Second Book of Chronicles 1

¹ Solomon son of David made himself secure on the throne. Yahweh his God was with him and brought his greatness to its height.

² Solomon then spoke to all Israel, to the commanders of thousands and of hundreds, to the judges, and to all the princes of all Israel, the heads of families.

³ Then Solomon, and with him the whole assembly, went to the high place of Gibeon, where God’s Tent of Meeting was, which Moses, the servant of God, had made in the wilderness;

⁴ David, however, had brought the ark of God from Kiriath-jearim to the place he had prepared for it, having pitched a tent for it in Jerusalem.

⁵ The bronze altar that Bezalel son of Uri, son of Hur, had made stood there in front of the tabernacle of Yahweh; to this went Solomon, with the assembly.

⁶ And there Solomon, in Yahweh’s presence, ascended the bronze altar that was by the Tent of Meeting, and on it he offered a thousand holocausts.

⁷ That night, God appeared to Solomon and said, ‘Ask what you would like me to give you’.

⁸ Solomon replied to God, ‘You showed great kindness to David my father; and you have made me king in succession to him.

⁹ Yahweh God, the promise you made to David my father has now been fulfilled, since you have made me king over a people like the dust of the earth for number.

¹⁰ Therefore now give me wisdom and knowledge to act as leader of this people, for who could govern a people so great as yours?’

¹¹ ‘Since that is what you want,’ God said to Solomon ‘since you have asked, not for riches, treasure, honour, the lives of your enemies, or even for a long life, but for wisdom and knowledge to govern my people of whom I have made you king,

¹² therefore wisdom and knowledge are granted you. I give you riches too, and treasure, and honour such as none of the kings had that were before you, nor shall any have that come after you.’

¹³ Solomon left the high place of Gibeon for Jerusalem, away from the Tent of Meeting. He reigned over Israel.

¹⁴ Solomon built up a force of chariots and horses; he had one thousand four hundred chariots and twelve thousand horses; these he stationed in the chariot towns and with the king in Jerusalem.

¹⁵ In Jerusalem the king made silver common as pebbles, and cedars plentiful as the sycamores of the lowlands.

¹⁶ Solomon’s horses were imported from Cilicia; the king’s agents took delivery of them from Cilicia at a fixed rate.

¹⁷ They imported chariots from Egypt at six hundred shekels apiece, and horses at one hundred and fifty shekels. These men acted in a similar capacity for all the kings of the Hittites and the kings of Aram.

¹⁸ Solomon decided to build a house for the name of Yahweh and another for himself and his court.