Solomon Asks for Wisdom

1:2–13pp—1Ki 3:4–15
1:14–17pp—1Ki 10:26–29; 2Ch 9:25–28

1 Solomon son of David establisheda himself firmly over his kingdom, for the Lord his God was withb him and made him exceedingly great.c

2 Then Solomon spoke to all Israeld—to the commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds, to the judges and to all the leaders in Israel, the heads of families—3 and Solomon and the whole assembly went to the high place at Gibeon,e for God’s tent of meetingf was there, which Mosesg the Lord’s servant had made in the wilderness. 4 Now David had brought up the arkh of God from Kiriath Jearim to the place he had prepared for it, because he had pitched a tenti for it in Jerusalem. 5 But the bronze altarj that Bezalelk son of Uri, the son of Hur, had made was in Gibeon in front of the tabernacle of the Lord; so Solomon and the assembly inquiredl of him there. 6 Solomon went up to the bronze altar before the Lord in the tent of meeting and offered a thousand burnt offerings on it.

7 That night God appearedm to Solomon and said to him, “Ask for whatever you want me to give you.”

8 Solomon answered God, “You have shown great kindness to David my father and have made men king in his place. 9 Now, Lord God, let your promiseo to my father David be confirmed, for you have made me king over a people who are as numerous as the dust of the earth.p 10 Give me wisdom and knowledge, that I may leadq this people, for who is able to govern this great people of yours?”

11 God said to Solomon, “Since this is your heart’s desire and you have not asked for wealth,r possessions or honor, nor for the death of your enemies, and since you have not asked for a long life but for wisdom and knowledge to govern my people over whom I have made you king, 12 therefore wisdom and knowledge will be given you. And I will also give you wealth, possessions and honor,s such as no king who was before you ever had and none after you will have.t”

13 Then Solomon went to Jerusalem from the high place at Gibeon, from before the tent of meeting. And he reigned over Israel.

14 Solomon accumulated chariotsu and horses; he had fourteen hundred chariots and twelve thousand horses,a which he kept in the chariot cities and also with him in Jerusalem. 15 The king made silver and goldv as common in Jerusalem as stones, and cedar as plentiful as sycamore-fig trees in the foothills. 16 Solomon’s horses were imported from Egypt and from Kueb—the royal merchants purchased them from Kue at the current price. 17 They imported a chariotw from Egypt for six hundred shekelsc of silver, and a horse for a hundred and fifty.d They also exported them to all the kings of the Hittites and of the Arameans.

Preparations for Building the Temple

2:1–18pp—1Ki 5:1–16

2 a Solomon gave orders to build a templex for the Name of the Lord and a royal palace for himself.y 2 He conscripted 70,000 men as carriers and 80,000 as stonecutters in the hills and 3,600 as foremen over them.z

3 Solomon sent this message to Hiramb a king of Tyre:

“Send me cedar logsb as you did for my father David when you sent him cedar to build a palace to live in. 4 Now I am about to build a templec for the Name of the Lord my God and to dedicate it to him for burning fragrant incensed before him, for setting out the consecrated breade regularly, and for making burnt offeringsf every morning and evening and on the Sabbaths,g at the New Moonsh and at the appointed festivals of the Lord our God. This is a lasting ordinance for Israel.

5 “The temple I am going to build will be great,i because our God is greater than all other gods.j 6 But who is able to build a temple for him, since the heavens, even the highest heavens, cannot contain him?k Who then am Il to build a temple for him, except as a place to burn sacrifices before him?

7 “Send me, therefore, a man skilled to work in gold and silver, bronze and iron, and in purple, crimson and blue yarn, and experienced in the art of engraving, to work in Judah and Jerusalem with my skilled workers,m whom my father David provided.

8 “Send me also cedar, juniper and algumc logs from Lebanon, for I know that your servants are skilled in cutting timber there. My servants will work with yours 9 to provide me with plenty of lumber, because the temple I build must be large and magnificent. 10 I will give your servants, the woodsmen who cut the timber, twenty thousand corsd of ground wheat, twenty thousand corse of barley, twenty thousand bathsf of wine and twenty thousand baths of olive oil.n”

11 Hiram king of Tyre replied by letter to Solomon:

“Because the Lord loveso his people, he has made you their king.”

12 And Hiram added:

“Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, who made heaven and earth!p He has given King David a wise son, endowed with intelligence and discernment, who will build a temple for the Lord and a palace for himself.

13 “I am sending you Huram-Abi,q a man of great skill, 14 whose mother was from Danr and whose father was from Tyre. He is traineds to work in gold and silver, bronze and iron, stone and wood, and with purple and bluet and crimson yarn and fine linen. He is experienced in all kinds of engraving and can execute any design given to him. He will work with your skilled workers and with those of my lord, David your father.

15 “Now let my lord send his servants the wheat and barley and the olive oilu and wine he promised, 16 and we will cut all the logs from Lebanon that you need and will float them as rafts by sea down to Joppa.v You can then take them up to Jerusalem.”

17 Solomon took a census of all the foreignersw residing in Israel, after the censusx his father David had taken; and they were found to be 153,600. 18 He assignedy 70,000 of them to be carriers and 80,000 to be stonecutters in the hills, with 3,600 foremen over them to keep the people working.

Solomon Builds the Temple

3:1–14pp—1Ki 6:1–29

3 Then Solomon began to buildz the temple of the Lorda in Jerusalem on Mount Moriah, where the Lord had appeared to his father David. It was on the threshing floor of Araunaha b the Jebusite, the place provided by David. 2 He began building on the second day of the second month in the fourth year of his reign.c

3 The foundation Solomon laid for building the temple of God was sixty cubits long and twenty cubits wideb d (using the cubit of the old standard). 4 The portico at the front of the temple was twenty cubitsc long across the width of the building and twentyd cubits high.

He overlaid the inside with pure gold. 5 He paneled the main hall with juniper and covered it with fine gold and decorated it with palm treee and chain designs. 6 He adorned the temple with precious stones. And the gold he used was gold of Parvaim. 7 He overlaid the ceiling beams, doorframes, walls and doors of the temple with gold, and he carved cherubimf on the walls.

8 He built the Most Holy Place,g its length corresponding to the width of the temple—twenty cubits long and twenty cubits wide. He overlaid the inside with six hundred talentse of fine gold. 9 The gold nailsh weighed fifty shekels.f He also overlaid the upper parts with gold.

10 For the Most Holy Place he made a pairi of sculptured cherubim and overlaid them with gold. 11 The total wingspan of the cherubim was twenty cubits. One wing of the first cherub was five cubitsg long and touched the temple wall, while its other wing, also five cubits long, touched the wing of the other cherub. 12 Similarly one wing of the second cherub was five cubits long and touched the other temple wall, and its other wing, also five cubits long, touched the wing of the first cherub. 13 The wings of these cherubimj extended twenty cubits. They stood on their feet, facing the main hall.h

14 He made the curtaink of blue, purple and crimson yarn and fine linen, with cherubiml worked into it.

15 For the front of the temple he made two pillars,m which together were thirty-five cubitsi long, each with a capitaln five cubits high. 16 He made interwoven chainsj o and put them on top of the pillars. He also made a hundred pomegranatesp and attached them to the chains. 17 He erected the pillars in the front of the temple, one to the south and one to the north. The one to the south he named Jakink and the one to the north Boaz.l