Study Desk

"Let these words of mine, with which I have made supplication before the LORD, be near to the LORD our God day and night, so that He will maintain the cause and right of His servant and of His people Israel as each day requires,

"Therefore, your hearts are to be wholly devoted to the LORD our God, to walk in His statutes and to keep His commandments, as [you are doing] today."

On the eighth (fifteenth) day he sent the people away and they blessed the king. Then they went to their tents joyful and in good spirits because of all the goodness which the LORD had shown to David His servant and Israel His people.

Now this is the account of the forced labor which King Solomon conscripted to build the house of the LORD, his own house, the Millo (fortification), the wall of Jerusalem, [and the fortress cities of] Hazor, Megiddo, and Gezer.

For Pharaoh king of Egypt had gone up and taken Gezer, burned it with fire and killed the Canaanites who lived in the city, and he had given it as a dowry to his daughter, Solomon's wife.

and all the storage cities [for surplus provisions] which Solomon had, and the cities for his chariots and cities for his horsemen, and whatever it pleased Solomon to build in Jerusalem, in Lebanon, and in all the land under his rule.

But Solomon did not make slaves of the sons of Israel; for they were men of war (soldiers), his servants, his officers, his captains, his chariot commanders, and his horsemen.

And Hiram [king of Tyre] sent his servants with the fleet, sailors who knew the sea, along with the servants of Solomon.

So she came to Jerusalem with a very large caravan (entourage), with camels carrying spices, a great quantity of gold, and precious stones. When she came to Solomon, she spoke with him about everything that was on her mind [to discover the extent of his wisdom].

the food on his table, the seating of his servants (court officials), the attendance of his waiters and their attire, his cupbearers, his stairway by which he went up to the house (temple) of the LORD, she was breathless and awed [by the wonder of it all].

King Solomon [in turn] gave to the queen of Sheba everything that she wanted, whatever she asked, besides what he gave to her from his royal bounty. So she returned to her own country, she and her servants.

All the earth was seeking the presence of Solomon, to hear his wisdom which God had put in his mind.

He had seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines, and his wives turned his heart away [from God].

For when Solomon was old, his wives turned his heart away after other gods; and his heart was not completely devoted to the LORD his God, as was the heart of his father David.

Solomon did evil [things] in the sight of the LORD, and did not follow the LORD fully, as his father David had done.

And he did the same for all of his foreign wives, who burned incense and sacrificed to their gods.

So the LORD became angry with Solomon because his heart was turned away from the LORD, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice,

that Hadad escaped to Egypt, he and some Edomites from his father's servants with him, while Hadad was [still] a little boy.

Hadad found great favor with Pharaoh, so that he gave Hadad in marriage the sister of his own wife, the sister of Tahpenes the queen.

God also stirred up another adversary for Solomon, Rezon the son of Eliada, who had fled from his master, Hadadezer king of Zobah.