Category: 1 Kings

[4:1] Solomon was king of all Israel,

[4:2] and these were his high officials: – The priest: Azariah son of Zadok

[4:3] The court secretaries: Elihoreph and Ahijah, sons of Shisha – In charge of the records: Jehoshaphat son of Ahilud

[4:4] Commander of the army: Benaiah son of Jehoiada – Priests: Zadok and Abiathar

[4:5] Chief of the district governors: Azariah son of Nathan – Royal Adviser: the priest Zabud son of Nathan

[4:6] In charge of the palace servants: Ahishar – In charge of the forced labor: Adoniram son of Abda

[4:7] Solomon appointed twelve men as district governors in Israel. They were to provide food from their districts for the king and his household, each man being responsible for one month out of the year.

[4:8] The following are the names of these twelve officers and the districts they were in charge of: – Benhur: the hill country of Ephraim

[4:9] Bendeker: the cities of Makaz, Shaalbim, Beth Shemesh, Elon, and Beth Hanan

[4:10] Benhesed: the cities of Arubboth and Socoh and all the territory of Hepher

[4:11] Benabinadab, who was married to Solomon's daughter Taphath: the whole region of Dor

[4:12] Baana son of Ahilud: the cities of Taanach, Megiddo, and all the region near Beth Shan, near the town of Zarethan, south of the town of Jezreel, as far as the city of Abel Meholah and the city of Jokmeam

[4:13] Bengeber: the city of Ramoth in Gilead, and the villages in Gilead belonging to the clan of Jair, a descendant of Manasseh, and the region of Argob in Bashan, sixty large towns in all, fortified with walls and with bronze bars on the gates

[4:14] Ahinadab son of Iddo: the district of Mahanaim

[4:15] Ahimaaz, who was married to Basemath, another of Solomon's daughters: the territory of Naphtali

[4:16] Baana son of Hushai: the region of Asher and the town of Bealoth

[4:17] Jehoshaphat son of Paruah: the territory of Issachar

[4:18] Shimei son of Ela: the territory of Benjamin

[4:19] Geber son of Uri: the region of Gilead, which had been ruled by King Sihon of the Amorites and King Og of Bashan Besides these twelve, there was one governor over the whole land.

[4:20] The people of Judah and Israel were as numerous as the grains of sand on the seashore; they ate and drank, and were happy.

[4:21] Solomon's kingdom included all the nations from the Euphrates River to Philistia and the Egyptian border. They paid him taxes and were subject to him all his life.

[4:22] The supplies Solomon needed each day were 150 bushels of fine flour and 300 bushels of meal;

[4:23] 10 stall-fed cattle, 20 pasture-fed cattle, and 100 sheep, besides deer, gazelles, roebucks, and poultry.

[4:24] Solomon ruled over all the land west of the Euphrates River, from Tiphsah on the Euphrates as far west as the city of Gaza. All the kings west of the Euphrates were subject to him, and he was at peace with all the neighboring countries.

[4:25] As long as he lived, the people throughout Judah and Israel lived in safety, each family with its own grapevines and fig trees.

[4:26] Solomon had forty thousand stalls for his chariot horses and twelve thousand cavalry horses.

[4:27] His twelve governors, each one in the month assigned to him, supplied the food King Solomon needed for himself and for all who ate in the palace; they always supplied everything needed.

[4:28] Each governor also supplied his share of barley and straw, where it was needed, for the chariot horses and the work animals.

[4:29] God gave Solomon unusual wisdom and insight, and knowledge too great to be measured.

[4:30] Solomon was wiser than the wise men of the East or the wise men of Egypt.

[4:31] He was the wisest of all men: wiser than Ethan the Ezrahite, and Heman, Calcol, and Darda, the sons of Mahol, and his fame spread throughout all the neighboring countries.

[4:32] He composed three thousand proverbs and more than a thousand songs.

[4:33] He spoke of trees and plants, from the Lebanon cedars to the hyssop that grows on walls; he talked about animals, birds, reptiles, and fish.

[4:34] Kings all over the world heard of his wisdom and sent people to listen to him.

[5:1] King Hiram of Tyre had always been a friend of David's, and when he heard that Solomon had succeeded his father David as king, he sent ambassadors to him.

[5:2] Solomon sent back this message to Hiram:

[5:3] “You know that because of the constant wars my father David had to fight against the enemy countries all around him, he could not build a temple for the worship of the Lord his God until the Lord had given him victory over all his enemies.

[5:4] But now the Lord my God has given me peace on all my borders. I have no enemies, and there is no danger of attack.

[5:5] The Lord promised my father David, ‘Your son, whom I will make king after you, will build a temple for me.’ And I have now decided to build that temple for the worship of the Lord my God.

[5:6] So send your men to Lebanon to cut down cedars for me. My men will work with them, and I will pay your men whatever you decide. As you well know, my men don't know how to cut down trees as well as yours do.”

[5:7] Hiram was extremely pleased when he received Solomon's message, and he said, “Praise the Lord today for giving David such a wise son to succeed him as king of that great nation!”

[5:8] Then Hiram sent Solomon the following message: “I have received your message, and I am ready to do what you ask. I will provide the cedars and the pine trees.

[5:9] My men will bring the logs down from Lebanon to the sea and will tie them together in rafts to float them down the coast to the place you choose. There my men will untie them, and your men will take charge of them. On your part, I would like you to supply the food for my men.”

[5:10] So Hiram supplied Solomon with all the cedar and pine logs that he wanted,

[5:11] and Solomon provided Hiram with 100,000 bushels of wheat and 110,000 gallons of pure olive oil every year to feed his men.

[5:12] The Lord kept his promise and gave Solomon wisdom. There was peace between Hiram and Solomon, and they made a treaty with each other.

[5:13] King Solomon drafted 30,000 men as forced labor from all over Israel,

[5:14] and put Adoniram in charge of them. He divided them into three groups of 10,000 men, and each group spent one month in Lebanon and two months back home.

[5:15] Solomon also had 80,000 stone cutters in the hill country, with 70,000 men to carry the stones,

[5:16] and he placed 3,300 foremen in charge of them to supervise their work.

[5:17] At King Solomon's command they cut fine large stones for the foundation of the Temple.

[5:18] Solomon's and Hiram's workers and men from the city of Byblos prepared the stones and the timber to build the Temple.

[6:1] Four hundred and eighty years after the people of Israel left Egypt, during the fourth year of Solomon's reign over Israel, in the second month, the month of Ziv, Solomon began work on the Temple.

[6:2] Inside it was 90 feet long, 30 feet wide, and 45 feet high.

[6:3] The entrance room was 15 feet deep and 30 feet wide, as wide as the sanctuary itself.

[6:4] The walls of the Temple had openings in them, narrower on the outside than on the inside.

[6:5] Against the outside walls, on the sides and the back of the Temple, a three-storied annex was built, each story 7½ feet high.

[6:6] Each room in the lowest story was 7½ feet wide, in the middle story 9 feet wide, and in the top story 10½ feet wide. The Temple wall on each floor was thinner than on the floor below, so that the rooms could rest on the wall without having their beams built into it.

[6:7] The stones with which the Temple was built had been prepared at the quarry, so that there was no noise made by hammers, axes, or any other iron tools as the Temple was being built.

[6:8] The entrance to the lowest story of the annex was on the south side of the Temple, with stairs leading up to the second and third stories.

[6:9] So King Solomon finished building the Temple. He put in a ceiling made of beams and boards of cedar.

[6:10] The three-storied annex, each story 7½ feet high, was built against the outside walls of the Temple, and was joined to them by cedar beams.

[6:11] The Lord said to Solomon,

[6:12] “If you obey all my laws and commands, I will do for you what I promised your father David.

[6:13] I will live among my people Israel in this Temple that you are building, and I will never abandon them.”

[6:14] So Solomon finished building the Temple.

[6:15] The inside walls were covered with cedar panels from the floor to the ceiling, and the floor was made of pine.

[6:16] An inner room, called the Most Holy Place, was built in the rear of the Temple. It was 30 feet long and was partitioned off by cedar boards reaching from the floor to the ceiling.

[6:17] The room in front of the Most Holy Place was 60 feet long.

[6:18] The cedar panels were decorated with carvings of gourds and flowers; the whole interior was covered with cedar, so that the stones of the walls could not be seen.

[6:19] In the rear of the Temple an inner room was built, where the Lord's Covenant Box was to be placed.

[6:20] This inner room was 30 feet long, 30 feet wide, and 30 feet high, all covered with pure gold. The altar was covered with cedar panels.

[6:21] The inside of the Temple was covered with gold, and gold chains were placed across the entrance of the inner room, which was also covered with gold.

[6:22] The whole interior of the Temple was covered with gold, as well as the altar in the Most Holy Place.

[6:23] Two winged creatures were made of olive wood and placed in the Most Holy Place, each one 15 feet tall.

[6:27] They were placed side by side in the Most Holy Place, so that two of their outstretched wings touched each other in the middle of the room, and the other two wings touched the walls.

[6:28] The two winged creatures were covered with gold.

[6:29] The walls of the main room and of the inner room were all decorated with carved figures of winged creatures, palm trees, and flowers.

[6:30] Even the floor was covered with gold.

[6:31] A double door made of olive wood was set in place at the entrance of the Most Holy Place; the top of the doorway was a pointed arch.

[6:32] The doors were decorated with carved figures of winged creatures, palm trees, and flowers. The doors, the winged creatures, and the palm trees were covered with gold.

[6:33] For the entrance to the main room a rectangular doorframe of olive wood was made.

[6:34] There were two folding doors made of pine

[6:35] and decorated with carved figures of winged creatures, palm trees, and flowers, which were evenly covered with gold.

[6:36] An inner court was built in front of the Temple, enclosed with walls which had one layer of cedar beams for every three layers of stone.

[6:37] The foundation of the Temple was laid in the second month, the month of Ziv, in the fourth year of Solomon's reign.

[6:38] In the eighth month, the month of Bul, in the eleventh year of Solomon's reign, the Temple was completely finished exactly as it had been planned. It had taken Solomon seven years to build it.

[7:1] Solomon also built a palace for himself, and it took him thirteen years.

[7:4] On each of the two side walls there were three rows of windows.

[7:5] The doorways and the windows had rectangular frames, and the three rows of windows in each wall faced the opposite rows.

[7:6] The Hall of Columns was 75 feet long and 45 feet wide. It had a covered porch, supported by columns.

[7:7] The Throne Room, also called the Hall of Judgment, where Solomon decided cases, had cedar panels from the floor to the rafters.

[7:8] Solomon's own quarters, in another court behind the Hall of Judgment, were made like the other buildings. He also built the same kind of house for his wife, the daughter of the king of Egypt.

[7:9] All these buildings and the great court were made of fine stones from the foundations to the eaves. The stones were prepared at the quarry and cut to measure, with their inner and outer sides trimmed with saws.

[7:10] The foundations were made of large stones prepared at the quarry, some of them twelve feet long and others fifteen feet long.

[7:11] On top of them were other stones, cut to measure, and cedar beams.

[7:12] The palace court, the inner court of the Temple, and the entrance room of the Temple had walls with one layer of cedar beams for every three layers of cut stones.

[7:13] King Solomon sent for a man named Huram, a craftsman living in the city of Tyre, who was skilled in bronze work.

[7:14] His father, who was no longer living, was from Tyre, and had also been a skilled bronze craftsman; his mother was from the tribe of Naphtali. Huram was an intelligent and experienced craftsman. He accepted King Solomon's invitation to be in charge of all the bronze work.

[7:15] Huram cast two bronze columns, each one 27 feet tall and 18 feet in circumference, and placed them at the entrance of the Temple.

[7:16] He also made two bronze capitals, each one 7½ feet tall, to be placed on top of the columns.

[7:17] The top of each column was decorated with a design of interwoven chains

[7:18] and two rows of bronze pomegranates.

[7:19] The capitals were shaped like lilies, 6 feet tall,

[7:20] and were placed on a rounded section which was above the chain design. There were 200 pomegranates in two rows around each capital.

[7:21] Huram placed these two bronze columns in front of the entrance of the Temple: the one on the south side was named Jachin and the one on the north was named Boaz.

[7:22] The lily-shaped bronze capitals were on top of the columns. And so the work on the columns was completed.

[7:23] Huram made a round tank of bronze, 7½ feet deep, 15 feet in diameter, and 45 feet in circumference.

[7:24] All around the outer edge of the rim of the tank were two rows of bronze gourds, which had been cast all in one piece with the rest of the tank.

[7:25] The tank rested on the backs of twelve bronze bulls that faced outward, three facing in each direction.

[7:26] The sides of the tank were 3 inches thick. Its rim was like the rim of a cup, curving outward like the petals of a lily. The tank held about 10,000 gallons.

[7:27] Huram also made ten bronze carts; each was 6 feet long, 6 feet wide, and 4½ feet high.

[7:28] They were made of square panels which were set in frames,

[7:29] with the figures of lions, bulls, and winged creatures on the panels; and on the frames, above and underneath the lions and bulls, there were spiral figures in relief.

[7:30] Each cart had four bronze wheels with bronze axles. At the four corners were bronze supports for a basin; the supports were decorated with spiral figures in relief.

[7:31] There was a circular frame on top for the basin. It projected upward 18 inches from the top of the cart and 7 inches down into it. It had carvings around it.

[7:32] The wheels were 25 inches high; they were under the panels, and the axles were of one piece with the carts.

[7:33] The wheels were like chariot wheels; their axles, rims, spokes, and hubs were all of bronze.

[7:34] There were four supports at the bottom corners of each cart, which were of one piece with the cart.

[7:35] There was a 9-inch band around the top of each cart; its supports and the panels were of one piece with the cart.

[7:36] The supports and panels were decorated with figures of winged creatures, lions, and palm trees, wherever there was space for them, with spiral figures all around.

[7:37] This, then, is how the carts were made; they were all alike, having the same size and shape.

[7:38] Huram also made ten basins, one for each cart. Each basin was 6 feet in diameter and held 200 gallons.

[7:39] He placed five of the carts on the south side of the Temple, and the other five on the north side; the tank he placed at the southeast corner.