Study Desk

Then Solomon said, "The Lord has said that he would dwell in a dark cloud;^(a)

I have built a magnificent temple for you, a place for you to dwell forever.^(b)"

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

Then he said: "Praise be to the Lord , the God of Israel, who with his hands has fulfilled what he promised with his mouth to my father David. For he said,

‘Since the day I brought my people out of Egypt, I have not chosen a city in any tribe of Israel to have a temple built so that my Name might be there, nor have I chosen anyone to be ruler over my people Israel.

But now I have chosen Jerusalem^(c) for my Name^(d) to be there, and I have chosen David^(e) to rule my people Israel.'

"My father David had it in his heart^(f) to build a temple for the Name of the Lord , the God of Israel.

But the Lord said to my father David, ‘You did well to have it in your heart to build a temple for my Name.

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

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

There I have placed the ark, in which is the covenant^(g) of the Lord that he made with the people of Israel."

Then Solomon stood before the altar of the Lord in front of the whole assembly of Israel and spread out his hands.

Now he had made a bronze platform,^(j) five cubits long, five cubits wide and three cubits high,^[a] and had placed it in the center of the outer court. He stood on the platform and then knelt down^(k) before the whole assembly of Israel and spread out his hands toward heaven.

He said: " Lord , the God of Israel, there is no God like you^(l) in heaven or on earth—you who keep your covenant of love^(m) with your servants who continue wholeheartedly in your way.

You have kept your promise to your servant David my father; with your mouth you have promised⁽ⁿ⁾ and with your hand you have fulfilled it—as it is today.

"Now, Lord , the God of Israel, keep for your servant David my father the promises you made to him when you said, ‘You shall never fail^(o) to have a successor to sit before me on the throne of Israel, if only your descendants are careful in all they do to walk before me according to my law,^(p) as you have done.'

And now, Lord , the God of Israel, let your word that you promised your servant David come true.

"But will God really dwell^(q) on earth with humans? The heavens,^(r) even the highest heavens, cannot contain you. How much less this temple I have built!

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

May your eyes^(s) be open toward this temple day and night, this place of which you said you would put your Name^(t) there. May you hear^(u) the prayer your servant prays toward this place.

Hear the supplications of your servant and of your people Israel when they pray toward this place. Hear from heaven, your dwelling place; and when you hear, forgive.^(v)

"When anyone wrongs their neighbor and is required to take an oath^(w) and they come and swear the oath before your altar in this temple,

then hear from heaven and act. Judge between your servants, condemning^(x) the guilty and bringing down on their heads what they have done, and vindicating the innocent by treating them in accordance with their innocence.

"When your people Israel have been defeated^(y) by an enemy because they have sinned against you and when they turn back and give praise to your name, praying and making supplication before you in this temple,

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

"When the heavens are shut up and there is no rain^(z) because your people have sinned against you, and when they pray toward this place and give praise to your name and turn from their sin because you have afflicted them,

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

"When famine^(ab) or plague comes to the land, or blight or mildew, locusts or grasshoppers, or when enemies besiege them in any of their cities, whatever disaster or disease may come,

and when a prayer or plea is made by anyone among your people Israel—being aware of their afflictions and pains, and spreading out their hands toward this temple—

then hear from heaven, your dwelling place. Forgive,^(ac) and deal with everyone according to all they do, since you know their hearts (for you alone know the human heart),^(ad)

so that they will fear you^(ae) and walk in obedience to you all the time they live in the land you gave our ancestors.

"As for the foreigner who does not belong to your people Israel but has come^(af) from a distant land because of your great name and your mighty hand^(ag) and your outstretched arm—when they come and pray toward this temple,

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

"When your people go to war against their enemies,^(ai) wherever you send them, and when they pray^(aj) to you toward this city you have chosen and the temple I have built for your Name,

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

"When they sin against you—for there is no one who does not sin^(ak)—and you become angry with them and give them over to the enemy, who takes them captive^(al) to a land far away or near;

and if they have a change of heart^(am) in the land where they are held captive, and repent and plead with you in the land of their captivity and say, ‘We have sinned, we have done wrong and acted wickedly';

and if they turn back to you with all their heart and soul in the land of their captivity where they were taken, and pray toward the land you gave their ancestors, toward the city you have chosen and toward the temple I have built for your Name;

then from heaven, your dwelling place, hear their prayer and their pleas, and uphold their cause. And forgive^(an) your people, who have sinned against you.

"Now, my God, may your eyes be open and your ears attentive^(ao) to the prayers offered in this place.

"Now arise,^(ap) Lord God, and come to your resting place,^(aq) you and the ark of your might. May your priests,^(ar) Lord God, be clothed with salvation, may your faithful people rejoice in your goodness.^(as)

Lord God, do not reject your anointed one.^(at) Remember the great love^(au) promised to David your servant."

The Dedication of the Temple^(a)

When Solomon finished praying, fire^(b) came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices, and the glory of the Lord filled^(c) the temple.^(d)

The priests could not enter^(e) the temple of the Lord because the glory^(f) of the Lord filled it.

When all the Israelites saw the fire coming down and the glory of the Lord above the temple, they knelt on the pavement with their faces to the ground, and they worshiped and gave thanks to the Lord , saying, "He is good; his love endures forever."^(g)

Then the king and all the people offered sacrifices before the Lord .

And King Solomon offered a sacrifice of twenty-two thousand head of cattle and a hundred and twenty thousand sheep and goats. So the king and all the people dedicated the temple of God.

The priests took their positions, as did the Levites^(h) with the Lord 's musical instruments,⁽ⁱ⁾ which King David had made for praising the Lord and which were used when he gave thanks, saying, "His love endures forever." Opposite the Levites, the priests blew their trumpets, and all the Israelites were standing.

Solomon consecrated the middle part of the courtyard in front of the temple of the Lord , and there he offered burnt offerings and the fat^(j) of the fellowship offerings, because the bronze altar he had made could not hold the burnt offerings, the grain offerings and the fat portions.

So Solomon observed the festival^(k) at that time for seven days, and all Israel^(l) with him—a vast assembly, people from Lebo Hamath^(m) to the Wadi of Egypt.⁽ⁿ⁾

On the eighth day they held an assembly, for they had celebrated^(o) the dedication of the altar for seven days and the festival^(p) for seven days more.

On the twenty-third day of the seventh month he sent the people to their homes, joyful and glad in heart for the good things the Lord had done for David and Solomon and for his people Israel.

When Solomon had finished^(r) the temple of the Lord and the royal palace, and had succeeded in carrying out all he had in mind to do in the temple of the Lord and in his own palace,

the Lord appeared^(s) to him at night and said: "I have heard your prayer and have chosen^(t) this place for myself^(u) as a temple for sacrifices.

"When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain,^(v) or command locusts to devour the land or send a plague among my people,

if my people, who are called by my name,^(w) will humble^(x) themselves and pray and seek my face^(y) and turn^(z) from their wicked ways, then I will hear^(aa) from heaven, and I will forgive^(ab) their sin and will heal^(ac) their land.

Now my eyes will be open and my ears attentive to the prayers offered in this place.^(ad)

I have chosen^(ae) and consecrated this temple so that my Name may be there forever. My eyes and my heart will always be there.

"As for you, if you walk before me faithfully^(af) as David your father did, and do all I command, and observe my decrees^(ag) and laws,

I will establish your royal throne, as I covenanted^(ah) with David your father when I said, ‘You shall never fail to have a successor^(ai) to rule over Israel.'^(aj)

"But if you^[a] turn away^(ak) and forsake^(al) the decrees and commands I have given you^[b] and go off to serve other gods and worship them,

then I will uproot^(am) Israel from my land,^(an) which I have given them, and will reject this temple I have consecrated for my Name. I will make it a byword and an object of ridicule^(ao) among all peoples.

This temple will become a heap of rubble. All^[c] who pass by will be appalled^(ap) and say,^(aq) ‘Why has the Lord done such a thing to this land and to this temple?'

People will answer, ‘Because they have forsaken the Lord , the God of their ancestors, who brought them out of Egypt, and have embraced other gods, worshiping and serving them^(ar)—that is why he brought all this disaster on them.'"

Solomon's Other Activities^(a)

At the end of twenty years, during which Solomon built the temple of the Lord and his own palace,^(b)

Solomon rebuilt the villages that Hiram^[a] had given him, and settled Israelites in them.

Solomon then went to Hamath Zobah and captured it.

He also built up Tadmor in the desert and all the store cities he had built in Hamath.^(c)

He rebuilt Upper Beth Horon^(d) and Lower Beth Horon as fortified cities, with walls and with gates and bars,

as well as Baalath^(e) and all his store cities, and all the cities for his chariots and for his horses^[b]—whatever he desired to build in Jerusalem, in Lebanon and throughout all the territory he ruled.

There were still people left from the Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites^(f) (these people were not Israelites).

Solomon conscripted^(g) the descendants of all these people remaining in the land—whom the Israelites had not destroyed—to serve as slave labor, as it is to this day.

But Solomon did not make slaves of the Israelites for his work; they were his fighting men, commanders of his captains, and commanders of his chariots and charioteers.

They were also King Solomon's chief officials—two hundred and fifty officials supervising the men.

Solomon brought Pharaoh's daughter^(h) up from the City of David to the palace he had built for her, for he said, "My wife must not live in the palace of David king of Israel, because the places the ark of the Lord has entered are holy."

On the altar⁽ⁱ⁾ of the Lord that he had built in front of the portico, Solomon sacrificed burnt offerings to the Lord ,

according to the daily requirement^(j) for offerings commanded by Moses for the Sabbaths,^(k) the New Moons^(l) and the three^(m) annual festivals—the Festival of Unleavened Bread,⁽ⁿ⁾ the Festival of Weeks^(o) and the Festival of Tabernacles.^(p)

In keeping with the ordinance of his father David, he appointed the divisions^(q) of the priests for their duties, and the Levites^(r) to lead the praise and to assist the priests according to each day's requirement. He also appointed the gatekeepers^(s) by divisions for the various gates, because this was what David the man of God^(t) had ordered.^(u)

They did not deviate from the king's commands to the priests or to the Levites in any matter, including that of the treasuries.

All Solomon's work was carried out, from the day the foundation of the temple of the Lord was laid until its completion. So the temple of the Lord was finished.

Then Solomon went to Ezion Geber and Elath on the coast of Edom.

And Hiram sent him ships commanded by his own men, sailors who knew the sea. These, with Solomon's men, sailed to Ophir and brought back four hundred and fifty talents^[c] of gold,^(v) which they delivered to King Solomon.

The Queen of Sheba Visits Solomon^(a)

When the queen of Sheba^(b) heard of Solomon's fame, she came to Jerusalem to test him with hard questions. Arriving with a very great caravan—with camels carrying spices, large quantities of gold, and precious stones—she came to Solomon and talked with him about all she had on her mind.

Solomon answered all her questions; nothing was too hard for him to explain to her.

When the queen of Sheba saw the wisdom of Solomon,^(c) as well as the palace he had built,

the food on his table, the seating of his officials, the attending servants in their robes, the cupbearers in their robes and the burnt offerings he made at^[a] the temple of the Lord , she was overwhelmed.

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

But I did not believe what they said until I came^(d) and saw with my own eyes. Indeed, not even half the greatness of your wisdom was told me; you have far exceeded the report I heard.

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

Praise be to the Lord your God, who has delighted in you and placed you on his throne^(e) as king to rule for the Lord your God. Because of the love of your God for Israel and his desire to uphold them forever, he has made you king^(f) over them, to maintain justice and righteousness."

Then she gave the king 120 talents^[b] of gold,^(g) large quantities of spices, and precious stones. There had never been such spices as those the queen of Sheba gave to King Solomon.

(The servants of Hiram and the servants of Solomon brought gold from Ophir;^(h) they also brought algumwood^[c] and precious stones.

The king used the algumwood to make steps for the temple of the Lord and for the royal palace, and to make harps and lyres for the musicians. Nothing like them had ever been seen in Judah.)

King Solomon gave the queen of Sheba all she desired and asked for; he gave her more than she had brought to him. Then she left and returned with her retinue to her own country.

The weight of the gold that Solomon received yearly was 666 talents,^[d]

not including the revenues brought in by merchants and traders. Also all the kings of Arabia^(j) and the governors of the territories brought gold and silver to Solomon.

King Solomon made two hundred large shields of hammered gold; six hundred shekels^[e] of hammered gold went into each shield.

He also made three hundred small shields^(k) of hammered gold, with three hundred shekels^[f] of gold in each shield. The king put them in the Palace of the Forest of Lebanon.^(l)

Then the king made a great throne covered with ivory^(m) and overlaid with pure gold.

The throne had six steps, and a footstool of gold was attached to it. On both sides of the seat were armrests, with a lion standing beside each of them.

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

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

The king had a fleet of trading ships^[g] manned by Hiram's^[h] servants. Once every three years it returned, carrying gold, silver and ivory, and apes and baboons.

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

All the kings^(o) of the earth sought audience with Solomon to hear the wisdom God had put in his heart.

Year after year, everyone who came brought a gift^(p)—articles of silver and gold, and robes, weapons and spices, and horses and mules.

Solomon had four thousand stalls for horses and chariots,^(q) and twelve thousand horses,^[i] which he kept in the chariot cities and also with him in Jerusalem.

He ruled^(r) over all the kings from the Euphrates River^(s) to the land of the Philistines, as far as the border of Egypt.^(t)

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

Solomon's horses were imported from Egypt and from all other countries.

As for the other events of Solomon's reign, from beginning to end, are they not written in the records of Nathan^(v) the prophet, in the prophecy of Ahijah^(w) the Shilonite and in the visions of Iddo the seer concerning Jeroboam^(x) son of Nebat?

Solomon reigned in Jerusalem over all Israel forty years.

Then he rested with his ancestors and was buried in the city of David^(y) his father. And Rehoboam his son succeeded him as king.

Israel Rebels Against Rehoboam^(a)

Rehoboam went to Shechem, for all Israel had gone there to make him king.

When Jeroboam^(b) son of Nebat heard this (he was in Egypt, where he had fled^(c) from King Solomon), he returned from Egypt.

So they sent for Jeroboam, and he and all Israel^(d) went to Rehoboam and said to him:

"Your father put a heavy yoke on us,^(e) but now lighten the harsh labor and the heavy yoke he put on us, and we will serve you."

Rehoboam answered, "Come back to me in three days." So the people went away.

Then King Rehoboam consulted the elders^(f) who had served his father Solomon during his lifetime. "How would you advise me to answer these people?" he asked.

They replied, "If you will be kind to these people and please them and give them a favorable answer,^(g) they will always be your servants."

But Rehoboam rejected^(h) the advice the elders⁽ⁱ⁾ gave him and consulted the young men who had grown up with him and were serving him.

He asked them, "What is your advice? How should we answer these people who say to me, ‘Lighten the yoke your father put on us'?"

The young men who had grown up with him replied, "The people have said to you, ‘Your father put a heavy yoke on us, but make our yoke lighter.' Now tell them, ‘My little finger is thicker than my father's waist.

My father laid on you a heavy yoke; I will make it even heavier. My father scourged you with whips; I will scourge you with scorpions.'"

Three days later Jeroboam and all the people returned to Rehoboam, as the king had said, "Come back to me in three days."

The king answered them harshly. Rejecting the advice of the elders,

he followed the advice of the young men and said, "My father made your yoke heavy; I will make it even heavier. My father scourged you with whips; I will scourge you with scorpions."

So the king did not listen to the people, for this turn of events was from God,^(j) to fulfill the word the Lord had spoken to Jeroboam son of Nebat through Ahijah the Shilonite.^(k)

When all Israel^(l) saw that the king refused to listen to them, they answered the king: "What share do we have in David,^(m) what part in Jesse's son? To your tents, Israel! Look after your own house, David!" So all the Israelites went home.

But as for the Israelites who were living in the towns of Judah, Rehoboam still ruled over them.

King Rehoboam sent out Adoniram,^[a](n) who was in charge of forced labor, but the Israelites stoned him to death. King Rehoboam, however, managed to get into his chariot and escape to Jerusalem.

So Israel has been in rebellion against the house of David to this day.