Bible-Reading.comII Chronicles 6
1Then Solomon said, “The LORD has said that he would dwell in the thick darkness.
2But I have built you a house and home, a place for you to dwell in forever.”
3The king turned his face, and blessed all the assembly of Israel; and all the assembly of Israel stood.
4He said, “Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel, who spoke with his mouth to David my father, and has with his hands fulfilled it, saying,
5‘Since the day that I brought 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, and I chose no man to be prince over my people Israel;
6but now I have chosen Jerusalem, that my name might be there; and I have chosen David to be over my people Israel.’
7Now it was in the heart of David my father to build a house for the name of the LORD, the God of Israel.
8But the LORD 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;
9nevertheless you shall not build the house, but your son who will come out of your body, he shall build the house for my name.’
10“The LORD has performed his word that he spoke; for I have risen up in the place of David my father, and sit on the throne of Israel, as the LORD promised, and have built the house for the name of the LORD, the God of Israel.
11There I have set the ark, in which is the LORD’s covenant, which he made with the children of Israel.”
12He stood before the LORD’s altar in the presence of all the assembly of Israel, and spread out his hands
13(for Solomon had made a bronze platform, five cubits long, five cubits wide, and three cubits high, and had set it in the middle of the court; and he stood on it, and knelt down on his knees before all the assembly of Israel, and spread out his hands toward heaven).
14Then he said, “LORD, the God of Israel, there is no God like you in heaven or on earth—you who keep covenant and loving kindness with your servants who walk before you with all their heart;
15who have 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.
16“Now therefore, LORD, the God of Israel, keep with your servant David my father that which you have promised him, saying, ‘There shall not fail you a man in my sight to sit on the throne of Israel, if only your children take heed to their way, to walk in my law as you have walked before me.’
17Now therefore, LORD, the God of Israel, let your word be verified, which you spoke to your servant David.
18“But will God indeed dwell with men on the earth? Behold, heaven and the heaven of heavens can’t contain you; how much less this house which I have built!
19Yet have respect for the prayer of your servant and to his supplication, LORD my God, to listen to the cry and to the prayer which your servant prays before you;
20that your eyes may be open toward this house day and night, even toward the place where you have said that you would put your name, to listen to the prayer which your servant will pray toward this place.
21Listen to the petitions of your servant and of your people Israel, when they pray toward this place. Yes, hear from your dwelling place, even from heaven; and when you hear, forgive.
22“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,
23then hear from heaven, act, and judge your servants, bringing retribution to the wicked, to bring his way on his own head; and justifying the righteous, to give him according to his righteousness.
24“If your people Israel are struck down before the enemy because they have sinned against you, and they turn again and confess your name, and pray and make supplication before you in this house,
25then hear from heaven, and forgive the sin of your people Israel, and bring them again to the land which you gave to them and to their fathers.
26“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,
27then hear in heaven, and forgive the sin of your servants, 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.
28“If there is famine in the land, if there is pestilence, if there is blight or mildew, locust or caterpillar; if their enemies besiege them in the land of their cities; whatever plague or whatever sickness there is—
29whatever prayer and supplication is made by any man, or by all your people Israel, who will each know his own plague and his own sorrow, and shall spread out his hands toward this house,
30then hear from heaven your dwelling place and forgive, and give to every man according to all his ways, whose heart you know (for you, even you only, know the hearts of the children of men),
31that they may fear you, to walk in your ways as long as they live in the land which you gave to our fathers.
32“Moreover, concerning the foreigner, who is not of your people Israel, when he comes from a far country for your great name’s sake and your mighty hand and your outstretched arm, when they come and pray toward this house,
33then hear from heaven, even from 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 and fear you, as do your people Israel, and that they may know that this house which I have built is called by your name.
34“If your people go out to battle against their enemies, by whatever way you send them, and they pray to you toward this city which you have chosen, and the house which I have built for your name;
35then hear from heaven their prayer and their supplication, and maintain their cause.
36“If 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 a land far off or near;
37yet if they come to their senses in the land where they are carried captive, and turn again, and make supplication to you in the land of their captivity, saying, ‘We have sinned, we have done perversely, and have dealt wickedly;’
38if they return to you with all their heart and with all their soul in the land of their captivity, where they have been taken captive, and pray toward their land which you gave to their fathers, and the city which you have chosen, and toward the house which I have built for your name;
39then hear from heaven, even from your dwelling place, their prayer and their petitions, and maintain their cause, and forgive your people who have sinned against you.
40“Now, my God, let, I beg you, your eyes be open, and let your ears be attentive to the prayer that is made in this place.
41“Now therefore arise, LORD God, into your resting place, you, and the ark of your strength. Let your priests, LORD God, be clothed with salvation, and let your saints rejoice in goodness.
42“LORD God, don’t turn away the face of your anointed. Remember your loving kindnesses to David your servant.”
II Chronicles 7
1Now when Solomon had finished praying, fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices; and the LORD’s glory filled the house.
2The priests could not enter into the LORD’s house, because the LORD’s glory filled the LORD’s house.
3All the children of Israel looked on, when the fire came down, and the LORD’s glory was on the house. They bowed themselves with their faces to the ground on the pavement, worshiped, and gave thanks to the LORD, saying, “For he is good, for his loving kindness endures forever!”
4Then the king and all the people offered sacrifices before the LORD.
5King Solomon offered a sacrifice of twenty-two thousand head of cattle and a hundred twenty thousand sheep. So the king and all the people dedicated God’s house.
6The priests stood, according to their positions; the Levites also with instruments of music of the LORD, which David the king had made to give thanks to the LORD, when David praised by their ministry, saying “For his loving kindness endures forever.” The priests sounded trumpets before them; and all Israel stood.
7Moreover Solomon made the middle of the court that was before the LORD’s house holy; for there he offered the burnt offerings and the fat of the peace offerings, because the bronze altar which Solomon had made was not able to receive the burnt offering, the meal offering, and the fat.
8So Solomon held the feast at that time for seven days, and all Israel with him, a very great assembly, from the entrance of Hamath to the brook of Egypt.
9On the eighth day, they held a solemn assembly; for they kept the dedication of the altar seven days, and the feast seven days.
10On the twenty-third day of the seventh month, he sent the people away to their tents, joyful and glad of heart for the goodness that the LORD had shown to David, to Solomon, and to Israel his people.
11Thus Solomon finished the LORD’s house and the king’s house; and he successfully completed all that came into Solomon’s heart to make in the LORD’s house and in his own house.
12Then the LORD appeared to Solomon by night, and said to him, “I have heard your prayer, and have chosen this place for myself for a house of sacrifice.
13“If I shut up the sky so that there is no rain, or if I command the locust to devour the land, or if I send pestilence among my people,
14if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves, pray, seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.
15Now my eyes will be open and my ears attentive to prayer that is made in this place.
16For now I have chosen and made this house holy, that my name may be there forever; and my eyes and my heart will be there perpetually.
17“As for you, if you will walk before me as David your father walked, and do according to all that I have commanded you, and will keep my statutes and my ordinances,
18then I will establish the throne of your kingdom, according as I covenanted with David your father, saying, ‘There shall not fail you a man to be ruler in Israel.’
19But if you turn away and forsake my statutes and my commandments which I have set before you, and go and serve other gods and worship them,
20then I will pluck them up by the roots out of my land which I have given them; and this house, which I have made holy for my name, I will cast out of my sight, and I will make it a proverb and a byword among all peoples.
21This house, which is so high, everyone who passes by it will be astonished and say, ‘Why has the LORD done this to this land and to this house?’
22They shall answer, ‘Because they abandoned the LORD, the God of their fathers, who brought them out of the land of Egypt, and took other gods, worshiped them, and served them. Therefore he has brought all this evil on them.’”
II Chronicles 8
1At the end of twenty years, in which Solomon had built the LORD’s house and his own house,
2Solomon built the cities which Huram had given to Solomon, and caused the children of Israel to dwell there.
3Solomon went to Hamath Zobah, and prevailed against it.
4He built Tadmor in the wilderness, and all the storage cities, which he built in Hamath.
5Also he built Beth Horon the upper and Beth Horon the lower, fortified cities with walls, gates, and bars;
6and Baalath, and all the storage cities that Solomon had, and all the cities for his chariots, the cities for his horsemen, and all that Solomon desired to build for his pleasure in Jerusalem, in Lebanon, and in all the land of his dominion.
7As for all the people who were left of the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, who were not of Israel—
8of their children who were left after them in the land, whom the children of Israel didn’t consume—of them Solomon conscripted forced labor to this day.
9But of the children of Israel, Solomon made no servants for his work, but they were men of war, chief of his captains, and rulers of his chariots and of his horsemen.
10These were the chief officers of King Solomon, even two-hundred fifty, who ruled over the people.
11Solomon brought up Pharaoh’s daughter out of David’s city to the house that he had built for her; for he said, “My wife shall not dwell in the house of David king of Israel, because the places where the LORD’s ark has come are holy.”
12Then Solomon offered burnt offerings to the LORD on the LORD’s altar which he had built before the porch,
13even as the duty of every day required, offering according to the commandment of Moses on the Sabbaths, on the new moons, and on the set feasts, three times per year, during the feast of unleavened bread, during the feast of weeks, and during the feast of booths.
14He appointed, according to the ordinance of David his father, the divisions of the priests to their service, and the Levites to their offices, to praise and to minister before the priests, as the duty of every day required, the doorkeepers also by their divisions at every gate, for David the man of God had so commanded.
15They didn’t depart from the commandment of the king to the priests and Levites concerning any matter or concerning the treasures.
16Now all the work of Solomon was accomplished from the day of the foundation of the LORD’s house until it was finished. So the LORD’s house was completed.
17Then Solomon went to Ezion Geber and to Eloth, on the seashore in the land of Edom.
18Huram sent him ships and servants who had knowledge of the sea by the hands of his servants; and they came with the servants of Solomon to Ophir, and brought from there four hundred fifty talents of gold, and brought them to King Solomon.
II Chronicles 9
1When the queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon, she came to test Solomon with hard questions at Jerusalem, with a very great caravan, including camels that bore spices, gold in abundance, and precious stones. When she had come to Solomon, she talked with him about all that was in her heart.
2Solomon answered all her questions. There wasn’t anything hidden from Solomon which he didn’t tell her.
3When the queen of Sheba had seen the wisdom of Solomon, the house that he had built,
4the food of his table, the seating of his servants, the attendance of his ministers, their clothing, his cup bearers and their clothing, and his ascent by which he went up to the LORD’s house, there was no more spirit in her.
5She said to the king, “It was a true report that I heard in my own land of your acts and of your wisdom.
6However I didn’t believe their words until I came, and my eyes had seen it; and behold half of the greatness of your wisdom wasn’t told me. You exceed the fame that I heard!
7Happy are your men, and happy are these your servants, who stand continually before you and hear your wisdom.
8Blessed be the LORD your God, who delighted in you and set you on his throne to be king for the LORD your God, because your God loved Israel, to establish them forever. Therefore he made you king over them, to do justice and righteousness.”
9She gave the king one hundred and twenty talents of gold, spices in great abundance, and precious stones. There was never before such spice as the queen of Sheba gave to King Solomon.
10The servants of Huram and the servants of Solomon, who brought gold from Ophir, also brought algum trees and precious stones.
11The king used algum tree wood to make terraces for the LORD’s house and for the king’s house, and harps and stringed instruments for the singers. There were none like these seen before in the land of Judah.
12King Solomon gave to the queen of Sheba all her desire, whatever she asked, more than that which she had brought to the king. So she turned and went to her own land, she and her servants.
13Now the weight of gold that came to Solomon in one year was six hundred sixty-six talents of gold,
14in addition to that which the traders and merchants brought. All the kings of Arabia and the governors of the country brought gold and silver to Solomon.
15King Solomon made two hundred large shields of beaten gold. Six hundred shekels of beaten gold went to one large shield.
16He made three hundred shields of beaten gold. Three hundred shekels of gold went to one shield. The king put them in the House of the Forest of Lebanon.
17Moreover the king made a great throne of ivory, and overlaid it with pure gold.
18There were six steps to the throne, with a footstool of gold, which were fastened to the throne, and armrests on either side by the place of the seat, and two lions standing beside the armrests.
19Twelve lions stood there on the one side and on the other on the six steps. There was nothing like it made in any other kingdom.
20All King Solomon’s drinking vessels were of gold, and all the vessels of the House of the Forest of Lebanon were of pure gold. Silver was not considered valuable in the days of Solomon.
21For the king had ships that went to Tarshish with Huram’s servants. Once every three years, the ships of Tarshish came bringing gold, silver, ivory, apes, and peacocks.
22So King Solomon exceeded all the kings of the earth in riches and wisdom.
23All the kings of the earth sought the presence of Solomon to hear his wisdom, which God had put in his heart.
24They each brought tribute: vessels of silver, vessels of gold, clothing, armor, spices, horses, and mules every year.
25Solomon had four thousand stalls for horses and chariots, and twelve thousand horsemen that he stationed in the chariot cities and with the king at Jerusalem.
26He ruled over all the kings from the River even to the land of the Philistines, and to the border of Egypt.
27The king made silver as common in Jerusalem as stones, and he made cedars to be as abundant as the sycamore trees that are in the lowland.
28They brought horses for Solomon out of Egypt and out of all lands.
29Now the rest of the acts of Solomon, first and last, aren’t they written in the history of Nathan the prophet, and in the prophecy of Ahijah the Shilonite, and in the visions of Iddo the seer concerning Jeroboam the son of Nebat?
30Solomon reigned in Jerusalem over all Israel forty years.
31Solomon slept with his fathers, and he was buried in his father David’s city; and Rehoboam his son reigned in his place.
II Chronicles 10
1Rehoboam went to Shechem, for all Israel had come to Shechem to make him king.
2When Jeroboam the son of Nebat heard of it (for he was in Egypt, where he had fled from the presence of King Solomon), Jeroboam returned out of Egypt.
3They sent and called him; and Jeroboam and all Israel came, and they spoke to Rehoboam, saying,
4“Your father made our yoke grievous. Now therefore make the grievous service of your father and his heavy yoke which he put on us, lighter, and we will serve you.”
5He said to them, “Come again to me after three days.” So the people departed.
6King Rehoboam took counsel with the old men, who had stood before Solomon his father while he yet lived, saying, “What counsel do you give me about how to answer these people?”
7They spoke to him, saying, “If you are kind to these people, please them, and speak good words to them, then they will be your servants forever.”
8But he abandoned the counsel of the old men which they had given him, and took counsel with the young men who had grown up with him, who stood before him.
9He said to them, “What counsel do you give, that we may give an answer to these people, who have spoken to me, saying, ‘Make the yoke that your father put on us lighter’?”
10The young men who had grown up with him spoke to him, saying, “Thus you shall tell the people who spoke to you, saying, ‘Your father made our yoke heavy, but make it lighter on us;’ thus you shall say to them, ‘My little finger is thicker than my father’s waist.
11Now whereas my father burdened you with a heavy yoke, I will add to your yoke. My father chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions.’”
12So Jeroboam and all the people came to Rehoboam the third day, as the king asked, saying, “Come to me again the third day.”
13The king answered them roughly; and King Rehoboam abandoned the counsel of the old men,
14and spoke to them after the counsel of the young men, saying, “My father made your yoke heavy, but I will add to it. My father chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions.”
15So the king didn’t listen to the people; for it was brought about by God, that the LORD might establish his word, which he spoke by Ahijah the Shilonite to Jeroboam the son of Nebat.
16When all Israel saw that the king didn’t listen to them, the people answered the king, saying, “What portion do we have in David? We don’t have an inheritance in the son of Jesse! Every man to your tents, Israel! Now see to your own house, David.” So all Israel departed to their tents.
17But as for the children of Israel who lived in the cities of Judah, Rehoboam reigned over them.
18Then King Rehoboam sent Hadoram, who was over the men subject to forced labor; and the children of Israel stoned him to death with stones. King Rehoboam hurried to get himself up to his chariot, to flee to Jerusalem.
19So Israel rebelled against David’s house to this day.