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Solomon was king of all Israel,
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and these were his high officials: The priest: Azariah son of Zadok
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The court secretaries: Elihoreph and Ahijah, sons of Shisha In charge of the records: Jehoshaphat son of Ahilud
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Commander of the army: Benaiah son of Jehoiada Priests: Zadok and Abiathar
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Chief of the district governors: Azariah son of Nathan Royal Adviser: the priest Zabud son of Nathan
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In charge of the palace servants: Ahishar In charge of the forced labor: Adoniram son of Abda
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Solomon appointed twelve men as district governors in Israel. They were to provide food from their districts for the king and his household, each man being responsible for one month out of the year.
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The following are the names of these twelve officers and the districts they were in charge of: Benhur: the hill country of Ephraim
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Bendeker: the cities of Makaz, Shaalbim, Beth Shemesh, Elon, and Beth Hanan
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Benhesed: the cities of Arubboth and Socoh and all the territory of Hepher
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Benabinadab, who was married to Solomon's daughter Taphath: the whole region of Dor
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Baana son of Ahilud: the cities of Taanach, Megiddo, and all the region near Beth Shan, near the town of Zarethan, south of the town of Jezreel, as far as the city of Abel Meholah and the city of Jokmeam
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Bengeber: the city of Ramoth in Gilead, and the villages in Gilead belonging to the clan of Jair, a descendant of Manasseh, and the region of Argob in Bashan, sixty large towns in all, fortified with walls and with bronze bars on the gates
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Ahinadab son of Iddo: the district of Mahanaim
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Ahimaaz, who was married to Basemath, another of Solomon's daughters: the territory of Naphtali
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Baana son of Hushai: the region of Asher and the town of Bealoth
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Jehoshaphat son of Paruah: the territory of Issachar
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Shimei son of Ela: the territory of Benjamin
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Geber son of Uri: the region of Gilead, which had been ruled by King Sihon of the Amorites and King Og of Bashan Besides these twelve, there was one governor over the whole land.
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The people of Judah and Israel were as numerous as the grains of sand on the seashore; they ate and drank, and were happy.
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Solomon's kingdom included all the nations from the Euphrates River to Philistia and the Egyptian border. They paid him taxes and were subject to him all his life.
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The supplies Solomon needed each day were 150 bushels of fine flour and 300 bushels of meal;
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10 stall-fed cattle, 20 pasture-fed cattle, and 100 sheep, besides deer, gazelles, roebucks, and poultry.
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Solomon ruled over all the land west of the Euphrates River, from Tiphsah on the Euphrates as far west as the city of Gaza. All the kings west of the Euphrates were subject to him, and he was at peace with all the neighboring countries.
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As long as he lived, the people throughout Judah and Israel lived in safety, each family with its own grapevines and fig trees.
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Solomon had forty thousand stalls for his chariot horses and twelve thousand cavalry horses.
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His twelve governors, each one in the month assigned to him, supplied the food King Solomon needed for himself and for all who ate in the palace; they always supplied everything needed.
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Each governor also supplied his share of barley and straw, where it was needed, for the chariot horses and the work animals.
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God gave Solomon unusual wisdom and insight, and knowledge too great to be measured.
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Solomon was wiser than the wise men of the East or the wise men of Egypt.
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He was the wisest of all men: wiser than Ethan the Ezrahite, and Heman, Calcol, and Darda, the sons of Mahol, and his fame spread throughout all the neighboring countries.
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He composed three thousand proverbs and more than a thousand songs.
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He spoke of trees and plants, from the Lebanon cedars to the hyssop that grows on walls; he talked about animals, birds, reptiles, and fish.
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Kings all over the world heard of his wisdom and sent people to listen to him.
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King Hiram of Tyre had always been a friend of David's, and when he heard that Solomon had succeeded his father David as king, he sent ambassadors to him.
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Solomon sent back this message to Hiram:
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"You know that because of the constant wars my father David had to fight against the enemy countries all around him, he could not build a temple for the worship of the LORD his God until the LORD had given him victory over all his enemies.
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But now the LORD my God has given me peace on all my borders. I have no enemies, and there is no danger of attack.
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The LORD promised my father David, 'Your son, whom I will make king after you, will build a temple for me.' And I have now decided to build that temple for the worship of the LORD my God.
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So send your men to Lebanon to cut down cedars for me. My men will work with them, and I will pay your men whatever you decide. As you well know, my men don't know how to cut down trees as well as yours do."
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Hiram was extremely pleased when he received Solomon's message, and he said, "Praise the LORD today for giving David such a wise son to succeed him as king of that great nation!"
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Then Hiram sent Solomon the following message: "I have received your message, and I am ready to do what you ask. I will provide the cedars and the pine trees.
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My men will bring the logs down from Lebanon to the sea and will tie them together in rafts to float them down the coast to the place you choose. There my men will untie them, and your men will take charge of them. On your part, I would like you to supply the food for my men."
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So Hiram supplied Solomon with all the cedar and pine logs that he wanted,
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and Solomon provided Hiram with 100,000 bushels of wheat and 110,000 gallons of pure olive oil every year to feed his men.
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The LORD kept his promise and gave Solomon wisdom. There was peace between Hiram and Solomon, and they made a treaty with each other.
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King Solomon drafted 30,000 men as forced labor from all over Israel,
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and put Adoniram in charge of them. He divided them into three groups of 10,000 men, and each group spent one month in Lebanon and two months back home.
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Solomon also had 80,000 stone cutters in the hill country, with 70,000 men to carry the stones,
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and he placed 3,300 foremen in charge of them to supervise their work.
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At King Solomon's command they cut fine large stones for the foundation of the Temple.
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Solomon's and Hiram's workers and men from the city of Byblos prepared the stones and the timber to build the Temple.
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Four hundred and eighty years after the people of Israel left Egypt, during the fourth year of Solomon's reign over Israel, in the second month, the month of Ziv, Solomon began work on the Temple.
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Inside it was 90 feet long, 30 feet wide, and 45 feet high.
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The entrance room was 15 feet deep and 30 feet wide, as wide as the sanctuary itself.
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The walls of the Temple had openings in them, narrower on the outside than on the inside.
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Against the outside walls, on the sides and the back of the Temple, a three-storied annex was built, each story 7 1/2 feet high.
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Each room in the lowest story was 7 1/2 feet wide, in the middle story 9 feet wide, and in the top story 10 1/2 feet wide. The Temple wall on each floor was thinner than on the floor below, so that the rooms could rest on the wall without having their beams built into it.
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The stones with which the Temple was built had been prepared at the quarry, so that there was no noise made by hammers, axes, or any other iron tools as the Temple was being built.
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The entrance to the lowest story of the annex was on the south side of the Temple, with stairs leading up to the second and third stories.
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So King Solomon finished building the Temple. He put in a ceiling made of beams and boards of cedar.
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The three-storied annex, each story 7 1/2 feet high, was built against the outside walls of the Temple, and was joined to them by cedar beams.
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The LORD said to Solomon,
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"If you obey all my laws and commands, I will do for you what I promised your father David.
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I will live among my people Israel in this Temple that you are building, and I will never abandon them."
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So Solomon finished building the Temple.
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The inside walls were covered with cedar panels from the floor to the ceiling, and the floor was made of pine.
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An inner room, called the Most Holy Place, was built in the rear of the Temple. It was 30 feet long and was partitioned off by cedar boards reaching from the floor to the ceiling.
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The room in front of the Most Holy Place was 60 feet long.
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The cedar panels were decorated with carvings of gourds and flowers; the whole interior was covered with cedar, so that the stones of the walls could not be seen.
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In the rear of the Temple an inner room was built, where the LORD's Covenant Box was to be placed.
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This inner room was 30 feet long, 30 feet wide, and 30 feet high, all covered with pure gold. The altar was covered with cedar panels.
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The inside of the Temple was covered with gold, and gold chains were placed across the entrance of the inner room, which was also covered with gold.
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The whole interior of the Temple was covered with gold, as well as the altar in the Most Holy Place.
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Two winged creatures were made of olive wood and placed in the Most Holy Place, each one 15 feet tall.
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Both were of the same size and shape. Each had two wings, each wing 7 1/2 feet long, so that the distance from one wing tip to the other was 15 feet.
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They were placed side by side in the Most Holy Place, so that two of their outstretched wings touched each other in the middle of the room, and the other two wings touched the walls.
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The two winged creatures were covered with gold.
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The walls of the main room and of the inner room were all decorated with carved figures of winged creatures, palm trees, and flowers.
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Even the floor was covered with gold.
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A double door made of olive wood was set in place at the entrance of the Most Holy Place; the top of the doorway was a pointed arch.
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The doors were decorated with carved figures of winged creatures, palm trees, and flowers. The doors, the winged creatures, and the palm trees were covered with gold.
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For the entrance to the main room a rectangular doorframe of olive wood was made.
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There were two folding doors made of pine
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and decorated with carved figures of winged creatures, palm trees, and flowers, which were evenly covered with gold.
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An inner court was built in front of the Temple, enclosed with walls which had one layer of cedar beams for every three layers of stone.
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The foundation of the Temple was laid in the second month, the month of Ziv, in the fourth year of Solomon's reign.
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In the eighth month, the month of Bul, in the eleventh year of Solomon's reign, the Temple was completely finished exactly as it had been planned. It had taken Solomon seven years to build it.
