Week 30 Bible Reading Plan (July 24th-30th)
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I Chronicles 21-22
David’s Military Census
Satan rose up against Israel and incited David to count the people of Israel. So David said to Joab and the commanders of the troops, “Go and count Israel from Beer-sheba to Dan and bring a report to me so I can know their number.”
Joab replied, “May the Lord multiply the number of his people a hundred times over! My lord the king, aren’t they all my lord’s servants? Why does my lord want to do this? Why should he bring guilt on Israel?”
Yet the king’s order prevailed over Joab. So Joab left and traveled throughout Israel and then returned to Jerusalem. Joab gave the total troop registration to David. In all Israel there were one million one hundred thousand armed men and in Judah itself four hundred seventy thousand armed men. But he did not include Levi and Benjamin in the count because the king’s command was detestable to him. This command was also evil in God’s sight, so he afflicted Israel.
David said to God, “I have sinned greatly because I have done this thing. Now, please take away your servant’s guilt, for I’ve been very foolish.”
David’s Punishment
Then the Lord instructed Gad, David’s seer, “Go and say to David, ‘This is what the Lord says: I am offering you three choices. Choose one of them for yourself, and I will do it to you.’”
So Gad went to David and said to him, “This is what the Lord says: ‘Take your choice: three years of famine, or three months of devastation by your foes with the sword of your enemy overtaking you, or three days of the sword of the Lord—a plague on the land, the angel of the Lord bringing destruction to the whole territory of Israel.’ Now decide what answer I should take back to the one who sent me.”
David answered Gad, “I’m in anguish. Please, let me fall into the Lord’s hands because his mercies are very great, but don’t let me fall into human hands.”
So the Lord sent a plague on Israel, and seventy thousand Israelite men died. Then God sent an angel to Jerusalem to destroy it, but when the angel was about to destroy the city, the Lord looked, relented concerning the destruction, and said to the angel who was destroying the people, “Enough, withdraw your hand now!” The angel of the Lord was then standing at the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite.
When David looked up and saw the angel of the Lord standing between earth and heaven, with his drawn sword in his hand stretched out over Jerusalem, David and the elders, covered in sackcloth, fell facedown. David said to God, “Wasn’t I the one who gave the order to count the people? I am the one who has sinned and acted very wickedly. But these sheep, what have they done? Lord my God, please let your hand be against me and against my father’s family, but don’t let the plague be against your people.”
David’s Altar
So the angel of the Lord ordered Gad to tell David to go and set up an altar to the Lord on the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite. David went up at Gad’s command spoken in the name of the Lord.
Ornan was threshing wheat when he turned and saw the angel. His four sons, who were with him, hid. David came to Ornan, and when Ornan looked and saw David, he left the threshing floor and bowed to David with his face to the ground.
Then David said to Ornan, “Give me this threshing-floor plot so that I may build an altar to the Lord on it. Give it to me for the full price, so the plague on the people may be stopped.”
Ornan said to David, “Take it! My lord the king may do whatever he wants. See, I give the oxen for the burnt offerings, the threshing sledges for the wood, and the wheat for the grain offering—I give it all.”
King David answered Ornan, “No, I insist on paying the full price, for I will not take for the Lord what belongs to you or offer burnt offerings that cost me nothing.”
So David gave Ornan fifteen pounds of gold for the plot. He built an altar to the Lord there and offered burnt offerings and fellowship offerings. He called on the Lord, and he answered him with fire from heaven on the altar of burnt offering.
Then the Lord spoke to the angel, and he put his sword back into its sheath. At that time, David offered sacrifices there when he saw that the Lord answered him at the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite. The tabernacle of the Lord, which Moses made in the wilderness, and the altar of burnt offering were at the high place in Gibeon, but David could not go before it to inquire of God, because he was terrified of the sword of the Lord’s angel.
Then David said, “This is the house of the Lord God, and this is the altar of burnt offering for Israel.”
David’s Preparations for the Temple
So David gave orders to gather the resident aliens that were in the land of Israel, and he appointed stonecutters to cut finished stones for building God’s house. David supplied a great deal of iron to make the nails for the doors of the gates and for the fittings, together with an immeasurable quantity of bronze, and innumerable cedar logs because the Sidonians and Tyrians had brought a large quantity of cedar logs to David. David said, “My son Solomon is young and inexperienced, and the house that is to be built for the Lord must be exceedingly great and famous and glorious in all the lands. Therefore, I will make provision for it.” So David made lavish preparations for it before his death.
Then he summoned his son Solomon and charged him to build a house for the Lord God of Israel. “My son,” David said to Solomon, “It was in my heart to build a house for the name of the Lord my God, but the word of the Lord came to me: ‘You have shed much blood and waged great wars. You are not to build a house for my name because you have shed so much blood on the ground before me. But a son will be born to you; he will be a man of rest. I will give him rest from all his surrounding enemies, for his name will be Solomon, and I will give peace and quiet to Israel during his reign. He is the one who will build a house for my name. He will be my son, and I will be his father. I will establish the throne of his kingdom over Israel forever.’
“Now, my son, may the Lord be with you, and may you succeed in building the house of the Lord your God, as he said about you. Above all, may the Lord give you insight and understanding when he puts you in charge of Israel so that you may keep the law of the Lord your God. Then you will succeed if you carefully follow the statutes and ordinances the Lord commanded Moses for Israel. Be strong and courageous. Don’t be afraid or discouraged.
“Notice I have taken great pains to provide for the house of the Lord—3,775 tons of gold, 37,750 tons of silver, and bronze and iron that can’t be weighed because there is so much of it. I have also provided timber and stone, but you will need to add more to them. You also have many workers: stonecutters, masons, carpenters, and people skilled in every kind of work in gold, silver, bronze, and iron—beyond number. Now begin the work, and may the Lord be with you.”
Then David ordered all the leaders of Israel to help his son Solomon: “The Lord your God is with you, isn’t he? And hasn’t he given you rest on every side? For he has handed the land’s inhabitants over to me, and the land has been subdued before the Lord and his people. Now determine in your mind and heart to seek the Lord your God. Get started building the Lord God’s sanctuary so that you may bring the ark of the Lord’s covenant and the holy articles of God to the temple that is to be built for the name of the Lord.”
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I Chronicles 24
The Divisions of the Priests
The divisions of the descendants of Aaron were as follows: Aaron’s sons were Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar. But Nadab and Abihu died before their father, and they had no sons, so Eleazar and Ithamar served as priests. Together with Zadok from the descendants of Eleazar and Ahimelech from the descendants of Ithamar, David divided them according to the assigned duties of their service. Since more leaders were found among Eleazar’s descendants than Ithamar’s, they were divided accordingly: sixteen heads of ancestral families were from Eleazar’s descendants, and eight heads of ancestral families were from Ithamar’s. They were assigned by lot, for there were officers of the sanctuary and officers of God among both Eleazar’s and Ithamar’s descendants.
The secretary, Shemaiah son of Nethanel, a Levite, recorded them in the presence of the king and the officers, the priest Zadok, Ahimelech son of Abiathar, and the heads of families of the priests and the Levites. One ancestral family was taken for Eleazar, and then one for Ithamar.
The first lot fell to Jehoiarib, the second to Jedaiah,
the third to Harim, the fourth to Seorim,
the fifth to Malchijah, the sixth to Mijamin,
the seventh to Hakkoz, the eighth to Abijah,
the ninth to Jeshua, the tenth to Shecaniah,
the eleventh to Eliashib, the twelfth to Jakim,
the thirteenth to Huppah, the fourteenth to Jeshebeab,
the fifteenth to Bilgah, the sixteenth to Immer,
the seventeenth to Hezir, the eighteenth to Happizzez,
the nineteenth to Pethahiah, the twentieth to Jehezkel,
the twenty-first to Jachin, the twenty-second to Gamul,
the twenty-third to Delaiah, and the twenty-fourth to Maaziah.
These had their assigned duties for service when they entered the Lord’s temple, according to their regulations, which they received from their ancestor Aaron, as the Lord God of Israel had commanded him.
The Rest of the Levites
As for the rest of Levi’s sons:
from Amram’s sons: Shubael;
from Shubael’s sons: Jehdeiah.
From Rehabiah:
from Rehabiah’s sons: Isshiah was the first.
From the Izharites: Shelomoth;
from Shelomoth’s sons: Jahath.
Hebron’s sons:
Jeriah the first, Amariah the second,
Jahaziel the third, and Jekameam the fourth.
From Uzziel’s sons: Micah;
from Micah’s sons: Shamir.
Micah’s brother: Isshiah;
from Isshiah’s sons: Zechariah.
Merari’s sons: Mahli and Mushi,
and from his sons, Jaaziah his son.
Merari’s sons, by his son Jaaziah:
Shoham, Zaccur, and Ibri.
From Mahli: Eleazar, who had no sons.
From Kish, from Kish’s sons: Jerahmeel.
Mushi’s sons: Mahli, Eder, and Jerimoth.
Those were the descendants of the Levites according to their ancestral families. They also cast lots the same way as their relatives the descendants of Aaron did in the presence of King David, Zadok, Ahimelech, and the heads of the families of the priests and Levites—the family heads and their younger brothers alike.
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I Chronicles 28-29
David Commissions Solomon to Build the Temple
David assembled all the leaders of Israel in Jerusalem: the leaders of the tribes, the leaders of the divisions in the king’s service, the commanders of thousands and the commanders of hundreds, and the officials in charge of all the property and cattle of the king and his sons, along with the court officials, the fighting men, and all the best soldiers. Then King David rose to his feet and said, “Listen to me, my brothers and my people. It was in my heart to build a house as a resting place for the ark of the Lord’s covenant and as a footstool for our God. I had made preparations to build, but God said to me, ‘You are not to build a house for my name because you are a man of war and have shed blood.’
“Yet the Lord God of Israel chose me out of all my father’s family to be king over Israel forever. For he chose Judah as leader, and from the house of Judah, my father’s family, and from my father’s sons, he was pleased to make me king over all Israel. And out of all my sons—for the Lord has given me many sons—he has chosen my son Solomon to sit on the throne of the Lord’s kingdom over Israel. He said to me, ‘Your son Solomon is the one who is to build my house and my courts, for I have chosen him to be my son, and I will be his father. I will establish his kingdom forever if he perseveres in keeping my commands and my ordinances as he is doing today.’
“So now in the sight of all Israel, the assembly of the Lord, and in the hearing of our God, observe and follow all the commands of the Lord your God so that you may possess this good land and leave it as an inheritance to your descendants forever.
“As for you, Solomon my son, know the God of your father, and serve him wholeheartedly and with a willing mind, for the Lord searches every heart and understands the intention of every thought. If you seek him, he will be found by you, but if you abandon him, he will reject you forever. Realize now that the Lord has chosen you to build a house for the sanctuary. Be strong, and do it.”
Then David gave his son Solomon the plans for the portico of the temple and its buildings, treasuries, upstairs rooms, inner rooms, and a room for the mercy seat. The plans contained everything he had in mind for the courts of the Lord’s house, all the surrounding chambers, the treasuries of God’s house, and the treasuries for what is dedicated. Also included were plans for the divisions of the priests and the Levites; all the work of service in the Lord’s house; all the articles of service of the Lord’s house; the weight of gold for all the articles for every kind of service; the weight of all the silver articles for every kind of service; the weight of the gold lampstands and their gold lamps, including the weight of each lampstand and its lamps; the weight of each silver lampstand and its lamps, according to the service of each lampstand; the weight of gold for each table for the rows of the Bread of the Presence and the silver for the silver tables; the pure gold for the forks, sprinkling basins, and pitchers; the weight of each gold dish; the weight of each silver bowl; the weight of refined gold for the altar of incense; and the plans for the chariot of the gold cherubim that spread out their wings and cover the ark of the Lord’s covenant.
David concluded, “By the Lord’s hand on me, he enabled me to understand everything in writing, all the details of the plan.”
Then David said to his son Solomon, “Be strong and courageous, and do the work. Don’t be afraid or discouraged, for the Lord God, my God, is with you. He won’t leave you or abandon you until all the work for the service of the Lord’s house is finished. Here are the divisions of the priests and the Levites for all the service of God’s house. Every willing person of any skill will be at your disposal for the work, and the leaders and all the people are at your every command.”
Contributions for Building the Temple
Then King David said to all the assembly, “My son Solomon—God has chosen him alone—is young and inexperienced. The task is great because the building will not be built for a human but for the Lord God. So to the best of my ability I’ve made provision for the house of my God: gold for the gold articles, silver for the silver, bronze for the bronze, iron for the iron, and wood for the wood, as well as onyx, stones for mounting, antimony, stones of various colors, all kinds of precious stones, and a great quantity of marble. Moreover, because of my delight in the house of my God, I now give my personal treasures of gold and silver for the house of my God over and above all that I’ve provided for the holy house: 100 tons of gold (gold of Ophir) and 250 tons of refined silver for overlaying the walls of the buildings, the gold for the gold work and the silver for the silver, for all the work to be done by the craftsmen. Now who will volunteer to consecrate himself to the Lord today?”
Then the leaders of the households, the leaders of the tribes of Israel, the commanders of thousands and of hundreds, and the officials in charge of the king’s work gave willingly. For the service of God’s house they gave 185 tons of gold and 10,000 gold coins, 375 tons of silver, 675 tons of bronze, and 4,000 tons of iron. Whoever had precious stones gave them to the treasury of the Lord’s house under the care of Jehiel the Gershonite. Then the people rejoiced because of their leaders’ willingness to give, for they had given to the Lord wholeheartedly. King David also rejoiced greatly.
David’s Prayer
Then David blessed the Lord in the sight of all the assembly. David said,
May you be blessed, Lord God of our father Israel, from eternity to eternity. Yours, Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the splendor and the majesty, for everything in the heavens and on earth belongs to you. Yours, Lord, is the kingdom, and you are exalted as head over all. Riches and honor come from you, and you are the ruler of everything. Power and might are in your hand, and it is in your hand to make great and to give strength to all. Now therefore, our God, we give you thanks and praise your glorious name.
But who am I, and who are my people, that we should be able to give as generously as this? For everything comes from you, and we have given you only what comes from your own hand. For we are aliens and temporary residents in your presence as were all our ancestors. Our days on earth are like a shadow, without hope. Lord our God, all this wealth that we’ve provided for building you a house for your holy name comes from your hand; everything belongs to you. I know, my God, that you test the heart and that you are pleased with what is right. I have willingly given all these things with an upright heart, and now I have seen your people who are present here giving joyfully and willingly to you. Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, our ancestors, keep this desire forever in the thoughts of the hearts of your people, and confirm their hearts toward you. Give my son Solomon an undivided heart to keep and to carry out all your commands, your decrees, and your statutes, and to build the building for which I have made provision.
Then David said to the whole assembly, “Blessed be the Lord your God.” So the whole assembly praised the Lord God of their ancestors. They knelt low and paid homage to the Lord and the king.
The following day they offered sacrifices to the Lord and burnt offerings to the Lord: a thousand bulls, a thousand rams, and a thousand lambs, along with their drink offerings, and sacrifices in abundance for all Israel. They ate and drank with great joy in the Lord’s presence that day.
The Enthronement of Solomon
Then, for a second time, they made David’s son Solomon king; they anointed him as the Lord’s ruler, and Zadok as the priest. Solomon sat on the Lord’s throne as king in place of his father David. He prospered, and all Israel obeyed him. All the leaders and the mighty men, and all of King David’s sons as well, pledged their allegiance to King Solomon. The Lord highly exalted Solomon in the sight of all Israel and bestowed on him such royal majesty as had not been bestowed on any king over Israel before him.
A Summary of David’s Life
David son of Jesse was king over all Israel. The length of his reign over Israel was forty years; he reigned in Hebron for seven years and in Jerusalem for thirty-three. He died at a good old age, full of days, riches, and honor, and his son Solomon became king in his place. As for the events of King David’s reign, from beginning to end, note that they are written in the Events of the Seer Samuel, the Events of the Prophet Nathan, and the Events of the Seer Gad, along with all his reign, his might, and the incidents that affected him and Israel and all the kingdoms of the surrounding lands.
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II Chronicles 1, 3
Solomon’s Request for Wisdom
Solomon son of David strengthened his hold on his kingdom. The Lord his God was with him and highly exalted him. Then Solomon spoke to all Israel, to the commanders of thousands and of hundreds, to the judges, and to every leader in all Israel—the family heads. Solomon and the whole assembly with him went to the high place that was in Gibeon because God’s tent of meeting, which the Lord’s servant Moses had made in the wilderness, was there. Now David had brought the ark of God from Kiriath-jearim to the place he had set up for it, because he had pitched a tent for it in Jerusalem, but he put the bronze altar, which Bezalel son of Uri, son of Hur, had made, in front of the Lord’s tabernacle. Solomon and the assembly inquired of him there. Solomon offered sacrifices there in the Lord’s presence on the bronze altar at the tent of meeting; he offered a thousand burnt offerings on it.
That night God appeared to Solomon and said to him, “Ask. What should I give you?”
And Solomon said to God, “You have shown great and faithful love to my father David, and you have made me king in his place. Lord God, let your promise to my father David now come true. For you have made me king over a people as numerous as the dust of the earth. Now grant me wisdom and knowledge so that I may lead these people, for who can judge this great people of yours?”
God said to Solomon, “Since this was in your heart, and you have not requested riches, wealth, or glory, or for the life of those who hate you, and you have not even requested long life, but you have requested for yourself wisdom and knowledge that you may judge my people over whom I have made you king, wisdom and knowledge are given to you. I will also give you riches, wealth, and glory, unlike what was given to the kings who were before you, or will be given to those after you.” So Solomon went to Jerusalem from the high place that was in Gibeon in front of the tent of meeting, and he reigned over Israel.
Solomon’s Horses and Wealth
Solomon accumulated 1,400 chariots and 12,000 horsemen, which he stationed in the chariot cities and with the king in Jerusalem. The king made silver and gold as common in Jerusalem as stones, and he made cedar as abundant as sycamore in the Judean foothills. Solomon’s horses came from Egypt and Kue. The king’s traders would get them from Kue at the going price. A chariot could be imported from Egypt for fifteen pounds of silver and a horse for nearly four pounds. In the same way, they exported them to all the kings of the Hittites and to the kings of Aram through their agents.
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2 Chronicles 3
Building the Temple
Then Solomon began to build the Lord’s temple in Jerusalem on Mount Moriah where the Lord had appeared to his father David, at the site David had prepared on the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite. He began to build on the second day of the second month in the fourth year of his reign. These are Solomon’s foundations for building God’s temple: the length was ninety feet, and the width thirty feet. The portico, which was across the front extending across the width of the temple, was thirty feet wide; its height was thirty feet; he overlaid its inner surface with pure gold. The larger room he paneled with cypress wood, overlaid with fine gold, and decorated with palm trees and chains. He adorned the temple with precious stones for beauty, and the gold was the gold of Parvaim. He overlaid the temple—the beams, the thresholds, its walls and doors—with gold, and he carved cherubim on the walls.
The Most Holy Place
Then he made the most holy place; its length corresponded to the width of the temple, 30 feet, and its width was 30 feet. He overlaid it with forty-five thousand pounds of fine gold. The weight of the nails was twenty ounces of gold, and he overlaid the ceiling with gold.
He made two cherubim of sculptured work, for the most holy place, and he overlaid them with gold. The overall length of the wings of the cherubim was 30 feet: the wing of one was 7½ feet, touching the wall of the room; its other wing was 7½ feet, touching the wing of the other cherub. The wing of the other cherub was 7½ feet, touching the wall of the room; its other wing was 7½ feet, reaching the wing of the other cherub. The wingspan of these cherubim was 30 feet. They stood on their feet and faced the larger room.
He made the curtain of blue, purple, and crimson yarn and fine linen, and he wove cherubim into it.
The Bronze Pillars
In front of the temple he made two pillars, each 27 feet high. The capital on top of each was 7½ feet high. He had made chainwork in the inner sanctuary and also put it on top of the pillars. He made a hundred pomegranates and fastened them into the chainwork. Then he set up the pillars in front of the sanctuary, one on the right and one on the left. He named the one on the right Jachin and the one on the left Boaz.
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II Chronicles 5-6
So all the work Solomon did for the Lord’s temple was completed. Then Solomon brought the consecrated things of his father David—the silver, the gold, and all the utensils—and put them in the treasuries of God’s temple.
Preparations for the Temple Dedication
At that time Solomon assembled at Jerusalem the elders of Israel—all the tribal heads, the ancestral chiefs of the Israelites—in order to bring the ark of the covenant of the Lord up from the city of David, that is, Zion. So all the men of Israel were assembled in the king’s presence at the festival; this was in the seventh month.
All the elders of Israel came, and the Levites picked up the ark. They brought up the ark, the tent of meeting, and the holy utensils that were in the tent. The priests and the Levites brought them up. King Solomon and the entire congregation of Israel who had gathered around him were in front of the ark sacrificing sheep, goats, and cattle that could not be counted or numbered because there were so many. The priests brought the ark of the Lord’s covenant to its place, into the inner sanctuary of the temple, to the most holy place, beneath the wings of the cherubim. And the cherubim spread their wings over the place of the ark so that the cherubim formed a cover above the ark and its poles. The poles were so long that their ends were seen from the holy place in front of the inner sanctuary, but they were not seen from outside; they are still there today. Nothing was in the ark except the two tablets that Moses had put in it at Horeb, where the Lord had made a covenant with the Israelites when they came out of Egypt.
Now all the priests who were present had consecrated themselves regardless of their divisions. When the priests came out of the holy place, the Levitical singers dressed in fine linen and carrying cymbals, harps, and lyres were standing east of the altar, and with them were 120 priests blowing trumpets. The Levitical singers were descendants of Asaph, Heman, and Jeduthun and their sons and relatives. The trumpeters and singers joined together to praise and thank the Lord with one voice. They raised their voices, accompanied by trumpets, cymbals, and musical instruments, in praise to the Lord:
For he is good;
his faithful love endures forever.
The temple, the Lord’s temple, was filled with a cloud. And because of the cloud, the priests were not able to continue ministering, for the glory of the Lord filled God’s temple.
Solomon’s Dedication of the Temple
Then Solomon said:
The Lord said he would dwell in total darkness,
but I have built an exalted temple for you,
a place for your dwelling forever.
Then the king turned and blessed the entire congregation of Israel while they were standing. He said:
Blessed be the Lord God of Israel!
He spoke directly to my father David,
and he has fulfilled the promise
by his power.
He said,
“Since the day I brought my people Israel
out of the land of Egypt,
I have not chosen a city to build a temple in
among any of the tribes of Israel,
so that my name would be there,
and I have not chosen a man
to be ruler over my people Israel.
But I have chosen Jerusalem
so that my name will be there,
and I have chosen David
to be over my people Israel.”
My father David had his heart set
on building a temple for the name of the Lord, the God of Israel.
However, the Lord said to my father David,
“Since it was your desire to build a temple for my name,
you have done well to have this desire.
Yet, you are not the one to build the temple,
but your son, your own offspring,
will build the temple for my name.”
So the Lord has fulfilled what he promised.
I have taken the place of my father David
and I sit on the throne of Israel, as the Lord promised.
I have built the temple for the name of the Lord, the God of Israel.
I have put the ark there,
where the Lord’s covenant is
that he made with the Israelites.
Solomon’s Prayer
Then Solomon stood before the altar of the Lord in front of the entire congregation of Israel and spread out his hands. For Solomon had made a bronze platform 7½ feet long, 7½ feet wide, and 4½ feet high and put it in the court. He stood on it, knelt down in front of the entire congregation of Israel, and spread out his hands toward heaven. He said:
Lord God of Israel,
there is no God like you
in heaven or on earth,
who keeps his gracious covenant
with your servants who walk before you
with all their heart.
You have kept what you promised
to your servant, my father David.
You spoke directly to him,
and you fulfilled your promise by your power,
as it is today.
Therefore, Lord God of Israel,
keep what you promised
to your servant, my father David:
“You will never fail to have a man
to sit before me on the throne of Israel,
if only your sons take care to walk in my Law
as you have walked before me.”
Now, Lord God of Israel, please confirm
what you promised to your servant David.
But will God indeed live on earth with humans?
Even heaven, the highest heaven, cannot contain you,
much less this temple I have built.
Listen to your servant’s prayer and his petition,
Lord my God,
so that you may hear the cry and the prayer
that your servant prays before you,
so that your eyes watch over this temple
day and night,
toward the place where you said
you would put your name;
and so that you may hear the prayer
your servant prays toward this place.
Hear the petitions of your servant
and your people Israel,
which they pray toward this place.
May you hear in your dwelling place in heaven.
May you hear and forgive.
If a man sins against his neighbor
and is forced to take an oath
and he comes to take an oath
before your altar in this temple,
may you hear in heaven and act.
May you judge your servants,
condemning the wicked man by bringing
what he has done on his own head
and providing justice for the righteous
by rewarding him according to his righteousness.
If your people Israel are defeated before an enemy,
because they have sinned against you,
and they return to you and praise your name,
and they pray and plead for mercy
before you in this temple,
may you hear in heaven
and forgive the sin of your people Israel.
May you restore them to the land
you gave them and their ancestors.
When the skies are shut and there is no rain
because they have sinned against you,
and they pray toward this place
and praise your name,
and they turn from their sins
because you are afflicting them,
may you hear in heaven
and forgive the sin of your servants
and your people Israel,
so that you may teach them the good way
they should walk in.
May you send rain on your land
that you gave your people for an inheritance.
When there is famine in the land,
when there is pestilence,
when there is blight or mildew, locust or grasshopper,
when their enemies besiege them
in the land and its cities,
when there is any plague or illness,
every prayer or petition
that any person or that all your people Israel may have—
they each know their own affliction and suffering—
as they spread out their hands toward this temple,
may you hear in heaven, your dwelling place,
and may you forgive and give to everyone
according to all their ways, since you know each heart,
for you alone know the human heart,
so that they may fear you
and walk in your ways
all the days they live on the land
you gave our ancestors.
Even for the foreigner who is not of your people Israel
but has come from a distant land
because of your great name
and your strong hand and outstretched arm:
when he comes and prays toward this temple,
may you hear in heaven in your dwelling place,
and do all the foreigner asks you.
Then all the peoples of the earth will know your name,
to fear you as your people Israel do
and know that this temple I have built
bears your name.
When your people go out to fight against their enemies,
wherever you send them,
and they pray to you
in the direction of this city you have chosen
and the temple that I have built for your name,
may you hear their prayer and petition in heaven
and uphold their cause.
When they sin against you—
for there is no one who does not sin—
and you are angry with them
and hand them over to the enemy,
and their captors deport them
to a distant or nearby country,
and when they come to their senses
in the land where they were deported
and repent and petition you in their captors’ land,
saying, “We have sinned and done wrong;
we have been wicked,”
and when they return to you with all their mind and all their heart
in the land of their captivity where they were taken captive,
and when they pray in the direction of their land
that you gave their ancestors,
and the city you have chosen,
and toward the temple I have built for your name,
may you hear their prayer and petitions in heaven,
your dwelling place,
and uphold their cause.
May you forgive your people
who sinned against you.
Now, my God,
please let your eyes be open
and your ears attentive
to the prayer of this place.
Now therefore:
Arise, Lord God, come to your resting place,
you and your powerful ark.
May your priests, Lord God, be clothed with salvation,
and may your faithful people rejoice in goodness.
Lord God, do not reject your anointed one;
remember your servant David’s acts of faithful love.
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II Chronicles 7-9
The Dedication Ceremonies
When Solomon finished praying, fire descended from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices, and the glory of the Lord filled the temple. The priests were not able to enter the Lord’s temple because the glory of the Lord filled the temple of the Lord. All the Israelites were watching when the fire descended and the glory of the Lord came on the temple. They bowed down on the pavement with their faces to the ground. They worshiped and praised the Lord:
For he is good,
for his faithful love endures forever.
The king and all the people were offering sacrifices in the Lord’s presence. King Solomon offered a sacrifice of twenty-two thousand cattle and one hundred twenty thousand sheep and goats. In this manner the king and all the people dedicated God’s temple. The priests and the Levites were standing at their stations. The Levites had the musical instruments of the Lord, which King David had made to give thanks to the Lord—“for his faithful love endures forever”—when he offered praise with them. Across from the Levites, the priests were blowing trumpets, and all the people were standing. Since the bronze altar that Solomon had made could not accommodate the burnt offering, the grain offering, and the fat of the fellowship offerings, Solomon first consecrated the middle of the courtyard that was in front of the Lord’s temple and then offered the burnt offerings and the fat of the fellowship offerings there.
So Solomon and all Israel with him—a very great assembly, from the entrance to Hamath to the Brook of Egypt—observed the festival at that time for seven days. On the eighth day they held a solemn assembly, for the dedication of the altar lasted seven days and the festival seven days. On the twenty-third day of the seventh month he sent the people home, rejoicing and with happy hearts for the goodness the Lord had done for David, for Solomon, and for his people Israel.
So Solomon finished the Lord’s temple and the royal palace. Everything that had entered Solomon’s heart to do for the Lord’s temple and for his own palace succeeded.
The Lord’s Response
Then the Lord appeared to Solomon at night and said to him:
I have heard your prayer and have chosen this place for myself as a temple of sacrifice. If I shut the sky so there is no rain, or if I command the grasshopper to consume the land, or if I send pestilence on my people, and my people, who bear my name, humble themselves, pray and seek my face, and turn from their evil ways, then I will hear from heaven, forgive their sin, and heal their land. My eyes will now be open and my ears attentive to prayer from this place. And I have now chosen and consecrated this temple so that my name may be there forever; my eyes and my heart will be there at all times.
As for you, if you walk before me as your father David walked, doing everything I have commanded you, and if you keep my statutes and ordinances, I will establish your royal throne, as I promised your father David: You will never fail to have a man ruling in Israel.
However, if you turn away and abandon my statutes and my commands that I have set before you and if you go and serve other gods and bow in worship to them, then I will uproot Israel from the soil that I gave them, and this temple that I have sanctified for my name I will banish from my presence; I will make it an object of scorn and ridicule among all the peoples. As for this temple, which was exalted, everyone who passes by will be appalled and will say, “Why did the Lord do this to this land and this temple?” Then they will say, “Because they abandoned the Lord God of their ancestors who brought them out of the land of Egypt. They clung to other gods and bowed in worship to them and served them. Because of this, he brought all this ruin on them.”
Solomon’s Later Building Projects
At the end of twenty years during which Solomon had built the Lord’s temple and his own palace— Solomon had rebuilt the cities Hiram gave him and settled Israelites there— Solomon went to Hamath-zobah and seized it. He built Tadmor in the wilderness along with all the storage cities that he built in Hamath. He built Upper Beth-horon and Lower Beth-horon—fortified cities with walls, gates, and bars— Baalath, all the storage cities that belonged to Solomon, all the chariot cities, the cavalry cities, and everything Solomon desired to build in Jerusalem, Lebanon, or anywhere else in the land of his dominion.
As for all the peoples who remained of the Hethites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites, who were not from Israel— their descendants who remained in the land after them, those the Israelites had not completely destroyed—Solomon imposed forced labor on them; it is this way today. But Solomon did not consign the Israelites to be slaves for his work; they were soldiers, commanders of his captains, and commanders of his chariots and his cavalry. These were King Solomon’s deputies: 250 who supervised the people.
Solomon brought the daughter of Pharaoh from the city of David to the house he had built for her, for he said, “My wife must not live in the house of King David of Israel because the places the ark of the Lord has come into are holy.”
Public Worship Established at the Temple
At that time Solomon offered burnt offerings to the Lord on the Lord’s altar he had made in front of the portico. He followed the daily requirement for offerings according to the commandment of Moses for Sabbaths, New Moons, and the three annual appointed festivals: the Festival of Unleavened Bread, the Festival of Weeks, and the Festival of Shelters. According to the ordinances of his father David, he appointed the divisions of the priests over their service, of the Levites over their responsibilities to offer praise and to minister before the priests following the daily requirement, and of the gatekeepers by their divisions with respect to each temple gate, for this had been the command of David, the man of God. They did not turn aside from the king’s command regarding the priests and the Levites concerning any matter or concerning the treasuries. All of Solomon’s work was carried out from the day the foundation was laid for the Lord’s temple until it was finished. So the Lord’s temple was completed.
Solomon’s Fleet
At that time Solomon went to Ezion-geber and to Eloth on the seashore in the land of Edom. So Hiram sent ships to him by his servants along with crews of experienced seamen. They went with Solomon’s servants to Ophir, took from there seventeen tons of gold, and delivered it to King Solomon.
The Queen of Sheba
The queen of Sheba heard of Solomon’s fame, so she came to test Solomon with difficult questions at Jerusalem with a very large entourage, with camels bearing spices, gold in abundance, and precious stones. She came to Solomon and spoke with him about everything that was on her mind. So Solomon answered all her questions; nothing was too difficult for Solomon to explain to her. When the queen of Sheba observed Solomon’s wisdom, the palace he had built, the food at his table, his servants’ residence, his attendants’ service and their attire, his cupbearers and their attire, and the burnt offerings he offered at the Lord’s temple, it took her breath away.
She said to the king, “The report I heard in my own country about your words and about your wisdom is true. But I didn’t believe their reports until I came and saw with my own eyes. Indeed, I was not even told half of your great wisdom! You far exceed the report I heard. How happy are your men. How happy are these servants of yours, who always stand in your presence hearing your wisdom. Blessed be the Lord your God! He delighted in you and put you on his throne as king for the Lord your God. Because your God loved Israel enough to establish them forever, he has set you over them as king to carry out justice and righteousness.”
Then she gave the king four and a half tons of gold, a great quantity of spices, and precious stones. There never were such spices as those the queen of Sheba gave to King Solomon. In addition, Hiram’s servants and Solomon’s servants who brought gold from Ophir also brought algum wood and precious stones. The king made the algum wood into walkways for the Lord’s temple and for the king’s palace and into lyres and harps for the singers. Never before had anything like them been seen in the land of Judah.
King Solomon gave the queen of Sheba her every desire, whatever she asked—far more than she had brought the king. Then she, along with her servants, returned to her own country.
Solomon’s Wealth
The weight of gold that came to Solomon annually was twenty-five tons, besides what was brought by the merchants and traders. All the Arabian kings and governors of the land also brought gold and silver to Solomon.
King Solomon made two hundred large shields of hammered gold; 15 pounds of hammered gold went into each shield. He made three hundred small shields of hammered gold; 7½ pounds of gold went into each shield. The king put them in the House of the Forest of Lebanon.
The king also made a large ivory throne and overlaid it with pure gold. The throne had six steps; there was a footstool covered in gold for the throne, armrests on either side of the seat, and two lions standing beside the armrests. Twelve lions were standing there on the six steps, one at each end. Nothing like it had ever been made in any other kingdom.
All of King Solomon’s drinking cups were gold, and all the utensils of the House of the Forest of Lebanon were pure gold. There was no silver, since it was considered as nothing in Solomon’s time, for the king’s ships kept going to Tarshish with Hiram’s servants, and once every three years the ships of Tarshish would arrive bearing gold, silver, ivory, apes, and peacocks.
King Solomon surpassed all the kings of the world in riches and wisdom. All the kings of the world wanted an audience with Solomon to hear the wisdom God had put in his heart. Each of them would bring his own gift—items of silver and gold, clothing, weapons, spices, and horses and mules—as an annual tribute.
Solomon had four thousand stalls for horses and chariots, and twelve thousand horsemen. He stationed them in the chariot cities and with the king in Jerusalem. He ruled over all the kings from the Euphrates River to the land of the Philistines and as far as the border of Egypt. The king made silver as common in Jerusalem as stones, and he made cedar as abundant as sycamore in the Judean foothills. They were bringing horses for Solomon from Egypt and from all the countries.
Solomon’s Death
The remaining events of Solomon’s reign, from beginning to end, are written in the Events of the Prophet Nathan, the Prophecy of Ahijah the Shilonite, and the Visions of the Seer Iddo concerning Jeroboam son of Nebat. Solomon reigned in Jerusalem over all Israel for forty years. Solomon rested with his ancestors and was buried in the city of his father David. His son Rehoboam became king in his place.
