II Chronicles 6-10

II Chronicles 6

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

²But I have built thee an house of habitation, and a place for thee to dwell in for ever.

³And the king turned his face, and blessed all the congregation of Israel: and all the congregation of Israel stood.

⁴And he said, Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel, which spake with his mouth unto David my father, and hath with his hands fulfilled it, saying,

⁵Since the day that I brought forth my people out of the land of Egypt, I chose no city out of all the tribes of Israel to build an house in, that my name might be there; neither chose I any man to be prince over my people Israel:

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

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

⁸But 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:

⁹nevertheless 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.

¹⁰And the LORD hath performed 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.

¹¹And there have I set the ark, wherein is the covenant of the LORD, which he made with the children of Israel.

¹²And he stood before the altar of the LORD in the presence of all the congregation of Israel, and spread forth his hands:

¹³(for Solomon had made a brasen scaffold, of five cubits long, and five cubits broad, and three cubits high, and had set it in the midst of the court; and upon it he stood, and kneeled down upon his knees before all the congregation of Israel, and spread forth his hands toward heaven:)

¹⁴and he said, O LORD, the God of Israel, there is no God like thee, in the heaven, or in the earth; who keepest covenant and mercy with thy servants, that walk before thee with all their heart:

¹⁵who 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.

¹⁶Now 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 in my law as thou hast walked before me.

¹⁷Now therefore, O LORD, the God of Israel, let thy word be verified, which thou spakest unto thy servant David.

¹⁸But will God in very deed dwell with men on the earth? behold, heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain thee; how much less this house which I have builded!

¹⁹Yet 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:

²⁰that thine eyes may be open toward this house day and night, even toward the place whereof thou hast said that thou wouldest put thy name there; to hearken unto the prayer which thy servant shall pray toward this place.

²¹And hearken thou to the supplications of thy servant, and of thy people Israel, when they shall pray toward this place: yea, hear thou from thy dwelling place, even from heaven; and when thou hearest, forgive.

²²If 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:

²³then hear thou from heaven, and do, and judge thy servants, requiting the wicked, to bring his way upon his own head; and justifying the righteous, to give him according to his righteousness.

²⁴And if thy people Israel be smitten down before the enemy, because they have sinned against thee; and shall turn again and confess thy name, and pray and make supplication before thee in this house:

²⁵then hear thou from heaven, and forgive the sin of thy people Israel, and bring them again unto the land which thou gavest to them and to their fathers.

²⁶When the 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:

²⁷then 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.

²⁸If there be in the land famine, if there be pestilence, if there be blasting or mildew, locust or caterpiller; if their enemies besiege them in the land of their cities; whatsoever plague or whatsoever sickness there be;

²⁹what prayer and supplication soever be made by any man or by all thy people Israel, which shall know every man his own plague and his own sorrow, and shall spread forth his hands toward this house:

³⁰then hear thou from heaven thy dwelling place, and forgive, and render unto every man according to all his ways, whose heart thou knowest; (for thou, even thou only, knowest the hearts of the children of men;)

³¹that they may fear thee, to walk in thy ways, so long as they live in the land which thou gavest unto our fathers.

³²Moreover concerning the stranger, that is not of thy people Israel, when he shall come from a far country for thy great name’s sake, and thy mighty hand, and thy stretched out arm; when they shall come and pay toward this house:

³³then hear thou from heaven, even from 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, and fear thee, as doth thy people Israel, and that they may know that this house which I have built, is called by thy name.

³⁴If thy people go out to battle against their enemies, by whatsoever way thou shalt send them, and they pray unto thee toward this city which thou hast chosen, and the house which I have built for thy name:

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

³⁶If 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 a land far off or near;

³⁷yet 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 their captivity, saying, We have sinned, we have done perversely, and have dealt wickedly;

³⁸if they return unto thee with all their heart and with all their soul in the land of their captivity, whither they have carried them captive, and pray toward their land, which thou gavest unto their fathers, and the city which thou hast chosen, and toward the house which I have built for thy name:

³⁹then hear thou from heaven, even from thy dwelling place, their prayer and their supplications, and maintain their cause; and forgive thy people which have sinned against thee.

⁴⁰Now, O my God, let, I beseech thee, thine eyes be open, and let thine ears be attent, unto the prayer that is made in this place.

⁴¹Now therefore arise, O LORD God, into thy resting place, thou, and the ark of thy strength: let thy priests, O LORD God, be clothed with salvation, and let thy saints rejoice in goodness.

⁴²O LORD God, turn not away the face of thine anointed: remember the mercies of David thy servant.

II Chronicles 7

¹Now when Solomon had made an end of praying, the fire came down from heaven, and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices; and the glory of the LORD filled the house.

²And the priests could not enter into the house of the LORD, because the glory of the LORD filled the LORD’S house.

³And all the children of Israel looked on, when the fire came down, and the glory of the LORD was upon the house; and they bowed themselves with their faces to the ground upon the pavement, and worshipped, and gave thanks unto the LORD, saying, For he is good; for his mercy endureth for ever.

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

⁵And king Solomon offered a sacrifice of twenty and two thousand oxen, and an hundred and twenty thousand sheep. So the king and all the people dedicated the house of God.

⁶And the priests stood, according to their offices; the Levites also with instruments of music of the LORD, which David the king had made to give thanks unto the LORD, for his mercy endureth for ever, when David praised by their ministry: and the priests sounded trumpets before them; and all Israel stood.

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

⁸So Solomon held the feast at that time seven days, and all Israel with him, a very great congregation, from the entering in of Hamath unto the brook of Egypt.

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

¹⁰And on the three and twentieth day of the seventh mouth he sent the people away unto their tents, joyful and glad of heart for the goodness that the LORD had shewed unto David, and to Solomon, and to Israel his people.

¹¹Thus Solomon finished the house of the LORD, and the king’s house: and all that came into Solomon’s heart to make in the house of the LORD, and in his own house, he prosperously effected.

¹²And the LORD appeared to Solomon by night, and said unto him, I have heard thy prayer, and have chosen this place to myself for an house of sacrifice.

¹³If I shut up heaven that there be no rain, or if I command the locust to devour the land, or if I send pestilence among my people;

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

¹⁵Now mine eyes shall be open, and mine ears attent, unto the prayer that is made in this place.

¹⁶For now have I chosen and hallowed this house, that my name may be there for ever: and mine eyes and mine heart shall be there perpetually.

¹⁷And as for thee, if thou wilt walk before me as David thy father walked, and do according to all that I have commanded thee, and wilt keep my statutes and my judgments;

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

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

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

²¹And this house, which is so high, every one that passeth by it shall be astonished, and shall say, Why hath the LORD done thus unto this land, and to this house?

²²And they shall answer, Because they forsook the LORD, the God of their fathers, which brought them forth out of the land of Egypt, and laid hold on other gods, and worshipped them, and served them: therefore hath he brought all this evil upon them.

II Chronicles 8

¹And it came to pass at the end of twenty years, wherein Solomon had built the house of the LORD, and his own house,

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

³And Solomon went to Hamath-zobah, and prevailed against it.

⁴And he built Tadmor in the wilderness, and all the store cities, which he built in Hamath.

⁵Also he built Beth-horon the upper, and Beth-horon the nether, fenced cities, with walls, gates, and bars;

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

⁷As for all the people that were left of the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites, which were not of Israel;

⁸of their children that were left after them in the land, whom the children of Israel consumed not, of them did Solomon raise a levy of bondservants, unto this day.

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

¹⁰And these were the chief officers of king Solomon, even two hundred and fifty, that bare rule over the people,

¹¹And Solomon brought up the daughter of Pharaoh out of the city of David unto 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 are holy, whereunto the ark of the LORD hath come.

¹²Then Solomon offered burnt offerings unto the LORD on the altar of the LORD, 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, and on the new moons, and on the set feasts, three times in the year, even in the feast of unleavened bread, and in the feast of weeks, and in the feast of tabernacles.

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

¹⁵And they departed not from the commandment of the king unto the priests and Levites concerning any matter, or concerning the treasures.

¹⁶Now all the work of Solomon was prepared unto the day of the foundation of the house of the LORD, and until it was finished. So the house of the LORD was perfected.

¹⁷Then went Solomon to Ezion-geber, and to Eloth, on the sea shore in the land of Edom.

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

II Chronicles 9

¹And when the queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon, she came to prove Solomon with hard questions at Jerusalem, with a very great train, and camels that bare spices, and gold in abundance, and precious stones: and when she was come to Solomon, she communed with him of all that was in her heart.

²And Solomon told her all her questions: and there was not any thing hid from Solomon which he told her not.

³And when the queen of Sheba had seen the wisdom of Solomon, and the house that he had built,

⁴and the meat of his table, and the sitting of his servants; and the attendance of his ministers, and their apparel; his cupbearers also, and their apparel; and his ascent by which he went up unto the house of the LORD; there was no more spirit in her.

⁵And she said to the king, It was a true report that I heard in mine own land of thine acts, and of thy wisdom.

⁶Howbeit I believed not their words, until I came, and mine eyes had seen it: and, behold, the half of the greatness of thy wisdom was not told me: thou exceedest the fame that I heard.

⁷Happy are thy men, and happy are these thy servants, which stand continually before thee, and hear thy wisdom.

⁸Blessed be the LORD thy God, which delighted in thee, to set thee on his throne, to be king for the LORD thy God: because thy God loved Israel, to establish them for ever, therefore made he thee king over them, to do judgment and justice.

⁹And she gave the king an hundred and twenty talents of gold, and spices in great abundance, and precious stones: neither was there any such spice as the queen of Sheba gave to king Solomon.

¹⁰And the servants also of Huram, and the servants of Solomon, which brought gold from Ophir; brought algum trees and precious stones.

¹¹And the king made of the algum trees terraces for the house of the LORD, and for the king’s house, and harps and psalteries for the singers; and there were none such seen before in the land of Judah.

¹²And king Solomon gave to the queen of Sheba all her desire, whatsoever she asked, beside that which she had brought unto 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 and threescore and six talents of gold;

¹⁴beside that which the chapmen and merchants brought: and all the kings of Arabia and the governors of the country brought gold and silver to Solomon.

¹⁵And king Solomon made two hundred targets of beaten gold: six hundred shekels of beaten gold went to one target.

¹⁶And he made three hundred shields of beaten gold; three hundred shekels of gold went to one shield: and 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.

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

¹⁹And 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.

²⁰And 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: silver was nothing accounted of in the days of Solomon.

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

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

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

²⁴And they brought very man his present, vessels of silver, and vessels of gold, and raiment, armour, and spices, horses, and mules, a rate year by year.

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

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

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 they brought horses for Solomon out of Egypt, and out of all lands.

²⁹Now the rest of the acts of Solomon, first and last, are they not 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?

³⁰And Solomon reigned in Jerusalem over all Israel forty years.

³¹And Solomon slept with his fathers, and he was buried in the city of David his father: and Rehoboam his son reigned in his stead.

II Chronicles 10

¹And Rehoboam went to Shechem: for all Israel were come to Shechem to make him king.

²And it came to pass, when Jeroboam the son of Nebat heard of it, (for he was in Egypt, whither he had fled from the presence of king Solomon,) that Jeroboam returned out of Egypt.

³And they sent and called him; and Jeroboam and all Israel came, and they spake to Rehoboam, saying,

⁴Thy father made our yoke grievous: now therefore make thou the grievous service of thy father, and his heavy yoke which he put upon us, lighter, and we will serve thee.

⁵And he said unto them, Come again unto me after three days. And the people departed.

⁶And king Rehoboam took counsel with the old men, that had stood before Solomon his father while he yet lived, saying, What counsel give ye me to return answer to this people?

⁷And they spake unto him, saying, If thou be kind to this people, and please them, and speak good words to them, then they will be thy servants forever.

⁸But he forsook the counsel of the old men which they had given him, and took counsel with the young men that were grown up with him, that stood before him.

⁹And he said unto them, What counsel give ye, that we may return answer to this people, who have spoken to me, saying, Make the yoke that thy father did put upon us lighter?

¹⁰And the young men that were grown up with him spake unto him, saying, Thus shalt thou say unto the people that spake unto thee, saying, Thy father made our yoke heavy, but make thou it lighter unto us; thus shalt thou say unto them, My little finger is thicker than my father’s loins.

¹¹And now whereas my father did lade you with a heavy yoke, I will add to your yoke: my father chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions.

¹²So Jeroboam and all the people came to Rehoboam the third day, as the king bade, saying, Come to me again the third day.

¹³And the king answered them roughly; and king Rehoboam forsook the counsel of the old men,

¹⁴and spake to them after the counsel of the young men, saying, My father made your yoke heavy, but I will add thereto: my father chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions.

¹⁵So the king hearkened not unto the people; for it was brought about of God, that the LORD might establish his word, which he spake by the hand of Ahijah the Shilonite to Jeroboam the son of Nebat.

¹⁶And when all Israel saw that the king hearkened not unto them, the people answered the king, saying, What portion have we in David? neither have we inheritance in the son of Jesse: every man to your tents, O Israel: now see to thine own house, David. So all Israel departed unto their tents.

¹⁷But as for the children of Israel that dwelt in the cities of Judah, Rehoboam reigned over them.

¹⁸Then king Rehoboam sent Hadoram, who was over the levy; and the children of Israel stoned him with stones, that he died. And king Rehoboam made speed to get him up to his chariot, to flee to Jerusalem.

¹⁹So Israel rebelled against the house of David, unto this day.