¹So King Solomon was king over all Israel. ²And these were his officials: Azariah the son of Zadok, the priest; ³Elihoreph and Ahijah, the sons of Shisha, scribes; Jehoshaphat the son of Ahilud, the recorder; ⁴Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, over the army; Zadok and Abiathar, the priests; ⁵Azariah the son of Nathan, over the officers; Zabud the son of Nathan, a priest and the king’s friend; ⁶Ahishar, over the household; and Adoniram the son of Abda, over the labor force. ⁷And Solomon had twelve governors over all Israel, who provided food for the king and his household; each one made provision for one month of the year. ⁸These are their names: Ben-Hur, in the mountains of Ephraim; ⁹Ben-Deker, in Makaz, Shaalbim, Beth Shemesh, and Elon Beth Hanan; ¹⁰Ben-Hesed, in Arubboth; to him belonged Sochoh and all the land of Hepher; ¹¹Ben-Abinadab, in all the regions of Dor; he had Taphath the daughter of Solomon as wife; ¹²Baana the son of Ahilud, in Taanach, Megiddo, and all Beth Shean, which is beside Zaretan below Jezreel, from Beth Shean to Abel Meholah, as far as the other side of Jokneam; ¹³Ben-Geber, in Ramoth Gilead; to him belonged the towns of Jair the son of Manasseh, in Gilead; to him also belonged the region of Argob in Bashan—sixty large cities with walls and bronze gate-bars; ¹⁴Ahinadab the son of Iddo, in Mahanaim; ¹⁵Ahimaaz, in Naphtali; he also took Basemath the daughter of Solomon as wife; ¹⁶Baanah the son of Hushai, in Asher and Aloth; ¹⁷Jehoshaphat the son of Paruah, in Issachar; ¹⁸Shimei the son of Elah, in Benjamin; ¹⁹Geber the son of Uri, in the land of Gilead, in the country of Sihon king of the Amorites, and of Og king of Bashan. He was the only governor who was in the land. ²⁰Judah and Israel were as numerous as the sand by the sea in multitude, eating and drinking and rejoicing. ²¹So Solomon reigned over all kingdoms from the River to the land of the Philistines, as far as the border of Egypt. They brought tribute and served Solomon all the days of his life. ²²Now Solomon’s provision for one day was thirty kors of fine flour, sixty kors of meal, ²³ten fatted oxen, twenty oxen from the pastures, and one hundred sheep, besides deer, gazelles, roebucks, and fatted fowl. ²⁴For he had dominion over all the region on this side of the River from Tiphsah even to Gaza, namely over all the kings on this side of the River; and he had peace on every side all around him. ²⁵And Judah and Israel dwelt safely, each man under his vine and his fig tree, from Dan as far as Beersheba, all the days of Solomon. ²⁶Solomon had forty thousand stalls of horses for his chariots, and twelve thousand horsemen. ²⁷And these governors, each man in his month, provided food for King Solomon and for all who came to King Solomon’s table. There was no lack in their supply. ²⁸They also brought barley and straw to the proper place, for the horses and steeds, each man according to his charge. ²⁹And God gave Solomon wisdom and exceedingly great understanding, and largeness of heart like the sand on the seashore. ³⁰Thus Solomon’s wisdom excelled the wisdom of all the men of the East and all the wisdom of Egypt. ³¹For he was wiser than all men—than Ethan the Ezrahite, and Heman, Chalcol, and Darda, the sons of Mahol; and his fame was in all the surrounding nations. ³²He spoke three thousand proverbs, and his songs were one thousand and five. ³³Also he spoke of trees, from the cedar tree of Lebanon even to the hyssop that springs out of the wall; he spoke also of animals, of birds, of creeping things, and of fish. ³⁴And men of all nations, from all the kings of the earth who had heard of his wisdom, came to hear the wisdom of Solomon.

¹Now Hiram king of Tyre sent his servants to Solomon, because he heard that they had anointed him king in place of his father, for Hiram had always loved David. ²Then Solomon sent to Hiram, saying: ³You know how my father David could not build a house for the name of the Lᴏʀᴅ his God because of the wars which were fought against him on every side, until the Lᴏʀᴅ put his foes under the soles of his feet. ⁴But now the Lᴏʀᴅ my God has given me rest on every side; there is neither adversary nor evil occurrence. ⁵And behold, I propose to build a house for the name of the Lᴏʀᴅ my God, as the Lᴏʀᴅ spoke to my father David, saying, “Your son, whom I will set on your throne in your place, he shall build the house for My name.” ⁶Now therefore, command that they cut down cedars for me from Lebanon; and my servants will be with your servants, and I will pay you wages for your servants according to whatever you say. For you know there is none among us who has skill to cut timber like the Sidonians. ⁷So it was, when Hiram heard the words of Solomon, that he rejoiced greatly and said, Blessed be the Lᴏʀᴅ this day, for He has given David a wise son over this great people! ⁸Then Hiram sent to Solomon, saying: I have considered the message which you sent me, and I will do all you desire concerning the cedar and cypress logs. ⁹My servants shall bring them down from Lebanon to the sea; I will float them in rafts by sea to the place you indicate to me, and will have them broken apart there; then you can take them away. And you shall fulfill my desire by giving food for my household. ¹⁰Then Hiram gave Solomon cedar and cypress logs according to all his desire. ¹¹And Solomon gave Hiram twenty thousand kors of wheat as food for his household, and twenty kors of pressed oil. Thus Solomon gave to Hiram year by year. ¹²So the Lᴏʀᴅ gave Solomon wisdom, as He had promised him; and there was peace between Hiram and Solomon, and the two of them made a treaty together. ¹³Then King Solomon raised up a labor force out of all Israel; and the labor force was thirty thousand men. ¹⁴And he sent them to Lebanon, ten thousand a month in shifts: they were one month in Lebanon and two months at home; Adoniram was in charge of the labor force. ¹⁵Solomon had seventy thousand who carried burdens, and eighty thousand who quarried stone in the mountains, ¹⁶besides three thousand three hundred from the chiefs of Solomon’s deputies, who supervised the people who labored in the work. ¹⁷And the king commanded them to quarry large stones, costly stones, and hewn stones, to lay the foundation of the temple. ¹⁸So Solomon’s builders, Hiram’s builders, and the Gebalites quarried them; and they prepared timber and stones to build the temple.

¹And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, ²in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, ³among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others. ⁴But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, ⁵even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), ⁶and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, ⁷that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. ⁸For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, ⁹not of works, lest anyone should boast. ¹⁰For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. ¹¹Therefore remember that you, once Gentiles in the flesh—who are called Uncircumcision by what is called the Circumcision made in the flesh by hands— ¹²that at that time you were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. ¹³But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. ¹⁴For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation, ¹⁵having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace, ¹⁶and that He might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity. ¹⁷And He came and preached peace to you who were afar off and to those who were near. ¹⁸For through Him we both have access by one Spirit to the Father. ¹⁹Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, ²⁰having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief corner stone, ²¹in whom the whole building, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, ²²in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.

¹Moreover the word of the Lᴏʀᴅ came to me, saying, ²“Son of man, set your face against Mount Seir and prophesy against it, ³and say to it, ‘Thus says the Lᴏʀᴅ God: “Behold, O Mount Seir, I am against you; I will stretch out My hand against you, And make you most desolate; ⁴I shall lay your cities waste, And you shall be desolate. Then you shall know that I am the Lᴏʀᴅ. ⁵“Because you have had an ancient hatred, and have shed the blood of the children of Israel by the power of the sword at the time of their calamity, when their iniquity came to an end, ⁶therefore, as I live,” says the Lᴏʀᴅ God, “I will prepare you for blood, and blood shall pursue you; since you have not hated blood, therefore blood shall pursue you. ⁷Thus I will make Mount Seir most desolate, and cut off from it the one who leaves and the one who returns. ⁸And I will fill its mountains with the slain; on your hills and in your valleys and in all your ravines those who are slain by the sword shall fall. ⁹I will make you perpetually desolate, and your cities shall be uninhabited; then you shall know that I am the Lᴏʀᴅ. ¹⁰“Because you have said, ‘These two nations and these two countries shall be mine, and we will possess them,’ although the Lᴏʀᴅ was there, ¹¹therefore, as I live,” says the Lᴏʀᴅ God, “I will do according to your anger and according to the envy which you showed in your hatred against them; and I will make Myself known among them when I judge you. ¹²Then you shall know that I am the Lᴏʀᴅ. I have heard all your blasphemies which you have spoken against the mountains of Israel, saying, ‘They are desolate; they are given to us to consume.’ ¹³Thus with your mouth you have boasted against Me and multiplied your words against Me; I have heard them.” ¹⁴Thus says the Lᴏʀᴅ God: “The whole earth will rejoice when I make you desolate. ¹⁵As you rejoiced because the inheritance of the house of Israel was desolate, so I will do to you; you shall be desolate, O Mount Seir, as well as all of Edom—all of it! Then they shall know that I am the Lᴏʀᴅ.” ‘

¹To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of the sons of Korah. Lᴏʀᴅ, You have been favorable to Your land; You have brought back the captivity of Jacob. ²You have forgiven the iniquity of Your people; You have covered all their sin. Selah ³You have taken away all Your wrath; You have turned from the fierceness of Your anger. ⁴Restore us, O God of our salvation, And cause Your anger toward us to cease. ⁵Will You be angry with us forever? Will You prolong Your anger to all generations? ⁶Will You not revive us again, That Your people may rejoice in You? ⁷Show us Your mercy, Lord, And grant us Your salvation. ⁸I will hear what God the Lᴏʀᴅ will speak, For He will speak peace To His people and to His saints; But let them not turn back to folly. ⁹Surely His salvation is near to those who fear Him, That glory may dwell in our land. ¹⁰Mercy and truth have met together; Righteousness and peace have kissed. ¹¹Truth shall spring out of the earth, And righteousness shall look down from heaven. ¹²Yes, the Lᴏʀᴅ will give what is good; And our land will yield its increase. ¹³Righteousness will go before Him, And shall make His footsteps our pathway.