I Koningen 4:1-9:9

Solomon ruled over all Israel. These were his counselors:

• Azariah, the son of Zadok, was priest;
• Elichoref and Ahijah, the sons of Shisha, were court scribes;
• Jehoshaphat, the son of Ahilud, was secretary;
• Benaiah, the son of Jehoiada, was commander of the army;
• Zadok and Abiathar were priests;
• Azariah, the son of Nathan, was chief of the governors;
• the priest Zabud, son of Nathan, was the king's confidant;
• Ahishar was in charge of the palace;
• Adoniram, the son of Abda, was in charge of the labor force.

Solomon had appointed twelve governors in Israel. They were to take turns providing for the king and his household for one month each year. These are their names:

1. Ben-Chur was governor in the mountainous region of Ephraim.
2. Ben-Deker was governor in Makas, Saalbim, Beth-Shemesh, and Elon-Beth-Hanan.
3. Ben-Chesed was governor of Arubbot; Socho and the area around Chefer were also under his authority.
4. Ben-Abinadab was governor of the coastal region of Dor; he was married to Solomon's daughter Tafat.
5. Baana, the son of Ahilud, was governor of Taanach and Megiddo and the entire area of Beth-Shean; that area borders on Saretan, lies south of Jezreel, and extends to Abel-Meholah and beyond Jokmeam.
6. Ben-Geber was governor of Ramoth in Gilead; under his authority were also the villages of Jair, a descendant of Manasseh, also in Gilead, and the region of Argob in Bashan; in this region there were sixty large walled cities with gates and bronze bars.
7. Achinadab, the son of Iddo, was governor in Mahanaim.
8. Achimaas was governor in Naphtali; he married Solomon's daughter Basemath.
9. Baana, the son of Hushai, was governor in Asher and Aloth;
10. Jehoshaphat, the son of Paruah, in Issachar;
11. Shimei, the son of Ela, in Benjamin; and
12. Geber, the son of Uri, was governor in Gilead, the land that had belonged to King Sihon of the Amorites and King Og of Bashan; he was the only governor there.

The population of Judah and Israel was as numerous as the sand on the seashore. They had plenty to eat and drink and were happy. Solomon ruled over all the kingdoms between the Euphrates and the land of the Philistines, as far as the border of Egypt. As long as Solomon lived, they were subject to him and paid him tribute.

The daily food supply for Solomon's court was as follows: thirty measures of fine flour and sixty measures of meal, ten fattened oxen and twenty ordinary oxen, a hundred sheep and goats, and then deer, gazelles, roebucks, and fattened fowl.

Solomon ruled over the entire region west of the Euphrates, from Tiphsah to Gaza, over all the kingdoms west of the river, and he lived in peace with all the surrounding countries. As long as Solomon lived, the inhabitants of Judah and Israel, from Dan to Beersheba, were able to sit under their vines and fig trees without worry.

For his chariots, Solomon had forty thousand horses in his stables and twelve thousand charioteers. The governors not only had to take turns providing for King Solomon and his court for a month, ensuring that they lacked nothing, but each of them was also required to gather barley and straw for the horses and warhorses in the place for which he was responsible.

God gave Solomon great wisdom and discernment and a comprehensive knowledge of matters, as abundant as the sand on the seashore. In wisdom, Solomon surpassed all the people of the East and all the Egyptians. He was wiser than all other men, wiser than Ethan the Ezrahite, and wiser than Mahol's sons Heman, Calcol, and Darda; his fame spread to all the surrounding nations.

He composed three thousand proverbs and a thousand and five songs, about all kinds of plants, from the cedar in Lebanon to the marjoram that grows out of the wall, and about the animals that walk, the birds, the creeping things, and the fish. People came from all the surrounding countries to listen to Solomon's wisdom, envoys of the kings who had heard of his wisdom.

*

When King Hiram of Tyre heard that Solomon had been anointed king to succeed his father, he also sent envoys to him, for he had always been on friendly terms with David. Solomon sent him this message: "As you know, my father David was unable to build a temple for the name of the LORD his God because he was besieged by enemies on all sides until the LORD enabled King David to put his foot on their necks. But the LORD my God has given me rest on every side. There are no more adversaries, and there is no danger. Therefore, I have decided to build a temple for the name of the LORD my God, as the LORD promised my father David: 'Your son, whom I will set on your throne as your successor, will build a house for my name. Therefore, will you command your servants to cut down cedars for me in Lebanon? My servants will help yours. I will pay your servants the wages you ask, for as you know, we do not have such skilled woodcutters as the Sidonians.

When Hiram received Solomon's request, he was very pleased. "Praise be to the LORD," he said, "who has given David a wise son to rule over this great people."

He sent Solomon this message: "I have received your request, and I will supply you with as much cedar and cypress wood as you desire. My servants will bring them from Lebanon to the coast. I will have them made into rafts to transport them by sea to the place you specify. There I will have them taken apart so that you can take the logs away. In return, I ask you to supply my court with food."

Hiram supplied Solomon with as much cedar and cypress wood as he wanted, and Solomon supplied Hiram with twenty thousand cors of wheat and twenty cors of pure olive oil each year for the sustenance of his court. The LORD gave Solomon wisdom, as He had promised him. There was peace between Hiram and Solomon, and they made a treaty with each other.

Solomon conscripted men from all over Israel to do forced labor, about thirty thousand men. He sent them to Lebanon in shifts, ten thousand men each month: they worked in Lebanon for one month and were at home for two months. Adoniram was in charge of the forced labor. Solomon also had seventy thousand porters and eighty thousand stonecutters working in the mountains, not counting the thirty-three hundred overseers who supervised the work and were in charge of the laborers. On the king's orders, they cut large chunks of natural stone, which were hewn to size for the foundation of the temple. Assisted by craftsmen from Gebal, Solomon and Hiram's builders prepared the beams and stones for the construction of the temple.

*

In the four hundred and eightieth year after the Israelites came out of Egypt, in the fourth year of his reign over Israel, in the month of Ziv, the second month, King Solomon began to build the temple.

The temple that Solomon built for the LORD was sixty cubits long, twenty cubits wide, and thirty cubits high. The vestibule in front of the main hall was twenty cubits wide—it covered the entire width of the building—and ten cubits deep.

Solomon provided the temple with windows with frames and latticework. Around the temple, that is, along the facades of the great hall and the rear hall, he had a gallery with floors built. The lower gallery was five cubits wide, the middle one six cubits, and the upper one seven cubits. This was because the walls of the temple were recessed on the outside, as he did not want to cut out any support points. (Only stones that had already been finished in the quarry were used in the construction of the temple; during construction, no sound of hammers, chisels, or other iron tools could be heard in the temple.) The entrance to the lower gallery was located in the south wing of the temple; stairs led to the middle and upper floors.

When the walls of the temple were completed, he had a roof made of cedar beams and panels. The gallery, whose floors were five cubits high, was attached to the temple with cedar beams.

Then the LORD said to Solomon, "You are building this house. Now, if you keep my regulations, follow my rules, and strictly obey my commands, I will fulfill what I promised your father David concerning you. I will dwell among the Israelites and will not abandon my people Israel."

When the temple was finished, Solomon panelled the interior walls with cedar wood, covering them from floor to ceiling. The floor was covered with cypress boards. Twenty cubits in front of the rear wall, he had a wall built from the floor to the ceiling using cedar boards. This created the rear room of the temple: the Holy of Holies. The space in front of it, the great hall, was forty cubits deep. The cedar wood used to finish the interior of the temple was decorated with carvings of cherubim and flowering vines. Everything was made of cedar wood; none of the stones were visible.

Solomon furnished the rear room of the temple to house the ark of the covenant with the LORD. He had this room, which was twenty cubits long, twenty cubits wide, and twenty cubits high, covered with gold leaf on the inside. The cedar altar in front of it was also covered with gold leaf, as was the entire interior of the temple. In front of the inner sanctuary, which was already covered with gold leaf, he had gold chains stretched across. The entire temple was covered with gold leaf from top to bottom, including the altar in the inner sanctuary.

From the wood of the Aleppo pine, he had two cherubim made, ten cubits high, which were intended for the rear chamber. Each of their wings measured five cubits; the distance from wing tip to wing tip was ten cubits. _-This applied to both cherubim; they were identical and of equal size, both ten cubits high and with a wingspan of ten cubits. They were placed in the rear chamber so that the wing of one cherub touched one wall and the wing of the other touched the other wall. Their other wings touched each other exactly in the middle of the chamber. He also had the cherubim gilded.

He had all the walls of the temple, both the front and rear chambers, decorated with carvings of cherubim, flowering vines, and palm trees. The floors were covered with a layer of gold, both in the front and rear chambers. He had the entrance to the rear hall closed off with doors made of Aleppo wood, which were hung in door frames with pentagonal posts. He had these two doors decorated with wood carvings of cherubs, palmettes, and flowering vines, and covered with gold leaf; the wood carvings were also gilded. The doorposts of the entrance to the great hall were also made of Aleppo pine wood, with quadrangular posts. Two doors made of cypress wood were hung in these, each with two hinged panels. He also had these doors decorated with wood carvings of cherubs, palmettes, and flower tendrils, which were then gilded. He had the courtyard wall built from three layers of custom-cut stone, topped with a layer of cedar beams.

The foundation of the temple for the LORD was laid in the fourth year of Solomon's reign, in the month of Ziv. In the eleventh year of his reign, in the month of Bul, the eighth month, the temple was completed in every detail according to plan. Solomon thus spent seven years building the temple.

*

Psalm 127 A pilgrim song of Solomon.

Unless the LORD builds the house,

the builders labor in vain;

unless the LORD guards the city,

the watchman stays awake in vain.

It is futile to rise early,

to retire late,

to toil for a morsel of bread—

He gives it to his beloved in their sleep.

Children are a gift from the LORD,

the fruit of the womb is a reward from God.

Like arrows in the hand of a warrior,

so are children born in your youth.

Happy is the man whose quiver is filled with arrows like them.

He will not be put to shame when he brings his enemies to trial at the gate.

*

Solomon also built a palace for himself. He spent thirteen years building the entire palace complex.

First he built a hall, which was called the Forest of Lebanon. It was a hundred cubits long, fifty cubits wide, and thirty cubits high. The roof of cedar wood rested on four rows of cedar wood pillars, over which were laid cedar wood beams. Over these were laid forty-five crossbeams, fifteen per row. There were three rows of window openings with windows three paces apart. All the window frames were rectangular, and they were placed three cubits apart. In front of this space, separated from it by pillars and a fence, he had a portico built fifty cubits wide and thirty cubits deep. He also had a throne room built, where he administered justice. The entire ceiling of the courtroom was made of cedar wood.

Behind this hall, in another courtyard, were his living quarters, which were built in the same way. He had similar quarters built for his wife, the daughter of the pharaoh. All these buildings, from the outside of the complex to the great courtyard, were built from the foundations to the cornice with precisely cut blocks of natural stone. The foundation consisted of enormous blocks of natural stone, blocks measuring ten cubits and blocks measuring eight cubits. The walls were made of hewn natural stone and cedar wood.

The large courtyard was walled with three layers of hewn stone topped with a layer of cedar beams. The same was true of the inner courtyard of the temple of the LORD and the vestibule.

*

King Solomon brought a man named Hiram from Tyre. Hiram was the son of a widow from the tribe of Naphtali. His father was from Tyre, where he had been a bronze smith. Hiram possessed all the knowledge and skill necessary for working with bronze and copper. He entered Solomon's service and made all the bronze and copper work for the king.

Hiram made two bronze pillars, each eighteen cubits high and twelve cubits in circumference. For the tops of the pillars, he made two cast bronze capitals, both five cubits high. He decorated the capitals on the pillars with latticework, and the neck of each capital was encircled with seven chains. He also made pomegranates, which he attached in two rows to the braiding that covered both capitals. He made the capitals on the pillars, which were intended for the vestibule of the temple, in the shape of lotus flowers. They were four cubits high. At the top of each of the capitals, at the edge of the braiding, two hundred pomegranates hung in rows around the bulge. The pillars were set up at the front hall in front of the great hall. The right pillar was named Jachin and the left pillar was named Boaz. When the lotus-shaped capitals were placed on top of the pillars, the work on the pillars was completed.

Chiram also made the Sea, a basin of cast bronze five cubits high, with a diameter of ten cubits and a circumference of thirty cubits. Under the rim ran a festoon of coloquints, ten per cubit; they were cast in two rows with the basin . The basin rested on twelve oxen: three with their heads facing north, three with their heads facing west, three with their heads facing south, and three with their heads facing east; their hindquarters were turned toward the center. The basin rested on them. The wall was a handbreadth thick. The rim was shaped like a cup, like a lotus calyx. The basin had a capacity of two thousand baths.

Chiram also made ten bronze bases for movable basins, each four cubits long, four cubits wide, and three cubits high. These bases consisted of panels set in moldings. The panels and moldings were decorated with lions, cattle, and cherubs. Above and below these reliefs were festoons of carvings. Each base had four bronze wheels on bronze axles. At the four corner posts were support points, mounted between the festoons. These supported the washbasin carriers. These supported a bronze ring more than a cubit high and with a diameter of one and a half cubits. This ring was engraved. Around it were the panels of the base, which formed a quadrangle, not a circle. The four wheels were mounted at the bottom of the sides of the base. They were each one and a half cubits high. The wheels were made like cart wheels, with rims, spokes, and hubs, which, like the suspension, were made of cast bronze. The four supports, which were attached to the base, rested on the corners. On top of the base was a round raised rim half a cubit high. There were handles at the top of the panels. On the handles and panels of the base, Hiram engraved cherubim, lions, and palmettes with festoons between them. The ten bases were all cast in the same way and were of the same size and shape. He then made ten bronze basins, each with a capacity of forty baths and a diameter of four cubits: one basin for each of the ten bases.

Five of the bases were placed on the south side of the temple, and five on the north side. The Sea was placed diagonally in front of the temple, on the southeast side.

Hiram also made other basins, shovels, and sacrificial bowls, and thus the work that King Solomon had assigned him for the temple of the LORD was completed: the two pillars with the two spherical capitals on top, the network that covered the capitals on the pillars, the four hundred pomegranates that hung in two rows on the network around the capitals on each of the pillars, the ten bases and the ten basins on them, the Sea, of which there was only one, with the twelve oxen under it, and the pots, shovels, and sacrificial bowls.

All these objects that Hiram had made for the temple of the LORD on behalf of King Solomon were of polished bronze. The king had them cast in the Jordan Valley, between Sukkot and Saretan, where there was plenty of rich clay. The amount of material used in all these objects was so great that King Solomon refrained from weighing them: the weight of the bronze was too great to be determined.

*

Solomon also had all kinds of objects made for the interior of the temple of the LORD: the altar covered with a layer of gold and the table for the showbread, the gilded candlesticks that stood in front of the rear hall, five on the left and five on the right, with gold flower decorations, gold lamps, and gold snuffers, the gilded dishes, knives, sacrificial bowls, bowls, and fire pans. The fittings for the doors leading to the inner sanctuary of the temple, the Most Holy Place, were also made of gold, as were the fittings for the doors leading to the temple itself.

When all the work that King Solomon had done on the temple of the LORD was completed, he brought his father David's gifts to the temple. He stored the gold, silver, and other objects in the treasury of the temple of the LORD.

*

Then King Solomon summoned the elders of Israel, the heads of the tribes, all who were heads of families, to Jerusalem to bring up the ark of the covenant of the LORD from the stronghold of David, the mountain of Zion. All the Israelites came to King Solomon at the feast in the month of Ethanim, the seventh month.

When all the elders of Israel had arrived, the priests took up the ark. The ark of the LORD, the tent of meeting, and the sacred objects belonging to it were carried by the priests and the Levites.

King Solomon held a sacrifice with the Israelites who had gathered around the ark with him, offering so many sheep, goats, and cattle that their number could not be determined.

The priests brought the ark of the covenant of the LORD to its new place in the inner sanctuary of the temple, the Most Holy Place, and placed it under the wings of the cherubim, so that the spread wings of the cherubim extended over the ark and its carrying poles. These poles protruded, and from the holy place, the main hall, their ends could only be seen when standing directly in front of the entrance to the inner room; from further away, they could not be seen. They remain there to this day.

The ark contains nothing but the two stone tablets that Moses placed there on Mount Horeb, the tablets on which are recorded what the LORD decreed for the Israelites during their journey out of Egypt.

As soon as the priests came out of the sanctuary, a cloud filled the temple of the LORD. The priests could no longer perform their duties, for the majesty of the LORD filled the entire temple.

*

Then Solomon said, "Lord, you said you wanted to dwell in a dark cloud. Now I have built you a royal house, which can be your dwelling place forever."

Then the king turned and blessed the community of Israel. When everyone had stood up, he said:

"Praise be to the LORD, the God of Israel, who did not leave it at words but actually fulfilled his promise to my father David. He said, 'Never, from the day I brought my people Israel out of Egypt, have I chosen any of the cities of the tribes of Israel to build a temple where my name would dwell. But I have chosen David to rule over my people Israel." When my father David conceived the plan to build a temple for the name of the LORD, the God of Israel, the LORD said to him, "You have done well to want to build a house for my name. Yet you will not build the temple. Your son, who will come from you, will build a house for my name." And the LORD has kept his word. I have succeeded my father David and now sit on the throne of Israel, as the LORD promised. And I have built a temple for the name of the LORD, the God of Israel, as a dwelling place for the ark, which contains the covenant that the LORD made with our ancestors when He led them out of Egypt."

Then Solomon turned toward the altar of the LORD in the presence of all the assembly of Israel, spread out his hands toward heaven, and said,

“LORD, God of Israel, there is no God like you in heaven above or on earth below. You keep your covenant and show steadfast love to your servants who love you with all their hearts. You have kept the promise you made to your servant, my father David. You have not kept your word in words only, but you have fulfilled your promise today. Therefore, LORD, God of Israel, I ask you to continue to keep the promise you made to your servant, my father David, that you will never take the throne of Israel away from his descendants, as long as we remain faithful to you, as he was faithful to you. Now, God of Israel, may the promise you made to your servant, my father David, come true.

Could God really dwell on earth? Even the highest heavens cannot contain you, let alone this house I have built for you. LORD my God, hear the supplication of your servant and listen to the pleas I make to you today. Be attentive day and night to what happens in this temple, the place where You Yourself have said Your name will dwell, and hear the prayer I offer in this temple. Hear the supplications Your servant and Your people Israel offer in this temple; hear us from heaven, Your dwelling place; hear and forgive us:

1. When someone has wronged another and demands that he pronounce a curse upon himself, and when he comes to your altar in this temple to curse himself, listen from heaven and intervene. Judge your servants, declare the guilty party guilty and give him his deserved punishment, but acquit the innocent and restore him to his rights.
2. When your people Israel are defeated by the enemy because they have sinned against you, and when they return to you, praise your name, and pray and plead with you in this temple, listen from heaven, forgive your people Israel for what they have done wrong, and bring them back to the land you gave to their ancestors.
3. When the heavens are shut up and there is no rain because the people have sinned against You, and when they pray toward this temple, praise Your name, and turn from their sins, because You answer them, hear from heaven and forgive Your servants, Your people Israel, for what they have done wrong. Teach them the right way to live and let it rain on your land, which you have given to your people as their territory.
4. When famine or plague breaks out in the land, when the crops are struck by blight, mildew, or voracious locusts, when the people are threatened by enemies in their own land, when, in short, any disaster or disease strikes any of your people Israel, and they pray to you and lift their hands toward this temple – each one under the pressure of the suffering that afflicts him personally – then hear from heaven, your dwelling place, and forgive him. Intervene and give him what he deserves, for you know what is in his heart. You alone can understand man. Then they will show reverence for you all their lives in the land you gave to our ancestors.
5. Even when a stranger, who does not belong to your people Israel and who has come here from a distant land to honor your name – for even there the fame of your mighty hand and outstretched arm has reached – when a stranger comes here and prays toward this temple, listen from heaven, your dwelling place, and do what he asks of you. Then all the nations of the earth will know Your name and show reverence for You, as Your people Israel do, and they will know that Your name is connected to this temple that I have built.
6. When your people go to war against their enemies at your command and pray to you toward the city you have chosen and the temple I have built for your name, hear their prayers and supplications from heaven and uphold their cause.
7. When they sin against you—for there is no one who does not sin—and you deliver them in your anger to enemies who take them captive and carry them away to a land far away or near, and when they repent in their place of exile and turn to you in that foreign land, confessing that they have sinned, that they have done wrong and acted badly, when they devote themselves to You again with all their heart and soul in the land of the enemies who have captured them, and pray to You in the direction of the land You gave to their ancestors, of the city You chose, and of the temple I built for Your name, then listen from heaven, your dwelling place, to their prayers and supplications, and grant them justice. Forgive your people all the sins and transgressions they have committed against you, and arouse compassion in those who have taken them captive.

They are your people, LORD my God, your own people, whom you brought out of the furnace of Egypt. Be attentive to the supplications of your servant and of your people Israel, and listen to them whenever they call to you. For you have set them apart from all the peoples on earth to be your people, as you promised through your servant Moses when you brought our ancestors out of Egypt."

Throughout this prayer, Solomon remained kneeling before the altar of the LORD, with his hands spread out toward heaven. When he had finished praying to the LORD, he stood up and spoke aloud to the assembly of Israel:

“Praise be to the LORD, who has given rest to his people Israel, just as he promised. Not one of the promises he made through his servant Moses has failed. May the LORD our God be with us, as He was with our ancestors. May He continue to care for us and not abandon us. May He ensure that we remain devoted and obedient to Him and keep the commandments, statutes, and laws He gave our ancestors. May my supplication be before the LORD our God day and night, and may He grant justice to His servant and His people Israel whenever necessary. Then all the nations on earth will realize that the LORD is God, He alone. Remain devoted to the LORD our God with all your heart and soul by following His regulations and keeping His commandments, as you are doing now."

With all the Israelites, the king offered sacrifices to the LORD. To dedicate the temple, he and the Israelites offered a peace offering to the LORD, for which twenty-two thousand cattle and one hundred and twenty thousand sheep and goats were slaughtered. On that day the king consecrated the middle of the courtyard of the temple of the LORD, so that sacrifices could be offered there, for the bronze altar that stood before the LORD was too small for all the burnt offerings, grain offerings, and the fat of the slaughtered animals.

So Solomon celebrated the festival before the LORD our God, together with the Israelites, who had gathered from all over the land, from Lebo-Hamat to the Wadi that forms the border with Egypt. The feast lasted seven days and another seven, a total of fourteen days. Then the king sent the people home, and after they had blessed him, they went to their homes, joyful and glad for all the good things the LORD had done for his servant David and his people Israel.

*

When Solomon had finished building the temple for the LORD and the royal palace, and had completed all his other building projects, the LORD appeared to him a second time, as he had appeared to him at Gibeon.

The LORD said to Solomon,

“I have heard the prayer you offered to me. I have consecrated the temple you have built as a place for my name to dwell forever. Nothing that happens there will escape my notice; I will take everything to heart. As for you, if you remain wholehearted toward me, as your father David was, doing all I command you and keeping my statutes and ordinances, I will establish your royal throne in Israel forever, as I promised your father David when I said, ‘You shall never fail to have a man to sit on the throne of Israel.

But if you or your descendants turn away from Me and do not keep the commandments and statutes I have given you, and instead worship other gods and bow down to them, I will drive the Israelites from the land I have given them, and I will no longer care about this temple, which I have consecrated for My name. Israel will then become a target of scorn and ridicule among all nations, and only ruins will remain of this temple, so that everyone who passes by will shudder and hiss in disgust.

And those who ask why the LORD has acted so harshly against this land and this temple will receive this answer: "Because they have turned away from the LORD their God, who brought their ancestors out of Egypt, and have clung to other gods. They have worshiped other gods and bowed down to them, and therefore the LORD has brought all this disaster upon them."

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Psalm 8 For the choir director.

To the tune of “The Woman from Gath.” A psalm of David.

LORD, our Lord,

how mighty is your name in all the earth.

Your glory in the heavens is praised

by the mouths of children and infants.

You have established power over your enemies

to break their vengeance and resistance.

I see the heavens, the work of your fingers,

the moon and the stars fixed there by You,

what is man that You are mindful of him,

the son of man that You care for him?

You have made him almost a god,

crowned him with splendor and glory,

entrusted him with the work of your hands

and placed everything at his feet:

sheep, goats, all cattle,

and also the animals of the field,

the birds of the sky, the fish in the sea

and everything that moves along the paths of the seas.

LORD, our Lord,

how mighty is your name in all the earth.