Building Something That Lasts

¹Then Solomon began to build the LORD’s house at Jerusalem on Mount Moriah, where the LORD appeared to David his father, which he prepared in the place that David had appointed, on the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite.

²He began to build in the second day of the second month, in the fourth year of his reign.

³Now these are the foundations which Solomon laid for the building of God’s house: the length by cubits after the first measure was sixty cubits, and the width twenty cubits.

⁴The porch that was in front, its length, across the width of the house, was twenty cubits, and the height one hundred twenty; and he overlaid it within with pure gold.

⁵He made the larger room with a ceiling of cypress wood, which he overlaid with fine gold, and ornamented it with palm trees and chains.

⁶He decorated the house with precious stones for beauty. The gold was gold from Parvaim.

⁷He also overlaid the house, the beams, the thresholds, its walls, and its doors with gold, and engraved cherubim on the walls.

⁸He made the most holy place. Its length, according to the width of the house, was twenty cubits, and its width twenty cubits; and he overlaid it with fine gold, amounting to six hundred talents.

⁹The weight of the nails was fifty shekels of gold. He overlaid the upper rooms with gold.

¹⁰In the most holy place he made two cherubim by carving, and they overlaid them with gold.

¹¹The wings of the cherubim were twenty cubits long: the wing of the one was five cubits, reaching to the wall of the house; and the other wing was five cubits, reaching to the wing of the other cherub.

¹²The wing of the other cherub was five cubits, reaching to the wall of the house; and the other wing was five cubits, joining to the wing of the other cherub.

¹³The wings of these cherubim spread themselves out twenty cubits. They stood on their feet, and their faces were toward the house.

¹⁴He made the veil of blue, purple, crimson, and fine linen, and ornamented it with cherubim.

¹⁵Also he made before the house two pillars thirty-five cubits high, and the capital that was on the top of each of them was five cubits.

¹⁶He made chains in the inner sanctuary, and put them on the tops of the pillars; and he made one hundred pomegranates, and put them on the chains.

¹⁷He set up the pillars before the temple, one on the right hand and the other on the left; and called the name of that on the right hand Jachin, and the name of that on the left Boaz.

¹Then he made an altar of bronze, twenty cubits long, twenty cubits wide, and ten cubits high.

²Also he made the molten sea of ten cubits from brim to brim. It was round, five cubits high, and thirty cubits in circumference.

³Under it was the likeness of oxen, which encircled it, for ten cubits, encircling the sea. The oxen were in two rows, cast when it was cast.

⁴It stood on twelve oxen, three looking toward the north, three looking toward the west, three looking toward the south, and three looking toward the east; and the sea was set on them above, and all their hindquarters were inward.

⁵It was a handbreadth thick. Its brim was made like the brim of a cup, like the flower of a lily. It received and held three thousand baths.

⁶He also made ten basins, and put five on the right hand and five on the left, to wash in them. The things that belonged to the burnt offering were washed in them, but the sea was for the priests to wash in.

⁷He made the ten lamp stands of gold according to the ordinance concerning them; and he set them in the temple, five on the right hand and five on the left.

⁸He made also ten tables, and placed them in the temple, five on the right side and five on the left. He made one hundred basins of gold.

⁹Furthermore he made the court of the priests, the great court, and doors for the court, and overlaid their doors with bronze.

¹⁰He set the sea on the right side of the house eastward, toward the south.

¹¹Huram made the pots, the shovels, and the basins. So Huram finished doing the work that he did for King Solomon in God’s house:

¹²the two pillars, the bowls, the two capitals which were on the top of the pillars, the two networks to cover the two bowls of the capitals that were on the top of the pillars,

¹³and the four hundred pomegranates for the two networks—two rows of pomegranates for each network, to cover the two bowls of the capitals that were on the pillars.

¹⁴He also made the bases, and he made the basins on the bases—

¹⁵one sea, and the twelve oxen under it.

¹⁶Huram-abi also made the pots, the shovels, the forks, and all its vessels for King Solomon, for the LORD’s house, of bright bronze.

¹⁷The king cast them in the plain of the Jordan, in the clay ground between Succoth and Zeredah.

¹⁸Thus Solomon made all these vessels in great abundance, so that the weight of the bronze could not be determined.

¹⁹Solomon made all the vessels that were in God’s house: the golden altar, the tables with the show bread on them,

²⁰and the lamp stands with their lamps to burn according to the ordinance before the inner sanctuary, of pure gold;

²¹and the flowers, the lamps, and the tongs of gold that was purest gold;

²²and the snuffers, the basins, the spoons, and the fire pans of pure gold. As for the entry of the house, its inner doors for the most holy place and the doors of the main hall of the temple were of gold.

¹Thus all the work that Solomon did for the LORD’s house was finished. Solomon brought in the things that David his father had dedicated, even the silver, the gold, and all the vessels, and put them in the treasuries of God’s house.

²Then Solomon assembled the elders of Israel and all the heads of the tribes, the princes of the fathers’ households of the children of Israel, to Jerusalem, to bring up the ark of the LORD’s covenant out of David’s city, which is Zion.

³So all the men of Israel assembled themselves to the king at the feast, which was in the seventh month.

⁴All the elders of Israel came. The Levites took up the ark.

⁵They brought up the ark, the Tent of Meeting, and all the holy vessels that were in the Tent. The Levitical priests brought these up.

⁶King Solomon and all the congregation of Israel who were assembled to him were before the ark, sacrificing sheep and cattle that could not be counted or numbered for multitude.

⁷The priests brought in the ark of the LORD’s covenant to its place, into the inner sanctuary of the house, to the most holy place, even under the wings of the cherubim.

⁸For the cherubim spread out their wings over the place of the ark, and the cherubim covered the ark and its poles above.

⁹The poles were so long that the ends of the poles were seen from the ark in front of the inner sanctuary, but they were not seen outside; and it is there to this day.

¹⁰There was nothing in the ark except the two tablets which Moses put there at Horeb, when the LORD made a covenant with the children of Israel, when they came out of Egypt.

¹¹When the priests had come out of the holy place (for all the priests who were present had sanctified themselves, and didn’t keep their divisions;

¹²also the Levites who were the singers, all of them, even Asaph, Heman, Jeduthun, and their sons and their brothers, arrayed in fine linen, with cymbals and stringed instruments and harps, stood at the east end of the altar, and with them one hundred twenty priests sounding with trumpets);

¹³when the trumpeters and singers were as one, to make one sound to be heard in praising and thanking the LORD; and when they lifted up their voice with the trumpets and cymbals and instruments of music, and praised the LORD, saying, “For he is good, for his loving kindness endures forever!” then the house was filled with a cloud, even the LORD’s house,

¹⁴so that the priests could not stand to minister by reason of the cloud; for the LORD’s glory filled God’s house.

¹Then Solomon said, “The LORD has said that he would dwell in the thick darkness.

²But I have built you a house and home, a place for you to dwell in forever.”

³The king turned his face, and blessed all the assembly of Israel; and all the assembly of Israel stood.

⁴He said, “Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel, who spoke with his mouth to David my father, and has with his hands fulfilled it, saying,

⁵‘Since the day that I brought my people out of the land of Egypt, I chose no city out of all the tribes of Israel to build a house in, that my name might be there, and I chose no man to be prince over my people Israel;

⁶but now I have chosen Jerusalem, that my name might be there; and I have chosen David to be over my people Israel.’

⁷Now it was in the heart of David my father to build a house for the name of the LORD, the God of Israel.

⁸But the LORD said to David my father, ‘Whereas it was in your heart to build a house for my name, you did well that it was in your heart;

⁹nevertheless you shall not build the house, but your son who will come out of your body, he shall build the house for my name.’

¹⁰“The LORD has performed his word that he spoke; for I have risen up in the place of David my father, and sit on the throne of Israel, as the LORD promised, and have built the house for the name of the LORD, the God of Israel.

¹¹There I have set the ark, in which is the LORD’s covenant, which he made with the children of Israel.”

¹²He stood before the LORD’s altar in the presence of all the assembly of Israel, and spread out his hands

¹³(for Solomon had made a bronze platform, five cubits long, five cubits wide, and three cubits high, and had set it in the middle of the court; and he stood on it, and knelt down on his knees before all the assembly of Israel, and spread out his hands toward heaven).

¹⁴Then he said, “LORD, the God of Israel, there is no God like you in heaven or on earth—you who keep covenant and loving kindness with your servants who walk before you with all their heart;

¹⁵who have kept with your servant David my father that which you promised him. Yes, you spoke with your mouth, and have fulfilled it with your hand, as it is today.

¹⁶“Now therefore, LORD, the God of Israel, keep with your servant David my father that which you have promised him, saying, ‘There shall not fail you a man in my sight to sit on the throne of Israel, if only your children take heed to their way, to walk in my law as you have walked before me.’

¹⁷Now therefore, LORD, the God of Israel, let your word be verified, which you spoke to your servant David.

¹⁸“But will God indeed dwell with men on the earth? Behold, heaven and the heaven of heavens can’t contain you; how much less this house which I have built!

¹⁹Yet have respect for the prayer of your servant and to his supplication, LORD my God, to listen to the cry and to the prayer which your servant prays before you;

²⁰that your eyes may be open toward this house day and night, even toward the place where you have said that you would put your name, to listen to the prayer which your servant will pray toward this place.

²¹Listen to the petitions of your servant and of your people Israel, when they pray toward this place. Yes, hear from your dwelling place, even from heaven; and when you hear, forgive.

²²“If a man sins against his neighbor, and an oath is laid on him to cause him to swear, and he comes and swears before your altar in this house,

²³then hear from heaven, act, and judge your servants, bringing retribution to the wicked, to bring his way on his own head; and justifying the righteous, to give him according to his righteousness.

²⁴“If your people Israel are struck down before the enemy because they have sinned against you, and they turn again and confess your name, and pray and make supplication before you in this house,

²⁵then hear from heaven, and forgive the sin of your people Israel, and bring them again to the land which you gave to them and to their fathers.

²⁶“When the sky is shut up and there is no rain because they have sinned against you, if they pray toward this place and confess your name, and turn from their sin when you afflict them,

²⁷then hear in heaven, and forgive the sin of your servants, your people Israel, when you teach them the good way in which they should walk, and send rain on your land, which you have given to your people for an inheritance.

²⁸“If there is famine in the land, if there is pestilence, if there is blight or mildew, locust or caterpillar; if their enemies besiege them in the land of their cities; whatever plague or whatever sickness there is—

²⁹whatever prayer and supplication is made by any man, or by all your people Israel, who will each know his own plague and his own sorrow, and shall spread out his hands toward this house,

³⁰then hear from heaven your dwelling place and forgive, and give to every man according to all his ways, whose heart you know (for you, even you only, know the hearts of the children of men),

³¹that they may fear you, to walk in your ways as long as they live in the land which you gave to our fathers.

³²“Moreover, concerning the foreigner, who is not of your people Israel, when he comes from a far country for your great name’s sake and your mighty hand and your outstretched arm, when they come and pray toward this house,

³³then hear from heaven, even from your dwelling place, and do according to all that the foreigner calls to you for; that all the peoples of the earth may know your name and fear you, as do your people Israel, and that they may know that this house which I have built is called by your name.

³⁴“If your people go out to battle against their enemies, by whatever way you send them, and they pray to you toward this city which you have chosen, and the house which I have built for your name;

³⁵then hear from heaven their prayer and their supplication, and maintain their cause.

³⁶“If they sin against you (for there is no man who doesn’t sin), and you are angry with them and deliver them to the enemy, so that they carry them away captive to a land far off or near;

³⁷yet if they come to their senses in the land where they are carried captive, and turn again, and make supplication to you in the land of their captivity, saying, ‘We have sinned, we have done perversely, and have dealt wickedly;’

³⁸if they return to you with all their heart and with all their soul in the land of their captivity, where they have been taken captive, and pray toward their land which you gave to their fathers, and the city which you have chosen, and toward the house which I have built for your name;

³⁹then hear from heaven, even from your dwelling place, their prayer and their petitions, and maintain their cause, and forgive your people who have sinned against you.

⁴⁰“Now, my God, let, I beg you, your eyes be open, and let your ears be attentive to the prayer that is made in this place.

⁴¹“Now therefore arise, LORD God, into your resting place, you, and the ark of your strength. Let your priests, LORD God, be clothed with salvation, and let your saints rejoice in goodness.

⁴²“LORD God, don’t turn away the face of your anointed. Remember your loving kindnesses to David your servant.”

¹Now when Solomon had finished praying, fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices; and the LORD’s glory filled the house.

²The priests could not enter into the LORD’s house, because the LORD’s glory filled the LORD’s house.

³All the children of Israel looked on, when the fire came down, and the LORD’s glory was on the house. They bowed themselves with their faces to the ground on the pavement, worshiped, and gave thanks to the LORD, saying, “For he is good, for his loving kindness endures forever!”

⁴Then the king and all the people offered sacrifices before the LORD.

⁵King Solomon offered a sacrifice of twenty-two thousand head of cattle and a hundred twenty thousand sheep. So the king and all the people dedicated God’s house.

⁶The priests stood, according to their positions; the Levites also with instruments of music of the LORD, which David the king had made to give thanks to the LORD, when David praised by their ministry, saying “For his loving kindness endures forever.” The priests sounded trumpets before them; and all Israel stood.

⁷Moreover Solomon made the middle of the court that was before the LORD’s house holy; for there he offered the burnt offerings and the fat of the peace offerings, because the bronze altar which Solomon had made was not able to receive the burnt offering, the meal offering, and the fat.

⁸So Solomon held the feast at that time for seven days, and all Israel with him, a very great assembly, from the entrance of Hamath to the brook of Egypt.

⁹On the eighth day, they held a solemn assembly; for they kept the dedication of the altar seven days, and the feast seven days.

¹⁰On the twenty-third day of the seventh month, he sent the people away to their tents, joyful and glad of heart for the goodness that the LORD had shown to David, to Solomon, and to Israel his people.

¹¹Thus Solomon finished the LORD’s house and the king’s house; and he successfully completed all that came into Solomon’s heart to make in the LORD’s house and in his own house.

¹²Then the LORD appeared to Solomon by night, and said to him, “I have heard your prayer, and have chosen this place for myself for a house of sacrifice.

¹³“If I shut up the sky so that there is no rain, or if I command the locust to devour the land, or if I send pestilence among my people,

¹⁴if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves, pray, seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.

¹⁵Now my eyes will be open and my ears attentive to prayer that is made in this place.

¹⁶For now I have chosen and made this house holy, that my name may be there forever; and my eyes and my heart will be there perpetually.

¹⁷“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 statutes and my ordinances,

¹⁸then I will establish the throne of your kingdom, according as I covenanted with David your father, saying, ‘There shall not fail you a man to be ruler in Israel.’

¹⁹But if you turn away and forsake my statutes and my commandments which I have set before you, and go and serve other gods and worship them,

²⁰then I will pluck them up by the roots out of my land which I have given them; and this house, which I have made holy for my name, I will cast out of my sight, and I will make it a proverb and a byword among all peoples.

²¹This house, which is so high, everyone who passes by it will be astonished and say, ‘Why has the LORD done this to this land and to this house?’

²²They shall answer, ‘Because they abandoned the LORD, the God of their fathers, who brought them out of the land of Egypt, and took other gods, worshiped them, and served them. Therefore he has brought all this evil on them.’”

¹At the end of twenty years, in which Solomon had built the LORD’s house and his own house,

²Solomon built the cities which Huram had given to Solomon, and caused the children of Israel to dwell there.

³Solomon went to Hamath Zobah, and prevailed against it.

⁴He built Tadmor in the wilderness, and all the storage cities, which he built in Hamath.

⁵Also he built Beth Horon the upper and Beth Horon the lower, fortified cities with walls, gates, and bars;

⁶and Baalath, and all the storage cities that Solomon had, and all the cities for his chariots, the cities for his horsemen, and all that Solomon desired to build for his pleasure in Jerusalem, in Lebanon, and in all the land of his dominion.

⁷As for all the people who were left of the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, who were not of Israel—

⁸of their children who were left after them in the land, whom the children of Israel didn’t consume—of them Solomon conscripted forced labor to this day.

⁹But of the children of Israel, Solomon made no servants for his work, but they were men of war, chief of his captains, and rulers of his chariots and of his horsemen.

¹⁰These were the chief officers of King Solomon, even two-hundred fifty, who ruled over the people.

¹¹Solomon brought up Pharaoh’s daughter out of David’s city 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, because the places where the LORD’s ark has come are holy.”

¹²Then Solomon offered burnt offerings to the LORD on the LORD’s altar which he had built before the porch,

¹³even as the duty of every day required, offering according to the commandment of Moses on the Sabbaths, on the new moons, and on the set feasts, three times per year, during the feast of unleavened bread, during the feast of weeks, and during the feast of booths.

¹⁴He appointed, according to the ordinance of David his father, the divisions of the priests to their service, and the Levites to their offices, to praise and to minister before the priests, as the duty of every day required, the doorkeepers also by their divisions at every gate, for David the man of God had so commanded.

¹⁵They didn’t depart from the commandment of the king to the priests and Levites concerning any matter or concerning the treasures.

¹⁶Now all the work of Solomon was accomplished from the day of the foundation of the LORD’s house until it was finished. So the LORD’s house was completed.

¹⁷Then Solomon went to Ezion Geber and to Eloth, on the seashore in the land of Edom.

¹⁸Huram sent him ships and servants who had knowledge of the sea by the hands of his servants; and they came with the servants of Solomon to Ophir, and brought from there four hundred fifty talents of gold, and brought them to King Solomon.

¹When the queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon, she came to test Solomon with hard questions at Jerusalem, with a very great caravan, including camels that bore spices, gold in abundance, and precious stones. When she had come to Solomon, she talked with him about all that was in her heart.

²Solomon answered all her questions. There wasn’t anything hidden from Solomon which he didn’t tell her.

³When the queen of Sheba had seen the wisdom of Solomon, the house that he had built,

⁴the food of his table, the seating of his servants, the attendance of his ministers, their clothing, his cup bearers and their clothing, and his ascent by which he went up to the LORD’s house, there was no more spirit in her.

⁵She said to the king, “It was a true report that I heard in my own land of your acts and of your wisdom.

⁶However I didn’t believe their words until I came, and my eyes had seen it; and behold half of the greatness of your wisdom wasn’t told me. You exceed the fame that I heard!

⁷Happy are your men, and happy are these your servants, who stand continually before you and hear your wisdom.

⁸Blessed be the LORD your God, who delighted in you and set you on his throne to be king for the LORD your God, because your God loved Israel, to establish them forever. Therefore he made you king over them, to do justice and righteousness.”

⁹She gave the king one hundred and twenty talents of gold, spices in great abundance, and precious stones. There was never before such spice as the queen of Sheba gave to King Solomon.

¹⁰The servants of Huram and the servants of Solomon, who brought gold from Ophir, also brought algum trees and precious stones.

¹¹The king used algum tree wood to make terraces for the LORD’s house and for the king’s house, and harps and stringed instruments for the singers. There were none like these seen before in the land of Judah.

¹²King Solomon gave to the queen of Sheba all her desire, whatever she asked, more than that which she had brought to the king. So she turned and went to her own land, she and her servants.

¹³Now the weight of gold that came to Solomon in one year was six hundred sixty-six talents of gold,

¹⁴in addition to that which the traders and merchants brought. All the kings of Arabia and the governors of the country brought gold and silver to Solomon.

¹⁵King Solomon made two hundred large shields of beaten gold. Six hundred shekels of beaten gold went to one large shield.

¹⁶He made three hundred shields of beaten gold. Three hundred shekels of gold went to one shield. The king put them in the House of the Forest of Lebanon.

¹⁷Moreover the king made a great throne of ivory, and overlaid it with pure gold.

¹⁸There were six steps to the throne, with a footstool of gold, which were fastened to the throne, and armrests on either side by the place of the seat, and two lions standing beside the armrests.

¹⁹Twelve lions stood there on the one side and on the other on the six steps. There was nothing like it made in any other kingdom.

²⁰All King Solomon’s drinking vessels were of gold, and all the vessels of the House of the Forest of Lebanon were of pure gold. Silver was not considered valuable in the days of Solomon.

²¹For the king had ships that went to Tarshish with Huram’s servants. Once every three years, the ships of Tarshish came bringing gold, silver, ivory, apes, and peacocks.

²²So King Solomon exceeded all the kings of the earth in riches and wisdom.

²³All the kings of the earth sought the presence of Solomon to hear his wisdom, which God had put in his heart.

²⁴They each brought tribute: vessels of silver, vessels of gold, clothing, armor, spices, horses, and mules every year.

²⁵Solomon had four thousand stalls for horses and chariots, and twelve thousand horsemen that he stationed in the chariot cities and with the king at Jerusalem.

²⁶He ruled over all the kings from the River even to the land of the Philistines, and to the border of Egypt.

²⁷The king made silver as common in Jerusalem as stones, and he made cedars to be as abundant as the sycamore trees that are in the lowland.

²⁸They brought horses for Solomon out of Egypt and out of all lands.

²⁹Now the rest of the acts of Solomon, first and last, aren’t they written in the history of Nathan the prophet, and in the prophecy of Ahijah the Shilonite, and in the visions of Iddo the seer concerning Jeroboam the son of Nebat?

³⁰Solomon reigned in Jerusalem over all Israel forty years.

³¹Solomon slept with his fathers, and he was buried in his father David’s city; and Rehoboam his son reigned in his place.