2 Chronicles 1-4

2 Chronicles 1

¹Solomon the son of David was strengthened in his kingdom, and Yahweh his God was with him, and magnified him exceedingly.

²Solomon spoke to all Israel, to the captains of thousands and of hundreds, and to the judges, and to every prince in all Israel, the heads of the fathers' [houses].

³So Solomon, and all the assembly with him, went to the high place that was at Gibeon; for there was the Tent of Meeting of God, which Moses the servant of Yahweh had made in the wilderness.

⁴But David had brought the ark of God up from Kiriath Jearim to the place that David had prepared for it; for he had pitched a tent for it at Jerusalem.

⁵Moreover the bronze altar, that Bezalel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, had made, was there before the tabernacle of Yahweh: and Solomon and the assembly were seeking counsel there.

⁶Solomon went up there to the bronze altar before Yahweh, which was at the Tent of Meeting, and offered one thousand burnt offerings on it.

⁷In that night God appeared to Solomon, and said to him, "Ask what I shall give you."

⁸Solomon said to God, "You have shown great loving kindness to David my father, and have made me king in his place.

⁹Now, Yahweh God, let your promise to David my father be established; for you have made me king over a people like the dust of the earth in multitude.

¹⁰Now give me wisdom and knowledge, that I may go out and come in before this people; for who can judge this your people, that is so great?"

¹¹God said to Solomon, "Because this was in your heart, and you have not asked riches, wealth, or honor, nor the life of those who hate you, neither yet have asked long life; but have asked wisdom and knowledge for yourself, that you may judge my people, over whom I have made you king:

¹²wisdom and knowledge is granted to you. I will give you riches, wealth, and honor, such as none of the kings have had who have been before you; neither shall there any after you have the like."

¹³So Solomon came from the high place that was at Gibeon, from before the Tent of Meeting, to Jerusalem; and he reigned over Israel.

¹⁴Solomon gathered chariots and horsemen: and he had one thousand four hundred chariots, and twelve thousand horsemen, that he placed in the chariot cities, and with the king at Jerusalem.

¹⁵The king made silver and gold to be in Jerusalem as stones, and cedars made he to be as the sycamore trees that are in the lowland, for abundance.

¹⁶The horses which Solomon had were brought out of Egypt and from Kue; the king's merchants purchased them from Kue.

¹⁷They brought up and brought out of Egypt a chariot for six hundred pieces of silver, and a horse for one hundred fifty: and so for all the kings of the Hittites, and the kings of Syria, did they bring them out by their means.

2 Chronicles 2

¹Now Solomon purposed to build a house for the name of Yahweh, and a house for his kingdom.

²Solomon counted out seventy thousand men to bear burdens, and eighty thousand men who were stone cutters in the mountains, and three thousand and six hundred to oversee them.

³Solomon sent to Huram the king of Tyre, saying, "As you dealt with David my father, and sent him cedars to build him a house in which to dwell, [even so deal with me].

⁴Behold, I am about to build a house for the name of Yahweh my God, to dedicate it to him, and to burn before him incense of sweet spices, and for the continual show bread, and for the burnt offerings morning and evening, on the Sabbaths, and on the new moons, and on the set feasts of Yahweh our God. This is [an ordinance] forever to Israel.

⁵"The house which I build is great; for our God is great above all gods.

⁶But who is able to build him a house, since heaven and the heaven of heavens can't contain him? who am I then, that I should build him a house, except just to burn incense before him?

⁷"Now therefore send me a man skillful to work in gold, and in silver, and in brass, and in iron, and in purple, and crimson, and blue, and who knows how to engrave [all kinds of] engravings, [to be] with the skillful men who are with me in Judah and in Jerusalem, whom David my father did provide.

⁸"Send me also cedar trees, fir trees, and algum trees, out of Lebanon; for I know that your servants know how to cut timber in Lebanon: and behold, my servants shall be with your servants,

⁹even to prepare me timber in abundance; for the house which I am about to build shall be great and wonderful.

¹⁰Behold, I will give to your servants, the cutters who cut timber, twenty thousand measures of beaten wheat, and twenty thousand measures of barley, and twenty thousand baths of wine, and twenty thousand baths of oil."

¹¹Then Huram the king of Tyre answered in writing, which he sent to Solomon, "Because Yahweh loves his people, he has made you king over them."

¹²Huram continued, "Blessed be Yahweh, the God of Israel, that made heaven and earth, who has given to David the king a wise son, endowed with discretion and understanding, that should build a house for Yahweh, and a house for his kingdom.

¹³Now I have sent a skillful man, endowed with understanding, of Huram my father's,

¹⁴the son of a woman of the daughters of Dan; and his father was a man of Tyre, skillful to work in gold, and in silver, in brass, in iron, in stone, and in timber, in purple, in blue, and in fine linen, and in crimson, also to engrave any kind of engraving, and to devise any device; that there may be a place appointed to him with your skillful men, and with the skillful men of my lord David your father.

¹⁵"Now therefore the wheat and the barley, the oil and the wine, which my lord has spoken of, let him send to his servants:

¹⁶and we will cut wood out of Lebanon, as much as you shall need; and we will bring it to you in floats by sea to Joppa; and you shall carry it up to Jerusalem."

¹⁷Solomon numbered all the foreigners who were in the land of Israel, after the numbering with which David his father had numbered them; and they were found one hundred fifty-three thousand six hundred.

¹⁸He set seventy thousand of them to bear burdens, and eighty thousand who were stone cutters in the mountains, and three thousand six hundred overseers to set the people at work.

2 Chronicles 3

¹Then Solomon began to build the house of Yahweh at Jerusalem on Mount Moriah, where [Yahweh] appeared to David his father, which he prepared in the place that David had appointed, in the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite.

²He began to build in the second [day] of the second month, in the fourth year of his reign.

³Now these are the foundations which Solomon laid for the building of the house of God. The length by cubits after the first measure was sixty cubits, and the breadth twenty cubits.

⁴The porch that was before [the house], its length, according to the breadth of the house, was twenty cubits, and the height one hundred twenty; and he overlaid it within with pure gold.

⁵The greater house he made a ceiling with fir wood, which he overlaid with fine gold, and ornamented it with palm trees and chains.

⁶He garnished the house with precious stones for beauty: and the gold was gold of Parvaim.

⁷He overlaid also the house, the beams, the thresholds, and its walls, and its doors, with gold; and engraved cherubim on the walls.

⁸He made the most holy house: its length, according to the breadth of the house, was twenty cubits, and its breadth twenty cubits; and he overlaid it with fine gold, amounting to six hundred talents.

⁹The weight of the nails was fifty shekels of gold. He overlaid the upper rooms with gold.

¹⁰In the most holy house he made two cherubim of image work; and they overlaid them with gold.

¹¹The wings of the cherubim were twenty cubits long: the wing of the one [cherub] was five cubits, reaching to the wall of the house; and the other wing was [likewise] five cubits, reaching to the wing of the other cherub.

¹²The wing of the other cherub was five cubits, reaching to the wall of the house; and the other wing was five cubits [also], joining to the wing of the other cherub.

¹³The wings of these cherubim spread themselves forth twenty cubits: and they stood on their feet, and their faces were toward the house.

¹⁴He made the veil of blue, and purple, and crimson, and fine linen, and ornamented it with cherubim.

¹⁵Also he made before the house two pillars of thirty-five cubits high, and the capital that was on the top of each of them was five cubits.

¹⁶He made chains in the oracle, and put [them] on the tops of the pillars; and he made one hundred pomegranates, and put them on the chains.

¹⁷He set up the pillars before the temple, one on the right hand, and the other on the left; and called the name of that on the right hand Jachin, and the name of that on the left Boaz.

2 Chronicles 4

¹Then he made an altar of brass, twenty cubits its length, and twenty cubits its breadth, and ten cubits its height.

²Also he made the molten sea of ten cubits from brim to brim, round in compass; and its height was five cubits; and a line of thirty cubits encircled it.

³Under it was the likeness of oxen, which encircled it, for ten cubits, encircling the sea. The oxen were in two rows, cast when it was cast.

⁴It 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 hinder parts were inward.

⁵It was a handbreadth thick; and its brim was worked like the brim of a cup, like the flower of a lily: it received and held three thousand baths.

⁶He made also ten basins, and put five on the right hand, and five on the left, to wash in them; such things as belonged to the burnt offering they washed in them; but the sea was for the priests to wash in.

⁷He made the ten lampstands of gold according to the ordinance concerning them; and he set them in the temple, five on the right hand, and five on the left.

⁸He made also ten tables, and placed them in the temple, five on the right side, and five on the left. He made one hundred basins of gold.

⁹Furthermore he made the court of the priests, and the great court, and doors for the court, and overlaid the doors of them with brass.

¹⁰He set the sea on the right side [of the house] eastward, toward the south.

¹¹Huram made the pots, and the shovels, and the basins. So Huram made an end of doing the work that he did for king Solomon in the house of God:

¹²the two pillars, and the bowls, and the two capitals which were on the top of the pillars, and the two networks to cover the two bowls of the capitals that were on the top of the pillars,

¹³and the 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.

¹⁴He made also the bases, and the basins made he on the bases;

¹⁵one sea, and the twelve oxen under it.

¹⁶The pots also, and the shovels, and the forks, and all its vessels, did Huram his father make for king Solomon for the house of Yahweh of bright brass.

¹⁷In the plain of the Jordan did the king cast them, in the clay ground between Succoth and Zeredah.

¹⁸Thus Solomon made all these vessels in great abundance: for the weight of the brass could not be found out.

¹⁹Solomon made all the vessels that were in the house of God, the golden altar also, and the tables with the show bread on them;

²⁰and the lampstands with their lamps, to burn according to the ordinance before the oracle, of pure gold;

²¹and the flowers, and the lamps, and the tongs, of gold, and that perfect gold;

²²and the snuffers, and the basins, and the spoons, and the fire pans, of pure gold: and as for the entry of the house, the inner doors of it for the most holy place, and the doors of the main hall of the temple were of gold.