Bible in 90 Days

Chapter 23

The Last Words of David.^{[b] 1} These are the last words of David:

David’s Warriors. ⁸ These are the names of David’s warriors.^[c] Ishbaal, the son of Hachamoni, chief of the Three. He brandished his spear over eight hundred whom he had slain in a single encounter.^{(K) 9} Next to him was Eleazar, the son of Dodo the Ahohite, one of the Three warriors with David at Ephes-dammim, when they insulted the Philistines who had massed there for battle. The Israelites had retreated,^{(L) 10} but he stood there and struck down the Philistines until his hand grew tired from clutching the sword. The Lord brought about a great victory on that day; the army turned back to rejoin Eleazar, but only to strip the slain. ¹¹ Next to him was Shammah, son of Agee the Hararite. The Philistines had assembled at Lehi, where there was a plot of land full of lentils. The people were fleeing before the Philistines,^{(M) 12} but he took his stand in the middle of the plot, kept it safe, and cut down the Philistines. Thus the Lord brought about a great victory. Such deeds as these the Three warriors performed.

¹³ Three of the Thirty chiefs went down to David in the cave of Adullam during the harvest, while a Philistine clan was encamped in the Valley of Rephaim.^{(N) 14} David was then in the stronghold, and there was a garrison of Philistines in Bethlehem. ¹⁵ Now David had a craving and said, “If only someone would give me a drink of water from the cistern by the gate of Bethlehem!” ¹⁶ Thereupon the three warriors broke through the encampment of the Philistines, drew water from the cistern by the gate of Bethlehem, and carried it back to David. But he refused to drink it, and instead poured it out^[d] to the Lord, ¹⁷ saying: “The Lord forbid that I do such a thing! Could I drink the blood of these men who went at the risk of their lives?” So he refused to drink it.

¹⁸ Abishai, the brother of Joab, son of Zeruiah, was the chief of the Thirty; he brandished his spear over three hundred whom he had slain. He made a name among the Thirty, ¹⁹ but was more famous than any of the Thirty, becoming their leader. However, he did not attain to the Three.

²⁰ Benaiah, son of Jehoiada, a valiant man of mighty deeds, from Kabzeel, killed the two sons of Ariel of Moab. Also, he went down and killed the lion in the cistern on a snowy day.^{(O) 21} He likewise slew an Egyptian, a huge man. The Egyptian carried a spear, but Benaiah came against him with a staff; he wrested the spear from the Egyptian’s hand, and killed him with that spear. ²² Such deeds as these Benaiah, the son of Jehoiada, performed; and he made a name among the Thirty warriors ²³ but was more famous than any of the Thirty. However, he did not attain to the Three. David put him in charge of his bodyguard.^{(P) 24} Asahel,^(Q) brother of Joab, was among the Thirty; Elhanan, son of Dodo, from Bethlehem; ²⁵ Shammah, from En-harod; Elika, from En-harod; ²⁶ Helez, from Beth-pelet; Ira, son of Ikkesh, from Tekoa; ²⁷ Abiezer, from Anathoth; Sibbecai, from Husha;^{(R) 28} Zalmon, from Ahoh; Maharai, from Netophah; ²⁹ Heled, son of Baanah, from Netophah; Ittai, son of Ribai, from Gibeah of Benjamin; ³⁰ Benaiah, from Pirathon; Hiddai, from the valley of Gaash; ³¹ Abibaal, from Beth-arabah; Azmaveth, from Bahurim; ³² Eliahba, from Shaalbon; Jashen the Gunite; Jonathan, ³³ son of Shammah the Hararite; Ahiam, son of Sharar the Hararite; ³⁴ Eliphelet, son of Ahasbai, from Beth-maacah; Eliam, son of Ahithophel, from Gilo; ³⁵ Hezrai, from Carmel; Paarai the Arbite; ³⁶ Igal, son of Nathan, from Zobah; Bani the Gadite; ³⁷ Zelek the Ammonite; Naharai, from Beeroth, the armor-bearer of Joab, son of Zeruiah; ³⁸ Ira, from Jattir; Gareb, from Jattir; ³⁹ Uriah the Hittite—thirty-seven in all.^(S)

Chapter 24

David’s Census; the Plague. ¹ The Lord’s anger against Israel flared again,^(T) and he incited David against them: “Go, take a census of Israel and Judah.” ² The king therefore said to Joab and the leaders of the army who were with him, “Tour all the tribes of Israel from Dan to Beer-sheba and register the people, that I may know their number.” ³ But Joab replied to the king: “May the Lord your God increase the number of people a hundredfold for my lord the king to see it with his own eyes. But why does it please my lord to do a thing of this kind?” ⁴ However, the king’s command prevailed over Joab and the leaders of the army, so they left the king’s presence in order to register the people of Israel. ⁵ Crossing the Jordan, they began near Aroer, south of the city in the wadi, and turned in the direction of Gad toward Jazer. ⁶ They continued on to Gilead and to the district below Mount Hermon. Then they proceeded to Dan; from there they turned toward Sidon, ⁷ going to the fortress of Tyre and to all the cities of the Hivites and Canaanites, and ending up in the Negeb of Judah, at Beer-sheba. ⁸ Thus they toured the whole land, reaching Jerusalem again after nine months and twenty days. ⁹ Joab then reported the census figures to the king: of men capable of wielding a sword, there were in Israel eight hundred thousand, and in Judah five hundred thousand.

¹⁰ Afterward, however, David regretted having numbered the people. David said to the Lord: “I have sinned grievously in what I have done.^(U) Take away, Lord, your servant’s guilt, for I have acted very foolishly.”^{[e] 11} When David rose in the morning, the word of the Lord came to the prophet Gad, David’s seer, saying: ¹² Go, tell David: Thus says the Lord: I am offering you three options; choose one of them, and I will give you that. ¹³ Gad then went to David to inform him. He asked: “Should three years of famine come upon your land; or three months of fleeing from your enemy while he pursues you; or is it to be three days of plague in your land? Now consider well: what answer am I to give to him who sent me?”^{(V) 14} David answered Gad: “I am greatly distressed. But let us fall into the hand of God, whose mercy is great, rather than into human hands.” ¹⁵ Thus David chose the plague. At the time of the wheat harvest it broke out among the people. The Lord sent plague over Israel from morning until the time appointed, and from Dan to Beer-sheba seventy thousand of the people died. ¹⁶ But when the angel stretched forth his hand toward Jerusalem to destroy it, the Lord changed his mind about the calamity, and said to the angel causing the destruction among the people: Enough now! Stay your hand.^(W) The angel of the Lord was then standing at the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.^{(X) 17} When David saw the angel who was striking the people, he said to the Lord: “It is I who have sinned; it is I, the shepherd, who have done wrong. But these sheep, what have they done? Strike me and my father’s family!”

David Offers Sacrifices. ¹⁸ On the same day Gad went to David and said to him, “Go and set up an altar to the Lord on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.” ¹⁹ According to Gad’s word, David went up as the Lord had commanded. ²⁰ Now Araunah looked down and saw the king and his servants coming toward him while he was threshing wheat. So he went out and bowed down before the king, his face to the ground. ²¹ Then Araunah asked, “Why does my lord the king come to his servant?” David replied, “To buy the threshing floor from you, to build an altar to the Lord, that the plague may be withdrawn from the people.” ^22 (Y)But Araunah said to David: “Let my lord the king take it and offer up what is good in his sight. See, here are the oxen for burnt offerings, and the threshing sledges and the yokes of oxen for wood. ²³ All this does Araunah give to the king.” Araunah then said to the king, “May the Lord your God accept your offering.” ²⁴ The king, however, replied to Araunah, “No, I will buy it from you at the proper price, for I cannot sacrifice to the Lord my God burnt offerings that cost me nothing.” So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for fifty silver shekels. ²⁵ Then David built an altar to the Lord there, and sacrificed burnt offerings and communion offerings. The Lord granted relief to the land, and the plague was withdrawn from Israel.

I. The Reign of Solomon^[f]

Chapter 1

David’s Old Age. ^1 [g]When King David was old and advanced in years, though they covered him with blankets he could not get warm. ² His servants therefore said to him, “Let a young virgin be sought to attend my lord the king,^[h] and to nurse him. If she sleeps with you, my lord the king will be warm.” ³ So they sought for a beautiful girl throughout the territory of Israel, and found Abishag the Shunamite. So they brought her to the king. ⁴ The girl was very beautiful indeed, and she nursed the king and took care of him. But the king did not have relations with her.

Adonijah’s Ambition. ⁵ Adonijah, son of Haggith, boasted, “I shall be king!” and he provided himself with chariots, horses, and a retinue of fifty to go before him.^{(Z) 6} Yet his father would never antagonize him by asking, “Why are you doing this?” Adonijah was also very handsome, and next in age to Absalom by the same mother. ⁷ He consulted with Joab, son of Zeruiah, and with Abiathar the priest, and they became Adonijah’s supporters. ⁸ However, Zadok the priest, Benaiah, son of Jehoiada, Nathan the prophet, Shimei and Rei, and David’s warriors did not support Adonijah.

⁹ Adonijah slaughtered sheep, oxen, and fatlings at the stone Zoheleth near En-rogel^[i] and invited all his brothers, the king’s sons, and all the royal officials of Judah; ¹⁰ but he did not invite Nathan the prophet, or Benaiah, or the warriors, or Solomon his brother.

Solomon Proclaimed King. ¹¹ Then Nathan said to Bathsheba, Solomon’s mother: “Have you not heard that Adonijah, son of Haggith, has become king, and our lord David does not know? ¹² Come now, let me advise you so that you may save your life and the life of your son Solomon. ¹³ Go, visit King David, and say to him, ‘Did you not, my lord king, swear to your handmaid: Your son Solomon shall be king after me; it is he who shall sit upon my throne? Why, then, has Adonijah become king?’ ¹⁴ And while you are still there speaking to the king, I will come in after you and confirm your words.”

¹⁵ So Bathsheba visited the king in his room. The king was very old, and Abishag the Shunamite was caring for the king.^{[j] 16} Bathsheba bowed in homage to the king. The king said to her, “What do you wish?”^{[k] 17} She answered him: “My lord, you swore to your servant by the Lord, your God, ‘Solomon your son will be king after me; it is he who shall sit upon my throne.’ ¹⁸ But now Adonijah has become king, and you, my lord king, do not know it.^{[l] 19} He has sacrificed bulls, fatlings, and sheep in great numbers; he has invited all the king’s sons, Abiathar the priest, and Joab, the commander of the army, but not your servant Solomon. ^20 [m]Now, my lord king, all Israel is looking to you to declare to them who is to sit upon the throne of my lord the king after him. ²¹ If this is not done, when my lord the king rests with his ancestors, I and my son Solomon will be considered criminals.”

²² While she was still speaking to the king, Nathan the prophet came in. ²³ They told the king, “Nathan the prophet is here.” He entered the king’s presence and did him homage, bowing to the floor. ²⁴ Then Nathan said: “My lord king, did you say, ‘Adonijah shall be king after me and shall sit upon my throne’? ²⁵ For today he went down and sacrificed bulls, fatlings, and sheep in great numbers; he invited all the king’s sons, the commanders of the army, and Abiathar the priest, and even now they are eating and drinking in his company and saying, ‘Long live King Adonijah!’ ²⁶ But me, your servant, he did not invite; nor Zadok the priest, nor Benaiah, son of Jehoiada, nor your servant Solomon. ²⁷ If this was done by order of my lord the king, you did not tell me, your servant, who is to sit upon the throne of my lord the king after him.”

²⁸ King David answered, “Call Bathsheba here.” When she entered the king’s presence and stood before him, ²⁹ the king swore, “As the Lord lives, who has redeemed my life from all distress, ³⁰ this very day I will fulfill the oath I swore to you by the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘Your son Solomon shall be king after me and shall sit upon my throne in my place.’” ³¹ Bowing to the floor in homage to the king, Bathsheba said, “May my lord, King David, live forever!”

³² Then King David said, “Call Zadok the priest, Nathan the prophet, and Benaiah, son of Jehoiada.” When they had entered the king’s presence, ³³ he said to them: “Take with you the royal officials. Mount my son Solomon upon my own mule and escort him down to Gihon. ³⁴ There Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet shall anoint him king over Israel, and you shall blow the ram’s horn and cry, ‘Long live King Solomon!’ ³⁵ When you come back up with him, he is to go in and sit upon my throne. It is he that shall be king in my place: him I designate ruler of Israel and of Judah.” ³⁶ Benaiah, son of Jehoiada, answered the king: “So be it! May the Lord, the God of my lord the king, so decree! ³⁷ As the Lord has been with my lord the king, so may he be with Solomon, and make his throne even greater than that of my lord, King David!”

³⁸ So Zadok the priest, Nathan the prophet, Benaiah, son of Jehoiada, and the Cherethites and Pelethites^[n] went down, and mounting Solomon on King David’s mule, escorted him to Gihon. ³⁹ Then Zadok the priest took the horn of oil from the tent and anointed Solomon. They blew the ram’s horn and all the people shouted, “Long live King Solomon!” ⁴⁰ Then all the people went up after him, playing flutes and rejoicing so much the earth split with their shouting.

Adonijah Submits to Solomon. ⁴¹ Adonijah and all the guests who were with him heard it, just as they ended their banquet. When Joab heard the sound of the ram’s horn, he asked, “Why this uproar in the city?” ⁴² As he was speaking, Jonathan, son of Abiathar the priest, arrived. Adonijah said, “Come, you are a man of worth and must bring good news.” ⁴³ Jonathan answered Adonijah, “Hardly!^[o] Our lord, King David, has made Solomon king. ⁴⁴ The king sent with him Zadok the priest, Nathan the prophet, Benaiah, son of Jehoiada, and the Cherethites and Pelethites, and they mounted him upon the king’s own mule. ⁴⁵ Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet anointed him king at Gihon, and they went up from there rejoicing, so that the city is in an uproar. That is the noise you hear. ⁴⁶ Moreover, Solomon has taken his seat on the royal throne, ⁴⁷ and moreover the king’s servants have come to pay their respects to our lord, King David, saying, ‘May your God make Solomon’s name more famous than your name, his throne greater than your throne!’ And the king in his bed did homage. ⁴⁸ This is what the king said: ‘Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, who has this day provided one to sit upon my throne, so that I see it with my own eyes.’” ⁴⁹ All the guests of Adonijah got up trembling, and went each their way, ⁵⁰ but Adonijah, in fear of Solomon, got up and went to grasp the horns of the altar.^[p]

⁵¹ It was reported to Solomon: “Adonijah, in fear of King Solomon, is clinging to the horns of the altar and saying, ‘Let King Solomon first swear that he will not kill me, his servant, with the sword.’” ⁵² Solomon answered, “If he proves worthy, not a hair of his shall fall to the ground. But if evil is found in him, he shall die.” ⁵³ King Solomon sent to have him brought down from the altar, and he came and paid homage to King Solomon. Solomon then said to him, “Go to your house.”

Chapter 2

David’s Last Instructions and Death. ¹ When the time of David’s death drew near, he gave these instructions to Solomon his son: ² “I am going the way of all the earth. Be strong and be a man! ^3 (AA)Keep the mandate of the Lord, your God, walking in his ways and keeping his statutes, commands, ordinances, and decrees as they are written in the law of Moses, that you may succeed in whatever you do, and wherever you turn, ^4 (AB)and that the Lord may fulfill the word he spoke concerning me: If your sons so conduct themselves that they walk before me in faithfulness with their whole heart and soul, there shall never be wanting someone of your line on the throne of Israel.

^5 [q](AC)“You yourself know what Joab, son of Zeruiah, did to me—what he did to the two commanders of Israel’s armies, Abner, son of Ner, and Amasa, son of Jether: he killed them and brought the blood of war into a time of peace, and put the blood of war on the belt about his waist and the sandal on his foot. ⁶ Act with all the wisdom you possess; do not let his gray head go down to Sheol in peace. ^7 (AD)But be true to the sons of Barzillai the Gileadite, and have them among those who eat at your table. For they were loyal to me when I was fleeing from your brother Absalom. ^8 (AE)You also have with you Shimei, son of Gera, the Benjaminite of Bahurim, who cursed me bitterly the day I was going to Mahanaim. When he came down to meet me at the Jordan, I swore to him by the Lord: ‘I will not kill you by the sword.’ ⁹ But you must not let him go unpunished. You are wise; you will know what to do to send his gray head down to Sheol in blood.”

^10 (AF)David rested with his ancestors and was buried in the City of David. ^11 (AG)David was king over Israel for forty years: he was king seven years in Hebron and thirty-three years in Jerusalem.

The Kingdom Made Secure.^{[r] 12} Then Solomon sat on the throne of David his father, and his kingship was established.

¹³ Adonijah, son of Haggith, came to Bathsheba, the mother of Solomon. “Do you come in peace?” she asked. “In peace,” he answered, ¹⁴ and he added, “I have something to say to you.” She replied, “Speak.” ¹⁵ So he said: “You know that the kingship was mine, and all Israel expected me to be king. But the kingship passed me by and went to my brother; by the Lord’s will it went to him. ¹⁶ But now there is one favor I would ask of you. Do not refuse me.” And she said, “Speak on.” ^17 [s]He said, “Please ask King Solomon, who will not refuse you, to give me Abishag the Shunamite to be my wife.” ¹⁸ Bathsheba replied, “Very well, I will speak to the king for you.”

¹⁹ Then Bathsheba went to King Solomon to speak to him for Adonijah, and the king stood up to meet her and paid her homage. Then he sat down upon his throne, and a throne was provided for the king’s mother, who sat at his right. ²⁰ She said, “There is one small favor I would ask of you. Do not refuse me.” The king said to her, “Ask it, my mother, for I will not refuse you.” ²¹ So she said, “Let Abishag the Shunamite be given to your brother Adonijah to be his wife.” ²² King Solomon answered his mother, “And why do you ask that Abishag the Shunamite be given to Adonijah? Ask the kingship for him as well, for he is my older brother! Ask for him, for Abiathar the priest, for Joab, son of Zeruiah!” ²³ And King Solomon swore by the Lord: “May God do thus to me and more, if Adonijah has not spoken this word at the cost of his life. ^24 (AH)And now, as the Lord lives, who has established me and set me on the throne of David my father and made for me a house as he promised, this day shall Adonijah be put to death.” ²⁵ Then King Solomon sent Benaiah, son of Jehoiada, who struck him dead.

^26 (AI)The king said to Abiathar the priest: “Go to your estate in Anathoth. Though you deserve to die, I will not put you to death at this time, because you carried the ark of the Lord God before David my father and shared in all the hardships my father endured.”^{[t] 27 (AJ)}So Solomon dismissed Abiathar from the office of priest of the Lord, thus fulfilling the word the Lord had spoken in Shiloh against the house of Eli.

²⁸ When the news came to Joab, since he had sided with Adonijah, though not with Absalom, he fled to the tent of the Lord and clung to the horns of the altar. ²⁹ King Solomon was told, “Joab has fled to the tent of the Lord and is by the altar.” He sent Benaiah, son of Jehoiada, with the order, “Go, strike him down.” ³⁰ Benaiah went to the tent of the Lord and said to him, “The king says, ‘Come out.’” But he answered, “No! I will die here.” Benaiah reported to the king, “This is what Joab said to me in reply.” ³¹ The king answered him: “Do as he has said. Strike him down and bury him, and remove from me and from my father’s house the blood which Joab shed without provocation. ^32 (AK)The Lord will bring blood upon his own head, because he struck down two men better and more just than himself, and slew them with the sword without my father David’s knowledge: Abner, son of Ner, commander of Israel’s army, and Amasa, son of Jether, commander of Judah’s army. ³³ Their blood will be upon the head of Joab and his descendants. But upon David and his descendants, upon his house and his throne, there shall be peace forever from the Lord.” ³⁴ Benaiah, son of Jehoiada, went back, struck him down and killed him; he was buried in his house in the wilderness. ³⁵ The king appointed Benaiah, son of Jehoiada, over the army in his place; Zadok the priest the king put in place of Abiathar.

³⁶ Then the king summoned Shimei and said to him: “Build yourself a house in Jerusalem and stay there. Do not go anywhere else. ³⁷ For the day you leave, and cross the Wadi Kidron, be certain you shall surely die. Your blood shall be upon your own head.” ³⁸ Shimei answered the king: “I accept. Your servant will do just as my lord the king has said.” So Shimei stayed in Jerusalem for a long time. ³⁹ But three years later, two of Shimei’s servants ran away to Achish, son of Maacah, king of Gath, and Shimei was told, “Your servants are in Gath.” ⁴⁰ So Shimei rose, saddled his donkey, and went to Achish in Gath in search of his servants; and Shimei returned from Gath with his servants. ⁴¹ When Solomon was told that Shimei had gone from Jerusalem to Gath, and had returned, ⁴² the king summoned Shimei and said to him: “Did I not have you swear by the Lord and warn you clearly, ‘The day you leave and go anywhere else, be certain you shall surely die’? And you answered, ‘I accept and obey.’^{[u] 43} Why, then, have you not kept the oath of the Lord and the command that I gave you?” ^44 (AL)And the king said to Shimei: “In your heart you know very well the evil that you did to David my father. Now the Lord is bringing your own evil upon your head. ⁴⁵ But King Solomon shall be blessed, and David’s throne shall be established before the Lord forever.” ⁴⁶ The king then gave the order to Benaiah, son of Jehoiada, who went out and struck him dead.

And the royal power was established in Solomon’s hand.

Chapter 3

Early Promise of Solomon’s Reign.^{[v] 1 (AM)}Solomon allied himself by marriage with Pharaoh, king of Egypt. He married the daughter of Pharaoh and brought her to the City of David, until he should finish building his own house, and the house of the Lord, and the wall around Jerusalem. ² The people were sacrificing on the high places, however, for up to that time no house had been built for the name of the Lord. ³ Although Solomon loved the Lord, walking in the statutes of David his father, he offered sacrifice and burned incense on the high places.

⁴ The king went to Gibeon to sacrifice there, because that was the great high place. Upon its altar Solomon sacrificed a thousand burnt offerings. ⁵ In Gibeon the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream at night. God said: Whatever you ask I shall give you. ⁶ Solomon answered: “You have shown great kindness to your servant, David my father, because he walked before you with fidelity, justice, and an upright heart; and you have continued this great kindness toward him today, giving him a son to sit upon his throne. ⁷ Now, Lord, my God, you have made me, your servant, king to succeed David my father; but I am a mere youth, not knowing at all how to act— ⁸ I, your servant, among the people you have chosen, a people so vast that it cannot be numbered or counted. ⁹ Give your servant, therefore, a listening heart to judge your people and to distinguish between good and evil. For who is able to give judgment for this vast people of yours?”

¹⁰ The Lord was pleased by Solomon’s request. ¹¹ So God said to him: Because you asked for this—you did not ask for a long life for yourself, nor for riches, nor for the life of your enemies—but you asked for discernment to know what is right— ¹² I now do as you request. I give you a heart so wise and discerning that there has never been anyone like you until now, nor after you will there be anyone to equal you. ^13 (AN)In addition, I give you what you have not asked for: I give you such riches and glory that among kings there will be no one like you all your days. ¹⁴ And if you walk in my ways, keeping my statutes and commandments, as David your father did, I will give you a long life. ¹⁵ Solomon awoke; it was a dream! He went to Jerusalem, stood before the ark of the covenant of the Lord, sacrificed burnt offerings and communion offerings, and gave a feast for all his servants.

Solomon’s Listening Heart.^{[w] 16} Later, two prostitutes came to the king and stood before him. ¹⁷ One woman said: “By your leave, my lord, this woman and I live in the same house, and I gave birth in the house while she was present. ¹⁸ On the third day after I gave birth, this woman also gave birth. We were alone; no one else was in the house with us; only the two of us were in the house. ¹⁹ This woman’s son died during the night when she lay on top of him. ²⁰ So in the middle of the night she got up and took my son from my side, as your servant was sleeping. Then she laid him in her bosom and laid her dead son in my bosom. ²¹ I rose in the morning to nurse my son, and he was dead! But when I examined him in the morning light, I saw it was not the son I had borne.” ²² The other woman answered, “No! The living one is my son, the dead one is yours.” But the first kept saying, “No! the dead one is your son, the living one is mine!” Thus they argued before the king. ²³ Then the king said: “One woman claims, ‘This, the living one, is my son, the dead one is yours.’ The other answers, ‘No! The dead one is your son, the living one is mine.’” ²⁴ The king continued, “Get me a sword.” When they brought the sword before the king, ²⁵ he said, “Cut the living child in two, and give half to one woman and half to the other.” ^26 [x]The woman whose son was alive, because she was stirred with compassion for her son, said to the king, “Please, my lord, give her the living baby—do not kill it!” But the other said, “It shall be neither mine nor yours. Cut it in two!” ²⁷ The king then answered, “Give her the living baby! Do not kill it! She is the mother.” ²⁸ When all Israel heard the judgment the king had given, they were in awe of him, because they saw that the king had in him the wisdom of God for giving right judgment.

Chapter 4

Solomon’s Riches: Domestic Affairs.^{[y] 1} Solomon was king over all Israel, ² and these were the officials he had in his service:

^7 [z]Solomon had twelve governors over all Israel who supplied food for the king and his household, each having to provide for one month in the year. ⁸ Their names were:^[aa]

There was one governor besides, in the land of Judah.^{[ab] 20 (AO)}Judah and Israel were as numerous as the sands by the sea; they ate and drank and rejoiced.

Chapter 5

Solomon’s Riches: International Affairs. ^1 [ac]Solomon ruled over all the kingdoms from the River^[ad] to the land of the Philistines, down to the border of Egypt; they paid Solomon tribute and served him as long as he lived. ^2 [ae]Solomon’s provisions for each day were thirty kors of fine flour, sixty kors of meal, ³ ten fatted oxen, twenty pasture-fed oxen, and a hundred sheep, not counting harts, gazelles, roebucks, and fatted fowl. ⁴ He had dominion over all the land west of the River, from Tiphsah to Gaza, and all its kings, and he had peace on all his borders round about. ^5 (AP)Thus Judah and Israel lived in security, everyone under their own vine and fig tree from Dan to Beer-sheba, as long as Solomon lived.

Solomon’s Riches: Chariots and Horses. ^6 (AQ)Solomon had forty thousand stalls for horses for chariots and twelve thousand horsemen. ^7 [af]The governors, one for each month, provided food for King Solomon and for all the guests at King Solomon’s table. They left nothing unprovided. ⁸ For the chariot horses and draft animals also, each brought his quota of barley and straw to the required place.

Solomon’s Renown. ^9 (AR)Moreover, God gave Solomon wisdom, exceptional understanding, and knowledge, as vast as the sand on the seashore. ¹⁰ Solomon’s wisdom surpassed that of all the peoples of the East and all the wisdom of Egypt. ¹¹ He was wiser than anyone else—wiser than Ethan the Ezrahite, or Heman, Chalcol, and Darda, the musicians—and his fame spread throughout the neighboring peoples. ¹² Solomon also uttered three thousand proverbs, and his songs numbered a thousand and five. ¹³ He spoke of plants, from the cedar on Lebanon to the hyssop growing out of the wall, and he spoke about beasts, birds, reptiles, and fishes. ^14 (AS)People from all nations came to hear Solomon’s wisdom, sent by all the kings of the earth who had heard of his wisdom.

Preparations for the Temple.^{[ag] 15} When Hiram, king of Tyre, heard that Solomon had been anointed king in place of his father, he sent an embassy to him; for Hiram had always been David’s friend.^{[ah] 16} Solomon sent back this message to Hiram: ^17 (AT)“You know that David my father, because of the wars that beset him, could not build a house for the name of the Lord his God until such time as the Lord should put his enemies under the soles of his feet. ¹⁸ But now the Lord, my God, has given me rest on all sides, without adversary or misfortune. ^19 (AU)So I intend to build a house for the name of the Lord, my God, as the Lord said to David my father: Your son whom I will put upon your throne in your place shall build the house for my name. ²⁰ Give orders, then, to have cedars from the Lebanon cut down for me. My servants shall accompany yours, and I will pay you whatever you say for your servants’ wages. For you know that there is no one among us who is skilled in cutting timber like the Sidonians.” ²¹ When Hiram had heard the words of Solomon, he was overjoyed, and said, “Blessed be the Lord this day, who has given David a wise son over this numerous people.” ^22 [ai]Hiram then sent word to Solomon, “I have heard the proposal you sent me, and I will provide all the cedars and fir trees you desire. ²³ My servants shall bring them down from the Lebanon to the sea, and I will arrange them into rafts in the sea and bring them wherever you say. There I will break up the rafts, and you shall take the lumber. You, for your part, shall furnish the provisions I desire for my household.” ²⁴ So Hiram continued to provide Solomon with all the cedars and fir trees he desired, ²⁵ while Solomon gave Hiram twenty thousand kors of wheat to provide for his household, and twenty kors^[aj] of hand-pressed oil. Solomon gave Hiram all this every year. ²⁶ The Lord gave Solomon wisdom as he promised him. So there was peace between Hiram and Solomon, and the two of them made^[ak] a covenant.

²⁷ King Solomon raised thirty thousand forced laborers from all Israel.^{[al] 28} He sent them to the Lebanon for a month in relays of ten thousand, so that they spent one month in the Lebanon and two months at home. Adoniram was in charge of the forced labor. ²⁹ Solomon had seventy thousand carriers and eighty thousand stonecutters in the mountain, ³⁰ in addition to three thousand three hundred overseers answerable to Solomon, who were in charge of the work and directed the people engaged in the work. ³¹ By order of the king, fine, large blocks of stone were quarried to give the house a foundation of hewn stone. ³² Solomon’s and Hiram’s builders, along with others from Gebal,^[am] shaped them, and prepared the wood and stones for building the house.

Chapter 6

Building of the Temple.^{[an] 1} In the four hundred and eightieth year after the Israelites went forth from the land 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 house of the Lord.^[ao]

² The house which King Solomon built for the Lord was sixty cubits long, twenty wide, and thirty high. ³ The porch in front of the nave of the house was twenty cubits from side to side along the width of the house, and ten cubits deep in front of the house. ⁴ Windows with closed lattices were made for the house, ⁵ and adjoining the wall of the house he built a substructure around its walls that enclosed the nave and the inner sanctuary, and he made side chambers all around. ⁶ The lowest story was five cubits wide, the middle one six cubits wide, the third seven cubits wide, because he put recesses along the outside of the house to avoid fastening anything into the walls of the house. ⁷ The house was built of stone dressed at the quarry, so that no hammer or ax, no iron tool, was to be heard in the house during its construction. ⁸ The entrance to the middle story was on the south side of the house; stairs led up to the middle story and from the middle story to the third. ⁹ When he had finished building the house, it was roofed in with rafters and boards of cedar. ¹⁰ He built the substructure five cubits high all along the outside of the house, to which it was joined by cedar beams.

¹¹ The word of the Lord came to Solomon: ^12 (AV)As to this house you are building—if you walk in my statutes, carry out my ordinances, and observe all my commands, walking in them, I will fulfill toward you my word which I spoke to David your father. ¹³ I will dwell in the midst of the Israelites and will not forsake my people Israel.

¹⁴ When Solomon finished building the house, ¹⁵ its inside walls were lined with cedar paneling: he covered the interior with wood from floor to ceiling, and he covered its floor with fir planking. ¹⁶ At the rear of the house a space of twenty cubits was set off by cedar panels from the floor to the ceiling, enclosing the inner sanctuary, the holy of holies. ¹⁷ The house was forty cubits long, that is, the nave, the part in front. ¹⁸ The cedar in the interior of the house was carved in the form of gourds and open flowers; all was of cedar, and no stone was to be seen.

¹⁹ In the innermost part of the house^[ap] he set up the inner sanctuary to house the ark of the Lord’s covenant. ²⁰ In front of the inner sanctuary (it was twenty cubits long, twenty wide, and twenty high, and he covered it with pure gold), he made an altar of cedar. ²¹ Solomon covered the interior of the house with pure gold, and he drew golden chains across in front of the inner sanctuary, and covered it with gold. ²² He covered the whole house with gold, until the whole house was done, and the whole altar that belonged to the inner sanctuary he covered with gold. ²³ In the inner sanctuary he made two cherubim, each ten cubits high, made of pine. ²⁴ Each wing of a cherub was five cubits so that the span from wing tip to wing tip was ten cubits. ²⁵ The second cherub was also ten cubits: the two cherubim were identical in size and shape; ²⁶ the first cherub was ten cubits high, and so was the second. ²⁷ He placed the cherubim in the inmost part of the house; the wings of the cherubim were spread wide, so that one wing of the first touched the side wall and the wing of the second touched the other wall; the wings pointing to the middle of the room touched each other. ²⁸ He overlaid the cherubim with gold.

²⁹ The walls of the house on all sides of both the inner and the outer rooms had carved figures of cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers. ³⁰ The floor of the house of both the inner and the outer rooms was overlaid with gold. ³¹ At the entrance of the inner sanctuary, doors of pine were made; the doorframes had five-sided posts. ³² The two doors were of pine, with carved figures of cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers. The doors were overlaid with gold, and the cherubim and the palm trees were also covered with beaten gold. ³³ He did the same at the entrance to the nave, where the doorposts were of pine and were four-sided. ³⁴ The two doors were of fir wood, each door consisting of two panels hinged together; ³⁵ and he carved cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers, and plated them with gold. ³⁶ He walled off the inner court with three courses of hewn stones and one course of cedar beams.

³⁷ The foundations of the Lord’s house were laid in the month of Ziv in the fourth year, ³⁸ and it was finished, in all particulars, exactly according to plan, in the month of Bul, the eighth month, in the eleventh year. Thus Solomon built it in seven years.

Chapter 7

^1 [aq](AW)To finish the building of his own house Solomon took thirteen years. ² He built the House of the Forest of Lebanon one hundred cubits long, fifty wide, and thirty high; it was supported by four rows of cedar columns, with cedar beams upon the columns. ³ Moreover, it had a ceiling of cedar above the rafters resting on the columns; these rafters numbered forty-five, fifteen to a row. ⁴ There were lattices in three rows, each row facing the next, ⁵ and all the openings and doorposts were squared with lintels, each facing across from the next. ⁶ He also made the Porch of Columns, fifty cubits long and thirty wide. The porch extended across the front, and there were columns with a canopy in front of them. ⁷ He also made the Porch of the Throne where he gave judgment—that is, the Porch of Judgment; it was paneled with cedar from floor to ceiling beams. ^8 (AX)The house in which he lived was in another court, set in deeper than the Porch and of the same construction. (Solomon made a house like this Porch for Pharaoh’s daughter, whom he had married.)^{[ar] 9} All these buildings were of fine stones, hewn to size and trimmed front and back with a saw, from the foundation to the bonding course and outside as far as the great court. ¹⁰ The foundation was made of fine, large blocks, some ten cubits and some eight cubits. ¹¹ Above were fine stones hewn to size, and cedar wood. ¹² The great court had three courses of hewn stones all around and a course of cedar beams. So also were the inner court of the house of the Lord and its porch.

¹³ King Solomon brought Hiram^[as] from Tyre. ¹⁴ He was a bronze worker, the son of a widow from the tribe of Naphtali; his father had been from Tyre. He was endowed with wisdom, understanding, and knowledge for doing any work in bronze. He came to King Solomon and did all his metal work.

^15 [at](AY)He fashioned two bronze columns, each eighteen cubits high and twelve cubits in circumference. ¹⁶ He also made two capitals cast in bronze, to be placed on top of the columns, each of them five cubits high. ¹⁷ There were meshes made like netting and braid made like chains for the capitals on top of the columns, seven for each capital. ^18 [au]He also cast pomegranates, two rows around each netting to cover the capital on top of the columns. ¹⁹ The capitals on top of the columns (in the porch) were made like lilies, four cubits high. ²⁰ And the capitals on the two columns, both above and adjoining the bulge where it crossed out of the netting, had two hundred pomegranates in rows around each capital. ²¹ He set up the columns at the temple porch; one he set up to the south, and called it Jachin, and the other to the north, and called it Boaz.^{[av] 22} The top of the columns was made like a lily. Thus the work on the columns was completed.

²³ Then he made the molten sea;^[aw] it was made with a circular rim, and measured ten cubits across, five in height, and thirty in circumference. ²⁴ Under the brim, gourds encircled it for ten cubits around the compass of the sea; the gourds were in two rows and were cast in one mold with the sea. ²⁵ This rested on twelve oxen, three facing north, three facing west, three facing south, and three facing east, with their haunches all toward the center; upon them was set the sea. ²⁶ It was a handbreadth thick, and its brim resembled that of a cup, being lily-shaped. Its capacity was two thousand baths.^[ax]

²⁷ He also made ten stands of bronze, each four cubits long, four wide, and three high. ²⁸ When these stands were constructed, panels were set within the framework. ²⁹ On the panels within the frames there were lions, oxen, and cherubim; and on the frames likewise, above and below the lions and oxen, there were wreaths in hammered relief. ³⁰ Each stand had four bronze wheels and bronze axles. The four legs of each stand had cast braces, which were under the basin; they had wreaths on each side. ³¹ The mouth of the basin was inside, and a cubit above, the crown, whose opening was round, made like a receptacle, a cubit and a half in depth. There was carved work at the opening, on panels that were square, not circular. ³² The four wheels were below the paneling, and the axletrees of the wheels and the stand were of one piece. Each wheel was a cubit and a half high. ³³ The wheels were constructed like chariot wheels; their axletrees, rims, spokes, and hubs were all cast. ³⁴ The four braces reached the four corners of each stand, and formed part of the stand. ³⁵ At the top of the stand there was a raised collar half a cubit high, and the handles and panels on top of the stand formed part of it. ³⁶ On the flat ends of the handles and on the panels, wherever there was a bare space, cherubim, lions, and palm trees were carved, as well as wreaths all around. ³⁷ This was how he made the ten stands, all of the same casting, the same size, the same shape.