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The 1st Chapter
And Salomon the son of
David waxed strong in his kingdom, and the Lord his God was with him
and magnified him on high. And Salomon communed with all Israel, the
captains over thousands and hundreds, the judges and all other Lords
and ancient heads throughout all Israel. And so Salomon, and all the
congregation with him, went to the hill altar of Gabaon: for there
was the tabernacle of witness of God, which Moses the servant of the
Lord made in the wilderness. But the Ark of God had David brought
from Kariath Jarim, into the place he had prepared therefore. For he
had pitched a tent for it at Jerusalem. Moreover the brazen altar
that Bezeleel the son of Uri, the son of Or had made, was at Gabaon
also, before the tabernacle of the Lord. And Salomon and the
congregation went to visit it. And Salomon offered there before the
Lord upon the brazen altar that was by the tabernacle of witness, a
thousand burntsacrifices. And the same night God appeared unto
Salomon and said to him, ask what I shall give thee. And Salomon
said unto God: thou hast shown great mercy unto David my father, and
hast made me king in his stead. And now Lord God, let thy promise
unto David my father be true. For thou hast made me King over a
people like the dust of the earth in multitude. Wherefore give me
wisdom and knowledge how to behave myself unto this people: for who
is able to judge this people that is so great?
Then God said to Salomon, because thou hadst this in thine
heart, and didst not ask treasure and riches, and honor and the
lives of thine enemies, neither yet long life: But hast asked wisdom
and knowledge, to judge my people, over which I have made thee king:
wisdom and knowledge shall be given thee, and I will give thee
treasure, riches, and glory also, that among the kings before thee
or after thee, none was or shall be like thee. And so Salomon came
from the hillaltar that was at Gabaon to Jerusalem from the
tabernacle of witness and reigned at Jerusalem. And Salomon gathered
chariots and horsemen: that he had a thousand and four hundred
chariots, and twelve thousand horsemen, which he bestowed in the
chariot cities and about the king at Jerusalem. And the king made
silver and gold at Jerusalem as plenteous as stones, and Cedar trees
as plenty as the mulberry trees that grow in the valleys. And the
horses which Salomon had, were brought him out of Egypt from Keva.
The kings merchants fetched them out at Keva at a price. They came
and brought out of Egypt a chariot for five hundred sickles, and an
horse for one hundred and fifty. And so brought they to all the
kings of the Hethites and to the kings of Siria through the hands of
the said merchants.
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The 2nd Chapter
And Salomon determined to build
an house for the name of the Lord, and an house for his kingdom: and
told out three score and ten thousand men to bear burdens and four
score thousand to hew in the mountain, and three thousand and six
hundred to oversee them.
And Salomon sent to Hiram king of Tire saying: As thou didst
deal with David my father and didst send him Cedar wood, to build
him an house to dwell in, even so deal with me now: that I may build
an house for the name of the Lord my God, to consecrate it to him to
burn sweet odors and to set showbread before him perpetually, and
for burntsacrifices morning and evening, and on the Sabbath days,
and the first day of every new moon, and in the solemn feasts of the
Lord our God, so to continue ever in Israel. And the house which I
build is great: for great is our God above other Gods. So that who
can be able to build him an house: when that heaven, neither heaven
above all heavens, is able to receive him, what am I then that I
should build him an house? Nay, but to burn sacrifice before him:
send me now therefore a cunning man to work in gold, silver, brass,
iron, scarlet, crimson and Jacinth color, and that can skill to
grave, to be with the cunning men that are with me in Juda and
Jerusalem, which David my father did prepare. And send me also Cedar
trees, fir trees and Algume trees out of Libanon. For I know well
thy servants can skill to hew timber in Libanon. And see, my men
shall be with thine, that they may prepare me timber enough. For the
house which I build is great and wonderful. And behold, I sent for
thy servants the cutters and hewers of timber twenty thousand
quarters of beaten wheat, and twenty thousand quarters of barley,
and twenty thousand baths of wine, and twenty thousand baths of oil.
And Hiram king of Tire answered in writing and sent to
Salomon: because the Lord loveth his people, therefore he hath made
thee king over them. And Hiram said moreover: blessed be the Lord
God of Israel which hath made both heaven and earth, that he hath
given David the king a wise son that hath discretion and
understanding, to build an house for the Lord, and another for his
kingdom. And now I have sent a wise man and a man of understanding
called Hiram Abi, and is the son of a woman of the daughters of Dan,
(howbeit his father was a Tirian) and he can skill to work in gold,
silver, brass, iron, stone, timber, scarlet, Jacinth, byss and
crimson: and grave all manner of gravings, and to find out all
manner of subtle work that shall be set before him, with thy cunning
men, and with the cunning men of my Lord David thy father. And now
the wheat, barley, oil and wine which my lord hath said, let him
send his servants. And we will cut wood out of Libanon, as much as
thou shalt need, and will bring it to thee in ships by sea to port
Japo: and thence thou mayest carry them to Jerusalem. And Salomon
numbered all the strangers that were in the land of Israel, after
the time his father David had numbered them. And they were found an
hundred and eighty thousand and six hundred. And he set eighty
thousand of them to bear burdens, and eighty thousand to hew in the
mountain, and three thousand and six hundred to courage and to set
the people a work.
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The 3rd Chapter
And Salomon began to build the
house of the Lord at Jerusalem in mount Moriah, which was showed
David his father when he prepared a place in the threshing floor of
Ornan the Jebusite. And he began to build the second day of the
second month the fourth year of his reign. And this is the
foundation of Salomon in building the house of God. The length was
three score cubits after the old cubit, and the breadth twenty. And
the porch at the end was as large as the house breadth twenty
cubits: and the height was an hundred and twenty cubits. And he
overlaid it on the inner side with pure gold.
And the great house he siled with fir tree, and overlaid it
with good gold, and graved thereto palm trees and chains. And he
paved the house with precious stone goodly. And it was gold of
Pharuiam. And he overlaid the house: both beams, posts, walls and
doors with gold, and graved Cherubs upon the walls.
And he made the house most holy, whose length was twenty
cubits like to the breadth of the house, and the breadth thereof was
also twenty cubits. And he overlaid it with the best gold, that drew
to the sum of six hundred talents. And the weight of the nails of
gold was thereto fifty sickles. And he overlaid the upper chambers
with gold.
And he made in the house most holy two Cherubs of Image work,
and overlaid them with gold. And the wings of the Cherubs were
twenty cubits long. The one wing was five cubits and touched the
wall of the house, and the other wing was likewise five cubits and
touched the wing of the other Cherub. And the one wing of the other
Cherub was five cubits, and touched the wall of the house, and the
other wing was five cubits also, and raught to the wing of the other
Cherub. So that the wings of the said Cherubs raught twenty cubits.
And they stood on their feet and looked inwards. And he made a
forehanging of Jacinct color, of scarlet, crimson and byss: and
caused the Cherubs to be bordered thereon. And he made before the
house two pillars of thirty five cubits long. And the head that was
above on the top of one of them was five cubits. And he made such
chains as was in the quere, and put them on the heads of the
pillars, and made an hundred pomegranates and put them on the
chains. And he reared up the pillars before the temple: one on the
right hand and another on the left, and called the right Jachin and
the left Boaz.
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The 4th Chapter
And he made an altar of brass
twenty cubits long and twenty cubits broad and ten cubits high. And
he cast a brazen sea of ten cubits from brim to brim, and round in
compass and five cubits high: and a line of thirty cubits might have
compassed it round about. And the fashion of oxen did compass it
round about under it: that is to *wete, two rows of oxen cast when
it was cast did compass that sea which was ten cubits wide, round
about. And it stood also upon twelve oxen: of which three looked
North, three West, three South and three East, and the sea upon them
above on high, and the hinder parts of them inward. And the thickest
of it was an handbreadth, and the brim like the brim of a cup, with
flowers of lilies. And it received and held the thousand baths.
And he made ten lavers: and put five on the right hand and
five on the left, to wash with all. And in them they thrust the
flesh of the burntofferings. But the sea was for the priests to wash
in. And he made ten candlesticks of gold in their fashions, and put
them in the temple: five on the right hand and five on the left. And
he made also ten tables and put them in the temple: five on the
right side and five on the left. And he made an hundred basins of
gold. And he made the court of the priests, and the great court and
doors to it: and overlaid the doors of them with brass. And he set
the sea in the right side of the East end, toward the South. And
Hiram made pots, shovels and basins.
And Hiram finished the work he made for king Salomon unto the
temple of God: The two pillars with their scalps of the two heads
that were on the tops of the pillars: and the two wreaths to cover
the two scalps of the heads that were on the tops of the pillars:
and four hundred pomegranates for the two wreaths, two rows of
pomegranates for every wreath, to cover the two scalps of the heads
that were on the pillars. And he made bottoms, and lavers upon the
bottoms: and the sea with twelve oxen under it. And thereto pots,
shovels, flesh hooks, and all their vessels did Hiram Abi make for
king Salomon for the house of the Lord, of bright brass. In the
plain of Jordan did the king cast them, in the thick earth, between
Socoth and Zaredatha. And made of all these vessels so mighty great
abundance, that the weight of brass could not be reckoned.
And Salomon made all the vessels that pertained to the house
of God: the golden altar and the tables with the showbread upon
them, the candlesticks with their lamps to burn after the manner
before the quere, and that of pure gold, and the flowers and the
lamps, and the snuffers were gold and that perfect gold: and the
dressing knives, basins, spoons and censers of pure gold. And the
inner doors of the place most holy, and the doors of the temple too,
were gold. And so was all the work that Salomon made for the house
of the Lord finished.
And when the work that Salomon made in the house of the Lord
was finished: then Salomon brought in the gifts dedicate by David
his father, the silver and the gold and all the Jewels, and put them
among the treasure of the house of God.
*wete (know),
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The 5th Chapter
Then Salomon gathered the elders
of Israel together and all the heads of the tribes and ancient lords
among the children of Israel, unto Jerusalem: to bring the Ark of
the covenant of the Lord out of the city of David which is Zion. And
all the men of Israel resorted unto the king in the feast of the
seventh month. And when all the elders of Israel were come, the
Levites took up the Ark. And the priests and the Levites brought
away the Ark and the tabernacle of witness, and all the holy vessels
that were in the tabernacle. And King Salomon and all the
congregation of Israel that were assembled unto him before the Ark,
offered sheep and oxen, so many that they could not be told or
numbered for multitude.
And the priests brought the Ark of the appointment of the Lord
unto his place in the quere of the temple and place most holy: even
under the wings of the Cherubs, that the Cherubs stretched out their
wings over the place of the Ark and covered the Ark and her staves
above on high. And the staves of the Ark, were so long, that they
were seen a little before the quere, but not far without. And there
it remaineth unto this day. Moreover there was nothing in the Ark
save the two tables which Moses put therein at Horeb, when the Lord
made a covenant with the children of Israel, after they were come
out of Egypt. And when the priests were come out of the holy place
(for all the priests that were found sanctified themselves and did
not wait by course). But the Levites every one of them that were
under Asaph, Heman and Iduthun, and among their children and
brethren, were arrayed in byss and sang with Cymbals, Psalteries,
and harps standing East from the altar, and with them an hundred and
twenty priests blowing trumpets. And the trumpet blowers and the
singers so agreed, that it seemed but one voice in praising and
thanking the Lord. And as the voice of the trumpets, cymbals and
instruments of melody arose, and as they praised the Lord, how that
he was good and that his mercy lasteth ever, the house of the Lord
was filled with a cloud: so that the priests could not endure to
minister by the reason of the cloud. For the glory of the Lord had
filled the house of God.
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The 6th Chapter
Then Salomon said: the Lord hath
spoken it, how that he will dwell in darkness. And I have built an
habitation for thee and a place to dwell in for ever. And the king
turned his face and blessed the whole congregation of Israel, and
all the congregation of Israel stood. And he said: blessed be the
Lord God of Israel which spake with his mouth to my father David and
hath fulfilled it with his hands, for God said: since the time I
brought my people out of the land of Egypt, I chose no city among
all the tribes of Israel to build an house in, that my name might be
there, neither chose I any man to be a ruler over my people Israel.
But now I have chosen Jerusalem to have my name there, and have
chosen David to be over my people Israel.
And it was in the heart of David my father to build an house
for the name of the Lord God of Israel: But the Lord said to David
my father: for as much as it was in thine heart, to build an house
for my name, thou didst well that thou haddest it in thine heart.
Notwithstanding thou shalt not build the house, but thy son which
shall issue out of thy loins, he shall build an house for my name.
And the Lord hath made good his saying that he hath spoken. For I
arose in the room of David my father, and sat on the seat of Israel,
as the Lord promised, and have built an house for the name of the
Lord God of Israel. And therein I have put the Ark wherein the
covenant of the Lord made with the children of Israel, is. And he
stepped forth before the altar of the Lord in the presence of all
the congregation of Israel, and stretched out his hands, now Salomon
had made a Brazen pulpit of five cubits long and five cubits broad,
and three of height, and had set it in the midst of the great court,
upon that he stepped and kneeled down upon his knees before all the
congregation of Israel and stretched out his hands to heaven and
said: Lord God of Israel there is no God like thee either in heaven
or in earth, which keepest covenant and showest mercy unto thy
servants that walk before thee with all their hearts. Which hast
kept with David my father that thou promisedest him: thou saidest it
with thy mouth and hast fulfilled it with thine hand, as it is to
see this day.
Now Lord God of Israel keep with thy servant David my father,
that thou promisedest him saying: thou shalt not be without one or
other in my sight that shall sit upon the seat of Israel. Of this
condition yet, if thy children will take heed to their ways to walk
in my law, as thou hast walked before me. Now Lord God of Israel let
thy saying be true, which thou saidest unto thy servant David. How
be it in very deed, can God dwell with man on earth? Behold, neither
heaven or heaven above all heavens is able to contain thee: how
should the house then which I have built for thee do it? But turn to
the prayer of thy servant and to his supplication (O' Lord my God)
to hearken unto the voice and prayer which thy servant maketh before
thee. That thine eyes be open over this house day and night, and
over the place of which thou hast said, that thou wouldest put thy
name there: to hearken unto the prayer which thy servant prayeth at
this place: hearken therefore unto the prayers of thy servant and of
thy people Israel, which they pray in this place. But hear thou it
out of thy dwelling place heaven: and when thou hearest it be
merciful. If a man sin against his neighbor, and an *adjuration be
laid to his charge, to adjure him withal, and the adjuration come
before thine altar in this house: then hear thou from heaven, and
work and judge thy servants, that thou reward the evil and bring his
way upon his head, and justify the righteous and give him according
to his righteousness.
Likewise if thy people Israel be put to the worse before their
enemies, because they have sinned against thee: Yet if they turn and
confess thy name, and make intercession and pray before thee in this
house: then hear thou from heaven and be merciful unto the sin of
thy people Israel, and bring them again unto the land which thou
gavest to them and to their fathers.
If heaven be shut up, that there be no rain, because they have
sinned against thee: yet if they pray at this place and confess thy
name and turn from their sins at thy scourging: then hear thou from
heaven and be merciful unto the sin of thy servants and of thy
people Israel, that thou show them a good way to walk in, and send
rain upon thy land which thou hast given unto thy people, for an
inheritance.
If there chance *dearth in the land, pestilence, burning or
smiting of corn, grasshoppers or caterpillars, or that their enemies
besiege them in the cities of their own land, or whatsoever plague
or sickness it be. Then all the supplications and prayers that shall
be made of all men among all thy people Israel, which shall know
every man his own sore and his own grief, and shall stretch out
their hands towards this house: thou shalt hear from heaven thy
dwelling place, and shalt be merciful, and give every man according
unto all his way, even as thou shalt know every mans heart: for thou
only knowest the hearts of the children of Adam: that they may fear
thee and walk in thy ways as long as they live upon the earth, which
thou gavest to our fathers.
Thereto a stranger which is not of thy people Israel, if he
come from a far land for thy great names sake and thy mighty hand
and stretched out arm, and therefore come and pray at this house:
thou shalt hear him from heaven thy dwelling place, and shalt do
according to all that the stranger calleth to thee for. That all the
nations of the earth may know thy name, and fear thee, as doeth thy
people Israel: and that it may be known how that this house which I
have built, is called after thy name.
When thy people shall go out to war, against their enemies the
way that thou shalt send them. If they pray to thee, the way toward
this city which thou hast chosen, and house which I have built for
thy name: then hear from heaven, their supplication and prayer, and
help them in their right.
If they shall sin against thee (as there is no man, but that
he shall sin) and thou be angry with them and deliver them to their
enemies, and they lead them away captive unto a land far or near,
yet if their hearts come to them again in the land where they be in
captivity, and turn and pray unto thee in the land where they be in
captivity saying: we have sinned and have done evil and wickedly and
turn again to thee, with all their hearts and all their souls, in
the land of their captivity where they be kept in bondage, and so
pray toward their land which thou gavest unto their fathers, and
city which thou hast chosen, and to his house which I have built for
thy name: Then hear from heaven thy dwelling place, their
supplication and prayers and judge their cause, and be merciful unto
thy people, though they have sinned against thee.
So now my God let thine eyes be open and thine ears attent
unto the prayers made in this place. And now up Lord God in thy
resting place: both thou and the Ark of thy strength, and let thy
priests put on victory and thy saints rejoice in goodness. And Lord
God turn not away the face of thine anointed: But remember the
mercies promised to David thy servant.
*adjuration (earnest
appeal) *dearth (famine)
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The 7th Chapter
And when
Salomon had made an end of praying, there came down fire from heaven
and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices. And the glory of
the Lord filled the house: that the priests could not go into the
house of the Lord, because the glory of the Lord had fulfilled the
house of the Lord. And all the children of Israel saw how the fire
came down and the glory of the Lord upon the house, and stooped with
their faces to the earth upon the pavement and bowed themselves and
confessed unto the Lord, that he was good and that his mercy lasted
ever.
And the king and all the people offered offerings before the
Lord. So that king Salomon offered twenty two thousand oxen, and an
hundred and twenty thousand sheep. And so the king and all the
people hallowed the house of God. And the priests waited on their
offices, and the Levites with instruments of music of the Lord which
king David made to confess unto the Lord that his mercy lasteth
ever, when David gave praise through their hands. And the priests
blew trumpets fast by them: and all Israel stood. Moreover Salomon
hallowed the middle of the court that was before the Lord: for there
he offered burntofferings and the fat of the peaceofferings, because
the brazen altar which Salomon had made, was not able to receive the
burntofferings and the meat offerings and the fat.
And Salomon kept a feast the same season of seven days, and
all Israel with him, an exceeding great congregation, even from
Hemath unto the river of Egypt. And the eighth day they made a
gathering. For they kept the hallowing of the altar seven days and
the feast seven days. And the twenty third day of the seventh month,
he let the people depart unto their tents, glad and merry in heart
for the goodness that the Lord had showed to David, to Salomon and
to Israel his people. And so Salomon finished the house of the Lord
and the kings house and all that came in his heart to make in the
house of the Lord and in his own house, and that prosperously.
And the Lord appeared to Salomon by night and said to him: I have
heard thy petition and have chosen this place for myself to be an
house of sacrifice. Moreover if I shut up heaven that there be no
rain, or if I command the locusts to devour the land, or if I send
pestilence among my people: yet if my people that are named after my
name, shall humble themselves and make intercession and seek my
presence, and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from
heaven and be merciful to their sins, and will heal their land.
Thereto mine eyes shall be open and mine ears attent unto the
prayers made in this place. And finally I have chosen and sanctified
this house, that my name be there for ever, and mine eyes and mine
heart shall be there perpetually.
And if thou shalt walk before me as David thy father walked,
to do according to all that I have commanded thee, and shalt observe
mine ordinances and my laws: then I will stablish the seat of thy
kingdom, according to the covenant I made with David thy father,
saying: thou shalt have ever one or other that shall rule in Israel.
But and if ye turn away and forsake mine ordinances and my
commandments which I have set before you, and shall go and serve
other Gods and bow yourselves to them: then will I pluck them up by
the roots out of my land which I have given them, and will cast this
house which I have sanctified for my name out of my sight, and will
make a proverb and a tale of it among all nations. And this house
that is so high, shall be a wonder to all that passeth thereby that
they shall say: why hath the Lord dealt on this fashion with this
land and with this house? And it shall be answered then, because
they forsook the Lord God of their fathers which brought them out of
the land of Egypt, and caught hold on other Gods, and bowed to them
and served them: even therefore brought he on them all this evil. |
Chapters 1-7
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8-16 |
17-24 |
25-31 |
32-end |
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