Solomon & The Temple

In this way he will incline our hearts toward him, so that we will live according to his ways and observe his mitzvot, laws and rulings which he ordered our fathers to obey.

May these words of mine, which I have used in my plea before ADONAI, be present with ADONAI our God day and night, so that he will uphold the cause of his servant and the cause of his people Isra'el day by day.

Then all the peoples of the earth will know that ADONAI is God; there is no other.

So be wholehearted with ADONAI our God, living by his laws and observing his mitzvot, as you are doing today."

Then the king, together with all Isra'el, offered sacrifices before ADONAI.

For the sacrifice of peace offerings which Shlomo offered to ADONAI, he offered 22,000 oxen and 120,000 sheep. Thus the king and all the people of Isra'el dedicated the house of ADONAI.

The same day, the king consecrated the center of the courtyard in front of the house of ADONAI, because he had to offer the burnt offering, the grain offering and the fat of the peace offerings there. For the bronze altar before ADONAI was too small to receive the burnt offering, the grain offering and the fat of the peace offerings.

So Shlomo celebrated the festival at that time. All Isra'el, a huge gathering [that had come all the way] from the entrance of Hamat to the Vadi [of Egypt], celebrated with him before ADONAI our God for seven days and then for seven more days - fourteen days in all.

On the eighth day he sent the people away. They blessed the king and returned to their tents full of joy and glad of heart for all the goodness ADONAI had shown to David his servant and to Isra'el his people.

After Shlomo had finished building the house of ADONAI, the royal palace and everything else he wanted to build for himself,

ADONAI appeared to Shlomo a second time, as he had appeared to him in Giv'on.

ADONAI said to him, "I have heard your prayer and your plea that you made before me: I am consecrating this house which you built and placing my name there forever; my eyes and heart will always be there.

As for you, if you will live in my presence, as did David your father, in pureness of heart and uprightness, doing everything I have ordered you to do, and observing my laws and rulings;

then I will establish the throne of your rulership over Isra'el forever, just as I promised David your father when I said, 'You will never lack a man on the throne of Isra'el.'

But if you turn away from following me, you or your children, and do not observe my mitzvot and regulations which I have set before you, and go and serve other gods, worshipping them;

then I will cut off Isra'el from the land I have given them. This house, which I consecrated for my name, I will eject from my sight; and Isra'el will become an example to avoid and an object of scorn among all peoples.

This house, now so exalted - everyone passing by will gasp in shock at the sight of it and will ask, 'Why has ADONAI done this to this land and to this house?'

But the answer will be, 'It's because they abandoned ADONAI their God, who brought their ancestors out of the land of Egypt, and took hold of other gods, worshipping and serving them; this is why ADONAI brought all these calamities on them.'"

At the end of twenty years, during which time Shlomo had built the two buildings, the house of ADONAI and the royal palace,

King Shlomo gave Hiram twenty cities in the land of the Galil (recall that Hiram the king of Tzor had supplied Shlomo with cedar and cypress logs and with all the gold Shlomo wanted).

Hiram came over from Tzor to see the cities Shlomo had given him, but he was not satisfied with them.

He said, "What kind of cities are these which you have given me, my brother?" So they have been called the land of Kabul [good for nothing] till this day.

(Hiram had sent the king four tons of gold.)

Following is the account of the forced labor levied by King Shlomo for building the house of ADONAI, his own palace, the Millo, the wall of Yerushalayim, and the cities of Hatzor, Megiddo and Gezer.

Pharaoh king of Egypt had gone up, taken Gezer, burned it to the ground and killed the Kena'ani living in the city; then he had given it as a dowry for his daughter, Shlomo's wife.