Day 188 of 730

¹It happened at the end of twenty years, in which Solomon had built the house of the Lord, and his own house,

²that the cities which Huram had given to Solomon, Solomon built them, and caused the children of Israel to dwell there.

³Solomon went to Hamath Zobah, and prevailed against it.

⁴He built Tadmor in the wilderness, and all the storage cities, which he built in Hamath.

⁵Also he built Beth Horon the upper, and Beth Horon the lower, fortified cities, with walls, gates, and bars;

⁶and Baalath, and all the storage cities that Solomon had, and all the cities for his chariots, and the cities for his horsemen, and all that Solomon desired to build for his pleasure in Jerusalem, and in Lebanon, and in all the land of his dominion.

⁷As for all the people who were left of the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites, who were not of Israel;

⁸of their children who were left after them in the land, whom the children of Israel did not consume, of them Solomon conscripted forced labor to this day.

⁹But of the children of Israel, Solomon made no servants for his work; but they were men of war, and chief of his captains, and rulers of his chariots and of his horsemen.

¹⁰These were the chief officers of king Solomon, even two-hundred fifty, who ruled over the people.

¹¹Solomon brought up the daughter of Pharaoh out of the city of David to the house that he had built for her; for he said, "My wife shall not dwell in the house of David king of Israel, because the places where the ark of the Lord has come are holy."

¹²Then Solomon offered burnt offerings to the Lord on the altar of the Lord, which he had built before the porch,

¹³even as the duty of every day required, offering according to the commandment of Moses, on the Sabbaths, and on the new moons, and on the set feasts, three times in the year, in the feast of unleavened bread, and in the feast of weeks, and in the feast of tents.

¹⁴He appointed, according to the ordinance of David his father, the divisions of the priests to their service, and the Levites to their offices, to praise, and to minister before the priests, as the duty of every day required; the doorkeepers also by their divisions at every gate: for so had David the man of God commanded.

¹⁵They did not depart from the commandment of the king to the priests and Levites concerning any matter, or concerning the treasures.

¹⁶Now all the work of Solomon was prepared to the day of the foundation of the house of the Lord, and until it was finished. So the house of the Lord was completed.

¹⁷Then went Solomon to Ezion Geber, and to Eloth, on the seashore in the land of Edom.

¹⁸Huram sent him ships and servants who had knowledge of the sea by the hands of his servants; and they came with the servants of Solomon to Ophir, and fetched from there four hundred fifty talents of gold, and brought them to king Solomon.

¹When the queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon, she came to prove Solomon with hard questions at Jerusalem, with a very great train, and camels that bore spices, and gold in abundance, and precious stones: and when she had come to Solomon, she talked with him of all that was in her heart.

²Solomon told her all her questions; and there was not anything hidden from Solomon which he did not tell her.

³When the queen of Sheba had seen the wisdom of Solomon, and the house that he had built,

⁴and the food of his table, and the sitting of his servants, and the attendance of his ministers, and their clothing, his cup bearers also, and their clothing, and his ascent by which he went up to the house of the Lord; there was no more spirit in her.

⁵She said to the king, "It was a true report that I heard in my own land of your acts, and of your wisdom.

⁶However I did not believe their words, until I came, and my eyes had seen it; and behold, the half of the greatness of your wisdom was not told me: you exceed the fame that I heard.

⁷Happy are your men, and happy are these your servants, who stand continually before you, and hear your wisdom.

⁸Blessed be the Lord your God, who delighted in you, to set you on his throne, to be king for the Lord your God: because your God loved Israel, to establish them forever, therefore made he you king over them, to do justice and righteousness."

⁹She gave the king one hundred and twenty talents of gold, and spices in great abundance, and precious stones: neither was there any such spice as the queen of Sheba gave to king Solomon.

¹⁰The servants also of Huram, and the servants of Solomon, who brought gold from Ophir, brought algum trees and precious stones.

¹¹The king made of the algum trees terraces for the house of the Lord, and for the king's house, and harps and stringed instruments for the singers: and there were none like these seen before in the land of Judah.

¹²King Solomon gave to the queen of Sheba all her desire, whatever she asked, besides that which she had brought to the king. So she turned, and went to her own land, she and her servants.

¹³Now the weight of gold that came to Solomon in one year was six hundred and sixty-six talents of gold,

¹⁴besides that which the traders and merchants brought: and all the kings of Arabia and the governors of the country brought gold and silver to Solomon.

¹⁵King Solomon made two hundred bucklers of beaten gold; six hundred shekels of beaten gold went to one buckler.

¹⁶He made three hundred shields of beaten gold; three hundred shekels of gold went to one shield: and the king put them in the house of the forest of Lebanon.

¹⁷Moreover the king made a great throne of ivory, and overlaid it with pure gold.

¹⁸And there were six steps to the throne, with a footstool of gold, which were fastened to the throne, and stays on either side by the place of the seat, and two lions standing beside the stays.

¹⁹Twelve lions stood there on the one side and on the other on the six steps: there was nothing like it made in any kingdom.

²⁰All king Solomon's drinking vessels were of gold, and all the vessels of the house of the forest of Lebanon were of pure gold: silver was nothing accounted of in the days of Solomon.

²¹For the king had ships that went to Tarshish with the servants of Huram; once every three years came the ships of Tarshish, bringing gold, and silver, ivory, and apes, and peacocks.

²²So king Solomon exceeded all the kings of the earth in riches and wisdom.

²³All the kings of the earth sought the presence of Solomon, to hear his wisdom, which God had put in his heart.

²⁴They brought every man his tribute, vessels of silver, and vessels of gold, and clothing, armor, and spices, horses, and mules, a rate year by year.

²⁵Solomon had four thousand stalls for horses and chariots, and twelve thousand horsemen, that he stationed in the chariot cities, and with the king at Jerusalem.

²⁶He ruled over all the kings from the River even to the land of the Philistines, and to the border of Egypt.

²⁷The king made silver to be in Jerusalem as stones, and he made cedars to be as the sycamore trees that are in the lowland, for abundance.

²⁸They brought horses for Solomon out of Egypt, and out of all lands.

²⁹Now the rest of the acts of Solomon, first and last, aren't they written in the history of Nathan the prophet, and in the prophecy of Ahijah the Shilonite, and in the visions of Iddo the seer concerning Jeroboam the son of Nebat?

³⁰Solomon reigned in Jerusalem over all Israel forty years.

³¹Solomon slept with his fathers, and he was buried in the city of David his father: and Rehoboam his son reigned in his place.

¹Lord, do not rebuke me in your wrath, neither chasten me in your hot displeasure.

²For your arrows have pierced me, your hand presses hard on me.

³There is no soundness in my flesh because of your indignation, neither is there any health in my bones because of my sin.

⁴For my iniquities have gone over my head. As a heavy burden, they are too heavy for me.

⁵My wounds are loathsome and corrupt, because of my foolishness.

⁶I am pained and bowed down greatly. I go mourning all day long.

⁷For my waist is filled with burning. There is no soundness in my flesh.

⁸I am faint and severely bruised. I have groaned by reason of the anguish of my heart.

⁹Lord, all my desire is before you. My groaning is not hidden from you.

¹⁰My heart throbs. My strength fails me. As for the light of my eyes, it has also left me.

¹¹My lovers and my friends stand aloof from my plague. My kinsmen stand far away.

¹²They also who seek after my life lay snares. Those who seek my hurt speak mischievous things, and meditate deceits all day long.

¹³But I, as a deaf man, do not hear. I am as a mute man who doesn't open his mouth.

¹⁴Yes, I am as a man who doesn't hear, in whose mouth are no reproofs.

¹⁵For in you, Lord, do I hope. You will answer, Lord my God.

¹⁶For I said, "Do not let them gloat over me, or exalt themselves over me when my foot slips."

¹⁷For I am ready to fall. My pain is continually before me.

¹⁸For I will declare my iniquity. I will be sorry for my sin.

¹⁹But my enemies are vigorous and many. Those who hate me without reason are numerous.

²⁰They who also render evil for good are adversaries to me, because I follow what is good.

²¹Do not forsake me, Lord. My God, do not be far from me.

²²Hurry to help me, Lord, my salvation.

¹My son, if you will receive my words, and store up my commandments within you;

²So as to turn your ear to wisdom, and apply your heart to understanding;

³Yes, if you call out for discernment, and lift up your voice for understanding;

⁴If you seek her as silver, and search for her as for hidden treasures:

⁵then you will understand the fear of the Lord, and find the knowledge of God.

⁶For the Lord gives wisdom. Out of his mouth comes knowledge and understanding.

⁷He lays up sound wisdom for the upright. He is a shield to those who walk in integrity;

⁸that he may guard the paths of justice, and preserve the way of his holy ones.

⁹Then you will understand righteousness and justice, equity and every good path.

¹⁰For wisdom will enter into your heart. Knowledge will be pleasant to your soul.

¹¹Discretion will watch over you. Understanding will keep you,

¹²to deliver you from the way of evil, from the men who speak perverse things;

¹³who forsake the paths of uprightness, to walk in the ways of darkness;

¹⁴who rejoice to do evil, and delight in the perverseness of evil;

¹⁵who are crooked in their ways, and wayward in their paths:

¹⁶To deliver you from the strange woman, even from the foreigner who flatters with her words;

¹⁷who forsakes the friend of her youth, and forgets the covenant of her God:

¹⁸for her house leads down to death, her paths to the dead.

¹⁹None who go to her return again, neither do they attain to the paths of life:

²⁰that you may walk in the way of good men, and keep the paths of the righteous.

²¹For the upright will dwell in the land. The perfect will remain in it.

²²But the wicked will be cut off from the land. The treacherous will be rooted out of it.