Study Desk

God gave Solomon unusual wisdom and insight, and knowledge too great to be measured.

"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.

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.

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.

Solomon also had gold furnishings made for the Temple: the altar, the table for the bread offered to God,

He said, "Praise the Lord God of Israel! He has kept the promise he made to my father David, when he told him,

And Solomon continued, "My father David planned to build a temple for the worship of the Lord God of Israel,

"And now the Lord has kept his promise. I have succeeded my father as king of Israel, and I have built the Temple for the worship of the Lord God of Israel.

and prayed, " Lord God of Israel, there is no god like you in heaven above or on earth below! You keep your covenant with your people and show them your love when they live in wholehearted obedience to you.

And now, Lord God of Israel, I pray that you will also keep the other promise you made to my father when you told him that there would always be one of his descendants ruling as king of Israel, provided they obeyed you as carefully as he did.

So now, O God of Israel, let everything come true that you promised to my father David, your servant.

"But can you, O God, really live on earth? Not even all of heaven is large enough to hold you, so how can this Temple that I have built be large enough?

Lord my God, I am your servant. Listen to my prayer, and grant the requests I make to you today.

May the Lord our God be with us as he was with our ancestors; may he never leave us or abandon us;

May the Lord our God remember at all times this prayer and these petitions I have made to him. May he always be merciful to the people of Israel and to their king, according to their daily needs.

And so all the nations of the world will know that the Lord alone is God—there is no other.

May you, his people, always be faithful to the Lord our God, obeying all his laws and commands as you do today."

People will answer, ‘It is because they abandoned the Lord their God, who brought their ancestors out of Egypt. They gave their allegiance to other gods and worshiped them. That is why the Lord has brought this disaster on them.'"

Praise the Lord your God! He has shown how pleased he is with you by making you king of Israel. Because his love for Israel is eternal, he has made you their king so that you can maintain law and justice."

and the whole world wanted to come and listen to the wisdom that God had given him.