^14:1Now Joab the son of Zeruiah perceived that the king’s heart was toward Absalom. ^14:2Joab sent to Tekoa, and brought a wise woman from there, and said to her, “Please act like a mourner, and put on mourning clothing, please, and don’t anoint yourself with oil, but be as a woman who has mourned a long time for the dead. ^14:3Go in to the king, and speak like this to him.” So Joab put the words in her mouth. ^14:4When the woman of Tekoa spoke to the king, she fell on her face to the ground, showed respect, and said, “Help, O king!” ^14:5The king said to her, “What ails you?” She answered, “Truly I am a widow, and my husband is dead. ^14:6Your servant had two sons, and they both fought together in the field, and there was no one to part them, but the one struck the other, and killed him. ^14:7Behold, the whole family has risen against your servant, and they say, ‘Deliver him who struck his brother, that we may kill him for the life of his brother whom he killed, and so destroy the heir also.’ Thus they would quench my coal which is left, and would leave to my husband neither name nor remainder on the surface of the earth.” ^14:8The king said to the woman, “Go to your house, and I will give a command concerning you.” ^14:9The woman of Tekoa said to the king, “My lord, O king, may the iniquity be on me, and on my father’s house; and may the king and his throne be guiltless.” ^14:10The king said, “Whoever says anything to you, bring him to me, and he will not bother you any more.” ^14:11Then she said, “Please let the king remember Yahweh your God, that the avenger of blood destroy not any more, lest they destroy my son.” He said, “As Yahweh lives, not one hair of your son shall fall to the earth.” ^14:12Then the woman said, “Please let your servant speak a word to my lord the king.” He said, “Say on.” ^14:13The woman said, “Why then have you devised such a thing against the people of God? For in speaking this word the king is as one who is guilty, in that the king does not bring home again his banished one. ^14:14For we must die, and are like water spilled on the ground, which can’t be gathered up again; neither does God take away life, but devises means, that he who is banished not be an outcast from him. ^14:15Now therefore seeing that I have come to speak this word to my lord the king, it is because the people have made me afraid. Your servant said, ‘I will now speak to the king; it may be that the king will perform the request of his servant.’ ^14:16For the king will hear, to deliver his servant out of the hand of the man who would destroy me and my son together out of the inheritance of God. ^14:17Then your servant said, ‘Please let the word of my lord the king bring rest; for as an angel of God, so is my lord the king to discern good and bad. May Yahweh, your God, be with you.’” ^14:18Then the king answered the woman, “Please don’t hide anything from me that I ask you.” The woman said, “Let my lord the king now speak.” ^14:19The king said, “Is the hand of Joab with you in all this?” The woman answered, “As your soul lives, my lord the king, no one can turn to the right hand or to the left from anything that my lord the king has spoken; for your servant Joab urged me, and he put all these words in the mouth of your servant; ^14:20to change the face of the matter has your servant Joab done this thing. My lord is wise, according to the wisdom of an angel of God, to know all things that are in the earth.” ^14:21The king said to Joab, “Behold now, I have done this thing. Go therefore, and bring the young man Absalom back.” ^14:22Joab fell to the ground on his face, showed respect, and blessed the king. Joab said, “Today your servant knows that I have found favor in your sight, my lord, king, in that the king has performed the request of his servant.” ^14:23So Joab arose and went to Geshur, and brought Absalom to Jerusalem. ^14:24The king said, “Let him return to his own house, but let him not see my face.” So Absalom returned to his own house, and didn’t see the king’s face. ^14:25Now in all Israel there was no one to be so much praised as Absalom for his beauty. From the sole of his foot even to the crown of his head there was no defect in him. ^14:26When he cut the hair of his head (now it was at every year’s end that he cut it; because it was heavy on him, therefore he cut it); he weighed the hair of his head at two hundred shekels, after the king’s weight. ^14:27Three sons were born to Absalom, and one daughter, whose name was Tamar. She was a woman with a beautiful face. ^14:28Absalom lived two full years in Jerusalem, and he didn’t see the king’s face. ^14:29Then Absalom sent for Joab, to send him to the king, but he would not come to him. Then he sent again a second time, but he would not come. ^14:30Therefore he said to his servants, “Behold, Joab’s field is near mine, and he has barley there. Go and set it on fire.” So Absalom’s servants set the field on fire. ^14:31Then Joab arose, and came to Absalom to his house, and said to him, “Why have your servants set my field on fire?” ^14:32Absalom answered Joab, “Behold, I sent to you, saying, ‘Come here, that I may send you to the king, to say, “Why have I come from Geshur? It would be better for me to be there still. Now therefore let me see the king’s face, and if there is iniquity in me, let him kill me.”’” ^14:33So Joab came to the king, and told him; and when he had called for Absalom, he came to the king, and bowed himself on his face to the ground before the king; and the king kissed Absalom.

^15:1After this, Absalom prepared a chariot and horses for himself, and fifty men to run before him. ^15:2Absalom rose up early, and stood beside the way of the gate. When any man had a suit which should come to the king for judgment, then Absalom called to him, and said, “What city are you from?” He said, “Your servant is of one of the tribes of Israel.” ^15:3Absalom said to him, “Behold, your matters are good and right; but there is no man deputized by the king to hear you.” ^15:4Absalom said moreover, “Oh that I were made judge in the land, that every man who has any suit or cause might come to me, and I would do him justice!” ^15:5It was so, that when any man came near to bow down to him, he stretched out his hand, and took hold of him, and kissed him. ^15:6Absalom did this sort of thing to all Israel who came to the king for judgment. So Absalom stole the hearts of the men of Israel. ^15:7At the end of forty years, Absalom said to the king, “Please let me go and pay my vow, which I have vowed to Yahweh, in Hebron. ^15:8For your servant vowed a vow while I stayed at Geshur in Syria, saying, ‘If Yahweh shall indeed bring me again to Jerusalem, then I will serve Yahweh.’” ^15:9The king said to him, “Go in peace.” So he arose, and went to Hebron. ^15:10But Absalom sent spies throughout all the tribes of Israel, saying, “As soon as you hear the sound of the trumpet, then you shall say, ‘Absalom is king in Hebron!’” ^15:11Two hundred men went with Absalom out of Jerusalem, who were invited, and went in their simplicity; and they didn’t know anything. ^15:12Absalom sent for Ahithophel the Gilonite, David’s counselor, from his city, even from Giloh, while he was offering the sacrifices. The conspiracy was strong; for the people increased continually with Absalom. ^15:13A messenger came to David, saying, “The hearts of the men of Israel are after Absalom.” ^15:14David said to all his servants who were with him at Jerusalem, “Arise, and let us flee; or else none of us will escape from Absalom. Hurry to depart, lest he overtake us quickly, and bring down evil on us, and strike the city with the edge of the sword.” ^15:15The king’s servants said to the king, “Behold, your servants are ready to do whatever my lord the king chooses.” ^15:16The king went out, and all his household after him. The king left ten women, who were concubines, to keep the house. ^15:17The king went out, and all the people after him; and they stayed in Beth Merhak. ^15:18All his servants passed on beside him; and all the Cherethites, and all the Pelethites, and all the Gittites, six hundred men who came after him from Gath, passed on before the king. ^15:19Then the king said to Ittai the Gittite, “Why do you also go with us? Return, and stay with the king; for you are a foreigner, and also an exile. Return to your own place. ^15:20Whereas you came but yesterday, should I today make you go up and down with us, since I go where I may? Return, and take back your brothers. Mercy and truth be with you.” ^15:21Ittai answered the king, and said, “As Yahweh lives, and as my lord the king lives, surely in what place my lord the king is, whether for death or for life, your servant will be there also.” ^15:22David said to Ittai, “Go and pass over.” Ittai the Gittite passed over, and all his men, and all the little ones who were with him. ^15:23All the country wept with a loud voice, and all the people passed over. The king also himself passed over the brook Kidron, and all the people passed over, toward the way of the wilderness. ^15:24Behold, Zadok also came, and all the Levites with him, bearing the ark of the covenant of God; and they set down God’s ark; and Abiathar went up, until all the people finished passing out of the city. ^15:25The king said to Zadok, “Carry God’s ark back into the city. If I find favor in Yahweh’s eyes, he will bring me again, and show me both it, and his habitation; ^15:26but if he says, ‘I have no delight in you;’ behold, here am I. Let him do to me as seems good to him.” ^15:27The king said also to Zadok the priest, “Aren’t you a seer? Return into the city in peace, and your two sons with you, Ahimaaz your son, and Jonathan the son of Abiathar. ^15:28Behold, I will stay at the fords of the wilderness, until word comes from you to inform me.” ^15:29Zadok therefore and Abiathar carried God’s ark to Jerusalem again; and they stayed there. ^15:30David went up by the ascent of the Mount of Olives, and wept as he went up; and he had his head covered, and went barefoot: and all the people who were with him each covered his head, and they went up, weeping as they went up. ^15:31Someone told David, saying, “Ahithophel is among the conspirators with Absalom.” David said, “Yahweh, please turn the counsel of Ahithophel into foolishness.” ^15:32When David had come to the top, where God was worshiped, behold, Hushai the Archite came to meet him with his coat torn, and earth on his head. ^15:33David said to him, “If you pass on with me, then you will be a burden to me; ^15:34but if you return to the city, and tell Absalom, ‘I will be your servant, O king. As I have been your father’s servant in time past, so will I now be your servant; then will you defeat for me the counsel of Ahithophel.’ ^15:35Don’t you have Zadok and Abiathar the priests there with you? Therefore whatever you hear out of the king’s house, tell it to Zadok and Abiathar the priests. ^15:36Behold, they have there with them their two sons, Ahimaaz, Zadok’s son, and Jonathan, Abiathar’s son. Send to me everything that you shall hear by them.” ^15:37So Hushai, David’s friend, came into the city; and Absalom came into Jerusalem.

^16:1When David was a little past the top, behold, Ziba the servant of Mephibosheth met him with a couple of donkeys saddled, and on them two hundred loaves of bread, and one hundred clusters of raisins, and one hundred summer fruits, and a bottle of wine. ^16:2The king said to Ziba, “What do you mean by these?” Ziba said, “The donkeys are for the king’s household to ride on; and the bread and summer fruit for the young men to eat; and the wine, that those who are faint in the wilderness may drink.” ^16:3The king said, “Where is your master’s son?” Ziba said to the king, “Behold, he is staying in Jerusalem; for he said, ‘Today the house of Israel will restore me the kingdom of my father.’” ^16:4Then the king said to Ziba, “Behold, all that belongs to Mephibosheth is yours.” Ziba said, “I bow down. Let me find favor in your sight, my lord, O king.” ^16:5When king David came to Bahurim, behold, a man of the family of Saul’s house came out, whose name was Shimei, the son of Gera. He came out and cursed as he came. ^16:6He cast stones at David, and at all the servants of king David, and all the people and all the mighty men were on his right hand and on his left. ^16:7Shimei said when he cursed, “Be gone, be gone, you man of blood, and wicked fellow! ^16:8Yahweh has returned on you all the blood of Saul’s house, in whose place you have reigned! Yahweh has delivered the kingdom into the hand of Absalom your son! Behold, you are caught by your own mischief, because you are a man of blood!” ^16:9Then Abishai the son of Zeruiah said to the king, “Why should this dead dog curse my lord the king? Please let me go over and take off his head.” ^16:10The king said, “What have I to do with you, you sons of Zeruiah? Because he curses, and because Yahweh has said to him, ‘Curse David;’ who then shall say, ‘Why have you done so?’” ^16:11David said to Abishai, and to all his servants, “Behold, my son, who came out of my bowels, seeks my life. How much more this Benjamite, now? Leave him alone, and let him curse; for Yahweh has invited him. ^16:12It may be that Yahweh will look on the wrong done to me, and that Yahweh will repay me good for the cursing of me today.” ^16:13So David and his men went by the way; and Shimei went along on the hillside opposite him, and cursed as he went, threw stones at him, and threw dust. ^16:14The king, and all the people who were with him, came weary; and he refreshed himself there. ^16:15Absalom and all the people, the men of Israel, came to Jerusalem, and Ahithophel with him. ^16:16When Hushai the Archite, David’s friend, had come to Absalom, Hushai said to Absalom, “Long live the king! Long live the king!” ^16:17Absalom said to Hushai, “Is this your kindness to your friend? Why didn’t you go with your friend?” ^16:18Hushai said to Absalom, “No; but whomever Yahweh, and this people, and all the men of Israel have chosen, his will I be, and with him I will stay. ^16:19Again, whom should I serve? Shouldn’t I serve in the presence of his son? As I have served in your father’s presence, so will I be in your presence.” ^16:20Then Absalom said to Ahithophel, “Give your counsel what we shall do.” ^16:21Ahithophel said to Absalom, “Go in to your father’s concubines that he has left to keep the house. Then all Israel will hear that you are abhorred by your father. Then the hands of all who are with you will be strong.” ^16:22So they spread a tent for Absalom on the top of the house, and Absalom went in to his father’s concubines in the sight of all Israel. ^16:23The counsel of Ahithophel, which he gave in those days, was as if a man inquired at the inner sanctuary of God. So was all the counsel of Ahithophel both with David and with Absalom.

^17:1Moreover Ahithophel said to Absalom, “Let me now choose twelve thousand men, and I will arise and pursue after David tonight. ^17:2I will come on him while he is weary and exhausted, and will make him afraid. All the people who are with him will flee. I will strike the king only, ^17:3and I will bring back all the people to you. The man whom you seek is as if all returned. All the people shall be in peace.” ^17:4The saying pleased Absalom well, and all the elders of Israel. ^17:5Then Absalom said, “Now call Hushai the Archite also, and let us hear likewise what he says.” ^17:6When Hushai had come to Absalom, Absalom spoke to him, saying, “Ahithophel has spoken like this. Shall we do what he says? If not, speak up.” ^17:7Hushai said to Absalom, “The counsel that Ahithophel has given this time is not good.” ^17:8Hushai said moreover, “You know your father and his men, that they are mighty men, and they are fierce in their minds, like a bear robbed of her cubs in the field. Your father is a man of war, and will not lodge with the people. ^17:9Behold, he is now hidden in some pit, or in some other place. It will happen, when some of them have fallen at the first, that whoever hears it will say, ‘There is a slaughter among the people who follow Absalom!’ ^17:10Even he who is valiant, whose heart is as the heart of a lion, will utterly melt; for all Israel knows that your father is a mighty man, and those who are with him are valiant men. ^17:11But I counsel that all Israel be gathered together to you, from Dan even to Beersheba, as the sand that is by the sea for multitude; and that you go to battle in your own person. ^17:12So shall we come on him in some place where he shall be found, and we will light on him as the dew falls on the ground; and of him and of all the men who are with him we will not leave so much as one. ^17:13Moreover, if he has gone into a city, then shall all Israel bring ropes to that city, and we will draw it into the river, until there isn’t one small stone found there.” ^17:14Absalom and all the men of Israel said, “The counsel of Hushai the Archite is better than the counsel of Ahithophel.” For Yahweh had ordained to defeat the good counsel of Ahithophel, to the intent that Yahweh might bring evil on Absalom. ^17:15Then Hushai said to Zadok and to Abiathar the priests, “Ahithophel counseled Absalom and the elders of Israel that way; and I have counseled this way. ^17:16Now therefore send quickly, and tell David, saying, ‘Don’t lodge tonight at the fords of the wilderness, but by all means pass over; lest the king be swallowed up, and all the people who are with him.’” ^17:17Now Jonathan and Ahimaaz were staying by En Rogel; and a female servant used to go and tell them; and they went and told king David. For they might not be seen to come into the city. ^17:18But a boy saw them, and told Absalom. Then they both went away quickly, and came to the house of a man in Bahurim, who had a well in his court; and they went down there. ^17:19The woman took and spread the covering over the well’s mouth, and spread out bruised grain on it; and nothing was known. ^17:20Absalom’s servants came to the woman to the house; and they said, “Where are Ahimaaz and Jonathan?” The woman said to them, “They have gone over the brook of water.” When they had sought and could not find them, they returned to Jerusalem. ^17:21After they had departed, they came up out of the well, and went and told king David; and they said to David, “Arise and pass quickly over the water; for thus has Ahithophel counseled against you.” ^17:22Then David arose, and all the people who were with him, and they passed over the Jordan. By the morning light there lacked not one of them who had not gone over the Jordan. ^17:23When Ahithophel saw that his counsel was not followed, he saddled his donkey, arose, and went home, to his city, and set his house in order, and hanged himself; and he died, and was buried in the tomb of his father. ^17:24Then David came to Mahanaim. Absalom passed over the Jordan, he and all the men of Israel with him. ^17:25Absalom set Amasa over the army instead of Joab. Now Amasa was the son of a man whose name was Ithra the Israelite, who went in to Abigail the daughter of Nahash, sister to Zeruiah, Joab’s mother. ^17:26Israel and Absalom encamped in the land of Gilead. ^17:27When David had come to Mahanaim, Shobi the son of Nahash of Rabbah of the children of Ammon, and Machir the son of Ammiel of Lodebar, and Barzillai the Gileadite of Rogelim, ^17:28brought beds, basins, earthen vessels, wheat, barley, meal, parched grain, beans, lentils, roasted grain, ^17:29honey, butter, sheep, and cheese of the herd, for David, and for the people who were with him, to eat; for they said, “The people are hungry, and weary, and thirsty in the wilderness.”

^18:1David counted the people who were with him, and set captains of thousands and captains of hundreds over them. ^18:2David sent the people out, a third part under the hand of Joab, and a third part under the hand of Abishai the son of Zeruiah, Joab’s brother, and a third part under the hand of Ittai the Gittite. The king said to the people, “I will also surely go out with you myself.” ^18:3But the people said, “You shall not go out; for if we flee away, they will not care for us; neither if half of us die, will they care for us. But you are worth ten thousand of us. Therefore now it is better that you are ready to help us out of the city.” ^18:4The king said to them, “I will do what seems best to you.” The king stood beside the gate, and all the people went out by hundreds and by thousands. ^18:5The king commanded Joab and Abishai and Ittai, saying, “Deal gently for my sake with the young man, even with Absalom.” All the people heard when the king commanded all the captains concerning Absalom. ^18:6So the people went out into the field against Israel; and the battle was in the forest of Ephraim. ^18:7The people of Israel were struck there before David’s servants, and there was a great slaughter there that day of twenty thousand men. ^18:8For the battle was there spread over the surface of all the country, and the forest devoured more people that day than the sword devoured. ^18:9Absalom happened to meet David’s servants. Absalom was riding on his mule, and the mule went under the thick boughs of a great oak, and his head caught hold of the oak, and he was taken up between the sky and earth; and the mule that was under him went on. ^18:10A certain man saw it, and told Joab, and said, “Behold, I saw Absalom hanging in an oak.” ^18:11Joab said to the man who told him, “Behold, you saw it, and why didn’t you strike him there to the ground? I would have given you ten pieces of silver, and a sash.” ^18:12The man said to Joab, “Though I should receive a thousand pieces of silver in my hand, I still wouldn’t stretch out my hand against the king’s son; for in our hearing the king commanded you and Abishai and Ittai, saying, ‘Beware that no one touch the young man Absalom.’ ^18:13Otherwise if I had dealt falsely against his life (and there is no matter hidden from the king), then you yourself would have set yourself against me.” ^18:14Then Joab said, “I’m not going to wait like this with you.” He took three darts in his hand, and thrust them through the heart of Absalom, while he was yet alive in the middle of the oak. ^18:15Ten young men who bore Joab’s armor surrounded and struck Absalom, and killed him. ^18:16Joab blew the trumpet, and the people returned from pursuing after Israel; for Joab held the people back. ^18:17They took Absalom and cast him into the great pit in the forest, and raised over him a very great heap of stones. Then all Israel fled, each to his own tent. ^18:18Now Absalom in his lifetime had taken and reared up for himself the pillar which is in the king’s valley, for he said, “I have no son to keep my name in memory.” He called the pillar after his own name. It is called Absalom’s monument, to this day. ^18:19Then Ahimaaz the son of Zadok said, “Let me now run, and carry the king news, how Yahweh has avenged him of his enemies.” ^18:20Joab said to him, “You must not be the bearer of news today, but you must carry news another day. But today you must carry no news, because the king’s son is dead.” ^18:21Then Joab said to the Cushite, “Go, tell the king what you have seen!” The Cushite bowed himself to Joab, and ran. ^18:22Then Ahimaaz the son of Zadok said yet again to Joab, “But come what may, please let me also run after the Cushite.” Joab said, “Why do you want to run, my son, since that you will have no reward for the news?” ^18:23“But come what may,” he said, “I will run.” He said to him, “Run!” Then Ahimaaz ran by the way of the Plain, and outran the Cushite. ^18:24Now David was sitting between the two gates; and the watchman went up to the roof of the gate to the wall, and lifted up his eyes, and looked, and, behold, a man running alone. ^18:25The watchman cried, and told the king. The king said, “If he is alone, there is news in his mouth.” He came closer and closer. ^18:26The watchman saw another man running; and the watchman called to the gatekeeper, and said, “Behold, a man running alone!” The king said, “He also brings news.” ^18:27The watchman said, “I think the running of the first one is like the running of Ahimaaz the son of Zadok.” The king said, “He is a good man, and comes with good news.” ^18:28Ahimaaz called, and said to the king, “All is well.” He bowed himself before the king with his face to the earth, and said, “Blessed is Yahweh your God, who has delivered up the men who lifted up their hand against my lord the king!” ^18:29The king said, “Is it well with the young man Absalom?” Ahimaaz answered, “When Joab sent the king’s servant, even me your servant, I saw a great tumult, but I don’t know what it was.” ^18:30The king said, “Come and stand here.” He came, and stood still. ^18:31Behold, the Cushite came. The Cushite said, “News for my lord the king, for Yahweh has avenged you today of all those who rose up against you.” ^18:32The king said to the Cushite, “Is it well with the young man Absalom?” The Cushite answered, “May the enemies of my lord the king, and all who rise up against you to do you harm, be as that young man is.” ^18:33The king was much moved, and went up to the room over the gate, and wept. As he went, he said, “My son Absalom! My son, my son Absalom! I wish I had died for you, Absalom, my son, my son!”

^19:1Joab was told, “Behold, the king weeps and mourns for Absalom.” ^19:2The victory that day was turned into mourning among all the people; for the people heard it said that day, “The king grieves for his son.” ^19:3The people sneaked into the city that day, as people who are ashamed steal away when they flee in battle. ^19:4The king covered his face, and the king cried with a loud voice, “My son Absalom, Absalom, my son, my son!” ^19:5Joab came into the house to the king, and said, “Today you have shamed the faces of all your servants, who today have saved your life, and the lives of your sons and of your daughters, and the lives of your wives, and the lives of your concubines; ^19:6in that you love those who hate you, and hate those who love you. For you have declared today, that princes and servants are nothing to you. For today I perceive that if Absalom had lived, and all we had died today, then it would have pleased you well. ^19:7Now therefore arise, go out, and speak to comfort your servants; for I swear by Yahweh, if you don’t go out, not a man will stay with you this night. That would be worse to you than all the evil that has happened to you from your youth until now.” ^19:8Then the king arose, and sat in the gate. They told to all the people, saying, “Behold, the king is sitting in the gate.” All the people came before the king. Now Israel had fled every man to his tent. ^19:9All the people were at strife throughout all the tribes of Israel, saying, “The king delivered us out of the hand of our enemies, and he saved us out of the hand of the Philistines; and now he has fled out of the land from Absalom. ^19:10Absalom, whom we anointed over us, is dead in battle. Now therefore why don’t you speak a word of bringing the king back?” ^19:11King David sent to Zadok and to Abiathar the priests, saying, “Speak to the elders of Judah, saying, ‘Why are you the last to bring the king back to his house? Since the speech of all Israel has come to the king, to return him to his house. ^19:12You are my brothers. You are my bone and my flesh. Why then are you the last to bring back the king?’ ^19:13Say to Amasa, ‘Aren’t you my bone and my flesh? God do so to me, and more also, if you aren’t captain of the army before me continually instead of Joab.’” ^19:14He bowed the heart of all the men of Judah, even as one man; so that they sent to the king, saying, “Return, you and all your servants.” ^19:15So the king returned, and came to the Jordan. Judah came to Gilgal, to go to meet the king, to bring the king over the Jordan. ^19:16Shimei the son of Gera, the Benjamite, who was of Bahurim, hurried and came down with the men of Judah to meet king David. ^19:17There were a thousand men of Benjamin with him, and Ziba the servant of Saul’s house, and his fifteen sons and his twenty servants with him; and they went through the Jordan in the presence of the king. ^19:18A ferry boat went to bring over the king’s household, and to do what he thought good. Shimei the son of Gera fell down before the king, when he had come over the Jordan. ^19:19He said to the king, “Don’t let my lord impute iniquity to me, or remember that which your servant did perversely the day that my lord the king went out of Jerusalem, that the king should take it to his heart. ^19:20For your servant knows that I have sinned. Therefore behold, I have come today as the first of all the house of Joseph to go down to meet my lord the king.” ^19:21But Abishai the son of Zeruiah answered, “Shouldn’t Shimei be put to death for this, because he cursed Yahweh’s anointed?” ^19:22David said, “What have I to do with you, you sons of Zeruiah, that you should be adversaries to me today? Shall any man be put to death today in Israel? For don’t I know that I am king over Israel today?” ^19:23The king said to Shimei, “You will not die.” The king swore to him. ^19:24Mephibosheth the son of Saul came down to meet the king; and he had neither groomed his feet, nor trimmed his beard, nor washed his clothes, from the day the king departed until the day he came home in peace. ^19:25When he had come to Jerusalem to meet the king, the king said to him, “Why didn’t you go with me, Mephibosheth?” ^19:26He answered, “My lord, O king, my servant deceived me. For your servant said, I will saddle me a donkey, that I may ride on it, and go with the king; because your servant is lame. ^19:27He has slandered your servant to my lord the king, but my lord the king is as an angel of God. Do therefore what is good in your eyes. ^19:28For all my father’s house were but dead men before my lord the king; yet you set your servant among those who ate at your own table. What right therefore have I yet that I should cry any more to the king?” ^19:29The king said to him, “Why do you speak any more of your matters? I say, you and Ziba divide the land.” ^19:30Mephibosheth said to the king, “Yes, let him take all, because my lord the king has come in peace to his own house.” ^19:31Barzillai the Gileadite came down from Rogelim; and he went over the Jordan with the king, to conduct him over the Jordan. ^19:32Now Barzillai was a very aged man, even eighty years old. He had provided the king with sustenance while he stayed at Mahanaim; for he was a very great man. ^19:33The king said to Barzillai, “Come over with me, and I will sustain you with me in Jerusalem.” ^19:34Barzillai said to the king, “How many are the days of the years of my life, that I should go up with the king to Jerusalem? ^19:35I am eighty years old, today. Can I discern between good and bad? Can your servant taste what I eat or what I drink? Can I hear the voice of singing men and singing women any more? Why then should your servant be a burden to my lord the king? ^19:36Your servant would but just go over the Jordan with the king. Why should the king repay me with such a reward? ^19:37Please let your servant turn back again, that I may die in my own city, by the grave of my father and my mother. But behold, your servant Chimham; let him go over with my lord the king; and do to him what shall seem good to you.” ^19:38The king answered, “Chimham shall go over with me, and I will do to him that which shall seem good to you. Whatever you request of me, that I will do for you.” ^19:39All the people went over the Jordan, and the king went over. Then the king kissed Barzillai, and blessed him; and he returned to his own place. ^19:40So the king went over to Gilgal, and Chimham went over with him. All the people of Judah brought the king over, and also half the people of Israel. ^19:41Behold, all the men of Israel came to the king, and said to the king, “Why have our brothers the men of Judah stolen you away, and brought the king, and his household, over the Jordan, and all David’s men with him?” ^19:42All the men of Judah answered the men of Israel, “Because the king is a close relative to us. Why then are you angry about this matter? Have we eaten at all at the king’s cost? Or has he given us any gift?” ^19:43The men of Israel answered the men of Judah, and said, “We have ten parts in the king, and we have also more claim to David than you. Why then did you despise us, that our advice should not be first had in bringing back our king?” The words of the men of Judah were fiercer than the words of the men of Israel.

^20:1There happened to be there a wicked fellow, whose name was Sheba, the son of Bichri, a Benjamite; and he blew the trumpet, and said, “We have no portion in David, neither have we inheritance in the son of Jesse. Every man to his tents, Israel!” ^20:2So all the men of Israel went up from following David, and followed Sheba the son of Bichri; but the men of Judah joined with their king, from the Jordan even to Jerusalem. ^20:3David came to his house at Jerusalem; and the king took the ten women his concubines, whom he had left to keep the house, and put them in custody, and provided them with sustenance, but didn’t go in to them. So they were shut up to the day of their death, living in widowhood. ^20:4Then the king said to Amasa, “Call me the men of Judah together within three days, and be here present.” ^20:5So Amasa went to call the men of Judah together; but he stayed longer than the set time which he had appointed him. ^20:6David said to Abishai, “Now Sheba the son of Bichri will do us more harm than Absalom did. Take your lord’s servants, and pursue after him, lest he get himself fortified cities, and escape out of our sight.” ^20:7Joab’s men went out after him, and the Cherethites and the Pelethites, and all the mighty men; and they went out of Jerusalem, to pursue Sheba the son of Bichri. ^20:8When they were at the great stone which is in Gibeon, Amasa came to meet them. Joab was clothed in his apparel of war that he had put on, and on it was a sash with a sword fastened on his waist in its sheath; and as he went along it fell out. ^20:9Joab said to Amasa, “Is it well with you, my brother?” Joab took Amasa by the beard with his right hand to kiss him. ^20:10But Amasa took no heed to the sword that was in Joab’s hand. So he struck him with it in the body, and shed out his bowels to the ground, and didn’t strike him again; and he died. Joab and Abishai his brother pursued Sheba the son of Bichri. ^20:11One of Joab’s young men stood by him, and said, “He who favors Joab, and he who is for David, let him follow Joab!” ^20:12Amasa lay wallowing in his blood in the middle of the highway. When the man saw that all the people stood still, he carried Amasa out of the highway into the field, and cast a garment over him, when he saw that everyone who came by him stood still. ^20:13When he was removed out of the highway, all the people went on after Joab, to pursue Sheba the son of Bichri. ^20:14He went through all the tribes of Israel to Abel, and to Beth Maacah, and all the Berites. They were gathered together, and went also after him. ^20:15They came and besieged him in Abel of Beth Maacah, and they cast up a mound against the city, and it stood against the rampart; and all the people who were with Joab battered the wall, to throw it down. ^20:16Then a wise woman cried out of the city, “Hear, hear! Please say to Joab, ‘Come near here, that I may speak with you.’” ^20:17He came near to her; and the woman said, “Are you Joab?” He answered, “I am.” Then she said to him, “Hear the words of your servant.” He answered, “I’m listening.” ^20:18Then she spoke, saying, “They used to say in old times, ‘They shall surely ask counsel at Abel;’ and so they settled a matter. ^20:19I am among those who are peaceable and faithful in Israel. You seek to destroy a city and a mother in Israel. Why will you swallow up Yahweh’s inheritance?” ^20:20Joab answered, “Far be it, far be it from me, that I should swallow up or destroy. ^20:21The matter is not so. But a man of the hill country of Ephraim, Sheba the son of Bichri by name, has lifted up his hand against the king, even against David. Just deliver him, and I will depart from the city.” The woman said to Joab, “Behold, his head will be thrown to you over the wall.” ^20:22Then the woman went to all the people in her wisdom. They cut off the head of Sheba the son of Bichri, and threw it out to Joab. He blew the trumpet, and they were dispersed from the city, every man to his tent. Then Joab returned to Jerusalem to the king. ^20:23Now Joab was over all the army of Israel, Benaiah the son of Jehoiada was over the Cherethites and over the Pelethites, ^20:24Adoram was over the men subject to forced labor, Jehoshaphat the son of Ahilud was the recorder, ^20:25Sheva was scribe, and Zadok and Abiathar were priests, ^20:26and Ira the Jairite was chief minister to David.

^21:1There was a famine in the days of David for three years, year after year; and David sought the face of Yahweh. Yahweh said, “It is for Saul, and for his bloody house, because he put the Gibeonites to death.” ^21:2The king called the Gibeonites, and said to them (now the Gibeonites were not of the children of Israel, but of the remnant of the Amorites, and the children of Israel had sworn to them; and Saul sought to kill them in his zeal for the children of Israel and Judah); ^21:3and David said to the Gibeonites, “What should I do for you? And with what should I make atonement, that you may bless Yahweh’s inheritance?” ^21:4The Gibeonites said to him, “It is no matter of silver or gold between us and Saul, or his house; neither is it for us to put any man to death in Israel.” He said, “Whatever you say, that I will do for you.” ^21:5They said to the king, “The man who consumed us, and who devised against us, that we should be destroyed from remaining in any of the borders of Israel, ^21:6let seven men of his sons be delivered to us, and we will hang them up to Yahweh in Gibeah of Saul, the chosen of Yahweh.” The king said, “I will give them.” ^21:7But the king spared Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan the son of Saul, because of Yahweh’s oath that was between them, between David and Jonathan the son of Saul. ^21:8But the king took the two sons of Rizpah the daughter of Aiah, whom she bore to Saul, Armoni and Mephibosheth; and the five sons of Michal the daughter of Saul, whom she bore to Adriel the son of Barzillai the Meholathite. ^21:9He delivered them into the hands of the Gibeonites, and they hanged them on the mountain before Yahweh, and all seven of them fell together. They were put to death in the days of harvest, in the first days, at the beginning of barley harvest. ^21:10Rizpah the daughter of Aiah took sackcloth, and spread it for herself on the rock, from the beginning of harvest until water poured on them from the sky. She allowed neither the birds of the sky to rest on them by day, nor the animals of the field by night. ^21:11David was told what Rizpah the daughter of Aiah, the concubine of Saul, had done. ^21:12So David went and took the bones of Saul and the bones of Jonathan his son from the men of Jabesh Gilead, who had stolen them from the street of Beth Shan, where the Philistines had hanged them, in the day that the Philistines killed Saul in Gilboa; ^21:13and he brought up from there the bones of Saul and the bones of Jonathan his son. They also gathered the bones of those who were hanged. ^21:14They buried the bones of Saul and Jonathan his son in the country of Benjamin in Zela, in the tomb of Kish his father: and they performed all that the king commanded. After that, God answered prayer for the land. ^21:15The Philistines had war again with Israel; and David went down, and his servants with him, and fought against the Philistines. David grew faint; ^21:16and Ishbibenob, who was of the sons of the giant, the weight of whose spear was three hundred shekels of brass in weight, he being armed with a new sword, thought he would kill David. ^21:17But Abishai the son of Zeruiah helped him, and struck the Philistine, and killed him. Then the men of David swore to him, saying, “Don’t go out with us to battle any more, so that you don’t quench the lamp of Israel.” ^21:18After this, that there was again war with the Philistines at Gob. Then Sibbecai the Hushathite killed Saph, who was of the sons of the giant. ^21:19There was again war with the Philistines at Gob; and Elhanan the son of Jaare-Oregim the Bethlehemite killed Goliath the Gittite’s brother, the staff of whose spear was like a weaver’s beam. ^21:20There was again war at Gath, where there was a man of great stature, who had six fingers on every hand, and six toes on every foot, twenty four in count; and he also was born to the giant. ^21:21When he defied Israel, Jonathan the son of Shimei, David’s brother, killed him. ^21:22These four were born to the giant in Gath; and they fell by the hand of David, and by the hand of his servants.

^22:1David spoke to Yahweh the words of this song in the day that Yahweh delivered him out of the hand of all his enemies, and out of the hand of Saul, ^22:2and he said: “Yahweh is my rock, my fortress, and my deliverer, even mine; ^22:3God is my rock in whom I take refuge; my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my high tower, and my refuge. My savior, you save me from violence. ^22:4I call on Yahweh, who is worthy to be praised; So shall I be saved from my enemies. ^22:5For the waves of death surrounded me. The floods of ungodliness made me afraid. ^22:6The cords of Sheol were around me. The snares of death caught me. ^22:7In my distress, I called on Yahweh. Yes, I called to my God. He heard my voice out of his temple. My cry came into his ears. ^22:8Then the earth shook and trembled. The foundations of heaven quaked and were shaken, because he was angry. ^22:9Smoke went up out of his nostrils. Consuming fire came out of his mouth. Coals were kindled by it. ^22:10He bowed the heavens also, and came down. Thick darkness was under his feet. ^22:11He rode on a cherub, and flew. Yes, he was seen on the wings of the wind. ^22:12He made darkness a shelter around himself: gathering of waters, and thick clouds of the skies. ^22:13At the brightness before him, coals of fire were kindled. ^22:14Yahweh thundered from heaven. The Most High uttered his voice. ^22:15He sent out arrows, and scattered them; lightning, and confused them. ^22:16Then the channels of the sea appeared. The foundations of the world were laid bare by Yahweh’s rebuke, at the blast of the breath of his nostrils. ^22:17He sent from on high and he took me. He drew me out of many waters. ^22:18He delivered me from my strong enemy, from those who hated me, for they were too mighty for me. ^22:19They came on me in the day of my calamity, but Yahweh was my support. ^22:20He also brought me out into a large place. He delivered me, because he delighted in me. ^22:21Yahweh rewarded me according to my righteousness. He rewarded me according to the cleanness of my hands. ^22:22For I have kept Yahweh’s ways, and have not wickedly departed from my God. ^22:23For all his ordinances were before me. As for his statutes, I did not depart from them. ^22:24I was also perfect toward him. I kept myself from my iniquity. ^22:25Therefore Yahweh has rewarded me according to my righteousness, According to my cleanness in his eyesight. ^22:26With the merciful you will show yourself merciful. With the perfect man you will show yourself perfect. ^22:27With the pure you will show yourself pure. With the crooked you will show yourself shrewd. ^22:28You will save the afflicted people, But your eyes are on the haughty, that you may bring them down. ^22:29For you are my lamp, Yahweh. Yahweh will light up my darkness. ^22:30For by you, I run against a troop. By my God, I leap over a wall. ^22:31As for God, his way is perfect. Yahweh’s word is tested. He is a shield to all those who take refuge in him. ^22:32For who is God, besides Yahweh? Who is a rock, besides our God? ^22:33God is my strong fortress. He makes my way perfect. ^22:34He makes his feet like hinds’ feet, and sets me on my high places. ^22:35He teaches my hands to war, so that my arms bend a bow of brass. ^22:36You have also given me the shield of your salvation. Your gentleness has made me great. ^22:37You have enlarged my steps under me. My feet have not slipped. ^22:38I have pursued my enemies and destroyed them. I didn’t turn again until they were consumed. ^22:39I have consumed them, and struck them through, so that they can’t arise. Yes, they have fallen under my feet. ^22:40For you have armed me with strength for the battle. You have subdued under me those who rose up against me. ^22:41You have also made my enemies turn their backs to me, that I might cut off those who hate me. ^22:42They looked, but there was no one to save; even to Yahweh, but he didn’t answer them. ^22:43Then I beat them as small as the dust of the earth. I crushed them as the mire of the streets, and spread them abroad. ^22:44You also have delivered me from the strivings of my people. You have kept me to be the head of the nations. A people whom I have not known will serve me. ^22:45The foreigners will submit themselves to me. As soon as they hear of me, they will obey me. ^22:46The foreigners will fade away, and will come trembling out of their close places. ^22:47Yahweh lives! Blessed be my rock! Exalted be God, the rock of my salvation, ^22:48even the God who executes vengeance for me, who brings down peoples under me, ^22:49who brings me away from my enemies. Yes, you lift me up above those who rise up against me. You deliver me from the violent man. ^22:50Therefore I will give thanks to you, Yahweh, among the nations, and will sing praises to your name. ^22:51He gives great deliverance to his king, and shows loving kindness to his anointed, to David and to his offspring, forever more.”

^23:1Now these are the last words of David. David the son of Jesse says, the man who was raised on high says, the anointed of the God of Jacob, the sweet psalmist of Israel: ^23:2“Yahweh’s Spirit spoke by me. His word was on my tongue. ^23:3The God of Israel said, the Rock of Israel spoke to me, ‘One who rules over men righteously, who rules in the fear of God, ^23:4shall be as the light of the morning, when the sun rises, a morning without clouds, when the tender grass springs out of the earth, through clear shining after rain.’ ^23:5Isn’t my house so with God? Yet he has made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things, and sure, for it is all my salvation, and all my desire, although he doesn’t make it grow. ^23:6But all the ungodly will be as thorns to be thrust away, because they can’t be taken with the hand, ^23:7But the man who touches them must be armed with iron and the staff of a spear. They will be utterly burned with fire in their place.” ^23:8These are the names of the mighty men whom David had: Josheb Basshebeth a Tahchemonite, chief of the captains; the same was Adino the Eznite, against eight hundred slain at one time. ^23:9After him was Eleazar the son of Dodai the son of an Ahohite, one of the three mighty men with David, when they defied the Philistines who were there gathered together to battle, and the men of Israel had gone away. ^23:10He arose and struck the Philistines until his hand was weary, and his hand froze to the sword; and Yahweh worked a great victory that day; and the people returned after him only to take plunder. ^23:11After him was Shammah the son of Agee a Hararite. The Philistines had gathered together into a troop, where there was a plot of ground full of lentils; and the people fled from the Philistines. ^23:12But he stood in the middle of the plot and defended it, and killed the Philistines; and Yahweh worked a great victory. ^23:13Three of the thirty chief men went down, and came to David in the harvest time to the cave of Adullam; and the troop of the Philistines was encamped in the valley of Rephaim. ^23:14David was then in the stronghold; and the garrison of the Philistines was then in Bethlehem. ^23:15David longed, and said, “Oh that someone would give me water to drink from the well of Bethlehem, which is by the gate!” ^23:16The three mighty men broke through the army of the Philistines, and drew water out of the well of Bethlehem that was by the gate, and took it and brought it to David; but he would not drink of it, but poured it out to Yahweh. ^23:17He said, “Be it far from me, Yahweh, that I should do this! Isn’t this the blood of the men who risked their lives to go?” Therefore he would not drink it. The three mighty men did these things. ^23:18Abishai, the brother of Joab, the son of Zeruiah, was chief of the three. He lifted up his spear against three hundred and killed them, and had a name among the three. ^23:19Wasn’t he most honorable of the three? therefore he was made their captain. However he wasn’t included as one of the three. ^23:20Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, the son of a valiant man of Kabzeel, who had done mighty deeds, killed the two sons of Ariel of Moab. He also went down and killed a lion in the middle of a pit in a time of snow. ^23:21He killed a huge Egyptian, and the Egyptian had a spear in his hand; but he went down to him with a staff, and plucked the spear out of the Egyptian’s hand, and killed him with his own spear. ^23:22Benaiah the son of Jehoiada did these things, and had a name among the three mighty men. ^23:23He was more honorable than the thirty, but he didn’t attain to the three. David set him over his guard. ^23:24Asahel the brother of Joab was one of the thirty: Elhanan the son of Dodo of Bethlehem, ^23:25Shammah the Harodite, Elika the Harodite, ^23:26Helez the Paltite, Ira the son of Ikkesh the Tekoite, ^23:27Abiezer the Anathothite, Mebunnai the Hushathite, ^23:28Zalmon the Ahohite, Maharai the Netophathite, ^23:29Heleb the son of Baanah the Netophathite, Ittai the son of Ribai of Gibeah of the children of Benjamin, ^23:30Benaiah a Pirathonite, Hiddai of the brooks of Gaash. ^23:31Abialbon the Arbathite, Azmaveth the Barhumite, ^23:32Eliahba the Shaalbonite, the sons of Jashen, Jonathan, ^23:33Shammah the Hararite, Ahiam the son of Sharar the Ararite, ^23:34Eliphelet the son of Ahasbai, the son of the Maacathite, Eliam the son of Ahithophel the Gilonite, ^23:35Hezro the Carmelite, Paarai the Arbite, ^23:36Igal the son of Nathan of Zobah, Bani the Gadite, ^23:37Zelek the Ammonite, Naharai the Beerothite, armor bearers to Joab the son of Zeruiah, ^23:38Ira the Ithrite, Gareb the Ithrite, ^23:39and Uriah the Hittite: thirty-seven in all.

^24:1Again Yahweh’s anger burned against Israel, and he moved David against them, saying, “Go, count Israel and Judah.” ^24:2The king said to Joab the captain of the army, who was with him, “Now go back and forth through all the tribes of Israel, from Dan even to Beersheba, and count the people, that I may know the sum of the people.” ^24:3Joab said to the king, “Now may Yahweh your God add to the people, however many they may be, one hundred times; and may the eyes of my lord the king see it. But why does my lord the king delight in this thing?” ^24:4Notwithstanding, the king’s word prevailed against Joab, and against the captains of the army. Joab and the captains of the army went out from the presence of the king to count the people of Israel. ^24:5They passed over the Jordan, and encamped in Aroer, on the right side of the city that is in the middle of the valley of Gad, and to Jazer; ^24:6then they came to Gilead, and to the land of Tahtim Hodshi; and they came to Dan Jaan, and around to Sidon, ^24:7and came to the stronghold of Tyre, and to all the cities of the Hivites, and of the Canaanites; and they went out to the south of Judah, at Beersheba. ^24:8So when they had gone back and forth through all the land, they came to Jerusalem at the end of nine months and twenty days. ^24:9Joab gave up the sum of the counting of the people to the king: and there were in Israel eight hundred thousand valiant men who drew the sword; and the men of Judah were five hundred thousand men. ^24:10David’s heart struck him after he had counted the people. David said to Yahweh, “I have sinned greatly in that which I have done. But now, Yahweh, put away, I beg you, the iniquity of your servant; for I have done very foolishly.” ^24:11When David rose up in the morning, Yahweh’s word came to the prophet Gad, David’s seer, saying, ^24:12“Go and speak to David, ‘Yahweh says, “I offer you three things. Choose one of them, that I may do it to you.”’” ^24:13So Gad came to David, and told him, and said to him, “Shall seven years of famine come to you in your land? Or will you flee three months before your foes while they pursue you? Or shall there be three days’ pestilence in your land? Now answer, and consider what answer I shall return to him who sent me.” ^24:14David said to Gad, “I am in distress. Let us fall now into Yahweh’s hand; for his mercies are great. Let me not fall into man’s hand.” ^24:15So Yahweh sent a pestilence on Israel from the morning even to the appointed time; and seventy thousand men died of the people from Dan even to Beersheba. ^24:16When the angel stretched out his hand toward Jerusalem to destroy it, Yahweh relented of the disaster, and said to the angel who destroyed the people, “It is enough. Now withdraw your hand.” Yahweh’s angel was by the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite. ^24:17David spoke to Yahweh when he saw the angel who struck the people, and said, “Behold, I have sinned, and I have done perversely; but these sheep, what have they done? Please let your hand be against me, and against my father’s house.” ^24:18Gad came that day to David, and said to him, “Go up, build an altar to Yahweh on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.” ^24:19David went up according to the saying of Gad, as Yahweh commanded. ^24:20Araunah looked out, and saw the king and his servants coming on toward him. Then Araunah went out, and bowed himself before the king with his face to the ground. ^24:21Araunah said, “Why has my lord the king come to his servant?” David said, “To buy your threshing floor, to build an altar to Yahweh, that the plague may be stopped from afflicting the people.” ^24:22Araunah said to David, “Let my lord the king take and offer up what seems good to him. Behold, the cattle for the burnt offering, and the threshing instruments and the yokes of the oxen for the wood. ^24:23All this, O king, does Araunah give to the king.” Araunah said to the king, “May Yahweh your God accept you.” ^24:24The king said to Araunah, “No; but I will most certainly buy it from you for a price. I will not offer burnt offerings to Yahweh my God which cost me nothing.” So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver. ^24:25David built an altar to Yahweh there, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. So Yahweh was entreated for the land, and the plague was removed from Israel.

1 Kings

^1:1Now king David was old and advanced in years; and they covered him with clothes, but he couldn’t keep warm. ^1:2Therefore his servants said to him, “Let a young virgin be sought for my lord the king. Let her stand before the king, and cherish him; and let her lie in your bosom, that my lord the king may keep warm.” ^1:3So they sought for a beautiful young lady throughout all the borders of Israel, and found Abishag the Shunammite, and brought her to the king. ^1:4The young lady was very beautiful; and she cherished the king, and served him; but the king didn’t know her intimately. ^1:5Then Adonijah the son of Haggith exalted himself, saying, “I will be king.” Then he prepared him chariots and horsemen, and fifty men to run before him. ^1:6His father had not displeased him at any time in saying, “Why have you done so?” and he was also a very handsome man; and he was born after Absalom. ^1:7He conferred with Joab the son of Zeruiah, and with Abiathar the priest; and they followed Adonijah and helped him. ^1:8But Zadok the priest, Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, Nathan the prophet, Shimei, Rei, and the mighty men who belonged to David, were not with Adonijah. ^1:9Adonijah killed sheep, cattle, and fatlings by the stone of Zoheleth, which is beside En Rogel; and he called all his brothers, the king’s sons, and all the men of Judah, the king’s servants; ^1:10but he didn’t call Nathan the prophet, and Benaiah, and the mighty men, and Solomon his brother. ^1:11Then Nathan spoke to Bathsheba the mother of Solomon, saying, “Haven’t you heard that Adonijah the son of Haggith reigns, and David our lord doesn’t know it? ^1:12Now therefore come, please let me give you counsel, that you may save your own life, and your son Solomon’s life. ^1:13Go in to king David, and tell him, ‘Didn’t you, my lord, king, swear to your servant, saying, “Assuredly Solomon your son shall reign after me, and he shall sit on my throne?” Why then does Adonijah reign?’ ^1:14Behold, while you are still talking there with the king, I will also come in after you and confirm your words.” ^1:15Bathsheba went in to the king in his room. The king was very old; and Abishag the Shunammite was serving the king. ^1:16Bathsheba bowed, and showed respect to the king. The king said, “What would you like?” ^1:17She said to him, “My lord, you swore by Yahweh your God to your servant, ‘Assuredly Solomon your son shall reign after me, and he shall sit on my throne.’ ^1:18Now, behold, Adonijah reigns; and you, my lord the king, don’t know it. ^1:19He has slain cattle and fatlings and sheep in abundance, and has called all the sons of the king, Abiathar the priest, and Joab the captain of the army; but he hasn’t called Solomon your servant. ^1:20You, my lord the king, the eyes of all Israel are on you, that you should tell them who will sit on the throne of my lord the king after him. ^1:21Otherwise it will happen, when my lord the king sleeps with his fathers, that I and my son Solomon will be considered criminals.” ^1:22Behold, while she was still talking with the king, Nathan the prophet came in. ^1:23They told the king, saying, “Behold, Nathan the prophet!” When he had come in before the king, he bowed himself before the king with his face to the ground. ^1:24Nathan said, “My lord, king, have you said, ‘Adonijah shall reign after me, and he shall sit on my throne?’ ^1:25For he has gone down today, and has slain cattle, fatlings, and sheep in abundance, and has called all the king’s sons, the captains of the army, and Abiathar the priest. Behold, they are eating and drinking before him, and saying, ‘Long live king Adonijah!’ ^1:26But he hasn’t called me, even me your servant, Zadok the priest, Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, and your servant Solomon. ^1:27Was this thing done by my lord the king, and you haven’t shown to your servants who should sit on the throne of my lord the king after him?” ^1:28Then king David answered, “Call Bathsheba in to me.” She came into the king’s presence and stood before the king. ^1:29The king swore, and said, “As Yahweh lives, who has redeemed my soul out of all adversity, ^1:30most certainly as I swore to you by Yahweh, the God of Israel, saying, ‘Assuredly Solomon your son shall reign after me, and he shall sit on my throne in my place;’ I will most certainly do this today.” ^1:31Then Bathsheba bowed with her face to the earth, and showed respect to the king, and said, “Let my lord king David live forever!” ^1:32King David said, “Call to me Zadok the priest, Nathan the prophet, and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada.” They came before the king. ^1:33The king said to them, “Take with you the servants of your lord, and cause Solomon my son to ride on my own mule, and bring him down to Gihon. ^1:34Let Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet anoint him there king over Israel. Blow the trumpet, and say, ‘Long live king Solomon!’ ^1:35Then come up after him, and he shall come and sit on my throne; for he shall be king in my place. I have appointed him to be prince over Israel and over Judah.” ^1:36Benaiah the son of Jehoiada answered the king, and said, “Amen. May Yahweh, the God of my lord the king, say so. ^1:37As Yahweh has been with my lord the king, even so may he be with Solomon, and make his throne greater than the throne of my lord king David.” ^1:38So Zadok the priest, Nathan the prophet, Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, and the Cherethites and the Pelethites went down and had Solomon ride on king David’s mule, and brought him to Gihon. ^1:39Zadok the priest took the horn of oil from the Tent, and anointed Solomon. They blew the trumpet; and all the people said, “Long live king Solomon!” ^1:40All the people came up after him, and the people piped with pipes, and rejoiced with great joy, so that the earth shook with their sound. ^1:41Adonijah and all the guests who were with him heard it as they had finished eating. When Joab heard the sound of the trumpet, he said, “Why is this noise of the city being in an uproar?” ^1:42While he yet spoke, behold, Jonathan the son of Abiathar the priest came; and Adonijah said, “Come in; for you are a worthy man, and bring good news.” ^1:43Jonathan answered Adonijah, “Most certainly our lord king David has made Solomon king. ^1:44The king has sent with him Zadok the priest, Nathan the prophet, Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, and the Cherethites and the Pelethites; and they have caused him to ride on the king’s mule. ^1:45Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet have anointed him king in Gihon. They have come up from there rejoicing, so that the city rang again. This is the noise that you have heard. ^1:46Also, Solomon sits on the throne of the kingdom. ^1:47Moreover the king’s servants came to bless our lord king David, saying, ‘May your God make the name of Solomon better than your name, and make his throne greater than your throne;’ and the king bowed himself on the bed. ^1:48Also thus said the king, ‘Blessed be Yahweh, the God of Israel, who has given one to sit on my throne today, my eyes even seeing it.’” ^1:49All the guests of Adonijah were afraid, and rose up, and each man went his way. ^1:50Adonijah was afraid because of Solomon; and he arose, and went, and hung onto the horns of the altar. ^1:51Solomon was told, “Behold, Adonijah fears king Solomon; for, behold, he is hanging onto the horns of the altar, saying, ‘Let king Solomon swear to me first that he will not kill his servant with the sword.’” ^1:52Solomon said, “If he shows himself a worthy man, not a hair of his shall fall to the earth; but if wickedness is found in him, he shall die.” ^1:53So king Solomon sent, and they brought him down from the altar. He came and bowed down to king Solomon; and Solomon said to him, “Go to your house.”

^2:1Now the days of David came near that he should die; and he commanded Solomon his son, saying, ^2:2“I am going the way of all the earth. You be strong therefore, and show yourself a man; ^2:3and keep the instruction of Yahweh your God, to walk in his ways, to keep his statutes, his commandments, his ordinances, and his testimonies, according to that which is written in the law of Moses, that you may prosper in all that you do, and wherever you turn yourself. ^2:4Then Yahweh may establish his word which he spoke concerning me, saying, ‘If your children are careful of their way, to walk before me in truth with all their heart and with all their soul, there shall not fail you,’ he said, ‘a man on the throne of Israel.’ ^2:5“Moreover you know also what Joab the son of Zeruiah did to me, even what he did to the two captains of the armies of Israel, to Abner the son of Ner, and to Amasa the son of Jether, whom he killed, and shed the blood of war in peace, and put the blood of war on his sash that was around his waist, and in his shoes that were on his feet. ^2:6Do therefore according to your wisdom, and don’t let his gray head go down to Sheol in peace. ^2:7But show kindness to the sons of Barzillai the Gileadite, and let them be among those who eat at your table; for so they came to me when I fled from Absalom your brother. ^2:8“Behold, there is with you Shimei the son of Gera, the Benjamite, of Bahurim, who cursed me with a grievous curse in the day when I went to Mahanaim; but he came down to meet me at the Jordan, and I swore to him by Yahweh, saying, ‘I will not put you to death with the sword.’ ^2:9Now therefore don’t hold him guiltless, for you are a wise man; and you will know what you ought to do to him, and you shall bring his gray head down to Sheol with blood.” ^2:10David slept with his fathers, and was buried in David’s city. ^2:11The days that David reigned over Israel were forty years; he reigned seven years in Hebron, and he reigned thirty-three years in Jerusalem. ^2:12Solomon sat on David his father’s throne; and his kingdom was firmly established. ^2:13Then Adonijah the son of Haggith came to Bathsheba the mother of Solomon. She said, “Do you come peaceably?” He said, “Peaceably. ^2:14He said moreover, I have something to tell you.” She said, “Say on.” ^2:15He said, “You know that the kingdom was mine, and that all Israel set their faces on me, that I should reign. However the kingdom is turned around, and has become my brother’s; for it was his from Yahweh. ^2:16Now I ask one petition of you. Don’t deny me.” She said to him, “Say on.” ^2:17He said, “Please speak to Solomon the king (for he will not tell you ‘no’), that he give me Abishag the Shunammite as wife.” ^2:18Bathsheba said, “Alright. I will speak for you to the king.” ^2:19Bathsheba therefore went to king Solomon, to speak to him for Adonijah. The king rose up to meet her, and bowed himself to her, and sat down on his throne, and caused a throne to be set for the king’s mother; and she sat on his right hand. ^2:20Then she said, “I ask one small petition of you; don’t deny me.” The king said to her, “Ask on, my mother; for I will not deny you.” ^2:21She said, “Let Abishag the Shunammite be given to Adonijah your brother as wife.” ^2:22King Solomon answered his mother, “Why do you ask Abishag the Shunammite for Adonijah? Ask for him the kingdom also; for he is my elder brother; even for him, and for Abiathar the priest, and for Joab the son of Zeruiah.” ^2:23Then king Solomon swore by Yahweh, saying, “God do so to me, and more also, if Adonijah has not spoken this word against his own life. ^2:24Now therefore as Yahweh lives, who has established me, and set me on my father David’s throne, and who has made me a house as he promised, surely Adonijah shall be put to death today.” ^2:25King Solomon sent Benaiah the son of Jehoiada; and he fell on him, so that he died. ^2:26To Abiathar the priest the king said, “Go to Anathoth, to your own fields; for you are worthy of death. But I will not at this time put you to death, because you bore the Lord Yahweh’s ark before David my father, and because you were afflicted in all in which my father was afflicted.” ^2:27So Solomon thrust Abiathar out from being priest to Yahweh, that he might fulfill Yahweh’s word, which he spoke concerning the house of Eli in Shiloh. ^2:28This news came to Joab; for Joab had followed Adonijah, although he didn’t follow Absalom. Joab fled to Yahweh’s Tent, and held onto the horns of the altar. ^2:29King Solomon was told, “Joab has fled to Yahweh’s Tent, and behold, he is by the altar.” Then Solomon sent Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, saying, “Go, fall on him.” ^2:30Benaiah came to Yahweh’s Tent, and said to him, “Thus says the king, ‘Come out!’” He said, “No; but I will die here.” Benaiah brought the king word again, saying, “Thus said Joab, and thus he answered me.” ^2:31The king said to him, “Do as he has said, and fall on him, and bury him; that you may take away the blood, which Joab shed without cause, from me and from my father’s house. ^2:32Yahweh will return his blood on his own head, because he fell on two men more righteous and better than he, and killed them with the sword, and my father David didn’t know it: Abner the son of Ner, captain of the army of Israel, and Amasa the son of Jether, captain of the army of Judah. ^2:33So their blood will return on the head of Joab, and on the head of his offspring forever. But for David, for his offspring, for his house, and for his throne, there will be peace forever from Yahweh.” ^2:34Then Benaiah the son of Jehoiada went up and fell on him, and killed him; and he was buried in his own house in the wilderness. ^2:35The king put Benaiah the son of Jehoiada in his place over the army; and the king put Zadok the priest in the place of Abiathar. ^2:36The king sent and called for Shimei, and said to him, “Build yourself a house in Jerusalem, and live there, and don’t go anywhere else. ^2:37For on the day you go out and pass over the brook Kidron, know for certain that you will surely die. Your blood will be on your own head.” ^2:38Shimei said to the king, “What you say is good. As my lord the king has said, so will your servant do.” Shimei lived in Jerusalem many days. ^2:39At the end of three years, two of Shimei’s slaves ran away to Achish, son of Maacah, king of Gath. They told Shimei, saying, “Behold, your slaves are in Gath.” ^2:40Shimei arose, saddled his donkey, and went to Gath to Achish, to seek his slaves; and Shimei went, and brought his slaves from Gath. ^2:41Solomon was told that Shimei had gone from Jerusalem to Gath, and had come again. ^2:42The king sent and called for Shimei, and said to him, “Didn’t I adjure you by Yahweh, and warn you, saying, ‘Know for certain, that on the day you go out, and walk anywhere else, you shall surely die?’ You said to me, ‘The saying that I have heard is good.’ ^2:43Why then have you not kept the oath of Yahweh, and the commandment that I have instructed you with?” ^2:44The king said moreover to Shimei, “You know in your heart all the wickedness that you did to David my father. Therefore Yahweh will return your wickedness on your own head. ^2:45But king Solomon will be blessed, and David’s throne will be established before Yahweh forever.” ^2:46So the king commanded Benaiah the son of Jehoiada; and he went out, and fell on him, so that he died. The kingdom was established in the hand of Solomon.

^3:1Solomon made an alliance with Pharaoh king of Egypt, and took Pharaoh’s daughter, and brought her into David’s city, until he had finished building his own house, Yahweh’s house, and the wall around Jerusalem. ^3:2However the people sacrificed in the high places, because there was not yet a house built for Yahweh’s name. ^3:3Solomon loved Yahweh, walking in the statutes of David his father; except that he sacrificed and burned incense in the high places. ^3:4The king went to Gibeon to sacrifice there; for that was the great high place. Solomon offered a thousand burnt offerings on that altar. ^3:5In Gibeon, Yahweh appeared to Solomon in a dream by night; and God said, “Ask for what I should give you.” ^3:6Solomon said, “You have shown to your servant David my father great loving kindness, because he walked before you in truth, in righteousness, and in uprightness of heart with you. You have kept for him this great loving kindness, that you have given him a son to sit on his throne, as it is today. ^3:7Now, Yahweh my God, you have made your servant king instead of David my father. I am just a little child. I don’t know how to go out or come in. ^3:8Your servant is among your people which you have chosen, a great people, that can’t be numbered or counted for multitude. ^3:9Give your servant therefore an understanding heart to judge your people, that I may discern between good and evil; for who is able to judge this great people of yours?” ^3:10This request pleased the Lord, that Solomon had asked this thing. ^3:11God said to him, “Because you have asked this thing, and have not asked for yourself long life, nor have you asked for riches for yourself, nor have you asked for the life of your enemies, but have asked for yourself understanding to discern justice; ^3:12behold, I have done according to your word. Behold, I have given you a wise and understanding heart; so that there has been no one like you before you, and after you none will arise like you. ^3:13I have also given you that which you have not asked, both riches and honor, so that there will not be any among the kings like you for all your days. ^3:14If you will walk in my ways, to keep my statutes and my commandments, as your father David walked, then I will lengthen your days.” ^3:15Solomon awoke; and behold, it was a dream. Then he came to Jerusalem, and stood before the ark of Yahweh’s covenant, and offered up burnt offerings, offered peace offerings, and made a feast for all his servants. ^3:16Then two women who were prostitutes came to the king, and stood before him. ^3:17The one woman said, “Oh, my lord, I and this woman dwell in one house. I delivered a child with her in the house. ^3:18The third day after I delivered, this woman delivered also. We were together. There was no stranger with us in the house, just us two in the house. ^3:19This woman’s child died in the night, because she lay on it. ^3:20She arose at midnight, and took my son from beside me, while your servant slept, and laid it in her bosom, and laid her dead child in my bosom. ^3:21When I rose in the morning to nurse my child, behold, it was dead; but when I had looked at it in the morning, behold, it was not my son, whom I bore.” ^3:22The other woman said, “No; but the living one is my son, and the dead one is your son.” The first one said, “No; but the dead one is your son, and the living one is my son.” Thus they spoke before the king. ^3:23Then the king said, “One says, ‘This is my son who lives, and your son is the dead;’ and the other says, ‘No; but your son is the dead one, and my son is the living one.’” ^3:24The king said, “Get me a sword.” So they brought a sword before the king. ^3:25The king said, “Divide the living child in two, and give half to the one, and half to the other.” ^3:26Then the woman whose the living child was spoke to the king, for her heart yearned over her son, and she said, “Oh, my lord, give her the living child, and in no way kill him!” But the other said, “He shall be neither mine nor yours. Divide him.” ^3:27Then the king answered, “Give her the living child, and definitely do not kill him. She is his mother.” ^3:28All Israel heard of the judgment which the king had judged; and they feared the king; for they saw that the wisdom of God was in him, to do justice.

^4:1King Solomon was king over all Israel. ^4:2These were the princes whom he had: Azariah the son of Zadok, the priest; ^4:3Elihoreph and Ahijah, the sons of Shisha, scribes; Jehoshaphat the son of Ahilud, the recorder; ^4:4Benaiah the son of Jehoiada was over the army; Zadok and Abiathar were priests; ^4:5Azariah the son of Nathan was over the officers; Zabud the son of Nathan was chief minister, the king’s friend; ^4:6Ahishar was over the household; and Adoniram the son of Abda was over the men subject to forced labor. ^4:7Solomon had twelve officers over all Israel, who provided food for the king and his household. Each man had to make provision for a month in the year. ^4:8These are their names: Ben Hur, in the hill country of Ephraim; ^4:9Ben Deker, in Makaz, in Shaalbim, Beth Shemesh, and Elon Beth Hanan; ^4:10Ben Hesed, in Arubboth (Socoh and all the land of Hepher belonged to him); ^4:11Ben Abinadab, in all the height of Dor (he had Taphath, Solomon’s daughter, as wife); ^4:12Baana the son of Ahilud, in Taanach and Megiddo, and all Beth Shean which is beside Zarethan, beneath Jezreel, from Beth Shean to Abel Meholah, as far as beyond Jokmeam; ^4:13Ben Geber, in Ramoth Gilead (the towns of Jair the son of Manasseh, which are in Gilead, belonged to him; and the region of Argob, which is in Bashan, sixty great cities with walls and bronze bars, belonged to him); ^4:14Ahinadab the son of Iddo, in Mahanaim; ^4:15Ahimaaz, in Naphtali (he also took Basemath the daughter of Solomon as wife); ^4:16Baana the son of Hushai, in Asher and Bealoth; ^4:17Jehoshaphat the son of Paruah, in Issachar; ^4:18Shimei the son of Ela, in Benjamin; ^4:19Geber the son of Uri, in the land of Gilead, the country of Sihon king of the Amorites and of Og king of Bashan; and he was the only officer who was in the land. ^4:20Judah and Israel were numerous as the sand which is by the sea in multitude, eating and drinking and making merry. ^4:21Solomon ruled over all the kingdoms from the River to the land of the Philistines, and to the border of Egypt. They brought tribute and served Solomon all the days of his life. ^4:22Solomon’s provision for one day was thirty cors of fine flour, sixty measures of meal, ^4:23ten head of fat cattle, twenty head of cattle out of the pastures, and one hundred sheep, besides deer, and gazelles, and roebucks, and fattened fowl. ^4:24For he had dominion over all on this side the River, from Tiphsah even to Gaza, over all the kings on this side the River: and he had peace on all sides around him. ^4:25Judah and Israel lived safely, every man under his vine and under his fig tree, from Dan even to Beersheba, all the days of Solomon. ^4:26Solomon had forty thousand stalls of horses for his chariots, and twelve thousand horsemen. ^4:27Those officers provided food for king Solomon, and for all who came to king Solomon’s table, every man in his month. They let nothing be lacking. ^4:28They also brought Barley and straw for the horses and swift steeds to the place where the officers were, each man according to his duty. ^4:29God gave Solomon abundant wisdom and understanding, and very great understanding, even as the sand that is on the seashore. ^4:30Solomon’s wisdom excelled the wisdom of all the children of the east and all the wisdom of Egypt. ^4:31For he was wiser than all men; than Ethan the Ezrahite, Heman, Calcol, and Darda, the sons of Mahol: and his fame was in all the nations all around. ^4:32He spoke three thousand proverbs; and his songs numbered one thousand five. ^4:33He spoke of trees, from the cedar that is in Lebanon even to the hyssop that grows out of the wall; he also spoke of animals, of birds, of creeping things, and of fish. ^4:34People of all nations came to hear the wisdom of Solomon, sent by all kings of the earth, who had heard of his wisdom.

^5:1Hiram king of Tyre sent his servants to Solomon; for he had heard that they had anointed him king in the place of his father, and Hiram had always loved David. ^5:2Solomon sent to Hiram, saying, ^5:3“You know that David my father could not build a house for the name of Yahweh his God because of the wars which were around him on every side, until Yahweh put his enemies under the soles of his feet. ^5:4But now Yahweh my God has given me rest on every side. There is no enemy and no evil occurrence. ^5:5Behold, I intend to build a house for the name of Yahweh my God, as Yahweh spoke to David my father, saying, ‘Your son, whom I will set on your throne in your place shall build the house for my name.’ ^5:6Now therefore command that cedar trees be cut for me out of Lebanon. My servants will be with your servants; and I will give you wages for your servants according to all that you say. For you know that there is nobody among us who knows how to cut timber like the Sidonians.” ^5:7When Hiram heard the words of Solomon, he rejoiced greatly, and said, “Blessed is Yahweh today, who has given to David a wise son to rule over this great people.” ^5:8Hiram sent to Solomon, saying, “I have heard the message which you have sent to me. I will do all your desire concerning timber of cedar, and concerning cypress timber. ^5:9My servants will bring them down from Lebanon to the sea. I will make them into rafts to go by sea to the place that you specify to me, and will cause them to be broken up there, and you will receive them. You will accomplish my desire, in giving food for my household.” ^5:10So Hiram gave Solomon cedar timber and cypress timber according to all his desire. ^5:11Solomon gave Hiram twenty thousand cors of wheat for food to his household, and twenty cors of pure oil. Solomon gave this to Hiram year by year. ^5:12Yahweh gave Solomon wisdom, as he promised him. There was peace between Hiram and Solomon, and the two of them made a treaty together. ^5:13King Solomon raised a levy out of all Israel; and the levy was thirty thousand men. ^5:14He sent them to Lebanon, ten thousand a month by courses; for a month they were in Lebanon, and two months at home; and Adoniram was over the men subject to forced labor. ^5:15Solomon had seventy thousand who bore burdens, and eighty thousand who were stone cutters in the mountains; ^5:16besides Solomon’s chief officers who were over the work, three thousand and three hundred, who ruled over the people who labored in the work. ^5:17The king commanded, and they cut out large stones, costly stones, to lay the foundation of the house with worked stone. ^5:18Solomon’s builders and Hiram’s builders and the Gebalites cut them, and prepared the timber and the stones to build the house.

^6:1In the four hundred and eightieth year after the children of Israel had come out of the land of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon’s reign over Israel, in the month Ziv, which is the second month, he began to build Yahweh’s house. ^6:2The house which king Solomon built for Yahweh had a length of sixty cubits, and its width twenty, and its height thirty cubits. ^6:3The porch in front of the temple of the house had a length of twenty cubits, which was along the width of the house. Ten cubits was its width in front of the house. ^6:4He made windows of fixed lattice work for the house. ^6:5Against the wall of the house, he built floors all around, against the walls of the house all around, both of the temple and of the inner sanctuary; and he made side rooms all around. ^6:6The lowest floor was five cubits wide, and the middle was six cubits wide, and the third was seven cubits wide; for on the outside he made offsets in the wall of the house all around, that the beams should not be inserted into the walls of the house. ^6:7The house, when it was under construction, was built of stone prepared at the quarry; and no hammer or ax or any tool of iron was heard in the house while it was under construction. ^6:8The door for the middle side rooms was in the right side of the house. They went up by winding stairs into the middle floor, and out of the middle into the third. ^6:9So he built the house, and finished it; and he covered the house with beams and planks of cedar. ^6:10He built the floors all along the house, each five cubits high; and they rested on the house with timber of cedar. ^6:11Yahweh’s word came to Solomon, saying, ^6:12“Concerning this house which you are building, if you will walk in my statutes, and execute my ordinances, and keep all my commandments to walk in them; then I will establish my word with you, which I spoke to David your father. ^6:13I will dwell among the children of Israel, and will not forsake my people Israel.” ^6:14So Solomon built the house, and finished it. ^6:15He built the walls of the house within with boards of cedar: from the floor of the house to the walls of the ceiling, he covered them on the inside with wood; and he covered the floor of the house with cypress boards. ^6:16He built twenty cubits on the back part of the house with boards of cedar from the floor to the ceiling. He built them for it within, for an inner sanctuary, even for the most holy place. ^6:17In front of the temple sanctuary was forty cubits. ^6:18There was cedar on the house within, carved with buds and open flowers. All was cedar. No stone was visible. ^6:19He prepared an inner sanctuary in the middle of the house within, to set the ark of Yahweh’s covenant there. ^6:20Within the inner sanctuary was twenty cubits in length, and twenty cubits in width, and twenty cubits in its height; and he overlaid it with pure gold; and he covered the altar with cedar. ^6:21So Solomon overlaid the house within with pure gold. He drew chains of gold across before the inner sanctuary, and he overlaid it with gold. ^6:22He overlaid the whole house with gold, until all the house was finished. He also overlaid the whole altar that belonged to the inner sanctuary with gold. ^6:23In the inner sanctuary he made two cherubim of olive wood, each ten cubits high. ^6:24Five cubits was the one wing of the cherub, and five cubits the other wing of the cherub. From the tip of one wing to the tip of the other was ten cubits. ^6:25The other cherub was ten cubits. Both the cherubim were of one measure and one form. ^6:26One cherub was ten cubits high, and so was the other cherub. ^6:27He set the cherubim within the inner house. The wings of the cherubim were stretched out, so that the wing of the one touched the one wall, and the wing of the other cherub touched the other wall; and their wings touched one another in the middle of the house. ^6:28He overlaid the cherubim with gold. ^6:29He carved all the walls of the house around with carved figures of cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers, inside and outside. ^6:30He overlaid the floor of the house with gold, inside and outside. ^6:31For the entrance of the inner sanctuary, he made doors of olive wood. The lintel and door posts were a fifth part of the wall. ^6:32So he made two doors of olive wood; and he carved on them carvings of cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers, and overlaid them with gold. He spread the gold on the cherubim and on the palm trees. ^6:33He also did so for the entrance of the temple door posts of olive wood, out of a fourth part of the wall; ^6:34and two doors of cypress wood. The two leaves of the one door were folding, and the two leaves of the other door were folding. ^6:35He carved cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers; and he overlaid them with gold fitted on the engraved work. ^6:36He built the inner court with three courses of cut stone and a course of cedar beams. ^6:37The foundation of Yahweh’s house was laid in the fourth year, in the month Ziv. ^6:38In the eleventh year, in the month Bul, which is the eighth month, the house was finished throughout all its parts, and according to all its specifications. So he spent seven years building it.

^7:1Solomon was building his own house thirteen years, and he finished all his house. ^7:2For he built the House of the Forest of Lebanon. Its length was one hundred cubits, its width fifty cubits, and its height thirty cubits, on four rows of cedar pillars, with cedar beams on the pillars. ^7:3It was covered with cedar above over the forty-five beams, that were on the pillars, fifteen in a row. ^7:4There were beams in three rows, and window was facing window in three ranks. ^7:5All the doors and posts were made square with beams: and window was facing window in three ranks. ^7:6He made the porch of pillars. Its length was fifty cubits and its width thirty cubits; with a porch before them, and pillars and a threshold before them. ^7:7He made the porch of the throne where he was to judge, even the porch of judgment; and it was covered with cedar from floor to floor. ^7:8His house where he was to dwell, the other court within the porch, was of the like work. He made also a house for Pharaoh’s daughter (whom Solomon had taken as wife), like this porch. ^7:9All these were of costly stones, even of cut stone, according to measure, sawed with saws, inside and outside, even from the foundation to the coping, and so on the outside to the great court. ^7:10The foundation was of costly stones, even great stones, stones of ten cubits, and stones of eight cubits. ^7:11Above were costly stones, even cut stone, according to measure, and cedar wood. ^7:12The great court around had three courses of cut stone, and a course of cedar beams; like the inner court of Yahweh’s house and the porch of the house. ^7:13King Solomon sent and brought Hiram out of Tyre. ^7:14He was the son of a widow of the tribe of Naphtali, and his father was a man of Tyre, a worker in brass; and he was filled with wisdom and understanding and skill, to work all works in brass. He came to king Solomon, and performed all his work. ^7:15For he fashioned the two pillars of brass, eighteen cubits high apiece; and a line of twelve cubits encircled either of them. ^7:16He made two capitals of molten brass, to set on the tops of the pillars. The height of the one capital was five cubits, and the height of the other capital was five cubits. ^7:17There were nets of checker work, and wreaths of chain work, for the capitals which were on the top of the pillars; seven for the one capital, and seven for the other capital. ^7:18So he made the pillars; and there were two rows around on the one network, to cover the capitals that were on the top of the pillars: and he did so for the other capital. ^7:19The capitals that were on the top of the pillars in the porch were of lily work, four cubits. ^7:20There were capitals above also on the two pillars, close by the belly which was beside the network. There were two hundred pomegranates in rows around the other capital. ^7:21He set up the pillars at the porch of the temple. He set up the right pillar, and called its name Jachin; and he set up the left pillar, and called its name Boaz. ^7:22On the top of the pillars was lily work: so the work of the pillars was finished. ^7:23He made the molten sea of ten cubits from brim to brim, round in shape. Its height was five cubits; and a line of thirty cubits encircled it. ^7:24Under its brim around there were buds which encircled it for ten cubits, encircling the sea. The buds were in two rows, cast when it was cast. ^7:25It stood on twelve oxen, three looking toward the north, and three looking toward the west, and three looking toward the south, and three looking toward the east; and the sea was set on them above, and all their hindquarters were inward. ^7:26It was a hand width thick. Its brim was worked like the brim of a cup, like the flower of a lily. It held two thousand baths. ^7:27He made the ten bases of brass. The length of one base was four cubits, four cubits its width, and three cubits its height. ^7:28The work of the bases was like this: they had panels; and there were panels between the ledges; ^7:29and on the panels that were between the ledges were lions, oxen, and cherubim; and on the ledges there was a pedestal above; and beneath the lions and oxen were wreaths of hanging work. ^7:30Every base had four bronze wheels, and axles of brass; and the four feet of it had supports. The supports were cast beneath the basin, with wreaths at the side of each. ^7:31Its mouth within the capital and above was a cubit. Its mouth was round after the work of a pedestal, a cubit and a half; and also on its mouth were engravings, and their panels were square, not round. ^7:32The four wheels were underneath the panels; and the axles of the wheels were in the base. The height of a wheel was a cubit and half a cubit. ^7:33The work of the wheels was like the work of a chariot wheel. Their axles, and their rims, and their spokes, and their naves, were all of cast metal. ^7:34There were four supports at the four corners of each base. Its supports were of the base itself. ^7:35In the top of the base there was a round band half a cubit high; and on the top of the base its supports and its panels were of the same. ^7:36On the plates of its supports, and on its panels, he engraved cherubim, lions, and palm trees, each in its space, with wreaths all around. ^7:37He made the ten bases in this way: all of them had one casting, one measure, and one form. ^7:38He made ten basins of brass. One basin contained forty baths; and every basin was four cubits; and on every one of the ten bases one basin. ^7:39He set the bases, five on the right side of the house, and five on the left side of the house. He set the sea on the right side of the house eastward and toward the south. ^7:40Hiram made the basins, the shovels, and the basins. So Hiram finished doing all the work that he worked for king Solomon in Yahweh’s house: ^7:41the two pillars; the two bowls of the capitals that were on the top of the pillars; the two networks to cover the two bowls of the capitals that were on the top of the pillars; ^7:42the four hundred pomegranates for the two networks; two rows of pomegranates for each network, to cover the two bowls of the capitals that were on the pillars; ^7:43the ten bases; the ten basins on the bases; ^7:44the one sea; the twelve oxen under the sea; ^7:45the pots; the shovels; and the basins: even all these vessels, which Hiram made for king Solomon, in Yahweh’s house, were of burnished brass. ^7:46The king cast them in the plain of the Jordan, in the clay ground between Succoth and Zarethan. ^7:47Solomon left all the vessels unweighed, because there were so many of them. The weight of the brass could not be determined. ^7:48Solomon made all the vessels that were in Yahweh’s house: the golden altar and the table that the show bread was on, of gold; ^7:49and the lamp stands, five on the right side, and five on the left, before the inner sanctuary, of pure gold; and the flowers, the lamps, and the tongs, of gold; ^7:50the cups, the snuffers, the basins, the spoons, and the fire pans, of pure gold; and the hinges, both for the doors of the inner house, the most holy place, and for the doors of the house, of the temple, of gold. ^7:51Thus all the work that king Solomon did in Yahweh’s house was finished. Solomon brought in the things which David his father had dedicated, the silver, the gold, and the vessels, and put them in the treasuries of Yahweh’s house.

^8:1Then Solomon assembled the elders of Israel, with all the heads of the tribes, the princes of the fathers’ households of the children of Israel, to king Solomon in Jerusalem, to bring up the ark of Yahweh’s covenant out of David’s city, which is Zion. ^8:2All the men of Israel assembled themselves to king Solomon at the feast, in the month Ethanim, which is the seventh month. ^8:3All the elders of Israel came, and the priests picked up the ark. ^8:4They brought up Yahweh’s ark, the Tent of Meeting, and all the holy vessels that were in the Tent. The priests and the Levites brought these up. ^8:5King Solomon and all the congregation of Israel, who were assembled to him, were with him before the ark, sacrificing sheep and cattle, that could not be counted or numbered for multitude. ^8:6The priests brought in the ark of Yahweh’s covenant to its place, into the inner sanctuary of the house, to the most holy place, even under the cherubim’s wings. ^8:7For the cherubim spread their wings out over the place of the ark, and the cherubim covered the ark and its poles above. ^8:8The poles were so long that the ends of the poles were seen from the holy place before the inner sanctuary; but they were not seen outside. They are there to this day. ^8:9There was nothing in the ark except the two stone tablets which Moses put there at Horeb, when Yahweh made a covenant with the children of Israel, when they came out of the land of Egypt. ^8:10It came to pass, when the priests had come out of the holy place, that the cloud filled Yahweh’s house, ^8:11so that the priests could not stand to minister by reason of the cloud; for Yahweh’s glory filled Yahweh’s house. ^8:12Then Solomon said, “Yahweh has said that he would dwell in the thick darkness. ^8:13I have surely built you a house of habitation, a place for you to dwell in forever.” ^8:14The king turned his face around, and blessed all the assembly of Israel; and all the assembly of Israel stood. ^8:15He said, “Blessed is Yahweh, the God of Israel, who spoke with his mouth to David your father, and has with his hand fulfilled it, saying, ^8:16‘Since the day that I brought my people Israel out of Egypt, I chose no city out of all the tribes of Israel to build a house, that my name might be there; but I chose David to be over my people Israel.’ ^8:17“Now it was in the heart of David my father to build a house for the name of Yahweh, the God of Israel. ^8:18But Yahweh said to David my father, ‘Whereas it was in your heart to build a house for my name, you did well that it was in your heart. ^8:19Nevertheless, you shall not build the house; but your son who shall come out of your body, he shall build the house for my name.’ ^8:20Yahweh has established his word that he spoke; for I have risen up in the place of David my father, and I sit on the throne of Israel, as Yahweh promised, and have built the house for the name of Yahweh, the God of Israel. ^8:21There I have set a place for the ark, in which is Yahweh’s covenant, which he made with our fathers, when he brought them out of the land of Egypt.” ^8:22Solomon stood before Yahweh’s altar in the presence of all the assembly of Israel, and spread out his hands toward heaven; ^8:23and he said, “Yahweh, the God of Israel, there is no God like you, in heaven above, or on earth beneath; who keeps covenant and loving kindness with your servants, who walk before you with all their heart; ^8:24who has kept with your servant David my father that which you promised him. Yes, you spoke with your mouth, and have fulfilled it with your hand, as it is today. ^8:25Now therefore, may Yahweh, the God of Israel, keep with your servant David my father that which you have promised him, saying, ‘There shall not fail from you a man in my sight to sit on the throne of Israel, if only your children take heed to their way, to walk before me as you have walked before me.’ ^8:26“Now therefore, God of Israel, please let your word be verified, which you spoke to your servant David my father. ^8:27But will God in very deed dwell on the earth? Behold, heaven and the heaven of heavens can’t contain you; how much less this house that I have built! ^8:28Yet have respect for the prayer of your servant, and for his supplication, Yahweh my God, to listen to the cry and to the prayer which your servant prays before you today; ^8:29that your eyes may be open toward this house night and day, even toward the place of which you have said, ‘My name shall be there;’ to listen to the prayer which your servant prays toward this place. ^8:30Listen to the supplication of your servant, and of your people Israel, when they pray toward this place. Yes, hear in heaven, your dwelling place; and when you hear, forgive. ^8:31“If a man sins against his neighbor, and an oath is laid on him to cause him to swear, and he comes and swears before your altar in this house; ^8:32then hear in heaven, and act, and judge your servants, condemning the wicked, to bring his way on his own head, and justifying the righteous, to give him according to his righteousness. ^8:33“When your people Israel are struck down before the enemy, because they have sinned against you; if they turn again to you, and confess your name, and pray and make supplication to you in this house; ^8:34then hear in heaven, and forgive the sin of your people Israel, and bring them again to the land which you gave to their fathers. ^8:35“When the sky is shut up, and there is no rain, because they have sinned against you; if they pray toward this place, and confess your name, and turn from their sin, when you afflict them, ^8:36then hear in heaven, and forgive the sin of your servants, and of your people Israel, when you teach them the good way in which they should walk; and send rain on your land, which you have given to your people for an inheritance. ^8:37“If there is famine in the land, if there is pestilence, if there is blight, mildew, locust or caterpillar; if their enemy besieges them in the land of their cities; whatever plague, whatever sickness there is; ^8:38whatever prayer and supplication is made by any man, or by all your people Israel, who shall each know the plague of his own heart, and spread out his hands toward this house, ^8:39then hear in heaven, your dwelling place, and forgive, and act, and give to every man according to all his ways, whose heart you know (for you, even you only, know the hearts of all the children of men); ^8:40that they may fear you all the days that they live in the land which you gave to our fathers. ^8:41“Moreover concerning the foreigner, who is not of your people Israel, when he comes out of a far country for your name’s sake ^8:42(for they shall hear of your great name, and of your mighty hand, and of your outstretched arm); when he comes and prays toward this house; ^8:43hear in heaven, your dwelling place, and do according to all that the foreigner calls to you for; that all the peoples of the earth may know your name, to fear you, as do your people Israel, and that they may know that this house which I have built is called by your name. ^8:44“If your people go out to battle against their enemy, by whatever way you shall send them, and they pray to Yahweh toward the city which you have chosen, and toward the house which I have built for your name; ^8:45then hear in heaven their prayer and their supplication, and maintain their cause. ^8:46If they sin against you (for there is no man who doesn’t sin), and you are angry with them, and deliver them to the enemy, so that they carry them away captive to the land of the enemy, far off or near; ^8:47yet if they repent in the land where they are carried captive, and turn again, and make supplication to you in the land of those who carried them captive, saying, ‘We have sinned, and have done perversely; we have dealt wickedly;’ ^8:48if they return to you with all their heart and with all their soul in the land of their enemies, who carried them captive, and pray to you toward their land, which you gave to their fathers, the city which you have chosen, and the house which I have built for your name; ^8:49then hear their prayer and their supplication in heaven, your dwelling place, and maintain their cause; ^8:50and forgive your people who have sinned against you, and all their transgressions in which they have transgressed against you; and give them compassion before those who carried them captive, that they may have compassion on them ^8:51(for they are your people, and your inheritance, which you brought out of Egypt, from the middle of the iron furnace); ^8:52that your eyes may be open to the supplication of your servant, and to the supplication of your people Israel, to listen to them whenever they cry to you. ^8:53For you separated them from among all the peoples of the earth, to be your inheritance, as you spoke by Moses your servant, when you brought our fathers out of Egypt, Lord Yahweh.” ^8:54It was so, that when Solomon had finished praying all this prayer and supplication to Yahweh, he arose from before Yahweh’s altar, from kneeling on his knees with his hands spread out toward heaven. ^8:55He stood, and blessed all the assembly of Israel with a loud voice, saying, ^8:56“Blessed be Yahweh, who has given rest to his people Israel, according to all that he promised. There has not failed one word of all his good promise, which he promised by Moses his servant. ^8:57May Yahweh our God be with us, as he was with our fathers. Let him not leave us or forsake us; ^8:58that he may incline our hearts to him, to walk in all his ways, and to keep his commandments, and his statutes, and his ordinances, which he commanded our fathers. ^8:59Let these my words, with which I have made supplication before Yahweh, be near to Yahweh our God day and night, that he may maintain the cause of his servant, and the cause of his people Israel, as every day requires; ^8:60that all the peoples of the earth may know that Yahweh himself is God. There is no one else. ^8:61“Let your heart therefore be perfect with Yahweh our God, to walk in his statutes, and to keep his commandments, as it is today.” ^8:62The king, and all Israel with him, offered sacrifice before Yahweh. ^8:63Solomon offered for the sacrifice of peace offerings, which he offered to Yahweh, twenty two thousand head of cattle, and one hundred twenty thousand sheep. So the king and all the children of Israel dedicated Yahweh’s house. ^8:64The same day the king made the middle of the court holy that was before Yahweh’s house; for there he offered the burnt offering, and the meal offering, and the fat of the peace offerings, because the bronze altar that was before Yahweh was too little to receive the burnt offering, the meal offering, and the fat of the peace offerings. ^8:65So Solomon held the feast at that time, and all Israel with him, a great assembly, from the entrance of Hamath to the brook of Egypt, before Yahweh our God, seven days and seven more days, even fourteen days. ^8:66On the eighth day he sent the people away; and they blessed the king, and went to their tents joyful and glad in their hearts for all the goodness that Yahweh had shown to David his servant, and to Israel his people.