The House of God Is Set Apart for God

7 When Solomon had finished praying, fire came down from heaven and burned up the burnt gift and gifts of worship. And the shining-greatness of the Lord filled the house. ² The religious leaders could not go into the house of the Lord because it was filled with the Lord’s shining-greatness. ³ All the people of Israel saw the fire come down and the shining-greatness of the Lord upon the house. So they bowed their faces to the ground and worshiped. They gave thanks to the Lord, saying, “He is good. For His loving-kindness lasts forever.”

⁴ Then the king and all the people gave gifts to the Lord. ⁵ King Solomon gave a gift of 22,000 cattle and 120,000 sheep. So the king and all the people set apart the house of God. ⁶ The religious leaders stood in their places while the Levites were praising the Lord using objects King David had made. They were playing, “For His loving-kindness lasts forever.” As the religious leaders blew horns on the other side, all Israel stood.

⁷ Then Solomon set apart the center of the open space in front of the Lord’s house. There he gave the burnt gifts and the fat of the peace gifts. The brass altar Solomon had made could not hold the burnt gift, the grain gift and the fat.

⁸ At that time Solomon gave the special supper for seven days, and all Israel with him. Many people were there. They had come from the gate of Hamath to the river of Egypt. ⁹ On the eighth day they gathered together for a special time. For seven days they had to set apart the altar, and for seven days they had the special supper. ¹⁰ On the twenty-third day of the seventh month Solomon sent the people to their tents. They were full of joy and happy in their heart for the good that the Lord had shown to David and Solomon and His people Israel.

God Comes to Solomon Again

¹¹ Solomon finished the house of the Lord and the king’s house. All that Solomon had planned to do in the Lord’s house and in his own house was well done. ¹² Then the Lord came to Solomon during the night and said to him, “I have heard your prayer. And I have chosen this place for Myself as a house of gifts given in worship. ¹³ If I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, and if I tell the locust to destroy the land, or send disease upon My people, ¹⁴ if My people who are called by My name put away their pride and pray, and look for My face, and turn from their sinful ways, then I will hear from heaven. I will forgive their sin, and will heal their land. ¹⁵ Now My eyes will be open. And My ears will hear the prayer that is made in this place. ¹⁶ For I have chosen this house and have made it holy, that My name may be there forever. My eyes and My heart will always be there. ¹⁷ As for you, if you walk in My ways as your father David walked and do all that I have told you to do and keep My Laws, ¹⁸ then I will make your throne to last as I promised your father David. I said, ‘You will never be without a man to rule Israel.’

¹⁹ “But if you turn away and leave My Laws and My Word which I have given you, if you go and serve other gods and worship them, ²⁰ then I will take you from the land I have given you. And I will turn My eyes away from this house which I have set apart for My name. I will make it so all people speak of it in shame. ²¹ Everyone will look with wonder at this house that was once honored. They will say, ‘Why has the Lord done this to this land and to this house?’ ²² Then they will say, ‘It is because they turned away from the Lord, the God of their fathers, Who brought them out of the land of Egypt. They have taken other gods, and worshiped them and served them. So the Lord has brought all this trouble on them.’”

Some of the Things Solomon Has Done

8 It took Solomon twenty years to build the house of the Lord and his own house. At the end of that time, ² he built again the cities which Huram had given to him. And he had the people of Israel live in them. ³ Then Solomon went to Hamath-zobah, and took it. ⁴ He built Tadmor in the desert and all his store-cities in Hamath. ⁵ He built upper Beth-horon and lower Beth-horon. He made the city strong with walls, gates, and long pieces of iron. ⁶ Solomon built Baalath and all the store-cities he had. He built all the cities for his war-wagons, and the cities for his horsemen. He built whatever he wanted to build in Jerusalem, Lebanon, and in all the land under his rule.

⁷ There were people who were left of the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, who were not of Israel. ⁸ They were the children of those who were left in the land, whom the people of Israel had not destroyed. Solomon made all of these people do hard work, as they do to this day. ⁹ But he did not make the people of Israel do hard work. They were soldiers, leaders, captains of war-wagons, and his horsemen. ¹⁰ These were the head leaders of King Solomon. There were 250 who ruled over the people.

¹¹ Then Solomon brought Pharaoh’s daughter up from the city of David to the house he had built for her. For he said, “My wife should not live in the house of David king of Israel. Because the places are holy where the special box of the Lord has come.”

¹² Then Solomon gave burnt gifts to the Lord on the Lord’s altar which he had built in front of the porch. ¹³ He gave a certain number of gifts every day, as Moses had said should be given. Gifts were given for the Days of Rest, the new moons, and the three special suppers each year. These special suppers were the Special Supper of Bread Without Yeast, the Special Supper of Weeks, and the Special Supper of Tents. ¹⁴ By the law of David his father, Solomon chose the religious leaders for their different duties. He chose the Levites for their duties of praise and helping the religious leaders for each day’s needs. And he chose who should be the gate-keepers at each gate. For David the man of God had said that this must be done. ¹⁵ They did all that the king had said the religious leaders and Levites must do in every duty and with the store-houses.

¹⁶ So all the work of Solomon was done, from the day the house of the Lord was begun until it was finished. So the house of the Lord was built.

¹⁷ Then Solomon went to Ezion-geber and Eloth on the shore of the sea, in the land of Edom. ¹⁸ Huram sent his servants to him with ships and servants who knew the sea. They went to Ophir together with Solomon’s servants to get gold. And they brought gold weighing as much as 450 men from there to King Solomon.

The Queen of Sheba Visits Solomon

9 The queen of Sheba heard how well Solomon was known in all the lands. So she came to Jerusalem to test him with hard questions. She came with many servants and camels carrying spices and much gold and stones of much worth. When she came to Solomon, she talked with him about all that was on her heart. ² And Solomon answered all her questions. There was nothing hidden from him which he could not make clear to her. ³ Then the queen of Sheba saw the wisdom of Solomon and the house he had built. ⁴ She saw the food at his table, and all his captains sitting there. She saw all those who were bringing in the food, and how they were dressed. She saw those who carried the cups, and their clothing. And she saw the burnt gifts that Solomon gave at the house of the Lord. After that, there was no more spirit in her. ⁵ She said to the king, “The news was true which I heard in my own land about your words and your wisdom. ⁶ But I did not believe the news until I came and saw it with my own eyes. See, half the greatness of your wisdom was not told to me. You are greater than what I had heard. ⁷ Happy are your men! Happy are your servants who stand in front of you all the time hearing your wisdom! ⁸ Praise be to the Lord your God Who was pleased with you! He set you on His throne as king for the Lord your God. Your God loved Israel and would have them last forever. So He made you king over them to do what is fair and right and good.” ⁹ Then she gave the king gold weighing as much as 120 men, a very large amount of spices, and stones of much worth. There had never been spices like what the queen of Sheba gave to King Solomon.

¹⁰ Huram’s servants and Solomon’s servants brought gold from Ophir. They also brought algum trees and stones of much worth. ¹¹ The king used the algum wood to make steps for the house of the Lord and for the king’s house. And he used it to make different kinds of harps for the singers. There were none seen like them before in the land of Judah.

¹² King Solomon gave the queen of Sheba all she asked for, much more than she had brought to him. Then she returned to her own land with her servants.

King Solomon’s Riches

¹³ The gold that came to Solomon in one year weighed as much as 666 men. ¹⁴ Traders and men who buy and sell brought gold also. And all the kings of Arabia and the leaders of the land brought gold and silver to Solomon. ¹⁵ King Solomon made 200 battle-coverings of beaten gold. The beaten gold he used to make each large covering was as much as 600 gold pieces. ¹⁶ And he made 300 battle-coverings of beaten gold, using as much as 300 gold pieces worth of gold for each covering. The king put them in the House of the Trees of Lebanon.

¹⁷ The king made a great throne of ivory and covered it with pure gold. ¹⁸ There were six steps to the throne, and a part made of gold for his feet was joined to the throne. The throne had arms on each side, and two lions standing beside the arms. ¹⁹ Twelve lions were standing on each side of the six steps. Nothing like it had ever been made for the king of any other nation. ²⁰ All King Solomon’s cups were made of gold. And all the cups of the House of the Trees of Lebanon were made of pure gold. Silver was not thought of as having much worth in the days of Solomon. ²¹ For the king had ships which went to Tarshish with Huram’s servants. Once every three years the ships of Tarshish came bringing gold, silver, ivory, apes, and peacocks.

²² So King Solomon became greater than all the kings of the earth in riches and wisdom. ²³ And all the kings of the earth wanted to be with Solomon, to hear his wisdom which God had put into his heart. ²⁴ Every one of them brought his gift. Objects of silver and gold, clothing, objects for battle, spices, horses and donkeys, were brought each year.

²⁵ Solomon had 4,000 rooms for horses and war-wagons, and 12,000 horsemen. He put them in the war-wagon cities and with the king in Jerusalem. ²⁶ He was the ruler over all the kings from the Euphrates River to the land of the Philistines, and as far as the land of Egypt. ²⁷ And the king made silver as easy to find as stones in Jerusalem. He made cedar trees as easy to find as sycamore trees in the valley. ²⁸ And horses were brought in for Solomon from Egypt and from all countries.

Death of Solomon

²⁹ Now the rest of the acts of Solomon, from first to last, are written in the words of Nathan the man of God. They are written in the holy words of Ahijah the Shilonite. And they are written in the special dreams of Iddo, the man who tells what will happen in the future, about Jeroboam the son of Nebat. ³⁰ Solomon ruled forty years in Jerusalem over all Israel. ³¹ When he died he was buried in the city of his father David. And his son Rehoboam ruled in his place.