1 David’s son Shelomoh (Solomon) became established over his kingdom and his god, Yahweh, was with him and made him very powerful.

2 Shelomoh spoke to all Yisrael (Israel), to the army commanders of thousands and of hundreds, to the judges, to all of Yisrael’s leaders, including the clan leaders. 3 So Shelomoh led all the assembly to the worship place at Gibeon because the sacred tent was there that Yahweh’s servant Mosheh (Moses) had made in the wilderness. 4 David had brought God’s box uphill from Kiryat-Yearim and he’d erected a tent for it in Yerushalem (Jerusalem).[ref] 5 The bronze altar made by Betsalel (son of Uri, son of Hur) was there in front of Yahweh’s tent, and Shelomoh and the assembly requested Yahweh’s guidance there.[ref] 6 So Shelomoh went up to the bronze altar there at the sacred tent, and in front of Yahweh, he sacrificed one thousand burnt offerings on it.

7 That night, God appeared to Shelomoh and told him, “Ask for what you want me to give you.”

8 “You showed outstanding loyal commitment to my father David,” Shelomoh replied to God, “and you’ve made me king in his place. 9 Now, Yahweh God, may your promise to my father David be confirmed, for you yourself have made me king over a people as numerous as the dust on the ground. 10 Give me wisdom and knowledge now as I come and go in front of these people, because who could make good judgements for this great people of yours?”

11 “Because that was in your heart,” God replied to Shelomoh “and you didn’t ask for wealth, riches, or fame, or the life of those who hate you, and also you didn’t ask for a long life, but you’ve asked for wisdom and knowledge for yourself to help you lead my people that I’ve made you king over, 12 then I’ll give you that wisdom and knowledge, along with wealth and riches and fame. You’ll have more than any king that preceded you or any that follows.”

13 Then Shelomoh left the sacred tent at Gibeon and returned to Yerushalem, where he reigned over Yisrael. 14 Then Shelomoh built up his chariots and horsemen, and soon had 1,400 chariots and 12,000 horsemen which he stationed in the chariot cities and with him in Yerushalem.[ref] 15 The king made silver and gold in Yerushalem as common as stones, and he made imported cedar timber as common as the local sycamore trees that were plentiful in the lowlands. 16 Shelomoh’s horses were imported from Egypt (Heb. Mitsrayim) and from the traders in Kue (in modern southern Türkiye/Turkey).[ref] 17 Egyptian chariots cost six hundred silver coins and horses cost one hundred and fifty. (The Hittites and Aramean kings were able to get them for the same price.)

2 Then Shelomoh decided to build a temple to honour Yahweh, as well as a palace for himself, 2 so he conscripted seventy thousand men as porters, eighty thousand as stone-cutters in the hillside quarries, and 3,600 supervisors.

3 Shelomoh contacted King Hiram in Tsor (Tyre), “In the time of my father David, you sent cedar timber to him so he could build himself a palace to live in. 4 Listen, I am building a temple to honour my god Yahweh, to consecrate to him. There we’ll sacrifice spiced incense to him, plus the regular bread display, and burnt offerings in the morning and in the evening, on rest days and on the new moons, and other appointed times of Yahweh our god. Yisrael is required to do this forever. 5 We want to build an impressive building, because our god is more powerful than all the other gods. 6 But who could stay strong enough to build a house for him, since the sky and the heavens of the heavens can’t contain him? And who am I that I could build for him a house for him—maybe I’m good enough to burn incense to him?[ref] 7 So then, send me a skilled man who can work in gold, and in silver, and in bronze, and in iron, and in purple and crimson and violet, and who knows how to engrave. He will work with the skilled craftsmen who my father David appointed and who are with me here in Yerushalem and across Yehudah. 8 Also, send to me cedar, cypress, and algum timber from there in Lebanon, because I myself know that your servants know how to cut the trees from Lebanon’s forests. And listen, my servants will help your servants 9 so they can supply me with plenty of timber, because the temple that I’m building will be large and beautiful. 10 I’ll pay your wood-cutters three thousand tonnes of ground wheat and the same of barley, four hundred thousand litres of wine and the same of olive oil.

11 King Hiram of Tsor (Tyre) wrote back to King Shelomoh, “Yahweh has appointed you as king over his people because he loves them. 12 Blessed be Yisrael’s god Yahweh who made the heavens and the earth, who’s given King David the king a wise son with insight and understanding, who’ll build a temple for Yahweh and a palace for his kingdom.

13 “I’ll send Huram-Avi to you—he’s a skilled craftsman 14 His mother’s from the tribe of Dan, and his father a man of Tsor, knowing to work in gold and silver, in bronze and iron, in stone and in timber, in purple and in violet, in fine linen and in crimson, and do any kind of engraving. He can follow any pattern that’s given to him by your designers, and the designers of my master, David, your father. 15 So then go ahead and send the wheat, barley, olive oil, and wine that you promised to send to us, 16 then we’ll cut the trees you need from Lebanon and raft them to Yafo by sea. The responsibility of getting them up the hills to Yerushalem will be yours.

17 Shelomoh had all the foreign men living in Yisrael counted (similar to what his father David had done), and it came to 153,600. 18 He conscripted seventy thousand as porters, eighty thousand as stone-cutters, and 3,600 as supervisors to keep the others working.

3 Then Shelomoh began to build Yahweh’s temple on Mt. Moriyah in Yerushalem, where Yahweh had appeared to his father David. It was at the threshing floor of Ornan the Yebusite where David had planned for it,[ref] 2 and they began the construction in early-May of the fourth year of Shelomoh’s reign.[fn] 3 The temple foundation was twenty-seven metres long and nine metres wide, 4 and the nine metre long front entrance porch was nine metres high.[fn] Shelomoh overlaid the inside walls with pure gold. 5 For the main building, he overlaid it first with cypress planking, then with pure gold, then carved palm trees and chains along the walls. 6 The gold they use came from Parvaim.[fn] The main building was also overlaid with valuable gemstones. 7 He overlaid the temple beams, thresholds, walls, and doors with gold, and he engraved winged creatures on the walls.

8 Then he made the most sacred room inside the temple. It was nine metres long (the full width of the temple) and the same width. He overlaid it with thirty kilograms pure gold (beaten into thin sheets).[ref] 9 Each gold nail weighed half a kilogram, and he also overlaid the upper rooms with gold.

10 He cast molten metal into two winged creatures in the most sacred room and overlaid them with gold.[ref] 11 Each of the creatures had two wings, each 2.3 metres long. One of the wings reached the temple wall, and the other wing was stretched out to touch the other creature’s wingtip, 12 and the same for its companion, 13 so the total span of the two winged creatures was nine metres. They were made standing on their feet, and placed with their faces towards the opening into the main hall. 14 The curtain separating the two rooms was made from fine-linen with blue, purple, and red thread, and with winged creatures embroidered onto it.[ref]

15 At the front of the temple, he made two sixteen metre tall pillars which each had a ‘capital’ topping that was another two metres high. 16 Ornamental chains were made for the inner sanctuary and to go around the tops of the pillars, and there were one hundred pomegranate models hanging on the chains. 17 There was one pillar on each side of the east-facing entrance—the lefthand one was named Yakin and the righthand one was named Boaz.

4 Then he made a square, bronze altar, nine metres on each side and 4.5m high,[ref] 2 and he made the large, round metal water tank (called ‘The Sea’) which was 4.5m diameter and over two metres high. 3 Below the outer rim were two rows of small, ornamental bulls spaced 45cm apart that were also part of the same casting. 4 Supporting ‘The Sea’ were twelve large cast bulls—facing outwards with three facing each of the four compass points. 5 The sides of the tank were eight centimeters thick. The tank’s brim was fashioned like the brim of a cup, resembling a lily blossom. The tank held sixty-six thousand litres of water. 6 Then he made ten washbasins, placing five on each side for the priests to rinse the burnt offerings in. The priests used ‘The Sea’ to wash in.[ref]

7 He made the ten gold lampstands as per their design, and placed them in the temple with five on each side.[ref] 8 He made ten tables and also placed them in the temple with five on each side, plus he made one hundred gold basins.[ref]

9 He made the courtyard for the priests, as well as the large courtyard with its doors overlaid with bronze, 10 and he placed ‘The Sea’ in the southeast corner.

11 Meanwhile, Huram made the tubs and shovels (for the ashes from the altar) and other small bowls.

So Huram finished the work for God’s temple that King Shelomoh had assigned to him: 12 the two pillars, and the bowl-shaped the capitals on top of each pillar, and the two sets of latticework to cover those two bowls of the capitals, 13 and the four hundred pomegranates for the latticework—two rows of pomegranates to cover each of the two bowls of the capitals that decorated the tops of the pillars. 14 He also made the washbasins and their stands, 15 ‘The Sea’ and the twelve bulls that hold it up, 16 and the tubs and shovels, the forks, and other utensils.

Those were all items made of polished bronze that Huram-Abi made for King Shelomoh for Yahweh’s temple.

17 The king had them cast in the clay between Sukkot and Tseredah down by the Yordan River. 18 Shelomoh had so many items made that they didn’t even try to weigh all the bronze.

19 Shelomoh had all the items for God’s temple made, including the gold altar and the tables for displaying the sacred bread, 20 and the pure gold lampstands and their lamps for the inner sanctuary according to their designs, 21 the pure gold flower ornaments, lamps, tongs, 22 the pure gold lamp trimmers, the basins and spoons, and fire pans. Also the temple entrance, its inner doors into the very sacred room, and the outer temple doors were all gold.

5 After all the work which Solomon did for Yahweh’s temple was completed, Solomon brought in the sacred things of his father David: the gold and silver, and all the items, he placed in the temple treasuries.[ref]

2 Then Shelomoh assembled the Israeli elders, and all the heads of the tribes, the Israeli clan leaders to Yerushalem, to bring the box containing Yahweh’s agreement up the hill from the city of David, that is, Tsiyyon (Zion).[ref] 3 So in October, all those Israeli leaders gathered to be with the king for a feast, 4 and once everyone was there, the Levites lifted up the sacred chest 5 and carried it up towards the temple. The priests (who are also Levites) carried it, along with the sacred tent and everything that had been in it. 6 Then King Shelomoh and all the assembled Israelis with him, gathered in front of the box, sacrificing sheep and cattle which were too many to count. 7 The priests then took the box containing Yahweh’s agreement, in to its place in the inner sanctuary of the house (the holy of holies)—to under the winged creatures 8 whose outstretched wings would now be over the sacred chest and even over the top of its carrying poles. 9 Those long poles stuck out and could be seen from the front of that inner room, but couldn’t be seen from the main room, and they’re still there to this day. 10 There was nothing in the box except the two stone tablets that Mosheh (Moses) had put in at Horev (Mt. Sinai), which represented the agreement that Yahweh had made with the Israelis after they’d left Egypt (Heb. Mitsrayim).[ref]

11 Then the priests left the holy place in the temple. All the priests who were there, consecrated themselves to serve the priestly duties, irrespective of which division they were part of. 12 All the Levites who were singers (Asaf, Heyman, Yedutun, and their sons and their brothers) stood on the east side of the altar. They were dressed in fine linen and had cymbals, and harps and lyres, along with 120 priests playing trumpets. 13 The trumpeters and singers performed together to praise and thank Yahweh, with the trumpets and cymbals on the highlights of the song to praise Yahweh:[ref]

“Yahweh is good to us,

because his loyal commitment continues forever.”

Then Yahweh’s temple filled with a cloud 14 and the priests weren’t able to stay on their feet and continue ministering because Yahweh’s brilliance had filled the temple.

6 Then Shelomoh prayed, “Yahweh, you said that you would live in a dark cloud, 2 but I’ve built a beautiful residence for you—a place for you to live in forever.”

3 Then while all the people stood there, Shelomoh turned toward them and pronounced a blessing over them, 4 saying, “Blessed be Yahweh the god of Yisrael who spoke physically to my father David, and then caused it to actually happen, when you said back then,[ref] 5 ‘From the time that I brought my people out of Egypt, I hadn’t choosen a city from all the tribes of Yisrael as a place to build a house so my name could be there. Nor had I chosen a man to be leader over my people Israel, 6 but now I’ve chosen Yerushalem (Jerusalem) to be my place of residence and I’ve chosen you, David, to be over my people Yisrael.’

7 “My father David wanted to build a temple for Yisrael’s god Yahweh, 8 but Yahweh told him, ‘It’s good that you wanted to build a house to honour me, 9 but you won’t be the one to build it. It’ll be your own biological son who’ll build the temple to honour my reputation.’

10 “Now Yahweh has fulfilled what he said, and I’m here sitting on Yisrael’s throne instead of my father David, just as Yahweh said, and I’ve had this temple built to honour Yisrael’s god Yahweh. 11 I’ve placed the sacred chest in there—the box that contains the agreement that Yahweh made with Yisrael’s descendants.”

12 Then Shelomoh stood in front of the altar to Yahweh in front of all the assembled Israelis, and spread out his hands 13 because he’d made a bronze platform and had it placed in the centre of the courtyard. The square platform was just over two metres on each side, and stood just over a metre off the ground. Firstly he stood on it, then he knelt down onto his knees in front of all the assembled Israelis and spread his hands out to the sky 14 and said, “Yahweh, God of Yisrael, there isn’t any god like you in the heavens or on the earth—one who keeps his agreement and shows loyal commitment to your servants who are walking with total integrity as you watch them. 15 Everything you verbally told my father David that you’d do, you’ve used your power to make it all happen, including this today. 16 And now, Yahweh, God of Yisrael, keep something else for your servant David my father when you told him, ‘There’ll always be one of your descendants sitting on Yisrael’s throne, as long as they obey my instructions just like you have.’[ref] 17 So now, Yahweh, God of Yisrael, let what you said to your servant, to David, be confirmed.

18 “But will God really live with humans here on the earth? Wow, the skies and the heavens of the heavens can’t contain you—how much less this house that I’ve built.[ref] 19 Nevertheless Yahweh my god, listen to your servant’s prayer and request and take notice. 20 Watch over this building where you said that you’d be present and hear my prayers when your servant prays towards this place.[ref] 21 Listen to what your servant and your Israeli people are requesting when they pray towards this place. Listen from where you live in the heavens, and hear and forgive.

22 “If someone is accused of wronging their neighbour and is forced to make a sworn statement in front of your altar in this temple, 23 then listen from the heavens and decide who’s telling the truth. Then punish the guilty party as they deserve, and do good to the other side as a reward for their innocence.

24 “And if your Israeli people are defeated by their enemies because they’ve disobeyed you, but they return to you and confess, and pray, and in this place they request your favour, 25 then listen to them from the heavens and forgive the disobedience of your Israeli people, and bring them back to this land that you gave to their ancestors and to them.

26 “When the clouds hold back and give no rain because they’ve disobeyed you, but then they pray towards this place and acknowledge you and turn away from their disobedience because you’ve punished them, 27 then listen to them from the heavens and forgive the disobedience of your servants and your Israeli people. Teach them the right way to live their lives, and give rain to your land which you gave your people as a permanent inheritance.

28 “If this land suffers from famine, or if there’s blight or mildew, or locusts or grasshoppers, plague or sickness, or if an enemy army surrounds them, 29 then if any person or all your Israeli people stretch out their hands towards this temple with their prayers and requests because they each acknowledge their individual pain and suffering, 30 then listen to them from your where you live there in the heavens and forgive them. Reward each person according to their behaviour, because you know people’s motives—only you know what’s in people’s minds. 31 Do that so they’ll respect you and living how you want them to, as they live in this country that you gave to our ancestors.

32 “Also, any foreigners who don’t belong to your Israeli people, who come to this land because they’ve heard that you’re very great and powerful, if they turn toward this temple and pray 33 then listen to them as well from where you live there in the heavens. Do whatever that foreigner requests from you and that all the people groups in the world will learn about your reputation, and honour and obey you like your Israeli people do, and to know that this temple that I’ve built is called by your name.

34 “When you send your people off to battle their enemies, and they pray towards this city that you’ve chosen and this temple that I’ve had built to honour your name, 35 then listen from the heavens to their prayer and their requests, and uphold their cause.

36 “When they disobey you (and there’s no one who doesn’t), and you’re angry with them and allow an enemy to get the upper hand, and their captors takes them a distant or nearby land as captives, 37 and then in that land where they’re captives, they turn and admit their wickedness and their disobedience, and request your favour, 38 and they turn to you with total sincerity in that other country and pray towards the land that you gave their ancestors, and the city that you chose, and toward the temple that I’ve built to honour your name, 39 then listen from where you live in the heavens to their prayer and their requests, and uphold their cause and forgive your people who’ve disobeyed you.

40 “Now my god, please let your eyes be open and your ears attentive to prayers offered towards this place.

41 “So now Yahweh God, along with the sacred box of your strength, come and enter your resting place. Yahweh God, may your priests be dressed in salvation, and your faithful ones enjoy your goodness.[ref] 42 Yahweh God, don’t ignore those who you’ve chosen. Remember the loyal commitment of your servant David.”

7 When Shelomoh (Solomon) finished praying, fire came down from the skies and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices, and Yahweh’s brilliant light filled the temple.[ref] 2 The priests weren’t able to go into Yahweh’s temple because of Yahweh’s brilliant light, 3 and when all the Israelis saw the fire come down and saw the bright light above the temple, they fell to their knees with their faces bowed down low to the stone pavement, and worshipped and thanked Yahweh saying, “He is certainly good—his loyal commitment really will continue forever.”[ref]

4 Then the king and all the people offered sacrifices to Yahweh—5 King Shelomoh sacrificed twenty-two thousand cattle and one hundred and twenty thousand sheep, and so the king and all the people dedicated God’s temple. 6 The priests were standing in their positions, as well as the Levites with the instruments that King David had made to give thanks to Yahweh. When they assisted David in praising Yahweh, they would sing, “Yes, his loyal commitment continues forever,” and the priests would blow their trumpets in front of them as all the Israelis stood there.

7 Then Shelomoh consecrated the middle of the courtyard in front of Yahweh’s temple building so he could offer burnt offerings and the fat of the peace offerings there, because the bronze altar that he’d made wasn’t able to handle the large number of burnt offerings and grain offerings, and the fats.

8 Then Shelomoh and all Yisrael feasted for the next seven days—the huge gathering spread from Levo-Hamat in the far north, all the way to the Egyptian riverbed in the far south. 9 On the eighth day, they had a solemn service, because they’d observed seven days of celebration for the altar with seven days of feasting. 10 Finally after some three weeks, Shelomoh sent the people home—they were cheery and encouraged because of the goodness that Yahweh had displayed to David and Shelomoh, and for his Israeli people.

11 So Shelomoh finished Yahweh’s temple and the king’s palace—he’d succeeded in implementing everything that he’d envisaged. 12 One night, Yahweh appeared to Shelomoh in a dream and told him, “I’ve heard your prayer, and I’ve chosen this temple to be the place where my people will offer sacrifices to me. 13 If I restrain the skies so there’s no rain, or if I command locusts to devour the land, or if I send disease among my people, 14 then if my people who are known by my name humble themselves and pray, and request my help and turn back from their evil ways, then I myself will hear them from the heavens, and I’ll forgive their sin, and I will heal their land. 15 My eyes will be open and my ears will be attentive to prayers offered towards this place, 16 as I’ve chosen and consecrated this temple to be associated with my name forever—I’ll be permanently present there. 17 Also, if you’ll obey me like your father David did, and do everything that I’ve instructed you, and keep my rules and regulations, 18 then I’ll ensure that your descendants rule your kingdom, just as I promised your father David when I said, ‘You won’t fail to have one of your descendants ruling over Yisrael.’ 19 However, if you all turn away, and abandon my rules and instructions that I gave you all, and decide to serve other gods and worship them, 20 then I’ll remove these people from my land that I gave them. Also this temple that I consecrated for myself, I’ll throw it away where I can’t see it, and I’ll make it an object of scorn and ridicule among all the other nations.

21 Then this temple which everyone admires as they pass by, will be devastated and people will ask, ‘Why did Yahweh do such terrible things to that temple and to that land?’

22 ‘It happened because they abandoned Yahweh, the god of their ancestors,’ others will reply. ‘He brought them out from slavery in Egypt, but then they obtained other gods and worshipped them and served them—that’s why he sent them all this misery.’ ”

8 After the twenty years that it took Shelomoh to build Yahweh’s temple and his palace, 2 he rebuilt the cities that King Huram had given to him, and he got Israelis to live in them.

3 Then Shelomoh attacked Hamat-Tsovah and captured it. 4 He rebuilt Tadmore in the wilderness, and storage cities in the Hamat region. 5 He rebuilt the fortified cities of Upper-Beyt-Horon and Lower-Beyt-Horon with walls and barred gates, 6 as well as Baalat and all the storage cities, and all the cities for Shelomoh’s chariots and horsemen that he wanted to build in Yerushalem and Lebanon, and throughout his kingdom. 7 All the people who lived in Yisrael but who were actually remnants of the Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Yebusites 8 who were descendants of groups that the Israelis hadn’t completely destroyed, were forced to become Shelomoh’s labourers and they continue in that role until the present time. 9 However, Shelomoh didn’t make the Israelis become labourers, because they became his soldiers, officers, chariot commanders, and horsemen. 10 Some 250 Israelis were also King Shelomoh’s chief officials who had authority over the people.

11 Shelomoh brought his wife, Far-oh’s (Pharaoh’s) daughter, up from the city of David to the house that he had built for her, because he said, “My wife mustn’t live in the palace of Yisrael’s King David, because the places where Yahweh’s box has been are sacred.”

12 Then Shelomoh sacrificed burnt offerings to Yahweh on the altar that had been built in front of the temple’s porch. 13 He followed Mosheh’s instructions about the daily sacrifices for the rest days and the new moons, and for the appointed three times per year: the Celebration of Flat Bread, the Harvest Festival, and the Celebration Living in Shelters.[ref] 14 Then as his father David had instructed, he assigned the priests into divisions for their various tasks, and the Levites who would praise and minister in front of the priests and help in their daily tasks, and gatekeepers in their divisions at the various gates. That was all what David, the man of God had commanded. 15 The priests and Levites followed the king’s instructions concerning all their duties, as well as their supervision of the treasuries.

16 So now, all of Shelomoh’s work on Yahweh’s temple was completed—from the foundation through to it’s completion and operation.

17 Then Shelomoh went to Etsyon-Gever and to Eylat on the edge of the ocean, in the Edom region. 18 King Huram (from Tsor/Tyre) sent ships to him as his servants who knew the sea well. Then Shelomoh’s men boarded the ships and sailed with them to Ofir, where they obtained fifteen tonnes of gold and brought it back to King Shelomoh.

9 The queen from the Sheva region had heard all about Shelomoh, and she came to Yerushalem with some hard questions. Her party included a large number of camels carrying lots of spices and gold and valuable gemstones. She came to Shelomoh and discussed everything that was on her mind with him.[ref] 2 Shelomoh responded to all her queries, and there wasn’t any subject that he wasn’t able to speak to. 3 When the queen from Sheva saw Shelomoh’s wisdom, and saw the palace that he’d built 4 and the food at his table, as well as the seating of his servants, his well-dressed ministers standing by, his cup-bearers in their uniforms, and the burnt offerings that he sacrificed at Yahweh’s temple, it took her breath away 5 and she told the king, “Everything I heard in my own country about you and you wisdom was true. 6 I didn’t believe what they reported to me until I saw it with my own eyes, and wow, the reports that I heard didn’t even cover half of the extent of your wisdom! 7 Your men are blessed, and even your servants are blessed to be able to continually stand in front of you and listen to your wisdom. 8 Let your god Yahweh be blessed—the one who delighted in you to place you on his throne as his king. Your god loved Yisrael and wanted to establish them forever, so he’s placed you over them as king—to give justice and do what is right.”

9 Then she gave the king four tonnes of gold, a very large quantity of spices, and valuable gemstones. Nobody before had ever seen such a large amount of spices as what the queen from Sheva gave to King Shelomoh.

10 (Also, King Huram’s servants working together with Shelomoh’s servants brought gold from Ofir, as well as algum wood and valuable gemstones. 11 The king made the algum wood into staircases for Yahweh’s temple and for the king’s palace, and into lyres and harps for the singers. Nothing like that had been seen before in Yehudah.)

12 King Shelomoh gave the queen from Sheba everything she wanted—more than what she’d brought to the king. Then she departed with her servants and went back to her country.

13 In one year, Shelomoh received about twenty tonnes of gold, 14 as well as what the merchants and traders brought in. All the Arabian kings, and all the local governors brought gold and silver to Shelomoh. 15 King Shelomoh made two hundred large shields of beaten gold—six hundred gold coins worth of beaten gold went into each shield. 16 Also, three hundred smaller shields—three hundred gold coins worth of beaten gold went into each shield.

17 Then the king made a large, ivory throne and overlaid it with pure gold. 18 There were six steps leading up to the throne, and a gold footstool was attached to it. It had armrests on each side, with a lion statue beside each armrest. 19 There were twelve statues of lions standing on the six steps—one at each end of each step. No throne like that existed in any other kingdom.

20 All of King Shelomoh’s cups were made of gold, and all the various dishes in ‘The House of the Lebanon Forest’ were refined gold. Nothing was made of silver, because in the time of Shelomoh’s reign, silver wasn’t considered valuable 21 because the king’s ships went to Tarshish with Huram’s servants. Every three years the fleet would bring back gold, silver, ivory, and apes and baboons, 22 so King Shelomoh became greater than all the other kings in the world, both in wealth and in wisdom.

23 Kings from all over the world wanted to come and listen to the wisdom that God had given Shelomoh. 24 Each of them would bring gifts: gold and silver items, clothes, myrrh and spices, horses and mules. (This continued year after year.)

25 Solomon had four thousand stalls for horses and chariots, and twelve thousand horsemen, and he kept some in the chariot cities and some close by in Yerushalem.[ref] 26 He ended up ruling over all the kings in the region from the Euphrates River in the northeast, west to the area of the Philistines, and south down to the Egyptian border.[ref] 27 The king made silver as common as stones, and cedar timber as common as the sycamore fig trees in the lowlands. 28 Horses were brought in from Egpyt (Heb. Mitsrayim) for Shelomoh and from other countries as well.[ref]

29 Everything else that Shelomoh did, from the beginning to the end, was written down by the prophet Natan, and the prophecy by Ahiyah (from Shiloh) and the prophet Iddo’s visions about Nevat’s son Yaraveam (Jeroboam) were also written down. 30 Shelomoh reigned from Yerushalem over all Yisrael for forty years, 31 then he died and was buried with his father in ‘The City of David’, and his son Rehaveam (Rehoboam) replaced him as king.

10 Then Rehaveam (Rehoboam) went to Shekem where all Yisrael had gathered for his coronation. 2 Meanwhile, Nevat’s son Yaraveam (Jeroboam) had fled from King Shelomoh and was down in Egypt, but when he heard about the coming coronation, he returned from Egypt. 3 So the leaders of the northern tribes summoned Yaraveam, and he went with them to speak to Shelomoh’s son Rehaveam and all Yisrael, saying, 4 “Your father made us work very hard, but now, lighten the demands that your father made on us, and we’ll serve you.”

5 “Come back to me in three days.” Rehaveam answered, so the people departed.

6 Then King Rehaveam consulted with the older men who’d advised his father Shelomoh when he was still alive, asking them, “How do you all advise me to answer the people?”

7 “If you are good to those people and do things that please them, and speak kindly to them,” they answered, “then they’ll serve you for a long time to come.”

8 However, Rehaveam rejected their advice, and consulted some of the young men there who’d grown up with him. 9 “How would you guys suggest that I answer the people who’ve asked me to lighten the burden on them from the days of my father?”

10 “Those people tell you that your father was hard on them and that you should lighten their load,” his contemporaries advised him. “But you should tell that that your little finger is thicker than your father’s waist, 11 and that whereas he required them to contribute, you’ll be even more demanding. Tell them that he might have whipped you with leather whips, but that you’ll whip them with scorpions!”

12 So Yaraveam and all the people returned to King Rehaveam on the third day as he’d prearranged, 13 and ignoring the advice of the older men, the king answered the people harshly. 14 He passed on the suggestion of the younger men, telling the people, “I’ll make your burden even heavier. My father rebuked you all with whips, but I’ll do it with scorpions.” 15 So the king took no notice of the people’s request, because it was God turning events around so that what Yahweh had said to Yaraveam (Nevat’s son) through Ahiyah (from Shiloh), would come to pass.

16 When all the Israelis saw that the king hadn’t listened to them, and the people from the northern tribes answered the king, “What did David have to do with us anyway? We had nothing to gain from Yeshay’s (Jesse’s) son. You might as well all head home, and then they’ll see what happened to David’s dynasty.”

So they all went home[ref] 17 and Rehaveam ended up only ruling over the Israelis living in the Yehudah region.

18 King Rehaveam (still in Shekem) sent out Hadoram, his supervisor of the forced labourers, but the Israelis hurled stones at him and killed him. When he heard about that, King Rehoboam forced his way into his chariot and escaped to Yerushalem, 19 and northern Yisrael has rebelled against David’s descendants until today.