²And Solomon gave orders to all Israel, to the captains of thousands, and of hundreds, and to the rulers, and to the judges of all Israel, and the heads of the families:

³And he went with all the multitude to the high place of Gabaon, where was the tabernacle of the covenant of the Lord, which Moses the servant of God made, in the wilderness.

⁴For David had brought the ark of God from Cariathiarim to the place, which he had prepared for it, and where he had pitched a tabernacle for it, that is, in Jerusalem.

⁵And the altar of brass, which Beseleel the son of Uri the son of Hur had made, was there before the tabernacle of the Lord: and Solomon and all the assembly sought it:

⁶And Solomon went up thither to the brazen altar, before the tabernacle of the covenant of the Lord, and offered up on it a thousand victims.

⁷And behold that night God appeared to him, saying: Ask what thou wilt that I should give thee.

⁸And Solomon said to God: Thou hast shewn great kindness to my father David: and hast made me king in his stead.

⁹Now therefore, O Lord God, let thy word be fulfilled, which thou hast promised to David my father: for thou hast made me king over thy great people, which is as innumerable as the dust of the earth.

¹⁰Give me wisdom and knowledge that I may come in and go out before thy people: for who can worthily judge this thy people, which is so great?

¹¹And God said to Solomon: Because this choice hath pleased thy heart, and thou hast not asked riches, and wealth, and glory, nor the lives of them that hate thee, nor many days of life: but hast asked wisdom and knowledge, to be able to judge my people, over which I have made thee king,

¹²Wisdom and knowledge are granted to thee: and I will give thee riches, and wealth, and glory, so that none of the kings before thee, nor after thee, shall be like thee.

¹³Then Solomon came from the high place of Gabaon to Jerusalem before the tabernacle of the covenant, and reigned over Israel.

¹⁴And he gathered to himself chariots and horsemen, and he had a thousand four hundred chariots, and twelve thousand horsemen: and he placed them in the cities of the chariots, and with the king in Jerusalem.

¹⁵And the king made silver and gold to be in Jerusalem as stones, and cedar trees as sycamores, which grow in the plains in great multitude.

¹⁶And there were horses brought him from Egypt, and from Coa by the king’s merchants, who went, and bought at a price,

¹⁷A chariot of four horses for six hundred pieces of silver, and a horse for a hundred and fifty: in like manner market was made in all the kingdoms of the Hethites, and of the kings of Syria.

Chapter 2

And Solomon determined to build a house to the name of the Lord, and a palace for himself.

²And he numbered out seventy thousand men to bear burdens, and eighty thousand to hew stones in the mountains, and three thousand six hundred to oversee them.

³He sent also to Hiram king of Tyre, saying: As thou didst with David my father, and didst send him cedars, to build him a house, in which he dwelt:

⁴So do with me that I may build a house to the name of the Lord my God, to dedicate it to burn incense before him, and to perfume with aromatical spices, and for the continual setting forth of bread, and for the holocausts, morning and evening, and on the sabbaths, and on the new moons, and the solemnities of the Lord our God for ever, which are commanded for Israel.

⁵For the house which I desire to build, is great: for our God is great above all gods.

⁶Who then can be able to build him a worthy house? if heaven, and the heavens of heavens cannot contain him: who am I that I should be able to build him a house? but to this end only, that incense may be burnt before him.

⁷Send me therefore a skilful man, that knoweth how to work in gold, and in silver, in brass, and in iron, in purple, in scarlet and in blue, and that hath skill in engraving, with the artificers, which I have with me in Judea and Jerusalem, whom David my father provided.

⁸Send me also cedars, and fir trees, and pine trees from Libanus: for I know that thy servants are skilful in cutting timber in Libanus, and my servants shall be with thy servants,

⁹To provide me timber in abundance. For the house which I desire to build, is to be exceeding great, and glorious.

¹⁰And I will give thy servants the workmen that are to cut down the trees, for their food twenty thousand cores of wheat, and as many cores of barley, and twenty thousand measures of wine, and twenty thousand measures of oil.

¹¹And Hiram king of Tyre sent a letter to Solomon, saying: Because the Lord hath loved his people, therefore he hath made thee king over them.

¹²And he added, saying: Blessed be the Lord the God of Israel, who made heaven and earth, who hath given to king David a wise and knowing son, endued with understanding and prudence, to build a house to the Lord, and a palace for himself.

¹³I therefore have sent thee my father Hiram, a wise and most skilful man,

¹⁴The son of a woman of the daughters of Dan, whose father was a Tyrian, who knoweth how to work in gold, and in silver, in brass, and in iron, and in marble, and in timber, in purple also, and violet, and silk and scarlet: and who knoweth to grave all sort of graving, and to devise ingeniously all that there may be need of in the work with thy artificers, and with the artificers of my lord David thy father.

¹⁵The wheat therefore, and the barley and the oil, and the wine, which thou, my lord, hast promised, send to thy servants.

¹⁶And we will cut down as many trees out of Libanus, as thou shalt want, and will convey them in floats by sea to Joppe: and it will be thy part to bring them thence to Jerusalem.

¹⁷And Solomon numbered all the proselytes in the land of Israel, after the numbering which David his father had made, and they were found a hundred and fifty-three thousand and six hundred.

¹⁸And he set seventy thousand of them to carry burdens on their shoulders, and eighty thousand to hew stones in the mountains: and three thousand and six hundred to be overseers of the work of the people.

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