2 Chronicles 1-6

II Chronicles 1

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

²And Solomon spoke to all Israel, to the captains of thousands and of hundreds, and to the judges, and to all the princes of all Israel, the chief fathers;

³and Solomon, and all the congregation with him, went to the high place at Gibeon; for there was God's tent of meeting which Moses the servant of Jehovah had made in the wilderness.

⁴But the ark of God had David brought up from Kirjath-jearim to the place that David had prepared for it; for he had spread a tent for it at Jerusalem.

⁵And the brazen altar that Bezaleel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, had made, was there before the tabernacle of Jehovah; and Solomon and the congregation sought unto it.

⁶And Solomon offered there upon the brazen altar before Jehovah which was at the tent of meeting; and he offered up a thousand burnt-offerings upon it.

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

⁸And Solomon said to God, Thou hast shewn unto David my father great loving-kindness, and hast made me king in his stead.

⁹Now, Jehovah Elohim, let thy word unto David my father be firm; for thou hast made me king over a people numerous as the dust of the earth.

¹⁰Give me now wisdom and knowledge, that I may go out and come in before this people; for who can judge this thy great people?

¹¹And God said to Solomon, Because this was in thy heart, and thou hast not asked riches, wealth, or honour, nor the life of them that hate thee, neither yet hast asked long life; but hast asked for thyself wisdom and knowledge, that thou mayest judge my people, over whom I have made thee king:

¹²wisdom and knowledge are granted unto thee; and I will give thee riches and wealth and honour, such as none of the kings have had that have been before thee, neither shall any after thee have the like.

¹³Then Solomon came back from the high place at Gibeon to Jerusalem, from before the tent of meeting, and reigned over Israel.

¹⁴And Solomon gathered chariots and horsemen; and he had a thousand four hundred chariots and twelve thousand horsemen; and he placed them in the chariot-cities, and with the king at Jerusalem.

¹⁵And the king made silver and gold in Jerusalem as stones, and cedars made he as the sycamores that are in the lowland for abundance.

¹⁶And the exportation of horses that Solomon had was from Egypt: a caravan of the king's merchants fetched a drove of horses, at a price.

¹⁷And they fetched up and brought forth out of Egypt a chariot for six hundred shekels of silver, and a horse for a hundred and fifty; and so they brought them by their means, for all the kings of the Hittites and for the kings of Syria.

II Chronicles 2

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

²And Solomon numbered seventy thousand men to bear burdens, and eighty thousand stone-masons in the mountain, and three thousand six hundred to superintend them.

³And Solomon sent to Huram king of Tyre, saying, As thou didst deal with David my father, and didst send him cedars to build him a house to dwell therein so do for me.

⁴Behold, I build a house unto the name of Jehovah my God to dedicate it to him, to burn before him sweet incense, and for the continual arrangement of the shewbread, and for the morning and evening burnt-offerings and on the sabbaths and on the new moons, and on the set feasts of Jehovah our God. This is an ordinance for ever to Israel.

⁵And the house that I will build is great; for great is our God above all gods.

⁶But who is able to build him a house, seeing the heavens and the heaven of heavens cannot contain him? And who am I that I should build him a house, except to burn sacrifice before him?

⁷And now send me a man skilful to work in gold, and in silver, and in bronze, and in iron, and in purple and crimson and blue, and experienced in carving, besides the skilful men that are with me in Judah and in Jerusalem, whom David my father provided.

⁸Send me also cedar-trees, cypress-trees, and sandal-wood trees, out of Lebanon; for I know that thy servants are experienced in cutting timber in Lebanon; and behold, my servants shall be with thy servants,

⁹even to prepare me timber in abundance: for the house that I build shall be great and wonderful.

¹⁰And behold, I will give to thy servants the hewers that fell 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.

¹¹And Huram king of Tyre answered in writing, which he sent to Solomon, Because Jehovah loved his people, he made thee king over them.

¹²And Huram said, Blessed be Jehovah the God of Israel, that made the heavens and the earth, who has given to David the king a wise son, endued with prudence and understanding, who will build a house for Jehovah and a house for his kingdom.

¹³And now, I send a skilful man, endued with understanding, Huram Abi,

¹⁴the son of a woman of the daughters of Dan, and whose father was a man of Tyre, experienced in working in gold, and in silver, in bronze, in iron, in stone, and in timber, in purple, in blue, and in byssus, and in crimson, and for doing any manner of engraving, and for inventing every device which shall be put to him, besides thy skilful men, and the skilful men of my lord David thy father.

¹⁵And now the wheat and the barley, the oil and the wine, which my lord hath spoken of, let him send unto his servants.

¹⁶And we will cut wood out of Lebanon, as much as thou shalt need; and we will bring it to thee in floats by sea to Joppa, and thou shalt carry it up to Jerusalem.

¹⁷And Solomon numbered all the strangers that were in the land of Israel, after the account that David his father had taken of them, and there were found a hundred and fifty-three thousand six hundred.

¹⁸And he set seventy thousand of them to be bearers of burdens, and eighty thousand to be stone-masons in the mountains, and three thousand six hundred overseers to set the people to work.

II Chronicles 3

¹And Solomon began to build the house of Jehovah at Jerusalem on mount Moriah, where he appeared to David his father, in the place that David had prepared in the threshing-floor of Ornan the Jebusite.

²And he began to build on the second of the second month, in the fourth year of his reign.

³And this was Solomon's foundation for the construction of the house of God. The length by cubits after the first measure was sixty cubits, and the breadth twenty cubits.

⁴And the porch which was in front was twenty cubits in length, in front of the house broadways, and the height was a hundred and twenty; and he overlaid it within with pure gold.

⁵And the greater house he boarded with cypress-wood, which he overlaid with fine gold, and set on it palm-trees and chains.

⁶And he overlaid the house with precious stones for beauty; and the gold was gold of Parvaim.

⁷And he covered the house, the beams, the threshold, and its walls, and its doors with gold, and engraved cherubim on the walls.

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

⁹And the weight of the nails was fifty shekels of gold. And he covered the upper chambers with gold.

¹⁰And in the house of the most holy place he made two cherubim of image work, and they overlaid them with gold.

¹¹And the wings of the cherubim were twenty cubits long: one wing of five cubits touched the wall of the house; and the other wing of five cubits touched the wing of the other cherub.

¹²And the wing of the other cherub of five cubits touched the wall of the house; and the other wing was five cubits joining the wing of the other cherub.

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

¹⁴And he made the veil of blue, and purple, and crimson, and byssus, and made cherubim upon it.

¹⁵And before the house he made two pillars thirty-five cubits long; and the capital that was on the top of each of them was five cubits.

¹⁶And he made chains as in the oracle, and he put them on the top of the pillars; and he made a hundred pomegranates, and put them on the chains.

¹⁷And he set up the pillars in front of the temple, one on the right hand and the other on the left; and he called the name of that on the right Jachin, and the name of that on the left Boaz.

II Chronicles 4

¹And he made a brazen altar: its length was twenty cubits, and its breadth twenty cubits, and its height ten cubits.

²And he made the sea, molten, ten cubits from brim to brim, round all about; and its height was five cubits; and a line of thirty cubits encompassed it round about.

³And under it was the similitude of oxen, encompassing it round about, ten in a cubit enclosing the sea round about, two rows of oxen, cast when it was cast.

⁴It stood upon 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 above upon them, and all their hinder parts were inward.

⁵And its thickness was a hand-breadth, and its brim like the work of the brim of a cup, with lily-blossoms; in capacity it held three thousand baths.

⁶And he made ten lavers, and put five on the right and five on the left, to wash in them: they rinsed in them what they prepared for the burnt-offering; and the sea was for the priests to wash in.

⁷And he made ten candlesticks of gold according to the ordinance respecting them, and set them in the temple, five on the right hand and five on the left.

⁸And he made ten tables, and placed them in the temple, five on the right hand and five on the left. And he made a hundred golden bowls.

⁹And he made the court of the priests, and the great court, and doors for the court, and overlaid the doors thereof with bronze.

¹⁰And he set the sea on the right side eastward, over against the south.

¹¹And Huram made the pots and the shovels and the bowls. So Huram ended doing the work that he made for king Solomon in the house of God:

¹²two pillars, and the globes and the capitals on the top of the pillars, two; and the two networks, to cover the two globes of the capitals which were on the top of the pillars;

¹³and the four hundred pomegranates for the two networks, two rows of pomegranates for one network, to cover the two globes of the capitals which were upon the pillars.

¹⁴And he made the bases, and he made the lavers on the bases;

¹⁵one sea, and the twelve oxen under it.

¹⁶And the pots, and the shovels, and the forks, and all their instruments did Huram Abiv make king Solomon for the house of Jehovah, of bright brass.

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

¹⁸And Solomon made all these vessels in great number; for the weight of the brass was not ascertained.

¹⁹And Solomon made all the vessels that were in the house of God: the golden altar; and the tables whereon was the shewbread;

²⁰and the candlesticks 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 (it was perfect gold);

²²and the knives, and the bowls, and the cups, and the censers, of pure gold; and the entrance of the house, the inner folding-doors thereof for the most holy place, and the doors of the house, of the temple, of gold.

II Chronicles 5

¹And all the work was finished that Solomon made for the house of Jehovah. And Solomon brought in the things that David his father had dedicated; and the silver, and the gold, and all the vessels he put among the treasures of the house of God.

²Then Solomon assembled the elders of Israel, and all the heads of the tribes, the princes of the fathers of the children of Israel, to Jerusalem, to bring up the ark of the covenant of Jehovah out of the city of David, which is Zion.

³And all the men of Israel assembled themselves to the king at the feast, that of the seventh month.

⁴And all the elders of Israel came; and the Levites took up the ark.

⁵And they brought up the ark, and the tent of meeting, and all the holy vessels that were in the tent: the priests, the Levites, brought them up.

⁶And king Solomon, and all the assembly of Israel, that were assembled to him before the ark, sacrificed sheep and oxen which could not be counted nor numbered for multitude.

⁷And the priests brought in the ark of the covenant of Jehovah to its place, into the oracle of the house, into the most holy place, under the wings of the cherubim;

⁸and the cherubim stretched forth their wings over the place of the ark, and the cherubim covered the ark and its staves above.

⁹And the staves were long, so that the ends of the staves were seen outside the ark before the oracle; but they were not seen without. And there they are to this day.

¹⁰There was nothing in the ark save the two tables which Moses put there at Horeb, when Jehovah made a covenant with the children of Israel, when they came out of Egypt.

¹¹And it came to pass when the priests were come out of the holy place (for all the priests that were present were hallowed without observing the courses;

¹²and the Levites the singers, all they of Asaph, of Heman, of Jeduthun, with their sons and their brethren, clad in byssus, with cymbals and lutes and harps, stood at the east end of the altar, and with them a hundred and twenty priests sounding with trumpets),

¹³-- it came to pass when the trumpeters and singers were as one, to make one voice to be heard in praising and thanking Jehovah; and when they lifted up their voice with trumpets, and cymbals, and instruments of music, and praised Jehovah: For he is good, for his loving-kindness endureth for ever; that then the house, the house of Jehovah, was filled with a cloud,

¹⁴and the priests could not stand to do their service because of the cloud; for the glory of Jehovah had filled the house of God.

II Chronicles 6

¹Then said Solomon: Jehovah said that he would dwell in the thick darkness.

²But I have built a house of habitation for thee, even a settled place for thee to abide in for ever.

³And the king turned his face and blessed the whole congregation of Israel; and the whole congregation of Israel stood.

⁴And he said: Blessed be Jehovah the God of Israel, who spoke with his mouth unto David my father, and hath with his hands fulfilled it, saying,

⁵Since the day that I brought forth my people out of the land of Egypt I chose no city out of all the tribes of Israel to build a house in, that my name might be there; neither chose I any man to be prince over my people Israel:

⁶but I have chosen Jerusalem, that my name might be there; and I have chosen David to be over my people Israel.

⁷And it was in the heart of David my father to build a house unto the name of Jehovah the God of Israel.

⁸But Jehovah said to David my father, Whereas it was in thy heart to build a house unto my name, thou didst well that it was in thy heart;

⁹nevertheless thou shalt not build the house; but thy son that shall come forth out of thy loins, he shall build the house unto my name.

¹⁰And Jehovah has performed his word which he spoke; and I am risen up in the room of David my father, and sit on the throne of Israel, as Jehovah promised, and I have built the house unto the name of Jehovah the God of Israel.

¹¹And in it have I put the ark, wherein is the covenant of Jehovah, which he made with the children of Israel.

¹²And he stood before the altar of Jehovah in the presence of the whole congregation of Israel, and spread forth his hands.

¹³For Solomon had made a platform of bronze, five cubits long, and five cubits broad, and three cubits high, and had set it in the midst of the court; and upon it he stood, and he kneeled down on his knees before the whole congregation of Israel, and spread forth his hands toward the heavens,

¹⁴and said, Jehovah, God of Israel! there is no God like thee, in the heavens or on the earth, who keepest covenant and mercy with thy servants that walk before thee with all their heart;

¹⁵who hast kept with thy servant David my father that which thou didst promise him; thou spokest with thy mouth, and hast fulfilled it with thy hand as at this day.

¹⁶And now, Jehovah, God of Israel, keep with thy servant David my father that which thou hast promised him saying, There shall not fail thee a man in my sight to sit on the throne of Israel, if only thy sons take heed to their way to walk in my law, as thou hast walked before me.

¹⁷And now, Jehovah, God of Israel, let thy word be verified which thou hast spoken unto thy servant David.

¹⁸But will God indeed dwell with man on the earth? behold, the heavens and the heaven of heavens cannot contain thee; how much less this house which I have built!

¹⁹Yet have respect unto the prayer of thy servant, and to his supplication, Jehovah, my God, to hearken unto the cry and to the prayer which thy servant prayeth before thee;

²⁰that thine eyes may be open upon this house day and night, upon the place in which thou hast said thou wouldest put thy name: to hearken unto the prayer which thy servant prayeth toward this place.

²¹And hearken unto the supplications of thy servant, and of thy people Israel, which they shall pray toward this place, and hear thou from thy dwelling-place, from the heavens, and when thou hearest, forgive.

²²If a man have sinned against his neighbour, and an oath be laid upon him to adjure him, and the oath come before thine altar in this house;

²³then hear thou from the heavens, and do, and judge thy servants, requiting the wicked, to bring his way upon his own head; and justifying the righteous, giving him according to his righteousness.

²⁴And if thy people Israel be put to the worse before the enemy, because they have sinned against thee, and shall turn again and confess thy name, and pray, and make supplication before thee in this house;

²⁵then hear thou from the heavens, and forgive the sin of thy people Israel, and bring them again unto the land that thou gavest to them and to their fathers.

²⁶When the heavens are shut up, and there is no rain, because they have sinned against thee; if they pray toward this place, and confess thy name, and turn from their sin, because thou hast afflicted them;

²⁷then hear thou in the heavens, and forgive the sin of thy servants, and of thy people Israel, when thou teachest them the good way wherein they should walk; and give rain upon thy land, which thou hast given to thy people for an inheritance.

²⁸If there be famine in the land, if there be pestilence, if there be blight or mildew, locust or caterpillar; if their enemies besiege them in the land of their gates; whatever plague or whatever sickness there be:

²⁹what prayer, what supplication soever be made by any man, or by all thy people Israel, when they shall know every man his own plague, and his own grief, and shall spread forth his hands toward this house;

³⁰then hear thou from the heavens, the settled place of thy dwelling, and forgive, and render unto every man according to all his ways, whose heart thou knowest (for thou, thou only, knowest the hearts of the children of men),

³¹that they may fear thee, to walk in thy ways, all the days that they live upon the land which thou gavest unto our fathers.

³²And as to the stranger also, who is not of thy people Israel, but cometh out of a far country for thy great name's sake, and thy mighty hand and thy stretched-out arm; when they shall come and pray toward this house,

³³then hear thou from the heavens, the settled place of thy dwelling, and do according to all that the stranger calleth to thee for; in order that all peoples of the earth may know thy name, and may fear thee as do thy people Israel, and may know that this house which I have built is called by thy name.

³⁴If thy people go out to battle against their enemies by the way that thou shalt send them, and they pray unto thee toward this city that thou hast chosen, and the house that I have built unto thy name;

³⁵then hear thou from the heavens their prayer and their supplication, and maintain their right.

³⁶If they have sinned against thee (for there is no man that sinneth not), and thou be angry with them, and give them up to the enemy, and they have carried them away captives unto a land far off or near;

³⁷and if they shall take it to heart in the land whither they were carried captive, and repent, and make supplication unto thee in the land of their captivity, saying, We have sinned, we have done iniquity and have dealt perversely;

³⁸and if they return unto thee with all their heart and with all their soul in the land of their captivity, whither they have carried them captives, and pray toward their land which thou gavest unto their fathers, and the city that thou hast chosen, and the house that I have built unto thy name;

³⁹then hear thou from the heavens, from the settled place of thy dwelling, their prayer and their supplications, and maintain their right, and forgive thy people their sin against thee.

⁴⁰Now, my God, I beseech thee, let thine eyes be open and let thine ears be attentive unto the prayer that is made in this place.

⁴¹And now, arise, Jehovah Elohim, into thy resting-place, thou and the ark of thy strength: let thy priests, Jehovah Elohim, be clothed with salvation, and let thy saints rejoice in thy goodness.

⁴²Jehovah Elohim, turn not away the face of thine anointed: remember mercies to David thy servant.