Solomon & The Temple

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.)