Holman Christian Standard Bible (105 page)

Solomon's Blessing

54
 When Solomon finished praying this entire prayer and petition to the
Lord
, he got up from kneeling before the altar of the
Lord
, with his hands spread out toward heaven, 
55
 and he stood and blessed the whole congregation of Israel with a loud voice:
56
 “May the
Lord
be praised! He has given rest to His people Israel according to all He has said. Not one of all the good promises He made through His servant Moses has failed. 
57
 May the
Lord
our God be with us as He was with our ancestors. May He not abandon us or leave us 
58
 so that He causes us to be devoted to Him, to walk in all His ways, and to keep His commands, statutes, and ordinances, which He commanded our ancestors.
59
 May my words I have made my petition with before the
Lord
be near the
Lord
our God day and night, so that He may uphold His servant's cause and the cause of His people Israel, as each day requires, 
60
 and so that all the peoples of the earth may know that Yahweh is God. There is no other! 
61
 Let your heart be completely devoted to the
Lord
our God to walk in His statutes and to keep His commands, as it is today.”

62
 The king and all Israel with him were offering sacrifices in the
Lord
's presence.
63
 Solomon offered a sacrifice of
•fellowship
offerings to the
Lord
: 22,000 cattle and 120,000 sheep. In this manner the king and all the Israelites dedicated the
Lord
's temple. 

64
 On the same day, the king consecrated the middle of the courtyard that was in front of the
Lord
's temple because that was where he offered the
•burnt
offering, the
•grain
offering, and the fat of the fellowship offerings since the bronze altar before the
Lord
was too small to accommodate the burnt offerings, the grain offerings, and the fat of the fellowship offerings. 

65
 Solomon and all Israel with him — a great assembly, from the entrance of Hamath to the Brook of Egypt  — observed the festival at that time in the presence of the
Lord
our God, seven days, and seven more days — 14 days.
66
 On the fifteenth day he sent the people away. So they blessed the king and went home to their tents rejoicing and with joyful hearts for all the goodness that the
Lord
had done for His servant David and for His people Israel. 

1 Kings

The
Lord
's Response

9
When Solomon finished building the temple of the
Lord
, the royal palace, and all that Solomon desired to do, 
2
 the
Lord
appeared to Solomon a second time just as He had appeared to him at Gibeon. 
3
 The
Lord
said to him:

King Hiram's 20 Towns

10
 At the end of 20 years during which Solomon had built the two houses, the
Lord
's temple and the royal palace  —
11
 Hiram king of Tyre having supplied him with cedar and cypress logs and gold for his every wish  — King Solomon gave Hiram 20 towns in the land of Galilee.
12
 So Hiram went out from Tyre to look over the towns that Solomon had given him, but he was not pleased with them.
13
 So he said, “What are these towns you've given me, my brother? ” So he called them the Land of Cabul, as they are still called today. 
14
 Now Hiram had sent the king 9,000 pounds of gold. 

Solomon's Forced Labor

15
 This is the account of the forced labor that King Solomon had imposed to build the
Lord
's temple, his own palace, the supporting terraces, the wall of Jerusalem, and Hazor, Megiddo, and Gezer. 
16
 Pharaoh king of Egypt had attacked and captured Gezer. He then burned it down, killed the Canaanites who lived in the city, and gave it as a dowry to his daughter, Solomon's wife. 
17
 Then Solomon rebuilt Gezer, Lower Beth-horon, 
18
 Baalath, Tamar in the Wilderness of Judah,
19
 all the storage cities that belonged to Solomon, the chariot cities, the cavalry cities, and whatever Solomon desired to build in Jerusalem, Lebanon, or anywhere else in the land of his dominion.

20
 As for all the peoples who remained of the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites, who were not Israelites —
21
 their descendants who remained in the land after them, those whom the Israelites were unable to
•completely
destroy  — Solomon imposed forced labor on them; it is this way until today. 
22
 But Solomon did not consign the Israelites to slavery; they were soldiers, his servants, his commanders, his captains, and commanders of his chariots and his cavalry.
23
 These were the deputies who were over Solomon's work: 550 who ruled over the people doing the work. 

Solomon's Other Activities

24
 Pharaoh's daughter moved from the city of David to the house that Solomon had built for her; he then built the terraces. 

25
 Three times a year Solomon offered
•burnt
offerings and
•fellowship
offerings on the altar he had built for the
Lord
, and he burned incense with them in the
Lord
's presence. So he completed the temple. 

26
 King Solomon put together a fleet of ships at Ezion-geber, which is near Eloth on the shore of the
•Red
Sea in the land of Edom.
27
 With the fleet, Hiram sent his servants, experienced seamen, along with Solomon's servants.
28
 They went to Ophir and acquired gold there — 16 tons  — and delivered it to Solomon. 

1 Kings

The Queen of Sheba

10
The queen of Sheba heard about Solomon's fame connected with the name of
•Yahweh
and came to test him with difficult questions. 
2
 She came to Jerusalem with a very large entourage, with camels bearing spices, gold in great abundance, and precious stones. She came to Solomon and spoke to him about everything that was on her mind.
3
 So Solomon answered all her questions; nothing was too difficult for the king to explain to her.
4
 When the queen of Sheba observed all of Solomon's wisdom, the palace he had built, 
5
 the food at his table, his servants' residence, his attendants' service and their attire, his cupbearers, and the
•burnt
offerings he offered at the
Lord
's temple, it took her breath away.

6
 She said to the king, “The report I heard in my own country about your words and about your wisdom is true.
7
 But I didn't believe the reports until I came and saw with my own eyes. Indeed, I was not even told half. Your wisdom and prosperity far exceed the report I heard. 
8
 How happy are your men. How happy are these servants of yours, who always stand in your presence hearing your wisdom. 
9
 May Yahweh your God be praised! He delighted in you and put you on the throne of Israel, because of the
Lord
's eternal love for Israel. He has made you king to carry out justice and righteousness.” 

10
 Then she gave the king four and a half tons of gold, a great quantity of spices, and precious stones. Never again did such a quantity of spices arrive as those the queen of Sheba gave to King Solomon.

11
 In addition, Hiram's fleet that carried gold from Ophir brought from Ophir a large quantity of almug wood and precious stones. 
12
 The king made the almug wood into steps for the
Lord
's temple and the king's palace and into lyres and harps for the singers. Never before had such almug wood come, and the like has not been seen again even to this very day.

13
 King Solomon gave the queen of Sheba her every desire — whatever she asked — besides what he had given her out of his royal bounty. Then she, along with her servants, returned to her own country. 

Solomon's Wealth

14
 The weight of gold that came to Solomon annually was 25 tons, 
15
 besides what came from merchants, traders' merchandise, and all the Arabian kings and governors of the land. 

16
 King Solomon made 200 large shields of hammered gold; 15 pounds of gold went into each shield.
17
 He made 300 small shields of hammered gold; about four pounds of gold went into each shield. The king put them in the House of the Forest of Lebanon. 

18
 The king also made a large ivory throne and overlaid it with fine gold.
19
 The throne had six steps; there was a rounded top at the back of the throne, armrests on either side of the seat, and two lions standing beside the armrests.
20
 Twelve lions were standing there on the six steps, one at each end. Nothing like it had ever been made in any other kingdom.

21
 All of King Solomon's drinking cups were gold, and all the utensils of the House of the Forest of Lebanon were pure gold. There was no silver, since it was considered as nothing in Solomon's time,
22
 for the king had ships of Tarshish at sea with Hiram's fleet, and once every three years the ships of Tarshish would arrive bearing gold, silver, ivory, apes, and peacocks.

23
 King Solomon surpassed all the kings of the world in riches and in wisdom. 
24
 The whole world wanted an audience with Solomon to hear the wisdom that God had put in his heart. 
25
 Every man would bring his annual tribute: items of silver and gold, clothing, weapons, spices, and horses and mules. 

26
 Solomon accumulated 1,400 chariots and 12,000 horsemen and stationed them in the chariot cities and with the king in Jerusalem. 
27
 The king made silver as common in Jerusalem as stones, and he made cedar as abundant as sycamore in the Judean foothills.
28
 Solomon's horses were imported from Egypt and Kue. The king's traders bought them from Kue at the going price. 
29
 A chariot was imported from Egypt for 15 pounds of silver, and a horse for about four pounds. In the same way, they exported them to all the kings of the Hittites and to the kings of Aram through their agents. 

1 Kings

Solomon's Unfaithfulness to God

11
King Solomon loved many foreign women in addition to Pharaoh's daughter: Moabite, Ammonite, Edomite, Sidonian, and Hittite women 
2
 from the nations that the
Lord
had told the Israelites about, “Do not intermarry with them, and they must not intermarry with you, because they will turn you away from Me to their gods.” Solomon was deeply attached to these women and loved them.
3
 He had 700 wives who were princesses and 300 concubines, and they turned his heart away from the
Lord
. 

4
 When Solomon was old, his wives seduced him to follow other gods. He was not completely devoted to
•Yahweh
his God, as his father David had been. 
5
 Solomon followed
•Ashtoreth
, the goddess of the Sidonians, and
•Milcom
, the detestable idol of the Ammonites. 
6
 Solomon did what was evil in the
Lord
's sight, and unlike his father David, he did not completely follow Yahweh.

7
 At that time, Solomon built a
•high
place for Chemosh, the detestable idol of Moab, and for Milcom, the detestable idol of the Ammonites, on the hill across from Jerusalem. 
8
 He did the same for all his foreign wives, who were burning incense and offering sacrifices to their gods.

9
 The
Lord
was angry with Solomon, because his heart had turned away from Yahweh, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice. 
10
 He had commanded him about this, so that he would not follow other gods, but Solomon did not do what the
Lord
had commanded.