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Benaiah came to the Tent of Yahweh, and said to him, “Thus says the king, ‘Come forth!’” He said, “No; but I will die here.” Benaiah brought the king word again, saying, “Thus said Joab, and thus he answered me.”

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The king said to him, “Do as he has said, and fall on him, and bury him; that you may take away the blood, which Joab shed without cause, from me and from my father’s house.

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Yahweh will return his blood on his own head, because he fell on two men more righteous and better than he, and killed them with the sword, and my father David didn’t know it: Abner the son of Ner, captain of the army of Israel, and Amasa the son of Jether, captain of the army of Judah.

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So shall their blood return on the head of Joab, and on the head of his seed forever. But to David, and to his seed, and to his house, and to his throne, there shall be peace forever from Yahweh.”

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Then Benaiah the son of Jehoiada went up, and fell on him, and killed him; and he was buried in his own house in the wilderness.

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The king put Benaiah the son of Jehoiada in his place over the army; and Zadok the priest did the king put in the place of Abiathar.

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The king sent and called for Shimei, and said to him, “Build yourself a house in Jerusalem, and dwell there, and don’t go out from there anywhere.

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For on the day you go out, and pass over the brook Kidron, know for certain that you shall surely die: your blood shall be on your own head.”

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Shimei said to the king, “The saying is good. As my lord the king has said, so will your servant do.” Shimei lived in Jerusalem many days.

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It happened at the end of three years, that two of the servants of Shimei ran away to Achish, son of Maacah, king of Gath. They told Shimei, saying, “Behold, your servants are in Gath.”

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Shimei arose, and saddled his donkey, and went to Gath to Achish, to seek his servants; and Shimei went, and brought his servants from Gath.

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It was told Solomon that Shimei had gone from Jerusalem to Gath, and was come again.

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The king sent and called for Shimei, and said to him, “Didn’t I adjure you by Yahweh, and warn you, saying, ‘Know for certain, that on the day you go out, and walk abroad any where, you shall surely die?’ You said to me, ‘The saying that I have heard is good.’

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Why then have you not kept the oath of Yahweh, and the commandment that I have instructed you with?”

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The king said moreover to Shimei, “You know all the wickedness which your heart is privy to, that you did to David my father. Therefore Yahweh shall return your wickedness on your own head.

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But king Solomon shall be blessed, and the throne of David shall be established before Yahweh forever.”

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So the king commanded Benaiah the son of Jehoiada; and he went out, and fell on him, so that he died. The kingdom was established in the hand of Solomon.

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Solomon made affinity with Pharaoh king of Egypt, and took Pharaoh’s daughter, and brought her into the city of David, until he had made an end of building his own house, and the house of Yahweh, and the wall of Jerusalem all around.

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Only the people sacrificed in the high places, because there was no house built for the name of Yahweh until those days.

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Solomon loved Yahweh, walking in the statutes of David his father: only he sacrificed and burnt incense in the high places.

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The king went to Gibeon to sacrifice there; for that was the great high place: a thousand burnt offerings did Solomon offer on that altar.

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In Gibeon Yahweh appeared to Solomon in a dream by night; and God said, “Ask what I shall give you.”

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Solomon said, “You have shown to your servant David my father great loving kindness, according as he walked before you in truth, and in righteousness, and in uprightness of heart with you. You have kept for him this great loving kindness, that you have given him a son to sit on his throne, as it is this day.

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Now, Yahweh my God, you have made your servant king instead of David my father. I am but a little child. I don’t know how to go out or come in.

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Your servant is in the midst of your people which you have chosen, a great people, that can’t be numbered nor counted for multitude.

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Give your servant therefore an understanding heart to judge your people, that I may discern between good and evil; for who is able to judge this your great people?”

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The speech pleased the Lord, that Solomon had asked this thing.

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God said to him, “Because you have asked this thing, and have not asked for yourself long life, neither have asked riches for yourself, nor have asked the life of your enemies, but have asked for yourself understanding to discern justice;

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behold, I have done according to your word. Behold, I have given you a wise and an understanding heart; so that there has been none like you before you, neither after you shall any arise like you.

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I have also given you that which you have not asked, both riches and honor, so that there shall not be any among the kings like you, all your days.

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If you will walk in my ways, to keep my statutes and my commandments, as your father David walked, then I will lengthen your days.”

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Solomon awoke; and behold, it was a dream. Then he came to Jerusalem, and stood before the ark of the covenant of Yahweh, and offered up burnt offerings, offered peace offerings, and made a feast to all his servants.

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Then two women who were prostitutes came to the king, and stood before him.

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The one woman said, “Oh, my lord, I and this woman dwell in one house. I delivered a child with her in the house.

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It happened the third day after I delivered, that this woman delivered also. We were together. There was no stranger with us in the house, just us two in the house.

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This woman’s child died in the night, because she lay on it.

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She arose at midnight, and took my son from beside me, while your handmaid slept, and laid it in her bosom, and laid her dead child in my bosom.

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When I rose in the morning to nurse my child, behold, it was dead; but when I had looked at it in the morning, behold, it was not my son, whom I bore.”

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The other woman said, “No; but the living is my son, and the dead is your son.” This said, “No; but the dead is your son, and the living is my son.” Thus they spoke before the king.

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Then the king said, “The one says, ‘This is my son who lives, and your son is the dead;’ and the other says, ‘No; but your son is the dead one, and my son is the living one.’”

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The king said, “Get me a sword.” They brought a sword before the king.

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The king said, “Divide the living child in two, and give half to the one, and half to the other.”

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Then the woman whose the living child was spoke to the king, for her heart yearned over her son, and she said, “Oh, my lord, give her the living child, and in no way kill it!” But the other said, “It shall be neither mine nor yours. Divide it.”

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Then the king answered, “Give her the living child, and in no way kill it. She is its mother.”

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All Israel heard of the judgment which the king had judged; and they feared the king: for they saw that the wisdom of God was in him, to do justice.

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King Solomon was king over all Israel.

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These were the princes whom he had: Azariah the son of Zadok, the priest;

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Elihoreph and Ahijah, the sons of Shisha, scribes; Jehoshaphat the son of Ahilud, the recorder;

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and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada was over the army; and Zadok and Abiathar were priests;

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and Azariah the son of Nathan was over the officers; and Zabud the son of Nathan was chief minister, [and] the king’s friend;

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and Ahishar was over the household; and Adoniram the son of Abda was over the men subject to forced labor.

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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.

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These are their names: Ben Hur, in the hill country of Ephraim;

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Ben Deker, in Makaz, and in Shaalbim, and Beth Shemesh, and Elon Beth Hanan;

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Ben Hesed, in Arubboth (to him [pertained] Socoh, and all the land of Hepher);

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Ben Abinadab, in all the height of Dor (he had Taphath the daughter of Solomon as wife);

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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;

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Ben Geber, in Ramoth Gilead (to him [pertained] the towns of Jair the son of Manasseh, which are in Gilead; [even] to him [pertained] the region of Argob, which is in Bashan, sixty great cities with walls and bronze bars);

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Ahinadab the son of Iddo, in Mahanaim;

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Ahimaaz, in Naphtali (he also took Basemath the daughter of Solomon as wife);

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Baana the son of Hushai, in Asher and Bealoth;

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Jehoshaphat the son of Paruah, in Issachar;

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Shimei the son of Ela, in Benjamin;

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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.

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Judah and Israel were many as the sand which is by the sea in multitude, eating and drinking and making merry.

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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.

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Solomon’s provision for one day was thirty measures of fine flour, and sixty measures of meal,

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ten head of fat cattle, and twenty head of cattle out of the pastures, and one hundred sheep, besides harts, and gazelles, and roebucks, and fattened fowl.

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For he had dominion over all [the region] 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.

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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.

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Solomon had forty thousand stalls of horses for his chariots, and twelve thousand horsemen.

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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.

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Barley also and straw for the horses and swift steeds brought they to the place where [the officers] were, every man according to his duty.

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God gave Solomon wisdom and understanding exceeding much, and very great understanding, even as the sand that is on the seashore.

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Solomon’s wisdom excelled the wisdom of all the children of the east, and all the wisdom of Egypt.

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For he was wiser than all men; than Ethan the Ezrahite, and Heman, and Calcol, and Darda, the sons of Mahol: and his fame was in all the nations all around.

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He spoke three thousand proverbs; and his songs were one thousand five.

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He spoke of trees, from the cedar that is in Lebanon even to the hyssop that springs out of the wall; he spoke also of animals, and of birds, and of creeping things, and of fish.

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There came of all peoples to hear the wisdom of Solomon, from all kings of the earth, who had heard of his wisdom.

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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: for Hiram was ever a lover of David.

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Solomon sent to Hiram, saying,

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“You know how that David my father could not build a house for the name of Yahweh his God for the wars which were about him on every side, until Yahweh put them under the soles of his feet.

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But now Yahweh my God has given me rest on every side. There is neither adversary, nor evil occurrence.

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Behold, I purpose 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, he shall build the house for my name.’

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Now therefore command that they cut me cedar trees out of Lebanon. My servants shall be with your servants; and I will give you wages for your servants according to all that you shall say. For you know that there is not among us any who knows how to cut timber like the Sidonians.”

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It happened, when Hiram heard the words of Solomon, that he rejoiced greatly, and said, “Blessed is Yahweh this day, who has given to David a wise son over this great people.”

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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 timber of fir.

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My servants shall bring them down from Lebanon to the sea. I will make them into rafts to go by sea to the place that you shall appoint me, and will cause them to be broken up there, and you shall receive them. You shall accomplish my desire, in giving food for my household.”

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So Hiram gave Solomon timber of cedar and timber of fir according to all his desire.

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Solomon gave Hiram twenty thousand measures of wheat for food to his household, and twenty measures of pure oil. Solomon gave this to Hiram year by year.

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Yahweh gave Solomon wisdom, as he promised him; and there was peace between Hiram and Solomon; and they two made a treaty together.

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King Solomon raised a levy out of all Israel; and the levy was thirty thousand men.

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He sent them to Lebanon, ten thousand a month by courses; a month they were in Lebanon, and two months at home; and Adoniram was over the men subject to forced labor.

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Solomon had seventy thousand who bore burdens, and eighty thousand who were stone cutters in the mountains;

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besides Solomon’s chief officers who were over the work, three thousand and three hundred, who bore rule over the people who labored in the work.

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The king commanded, and they cut out great stones, costly stones, to lay the foundation of the house with worked stone.

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Solomon’s builders and Hiram’s builders and the Gebalites did fashion them, and prepared the timber and the stones to build the house.

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It happened in the four hundred and eightieth year after the children of Israel were 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, that he began to build the house of Yahweh.

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The house which king Solomon built for Yahweh, its length was sixty cubits, and its breadth twenty [cubits], and its height thirty cubits.

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The porch before the temple of the house, twenty cubits was its length, according to the breadth of the house; [and] ten cubits was its breadth before the house.