Holman Christian Standard Bible (103 page)

7
 Solomon had 12 deputies for all Israel. They provided food for the king and his household; each one made provision for one month out of the year. 
8
 These were their names:

There was one deputy in the land of Judah. 

Solomon's Provisions

20
 Judah and Israel were as numerous as the sand by the sea; they were eating, drinking, and rejoicing.
21
 Solomon ruled over all the kingdoms from the Euphrates River to the land of the Philistines and as far as the border of Egypt. They offered tribute and served Solomon all the days of his life. 

22
 Solomon's provisions for one day were 150 bushels of fine flour and 300 bushels of meal,
23
 10 fattened oxen, 20 range oxen, and 100 sheep, besides deer, gazelles, roebucks, and pen-fed poultry,
24
 for he had dominion over everything west of the Euphrates from Tiphsah to Gaza and over all the kings west of the Euphrates. He had peace on all his surrounding borders.
25
 Throughout Solomon's reign, Judah and Israel lived in safety from Dan to Beer-sheba, each man under his own vine and his own fig tree. 
26
 Solomon had 40,000 stalls of horses for his chariots, and 12,000 horsemen. 
27
 Each of those deputies for a month in turn provided food for King Solomon and for everyone who came to King Solomon's table. They neglected nothing.
28
 Each man brought the barley and the straw for the chariot teams and the other horses to the required place according to his assignment. 

Solomon's Wisdom and Literary Gifts

29
 God gave Solomon wisdom, very great insight, and understanding as vast as the sand on the seashore.
30
 Solomon's wisdom was greater than the wisdom of all the people of the East, greater than all the wisdom of Egypt. 
31
 He was wiser than anyone  — wiser than Ethan the Ezrahite, and Heman, Calcol, and Darda, sons of Mahol. His reputation extended to all the surrounding nations. 

32
 Solomon composed 3,000 proverbs, and his songs numbered 1,005. 
33
 He described trees, from the cedar in Lebanon to the hyssop growing out of the wall. He also taught about animals, birds, reptiles, and fish.
34
 People came from everywhere, sent by every king on earth who had heard of his wisdom, to listen to Solomon's wisdom. 

1 Kings

Chapter 5 

Hiram's Building Materials

1
Hiram king of Tyre sent his servants to Solomon when he heard that he had been anointed king in his father's place, for Hiram had always been friends with David. 

2
 Solomon sent this message to Hiram:
3
 “You know my father David was not able to build a temple for the name of
•Yahweh
his God. This was because of the warfare all around him until the
Lord
put his enemies under his feet. 
4
 The
Lord
my God has now given me rest all around; there is no enemy or crisis. 
5
 So I plan to build a temple for the name of Yahweh my God, according to what the
Lord
promised my father David: ‘I will put your son on your throne in your place, and he will build the temple for My name.' 

6
 “Therefore, command that cedars from Lebanon be cut down for me. My servants will be with your servants, and I will pay your servants' wages according to whatever you say, for you know that not a man among us knows how to cut timber like the Sidonians.” 

7
 When Hiram heard Solomon's words, he greatly rejoiced and said, “May the
Lord
be praised today! He has given David a wise son to be over this great people! ”
8
 Then Hiram sent a reply to Solomon, saying, “I have heard your message; I will do everything you want regarding the cedar and cypress timber.
9
 My servants will bring the logs down from Lebanon to the sea, and I will make them into rafts to go by sea to the place you indicate. I will break them apart there, and you can take them away. You then can meet my needs by providing my household with food.” 

10
 So Hiram provided Solomon with all the cedar and cypress timber he wanted,
11
 and Solomon provided Hiram with 100,000 bushels of wheat as food for his household and 110,000 gallons of oil from crushed olives. Solomon did this for Hiram year after year.

12
 The
Lord
gave Solomon wisdom, as He had promised him. There was peace between Hiram and Solomon, and the two of them made a treaty. 

Solomon's Work Force

13
 Then King Solomon drafted forced laborers from all Israel; the labor force numbered 30,000 men.
14
 He sent 10,000 to Lebanon each month in shifts; one month they were in Lebanon, two months they were at home. Adoniram was in charge of the forced labor.
15
 Solomon had 70,000 porters and 80,000 stonecutters in the mountains, 
16
 not including his 3,300 deputies in charge of the work. They ruled over the people doing the work.
17
 The king commanded them to quarry large, costly stones to lay the foundation of the temple with dressed stones. 
18
 So Solomon's builders and Hiram's builders, along with the Gebalites, quarried the stone and prepared the timber and stone for the temple's construction.

1 Kings

Building the Temple

6
Solomon began to build the temple for the
Lord
in the four hundred eightieth year after the Israelites came out of the land of Egypt, in the fourth year of his reign over Israel, in the second month, in the month of Ziv.
2
 The temple that King Solomon built for the
Lord
 was 90 feet long, 30 feet wide, and 45 feet high. 
3
 The portico in front of the temple sanctuary was 30 feet long extending across the temple's width, and 15 feet deep in front of the temple. 
4
 He also made windows with beveled frames for the temple. 

5
 He then built a chambered structure along the temple wall, encircling the walls of the temple, that is, the sanctuary and the inner sanctuary. And he made side chambers all around. 
6
 The lowest chamber was 7 
¹
/
₂
feet wide, the middle was nine feet wide, and the third was 10 
¹
/
₂
feet wide. He also provided offset ledges for the temple all around the outside so that nothing would be inserted into the temple walls.
7
 The temple's construction used finished stones cut at the quarry so that no hammer, chisel, or any iron tool was heard in the temple while it was being built. 

8
 The door for the lowest side chamber was on the right side of the temple. They went up a stairway to the middle chamber, and from the middle to the third.
9
 When he finished building the temple, he paneled it with boards and planks of cedar.
10
 He built the chambers along the entire temple, joined to the temple with cedar beams; each story was 7 
¹
/
₂
feet high.

11
 The word of the
Lord
came to Solomon: 
12
 “As for this temple you are building — if you walk in My statutes, observe My ordinances, and keep all My commands by walking in them, I will fulfill My promise to you, which I made to your father David. 
13
 I will live among the Israelites and not abandon My people Israel.” 

14
 When Solomon finished building the temple,
15
 he paneled the interior temple walls with cedar boards; from the temple floor to the surface of the ceiling he overlaid the interior with wood. He also overlaid the floor with cypress boards. 
16
 Then he lined 30 feet of the rear of the temple with cedar boards from the floor to the surface of the ceiling, and he built the interior as an inner sanctuary, the most holy place. 
17
 The temple, that is, the sanctuary in front of the most holy place, was 60 feet long.
18
 The cedar paneling inside the temple was carved with ornamental gourds and flower blossoms. Everything was cedar; not a stone could be seen.

19
 He prepared the inner sanctuary inside the temple to put the ark of the
Lord
's covenant there.
20
 The interior of the sanctuary was 30 feet long, 30 feet wide, and 30 feet high; he overlaid it with pure gold. He also overlaid the cedar altar.
21
 Next, Solomon overlaid the interior of the temple with pure gold, and he hung gold chains across the front of the inner sanctuary and overlaid it with gold.
22
 So he added the gold overlay to the entire temple until everything was completely finished, including the entire altar that belongs to the inner sanctuary.

23
 In the inner sanctuary he made two
•cherubim
 15 feet high out of olive wood.
24
 One wing of the first cherub was 7 
¹
/
₂
feet long, and the other wing was 7 
¹
/
₂
feet long. The wingspan was 15 feet from tip to tip.
25
 The second cherub also was 15 feet; both cherubim had the same size and shape.
26
 The first cherub's height was 15 feet and so was the second cherub's.
27
 Then he put the cherubim inside the inner temple. Since their wings were spread out, the first one's wing touched one wall while the second cherub's wing touched the other wall, and in the middle of the temple their wings were touching wing to wing. 
28
 He also overlaid the cherubim with gold.

29
 He carved all the surrounding temple walls with carved engravings — cherubim, palm trees and flower blossoms — in both the inner and outer sanctuaries.
30
 He overlaid the temple floor with gold in both the inner and outer sanctuaries.

31
 For the entrance of the inner sanctuary, he made olive wood doors. The pillars of the doorposts were five-sided. 
32
 The two doors were made of olive wood. He carved cherubim, palm trees, and flower blossoms on them and overlaid them with gold, hammering gold over the cherubim and palm trees.
33
 In the same way, he made four-sided olive wood doorposts for the sanctuary entrance.
34
 The two doors were made of cypress wood; the first door had two folding sides, and the second door had two folding panels.
35
 He carved cherubim, palm trees, and flower blossoms on them and overlaid them with gold applied evenly over the carving.
36
 He built the inner courtyard with three rows of dressed stone and a row of trimmed cedar beams.

37
 The foundation of the
Lord
's temple was laid in Solomon's fourth year in the month of Ziv.
38
 In his eleventh year in the eighth month, in the month of Bul, the temple was completed in every detail and according to every specification. So he built it in seven years. 

1 Kings

Solomon's Palace Complex

7
Solomon completed his entire palace complex after 13 years of construction. 
2
 He built the House of the Forest of Lebanon. It was 150 feet long, 75 feet wide, and 45 feet high on four rows of cedar pillars, with cedar beams on top of the pillars.
3
 It was paneled above with cedar at the top of the chambers that rested on 45 pillars, 15 per row.
4
 There were three rows of window frames, facing each other in three tiers.
5
 All the doors and doorposts had rectangular frames, the openings facing each other in three tiers. 
6
 He made the hall of pillars 75 feet long and 45 feet wide. A portico was in front of the pillars, and a canopy with pillars was in front of them.
7
 He made the Hall of the Throne where he would judge  — the Hall of Judgment. It was paneled with cedar from the floor to the rafters. 
8
 Solomon's own palace where he would live, in the other courtyard behind the hall, was of similar construction. And he made a house like this hall for Pharaoh's daughter, his wife.