2 Chronicles 7–9

God Answers with Fire from Heaven

7And when Solomon finished praying, then fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices, and the glory of Yahweh filled the house. ²And the priests were not able to go into the house of Yahweh, for the glory of Yahweh had filled the house. ³When all the Israelites^a saw the fire come down and the glory of Yahweh upon the house, they knelt down with their faces to the ground on the pavement and worshiped and gave thanks to Yahweh, for he is good, for his loyal love is everlasting.

The Temple Dedication

⁴Then the king and all the people were offering a sacrifice before Yahweh. ⁵And King Solomon offered a sacrifice of twenty-two thousand cattle and one hundred and twenty thousand sheep. So the king and all the people dedicated the house of God. ⁶And the priests stood at their posts with the Levites, with the instruments of the song of Yahweh that King David had made to give thanks to Yahweh—for his loyal love is everlasting—whenever David offered praise by their hand. Now the priests sounded trumpets standing opposite them, and all Israel stood.

⁷And Solomon consecrated the middle of the courtyard that was before the house of Yahweh, for there he had made the burnt offerings and the fat of the fellowship offerings, for the bronze altar that Solomon had made was not able to hold the burnt offerings, cereal offerings, and the fat.

⁸And Solomon held^b a feast at that time of seven days. And all Israel was with him, a very great assembly, from Lebo-Hamath to the river of Egypt. ⁹And on the eighth day they made a solemn assembly, for they held^c the dedication of the altar seven days and the feast seven days. ¹⁰And on the twenty-third day of the seventh month he sent the people away to their tents rejoicing and festive of heart on account of the goodness that Yahweh had done for David, Solomon, and Israel his people. ¹¹And Solomon finished the house of Yahweh and the house of the king. And all that came into the heart of Solomon to do with respect to the house of Yahweh and his own house he accomplished.

God’s Charge to Solomon

¹²Then Yahweh appeared to Solomon at night and said to him, “I have heard your prayer and have chosen this place for myself as a house of sacrifice. ¹³When I hold back the heavens so that there is not rain, and when I command the locust to devour the earth, and if I send disease among my people, ¹⁴then if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and will pray and will seek my face and will turn from their evil ways, then I myself shall hear from the heavens and will forgive their sins and heal their land. ¹⁵Now my eyes will be open and my ears attentive to the prayer of this place. ¹⁶And now I have chosen and consecrated this house for my name to be there forever. My eyes and my heart will be there for all time.^{d 17}Now as for you, if you will walk before me as David your father walked and do according to all that I have commanded you and will keep my ordinances and judgments, ¹⁸then I will establish the throne of your kingdom as I promised^e to David your father, saying, ‘A man shall not be cut off for you from ruling over Israel.’

¹⁹“But if you turn yourselves away and forsake my ordinances and my commandments which I have given before you all and will go and serve other gods and bow down to them, ²⁰then I will uproot them from upon my land that I have given to them, and this house that I have consecrated for my name I will send away from before my face, and I will make it a proverb and a taunt among all the nations. ²¹And as for this house, which was exalted, all who pass by it will be appalled and will say, ‘Why has Yahweh done thus to this land and to this house?’ ²²Then they will say, ‘Because they forsook Yahweh, the God of their ancestors,^f who brought them out from the land of Egypt, and they laid hold of other gods and worshiped them and served them. Therefore he has brought upon them all this evil.’ ”

Solomon’s Accomplishments and Deeds

8And it happened that at the end of twenty years in which Solomon had built the house of Yahweh and his own house, ²Solomon also built the cities that Huram^a had given to him, and he settled the Israelites^b in them. ³And Solomon went to Hamath-Zobah and laid siege upon it. ⁴And he built Tadmor in the desert, and he built all the storage cities in Hamath. ⁵He also built Upper Beth-Horon and Lower Beth-Horon, fortified cities with walls, gates, and bars; ⁶Baalath and all the storage cities that belonged to Solomon; all the cities for chariots^c and cities for horses; and any desire of Solomon that he desired to build in Jerusalem, in Lebanon, and in all the land of his dominion. ⁷All the people who remained from the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites who were not from Israel, ⁸from the descendants^d who were left over after them in the land, whom the Israelites had not destroyed, Solomon conscripted them as forced labor until this day. ⁹But from the Israelites^e Solomon did not give as servants for his work, but they were men of war, his commanders of his officers, and commanders of his chariots^f and his horses. ¹⁰And these were the commanders of the garrisons that belonged to King Solomon, two hundred and fifty who exercised authority over the people.

¹¹And Solomon brought up the daughter of Pharaoh from the city of David to the house that he had built for her, for he said, “My wife shall not dwell in the house of David, king of Israel, for those places to which the ark of Yahweh has come are holy. ¹²Then Solomon offered burnt offerings to Yahweh on the altar of Yahweh that he had built before the portico, ¹³as was the daily requirement,^g to offer up according to the commandments of Moses for Sabbaths, new moon festivals, and the three annual^h feasts: the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the Feast of Weeks, and the Feast of Booths. ¹⁴And in accord with the ordinance of David his father he appointed working groups of priests for their service, Levites for their responsibilities for praise and cultic service before the priests according to the daily requirement,ⁱ and the gatekeepers in their working groups, gate by gate. For thus David the man of God had commanded. ¹⁵And they did not turn aside from the commandment of the king concerning the priests and the Levites concerning anything, and concerning the treasury rooms. ¹⁶And Solomon accomplished all the work from the day the foundation stone was laid for the house of Yahweh until its completion, and the house of Yahweh was finished. ¹⁷Then Solomon went to Ezion-Geber, and to Elath, on the edge of the sea in the land of Edom. ¹⁸And Huram^j sent to him, by the hand of his servants, ships and servants knowledgeable of the sea. And they went with the servants of Solomon to Ophir, and from there they collected four hundred and fifty talents of gold and brought it to King Solomon.

Solomon and the Queen of Sheba

9Now the queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon, and she came to Jerusalem to test Solomon with hard questions, with much wealth and camels, bearing spices and much gold and precious stones. And she came to Solomon and told him all that was on her mind.^{a 2}And Solomon answered all her questions.^b Not a word was hidden from Solomon that he did not answer for her. ³When the queen of Sheba saw the wisdom of Solomon and the house he had built, ⁴and the food of his table, and the position of his officers, the duty of his servants and their clothing, his cupbearers and their clothing, and his burnt offerings that he offered at the house of Yahweh, there was no longer any breath^c in her. ⁵And she said to the king, “The word which I heard in my land concerning your words and your wisdom is true, ⁶but I did not believe their words until I came and saw with my own eyes. And behold, half the greatness of your wisdom was not reported to me; you surpass the rumors that I had heard. ⁷Blessed are your men, and blessed are these your servants who stand before you regularly and hear your wisdom! ⁸Blessed be Yahweh your God who took delight in you, to put you on his throne as king for Yahweh your God! Because your God loved Israel, he established him forever and has put you over them as king to do justice and righteousness!” ⁹And she gave to the king one hundred and twenty talents of gold and a very great amount of spices and precious stones. And there were no spices such as those that the queen of Sheba gave to King Solomon.

¹⁰Moreover the servants of Hiram and the servants of Solomon who brought gold from Ophir brought algum wood and precious stones. ¹¹And the king made steps for the house of Yahweh and the house of the king, and lyres and harps for the singers from the algum wood. And there was not seen anything like them before in the land of Judah. ¹²Now King Solomon gave to the queen of Sheba every desired thing she asked, besides what she had brought to the king. Then she turned and went to her land, she and her servants.

Solomon’s Great Wealth

¹³And it happened that the weight of the gold that came to Solomon in one year was six hundred and sixty-six talents of gold, ¹⁴besides that which traders and merchants brought, and all the kings of Arabia and the governors of the land brought gold and silver to Solomon. ¹⁵And King Solomon made two hundred shields of beaten gold; six hundred shekels of beaten gold went into each shield. ¹⁶And he made three hundred small shields of beaten gold; three hundred shekels went into each small shield. And the king put them in the House of the Forest of Lebanon. ¹⁷And the king made a large ivory throne and overlaid it with pure gold. ¹⁸And the throne had six steps, and a footstool of gold was attached to the throne. And there were armrests on each side.^d And by the seat^e were two lions standing beside the armrests. ¹⁹And twelve lions were standing there on each of the six steps on each end.^f And there was nothing like it…