King Solomon (Chronicles)

Chapter 1

¹Solomon son of David took firm hold of his kingdom, for the Lord his God was with him and made him exceedingly great. ²Solomon summoned all Israel—the officers of thousands and of hundreds, and the judges, and all the chiefs of all Israel, the heads of the clans. ³Then Solomon, and all the assemblage with him, went to the shrine at Gibeon, for the Tent of Meeting, which Moses the servant of the Lord had made in the wilderness, was there. (⁴But the Ark of God David had brought up from Kiriath-jearim to the place which David had prepared for it; for he had pitched a tent for it in Jerusalem.) ⁵The bronze altar, which Bezalel son of Uri son of Hur had made, was also there before the Tabernacle of the Lord, and Solomon and the assemblage resorted to it. ⁶There Solomon ascended the bronze altar before the Lord, which was at the Tent of Meeting, and on it sacrificed a thousand burnt offerings.

⁷That night, God appeared to Solomon and said to him, “Ask, what shall I grant you?” ⁸Solomon said to God, “You dealt most graciously with my father David, and now You have made me king in his stead. ⁹Now, O Lord God, let Your promise to my father David be fulfilled; for You have made me king over a people as numerous as the dust of the earth. ¹⁰Grant me then the wisdom and the knowledge to lead this people, for who can govern Your great people?” ¹¹God said to Solomon, “Because you want this, and have not asked for wealth, property, and glory, nor have you asked for the life of your enemy, or long life for yourself, but you have asked for the wisdom and the knowledge to be able to govern My people over whom I have made you king, ¹²wisdom and knowledge are granted to you, and I grant you also wealth, property, and glory, the like of which no king before you has had, nor shall any after you have.” ¹³From the shrine at Gibeon, from the Tent of Meeting, Solomon went to Jerusalem and reigned over Israel.

¹⁴Solomon assembled chariots and horsemen; he had 1,400 chariots and 12,000 horses that he stationed in the chariot towns and with the king in Jerusalem. ¹⁵The king made silver and gold as plentiful in Jerusalem as stones, and cedars as plentiful as the sycamores in the Shephelah. ¹⁶Solomon’s horses were imported from Egypt and from Que; the king’s traders would buy them from Que at the market price. ¹⁷A chariot imported from Egypt cost 600 shekels of silver, and a horse 150. These in turn were exported by them^a to all the kings of the Hittites and the kings of the Arameans.

Chapter 2

¹Solomon mustered 70,000 basket carriers and 80,000 quarriers in the hills, with 3,600 men supervising them. ²Solomon sent this message to King Huram of Tyre, “In view of what you did for my father David in sending him cedars to build a palace for his residence— ³see, I intend to build a House for the name of the Lord my God; I will dedicate it to Him for making incense offering of sweet spices in His honor, for the regular rows of bread, and for the morning and evening burnt offerings on sabbaths, new moons, and festivals, as is Israel’s eternal duty. ⁴The House that I intend to build will be great, inasmuch as our God is greater than all gods. ⁵Who indeed is capable of building a House for Him! Even the heavens to their uttermost reaches cannot contain Him, and who am I that I should build Him a House—except as a place for making burnt offerings to Him? ⁶Now send me a craftsman to work in gold, silver, bronze, and iron, and in purple, crimson, and blue yarn, and who knows how to engrave, alongside the craftsmen I have here in Judah and in Jerusalem, whom my father David provided. ⁷Send me cedars, cypress, and algum wood from the Lebanon, for I know that your servants are skilled at cutting the trees of Lebanon. My servants will work with yours ⁸to provide me with a great stock of timber; for the House that I intend to build will be singularly great. ⁹I have allocated for your servants, the wood-cutters who fell the trees, 20,000 kor of crushed wheat and 20,000 kor of barley, 20,000 bath of wine and 20,000 bath of oil.”

¹⁰Huram, king of Tyre, sent Solomon this written message in reply, “Because the Lord loved His people, He made you king over them.”

¹¹Huram continued, “Blessed is the Lord, God of Israel, who made the heavens and the earth, who gave King David a wise son, endowed with intelligence and understanding, to build a House for the Lord and a royal palace for himself. ¹²Now I am sending you a skillful and intelligent man, my master Huram, ¹³the son of a Danite woman, his father a Tyrian. He is skilled at working in gold, silver, bronze, iron, precious stones, and wood; in purple, blue, and crimson yarn and in fine linen; and at engraving and designing whatever will be required of him, alongside your craftsmen and the craftsmen of my lord, your father David. ¹⁴As to the wheat, barley, oil, and wine which my lord mentioned, let him send them to his servants. ¹⁵We undertake to cut down as many trees of Lebanon as you need, and deliver them to you as rafts by sea to Jaffa; you will transport them to Jerusalem.”

¹⁶Solomon took a census of all the aliens who were in the land of Israel, besides the census taken by his father David, and they were found to be 153,600. ¹⁷He made 70,000 of them basket carriers, and 80,000 of them quarriers, with 3,600 supervisors to see that the people worked.