Solomon Builds the Temple

¹Four hundred and eighty years after the people of Israel left Egypt, during the fourth year of Solomon's reign over Israel, in the second month, the month of Ziv, Solomon began work on the Temple.

²Inside it was 90 feet long, 30 feet wide, and 45 feet high.

³The entrance room was 15 feet deep and 30 feet wide, as wide as the sanctuary itself.

⁴The walls of the Temple had openings in them, narrower on the outside than on the inside.

⁵Against the outside walls, on the sides and the back of the Temple, a three-storied annex was built, each story 7½ feet high.

⁶Each room in the lowest story was 7½ feet wide, in the middle story 9 feet wide, and in the top story 10½ feet wide. The Temple wall on each floor was thinner than on the floor below, so that the rooms could rest on the wall without having their beams built into it.

⁷The stones with which the Temple was built had been prepared at the quarry, so that there was no noise made by hammers, axes, or any other iron tools as the Temple was being built.

⁸The entrance to the lowest story of the annex was on the south side of the Temple, with stairs leading up to the second and third stories.

⁹So King Solomon finished building the Temple. He put in a ceiling made of beams and boards of cedar.

¹⁰The three-storied annex, each story 7½ feet high, was built against the outside walls of the Temple, and was joined to them by cedar beams.

¹¹The Lord said to Solomon,

¹²“If you obey all my laws and commands, I will do for you what I promised your father David.

¹³I will live among my people Israel in this Temple that you are building, and I will never abandon them.”

¹⁴So Solomon finished building the Temple.

The Interior Furnishings of the Temple

¹⁵The inside walls were covered with cedar panels from the floor to the ceiling, and the floor was made of pine.

¹⁶An inner room, called the Most Holy Place, was built in the rear of the Temple. It was 30 feet long and was partitioned off by cedar boards reaching from the floor to the ceiling.

¹⁷The room in front of the Most Holy Place was 60 feet long.

¹⁸The cedar panels were decorated with carvings of gourds and flowers; the whole interior was covered with cedar, so that the stones of the walls could not be seen.

¹⁹In the rear of the Temple an inner room was built, where the Lord's Covenant Box was to be placed.

²⁰This inner room was 30 feet long, 30 feet wide, and 30 feet high, all covered with pure gold. The altar was covered with cedar panels.

²¹The inside of the Temple was covered with gold, and gold chains were placed across the entrance of the inner room, which was also covered with gold.

²²The whole interior of the Temple was covered with gold, as well as the altar in the Most Holy Place.

²³Two winged creatures were made of olive wood and placed in the Most Holy Place, each one 15 feet tall.

^24-26Both were of the same size and shape. Each had two wings, each wing 7½ feet long, so that the distance from one wing tip to the other was 15 feet.

²⁷They were placed side by side in the Most Holy Place, so that two of their outstretched wings touched each other in the middle of the room, and the other two wings touched the walls.

²⁸The two winged creatures were covered with gold.

²⁹The walls of the main room and of the inner room were all decorated with carved figures of winged creatures, palm trees, and flowers.

³⁰Even the floor was covered with gold.

³¹A double door made of olive wood was set in place at the entrance of the Most Holy Place; the top of the doorway was a pointed arch.

³²The doors were decorated with carved figures of winged creatures, palm trees, and flowers. The doors, the winged creatures, and the palm trees were covered with gold.

³³For the entrance to the main room a rectangular doorframe of olive wood was made.

³⁴There were two folding doors made of pine

³⁵and decorated with carved figures of winged creatures, palm trees, and flowers, which were evenly covered with gold.

³⁶An inner court was built in front of the Temple, enclosed with walls which had one layer of cedar beams for every three layers of stone.

³⁷The foundation of the Temple was laid in the second month, the month of Ziv, in the fourth year of Solomon's reign.

³⁸In the eighth month, the month of Bul, in the eleventh year of Solomon's reign, the Temple was completely finished exactly as it had been planned. It had taken Solomon seven years to build it.

The Visit of the Queen of Sheba

¹The queen of Sheba heard of King Solomon's fame, and she traveled to Jerusalem to test him with difficult questions. She brought with her a large group of attendants, as well as camels loaded with spices, jewels, and a large amount of gold. When she and Solomon met, she asked him all the questions that she could think of.

²He answered them all; there was nothing too difficult for him to explain.

³The queen of Sheba heard Solomon's wisdom and saw the palace he had built.

⁴She saw the food that was served at his table, the living quarters for his officials, the organization of his palace staff and the uniforms they wore, the clothing of the servants who waited on him at feasts, and the sacrifices he offered in the Temple. It left her breathless and amazed.

⁵She said to the king, “What I heard in my own country about you and your wisdom is true!

⁶I did not believe what they told me until I came and saw for myself. I had not heard of even half your wisdom. You are even wiser than people say.

⁷How fortunate are those who serve you, who are always in your presence and are privileged to hear your wise sayings!

⁸Praise the Lord your God! He has shown how pleased he is with you by making you king, to rule in his name. Because he loves his people Israel and wants to preserve them forever, he has made you their king so that you can maintain law and justice.”

⁹She presented to King Solomon the gifts she had brought: almost five tons of gold and a very large amount of spices and jewels. There have never been any other spices as fine as those that the queen of Sheba gave to King Solomon.

¹⁰(The sailors of King Hiram and of King Solomon who brought gold from Ophir also brought juniper wood and jewels.

¹¹Solomon used the wood to make stairs for the Temple and for his palace, and to make harps and lyres for the musicians. Nothing like that had ever been seen before in the land of Judah.)

¹²King Solomon gave the queen of Sheba everything she asked for. This was in addition to what he gave her in exchange for the gifts she brought to him. Then she and her attendants returned to the land of Sheba.

King Solomon's Wealth

¹³Every year King Solomon received over twenty-five tons of gold,

¹⁴in addition to the taxes paid by the traders and merchants. The kings of Arabia and the governors of the Israelite districts also brought him silver and gold.

¹⁵Solomon made two hundred large shields, each of which was covered with about fifteen pounds of beaten gold,

¹⁶and three hundred smaller shields, each covered with about eight pounds of beaten gold. He had them all placed in the Hall of the Forest of Lebanon.

¹⁷The king also had a large throne made. Part of it was covered with ivory and the rest of it was covered with pure gold.

¹⁸Six steps led up to the throne, and there was a footstool attached to it, covered with gold. There were arms on each side of the throne, and the figure of a lion stood at each side.

¹⁹Twelve figures of lions were on the steps, one at either end of each step. No throne like this had ever existed in any other kingdom.

²⁰All of King Solomon's drinking cups were made of gold, and all the utensils in the Hall of the Forest of Lebanon were of pure gold. Silver was not considered valuable in Solomon's day.

²¹He had a fleet of ocean-going ships sailing with King Hiram's fleet. Every three years his fleet would return, bringing gold, silver, ivory, apes, and monkeys.

²²King Solomon was richer and wiser than any other king in the world.

²³They all consulted him, to hear the wisdom that God had given him.

²⁴Each of them brought Solomon gifts—articles of silver and gold, robes, weapons, spices, horses, and mules. This continued year after year.

²⁵King Solomon also had four thousand stalls for his chariots and horses, and had twelve thousand cavalry horses. Some of them he kept in Jerusalem and the rest he stationed in various other cities.

²⁶He was supreme ruler of all the kings in the territory from the Euphrates River to Philistia and the Egyptian border.

²⁷During his reign silver was as common in Jerusalem as stone, and cedar was as plentiful as ordinary sycamore in the foothills of Judah.

²⁸Solomon imported horses from Musri and from every other country.

Summary of Solomon's Reign

²⁹The rest of the history of Solomon from beginning to end is recorded in The History of Nathan the Prophet, in The Prophecy of Ahijah of Shiloh, and in The Visions of Iddo the Prophet, which also deal with the reign of King Jeroboam of Israel.

³⁰Solomon ruled in Jerusalem over all Israel for forty years.

³¹He died and was buried in David's City, and his son Rehoboam succeeded him as king.

Evening Prayer for Help

¹Answer me when I pray, O God, my defender! When I was in trouble, you helped me. Be kind to me now and hear my prayer.

²How long will you people insult me? How long will you love what is worthless and go after what is false?

³Remember that the Lord has chosen the righteous for his own, and he hears me when I call to him.

⁴Tremble with fear and stop sinning; think deeply about this, when you lie in silence on your beds.

⁵Offer the right sacrifices to the Lord, and put your trust in him.

⁶There are many who pray: “Give us more blessings, O Lord. Look on us with kindness!”

⁷But the joy that you have given me is more than they will ever have with all their grain and wine.

⁸When I lie down, I go to sleep in peace; you alone, O Lord, keep me perfectly safe.