God’s Charge to Solomon

12 Then 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. 13 When 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, 14 then 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. 15 Now my eyes will be open and my ears attentive to the prayer of this place. 16 And 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, 18 then I will establish the throne of your kingdom as I promisede 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, 20 then 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. 21 And 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?’ 22 Then 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

8 And it happened that at the end of twenty years in which Solomon had built the house of Yahweh and his own house, 2 Solomon also built the cities that Hurama had given to him, and he settled the ⌊Israelites⌋b in them. 3 And Solomon went to Hamath-Zobah and laid siege upon it. 4 And he built Tadmor in the desert, and he built all the storage cities in Hamath. 5 He also built Upper Beth-Horon and Lower Beth-Horon, fortified cities with walls, gates, and bars; 6 Baalath and all the storage cities that belonged to Solomon; all the cities for chariotsc 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. 7 All the people who remained from the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites who were not from Israel, 8 from the descendantsd who were left over after them in the land, whom the Israelites had not destroyed, Solomon conscripted them as forced labor until this day. 9 But 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 chariotsf and his horses. 10 And these were the commanders of the garrisons that belonged to King Solomon, two hundred and fifty who exercised authority over the people.

11 And 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. 12 Then Solomon offered burnt offerings to Yahweh on the altar of Yahweh that he had built before the portico, 13 ⌊as 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. 14 And 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. 15 And they did not turn aside from the commandment of the king concerning the priests and the Levites concerning anything, and concerning the treasury rooms. 16 And 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. 17 Then Solomon went to Ezion-Geber, and to Elath, on the edge of the sea in the land of Edom. 18 And Huramj 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.