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Then Solomon stood facing the Lord 's altar, and all the Israelites were standing behind him. He spread out his hands.

He had made a bronze platform seven and one-half feet long, seven and one-half feet wide, and seven and one-half feet high, and he had placed it in the middle of the outer courtyard. Solomon stood on the platform. Then he kneeled in front of all the people of Israel gathered there, and he spread out his hands toward the sky.

When all the people of Israel saw the fire come down from heaven and the Lord 's glory on the Temple, they bowed down on the pavement with their faces to the ground. They worshiped and thanked the Lord , saying, "He is good; his love continues forever."

The priests stood ready to do their work. The Levites also stood with the instruments of the Lord 's music that King David had made for praising the Lord . The priests and Levites were saying, "His love continues forever." The priests, who stood across from the Levites, blew their trumpets, and all the Israelites were standing.

On the twenty-third day of the seventh month Solomon sent the people home, full of joy. They were happy because the Lord had been so good to David, Solomon, and his people Israel.

Solomon finished the Temple of the Lord and his royal palace. He had success in doing everything he planned in the Temple of the Lord and his own palace.

He also rebuilt the town of Baalath. And he built all the other towns for storage and all the cities for his chariots and horses. He built all he wanted in Jerusalem, Lebanon, and everywhere he ruled.

But Solomon did not make slaves of the Israelites. They were his soldiers, chief captains, commanders of his chariots, and his chariot drivers.

These were his most important officers. There were two hundred fifty of them to direct the people.

Solomon followed his father David's instructions and chose the groups of priests for their service and the Levites to lead the praise and to help the priests do their daily work. And he chose the gatekeepers by their groups to serve at each gate, as David, the man of God, had commanded.

They obeyed all of Solomon's commands to the priests and Levites, as well as his commands about the treasuries.

Hiram sent ships to Solomon that were commanded by his own men, who were skilled sailors. Hiram's men went with Solomon's men to Ophir and brought back about thirty-four thousand pounds of gold to King Solomon.

the food on his table, his many officers, the palace servants and their good clothes, the servants who served Solomon his wine and their good clothes. She saw the whole burnt offerings he made in the Temple of the Lord . All these things amazed her.

Praise the Lord your God who was pleased to make you king. He has put you on his throne to rule for the Lord your God, because your God loves the people of Israel and supports them forever. He has made you king over them to keep justice and to rule fairly."

Then Solomon died and was buried in Jerusalem, the city of David, his father. And Solomon's son Rehoboam became king in his place.

King Rehoboam asked the elders who had advised Solomon during his lifetime, "How do you think I should answer these people?"

But Rehoboam rejected this advice. Instead, he asked the young men who had grown up with him and who served as his advisers.

When all the Israelites saw that the king refused to listen to them, they said to the king, "We have no share in David! We have no part in the son of Jesse! People of Israel, let's go to our own homes! Let David's son rule his own people." So all the Israelites went home.

Adoniram was in charge of the forced labor. When Rehoboam sent him to the people, they threw stones at him until he died. But King Rehoboam ran to his chariot and escaped to Jerusalem.

When Rehoboam arrived in Jerusalem, he gathered one hundred eighty thousand of the best soldiers from Judah and Benjamin. He wanted to fight Israel to take back his kingdom.