Solomon's Wisdom, Judgment, and the Temple's Glory

1. King Solomon was king over all Israel. 2. These were the princes whom he had: Azariah the son of Zadok, the priest; 3. Elihoreph and Ahijah, the sons of Shisha, scribes; Jehoshaphat the son of Ahilud, the recorder; 4. Benaiah the son of Jehoiada was over the army; Zadok and Abiathar were priests; 5. Azariah the son of Nathan was over the officers; Zabud the son of Nathan was chief minister, the king’s friend; 6. Ahishar was over the household; and Adoniram the son of Abda was over the men subject to forced labor. 7. Solomon 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. 8. These are their names: Ben Hur, in the hill country of Ephraim; 9. Ben Deker, in Makaz, in Shaalbim, Beth Shemesh, and Elon Beth Hanan; 10. Ben Hesed, in Arubboth (Socoh and all the land of Hepher belonged to him); 11. Ben Abinadab, in all the height of Dor (he had Taphath, Solomon’s daughter, as wife); 12. Baana 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; 13. Ben 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); 14. Ahinadab the son of Iddo, in Mahanaim; 15. Ahimaaz, in Naphtali (he also took Basemath the daughter of Solomon as wife); 16. Baana the son of Hushai, in Asher and Bealoth; 17. Jehoshaphat the son of Paruah, in Issachar; 18. Shimei the son of Ela, in Benjamin; 19. Geber 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. 20. Judah and Israel were numerous as the sand which is by the sea in multitude, eating and drinking and making merry. 21. Solomon 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. 22. Solomon’s provision for one day was thirty cors of fine flour, sixty measures of meal, 23. ten 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. 24. For 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. 25. Judah and Israel lived safely, every man under his vine and under his fig tree, from Dan even to Beersheba, all the days of Solomon. 26. Solomon had forty thousand stalls of horses for his chariots, and twelve thousand horsemen. 27. Those 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. 28. They also brought Barley and straw for the horses and swift steeds to the place where the officers were, each man according to his duty. 29. God gave Solomon abundant wisdom and understanding, and very great understanding, even as the sand that is on the seashore. 30. Solomon’s wisdom excelled the wisdom of all the children of the east and all the wisdom of Egypt. 31. For 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. 32. He spoke three thousand proverbs; and his songs numbered one thousand five. 33. He 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. 34. People of all nations came to hear the wisdom of Solomon, sent by all kings of the earth, who had heard of his wisdom. 1. Hiram 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. 2. Solomon sent to Hiram, saying, 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. 4. But now Yahweh my God has given me rest on every side. There is no enemy and no evil occurrence. 5. Behold, 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.’ 6. Now 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.” 7. When 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.” 8. Hiram 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. 9. My 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.” 10. So Hiram gave Solomon cedar timber and cypress timber according to all his desire. 11. Solomon 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. 12. Yahweh gave Solomon wisdom, as he promised him. There was peace between Hiram and Solomon, and the two of them made a treaty together. 13. King Solomon raised a levy out of all Israel; and the levy was thirty thousand men. 14. He 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. 15. Solomon had seventy thousand who bore burdens, and eighty thousand who were stone cutters in the mountains; 16. besides Solomon’s chief officers who were over the work, three thousand and three hundred, who ruled over the people who labored in the work. 17. The king commanded, and they cut out large stones, costly stones, to lay the foundation of the house with worked stone. 18. Solomon’s builders and Hiram’s builders and the Gebalites cut them, and prepared the timber and the stones to build the house. 1. In 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. 2. The house which king Solomon built for Yahweh had a length of sixty cubits, and its width twenty, and its height thirty cubits. 3. The 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. 4. He made windows of fixed lattice work for the house. 5. Against 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. The 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. 7. The 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. 8. The 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. 9. So he built the house, and finished it; and he covered the house with beams and planks of cedar. 10. He built the floors all along the house, each five cubits high; and they rested on the house with timber of cedar. 11. Yahweh’s word came to Solomon, saying, 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. 13. I will dwell among the children of Israel, and will not forsake my people Israel.” 14. So Solomon built the house, and finished it. 15. He 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. 16. He 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. 17. In front of the temple sanctuary was forty cubits. 18. There was cedar on the house within, carved with buds and open flowers. All was cedar. No stone was visible. 19. He prepared an inner sanctuary in the middle of the house within, to set the ark of Yahweh’s covenant there. 20. Within 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. 21. So Solomon overlaid the house within with pure gold. He drew chains of gold across before the inner sanctuary, and he overlaid it with gold. 22. He 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. 23. In the inner sanctuary he made two cherubim of olive wood, each ten cubits high. 24. Five 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. 25. The other cherub was ten cubits. Both the cherubim were of one measure and one form. 26. One cherub was ten cubits high, and so was the other cherub. 27. He 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. 28. He overlaid the cherubim with gold. 29. He carved all the walls of the house around with carved figures of cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers, inside and outside. 30. He overlaid the floor of the house with gold, inside and outside. 31. For the entrance of the inner sanctuary, he made doors of olive wood. The lintel and door posts were a fifth part of the wall. 32. So 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. 33. He also did so for the entrance of the temple door posts of olive wood, out of a fourth part of the wall; 34. and two doors of cypress wood. The two leaves of the one door were folding, and the two leaves of the other door were folding. 35. He carved cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers; and he overlaid them with gold fitted on the engraved work. 36. He built the inner court with three courses of cut stone and a course of cedar beams. 37. The foundation of Yahweh’s house was laid in the fourth year, in the month Ziv. 38. In 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.

1. I heard a loud voice out of the temple, saying to the seven angels, “Go and pour out the seven bowls of the wrath of God on the earth!” 2. The first went, and poured out his bowl into the earth, and it became a harmful and evil sore on the people who had the mark of the beast, and who worshiped his image. 3. The second angel poured out his bowl into the sea, and it became blood as of a dead man. Every living thing in the sea died. 4. The third poured out his bowl into the rivers and springs of water, and they became blood. 5. I heard the angel of the waters saying, “You are righteous, who are and who were, O Holy One, because you have judged these things. 6. For they poured out the blood of the saints and prophets, and you have given them blood to drink. They deserve this.” 7. I heard the altar saying, “Yes, Lord God, the Almighty, true and righteous are your judgments.” 8. The fourth poured out his bowl on the sun, and it was given to him to scorch men with fire. 9. People were scorched with great heat, and people blasphemed the name of God who has the power over these plagues. They didn’t repent and give him glory. 10. The fifth poured out his bowl on the throne of the beast, and his kingdom was darkened. They gnawed their tongues because of the pain, 11. and they blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores. They didn’t repent of their works. 12. The sixth poured out his bowl on the great river, the Euphrates. Its water was dried up, that the way might be prepared for the kings that come from the sunrise. 13. I saw coming out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet, three unclean spirits, something like frogs; 14. for they are spirits of demons, performing signs; which go out to the kings of the whole inhabited earth, to gather them together for the war of that great day of God, the Almighty. 15. “Behold, I come like a thief. Blessed is he who watches, and keeps his clothes, so that he doesn’t walk naked, and they see his shame.” 16. He gathered them together into the place which is called in Hebrew, Megiddo. 17. The seventh poured out his bowl into the air. A loud voice came out of the temple of heaven, from the throne, saying, “It is done!” 18. There were lightnings, sounds, and thunders; and there was a great earthquake, such as was not since there were men on the earth, so great an earthquake, so mighty. 19. The great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell. Babylon the great was remembered in the sight of God, to give to her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath. 20. Every island fled away, and the mountains were not found. 21. Great hailstones, about the weight of a talent, came down out of the sky on people. People blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail, for this plague is exceedingly severe. 1. One of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and spoke with me, saying, “Come here. I will show you the judgment of the great prostitute who sits on many waters, 2. with whom the kings of the earth committed sexual immorality; and those who dwell in the earth were made drunken with the wine of her sexual immorality.” 3. He carried me away in the Spirit into a wilderness. I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet-colored beast, full of blasphemous names, having seven heads and ten horns. 4. The woman was dressed in purple and scarlet, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having in her hand a golden cup full of abominations and the impurities of the sexual immorality of the earth. 5. And on her forehead a name was written, “MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF THE PROSTITUTES AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.” 6. I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus. When I saw her, I wondered with great amazement. 7. The angel said to me, “Why do you wonder? I will tell you the mystery of the woman, and of the beast that carries her, which has the seven heads and the ten horns. 8. The beast that you saw was, and is not; and is about to come up out of the abyss and to go into destruction. Those who dwell on the earth and whose names have not been written in the book of life from the foundation of the world will marvel when they see that the beast was, and is not, and shall be present. 9. Here is the mind that has wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman sits. 10. They are seven kings. Five have fallen, the one is, the other has not yet come. When he comes, he must continue a little while. 11. The beast that was, and is not, is himself also an eighth, and is of the seven; and he goes to destruction. 12. The ten horns that you saw are ten kings who have received no kingdom as yet, but they receive authority as kings, with the beast, for one hour. 13. These have one mind, and they give their power and authority to the beast. 14. These will war against the Lamb, and the Lamb will overcome them, for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings, and those who are with him are called chosen and faithful.” 15. He said to me, “The waters which you saw, where the prostitute sits, are peoples, multitudes, nations, and languages. 16. The ten horns which you saw, and the beast, these will hate the prostitute, will make her desolate, will strip her naked, will eat her flesh, and will burn her utterly with fire. 17. For God has put in their hearts to do what he has in mind, to be of one mind, and to give their kingdom to the beast, until the words of God should be accomplished. 18. The woman whom you saw is the great city, which reigns over the kings of the earth.” 1. After these things, I saw another angel coming down out of the sky, having great authority. The earth was illuminated with his glory. 2. He cried with a mighty voice, saying, “Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great, and she has become a habitation of demons, a prison of every unclean spirit, and a prison of every unclean and hateful bird! 3. For all the nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her sexual immorality, the kings of the earth committed sexual immorality with her, and the merchants of the earth grew rich from the abundance of her luxury.” 4. I heard another voice from heaven, saying, “Come out of her, my people, that you have no participation in her sins, and that you don’t receive of her plagues, 5. for her sins have reached to the sky, and God has remembered her iniquities. 6. Return to her just as she returned, and repay her double as she did, and according to her works. In the cup which she mixed, mix to her double. 7. However much she glorified herself, and grew wanton, so much give her of torment and mourning. For she says in her heart, ‘I sit a queen, and am no widow, and will in no way see mourning.’ 8. Therefore in one day her plagues will come: death, mourning, and famine; and she will be utterly burned with fire; for the Lord God who has judged her is strong. 9. The kings of the earth, who committed sexual immorality and lived wantonly with her, will weep and wail over her, when they look at the smoke of her burning, 10. standing far away for the fear of her torment, saying, ‘Woe, woe, the great city, Babylon, the strong city! For your judgment has come in one hour.’ 11. The merchants of the earth weep and mourn over her, for no one buys their merchandise any more; 12. merchandise of gold, silver, precious stones, pearls, fine linen, purple, silk, scarlet, all expensive wood, every vessel of ivory, every vessel made of most precious wood, and of brass, and iron, and marble; 13. and cinnamon, incense, perfume, frankincense, wine, olive oil, fine flour, wheat, sheep, horses, chariots, and people’s bodies and souls. 14. The fruits which your soul lusted after have been lost to you, and all things that were dainty and sumptuous have perished from you, and you will find them no more at all. 15. The merchants of these things, who were made rich by her, will stand far away for the fear of her torment, weeping and mourning; 16. saying, ‘Woe, woe, the great city, she who was dressed in fine linen, purple, and scarlet, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls! 17. For in an hour such great riches are made desolate.’ Every ship master, and everyone who sails anywhere, and mariners, and as many as gain their living by sea, stood far away, 18. and cried out as they looked at the smoke of her burning, saying, ‘What is like the great city?’ 19. They cast dust on their heads, and cried, weeping and mourning, saying, ‘Woe, woe, the great city, in which all who had their ships in the sea were made rich by reason of her great wealth!’ For she is made desolate in one hour. 20. “Rejoice over her, O heaven, you saints, apostles, and prophets; for God has judged your judgment on her.” 21. A mighty angel took up a stone like a great millstone and cast it into the sea, saying, “Thus with violence will Babylon, the great city, be thrown down, and will be found no more at all. 22. The voice of harpists, minstrels, flute players, and trumpeters will be heard no more at all in you. No craftsman, of whatever craft, will be found any more at all in you. The sound of a mill will be heard no more at all in you. 23. The light of a lamp will shine no more at all in you. The voice of the bridegroom and of the bride will be heard no more at all in you; for your merchants were the princes of the earth; for with your sorcery all the nations were deceived. 24. In her was found the blood of prophets and of saints, and of all who have been slain on the earth.”

1. It is a good thing to give thanks to Yahweh, to sing praises to your name, Most High; 2. to proclaim your loving kindness in the morning, and your faithfulness every night, 3. with the ten-stringed lute, with the harp, and with the melody of the lyre. 4. For you, Yahweh, have made me glad through your work. I will triumph in the works of your hands. 5. How great are your works, Yahweh! Your thoughts are very deep. 6. A senseless man doesn’t know, neither does a fool understand this: 7. though the wicked spring up as the grass, and all the evildoers flourish, they will be destroyed forever. 8. But you, Yahweh, are on high forever more. 9. For, behold, your enemies, Yahweh, for, behold, your enemies shall perish. All the evildoers will be scattered. 10. But you have exalted my horn like that of the wild ox. I am anointed with fresh oil. 11. My eye has also seen my enemies. My ears have heard of the wicked enemies who rise up against me. 12. The righteous shall flourish like the palm tree. He will grow like a cedar in Lebanon. 13. They are planted in Yahweh’s house. They will flourish in our God’s courts. 14. They will still produce fruit in old age. They will be full of sap and green, 15. to show that Yahweh is upright. He is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in him.