Study Desk

Now ^(C1)Solomon the son of David established himself securely over his kingdom, and the LORD his God was with him and ^(C2)exalted him greatly.

And Solomon spoke to all Israel, ^(C1)to the commanders of thousands, of hundreds, and to the judges and to every leader in all Israel, the heads of the fathers' households.

Then Solomon and all the assembly with him went to ^(C1)the high place which was at Gibeon, ^(C2)because God's tent of meeting was there which Moses, the servant of the LORD had made in the wilderness.

However, David had brought up ^(C1)the ark of God from Kiriath-jearim ^(F1)to ^(C2)the place he had prepared for it, for he had pitched a tent for it in Jerusalem.

Now ^(C1)the bronze altar which Bezalel, the son of Uri, the son of Hur, had made was there before the tabernacle of the LORD, and Solomon and the assembly sought it out.

And Solomon went up there before the LORD to the bronze altar which was at the tent of meeting, and ^(C1)offered a thousand burnt offerings on it.

^(C1)In that night God appeared to Solomon and said to him, "Ask what I shall give you."

And Solomon said to God, "You have dealt with my father David with great faithfulness, and ^(C1)have made me king in his place.

"Now, LORD God, ^(C1)Your ^(F1)promise to my father David is fulfilled, for You have made me king over ^(C2)a people as numerous as the dust of the earth.

"^(C1)Now give me wisdom and knowledge, ^(C2)so that I may go out and come in before this people, for who can rule this great people of Yours?"

^(C1)Then God said to Solomon, "Because this was ^(F1)in your heart, and you did not ask for riches, wealth, or honor, or the life of those who hate you, nor did you even ask for long life, but you asked for yourself wisdom and knowledge so that you may rule My people over whom I have made you king,

wisdom and knowledge have been granted to you. ^(C1)I will also give you riches, wealth, and honor, ^(F1)such as none of the kings who were before you has possessed, nor will those who will ^(F2)come after you."

^(C1)So Solomon went ^(F1)from the high place which was at Gibeon, from the tent of meeting, to Jerusalem, and he reigned over Israel.

^(C1)Solomon amassed chariots and horsemen. ^(C2)He had 1,400 chariots and twelve thousand horsemen, and he stationed them in ^(C3)the chariot cities and with the king in Jerusalem.

^(C1)The king made ^(C2)silver and gold as plentiful in Jerusalem as stones, and he made cedars as plentiful as sycamores in the ^(F1)lowland.

Solomon's ^(C1)horses were imported from Egypt and from Kue; the king's traders acquired them from Kue for a price.

They ^(F1)imported chariots from Egypt for six hundred shekels of silver apiece, horses for 150 apiece, and ^(F2)by the same means they ^(F3)exported them to all the kings of the Hittites and the kings of Aram.

^(F1)(C1)Now Solomon ^(F2)decided to build a house for the name of the LORD, and a ^(F3)royal palace for himself.

^(F1)So ^(C1)Solomon ^(F2)assigned seventy thousand men to carry loads, eighty thousand men to quarry stone in the mountains, and 3,600 to supervise them.

^(C1)Then Solomon sent word to ^(F1)Huram the king of Tyre, saying, "^(C2)As you dealt with my father David and sent him cedars to build him a house to live in, do it for me.

"Behold, I am about to build a house for the name of the LORD my God, dedicating it to Him, ^(C1)to burn fragrant incense before Him and to set out ^(C2)the showbread continually, and to offer ^(C3)burnt offerings morning and evening, ^(C4)on Sabbaths, on new moons, and on the appointed feasts of the LORD our God. This is to be done in Israel forever.

"The house which I am about to build will be great, for our God is ^(C1)greater than all the gods.

"But ^(C1)who is able to build a house for Him, since the heavens and the highest heavens cannot contain Him? And who am I, that I should build a house for Him, except to ^(F1)burn incense before Him?

"Now ^(C1)send me a skilled man to work in gold, silver, brass, iron, and in purple, crimson, and violet fabrics, one who knows how to make engravings, to work with the skilled workers ^(F1)(C2)whom I have in Judah and Jerusalem, whom my father David provided.

"^(C1)Send me also cedar, juniper, and algum timber from Lebanon, for I know that your servants know how to cut timber of Lebanon; and indeed ^(C2)my servants will work with your servants,

to prepare timber in abundance for me, for the house which I am about to build will be great and wonderful.

"Now behold, ^(C1)I will give your servants, the woodsmen who cut the timber, ^(F1)twenty thousand kors of crushed wheat, twenty thousand kors of barley, ^(F2)twenty thousand baths of wine, and twenty thousand baths of oil."

Then Huram, king of Tyre, ^(F1)answered in a letter sent to Solomon: "^(C1)Because the LORD loves His people, He has made you king over them."

Then Huram ^(F1)continued, "Blessed be ^(C1)the LORD, the God of Israel, who made heaven and earth, who has given King David a wise son, ^(F2)endowed with discretion and understanding, ^(C2)who will build a house for the LORD and a ^(F3)royal palace for himself.

"Now then, I am sending Huram-abi, a skilled man, ^(F1)endowed with understanding,

^(C1)the son of a ^(F1)Danite woman and ^(F2)a Tyrian father, who knows how to work in gold, silver, bronze, iron, stone, and wood, and in purple, violet, linen, and crimson fabrics, and who knows how to make all kinds of engravings and to ^(F3)execute any design which is assigned to him, to work with your skilled workers and with ^(F4)those of my lord, your father David.

"Now then, let my lord send his servants wheat and barley, oil and wine, of ^(C1)which he has spoken.

"^(C1)We will cut whatever timber you need from Lebanon and bring it to you as rafts by sea to Joppa, so that you may carry it up to Jerusalem."

Solomon counted all the foreigners who were in the land of Israel, ^(C1)following the ^(F1)census which his father David had ^(F2)taken; and 153,600 were found.

^(C1)He appointed seventy thousand of them to carry loads and eighty thousand to quarry stones in the mountains, and 3,600 supervisors to make the people work.

^(C1)Then Solomon began to build the house of the LORD in Jerusalem on Mount Moriah, where the LORD had appeared to his father David, at the place that David had prepared ^(C2)on the threshing floor of ^(F1)Ornan the Jebusite.

He began to build on the second day in the second month ^(F1)of the fourth year of his reign.

Now these are the ^(F1)foundations which ^(C1)Solomon laid for building the house of God. The length in cubits, according to the old standard, was ^(F2)sixty cubits, and the width, twenty cubits.

The porch which was in front of the house ^(C1)was as long as the width of the house, ^(F1)twenty cubits, and the height ^(F2)twenty; and inside he overlaid it with pure gold.

He overlaid ^(C1)the ^(F1)main room with juniper wood and overlaid it with fine gold; and he ^(F2)ornamented it with palm trees and chains.

Further, he overlaid the house ^(F1)with precious stones; and the gold was gold from Parvaim.

^(C1)He also overlaid the house with gold—the beams, the thresholds, and its walls and doors; and he ^(C2)carved cherubim on the walls.

Then he made ^(C1)the ^(F1)room of the Most Holy Place: its length across the width of the house was ^(F2)twenty cubits, and its width was twenty cubits; and he overlaid it with fine gold, amounting to ^(F3)six hundred talents.

The weight of the nails was fifty shekels of gold. He also overlaid ^(C1)the upper rooms with gold.

^(C1)Then he made two ^(F1)sculptured cherubim in the room of the Most Holy Place and overlaid them with gold.

The wingspan of the ^(F1)cherubim was twenty ^(F2)cubits; the wing of one, of five cubits, touched the wall of the house, and its other wing, of five cubits, touched the wing of the other cherub.

The wing of the other cherub, of five cubits, touched the wall of the house; and its other wing, of five cubits, was attached to the wing of the ^(F1)first cherub.

The wings of these cherubim extended twenty cubits, and they stood on their feet ^(F1)facing the main room.

^(C1)He made the veil of violet, purple, crimson, and fine linen, and he worked cherubim into it.

^(C1)He also made two pillars for the front of the house, thirty-five cubits ^(F1)high, and the capital on the top of each was five cubits.

He made chains in the inner sanctuary and placed them on the tops of the pillars; and he made a hundred pomegranates and placed them on the chains.

^(C1)He erected the pillars in front of the temple, one on the right and the other on the left, and named the one on the right Jachin and the one on the left Boaz.

Then ^(C1)he made a bronze altar, ^(F1)twenty cubits in length, ^(F1)twenty cubits in width, and ^(F2)ten cubits in height.

^(C1)He also made the ^(F1)Sea of cast metal, ^(F2)ten cubits from brim to brim, circular in form, and its height was ^(F3)five cubits and ^(F4)its circumference ^(F5)thirty cubits.

Now figures like oxen were under it and all around it, ^(F1)ten cubits, entirely encircling the Sea. The oxen were in two rows, cast ^(F2)in one piece.

It was standing on twelve oxen, three facing north, three facing west, three facing south, and three facing east; and the Sea was set on top of them and all their hindquarters turned inward.

It was a ^(F1)hand width thick, and its brim was made like the brim of a cup, like a lily blossom; it ^(C1)could hold three thousand ^(F2)baths.

^(C1)He also made ten basins in which to wash, and he set five on the right side and five on the left ^(F1)to rinse things for the burnt offering; but the Sea was for the priests to wash in.

Then ^(C1)he made the ten golden lampstands in the way prescribed for them, and he set them in the temple, five on the right side and five on the left.

He also made ^(C1)ten tables and placed them in the temple, five on the right side and five on the left. And he made a hundred golden bowls.

Then he made ^(C1)the courtyard of the priests and ^(C2)the great courtyard, and doors for the courtyard, and overlaid their doors with bronze.

^(C1)He put the Sea on the right side of the house toward the southeast.

^(C1)Huram also made the pails, the shovels, and the bowls. So Huram finished the work that he did for King Solomon in the house of God:

the two pillars, the bowls and the two capitals on top of the pillars, and the two latticeworks to cover the two bowls of the capitals which were on top of the pillars,

and ^(C1)the four hundred pomegranates for the two latticeworks, two rows of pomegranates for each latticework to cover the two bowls of the capitals which were on the pillars.

^(C1)He also made the stands and he made the basins on the stands,

and the one Sea with the twelve oxen under it.

The pails, the shovels, the forks, and all its utensils, ^(C1)Huram-abi made of polished bronze for King Solomon, for the house of the LORD.

On the plain of the Jordan the king cast them in the clay ground between Succoth and Zeredah.

^(C1)So Solomon made all these utensils in great quantities, for the weight of the bronze could not be determined.

Solomon also made all the things that were in the house of God: the golden altar, ^(C1)the tables with the bread of the Presence on them,

the lampstands with their lamps of pure gold, ^(C1)to burn in front of the inner sanctuary in the way prescribed;

the flowers, the lamps, and the tongs of gold, that is, of purest gold;

and the snuffers, the bowls, the spoons, and the firepans of pure gold; and the entrance of the house, its inner doors for the Most Holy Place and the doors of the house, that is, of the main room, of gold.

^(C1)So all the work that Solomon performed for the house of the LORD was finished. And Solomon brought in the ^(F1)(C2)things that his father David had dedicated, the silver, the gold, and all the utensils, and he put them in the treasuries of the house of God.

^(C1)Then Solomon assembled at Jerusalem the elders of Israel, all the heads of the tribes, and the leaders of the fathers' households of the sons of Israel, ^(C2)to bring the ark of the covenant of the LORD up from the city of David, which is Zion.

^(C1)All the men of Israel assembled themselves before the king at ^(C2)the feast, that is in the seventh month.

Then all the elders of Israel came, and ^(C1)the Levites picked up the ark.

They brought up the ark, the tent of meeting, and all the holy utensils that were in the tent. The Levitical priests brought them up.

And King Solomon and all the congregation of Israel who had assembled with him before the ark were sacrificing ^(F1)so many sheep and oxen that they could not be counted or numbered.

Then the priests brought the ark of the covenant of the LORD to its place, into the inner sanctuary of the house, to the Most Holy Place, under the wings of the cherubim.

For the cherubim spread their wings over the place of the ark, so that the cherubim made a covering over the ark and its ^(F1)poles.

The poles were so long that ^(C1)the ends of the poles of the ark could be seen in front of the inner sanctuary, but they could not be seen outside; and ^(F1)they are there to this day.

^(C1)There was nothing in the ark except the two tablets which Moses put there at Horeb, where the LORD made a covenant with the sons of Israel, when they came out of Egypt.

When the priests came out from the holy place (for all the priests who were present had sanctified themselves, without regard ^(C1)to divisions),

and all the Levitical singers, ^(C1)Asaph, Heman, Jeduthun, and their sons and kinsmen, clothed in fine linen, ^(C2)with cymbals, harps, and lyres, standing east of the altar, and with them 120 priests ^(C3)blowing trumpets

in unison when the trumpeters and the singers were to make themselves heard with one voice to praise and to glorify the LORD, and when they raised their voices ^(C1)accompanied by trumpets, cymbals, and other musical instruments, and when they praised the LORD saying, "^(C2)He indeed is good for His ^(F1)kindness is everlasting," then the house, the house of the LORD, was filled with a cloud,

so that the priests could not rise to minister because of the cloud, for ^(C1)the glory of the LORD filled the house of God.