ARKCODEX
1 Kings
Ch. 9
God Appears to Solomon Again
1After King Solomon had finished building the Temple and the palace and everything else he wanted to build,
2the Lord appeared to him again, as he had in Gibeon.
3The Lord said to him, “I have heard your prayer. I consecrate this Temple which you have built as the place where I shall be worshiped forever. I will watch over it and protect it for all time.
4If you will serve me in honesty and integrity, as your father David did, and if you obey my laws and do everything I have commanded you,
5I will keep the promise I made to your father David when I told him that Israel would always be ruled by his descendants.
6But if you or your descendants stop following me, disobey the laws and commands I have given you, and worship other gods,
7then I will remove my people Israel from the land that I have given them. I will also abandon this Temple which I have consecrated as the place where I am to be worshiped. People everywhere will ridicule Israel and treat her with contempt.
8This Temple will become a pile of ruins, and everyone who passes by will be shocked and amazed. ‘Why did the Lord do this to this land and this Temple?’ they will ask.
9People will answer, ‘It is because they abandoned the Lord their God, who brought their ancestors out of Egypt. They gave their allegiance to other gods and worshiped them. That is why the Lord has brought this disaster on them.’”
Solomon's Agreement with Hiram
10It took Solomon twenty years to build the Temple and his palace.
11King Hiram of Tyre had provided him with all the cedar and pine and with all the gold he wanted for this work. After it was finished, King Solomon gave Hiram twenty towns in the region of Galilee.
12Hiram went to see them, and he did not like them.
13So he said to Solomon, “So these, my brother, are the towns you have given me!” For this reason the area is still called Cabul.
14Hiram had sent Solomon almost five tons of gold.
Further Achievements of Solomon
15King Solomon used forced labor to build the Temple and the palace, to fill in land on the east side of the city, and to build the city wall. He also used it to rebuild the cities of Hazor, Megiddo, and Gezer.
16(The king of Egypt had attacked Gezer and captured it, killing its inhabitants and setting fire to the city. Then he gave it as a wedding present to his daughter when she married Solomon,
17and Solomon rebuilt it.) Using his forced labor, Solomon also rebuilt Lower Beth Horon,
18Baalath, Tamar in the wilderness of Judah,
19the cities where his supplies were kept, the cities for his horses and chariots, and everything else he wanted to build in Jerusalem, in Lebanon, and elsewhere in his kingdom.
20-21For his forced labor Solomon used the descendants of the people of Canaan whom the Israelites had not killed when they took possession of their land. These included Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites, whose descendants continue to be slaves down to the present time.
22Solomon did not make slaves of Israelites; they served as his soldiers, officers, commanders, chariot captains, and cavalry.
23There were 550 officials in charge of the forced labor working on Solomon's various building projects.
24Solomon filled in the land on the east side of the city, after his wife, the daughter of the king of Egypt, had moved from David's City to the palace Solomon built for her.
25Three times a year Solomon offered burnt offerings and fellowship offerings on the altar he had built to the Lord. He also burned incense to the Lord. And so he finished building the Temple.
26King Solomon also built a fleet of ships at Eziongeber, which is near Elath on the shore of the Gulf of Aqaba, in the land of Edom.
27King Hiram sent some experienced sailors from his fleet to serve with Solomon's men.
28They sailed to the land of Ophir and brought back to Solomon about sixteen tons of gold.
Ecclesiastes
Ch. 5–6
Don't Make Rash Promises
1Be careful about going to the Temple. It is better to go there to learn than to offer sacrifices like foolish people who don't know right from wrong.
2Think before you speak, and don't make any rash promises to God. He is in heaven and you are on earth, so don't say any more than you have to.
3The more you worry, the more likely you are to have bad dreams, and the more you talk, the more likely you are to say something foolish.
4So when you make a promise to God, keep it as quickly as possible. He has no use for a fool. Do what you promise to do.
5Better not to promise at all than to make a promise and not keep it.
6Don't let your own words lead you into sin, so that you have to tell God's priest that you didn't mean it. Why make God angry with you? Why let him destroy what you have worked for?
7No matter how much you dream, how much useless work you do, or how much you talk, you must still stand in awe of God.
Life Is Useless
8Don't be surprised when you see that the government oppresses the poor and denies them justice and their rights. Every official is protected by someone higher, and both are protected by still higher officials.
9Even a king depends on the harvest.
10If you love money, you will never be satisfied; if you long to be rich, you will never get all you want. It is useless.
11The richer you are, the more mouths you have to feed. All you gain is the knowledge that you are rich.
12Workers may or may not have enough to eat, but at least they can get a good night's sleep. The rich, however, have so much that they stay awake worrying.
13Here is a terrible thing that I have seen in this world: people save up their money for a time when they may need it,
14and then lose it all in some bad deal and end up with nothing left to pass on to their children.
15We leave this world just as we entered it—with nothing. In spite of all our work there is nothing we can take with us.
16It isn't right! We go just as we came. We labor, trying to catch the wind, and what do we get?
17We get to live our lives in darkness and grief, worried, angry, and sick.
18Here is what I have found out: the best thing we can do is eat and drink and enjoy what we have worked for during the short life that God has given us; this is our fate.
19If God gives us wealth and property and lets us enjoy them, we should be grateful and enjoy what we have worked for. It is a gift from God.
20Since God has allowed us to be happy, we will not worry too much about how short life is.
Ecclesiastes 6
1I have noticed that in this world a serious injustice is done.
2God will give us wealth, honor, and property, yes, everything we want, but then will not let us enjoy it. Some stranger will enjoy it instead. It is useless, and it just isn't right.
3We may have a hundred children and live a long time, but no matter how long we live, if we do not get our share of happiness and do not receive a decent burial, then I say that a baby born dead is better off.
4It does that baby no good to be born; it disappears into darkness, where it is forgotten.
5It never sees the light of day or knows what life is like, but at least it has found rest—
6more so than the man who never enjoys life, though he may live two thousand years. After all, both of them are going to the same place.
7We do all our work just to get something to eat, but we never have enough.
8How are the wise better off than fools? What good does it do the poor to know how to face life?
9It is useless; it is like chasing the wind. It is better to be satisfied with what you have than to be always wanting something else.
10Everything that happens was already determined long ago, and we all know that you cannot argue with someone who is stronger than you.
11The longer you argue, the more useless it is, and you are no better off.
12How can anyone know what is best for us in this short, useless life of ours—a life that passes like a shadow? How can we know what will happen in the world after we die?
Psalms
Ch. 7
A Prayer for Justice
1O Lord, my God, I come to you for protection; rescue me and save me from all who pursue me,
2or else like a lion they will carry me off where no one can save me, and there they will tear me to pieces.
3-4O Lord, my God, if I have wronged anyone, if I have betrayed a friend or without cause done violence to my enemy— if I have done any of these things—
5then let my enemies pursue me and catch me, let them cut me down and kill me and leave me lifeless on the ground!
6Rise in your anger, O Lord! Stand up against the fury of my enemies; rouse yourself and help me! Justice is what you demand,
7so bring together all the peoples around you, and rule over them from above.
8You are the judge of all people. Judge in my favor, O Lord; you know that I am innocent.
9You are a righteous God and judge our thoughts and desires. Stop the wickedness of evildoers and reward those who are good.
10God is my protector; he saves those who obey him.
11God is a righteous judge and always condemns the wicked.
12If they do not change their ways, God will sharpen his sword. He bends his bow and makes it ready;
13he takes up his deadly weapons and aims his burning arrows.
14See how wicked people think up evil; they plan trouble and practice deception.
15But in the traps they set for others, they themselves get caught.
16So they are punished by their own evil and are hurt by their own violence.
17I thank the Lord for his justice; I sing praises to the Lord, the Most High.