2 Chronicles 1-6

II Chronicles 1

¹Solomon the son of David was firmly established in his kingdom, and the LORD his God was with him, and made him exceedingly great.

²Solomon spoke to all Israel, to the captains of thousands and of hundreds, to the judges, and to every prince in all Israel, the heads of the fathers’ households.

³Then Solomon, and all the assembly with him, went to the high place that was at Gibeon; for God’s Tent of Meeting was there, which the LORD’s servant Moses had made in the wilderness.

⁴But David had brought God’s ark up from Kiriath Jearim to the place that David had prepared for it; for he had pitched a tent for it at Jerusalem.

⁵Moreover the bronze altar that Bezalel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, had made was there before the LORD’s tabernacle; and Solomon and the assembly were seeking counsel there.

⁶Solomon went up there to the bronze altar before the LORD, which was at the Tent of Meeting, and offered one thousand burnt offerings on it.

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

⁸Solomon said to God, “You have shown great loving kindness to David my father, and have made me king in his place.

⁹Now, LORD God, let your promise to David my father be established; for you have made me king over a people like the dust of the earth in multitude.

¹⁰Now give me wisdom and knowledge, that I may go out and come in before this people; for who can judge this great people of yours?”

¹¹God said to Solomon, “Because this was in your heart, and you have not asked riches, wealth, honor, or the life of those who hate you, nor yet have you asked for long life; but have asked for wisdom and knowledge for yourself, that you may judge my people, over whom I have made you king,

¹²therefore wisdom and knowledge is granted to you. I will give you riches, wealth, and honor, such as none of the kings have had who have been before you, and none after you will have.”

¹³So Solomon came from the high place that was at Gibeon, from before the Tent of Meeting, to Jerusalem; and he reigned over Israel.

¹⁴Solomon gathered chariots and horsemen. He had one thousand four hundred chariots and twelve thousand horsemen that he placed in the chariot cities, and with the king at Jerusalem.

¹⁵The king made silver and gold to be as common as stones in Jerusalem, and he made cedars to be as common as the sycamore trees that are in the lowland.

¹⁶The horses which Solomon had were brought out of Egypt and from Kue. The king’s merchants purchased them from Kue.

¹⁷They imported from Egypt then exported a chariot for six hundred pieces of silver and a horse for one hundred fifty. They also exported them to the Hittite kings and the Syrian kings.

II Chronicles 2

¹Now Solomon decided to build a house for the LORD’s name, and a house for his kingdom.

²Solomon counted out seventy thousand men to bear burdens, eighty thousand men who were stone cutters in the mountains, and three thousand six hundred to oversee them.

³Solomon sent to Huram the king of Tyre, saying, “As you dealt with David my father, and sent him cedars to build him a house in which to dwell, so deal with me.

⁴Behold, I am about to build a house for the name of the LORD my God, to dedicate it to him, to burn before him incense of sweet spices, for the continual show bread, and for the burnt offerings morning and evening, on the Sabbaths, on the new moons, and on the set feasts of the LORD our God. This is an ordinance forever to Israel.

⁵“The house which I am building will be great, for our God is greater than all gods.

⁶But who is able to build him a house, since heaven and the heaven of heavens can’t contain him? Who am I then, that I should build him a house, except just to burn incense before him?

⁷“Now therefore send me a man skillful to work in gold, in silver, in bronze, in iron, and in purple, crimson, and blue, and who knows how to engrave engravings, to be with the skillful men who are with me in Judah and in Jerusalem, whom David my father provided.

⁸“Send me also cedar trees, cypress trees, and algum trees out of Lebanon, for I know that your servants know how to cut timber in Lebanon. Behold, my servants will be with your servants,

⁹even to prepare timber in abundance for me; for the house which I am about to build will be great and wonderful.

¹⁰Behold, I will give to your servants, the cutters who cut timber, twenty thousand cors of beaten wheat, twenty thousand baths of barley, twenty thousand baths of wine, and twenty thousand baths of oil.”

¹¹Then Huram the king of Tyre answered in writing, which he sent to Solomon, “Because the LORD loves his people, he has made you king over them.”

¹²Huram continued, “Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel, who made heaven and earth, who has given to David the king a wise son, endowed with discretion and understanding, who would build a house for the LORD and a house for his kingdom.

¹³Now I have sent a skillful man, endowed with understanding, Huram-abi,

¹⁴the son of a woman of the daughters of Dan; and his father was a man of Tyre. He is skillful to work in gold, in silver, in bronze, in iron, in stone, in timber, in purple, in blue, in fine linen, and in crimson, also to engrave any kind of engraving and to devise any device, that there may be a place appointed to him with your skillful men, and with the skillful men of my lord David your father.

¹⁵“Now therefore, the wheat, the barley, the oil, and the wine which my lord has spoken of, let him send to his servants;

¹⁶and we will cut wood out of Lebanon, as much as you need. We will bring it to you in rafts by sea to Joppa; then you shall carry it up to Jerusalem.”

¹⁷Solomon counted all the foreigners who were in the land of Israel, after the census with which David his father had counted them; and they found one hundred fifty-three thousand six hundred.

¹⁸He set seventy thousand of them to bear burdens, eighty thousand who were stone cutters in the mountains, and three thousand six hundred overseers to assign the people their work.

II Chronicles 3

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.

II Chronicles 4

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.

II Chronicles 5

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.

II Chronicles 6

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.”