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2 When the time drew near for David to die,z he gave a charge to Solomon his son.
2 “I am about to go the way of all the earth,”a he said. “So be strong,b act like a man, 3 and observec what the Lord your God requires: Walk in obedience to him, and keep his decrees and commands, his laws and regulations, as written in the Law of Moses. Do this so that you may prosperd in all you do and wherever you go 4 and that the Lord may keep his promisee to me: ‘If your descendants watch how they live, and if they walk faithfullyf before me with all their heart and soul, you will never fail to have a successor on the throne of Israel.’
5 “Now you yourself know what Joabg son of Zeruiah did to me—what he did to the two commanders of Israel’s armies, Abnerh son of Ner and Amasai son of Jether. He killed them, shedding their blood in peacetime as if in battle, and with that blood he stained the belt around his waist and the sandals on his feet. 6 Deal with him according to your wisdom,j but do not let his gray head go down to the grave in peace.
7 “But show kindnessk to the sons of Barzillail of Gilead and let them be among those who eat at your table.m They stood by me when I fled from your brother Absalom.
8 “And remember, you have with you Shimein son of Gera, the Benjamite from Bahurim, who called down bitter curses on me the day I went to Mahanaim.o When he came down to meet me at the Jordan, I sworep to him by the Lord: ‘I will not put you to death by the sword.’ 9 But now, do not consider him innocent. You are a man of wisdom;q you will know what to do to him. Bring his gray head down to the grave in blood.”
10 Then David rested with his ancestors and was buriedr in the City of David.s 11 He had reignedt forty years over Israel—seven years in Hebron and thirty-three in Jerusalem. 12 So Solomon sat on the throneu of his father David, and his rule was firmly established.v
13 Now Adonijah,w the son of Haggith, went to Bathsheba, Solomon’s mother. Bathsheba asked him, “Do you come peacefully?”x
He answered, “Yes, peacefully.” 14 Then he added, “I have something to say to you.”
“You may say it,” she replied.
15 “As you know,” he said, “the kingdom was mine. All Israel looked to me as their king. But things changed, and the kingdom has gone to my brother; for it has come to him from the Lord. 16 Now I have one request to make of you. Do not refuse me.”
“You may make it,” she said.
17 So he continued, “Please ask King Solomon—he will not refuse you—to give me Abishagy the Shunammite as my wife.”
18 “Very well,” Bathsheba replied, “I will speak to the king for you.”
19 When Bathsheba went to King Solomon to speak to him for Adonijah, the king stood up to meet her, bowed down to her and sat down on his throne. He had a throne brought for the king’s mother,z and she sat down at his right hand.a
20 “I have one small request to make of you,” she said. “Do not refuse me.”
The king replied, “Make it, my mother; I will not refuse you.”
21 So she said, “Let Abishagb the Shunammite be given in marriage to your brother Adonijah.”
22 King Solomon answered his mother, “Why do you request Abishagc the Shunammite for Adonijah? You might as well request the kingdom for him—after all, he is my older brotherd—yes, for him and for Abiathare the priest and Joab son of Zeruiah!”
23 Then King Solomon swore by the Lord: “May God deal with me, be it ever so severely,f if Adonijah does not pay with his life for this request! 24 And now, as surely as the Lord lives—he who has established me securely on the throne of my father David and has founded a dynasty for me as he promisedg—Adonijah shall be put to death today!” 25 So King Solomon gave orders to Benaiahh son of Jehoiada, and he struck down Adonijah and he died.i
26 To Abiatharj the priest the king said, “Go back to your fields in Anathoth.k You deserve to die, but I will not put you to death now, because you carried the arkl of the Sovereign Lord before my father David and shared all my father’s hardships.”m 27 So Solomon removed Abiathar from the priesthood of the Lord, fulfillingn the word the Lord had spoken at Shiloh about the house of Eli.
28 When the news reached Joab, who had conspired with Adonijah though not with Absalom, he fled to the tent of the Lord and took hold of the hornso of the altar. 29 King Solomon was told that Joab had fled to the tent of the Lord and was beside the altar.p Then Solomon ordered Benaiahq son of Jehoiada, “Go, strike him down!”
30 So Benaiah entered the tentr of the Lord and said to Joab, “The king says, ‘Come out!s’ ”
But he answered, “No, I will die here.”
Benaiah reported to the king, “This is how Joab answered me.”
31 Then the king commanded Benaiah, “Do as he says. Strike him down and bury him, and so clear me and my whole family of the guilt of the innocent bloodt that Joab shed. 32 The Lord will repayu him for the blood he shed,v because without my father David knowing it he attacked two men and killed them with the sword. Both of them—Abner son of Ner, commander of Israel’s army, and Amasaw son of Jether, commander of Judah’s army—were betterx men and more upright than he. 33 May the guilt of their blood rest on the head of Joab and his descendants forever. But on David and his descendants, his house and his throne, may there be the Lord’s peace forever.”
34 So Benaiahy son of Jehoiada went up and struck down Joabz and killed him, and he was buried at his home out in the country. 35 The king put Benaiaha son of Jehoiada over the army in Joab’s position and replaced Abiathar with Zadokb the priest.
36 Then the king sent for Shimeic and said to him, “Build yourself a house in Jerusalem and live there, but do not go anywhere else. 37 The day you leave and cross the Kidron Valley,d you can be sure you will die; your blood will be on your own head.”e
38 Shimei answered the king, “What you say is good. Your servant will do as my lord the king has said.” And Shimei stayed in Jerusalem for a long time.
39 But three years later, two of Shimei’s slaves ran off to Achishf son of Maakah, king of Gath, and Shimei was told, “Your slaves are in Gath.” 40 At this, he saddled his donkey and went to Achish at Gath in search of his slaves. So Shimei went away and brought the slaves back from Gath.
41 When Solomon was told that Shimei had gone from Jerusalem to Gath and had returned, 42 the king summoned Shimei and said to him, “Did I not make you swear by the Lord and warng you, ‘On the day you leave to go anywhere else, you can be sure you will die’? At that time you said to me, ‘What you say is good. I will obey.’ 43 Why then did you not keep your oath to the Lord and obey the command I gave you?”
44 The king also said to Shimei, “You know in your heart all the wrongh you did to my father David. Now the Lord will repay you for your wrongdoing. 45 But King Solomon will be blessed, and David’s throne will remain securei before the Lord forever.”
46 Then the king gave the order to Benaiahj son of Jehoiada, and he went out and struck Shimeik down and he died.
The kingdom was now establishedl in Solomon’s hands.
3 Solomon made an alliance with Pharaoh king of Egypt and marriedm his daughter.n He brought her to the City of Davido until he finished building his palacep and the temple of the Lord, and the wall around Jerusalem. 2 The people, however, were still sacrificing at the high places,q because a temple had not yet been built for the Namer of the Lord. 3 Solomon showed his loves for the Lord by walkingt according to the instructionsu given him by his father David, except that he offered sacrifices and burned incense on the high places.v
4 The king went to Gibeonw to offer sacrifices, for that was the most important high place, and Solomon offered a thousand burnt offerings on that altar. 5 At Gibeon the Lord appearedx to Solomon during the night in a dream,y and God said, “Askz for whatever you want me to give you.”
6 Solomon answered, “You have shown great kindness to your servant, my father David, because he was faithfula to you and righteous and upright in heart. You have continued this great kindness to him and have given him a sonb to sit on his throne this very day.
7 “Now, Lord my God, you have made your servant king in place of my father David. But I am only a little childc and do not know how to carry out my duties. 8 Your servant is here among the people you have chosen,d a great people, too numerous to count or number.e 9 So give your servant a discerningf heart to govern your people and to distinguishg between right and wrong. For who is ableh to govern this great people of yours?”
10 The Lord was pleased that Solomon had asked for this. 11 So God said to him, “Since you have askedi for this and not for long life or wealth for yourself, nor have asked for the death of your enemies but for discernmentj in administering justice, 12 I will do what you have asked.k I will give you a wisel and discerning heart, so that there will never have been anyone like you, nor will there ever be. 13 Moreover, I will give you what you have notm asked for—both wealth and honorn—so that in your lifetime you will have no equalo among kings. 14 And if you walkp in obedience to me and keep my decrees and commands as David your father did, I will give you a long life.”q 15 Then Solomon awoker—and he realized it had been a dream.s
He returned to Jerusalem, stood before the ark of the Lord’s covenant and sacrificed burnt offeringst and fellowship offerings.u Then he gave a feastv for all his court.
16 Now two prostitutes came to the king and stood before him. 17 One of them said, “Pardon me, my lord. This woman and I live in the same house, and I had a baby while she was there with me. 18 The third day after my child was born, this woman also had a baby. We were alone; there was no one in the house but the two of us.
19 “During the night this woman’s son died because she lay on him. 20 So she got up in the middle of the night and took my son from my side while I your servant was asleep. She put him by her breast and put her dead son by my breast. 21 The next morning, I got up to nurse my son—and he was dead! But when I looked at him closely in the morning light, I saw that it wasn’t the son I had borne.”
22 The other woman said, “No! The living one is my son; the dead one is yours.”
But the first one insisted, “No! The dead one is yours; the living one is mine.” And so they argued before the king.
23 The king said, “This one says, ‘My son is alive and your son is dead,’ while that one says, ‘No! Your son is dead and mine is alive.’ ”
24 Then the king said, “Bring me a sword.” So they brought a sword for the king. 25 He then gave an order: “Cut the living child in two and give half to one and half to the other.”
26 The woman whose son was alive was deeply movedw out of love for her son and said to the king, “Please, my lord, give her the living baby! Don’t kill him!”
But the other said, “Neither I nor you shall have him. Cut him in two!”
27 Then the king gave his ruling: “Give the living baby to the first woman. Do not kill him; she is his mother.”
28 When all Israel heard the verdict the king had given, they held the king in awe, because they saw that he had wisdomx from God to administer justice.
Solomon’s Officials and Governors
4 So King Solomon ruled over all Israel. 2 And these were his chief officials:y
Azariahz son of Zadok—the priest;
3 Elihoreph and Ahijah, sons of Shisha—secretaries;a
Jehoshaphatb son of Ahilud—recorder;
4 Benaiahc son of Jehoiada—commander in chief;
Zadokd and Abiathar—priests;
5 Azariah son of Nathan—in charge of the district governors;
Zabud son of Nathan—a priest and adviser to the king;
6 Ahishar—palace administrator;e
Adoniramf son of Abda—in charge of forced labor.g
7 Solomon had twelve district governorsh over all Israel, who supplied provisions for the king and the royal household. Each one had to provide supplies for one month in the year. 8 These are their names:
Ben-Hur—in the hill countryi of Ephraim;
9 Ben-Deker—in Makaz, Shaalbim,j Beth Shemeshk and Elon Bethhanan;
10 Ben-Hesed—in Arubboth (Sokohl and all the land of Hepherm were his);
11 Ben-Abinadab—in Naphoth Dorn (he was married to Taphath daughter of Solomon);
12 Baana son of Ahilud—in Taanach and Megiddo, and in all of Beth Shano next to Zarethanp below Jezreel, from Beth Shan to Abel Meholahq across to Jokmeam;r
13 Ben-Geber—in Ramoth Gilead (the settlements of Jairs son of Manasseh in Gileadt were his, as well as the region of Argob in Bashan and its sixty large walled citiesu with bronze gate bars);
14 Ahinadab son of Iddo—in Mahanaim;v
15 Ahimaazw—in Naphtali (he had married Basemath daughter of Solomon);
16 Baana son of Hushaix—in Asher and in Aloth;
17 Jehoshaphat son of Paruah—in Issachar;
18 Shimeiy son of Ela—in Benjamin;
19 Geber son of Uri—in Gilead (the country of Sihonz king of the Amorites and the country of Oga king of Bashan). He was the only governor over the district.
20 The people of Judah and Israel were as numerous as the sandb on the seashore; they ate, they drank and they were happy.c 21 And Solomon ruledd over all the kingdoms from the Euphrates Rivere to the land of the Philistines, as far as the border of Egypt.f These countries brought tributeg and were Solomon’s subjects all his life.
22 Solomon’s daily provisionsh were thirty corsa of the finest flour and sixty corsb of meal, 23 ten head of stall-fed cattle, twenty of pasture-fed cattle and a hundred sheep and goats, as well as deer, gazelles, roebucks and choice fowl.i 24 For he ruled over all the kingdoms west of the Euphrates River, from Tiphsahj to Gaza, and had peacek on all sides. 25 During Solomon’s lifetime Judah and Israel, from Dan to Beersheba,l lived in safety,m everyone under their own vine and under their own fig tree.n
26 Solomon had fourc thousand stalls for chariot horses,o and twelve thousand horses.d
27 The district governors,p each in his month, supplied provisions for King Solomon and all who came to the king’s table. They saw to it that nothing was lacking. 28 They also brought to the proper place their quotas of barley and straw for the chariot horses and the other horses.
29 God gave Solomon wisdomq and very great insight, and a breadth of understanding as measureless as the sandr on the seashore. 30 Solomon’s wisdom was greater than the wisdom of all the people of the East,s and greater than all the wisdom of Egypt.t 31 He was wiseru than anyone else, including Ethan the Ezrahite—wiser than Heman, Kalkol and Darda, the sons of Mahol. And his fame spread to all the surrounding nations. 32 He spoke three thousand proverbsv and his songsw numbered a thousand and five. 33 He spoke about plant life, from the cedar of Lebanon to the hyssopx that grows out of walls. He also spoke about animals and birds, reptiles and fish. 34 From all nations people came to listen to Solomon’s wisdom, sent by all the kingsy of the world, who had heard of his wisdom.e
Preparations for Building the Temple
5 a When Hiramz king of Tyre heard that Solomon had been anointed king to succeed his father David, he sent his envoys to Solomon, because he had always been on friendly terms with David. 2 Solomon sent back this message to Hiram:
3 “You know that because of the warsa waged against my father David from all sides, he could not buildb a temple for the Name of the Lord his God until the Lord put his enemies under his feet.c 4 But now the Lord my God has given me restd on every side, and there is no adversarye or disaster. 5 I intend, therefore, to build a templef for the Name of the Lord my God, as the Lord told my father David, when he said, ‘Your son whom I will put on the throne in your place will build the temple for my Name.’g
6 “So give orders that cedarsh of Lebanon be cut for me. My men will work with yours, and I will pay you for your men whatever wages you set. You know that we have no one so skilled in felling timber as the Sidonians.”
7 When Hiram heard Solomon’s message, he was greatly pleased and said, “Praise be to the Lordi today, for he has given David a wise son to rule over this great nation.”
8 So Hiram sent word to Solomon:
“I have received the message you sent me and will do all you want in providing the cedar and juniper logs. 9 My men will haul them down from Lebanon to the Mediterranean Seaj, and I will float them as rafts by sea to the place you specify. There I will separate them and you can take them away. And you are to grant my wish by providing foodk for my royal household.”
10 In this way Hiram kept Solomon supplied with all the cedar and juniper logs he wanted, 11 and Solomon gave Hiram twenty thousand corsb of wheat as foodl for his household, in addition to twenty thousand bathsc,d of pressed olive oil. Solomon continued to do this for Hiram year after year. 12 The Lord gave Solomon wisdom,m just as he had promised him. There were peaceful relations between Hiram and Solomon, and the two of them made a treaty.n
13 King Solomon conscripted laborerso from all Israel—thirty thousand men. 14 He sent them off to Lebanon in shifts of ten thousand a month, so that they spent one month in Lebanon and two months at home. Adoniramp was in charge of the forced labor. 15 Solomon had seventy thousand carriers and eighty thousand stonecutters in the hills, 16 as well as thirty-three hundrede foremenq who supervised the project and directed the workers. 17 At the king’s command they removed from the quarryr large blocks of high-grade stones to provide a foundation of dressed stone for the temple. 18 The craftsmen of Solomon and Hiramt and workers from Byblosu cut and prepared the timber and stone for the building of the temple.
6 In the four hundred and eightietha year after the Israelites came out of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon’s reign over Israel, in the month of Ziv, the second month,v he began to build the temple of the Lord.w
2 The templex that King Solomon built for the Lord was sixty cubits long, twenty wide and thirty high.b 3 The porticoy at the front of the main hall of the temple extended the width of the temple, that is twenty cubits,c and projected ten cubitsd from the front of the temple. 4 He made narrow windowsz high up in the temple walls. 5 Against the walls of the main hall and inner sanctuary he built a structure around the building, in which there were side rooms.a 6 The lowest floor was five cubitse wide, the middle floor six cubitsf and the third floor seven.g He made offset ledges around the outside of the temple so that nothing would be inserted into the temple walls.
7 In building the temple, only blocks dressedb at the quarry were used, and no hammer, chisel or any other iron toolc was heard at the temple site while it was being built.
8 The entrance to the lowesth floor was on the south side of the temple; a stairway led up to the middle level and from there to the third. 9 So he built the temple and completed it, roofing it with beams and cedard planks. 10 And he built the side rooms all along the temple. The height of each was five cubits, and they were attached to the temple by beams of cedar.
11 The word of the Lord camee to Solomon: 12 “As for this temple you are building, if you follow my decrees, observe my laws and keep all my commandsf and obey them, I will fulfill through you the promiseg I gave to David your father. 13 And I will live among the Israelites and will not abandonh my people Israel.”
14 So Solomoni built the temple and completedj it. 15 He lined its interior walls with cedar boards, paneling them from the floor of the temple to the ceiling,k and covered the floor of the temple with planks of juniper.l 16 He partitioned off twenty cubits at the rear of the temple with cedar boards from floor to ceiling to form within the temple an inner sanctuary, the Most Holy Place.m 17 The main hall in front of this room was forty cubitsi long. 18 The inside of the temple was cedar,n carved with gourds and open flowers. Everything was cedar; no stone was to be seen.
19 He prepared the inner sanctuaryo within the temple to set the ark of the covenantp of the Lord there. 20 The inner sanctuaryq was twenty cubits long, twenty wide and twenty high. He overlaid the inside with pure gold, and he also overlaid the altar of cedar.r 21 Solomon covered the inside of the temple with pure gold, and he extended gold chains across the front of the inner sanctuary, which was overlaid with gold. 22 So he overlaid the whole interior with gold. He also overlaid with gold the altar that belonged to the inner sanctuary.
23 For the inner sanctuary he made a pair of cherubims out of olive wood, each ten cubits high. 24 One wing of the first cherub was five cubits long, and the other wing five cubits—ten cubits from wing tip to wing tip. 25 The second cherub also measured ten cubits, for the two cherubim were identical in size and shape. 26 The height of each cherub was ten cubits. 27 He placed the cherubimt inside the innermost room of the temple, with their wings spread out. The wing of one cherub touched one wall, while the wing of the other touched the other wall, and their wings touched each other in the middle of the room. 28 He overlaid the cherubim with gold.
29 On the wallsu all around the temple, in both the inner and outer rooms, he carved cherubim,v palm trees and open flowers. 30 He also covered the floors of both the inner and outer rooms of the temple with gold.
31 For the entrance to the inner sanctuary he made doors out of olive wood that were one fifth of the width of the sanctuary. 32 And on the two olive-wood doorsw he carved cherubim, palm trees and open flowers, and overlaid the cherubim and palm trees with hammered gold. 33 In the same way, for the entrance to the main hall he made doorframes out of olive wood that were one fourth of the width of the hall. 34 He also made two doors out of juniper wood, each having two leaves that turned in sockets. 35 He carved cherubim, palm trees and open flowers on them and overlaid them with gold hammered evenly over the carvings.
36 And he built the inner courtyardx of three coursesy of dressed stone and one course of trimmed cedar beams.
37 The foundation of the temple of the Lord was laid in the fourth year, in the month of Ziv. 38 In the eleventh year in the month of Bul, the eighth month, the temple was finished in all its detailsz according to its specifications.a He had spent seven years building it.
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