The Bible (Old and New Testaments)

And he saith, 'Blessed [is] Jehovah, God of Israel, who spake by His mouth with David my father, and by His hand hath fulfilled [it], saying,

From the day that I brought out My people, even Israel, from Egypt, I have not fixed on a city out of all the tribes of Israel, to build a house for My name being there; and I fix on David to be over My people Israel.

'And it is with the heart of David my father to build a house for the name of Jehovah, God of Israel,

and Jehovah saith unto David my father, Because that it hath been with thy heart to build a house for My name, thou hast done well that it hath been with thy heart;

only, thou dost not build the house, but thy son who is coming out from thy loins, he doth build the house for My name.

'And Jehovah doth establish His word which He spake, and I am risen up instead of David my father, and sit on the throne of Israel, as Jehovah spake, and build the house for the name of Jehovah, God of Israel,

and set there a place for the ark, where [is] the covenant of Jehovah which He made with our fathers in His bringing them out from the land of Egypt.'

And Solomon standeth before the altar of Jehovah, over-against all the assembly of Israel, and spreadeth his hands towards the heavens,

and saith, 'Jehovah, God of Israel, there is not a God like Thee, in the heavens above, and on the earth beneath, keeping the covenant and the kindness for Thy servants, those walking before Thee with all their heart,

who hast kept for Thy servant David my father that which Thou spakest to him; yea, Thou speakest with Thy mouth, and with Thy hand hast fulfilled [it], as [at] this day.

'And now, Jehovah, God of Israel, keep for Thy servant David my father that which Thou spakest to him, saying, There is not cut off to thee a man from before Me, sitting on the throne of Israel — only, if thy sons watch their way, to walk before Me as thou hast walked before Me.

'And now, O God of Israel, let it be established, I pray Thee, Thy word which Thou hast spoken to Thy servant, David my father.

But, is it true? — God dwelleth on the earth! lo, the heavens, and the heavens of the heavens do not contain Thee, how much less this house which I have builded!

'Then thou hast turned unto the prayer of Thy servant, and unto his supplication, O Jehovah my God, to hearken unto the cry and unto the prayer which Thy servant is praying before Thee to-day,

for Thine eyes being open towards this house night and day, towards the place of which Thou hast said, My Name is there; to hearken unto the prayer which Thy servant prayeth towards this place.

'Then Thou hast hearkened unto the supplication of Thy servant, and of Thy people Israel, which they pray towards this place; yea, Thou dost hearken in the place of Thy dwelling, in the heavens — and Thou hast hearkened, and hast forgiven,

that which a man sinneth against his neighbour, and he hath lifted up upon him an oath to cause him to swear, and the oath hath come in before Thine altar in this house,

then Thou dost hear in the heavens, and hast done, and hast judged Thy servants, to declare wicked the wicked, to put his way on his head, and to declare righteous the righteous, to give him according to his righteousness.

'In Thy people Israel being smitten before an enemy, because they sin against Thee, and they have turned back unto Thee, and have confessed Thy name, and prayed, and made supplication unto Thee in this house,

then thou dost hear in the heavens, and hast forgiven the sin of Thy people Israel, and brought them back unto the ground that Thou gavest to their fathers.

'In the heavens being restrained, and there is no rain, because they sin against Thee, and they have prayed towards this place, and confessed Thy name, and from their sin turn back, for Thou dost afflict them,

then Thou dost hear in the heavens, and hast forgiven the sin of Thy servants, and of Thy people Israel, for Thou directest them the good way in which they go, and hast given rain on Thy land which Thou hast given to Thy people for inheritance.

'Famine — when it is in the land; pestilence — when it is; blasting, mildew, locust; caterpillar — when it is; when its enemy hath distressed it in the land [in] its gates, any plague, any sickness, —

any prayer, any supplication that [is] of any man of all Thy people Israel, who know each the plague of his own heart, and hath spread his hands towards this house,

then Thou dost hear in the heavens, the settled place of Thy dwelling, and hast forgiven, and hast done, and hast given to each according to all his ways, whose heart Thou knowest, (for Thou hast known — Thyself alone — the heart of all the sons of man),

so that they fear Thee all the days that they are living on the face of the ground that Thou hast given to our fathers.

'And also, unto the stranger who is not of Thy people Israel, and hath come from a land afar off for Thy name's sake —

(for they hear of Thy great name, and of Thy strong hand, and of Thy stretched-out arm) — and he hath come in and prayed towards this house,

Thou dost hear in the heavens, the settled place of Thy dwelling, and hast done according to all that the stranger calleth unto Thee for, in order that all the peoples of the earth may know Thy name, to fear Thee like Thy people Israel, and to know that Thy name hath been called on this house which I have builded.

'When Thy people doth go out to battle against its enemy, in the way that Thou dost send them, and they have prayed unto Jehovah the way of the city which thou hast fixed on, and of the house which I have builded for Thy name;

then Thou hast heard in the heavens their prayer and their supplication, and hast maintained their cause.

'When they sin against Thee (for there is not a man who sinneth not), and Thou hast been angry with them, and hast given them up before an enemy, and they have taken captive their captivity unto the land of the enemy far off or near;

and they have turned [it] back unto their heart in the land whither they have been taken captive, and have turned back, and made supplication unto Thee, in the land of their captors, saying, We have sinned and done perversely — we have done wickedly;

yea, they have turned back unto Thee, with all their heart, and with all their soul, in the land of their enemies who have taken them captive, and have prayed unto Thee the way of their land, which Thou gavest to their fathers, the city which Thou hast chosen, and the house which I have builded for Thy name:

'Then Thou hast heard in the heavens, the settled place of Thy dwelling, their prayer and their supplication, and hast maintained their cause,

and hast forgiven Thy people who have sinned against Thee, even all their transgressions which they have transgressed against Thee, and hast given them mercies before their captors, and they have had mercy [on] them —

(for Thy people and Thy inheritance [are] they, whom Thou didst bring out of Egypt, out of the midst of the furnace of iron) —

for Thine eyes being open unto the supplication of Thy servant, and unto the supplication of Thy people Israel, to hearken unto them in all they call unto Thee for;

for Thou hast separated them to Thyself for an inheritance, out of all the peoples of the earth, as Thou didst speak by the hand of Moses Thy servant, in Thy bringing out our fathers from Egypt, O Lord Jehovah.'

And it cometh to pass, at Solomon's finishing to pray unto Jehovah all this prayer and supplication, he hath risen from before the altar of Jehovah, from bending on his knees, and his hands spread out to the heavens,

and he standeth and blesseth all the assembly of Israel [with] a loud voice, saying,

'Blessed [is] Jehovah who hath given rest to His people Israel, according to all that He hath spoken; there hath not fallen one word of all His good word, which He spake by the hand of Moses his servant.

'Jehovah our God is with us as He hath been with our fathers; He doth not forsake us nor leave us;

to incline our heart unto Himself, to walk in all His ways, and to keep His commands, and His statutes, and His judgments, which He commanded our fathers;

and these my words with which I have made supplication before Jehovah, are near unto Jehovah our God by day and by night, to maintain the cause of His servant, and the cause of His people Israel, the matter of a day in its day;

for all the peoples of the earth knowing that Jehovah, He [is] God; there is none else;

and your heart hath been perfect with Jehovah our God, to walk in His statutes, and to keep His commands, as [at] this day.'

And the king and all Israel with him are sacrificing a sacrifice before Jehovah;

and Solomon sacrificeth the sacrifice of peace-offerings, which he hath sacrificed to Jehovah, oxen, twenty and two thousand, and sheep, a hundred and twenty thousand; and the king and all the sons of Israel dedicate the house of Jehovah.

On that day hath the king sanctified the middle of the court that [is] before the house of Jehovah, for he hath made there the burnt-offering, and the present, and the fat of the peace-offerings; for the altar of brass that [is] before Jehovah [is] too little to contain the burnt-offering, and the present, and the fat of the peace-offerings.

And Solomon maketh, at that time, the festival — and all Israel with him, a great assembly from the entering in of Hamath unto the brook of Egypt — before Jehovah our God, seven days and seven days; fourteen days.

On the eighth day he hath sent the people away, and they bless the king, and go to their tents, rejoicing and glad of heart for all the good that Jehovah hath done to David His servant, and to Israel His people.

And it cometh to pass, at Solomon's finishing to build the house of Jehovah, and the house of the king, and all the desire of Solomon that he delighted to do,

that Jehovah appeareth unto Solomon a second time, as He appeared unto him in Gibeon,

and Jehovah saith unto him, 'I have heard thy prayer and thy supplication with which thou hast made supplication before Me; I have hallowed this house that thou hast built to put My name there — unto the age, and Mine eyes and My heart have been there all the days.

'And thou — if thou dost walk before Me as David thy father walked, in simplicity of heart, and in uprightness, to do according to all that I have commanded thee — My statutes and My judgments thou dost keep —

then I have established the throne of thy kingdom over Israel — to the age, as I spake unto David thy father, saying, There is not cut off to thee a man from [being] on the throne of Israel.

'If ye at all turn back — you and your sons — from after Me, and keep not My commands — My statutes, that I have set before you, and ye have gone and served other gods, and bowed yourselves to them,

then I have cut off Israel from the face of the ground that I have given to them, and the house that I have hallowed for My name I send away from My presence, and Israel hath been for a simile and for a byword among all the peoples;

as to this house, [that] is high, every one passing by it is astonished, and hath hissed, and they have said, Wherefore hath Jehovah done thus to this land and to this house?

and they have said, Because that they have forsaken Jehovah their God, who brought out their fathers from the land of Egypt, and they lay hold on other gods, and bow themselves to them, and serve them; therefore hath Jehovah brought in upon them all this evil.'

And it cometh to pass, at the end of twenty years, that Solomon hath built the two houses, the house of Jehovah, and the house of the king.

Hiram king of Tyre hath assisted Solomon with cedar-trees, and with fir-trees, and with gold, according to all his desire; then doth king Solomon give to Hiram twenty cities in the land of Galilee.

And Hiram cometh out from Tyre to see the cities that Solomon hath given to him, and they have not been right in his eyes,

and he saith, 'What [are] these cities that thou hast given to me, my brother?' and one calleth them the land of Cabul unto this day.

And Hiram sendeth to the king a hundred and twenty talents of gold.

And this [is] the matter of the tribute that king Solomon hath lifted up, to build the house of Jehovah, and his own house, and Millo, and the wall of Jerusalem, and Hazor, and Megiddo, and Gezer,

(Pharaoh king of Egypt hath gone up and doth capture Gezer, and doth burn it with fire, and the Canaanite who is dwelling in the city he hath slain, and giveth it [with] presents to his daughter, wife of Solomon.)

And Solomon buildeth Gezer, and Beth-Horon the lower,

and Baalath, and Tadmor in the wilderness, in the land;

and all the cities of stores that king Solomon hath, and the cities of the chariots, and the cities of the horsemen, and the desire of Solomon that he desired to build in Jerusalem, and in Lebanon, and in all the land of his dominion.

The whole of the people that is left of the Amorite, the Hittite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite, who [are] not of the sons of Israel —

their sons who are left behind them in the land, whom the sons of Israel have not been able to devote — he hath even lifted up [on] them a tribute of service unto this day.

And out of the sons of Israel Solomon hath not appointed a servant, for they [are] the men of war, and his servants, and his heads, and his captains, and the heads of his chariots, and his horsemen.

These [are] the heads of the officers who [are] over the work of Solomon, fifty and five hundred, those ruling among the people who are labouring in the work.

Only, the daughter of Pharaoh went up out of the city of David unto her house that [Solomon] built for her; then he built Millo.

And Solomon caused to ascend, three times in a year, burnt-offerings and peace-offerings on the altar that he built to Jehovah, and he perfumed it with that which [is] before Jehovah, and finished the house.

And a navy hath king Solomon made in Ezion-Geber, that is beside Eloth, on the edge of the Sea of Suph, in the land of Edom.

And Hiram sendeth in the navy his servants, shipmen knowing the sea, with servants of Solomon,

and they come in to Ophir and take thence gold, four hundred and twenty talents, and bring [it] in unto king Solomon.

And the queen of Sheba is hearing of the fame of Solomon concerning the name of Jehovah, and cometh to try him with enigmas,

and she cometh to Jerusalem, with a very great company, camels bearing spices, and very much gold, and precious stone, and she cometh unto Solomon, and speaketh unto him all that hath been with her heart.

And Solomon declareth to her all her matters — there hath not been a thing hid from the king that he hath not declared to her.

And the queen of Sheba seeth all the wisdom of Solomon, and the house that he built,

and the food of his table, and the sitting of his servants, and the standing of his ministers, and their clothing, and his butlers, and his burnt-offering that he causeth to ascend in the house of Jehovah, and there hath not been in her any more spirit.

And she saith unto the king, 'True hath been the word that I heard in my land, concerning thy matters and thy wisdom;

and I gave no credence to the words till that I have come, and my eyes see, and lo, it was not declared to me — the half; thou hast added wisdom and goodness unto the report that I heard.

O the happiness of thy men, O the happiness of thy servants — these — who are standing before thee continually, who are hearing thy wisdom!

Jehovah thy God is blessed who delighted in thee, to put thee on the throne of Israel; in Jehovah's loving Israel to the age He doth set thee for king, to do judgment and righteousness.

And she giveth to the king a hundred and twenty talents of gold, and spices very many, and precious stone; there came not like that spice any more for abundance that the queen of Sheba gave to king Solomon.

And also, the navy of Hiram that bore gold from Ophir, brought in from Ophir almug-trees very many, and precious stone;

and the king maketh the almug-trees a support for the house of Jehovah, and for the house of the king, and harps and psalteries for singers; there have not come such almug-trees, nor have there been seen [such] unto this day.

And king Solomon gave to the queen of Sheba all her desire that she asked, apart from that which he gave to her as a memorial of king Solomon, and she turneth and goeth to her land, she and her servants.

And the weight of the gold that hath come to Solomon in one year is six hundred sixty and six talents of gold,

apart from [that of] the tourists, and of the traffic of the merchants, and of all the kings of Arabia, and of the governors of the land.

And king Solomon maketh two hundred targets of alloyed gold — six hundred of gold go up on the one target;

and three hundred shields of alloyed gold — three pounds of gold go up on the one shield; and the king putteth them [in] the house of the forest of Lebanon.

And the king maketh a great throne of ivory, and overlayeth it with refined gold;

six steps hath the throne, and a round top [is] to the throne behind it, and hands [are] on this [side] and on that, unto the place of the sitting, and two lions are standing near the hands,

and twelve lions are standing there on the six steps, on this [side] and on that; it hath not been made so for any kingdom.