Chapter 4

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

^7 [b]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:^[c]

There was one governor besides, in the land of Judah.^{[d] 20 (A)}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 [e]Solomon ruled over all the kingdoms from the River^[f] 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 [g]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 (B)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 (C)Solomon had forty thousand stalls for horses for chariots and twelve thousand horsemen. ^7 [h]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 (D)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 (E)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.^{[i] 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.^{[j] 16} Solomon sent back this message to Hiram: ^17 (F)“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 (G)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 [k]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^[l] 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^[m] a covenant.

²⁷ King Solomon raised thirty thousand forced laborers from all Israel.^{[n] 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,^[o] shaped them, and prepared the wood and stones for building the house.

Chapter 6

Building of the Temple.^{[p] 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.^[q]

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 (H)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^[r] 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 [s](I)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 (J)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.)^{[t] 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^[u] 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 [v](K)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 [w]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.^{[x] 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;^[y] 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.^[z]

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. ³⁸ He made ten bronze basins, each four cubits in diameter with a capacity of forty baths, one basin atop each of the ten stands.

³⁹ He placed the stands, five on the south side of the house and five on the north. The sea he placed off to the southeast from the south side of the house.

⁴⁰ When Hiram had made the pots, shovels, and bowls, he finished all his work for King Solomon in the house of the Lord: ⁴¹ two columns; two nodes for the capitals on top of the columns; two pieces of netting covering the two nodes for the capitals on top of the columns; ⁴² four hundred pomegranates in double rows on both pieces of netting that covered the two nodes of the capitals on top of the columns; ⁴³ ten stands; ten basins on the stands; ⁴⁴ one sea; twelve oxen supporting the sea; ⁴⁵ pots, shovels, and bowls. All these articles which Hiram made for King Solomon in the house of the Lord were of burnished bronze. ⁴⁶ The king had them cast in the neighborhood of the Jordan, between Succoth and Zarethan, in thick clay molds. ⁴⁷ Solomon did not weigh all the articles because they were so numerous; the weight of the bronze, therefore, was not determined.

⁴⁸ Solomon made all the articles that were for the house of the Lord: the golden altar; the table on which the showbread lay; ⁴⁹ the lampstands of pure gold, five to the right and five to the left before the inner sanctuary; their flowers, lamps, and tongs of gold; ⁵⁰ basins, snuffers, bowls, cups, and firepans of pure gold; hinges of gold for the doors of the innermost part of the house, or holy of holies, and for the doors of the outer room, the nave. ^51 (L)When all the work undertaken by King Solomon in the house of the Lord was completed,^[aa] he brought in the votive offerings of his father David, and put the silver, gold, and other articles in the treasuries of the house of the Lord.

Chapter 8

Dedication of the Temple.^{[ab] 1} Then Solomon assembled the elders of Israel and all the heads of the tribes, the princes in the ancestral houses of the Israelites. They came to King Solomon in Jerusalem, to bring up the ark of the Lord’s covenant from the city of David (which is Zion). ² All the people of Israel assembled before King Solomon during the festival in the month of Ethanim (the seventh month).^{[ac] 3} When all the elders of Israel had arrived, the priests took up the ark; ⁴ and they brought up the ark of the Lord and the tent of meeting with all the sacred vessels that were in the tent. The priests and Levites brought them up. ⁵ King Solomon and the entire community of Israel, gathered for the occasion before the ark, sacrificed sheep and oxen too many to number or count. ^6 [ad]The priests brought the ark of the covenant of the Lord to its place, the inner sanctuary of the house, the holy of holies, beneath the wings of the cherubim. ⁷ The cherubim had their wings spread out over the place of the ark, sheltering the ark and its poles from above. ^8 (M)The poles were so long that their ends could be seen from the holy place in front of the inner sanctuary. They cannot be seen from outside, but they remain there to this day. ^9 (N)There was nothing in the ark but the two stone tablets which Moses had put there at Horeb, when the Lord made a covenant with the Israelites after they went forth from the land of Egypt. ^10 (O)When the priests left the holy place, the cloud filled the house of the Lord ¹¹ so that the priests could no longer minister because of the cloud, since the glory of the Lord had filled the house of the Lord. ^12 [ae](P)Then Solomon said,

¹⁴ The king turned and blessed the whole assembly of Israel, while the whole assembly of Israel stood. ¹⁵ He said: “Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, who with his own mouth spoke a promise to David my father and by his hand fulfilled it, saying: ^16 (Q)Since the day I brought my people Israel out of Egypt, I have not chosen a city out of any tribe of Israel for the building of a house, that my name might be there; but I have chosen David to rule my people Israel. ¹⁷ When David my father wished to build a house for the name of the Lord, the God of Israel, ¹⁸ the Lord said to him: In wishing to build a house for my name, you did well. ¹⁹ But it is not you who will build the house, but your son, who comes from your loins; he shall build the house for my name. ²⁰ Now the Lord has fulfilled the word he spoke: I have succeeded David my father, and I sit on the throne of Israel, as the Lord has spoken, and I have built this house for the name of the Lord, the God of Israel. ²¹ I have provided there a place for the ark in which is the covenant of the Lord that he made with our ancestors when he brought them out of the land of Egypt.”

Solomon’s Prayer. ²² Solomon stood before the altar of the Lord in the presence of the whole assembly of Israel, and stretching forth his hands toward heaven, ²³ he said, “Lord, God of Israel, there is no God like you in heaven above or on earth below; you keep covenant and love toward your servants who walk before you with their whole heart, ²⁴ the covenant that you kept toward your servant, David my father, what you promised him; your mouth has spoken and your hand has fulfilled this very day. ^25 (R)And now, Lord, God of Israel, keep toward your servant, David my father, what you promised: There shall never be wanting someone from your line to sit before me on the throne of Israel, provided that your descendants keep to their way, walking before me as you have. ²⁶ Now, God of Israel, may the words you spoke to your servant, David my father, be confirmed.

²⁷ “Is God indeed to dwell on earth? If the heavens and the highest heavens cannot contain you, how much less this house which I have built! ²⁸ Regard kindly the prayer and petition of your servant, Lord, my God, and listen to the cry of supplication which I, your servant, utter before you this day. ²⁹ May your eyes be open night and day toward this house, the place of which you said, My name shall be there; listen to the prayer your servant makes toward this place. ³⁰ Listen to the petition of your servant and of your people Israel which they offer toward this place. Listen, from the place of your enthronement, heaven, listen and forgive.

^31 (S)“If someone sins in some way against a neighbor and is required to take an oath sanctioned by a curse, and comes and takes the oath before your altar in this house, ³² listen in heaven; act and judge your servants. Condemn the wicked, requiting their ways; acquit the just, rewarding their justice.

³³ “When your people Israel are defeated by an enemy because they sinned against you, and then they return to you, praise your name, pray to you, and entreat you in this house, ³⁴ listen in heaven and forgive the sin of your people Israel, and bring them back to the land you gave their ancestors.

³⁵ “When the heavens are closed, so that there is no rain, because they have sinned against you, but they pray toward this place and praise your name, and turn from their sin because you have afflicted them, ³⁶ listen in heaven and forgive the sin of your servants, your people Israel (for you teach them the good way in which they should walk). Give rain to this land of yours which you have given to your people as their heritage.

³⁷ “If there is famine in the land or pestilence; or if blight comes, or mildew, or locusts, or caterpillars; if an enemy of your people presses upon them in the land and at their gates; whatever plague or sickness there may be; ³⁸ whatever prayer or petition any may make, any of your people Israel, who know heartfelt remorse and stretch out their hands toward this house, ³⁹ listen in heaven, the place of your enthronement; forgive and take action. Render to each and all according to their ways, you who know every heart; for it is you alone who know the heart of every human being. ⁴⁰ So may they revere you as long as they live on the land you gave our ancestors.

⁴¹ “To the foreigners, likewise, who are not of your people Israel, but who come from a distant land for the sake of your name ⁴² (since people will hear of your great name and your mighty hand and your outstretched arm), when they come and pray toward this house, ⁴³ listen in heaven, the place of your enthronement. Do all that the foreigner asks of you, that all the peoples of the earth may know your name, may revere you as do your people Israel, and may know that your name has been invoked upon this house that I have built.

⁴⁴ “When your people go out to war against their enemies, by whatever way you send them, and they pray to the Lord toward the city you have chosen and the house I have built for your name, ⁴⁵ listen in heaven to their prayer and petition, and uphold their cause.

^46 (T)“When they sin against you (for there is no one who does not sin), and in your anger against them you deliver them to an enemy, so that their captors carry them off to the land of the enemy, far or near, ⁴⁷ and they have a change of heart in the land of their captivity and they turn and entreat you in the land of their captors and say, ‘We have sinned and done wrong; we have been wicked’; ⁴⁸ if with their whole heart and soul they turn back to you in the land of their enemies who took them captive, and pray to you toward the land you gave their ancestors, the city you have chosen, and the house I have built for your name, ⁴⁹ listen in heaven, your dwelling place, to their prayer and petition, and uphold their cause. ⁵⁰ Forgive your people who have sinned against you and all the offenses they have committed against you, and grant them mercy in the sight of their captors, so that these will be merciful to them. ⁵¹ For they are your people and your heritage, whom you brought out of Egypt, from the midst of the iron furnace.

⁵² “Thus may your eyes be open to the petition of your servant and to the petition of your people Israel; thus may you listen to them whenever they call upon you. ⁵³ For you have set them apart from all the peoples of the earth to be your heritage, as you declared through Moses your servant when you brought our ancestors out of Egypt, Lord my God.”

⁵⁴ After Solomon finished offering this entire prayer and petition to the Lord, he rose from before the altar of the Lord, where he had been kneeling, hands outstretched toward heaven. ⁵⁵ He stood and blessed the whole assembly of Israel, saying in a loud voice: ⁵⁶ “Blessed be the Lord who has given rest to his people Israel, just as he promised. Not a single word has gone unfulfilled of the entire gracious promise he made through Moses his servant. ⁵⁷ May the Lord, our God, be with us as he was with our ancestors and may he not forsake us nor cast us off. ⁵⁸ May he draw our hearts to himself, that we may walk in his ways and keep the commands, statutes, and ordinances that he enjoined on our ancestors. ⁵⁹ May these words of mine, the petition I have offered before the Lord, our God, be present to the Lord our God day and night, that he may uphold the cause of his servant and the cause of his people Israel as each day requires, ⁶⁰ so that all the peoples of the earth may know that the Lord is God and there is no other. ^61 [af]Your heart must be wholly devoted to the Lord, our God, observing his statutes and keeping his commandments, as on this day.”

⁶² The king and all Israel with him offered sacrifices before the Lord. ^63 [ag]Solomon offered as communion offerings to the Lord twenty-two thousand oxen and one hundred twenty thousand sheep. Thus the king and all the Israelites dedicated the house of the Lord. ⁶⁴ On that day the king consecrated the middle of the court facing the house of the Lord; he offered there the burnt offerings, the grain offerings, and the fat of the communion offerings, because the bronze altar before the Lord was too small to hold the burnt offering, the grain offering, and the fat of the communion offering. ⁶⁵ On this occasion Solomon and all Israel with him, a great assembly from Lebo-hamath to the Wadi of Egypt, celebrated the festival before the Lord, our God, for seven days. ⁶⁶ On the eighth day he dismissed the people, who blessed the king and went to their tents, rejoicing and glad of heart because of all the blessings the Lord had given to David his servant and to his people Israel.

Chapter 9

Promise and Warning to Solomon. ¹ After Solomon finished building the house of the Lord, the house of the king, and everything else that he wanted to do, ^2 (U)the Lord appeared to Solomon a second time, as he had appeared to him in Gibeon. ³ The Lord said to him: I have heard the prayer of petition which you offered in my presence. I have consecrated this house which you have built and I set my name there forever; my eyes and my heart shall be there always. ⁴ As for you, if you walk before me as David your father did, wholeheartedly and uprightly, doing all that I have commanded you, keeping my statutes and ordinances, ^5 (V)I will establish your royal throne over Israel forever, as I promised David your father: There shall never be wanting someone from your line on the throne of Israel. ⁶ But if ever you and your descendants turn from following me, fail to keep my commandments and statutes which I set before you, and proceed to serve other gods and bow down to them, ⁷ I will cut off Israel from the land I gave them and repudiate the house I have consecrated for my name. Israel shall become a proverb and a byword among all nations, ^8 (W)and this house shall become a heap of ruins. Every passerby shall gasp in horror and ask, “Why has the Lord done such things to this land and to this house?” ⁹ And the answer will come: “Because they abandoned the Lord, their God, who brought their ancestors out of the land of Egypt, and they embraced other gods, bowing down to them and serving them. That is why the Lord has brought upon them all this evil.”

After Building the Temple.^{[ah] 10 (X)}After the twenty years during which Solomon built the two houses, the house of the Lord and the house of the king— ¹¹ Hiram, king of Tyre, supplying Solomon with all the cedar wood, fir wood, and gold he wished, and King Solomon giving Hiram in return twenty cities in the land of Galilee— ¹² Hiram left Tyre to see the cities Solomon had given him, but he was not satisfied with them. ¹³ So he said, “What are these cities you have given me, my brother?”^[ai] And he called them the land of Cabul, as they are called to this day. ¹⁴ Hiram, however, had sent King Solomon one hundred and twenty talents of gold.^[aj]

¹⁵ This is an account of the conscript labor force King Solomon raised in order to build the house of the Lord, his own house, Millo,^[ak] the wall of Jerusalem, Hazor, Megiddo, Gezer ¹⁶ (Pharaoh, king of Egypt, had come up and taken Gezer and, after destroying it by fire and slaying all the Canaanites living in the city, had given it as a farewell gift to his daughter, Solomon’s wife; ¹⁷ Solomon then rebuilt Gezer), Lower Beth-horon, ¹⁸ Baalath, Tamar in the desert of Judah, ¹⁹ all his cities for supplies, cities for chariots and cities for cavalry, and whatever Solomon desired to build in Jerusalem, in Lebanon, and in the entire land under his dominion. ²⁰ All the people who were left of the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites, who were not Israelites— ²¹ those of their descendants who were left in the land and whom the Israelites had not been able to destroy under the ban—these Solomon conscripted as forced laborers, as they are to this day. ²² But Solomon made none of the Israelites forced laborers, for they were his fighting force, his ministers, commanders, adjutants, chariot officers, and cavalry. ²³ There were five hundred fifty overseers answerable to Solomon’s governors for the work, directing the people engaged in the work.

^24 (Y)As soon as Pharaoh’s daughter went up from the City of David to her house, which he had built for her, Solomon built Millo. ²⁵ Three times a year Solomon used to offer burnt offerings and communion offerings on the altar which he had built to the Lord, and to burn incense before the Lord.

Thus he completed the temple.^[al]

Solomon’s Gifts.^{[am] 26} King Solomon also built a fleet at Ezion-geber, which is near Elath on the shore of the Red Sea in the land of Edom.^{[an] 27} To this fleet Hiram sent his own servants, expert sailors, with the servants of Solomon. ²⁸ They went to Ophir, and obtained four hundred and twenty talents of gold and brought it to King Solomon.

Chapter 10

Solomon’s Listening Heart: The Queen of Sheba.^{[ao] 1 (Z)}The queen of Sheba,^[ap] having heard a report of Solomon’s fame, came to test him with subtle questions. ² She arrived in Jerusalem with a very numerous retinue, and with camels bearing spices, a large amount of gold, and precious stones. She came to Solomon and spoke to him about everything that she had on her mind. ³ King Solomon explained everything she asked about, and there was nothing so obscure that the king could not explain it to her. ⁴ When the queen of Sheba witnessed Solomon’s great wisdom, the house he had built, ⁵ the food at his table, the seating of his ministers, the attendance and dress of his waiters, his servers, and the burnt offerings he offered in the house of the Lord, it took her breath away. ⁶ “The report I heard in my country about your deeds and your wisdom is true,” she told the king. ⁷ “I did not believe the report until I came and saw with my own eyes that not even the half had been told me. Your wisdom and prosperity surpass the report I heard. ⁸ Happy are your servants, happy these ministers of yours, who stand before you always and listen to your wisdom. ⁹ Blessed be the Lord, your God, who has been pleased to place you on the throne of Israel. In his enduring love for Israel, the Lord has made you king to carry out judgment and justice.” ¹⁰ Then she gave the king one hundred and twenty gold talents, a very large quantity of spices, and precious stones. Never again did anyone bring such an abundance of spices as the queen of Sheba gave to King Solomon.

¹¹ Hiram’s fleet, which used to bring gold from Ophir, also brought from there a very large quantity of almug^[aq] wood and precious stones. ¹² With this wood the king made supports for the house of the Lord and for the house of the king, and harps and lyres for the singers. Never again was any such almug wood brought or seen to the present day.

¹³ King Solomon gave the queen of Sheba everything she desired and asked for, besides what King Solomon gave her from Solomon’s royal bounty. Then she returned with her servants to her own country.

Solomon’s Riches: Domestic Affairs.^{[ar] 14 (AA)}The gold that came to Solomon in one year weighed six hundred and sixty-six gold talents, ¹⁵ in addition to what came from the tolls on travelers, from the traffic of merchants, and from all the kings of Arabia and the governors of the country. ^16 (AB)King Solomon made two hundred shields of beaten gold (six hundred shekels of gold went into each shield) ¹⁷ and three hundred bucklers of beaten gold (three minas of gold went into each buckler); and the king put them in the house of the Forest of Lebanon. ¹⁸ The king made a large ivory throne, and overlaid it with refined gold. ¹⁹ The throne had six steps, a back with a round top, and an arm on each side of the seat, with two lions standing next to the arms, ²⁰ and twelve other lions standing there on the steps, two to a step, one on either side of each step. Nothing like this was made in any other kingdom. ²¹ All King Solomon’s drinking vessels were gold, and all the utensils in the house of the Forest of Lebanon were pure gold. There was no silver, for in Solomon’s time silver was reckoned as nothing. ²² For the king had a fleet of Tarshish ships^[as] at sea with Hiram’s fleet. Once every three years the fleet of Tarshish ships would come with a cargo of gold, silver, ivory, apes, and peacocks.

Solomon’s Renown. ²³ Thus King Solomon surpassed all the kings of the earth in riches and wisdom. ²⁴ And the whole world sought audience with Solomon, to hear the wisdom God had put into his heart. ²⁵ They all brought their yearly tribute: vessels of silver and gold, garments, weapons, spices, horses and mules—what was due each year.

Solomon’s Riches: Chariots and Horses. ^26 (AC)Solomon amassed chariots and horses; he had one thousand four hundred chariots and twelve thousand horses; these he allocated among the chariot cities and to the king’s service in Jerusalem. ^27 (AD)The king made silver as common in Jerusalem as stones, and cedars as numerous as the sycamores of the Shephelah. ²⁸ Solomon’s horses were imported from Egypt and from Cilicia, where the king’s merchants purchased them. ²⁹ A chariot imported from Egypt cost six hundred shekels of silver, a horse one hundred and fifty shekels; they were exported at these rates to all the Hittite and Aramean kings.

Chapter 11

The End of Solomon’s Reign.^{[at] 1 (AE)}King Solomon loved many foreign women besides the daughter of Pharaoh—Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians, Hittites— ^2 (AF)from nations of which the Lord had said to the Israelites: You shall not join with them and they shall not join with you, lest they turn your hearts to their gods. But Solomon held them^[au] close in love. ³ He had as wives seven hundred princesses and three hundred concubines, and they turned his heart.

⁴ When Solomon was old his wives had turned his heart to follow other gods, and his heart was not entirely with the Lord, his God, as the heart of David his father had been. ⁵ Solomon followed Astarte, the goddess of the Sidonians, and Milcom, the abomination of the Ammonites. ⁶ Solomon did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, and he did not follow the Lord unreservedly as David his father had done. ⁷ Solomon then built a high place to Chemosh, the abomination of Moab, and to Molech, the abomination of the Ammonites, on the mountain opposite Jerusalem. ⁸ He did the same for all his foreign wives who burned incense and sacrificed to their gods.

^9 (AG)The Lord became angry with Solomon, because his heart turned away from the Lord, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice ¹⁰ and commanded him not to do this very thing, not to follow other gods. But he did not observe what the Lord commanded. ¹¹ So the Lord said to Solomon: Since this is what you want, and you have not kept my covenant and the statutes which I enjoined on you, I will surely tear the kingdom away from you and give it to your servant. ^12 (AH)But I will not do this during your lifetime, for the sake of David your father; I will tear it away from your son’s hand. ¹³ Nor will I tear away the whole kingdom. I will give your son one tribe for the sake of David my servant and for the sake of Jerusalem, which I have chosen.

Threats to Solomon’s Kingdom.^{[av] 14} The Lord then raised up an adversary^[aw] against Solomon: Hadad the Edomite, who was of the royal line in Edom. ^15 (AI)Earlier, when David had conquered Edom, Joab, the commander of the army, while going to bury the slain, killed every male in Edom. ¹⁶ Joab and all Israel remained there six months until they had killed off every male in Edom. ¹⁷ But Hadad, with some Edomite servants of his father, fled toward Egypt. Hadad was then a young boy. ¹⁸ They left Midian and came to Paran; they gathered men from Paran and came to Egypt, to Pharaoh, king of Egypt; he gave Hadad a house, appointed him rations, and assigned him land. ¹⁹ Hadad won great favor with Pharaoh, so that he gave him in marriage his sister-in-law, the sister of Queen Tahpenes, his own wife. ²⁰ Tahpenes’ sister bore Hadad a son, Genubath. Tahpenes weaned him in Pharaoh’s palace. And Genubath lived in Pharaoh’s house, with Pharaoh’s own sons. ²¹ When Hadad in Egypt heard that David rested with his ancestors and that Joab, the commander of the army, was dead, he said to Pharaoh, “Give me leave to return to my own land.” ²² Pharaoh said to him, “What do you lack with me, that you are seeking to return to your own land?” He answered, “Nothing, but please let me go!”

²³ God raised up against Solomon another adversary, Rezon, the son of Eliada, who had fled from his lord, Hadadezer, king of Zobah, ^24 (AJ)when David was slaughtering them. Rezon gathered men about him and became leader of a marauding band. They went to Damascus, settled there, and made him king in Damascus. ²⁵ Rezon was an adversary of Israel as long as Solomon lived, in addition to the harm done by Hadad, and he felt contempt for Israel. He became king over Aram.

Ahijah Announces Jeroboam’s Kingship.^{[ax] 26} Solomon had a servant, Jeroboam, son of Nebat, an Ephraimite from Zeredah with a widowed mother named Zeruah. He rebelled against the king. ²⁷ This is how he came to rebel. King Solomon was building Millo, closing up the breach of the City of David, his father. ²⁸ Jeroboam was a very able man, and when Solomon saw that the young man was also a good worker, he put him in charge of all the carriers conscripted from the house of Joseph.

²⁹ At that time Jeroboam left Jerusalem, and the prophet Ahijah the Shilonite met him on the road. The prophet was wearing a new cloak,^[ay] and when the two were alone in the open country, ^30 (AK)Ahijah took off his new cloak, tore it into twelve pieces, ^31 (AL)and said to Jeroboam: “Take ten pieces for yourself. Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: I am about to tear the kingdom out of Solomon’s hand and will give you ten of the tribes. ³² He shall have one tribe for the sake of my servant David, and for the sake of Jerusalem, the city I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel. ³³ For they have forsaken me and have bowed down to Astarte, goddess of the Sidonians, Chemosh, god of Moab, and Milcom, god of the Ammonites. They have not walked in my ways or done what is right in my eyes, according to my statutes and my ordinances, as David his father did. ³⁴ Yet I will not take any of the kingdom from Solomon himself, but will keep him a prince as long as he lives, for the sake of David my servant, whom I have chosen, who kept my commandments and statutes.

³⁵ But I will take the kingdom from his son’s hand and give it to you—that is, the ten tribes. ³⁶ I will give his son one tribe, that David my servant may always have a holding before me in Jerusalem, the city I have chosen, to set my name there. ³⁷ You I will take and you shall reign over all that you desire and shall become king of Israel. ³⁸ If, then, you heed all that I command you, walking in my ways, and do what is right in my eyes by keeping my statutes and my commandments like David my servant, I will be with you. I will build a lasting house for you, just as I did for David; I will give Israel to you. ³⁹ I will humble David’s line for this, but not forever.”

⁴⁰ When Solomon tried to have Jeroboam killed, Jeroboam fled to Shishak, king of Egypt. He remained in Egypt until Solomon’s death.

⁴¹ The rest of the acts of Solomon, with all that he did and his wisdom, are recorded in the book of the acts of Solomon. ⁴² Solomon was king in Jerusalem over all Israel for forty years. ⁴³ Solomon rested with his ancestors and was buried in the City of David, his father, and Rehoboam his son succeeded him as king.