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 ontacted 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 themost 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.”