1 Kings 8-10

I Kings 8

¹Then Solomon assembled the elders of Israel, and all the heads of the tribes, the princes of the fathers’ houses of the children of Israel, unto king Solomon in Jerusalem, to bring up the ark of the covenant of the LORD out of the city of David, which is Zion.

²And all the men of Israel assembled themselves unto king Solomon at the feast, in the month Ethanim, which is the seventh month.

³And all the elders of Israel came, and the priests took up the ark.

⁴And they brought up the ark of the LORD, and the tent of meeting, and all the holy vessels that were in the Tent; even these did the priests and the Levites bring up.

⁵And king Solomon and all the congregation of Israel, that were assembled unto him, were with him before the ark, sacrificing sheep and oxen, that could not be told nor numbered for multitude.

⁶And the priests brought in the ark of the covenant of the LORD unto its place, into the oracle of the house, to the most holy place, even under the wings of the cherubim.

⁷For the cherubim spread forth their wings over the place of the ark, and the cherubim covered the ark and the staves thereof above.

⁸And the staves were so long that the ends of the staves were seen from the holy place before the oracle; but they were not seen without: and there they are, unto this day.

⁹There was nothing in the ark save the two tables of stone which Moses put there at Horeb, when the LORD made a covenant with the children of Israel, when they came out of the land of Egypt.

¹⁰And it came to pass, when the priests were come out of the holy place, that the cloud filled the house of the LORD,

¹¹so that the priests could not stand to minister by reason of the cloud: for the glory of the LORD filled the house of the LORD.

¹²Then spake Solomon, The LORD hath said that he would dwell in the thick darkness.

¹³I have surely built thee an house of habitation, a place for thee to dwell in for ever.

¹⁴And the king turned his face about, and blessed all the congregation of Israel: and all the congregation of Israel stood.

¹⁵And he said, Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel, which spake with his mouth unto David my father, and hath with his hand fulfilled it, saying,

¹⁶Since the day that I brought forth my people Israel out of Egypt, I chose no city out of all the tribes of Israel to build an house, that my name might be there; but I chose David to be over my people Israel.

¹⁷Now it was in the heart of David my father to build an house for the name of the LORD, the God of Israel.

¹⁸But the LORD said unto David my father, Whereas it was in thine heart to build an house for my name, thou didst well that it was in thine heart:

¹⁹nevertheless thou shalt not build the house; but thy son that shall come forth out of thy loins, he shall build the house for my name.

²⁰And the LORD hath established his word that he spake; for I am risen up in the room 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.

²¹And there have I set a place for the ark, wherein is the covenant of the LORD, which he made with our fathers, when he brought them out of the land of Egypt.

²²And Solomon stood before the altar of the LORD in the presence of all the congregation of Israel, and spread forth his hands toward heaven:

²³and he said, O LORD, the God of Israel, there is no God like thee, in heaven above, or on earth beneath; who keepest covenant and mercy with thy servants, that walk before thee with all their heart:

²⁴who hast kept with thy servant David my father that which thou didst promise him: yea, thou spakest with thy mouth, and hast fulfilled it with thine hand, as it is this day.

²⁵Now therefore, O LORD, the God of Israel, keep with thy servant David my father that which thou hast promised him, saying, There shall not fail thee a man in my sight to sit on the throne of Israel; if only thy children take heed to their way to walk before me as thou hast walked before me.

²⁶Now therefore, O God of Israel, let thy word, I pray thee, be verified, which thou spakest unto thy servant David my father.

²⁷But will God in very deed dwell on the earth? behold, heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain thee; how much less this house that I have builded!

²⁸Yet have thou respect unto the prayer of thy servant, and to his supplication, O LORD my God, to hearken unto the cry and to the prayer which thy servant prayeth before thee this day:

²⁹that thine eyes may be open toward this house night and day, even toward the place whereof thou hast said, My name shall be there: to hearken unto the prayer which thy servant shall pray toward this place.

³⁰And hearken thou to the supplication of thy servant, and of thy people Israel, when they shall pray toward this place: yea, hear thou in heaven thy dwelling place; and when thou hearest, forgive.

³¹If a man sin against his neighbour, and an oath be laid upon him to cause him to swear, and he come and swear before thine altar in this house:

³²then hear thou in heaven, and do, and judge thy servants, condemning the wicked, to bring his way upon his own head; and justifying the righteous, to give him according to his righteousness.

³³When thy people Israel be smitten down before the enemy, because they have sinned against thee; if they turn again to thee, and confess thy name, and pray and make supplication unto thee in this house:

³⁴then hear thou in heaven, and forgive the sin of thy people Israel, and bring them again unto the land which thou gavest unto their fathers;

³⁵When heaven is shut up, and there is no rain, because they have sinned against thee; if they pray toward this place, and confess thy name, and turn from their sin, when thou dost afflict them:

³⁶then hear thou in heaven, and forgive the sin of thy servants, and of thy people Israel, when thou teachest them the good way wherein they should walk; and send rain upon thy land, which thou hast given to thy people for an inheritance.

³⁷If there be in the land famine, if there be pestilence, if there be blasting or mildew, locust or caterpiller; if their enemy besiege them in the land of their cities; whatsoever plague, whatsoever sickness there be;

³⁸what prayer and supplication soever be made by any man, or by all thy people Israel, which shall know every man the plague of his own heart, and spread forth his hands toward this house:

³⁹then hear thou in heaven thy dwelling place, and forgive, and do, and render unto every man according to all his ways, whose heart thou knowest; (for thou, even thou only, knowest the hearts of all the children of men;)

⁴⁰that they may fear thee all the days that they live in the land which thou gavest unto our fathers.

⁴¹Moreover concerning the stranger, that is not of thy people Israel, when he shall come out of a far country for thy name’s sake;

⁴²(for they shall hear of thy great name, and of thy mighty hand, and of thy stretched out arm;) when he shall come and pray toward this house;

⁴³hear thou in heaven thy dwelling place, and do according to all that the stranger calleth to thee for; that all the peoples of the earth may know thy name, to fear thee, as doth thy people Israel, and that they may know that this house which I have built is called by thy name.

⁴⁴If thy people go out to battle against their enemy, by whatsoever way thou shalt send them, and they pray unto the LORD toward the city which thou hast chosen, and toward the house which I have built for thy name:

⁴⁵then hear thou in heaven their prayer and their supplication, and maintain their cause.

⁴⁶If they sin against thee, (for there is no man that sinneth not,) and thou be angry with them, and deliver them to the enemy, so that they carry them away captive unto the land of the enemy, far off or near;

⁴⁷yet if they shall bethink themselves in the land whither they are carried captive, and turn again, and make supplication unto thee in the land of them that carried them captive, saying, We have sinned, and have done perversely, we have dealt wickedly;

⁴⁸if they return unto thee with all their heart and with all their soul in the land of their enemies, which carried them captive, and pray unto thee toward their land, which thou gavest unto their fathers, the city which thou hast chosen, and the house which I have built for thy name:

⁴⁹then hear thou their prayer and their supplication in heaven thy dwelling place, and maintain their cause;

⁵⁰and forgive thy people which have sinned against thee, and all their transgressions wherein they have transgressed against thee; and give them compassion before those who carried them captive, that they may have compassion on them:

⁵¹For they be thy people, and thine inheritance which thou broughtest forth out of Egypt, from the midst of the furnace of iron:

⁵²that thine eyes may be open unto the supplication of thy servant, and unto the supplication of thy people Israel, to hearken unto them whensoever they cry unto thee.

⁵³For thou didst separate them from among all the peoples of the earth, to be thine inheritance, as thou spakest by the hand of Moses thy servant, when thou broughtest our fathers out of Egypt, O Lord GOD.

⁵⁴And it was so, that when Solomon had made an end of praying all this prayer and supplication unto the LORD, he arose from before the altar of the LORD, from kneeling on his knees with his hands spread forth toward heaven.

⁵⁵And he stood, and blessed all the congregation of Israel with a loud voice, saying,

⁵⁶Blessed be the LORD, that hath given rest unto his people Israel, according to all that he promised: there hath not failed one word of all his good promise, which he promised by the hand of Moses his servant.

⁵⁷The LORD our God be with us, as he was with our fathers: let him not leave us, nor forsake us:

⁵⁸that he may incline our hearts unto him, to walk in all his ways, and to keep his commandments, and his statutes, and his judgments, which he commanded our fathers.

⁵⁹And let these my words, wherewith I have made supplication before the LORD, be nigh unto the LORD our God day and night, that he maintain the cause of his servant, and the cause of his people Israel, as every day shall require:

⁶⁰that all the peoples of the earth may know that the LORD, he is God; there is none else.

⁶¹Let your heart therefore be perfect with the LORD our God, to walk in his statutes, and to keep his commandments, as at this day.

⁶²And the king, and all Israel with him, offered sacrifice before the LORD.

⁶³And Solomon offered for the sacrifice of peace offerings, which he offered unto the LORD, two and twenty thousand oxen, and an hundred and twenty thousand sheep. So the king and all the children of Israel dedicated the house of the LORD.

⁶⁴The same day did the king hallow the middle of the court that was before the house of the LORD: for there he offered the burnt offering, and the meal offering, and the fat of the peace offerings: because the brasen altar that was before the LORD was too little to receive the burnt offering, and the meal offering, and the fat of the peace offerings.

⁶⁵So Solomon held the feast at that time, and all Israel with him, a great congregation, from the entering in of Hamath unto the brook of Egypt, before the LORD our God, seven days and seven days, even fourteen days.

⁶⁶On the eighth day he sent the people away, and they blessed the king, and went unto their tents joyful and glad of heart for all the goodness that the LORD had shewed unto David his servant, and to Israel his people.

I Kings 9

¹And it came to pass when Solomon had finished the building of the house of the LORD, and the king’s house, and all Solomon’s desire which he was pleased to do,

²that the LORD appeared to Solomon the second time, as he had appeared unto him at Gibeon.

³And the LORD said unto him, I have heard thy prayer and thy supplication, that thou hast made before me: I have hallowed this house, which thou hast built, to put my name there for ever; and mine eyes and mine heart shall be there perpetually.

⁴And as for thee, if thou wilt walk before me, as David thy father walked, in integrity of heart, and in uprightness, to do according to all that I have commanded thee, and wilt keep my statutes and my judgments;

⁵then I will establish the throne of thy kingdom over Israel for ever; according as I promised to David thy father, saying, There shall not fail thee a man upon the throne of Israel.

⁶But if ye shall turn away from following me, ye or your children and not keep my commandments and my statutes which I have set before you, but shall go and serve other gods, and worship them:

⁷then will I cut off Israel out of the land which I have given them; and this house, which I have hallowed for my name, will I cast out of my sight; and Israel shall be a proverb and a byword among all peoples:

⁸And though this house be so high, yet shall every one that passeth by be astonished, and shall hiss; and they shall say, Why hath the LORD done thus unto this land, and to this house?

⁹and they shall answer, Because they forsook the LORD their God, which brought forth their fathers out of the land of Egypt, and laid hold on other gods, and worshipped them, and served them: therefore hath the LORD brought all this evil upon them.

¹⁰And it came to pass at the end of twenty years, wherein Solomon had built the two houses, the house of the LORD and the king’s house,

¹¹(now Hiram the king of Tyre had furnished Solomon with cedar trees and fir trees, and with gold, according to all his desire,) that then king Solomon gave Hiram twenty cities in the land of Galilee.

¹²And Hiram came out from Tyre to see the cities which Solomon had given him; and they pleased him not.

¹³And he said, What cities are these which thou hast given me, my brother? And he called them the land of Cabul, unto this day.

¹⁴And Hiram sent to the king sixscore talents of gold.

¹⁵And this is the reason of the levy which king Solomon raised; for to build the house of the LORD, and his own house, and Millo, and the wall of Jerusalem, and Hazor, and Megiddo, and Gezer.

¹⁶Pharaoh king of Egypt had gone up, and taken Gezer, and burnt it with fire, and slain the Canaanites that dwelt in the city, and given it for a portion unto his daughter, Solomon’s wife.

¹⁷Solomon built Gezer, and Beth-horon the nether,

¹⁸and Baalath, and Tamar in the wilderness, in the land,

¹⁹and all the store cities that Solomon had, and the cities for his chariots, and the cities for his horsemen, and that which Solomon desired to build for his pleasure in Jerusalem, and in Lebanon, and in all the land of his dominion.

²⁰As for all the people that were left of the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, which were not of the children of Israel;

²¹their children that were left after them in the land, whom the children of Israel were not able utterly to destroy, of them did Solomon raise a levy of bondservants, unto this day.

²²But of the children of Israel did Solomon make no bondservants: but they were the men of war, and his servants, and his princes, and his captains, and rulers of his chariots and of his horsemen.

²³These were the chief officers that were over Solomon’s work, five hundred and fifty, which bare rule over the people that wrought in the work.

²⁴But Pharaoh’s daughter came up out of the city of David unto her house which Solomon had built for her: then did he build Millo.

²⁵And three times in a year did Solomon offer burnt offerings and peace offerings upon the altar which he built unto the LORD, burning incense therewith, upon the altar that was before the LORD. So he finished the house.

²⁶And king Solomon made a navy of ships in Ezion-geber, which is beside Eloth, on the shore of the Red Sea, in the land of Edom.

²⁷And Hiram sent in the navy his servants, shipmen that had knowledge of the sea, with the servants of Solomon.

²⁸And they came to Ophir, and fetched from thence gold, four hundred and twenty talents, and brought it to king Solomon.

I Kings 10

¹And when the queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon concerning the name of the LORD, she came to prove him with hard questions.

²And she came to Jerusalem with a very great train, with camels that bare spices, and very much gold, and precious stones: and when she was come to Solomon, she communed with him of all that was in her heart.

³And Solomon told her all her questions: there was not any thing hid from the king which he told her not.

⁴And when the queen of Sheba had seen all the wisdom of Solomon, and the house that he had built,

⁵and the meat of his table, and the sitting of his servants, and the attendance of his ministers, and their apparel, and his cupbearers, and his ascent by which he went up unto the house of the LORD; there was no more spirit in her.

⁶And she said to the king, It was a true report that I heard in mine own land of thine acts, and of thy wisdom.

⁷Howbeit I believed not the words, until I came, and mine eyes had seen it: and, behold, the half was not told me: thy wisdom and prosperity exceedeth the fame which I heard.

⁸Happy are thy men, happy are these thy servants, which stand continually before thee, and that hear thy wisdom.

⁹Blessed be the LORD thy God, which delighted in thee, to set thee on the throne of Israel: because the LORD loved Israel for ever, therefore made he thee king, to do judgment and justice.

¹⁰And she gave the king an hundred and twenty talents of gold, and of spices very great store, and precious stones: there came no more such abundance of spices as these which the queen of Sheba gave to king Solomon.

¹¹And the navy also of Hiram, that brought gold from Ophir, brought in from Ophir great plenty of almug trees and precious stones.

¹²And the king made of the almug trees pillars for the house of the LORD, and for the king’s house, harps also and psalteries for the singers: there came no such almug trees, nor were seen, unto this day.

¹³And king Solomon gave to the queen of Sheba all her desire, whatsoever she asked, beside that which Solomon gave her of his royal bounty. So she turned, and went to her own land, she and her servants.

¹⁴Now the weight of gold that came to Solomon in one year was six hundred threescore and six talents of gold,

¹⁵beside that which the chapmen brought, and the traffic of the merchants, and of all the kings of the mingled people, and of the governors of the country.

¹⁶And king Solomon made two hundred targets of beaten gold: six hundred shekels of gold went to one target.

¹⁷And he made three hundred shields of beaten gold; three pounds of gold went to one shield: and the king put them in the house of the forest of Lebanon;

¹⁸Moreover the king made a great throne of ivory, and overlaid it with the finest gold.

¹⁹There were six steps to the throne, and the top of the throne was round behind: and there were stays on either side by the place of the seat, and two lions standing beside the stays.

²⁰And twelve lions stood there on the one side and on the other upon the six steps: there was not the like made in any kingdom.

²¹And all king Solomon’s drinking vessels were of gold, and all the vessels of the house of the forest of Lebanon were of pure gold: none were of silver; it was nothing accounted of in the days of Solomon.

²²For the king had at sea a navy of Tarshish with the navy of Hiram: once every three years came the navy of Tarshish, bringing gold, and silver, ivory, and apes, and peacocks.

²³So king Solomon exceeded all the kings of the earth in riches and in wisdom.

²⁴And all the earth sought the presence of Solomon, to hear his wisdom, which God had put in his heart.

²⁵And they brought every man his present, vessels of silver, and vessels of gold, and raiment, and armour, and spices, horses, and mules, a rate year by year.

²⁶And Solomon gathered together chariots and horsemen: and he had a thousand and four hundred chariots, and twelve thousand horsemen, which he bestowed in the chariot cities, and with the king at Jerusalem.

²⁷And the king made silver to be in Jerusalem as stones, and cedars made he to be as the sycomore trees that are in the lowland, for abundance.

²⁸And the horses which Solomon had were brought out of Egypt; and the king’s merchants received them in droves, each drove at a price.

²⁹And a chariot came up and went out of Egypt for six hundred shekels of silver, and an horse for an hundred and fifty: and so for all the kings of the Hittites, and for the kings of Syria, did they bring them out by their means.