Gath, to Achish, to search for his slaves. So Shimei went and brought his slaves from Gath. ⁴¹ When Solomon was told that Shimei had gone from Jerusalem to Gath and had returned, ⁴² the king sent and summoned Shimei, and he said to him, “Did I not make you swear by Yahweh? I warned you, saying, ‘On the day you go out and you go anywhere whatsoever,^[af] know for certain that you will surely die.’^[ag] And you said to me, ‘The word is good; I accept.’ ⁴³ Why have you not kept the oath of Yahweh and the command which I commanded you?” ⁴⁴ Then the king said to Shimei, “You know all the evil which your heart knows, what you did to David my father. Now Yahweh will return the evil on your head, ⁴⁵ but King Solomon will be blessed and the throne of David will be established before Yahweh forever.” ⁴⁶ Then the king commanded Benaiah son of Jehoiada, and he went out and fell upon him, and he died. So the kingdom was established in the hand of Solomon.

Solomon’s Walk with Yahweh

3 Solomon intermarried with Pharaoh the king of Egypt, and he took the daughter of Pharaoh and brought her to the city of David until he finished building his house, the house of Yahweh, and the walls of Jerusalem all around. ² But the people were sacrificing on the high places, for the house for the name of Yahweh had not yet been built in those days. ³ Solomon loved Yahweh, by walking in the statutes of David his father; only he was sacrificing and offering incense on the high places. ⁴ So the king went to Gibeon to sacrifice, for the great high place was there. Solomon used to offer a thousand burnt offerings on that altar.

Solomon’s Request for Wisdom

⁵ Yahweh appeared to Solomon at Gibeon in a dream at night, and God said, “Ask what I should give to you.” ⁶ Then Solomon said, “You have shown great loyal love with your servant David my father, as he walked before you in faithfulness and in righteousness and in uprightness of heart with you. You have shown for him this great loyal love, and you have given a son to him who is sitting on his throne as it is this day. ⁷ So then, O Yahweh, you are my God. You have made your servant king in place of David my father though I am a young boy. I do not know going out or coming in. ⁸ Your servant is in the middle of your people whom you have chosen; a great people who cannot be counted or numbered because of abundance. ⁹ Give to your servant a listening heart to judge your people, to discern between good and bad, because who is able to judge this, your difficult people?”

¹⁰ The word was good in the eyes of the Lord that Solomon had asked this thing. ¹¹ And God said to him, “Because you have asked this thing and you did not ask for yourself a long life^[ah] and you did not ask riches for yourself and you did not ask for the life of your enemies, but you have asked for yourself the ability to make wise judgments;^{[ai] 12} behold, I do hereby do according to your word. I hereby give you a wise and discerning heart; there was no one like you before you, nor afterwards will one like you arise. ¹³ Too, what you have not asked I give to you: both riches and honor, so that no man among the kings will be like you all of your days. ¹⁴ If you will walk in my ways by keeping my statutes and my commandments, as David your father walked, then I will lengthen your days.” ¹⁵ Then Solomon awoke, and look, it was a dream, and he came to Jerusalem and stood before the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and he offered burnt offerings and presented fellowship offerings, and he held a feast for all of his servants.

Solomon’s Wisdom Tested: The Two Prostitutes

¹⁶ Then two prostitutes came to the king, and they stood before him. ¹⁷ The one woman said, “Please my lord, I and this woman are living in one house, and I gave birth, with her in the house. ¹⁸ It happened on the third day after my giving birth, this woman also gave birth, and we were together. There was not anyone with us in the house, only the two of us were in the house. ¹⁹ Then the son of this woman died in the night because she laid on him. ²⁰ So she got up in the middle of the night, and she took my son from beside me while your servant was asleep, and she put him in her lap, and she put her dead son in my lap. ²¹ When I got up in the morning to nurse my son, behold, he was dead! When I looked closely at him in the morning, behold, it was not my son whom I had borne.” ²² Then the other woman said, “No, for my son is the living one, and your son is the dead one.” The other kept on saying, “No, for your son is the dead one, and my son is the living one,” and so they argued in front of the king. ²³ Then the king said, “This one is saying, ‘This is my son, the living one, but your son is the dead one,’ and the other one keeps saying, ‘But no! Your son is the dead one, and my son is living!’” ²⁴ So the king said, “Bring me a sword,” and they brought the sword before the king. ²⁵ Then the king said, “Divide the living child into two, and give half to the one and half to the other.” ²⁶ Then the woman whose son was the living one spoke to the king because her compassion was aroused for her son, and she said, “Please, my lord, give her the living child, but certainly do not kill him!” The other one was saying, “As for me, so for you! Divide him!” ²⁷ Then the king answered and said, “Give the living child to her, and do not kill him; she is his mother.” ²⁸ When all of Israel heard the judgment that the king had rendered, they stood in awe^[aj] of the king, because they realized that the wisdom of God was in him to execute justice.

Solomon’s Wisdom: Political Administration

4 King Solomon was king over all Israel. ² Now these are the officials who were his: Azariah the son of Zadok was the priest. ³ Elihoreph and Ahijah, the sons of Shisha, were the secretaries; Jehoshaphat the son of Ahilud was the recorder. ⁴ Benaiah the son of Jehoiada was over the army, and Zadok and Abiathar were priests. ⁵ Azariah the son of Nathan was over the governors, and Zabud the son of Nathan was a priest, an advisor to the king. ⁶ Ahishar was over the palace, and Adoniram the son of Abda was over the forced labor. ⁷ Solomon had twelve governors over all Israel, and they sustained the king and his palace, each one was to sustain for each month of the year.^{[ak] 8} These are their names: Ben-Hur was in the hill country of Ephraim. ⁹ Ben-Deker was in Makaz and in Shaalbim and in Beth-Shemesh and Elon of Beth-Hanan. ¹⁰ Ben-Hesed was in the Arubbot; Socoh and all the land of Hepher were his. ¹¹ Ben-Abinadab was in all of Naphat of Dor; Taphath the daughter of Solomon was his wife. ¹² Baanah the son of Ahilud was in Taanach and Megiddo and all Beth-Shean which is beside Zarethan below Jezreel, of Beth-Shean up to Abel-Meholah up to the other side of Jokmeam. ¹³ Ben-Geber was in Ramoth-Gilead; the villages of Jair, the son of Manasseh which are in the Gilead were his, and the region of Argob which is in the Bashan, sixty great cities, with walls having crossbars of bronze, were his. ¹⁴ Ahinadab the son of Iddo was in Mahanaim. ¹⁵ Ahimaaz was in Naphtali; he moreover also had taken Basemath the daughter of Solomon as wife. ¹⁶ Baanah the son of Hushai was in Asher and Bealoth. ¹⁷ Jehoshaphat the son of Paruah was in Issachar. ¹⁸ Shimei the son of Ela was in Benjamin. ¹⁹ Geber the son of Uri was in the land of Gilead, the land of Sihon, the king of the Amorites, and of Og, the king of Bashan; one governor which was over the land. ²⁰ Judah and Israel were as many as the sand which is on the seashore in abundance, eating and drinking and rejoicing!

Solomon’s Wisdom: Prosperity

^21 [al] Now Solomon was ruling over all the kingdoms from the River^[am] to the land of the Philistines, and up to the border of Egypt, who were bringing tribute and were serving Solomon all the days of his life. ²² The food of Solomon for one day was thirty dry measures of choice meal and sixty dry measures of flour; ²³ ten stall-fed oxen and twenty pasture-fed oxen and a hundred sheep, besides deer and buck gazelles and roebucks and well-fed fowls. ²⁴ For he was ruling over all the west of the River^[an] from Tiphsah up to Gaza, over all the kings west of the River;^[ao] and he had peace from every side all around. ²⁵ Judah and Israel lived in security, each man under his vine and under his fig tree, from Dan as far as Beersheba, all the days of Solomon.

²⁶ Now Solomon had forty thousand stalls of horses for his war chariots and twelve thousand horsemen. ²⁷ These governors sustained King Solomon and all who came near to the table of King Solomon, each in his month; they did not omit anything. ²⁸ The barley and the straw for the horses and for packhorses they brought to the place where they were, each according to his share.

Solomon’s Wisdom: Literature, Zoology, Biology, Dendrology

²⁹ God gave wisdom to Solomon and very great discernment, as well as breadth of understanding,^[ap] as the sand which is on the edge of the seashore. ³⁰ The wisdom of Solomon was greater than the wisdom of all the people^[aq] of the east and more than all the wisdom of Egypt. ³¹ He was wiser than all the men: Ethan the Ezrahite; Heman, Calcol, and Darda the children of Mahol; and he was very well known.^{[ar] 32} He spoke three thousand proverbs, and his songs were one thousand and five. ³³ He spoke concerning the trees, from the cedar which is in Lebanon up to the hyssop which grows on the wall; he also spoke concerning the animals, concerning the birds, concerning the creeping things, and concerning the fish. ³⁴ They came from all the nations to hear the wisdom of Solomon; from all the kings of the earth who had heard of his wisdom.

Solomon’s Wisdom: Architecture

5 Hiram king of Tyre sent his servants to Solomon when he heard that they had anointed him as king in place of his father, for Hiram had always been a friend for David. ² Then Solomon sent to Hiram, saying, ³ “You knew David my father, that he was not able to build a house for the name of Yahweh his God, in view of the warfare^[as] which surrounded him, until Yahweh placed them^[at] under the soles of his feet. ⁴ But now Yahweh my God has given me rest all around me. There is no adversary, and there is no bad occurrence. ⁵ Here I am, intending to build a house for the name of Yahweh my God, as Yahweh promised to my father David, saying, ‘Your son, whom I will set in your place on your throne, shall build the house for my name.’ ⁶ So then, command that they may cut cedars for me from Lebanon, and let my servants be with your servants. The wage of your servants I will give to you according to all that you say, for you know that there is no one among us who knows how to cut timber like the Sidonians.” ⁷ When Hiram heard the words of Solomon, he rejoiced greatly, and he said, “Blessed be Yahweh this day, who has given to David a wise son over this great people.” ⁸ Hiram sent to Solomon, saying, “I have heard what you have sent to me; I will do all of your desire concerning the timber of cedars and concerning the timber of cypresses. ⁹ My servants will bring them down from Lebanon to the sea, and I will make them into rafts in the sea to float to the place which you indicated to me. Then I shall break them up there, and you may carry them further, and you shall meet my needs^[au] by giving food for my house.” ¹⁰ So Hiram was giving to Solomon the cedar timbers and the cypress timbers, everything he needed.^{[av] 11} Then Solomon gave to Hiram twenty thousand dry measures of wheat as food for his household, and twenty dry measures of specially prepared olive oil;^[aw] thus Solomon gave to Hiram year by year. ¹² Yahweh gave wisdom to Solomon as he promised to him, and there was peace between Hiram and Solomon, and the two of them made^[ax] a covenant.

¹³ Then King Solomon conscripted a forced labor from all Israel, and the forced labor numbered thirty thousand men. ¹⁴ He sent them to Lebanon, ten thousand every month;^[ay] the work groups were a month in Lebanon and two months at home; now Adoniram was over the forced labor. ¹⁵ Solomon had seventy thousand common laborers^[az] and eighty thousand stone craftsmen in the hill country. ¹⁶ Besides the chiefs of the officers Solomon had, there were three thousand three hundred having charge over the people who were doing the work. ¹⁷ When the king commanded, they quarried great stones and precious stones to lay the foundation of the house with hewn stones. ¹⁸ So Solomon’s builders and Hiram’s builders and the Gebalites hewed stones, and they prepared the timber and the stone to build the house.

Solomon Builds the Temple for Yahweh

6 It happened in the four hundred and eightieth year after the Israelites^[ba] went out from the land of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon’s rule^[bb] over Israel, the month of Ziv (that is the second month), that he began to build the house for Yahweh. ² Now the house that King Solomon built for Yahweh was sixty cubits in its length and twenty cubits in its width and thirty cubits in its height. ³ The vestibule on the face of the main hall of the temple^[bc] was twenty cubits in its length, and the width of the temple^[bd] was ten cubits wide on the face of the temple.^{[be] 4} And he made for the temple^[bf] specially designed framed windows, ⁵ and he built a structure against the wall of the temple^[bg] running all along the walls of the house, for the outer sanctuary and for the inner sanctuary, and made side rooms all around. ⁶ The lower structure was five cubits in its width and the middle was six cubits in its width and the third was seven cubits in its width, for he made niches for the temple^[bh] all around to the outside, so that beams would not attach to the walls of the temple.^{[bi] 7} Now while the temple^[bj] was being built, it was built with stones finished at the quarry, so that no hammer or stone shaping tool or any instrument of iron was heard in the temple^[bk] as it was being built. ⁸ The doorway of the side room in the middle of the side of the temple^[bl] was on the south; they went up with a stairway to the middle and from the middle to the third floor. ⁹ So he built the house and finished it. He covered the temple^[bm] with rafters and wood planks and with the cedars. ¹⁰ He also built the structure against all of the temple^[bn] five cubits in height and fastened it to the temple^[bo] with beams of cedar.

¹¹ Then the word of Yahweh came to Solomon, saying, ¹² “Regarding this temple^[bp] that you are building: if you walk in my ordinances and if you do my judgments and you keep all my commandments to walk in them, then I will establish my promise with you which I made to David your father. ¹³ And I will dwell among^[bq] the Israelites,^[br] and I will not forsake my people Israel.”

¹⁴ So Solomon built the temple^[bs] and finished it. ¹⁵ He lined the walls of the inside of the house^[bt] with boards of cedar; from the floor of the temple^[bu] up to the rafters of the ceiling he covered them with wood on the inside.^[bv] He also covered the floor of the temple^[bw] with cypress boards. ¹⁶ He built twenty cubits from the rear of the house with boards of cedar from the floor up to the ceiling, and he built for it an inner sanctuary on the inside, as the most holy place.^{[bx] 17} The main hall of the temple^[by] was forty cubits in front of the inner sanctuary,^{[bz] 18} with the cedar within the inner house having carvings of gourds and buds of flowers. It was entirely of cedar; there was not a stone visible. ¹⁹ Now in the inner sanctuary in the middle of the temple^[ca] he prepared the inside to place the ark of the covenant of Yahweh there. ²⁰ In front, the inner sanctuary was twenty cubits long and twenty cubits wide and twenty cubits high, and he overlaid it with pure gold and covered the altar with cedar. ²¹ Solomon overlaid the temple^[cb] on the inside with pure gold, and he drew across it with golden chains in front of the inner sanctuary, which he overlaid with gold.

²² All of the temple^[cc] he overlaid with gold until all of the temple^[cd] was finished; all of the altar which belonged to the inner sanctuary he overlaid with gold. ²³ He made two cherubim of olive wood for the inner sanctuary, ten cubits high. ²⁴ Five cubits was the first wing of the cherub, and five cubits the second wing of the cherub, from the tip of his one wing up to the tip of his other wing. ²⁵ The second cherub was ten cubits according to the same^[ce] measurement, and there was one shape for the two cherubim. ²⁶ The height of the first cherub was ten cubits and so was the second cherub.

²⁷ He placed the cherubim in the middle of the inner house, and they spread out the wings of the cherubim; the wing of the first cherub touched against the wall and the wing of the second cherub was touching against the second wall; their wings spread to the middle of the house and were touching wing to wing. ²⁸ He also overlaid the cherubim with gold.

²⁹ On all of the walls around the house, he carved engravings of cherubim and palm tree images and budding flowers both inside and out. ³⁰ He overlaid the floor of the house with gold both inside and out. ³¹ He made doors of olive wood for the doorway of the inner sanctuary, as well as for the doorpost of the fifth doorframe. ³² On the two doors of olive wood he made carvings of cherubim and palm tree images and budding flowers, and he overlaid them with gold by beating^[cf] out the gold on the cherubim and the palm tree images. ³³ Thus he made doorframes of olive wood on four sides for the doorway of the main hall ³⁴ and two doors of cypress wood; one door with two folding panels and the second door with two folding panels. ³⁵ He carved cherubim and palm tree images and budding flowers and overlaid them with gold evenly applied on the carved work. ³⁶ Then he built the inner courtyard with three rows of dressed stone and a row of cedar beams. ³⁷ In the fourth year,^[cg] the house of Yahweh was founded in the month of Ziv. ³⁸ In the eleventh year in the month of Bul, that is, the eighth month, the house was finished according to all his specifications and according to all his plans. He had built it in seven years.

Solomon Continues to Build

7 Solomon built his house over thirteen years, and he finished all of his house.

² He built the House of the Forest of Lebanon; one hundred cubits its length, fifty cubits its width, and thirty cubits its height, on four rows of cedar pillars and cedar beams atop the pillars. ³ It was covered with cedar above, and the supporting beams which were on the forty-five pillars, fifteen to the row. ⁴ There were three rows of specially designed windows; with window to window three times. ⁵ All of the doorways and the doorframes had four-sided casings, with opening to opposite opening three times.

⁶ The hall of pillars he made fifty cubits in its length and thirty cubits in its width, and a porch was in front of them,^[ch] with pillars and an overhang in front of them.^{[ci] 7} He made the hall of the throne where he would pronounce judgment, the hall of justice, and it was covered with cedar from the floor to the rafters.^{[cj] 8} His house where he would live in the next courtyard on the inside of the porch was like this work, and he would make a house like this porch for the daughter of Pharaoh whom Solomon had taken as wife. ⁹ All of these were of precious stones, according to the measurement of dressed stone, sawn with a saw on all sides;^[ck] from the foundation up to the eaves and from the outside up to the great courtyard. ¹⁰ The foundation was of precious stones, and large stones of ten cubits and stones of eight cubits ¹¹ with precious stones above, just the right size,^[cl] and cedar. ¹² The great courtyard all around had three rows of dressed stones and a row of cedar beams; for both the courtyard of the inner house^[cm] of Yahweh and for the porch of the house.

¹³ King Solomon invited and received Hiram from Tyre. ¹⁴ He was the son of a widow woman from the tribe of Naphtali, and his father was a man of Tyre, an artisan of bronze. He was filled with wisdom and with ability and with the knowledge to do all the work with the bronze. And he came to King Solomon, and he did all of his work. ¹⁵ He cast the two pillars out of bronze; eighteen cubits was the height of the first, and a cord of twelve cubits would encircle the second pillar. ¹⁶ He made two capitals to place on the tops of the pillars out of molten bronze; the first capital was five cubits in height, and the second capital was five cubits in height. ¹⁷ A network of latticework and wreaths of chainwork with small chains were for the capitals which were on top of the pillars; seven for the first capital and seven for the second capital. ¹⁸ He also made the pillars with two rows around on the lattice, each to cover the capitals which were on top, out of the pomegranate-shaped ornaments, and thus he did for the second capital as well. ¹⁹ And on the capitals which were on top of the pillars in the porch were works of lilies four cubits high. ²⁰ And capitals were on the two pillars above near the bulging section which was beside the lattice, and two hundred pomegranate-shaped ornaments were in rows all around on the second capital. ²¹ He set up the pillars for the porch of the main hall; he erected the pillar on the right and called its name Jakin, and he set up the pillar on the left and called its name Boaz. ²² On the top of the pillars was a work of lilies; and so the work of the pillars was finished.

²³ He also made the molten^[cn] sea, ten cubits in diameter,^[co] and five cubits was its height. A measuring line of thirty cubits would encircle it all around. ²⁴ Gourds were under its rim surrounding it all around; ten to the cubit, surrounding the sea all around with two rows of gourds, which were cast when he cast the metal. ²⁵ The sea was standing on twelve oxen, with three facing to the north, three facing to the west, three facing to the south, and three facing to the east. The sea was on top of them, with all of their hindquarters turned to the inside. ²⁶ Its thickness was a handbreadth, but its rim was as the work on the brim of a cup, like the bud of a lily; it held two thousand baths.

²⁷ He made the ten stands of bronze; each stand was four cubits long, four cubits wide, and three cubits in height. ²⁸ Now this was the construction of the stands: there were frames for them and frames between the crossbars, ²⁹ and on the frames which were between the crossbars were lions, oxen, and cherubim. On the crossbars both above and beneath the lions and oxen were works of cascading wreaths. ³⁰ There were four bronze wheels for each of the stands, with bronze axles; the four support pedestals for these were under the basin, and the supports were decorated on each side with wreaths. ³¹ Its opening from the inside of the capital and above was a cubit; its pedestal was a round work of a cubit and a half; moreover, on its opening were the carvings with four-sided frames, not circular. ³² Four of the wheels were underneath the frames, and the axles of the wheels were on the stands. The height of each wheel was a cubit and a half. ³³ The construction of the wheel was like the construction of the wheel of the chariot; their axles, their rims, their spokes, and their naves were all cast. ³⁴ The four supports were the four corners of each stand, with the stand supporting it. ³⁵ On top of the stand was half a cubit deep, circular all around, and on the top of the stand were its supports and its frames. ³⁶ He engraved on the plates, on its supports, and on its frame cherubim, lions and images of a palm tree, according to the space for each, with wreaths all around. ³⁷ He made the ten stands like this in one cast, with the same measurement and shape for each of them.

³⁸ He also made ten bronze basins, each holding forty baths; each basin was four cubits, one basin on each of the ten stands. ³⁹ He placed five of the stands on the south side of the house and five on the north side of the house, and the sea he set on the southeast side of the house.

⁴⁰ Hiram also made the basins and the shovels and the bowls for drinking wine; and so Hiram finished doing all of the work that he was to do^[cp] for King Solomon in the house of Yahweh: ⁴¹ the two pillars and the bowls of the capitals which were atop the two pillars, and the two lattice works to cover the two bowls of the capitals which were atop the pillars; ⁴² and the four hundred pomegranate-shaped ornaments for the two lattice works, the two rows of pomegranate-shaped ornaments for each latticework to cover the two bowls of the capitals which were on the surface of the pillars; ⁴³ and the ten stands and the ten basins on the stands; ⁴⁴ and the one sea and the twelve oxen under the sea; ⁴⁵ and the pots, the shovels, and the bowls for drinking wine. All the vessels of the tent which Hiram had made for King Solomon for the house of Yahweh were polished bronze. ⁴⁶ The king had cast them in the plain of the Jordan with the casting mold set in the ground between Succoth and Zarethan. ⁴⁷ Solomon left all of the vessels unweighed because of their very great abundance, so the weight of the bronze could not be determined.

⁴⁸ Solomon also made all of the vessels which were in the house of Yahweh: the golden altar and the golden table on which was the bread of the presence; ⁴⁹ as well as the five lampstands of beaten gold at the south and five lampstands at the north before the presence of the inner sanctuary, with the flower-shaped ornaments, the lamps, and the pair of tongs all of gold. ⁵⁰ The cups, the snuffers, the bowls for drinking wine, the bowls for the incense, and the firepans were made from beaten gold; the facades for the doors of the inner house, for the most holy place,^[cq] for the doors of the main hall of the temple were of gold. ⁵¹ When all of the work which king Solomon did on the house of Yahweh was completed, Solomon brought out the holy objects of his father David, the silver and the gold and the vessels, which he put in the treasury rooms of the house of Yahweh.

The Dedication of the Temple

8 At that time, Solomon assembled the elders of Israel, all the heads of the tribes, and the leaders of the families^[cr] of the Israelites^[cs] before King Solomon, in order to bring up the ark of the covenant of Yahweh from the city of David, that is, Zion. ² All the men of Israel assembled before King Solomon at the festival in the month of Ethnaim, that is, the seventh month. ³ All the elders of Israel came, and the priests carried the ark. ⁴ So they brought up the ark of Yahweh and the tent of assembly^[ct] and all of the holy vessels that were in the tent; the priests and the Levites brought them up. ⁵ King Solomon and all the assembly of Israel who were assembling with him in the presence of the ark were sacrificing sheep and oxen that could not be counted nor numbered because of abundance. ⁶ The priests brought the ark of the covenant of Yahweh to its place in the inner sanctuary of the house, to the most holy place,^[cu] under the wings of the cherubim, ⁷ for the cherubim were spreading their wings over the place of the ark. The cherubim overshadowed the ark and its poles from above. ⁸ The poles were long, and the ends of the poles could be seen from the holy place in front of^[cv] the inner sanctuary, but they could not be seen from the outside, and they are there until this day. ⁹ There was not anything in the ark except^[cw] the two tablets of stone which Moses had placed there at Horeb, where Yahweh made^[cx] a covenant with the Israelites^[cy] after they went out from the land of Egypt. ¹⁰ When the priests went out from the holy place, the cloud filled the house of Yahweh. ¹¹ The priests were not able to stand to minister because of the presence of^[cz] the cloud, for the glory of Yahweh filled the house of Yahweh.

Solomon’s Proclamation to the Assembly of Israel

¹² Then Solomon said, “Yahweh has said that he would dwell in the very thick cloud. ¹³ I have certainly built a lofty house for you, a place for you to live forever.” ¹⁴ Then the king turned his face around, and he blessed all of the assembly of Israel. (Now all the assembly of Israel was standing). ¹⁵ Then he said, “Blessed be Yahweh the God of Israel who has promised with his mouth to David my father and fulfilled by his oath,^[da] saying, ¹⁶ ‘From the day that I brought out my people Israel from Egypt I have not chosen a city from all the tribes of Israel to build a house where my name might be, but I have chosen David to be over my people Israel.’ ¹⁷ David my father desired^[db] to build a house for the name of Yahweh the God of Israel, ¹⁸ but Yahweh said to David my father, ‘Because you desired^[dc] to build a house for my name, you did well in that it was within your heart. ¹⁹ However, you will not build the house, but your son who has come from your loins, he shall build the house for my name.’ ²⁰ Yahweh has carried out his promise which he had made; I have risen in place of David my father, and I sit on the throne of Israel as Yahweh promised, and I have built the house for the name of Yahweh the God of Israel. ²¹ I have provided a place there for the ark, in which is the covenant which Yahweh made with our ancestors^[dd] when He brought them out of the land of Egypt.”

Solomon’s Prayer to Yahweh

²² Then Solomon stood before the altar of Yahweh in the presence of all of the assembly of Israel, and he spread out his hands to the heavens, ²³ and he said, “O Yahweh, God of Israel, there is no god like you in the heavens above or on the earth beneath, keeping the covenant and the loyal love for your servants who are walking before you with all their heart. ²⁴ You have kept for your servant David my father what you promised to him, and you have spoken with your mouth, and with your hand you have fulfilled it this very day. ²⁵ So then, O Yahweh, God of Israel, keep for your servant David my father what you promised to him, saying, ‘For you, no man will be cut off from before me who will be sitting on the throne of Israel, if only your sons keep their ways to walk before me just as you have walked before me.’ ²⁶ So then, O God of Israel, please let your word be confirmed which you have promised^[de] to your servant David my father. ²⁷ For will God really dwell on the earth? Behold, the heavens and the heaven of heavens could not contain you! How could^[df] this house that I have built? ²⁸ You must regard the prayer of your servant and his plea! O Yahweh my God, listen to the pleading and to the prayer that your servant is praying before you this day, ²⁹ so that your eyes will be open to this house night and day, to the place which you said, ‘My name will be there,’ to hear the prayer that your servant prays toward this place. ³⁰ You must listen to the plea of your servant and your people Israel which they pray toward this place; and you must hear from the place where you live, from heaven you must hear and you must forgive. ³¹ If a man sins against his neighbor and he pronounces an oath against him to curse him, and the curse comes before your altar in this house, ³² then you shall hear in heaven and you shall act and you shall judge your servant, to declare the wicked guilty by bringing his way upon his head and to declare the righteous innocent^[dg] by rewarding him according to his righteousness. ³³ When your people Israel are defeated before the enemy because^[dh] they sinned against you, and when they turn to you and confess your name and pray and beg for mercy from you in this house, ³⁴ then you shall hear in heaven and forgive the sin of your people Israel, and you shall bring them back to the ground which you gave to their ancestors.^{[di] 35} When you shut up the heavens so there is no rain because they have sinned against you, then they pray to this place and they confess your name and they return from their sin because you punished them, ³⁶ then you shall hear in heaven and forgive the sin of your servants and your people Israel, for you will teach them the good way in which they should go, and you will give rain upon your land which you have given to your people as an inheritance. ³⁷ If there should be in the land famine or disease, if there should be blight or mildew or locust or caterpillars, if it happens that his enemy lays siege against him in the land of his gates, if any plague or any disease, ³⁸ any prayer or any plea which is offered by any person for all of your people Israel, who each knows the infestation of his own heart and spreads out his palms to this house, ³⁹ then you shall hear in heaven the place of your dwelling, and you shall forgive and act and give to the man whose heart you know, according to all his ways, for you alone know the heart of all the sons of man. ⁴⁰ Do these things so that they may fear you all the days that they live on the face of the land that you gave to our ancestors.^{[dj] 41} Also for the foreigner who is not from your people Israel, and he comes from a distant land because of your name, ⁴² (for they shall hear of your great name and your powerful hand and your outstretched arm), and he shall come and pray toward this house, ⁴³ you shall hear in heaven, the place of your dwelling, and act according to all that the foreigner calls to you, so that all the peoples of the earth may know your name, to fear you as your people Israel, and to know that your name has been invoked over this house that I have built. ⁴⁴ If your people go out to battle against his enemy in the way that you shall send them and they pray to Yahweh, toward the city which you have chosen and the house which I have built for your name, ⁴⁵ then you shall hear in heaven their prayer and their plea, and you shall vindicate^[dk] them.

⁴⁶ “If they sin against you (for there is not a person who does not sin) and you are angry with them and you give them to an enemy and they take them captive to the land of the enemy far or near, ⁴⁷ and then they return their heart in the land where they have been taken captive and they return and plead to you in the land of their captivity, saying, ‘We have sinned and we did wrong. We acted wickedly,’ ⁴⁸ if they return to you with all of their heart and with all of their soul in the land of their enemies who took them captive and they pray to you toward their land which you gave to their ancestors,^[dl] the city that you have chosen and the house that you^[dm] built for your name, ⁴⁹ then you shall hear in heaven, the place of your dwelling, their prayer and their plea, and you shall vindicate them.^{[dn] 50} You shall forgive your people who sinned against you, even for all their transgressions which they committed against you. You shall give them compassion before their captors so that they may have compassion on them, ⁵¹ for they are your people and your inheritance whom you brought from Egypt from the middle of the smelter of iron. ⁵² O, that your eyes may be open to the plea of your servant and to the plea of your people Israel, to listen to them in all things when they call to you. ⁵³ For you have separated them for yourself as an inheritance from all the peoples of the earth, as you promised through the hand of Moses your servant when you brought out our ancestors^[do] from Egypt, my Lord Yahweh!”

Solomon Charges the People Israel

⁵⁴ It happened that when Solomon finished praying to Yahweh all of the prayer and this plea, he got up from before the altar of Yahweh, from kneeling down on his knees with his palms outstretched to heaven. ⁵⁵ He stood and blessed all of the assembly of Israel with a loud voice, saying, ⁵⁶ “Blessed be Yahweh who gave a resting place to his people Israel. According to all that he promised, not one word has fallen from all of his promises concerning the good which he spoke through the hand of Moses his servant. ⁵⁷ May Yahweh our God be with us as he was with our ancestors,^[dp] and may he not leave us or abandon us, ⁵⁸ to incline our hearts toward him, to walk in all his ways and to keep his commandments, his statutes, and his judgments which he commanded our ancestors.^{[dq] 59} Let these my words which I pleaded before Yahweh be near to Yahweh our God, by day and by night, to maintain the justice of his servant and the justice of his people Israel as each day requires^{[dr] 60} so that all of the people of the earth may know that Yahweh, he is God; there is none other. ⁶¹ Let your heart be completely with Yahweh our God by walking in his statutes, by keeping his commands as this day.”

The Great Confirming Sacrifice

⁶² Then the king and all of Israel with him offered a sacrifice in the presence of Yahweh. ⁶³ Solomon sacrificed the fellowship offerings which he offered to Yahweh: twenty-two thousand oxen and one hundred and twenty thousand sheep; and the king and all of the Israelites^[ds] dedicated the house of Yahweh. ⁶⁴ On that day the king consecrated the middle of the courtyard before the house of Yahweh because he offered there the burnt offerings, the grain offerings, and the fat of the fellowship offerings because the bronze altar that was in the presence of Yahweh was too small to hold the burnt offerings and the grain offerings and the fat of the fellowship offerings. ⁶⁵ Solomon held the festival at that time and all of Israel with him, a great assembly from Lebo Hamath up to the wadi^[dt] of Egypt before Yahweh our God, for seven days and seven days, a total of fourteen days. ⁶⁶ On the eighth day, he sent the people away, and they blessed the king, and they went to their tents rejoicing and in good spirits^[du] because of all the goodness that Yahweh had shown to David his servant and to Israel his people.

Yahweh’s Challenge to Solomon

9 It happened that as Solomon finished the building of the house of Yahweh, the king’s house, and all the things Solomon desired to do, ² Yahweh appeared to Solomon a second time, as he had appeared to him in Gibeon. ³ Yahweh said to him, “I have heard your prayer and your plea which you have made before me. I have consecrated this house which you have built, by putting my name there forever. My eyes and my heart will always be there. ⁴ As for you, if you walk before me as David your father walked, with integrity of heart^[dv] and with uprightness, to do according to all that I have commanded you, and if you keep my ordinances and my judgments, ⁵ then I will establish the throne of your kingdom over Israel forever, as I promised David your father, saying, ‘A man will not be cut off for you from upon the throne of Israel.’

⁶ “If ever you or any of your descendants^[dw] turn from following me and do not keep my commandments and my ordinances that I have set before you and you go and serve other gods and bow down to them, ⁷ then I will cut Israel off from the face of the land that I have given to them, even the house which I have consecrated for my name I will cast away from my face; and Israel shall become a proverb and an object of taunting among all the peoples. ⁸ This house shall become a heap of ruins; all those passing by will be appalled by it and hiss, and they will say, ‘On what account did Yahweh do this to this land and to this house?’ ⁹ And they will say, ‘Because they have forsaken Yahweh their God who brought their ancestors^[dx] out from the land of Egypt and they embraced other gods and bowed down to them and served them. Therefore, Yahweh brought on them all of this disaster.’”

Solomon and Hiram Complete Their Agreement

¹⁰ It happened at the end of twenty years in which Solomon had built the two houses, the house of Yahweh and the house of the king, ¹¹ since Hiram king of Tyre had supplied Solomon with wood of cedar and with wood of cypresses and with the gold according to all his desire, then King Solomon gave twenty cities in the land of the Galilee to Hiram. ¹² So Hiram went out from Tyre to see the cities that Solomon had given him, but they were not right in his eyes. ¹³ So he said, “What are these cities that you have given to me, my brother?” So they are called the land of Cabul until this day.^{[dy] 14} Then Hiram sent to the king a hundred and twenty talents of gold.

Solomon’s Accomplishments

¹⁵ This is the account of the forced labor that King Solomon conscripted to build the house of Yahweh and his house, the Millo, the walls of Jerusalem, Hazor, Megiddo, and Gezer. ¹⁶ Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, had gone up and captured Gezer and burnt it with fire. He had also killed the Canaanites who were living in the city and had given it as a dowry to his daughter, the wife of Solomon. ¹⁷ Solomon rebuilt Gezer and Lower Beth-Horon, ¹⁸ as well as Baalath and Tamar in the wilderness in the land; ¹⁹ and he also built all of the storage cities which were Solomon’s, the cities for the chariots, the cities for the cavalry, and all of Solomon’s desire that he wanted^[dz] to build in Jerusalem and in Lebanon and in all the land of his dominion.

²⁰ All of the people who were remaining from the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites who were not of the Israelites,^{[ea] 21} their children who remained after them in the land, whom the Israelites^[eb] were not able to completely destroy, Solomon conscripted them for forced labor, until this very day. ²² But from the Israelites^[ec] Solomon did not make a slave, but they were the men of war, his officers, his commanders, his captains, and the commanders of his chariots and his cavalry. ²³ These were the commanders of the overseers who were over the work for Solomon, five hundred and fifty, ruling over the people doing the work.

²⁴ As soon as the daughter of Pharaoh went up from the city of David to her house which he^[ed] built for her, then he built the Millo.

²⁵ Solomon sacrificed three times a year: burnt offerings and fellowship offerings on the altar that he had built to Yahweh, and he offered incense with it before Yahweh; and so he completed the house.

²⁶ King Solomon also built a fleet of ships at Ezion-Geber which is near Elath on the shore of the Red Sea^[ee] in the land of Edom. ²⁷ Hiram sent his servants with the fleet of ships, sailors^[ef] who knew the sea, with the servants of Solomon. ²⁸ They went to Ophir and imported from there four hundred and twenty talents of gold, and they brought it to King Solomon.

The Visit of the Queen of Sheba

10 Now the queen of Sheba had heard of the fame of Solomon regarding the name of Yahweh, and she came to test him with hard questions. ² So she came to Jerusalem with very great wealth; with camels carrying spices, very much gold, and precious stones. She came to Solomon, and she spoke to him all that was on her heart. ³ Solomon answered all of her questions;^[eg] there was not a thing hidden from the king which he could not explain to her. ⁴ When the queen of Sheba observed all the wisdom of Solomon and the house which he had built, ⁵ the food of his table, the seat of his servants, the manner^[eh] of his servants and their clothing, his cupbearers, and his burnt offerings which he offered in the house of Yahweh, she was breathless.^{[ei] 6} Then she said to the king, “The report which I heard in my land was true concerning your accomplishments and your wisdom. ⁷ I had not believed the report to be true until I came and my eyes had seen, and behold! The half had not been told to me. Your wisdom and prosperity surpass^[ej] the report that I had heard. ⁸ Happy are your men and happy are these your servants who stand before you continually hearing your wisdom. ⁹ May Yahweh your God be blessed, who has delighted in you to set you on the throne of Israel, because of the love of Yahweh for Israel forever, and he has made you king to execute justice and righteousness.” ¹⁰ Then she gave the king a hundred and twenty talents of gold, abundant spices, and precious stones. Spices as these did not come again in such abundance as that which the queen of Sheba brought to King Solomon.

¹¹ Moreover, the fleet of ships of Hiram which carried the gold from Ophir also brought from Ophir abundant amounts of almug wood and precious stones. ¹² The king made a raised structure for the house of Yahweh and for the house of the king out of the almug wood, as well as lyres and harps for the singers. This much almug wood has not come nor been seen again up to this day. ¹³ King Solomon gave to the queen of Sheba all of her desire that she asked, besides that which King Solomon freely offered her.^[ek] Then she turned and went to her land with her servants.

¹⁴ The weight of the gold that came to Solomon in one year was six hundred and sixty-six talents of gold, ¹⁵ apart from that of the men of the traders and the profits of the traders, and all the kings of the Arabs and the governors of the land. ¹⁶ King Solomon made two hundred shields of hammered gold; six hundred measures of gold went up over each shield. ¹⁷ Also he made three hundred small shields of hammered gold; three minas of gold went up over each of the small shields; and the king put them into the House of the Forest of Lebanon. ¹⁸ The king also made a large ivory throne, and he overlaid it with fine gold. ¹⁹ Six steps led up to the throne, and there was a circular top to the throne behind it, and armrests were on each side of the seat,^[el] with two lions standing beside the armrests. ²⁰ Twelve lions were standing there, six on each of the six steps on either side;^[em] nothing like this was made for any of the kingdoms. ²¹ All of the drinking vessels of King Solomon were gold, and all the vessels for the House of the Forest of Lebanon were pure gold. There was no silver; it was not considered as something valuable in the days of Solomon. ²² For the fleet of Tarshish belonged to the king and was on the sea with the fleet of Hiram; once every three years the fleet of Tarshish used to come carrying gold and silver, ivory, apes, and baboons.

²³ King Solomon was greater than all the kings of the earth with respect to wealth and wisdom. ²⁴ All of the earth was seeking the presence of Solomon, to hear his wisdom which God had put in his heart. ²⁵ They were each bringing his gift; objects of silver and objects of gold, clothing, weapons, spices, horses, and mules. This used to happen year after year.^[en]

²⁶ Solomon gathered chariots and horses; he had fourteen hundred chariots and twelve thousand horses. He stationed them in the cities of the chariots and with the king in Jerusalem. ²⁷ The king made the silver in Jerusalem as the stones, and the cedars he made as the sycamore fig trees which are in the Shephelah in abundance. ²⁸ The import of the horses which were Solomon’s was from Egypt and from Kue; the traders of the king received horses from Kue at a price. ²⁹ A chariot went up and went out from Egypt at six hundred silver shekels and a horse at a hundred and fifty. So it was for all the kings of the Hittites and for the kings of Aram; by their hand they were exported.

Solomon’s Foreign Wives

11 King Solomon loved many foreign women: the daughter of Pharaoh, Moabite, Ammonite, Edomite, Sidonian, Hittite; ² from the nations which Yahweh had said to the Israelites,^[eo] “You shall not marry them,^[ep] and they shall not marry you.^[eq] They will certainly turn your heart after other gods.” But Solomon clung to them to love. ³ He had seven hundred princesses and three hundred concubines, and his wives turned his heart.

Solomon’s Apostasy

⁴ It happened at the time of Solomon’s old age that his wives guided his heart after other gods, and his heart was not fully with Yahweh his God as the heart of David his father had been. ⁵ Solomon went after Ashtoreth the god of the Sidonians and after Molech the abhorrence of the Ammonites. ⁶ So Solomon did evil in the eyes of Yahweh and did not fully follow after Yahweh as David his father. ⁷ At that time, Solomon built a high place for Chemosh, the abomination of Moab, on the mountain which faces^[er] Jerusalem and for Molech, the abomination of the Ammonites.^{[es] 8} Thus he did for all of his foreign wives, offering incense and sacrificing to their gods.

Yahweh’s Judgment on Solomon

⁹ Yahweh was angry with Solomon, for he had turned his heart from Yahweh, the God of Israel who had appeared to him twice. ¹⁰ And he had commanded him concerning this matter not to go after other gods, but he did not keep that which Yahweh commanded. ¹¹ So Yahweh said to Solomon, “Because this was with you, and you did not keep my covenant and my ordinances which I have commanded you, I will certainly tear the kingdom from you, and I will give it to your servant. ¹² However, I will not do it in your days, for the sake of David your father; from the hand of your son I will tear it away. ¹³ Yet all of the kingdom I will not tear away. I will give one tribe to your son for the sake of my servant David and for the sake of Jerusalem which I have chosen.”

¹⁴ Then Yahweh raised an adversary against Solomon, Hadad the Edomite, from the descendants of that king in Edom. ¹⁵ It had happened that when David was at Edom, Joab the commander of the army went up to bury the slain, and he killed every male in Edom. ¹⁶ For Joab and all Israel had stayed there six months until he exterminated every male in Edom. ¹⁷ But Hadad himself had fled, and some Edomite men from the servants of his father with him, to go to Egypt, when Hadad was a young boy. ¹⁸ They had set out from Midian until they came to Paran where they took men from Paran with them and came to Egypt, to Pharaoh king of Egypt. He gave to him a house and assigned food for him and gave him land. ¹⁹ Hadad found great favor in the eyes of Pharaoh, and he gave him the sister of his wife, the sister of Tahpenes the queen, as wife. ²⁰ The sister of Tahpenes bore Genubath his son for him, and Tahpenes weaned him in the middle of the house of Pharaoh. Genubath was in the house of Pharaoh in the midst of the children^[et] of Pharaoh. ²¹ Now Hadad heard in Egypt that David had slept with his ancestors^[eu] and that Joab the commander of the army was dead. Then Hadad said to Pharaoh, “Send me away that I may go to my land.” ²² Pharaoh said to him, “What do you lack with me that you now are seeking to go to your land?” He said, “No, but you must surely send me away.”

²³ God had also raised Rezon the son of Eliada as an adversary against him, who had fled from Hadadezer the king of Zobah, his master. ²⁴ He gathered men around him and he became the commander of bandits. When David killed some of them, they went to Damascus and settled there,^[ev] and they reigned in Damascus. ²⁵ He was an adversary for Israel all the days of Solomon, and along with the evil that Hadad did, he detested Israel while he reigned over Aram.

Yahweh Raises Up Jeroboam

²⁶ Now Jeroboam the son of Nebat, an Ephraimite from Zeredah (now the name of his mother was Zeruah, a widow woman), a servant of Solomon rebelled against the king.^{[ew] 27} This is the reason that he rebelled against the king: when Solomon built the Millo, he closed the gap of the city of David his father. ²⁸ Now the man Jeroboam was a man of ability, and Solomon saw that the young man was a diligent worker,^[ex] so he appointed him over all of the forced labor for the house of Joseph. ²⁹ It happened at that time that Jeroboam went out from Jerusalem, and he accidentally met Ahijah the Shilonite the prophet on the way. Now he had clothed himself with new clothing. While the two of them were alone in the field, ³⁰ Ahijah took hold of the new cloak which was on him and tore it into twelve pieces. ³¹ Then he said to Jeroboam, “Take for yourself ten pieces, for thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel: ‘Behold, I am about to tear the kingdom from the hand of Solomon, and I will give to you ten tribes, ³² but one tribe shall be for him, for the sake of my servant David and for the sake of Jerusalem, the city which I have chosen from all the tribes of Israel; ³³ because he has forsaken me, and they bowed down to Ashtoreth, the god of the Sidonians, to Chemosh, the god of Moab, and to Molech, the god of the Ammonites.^[ey] They did not walk in my ways to do right in my eyes, my ordinances, or my judgments, as did David his father. ³⁴ But I will not take all of the kingdom from his hand, but I will make him a leader all the days of his life for the sake of David my servant whom I chose, who kept my commandments and my ordinances. ³⁵ But I will take the kingship from the hand of his son, and I will give ten tribes to you. ³⁶ To his son I will give one tribe in order to be a lamp for my servant David, always before my face, in Jerusalem the city in which I have chosen to place my name. ³⁷ You I will take, and you shall reign over all your soul desires, and you shall be king over Israel. ³⁸ It shall be that if you listen to all that I command you and you walk in my ways and you do right in my eyes by keeping my statutes and my commandments, as David my servant did, then I will be with you, and I will build an enduring house for you as I built for David, and I will give Israel to you. ³⁹ I will punish the offspring of David on account of this; however, not always.’” ⁴⁰ Then Solomon sought to kill Jeroboam, but Jeroboam got up and fled to Egypt, to Shishak the king of Egypt, and he remained in Egypt until the death of Solomon.

⁴¹ Now the rest of the acts of Solomon and all that he did and his wisdom; are they not written on the scroll of the acts of Solomon? ⁴² All the days that Solomon reigned in Jerusalem over all of Israel were forty years. ⁴³ Then Solomon slept with his ancestors,^[ez] and they buried him in the city of David his father, and Rehoboam his son became king in his place.

Israel’s Appeal to Rehoboam

12 Then Rehoboam went to Shechem, for all of Israel had come to Shechem to make him king. ² It happened that Jeroboam the son of Nebat heard of it while he was still in Egypt where he had fled from the face of King Solomon, and Jeroboam had lived in Egypt. ³ So they sent and summoned him, and Jeroboam and all the assembly of Israel came. Then they spoke to Rehoboam, saying, ⁴ “Your father made our yoke heavy; now lighten the hard labor of your father and the heavy yoke which he placed on us, and we will serve you.” ⁵ He said, “Go up for three days and then return to me”; so the people went away.

Rehoboam Seeks Counsel to Respond

⁶ Then King Rehoboam consulted with the old men who had been serving^[fa] before Solomon his father when he was alive, saying, “How are you advising me to answer this people?”^{[fb] 7} They said to him, “If you will be a servant today to this people, then you will serve them; and if you answer them and speak good words to them, they will always be your servants.” ⁸ But he rejected the advice of the old men, which they gave him, and he consulted with the youngsters who had grown up with him, who were serving^[fc] before him. ⁹ He said to them, “What are you advising that we should reply to this people who spoke to me by saying, ‘Lighten the yoke your father put on us.’” ¹⁰ Then the youngsters who had grown up with him spoke to him, saying, “Thus you shall say to this people who spoke to you: ‘Your father made our yoke heavy, but you lighten it for us,’ you shall say to them, ‘My little finger is thicker than my father’s loins. ¹¹ So then, my father loaded a heavy yoke on all of you, but I will add to your yoke; my father disciplined you with whips, but I will discipline you with scorpions!’”

Rehoboam Responds Unwisely with Disastrous Results

¹² Jeroboam and all of the people came to Rehoboam on the third day, as the king had spoken: “Return to me on the third day.” ¹³ Then the king answered all the people harshly, as he had rejected the advice of the old men that they had offered. ¹⁴ He spoke to them according to the advice of the youngsters, saying, “My father made your yoke heavy, but I will add onto your yoke; my father disciplined you with whips, but I will discipline you with scorpions.” ¹⁵ So the king did not listen to the people, for it was a turning of events from Yahweh in order to fulfill his word which Yahweh had spoken through the hand of Ahijah the Shilonite to Jeroboam the son of Nebat. ¹⁶ When all of Israel saw that the king would not listen to them, the people answered the king, saying, “What share do we have in David?^[fd] There is no inheritance in the son of Jesse. To your tents, Israel! Now look to your house, David!” Then Israel went to their^[fe] tents.

¹⁷ The Israelites^[ff] were living in the cities of Judah, and Rehoboam was reigning over them. ¹⁸ King Rehoboam sent Adoram who was over the forced labor, and all of Israel cast stones at him and he died, but King Rehoboam managed to get up on the chariot to flee to Jerusalem. ¹⁹ So Israel rebelled against the house of David until this day.

Civil War Averted

²⁰ It happened that just when all of Israel heard that Jeroboam had returned, they sent and called him to the assembly and made him king over all of Israel. Not one followed after the house of David except the tribe of Judah alone. ²¹ When Rehoboam came to Jerusalem, he assembled all of the house of Judah and the tribe of Benjamin, a hundred and eighty thousand choice troops^[fg] to fight with the house of Israel, to restore the kingship to Rehoboam the son of Solomon. ²² Then the word of God came to Shemaiah the man of God, saying, ²³ “Say to Rehoboam the son of Solomon the king of Judah and to all the house of Judah and Benjamin and the remainder of the people, saying, ²⁴ ‘Thus says Yahweh: “You shall not go up and you shall not fight with your brothers the Israelites.^[fh] Return each of you to his house, for this thing was from me.”’” So they heeded the word of Yahweh, and they returned to go home according to the word of Yahweh.

Jeroboam Becomes King over Israel

²⁵ Then Jeroboam built Shechem in the hill country of Ephraim, and he resided in it. Then he went out from there and built Penuel. ²⁶ Then Jeroboam said to himself,^[fi] “Now the kingdom will return to the house of David ²⁷ if this people go up to offer sacrifices in the house^[fj] of Yahweh in Jerusalem. The heart of this people will return to their master Rehoboam the king of Judah, and they shall kill me and return to him.”^[fk]

²⁸ And the king had decided, so he made two golden calves and he said to them,^[fl] “You have been going up to Jerusalem long enough;^[fm] here are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up from the land of Egypt.” ²⁹ He put one in Bethel, and the other he put in Dan. ³⁰ This thing became a sin, and the people walked before the one as far as Dan. ³¹ Then he built the houses on the high places, and he appointed priests from all walks of life^[fn] who were not from the sons of Levi. ³² Jeroboam also inaugurated a religious feast in the eighth month on the fifteenth day of the month, like the religious feast which was in Judah, and he offered sacrifices on the altar. Thus he did in Bethel, by sacrificing to the calves that he had made; and he placed in Bethel the priests of the high places which he had made. ³³ He offered sacrifices on the altar which he had made in Bethel on the fifteenth day of the eighth month which his heart had devised. He inaugurated a religious feast for the Israelites,^[fo] and he went up to the altar to offer incense.

A Man of God Proclaims Judgment against the False Altar

13 Suddenly a man of God from Judah came to Bethel, by the word of Yahweh, while Jeroboam was standing at the altar to offer incense. ² Then he proclaimed against the altar by the word of Yahweh and said, “O altar, altar, thus says Yahweh: ‘Look, a son will be born to the house of David, Josiah by name, and he shall sacrifice on you the priests of the high places who burn incense on you, and human bones shall burn on you.’”

³ He gave a sign on that day, saying, “This is the sign that Yahweh has predetermined: Look, this altar will be torn apart, and the ashes that are on it will be poured out.”

⁴ It happened at the moment the king heard the word of the man of God that he cried out against the altar in Bethel, Jeroboam stretched out his hand from the altar, saying, “Seize him!” But his hand which he stretched out to him was paralyzed, and he was not able to draw it back to himself. ⁵ Then the altar was torn apart and the ashes from the altar poured out according to the sign which the man of God had announced by the word of Yahweh. ⁶ Then the king responded and said to the man of God, “Please entreat the favor of Yahweh your God, and pray for me that my hand may return to me.” So the man of God entreated the face of Yahweh, and the hand of the king returned to him, as it was in the beginning. ⁷ Then the king spoke to the man of God, “Come with me to the house and refresh yourself, that I may give you a gift.” ⁸ Then the man of God said to the king, “Even if you give to me half of your house I will not come with you, nor will I eat bread or drink water in this place, ⁹ for the word of Yahweh has commanded me, saying, ‘You shall not eat bread nor drink water, and you shall not return on the way that you came.’” ¹⁰ So he went another way, and he did not return by the way on which he had come to Bethel.

The Man of God Disobeys

¹¹ Now a certain older prophet was living in Bethel, and his son came and recounted to him all of the things that the man of God had done that day in Bethel and the words he had spoken to the king, and they told them to their father. ¹² Then their father asked them, “Which way did he go?”^[fp] His sons had seen the way which the man of God who had come from Judah had taken. ¹³ Then he said to his sons, “Saddle the donkey for me.” So they saddled the donkey for him, and he mounted it ¹⁴ and went after the man of God. He found him sitting under the oak and said to him, “Are you the man of God who came from Judah?” He said, “I am.” ¹⁵ Then he said to him, “Come with me to the house and eat some food.” ¹⁶ Then he said, “I am not able to return with you or to go with you. I will not eat food nor will I drink water with you in this place. ¹⁷ For a word came to me by the word of Yahweh, ‘You shall not eat food, nor shall you drink water there. You shall not return to go by the way that you came.’”

¹⁸ Then he said, “I am also a prophet like you. An angel spoke to me by the word of Yahweh, saying, ‘Let him return with you to your house that he may eat food and drink water.’” He lied to him. ¹⁹ So he returned with him and ate food in his house and drank water.

²⁰ Now it happened that they were sitting at the table, and the word of Yahweh came to the prophet who brought him back. ²¹ He proclaimed to the man of God who came from Judah, saying, “Thus says Yahweh: ‘Because you have disobeyed the word of Yahweh and have not kept the command which Yahweh your God commanded you, ²² but you have returned and have eaten food and drank water in the place which he ordered you not to eat food nor to drink water, then your dead body shall not return to the tomb of your ancestors.’”^[fq]

The Disobedient Man of God Dies

²³ It happened after he ate food and drank water that he saddled the donkey for the prophet whom he had brought back. ²⁴ When he left, a lion found him on the road and killed him, and his dead body was thrown on the road with the donkey standing beside it, and the lion was standing by the dead body. ²⁵ As men were passing by and they saw the dead body thrown in the road and the lion standing beside the dead body, they came and told it in the city where the old prophet was living. ²⁶ When the prophet who had brought him back from the way heard, he said, “It is the man of God who disobeyed the mouth of Yahweh, and Yahweh has given him to the lion. He tore him in pieces and killed him according to the word of Yahweh which he had spoken to him.” ²⁷ Then he spoke to his sons, saying, “Saddle the donkey for me.” So they saddled it. ²⁸ He went and found his dead body thrown in the road and a donkey with the lion standing beside it, but the lion had not eaten the corpse nor attacked the donkey. ²⁹ So the prophet lifted up the corpse of the man of God and put it on the donkey and brought it back. He came to the city of the old prophet to mourn him and to bury him. ³⁰ He put his corpse in his tomb, and they mourned over him, “Alas, my brother!” ³¹ It happened after he buried him that he said to his sons, “When I die, you shall bury me in the tomb where the man of God is buried; you shall lay my bones beside his bones. ³² For surely, the thing which he proclaimed by the word of Yahweh against the altar which is in Bethel will happen, as it will against all the houses of the high places which are in the cities of Samaria.”

Jeroboam Continues in His Sin

³³ After this event, Jeroboam did not turn from his evil way, but he returned and again made priests for the high places of people from all walks of life.^[fr] He filled his hand with all his desire and became one of the priests of the high places himself.