Daily Text and Bible Reading: Sunday, May 18 [Press play below]

1.1 Solomon the son of David grew ever stronger in his kingship, and Jehovah his God was with him and made him exceedingly great.
1.2 Solomon sent for all Israel, the chiefs of the thousands and of the hundreds, the judges, and all the chieftains of all Israel, the heads of the paternal houses.
1.3 Then Solomon and all the congregation went to the high place at Gibeon, for that was where the tent of meeting of the true God was, which tent Moses the servant of Jehovah had made in the wilderness.
1.4 However, David had brought the Ark of the true God up from Kiriath-jearim to the place that David had prepared for it; he had pitched a tent for it in Jerusalem.
1.5 And the copper altar that Bezalel the son of Uri the son of Hur had made had been put before the tabernacle of Jehovah; and Solomon and the congregation would pray before it.
1.6 Solomon now made offerings there before Jehovah, and he offered up 1,000 burnt offerings on the copper altar of the tent of meeting.
1.7 That night God appeared to Solomon and said to him: “Ask what you would like me to give you.”
1.8 At this Solomon said to God: “You have shown great loyal love toward my father David, and you have made me king in his place.
1.9 Now, O Jehovah God, let your promise to David my father prove faithful, for you have made me king over a people as numerous as the dust particles of the earth.
1.10 Give me now wisdom and knowledge to lead this people, for who can possibly judge this great people of yours?”
1.11 Then God said to Solomon: “Because this is your heart’s desire and you have not asked for wealth, riches, and honor or for the death of those hating you, nor have you asked for a long life, but you have asked for wisdom and knowledge to judge my people over whom I have made you king,
1.12 wisdom and knowledge will be given you; but I will also give you wealth and riches and honor such as no kings before you have had and none after you will have.”
1.13 So Solomon came from the high place at Gibeon, from before the tent of meeting, to Jerusalem; and he reigned over Israel.
1.14 Solomon kept accumulating chariots and horses; he had 1,400 chariots and 12,000 horses, and he kept them stationed in the chariot cities and close by the king in Jerusalem.
1.15 The king made the silver and the gold in Jerusalem as plentiful as the stones, and cedarwood as plentiful as the sycamore trees in the Shephelah.
1.16 The horses of Solomon had been imported from Egypt, and the company of the king’s merchants would obtain the horses in droves for one price.
1.17 Each chariot imported from Egypt cost 600 silver pieces, and a horse cost 150; in turn, they would export them to all the kings of the Hittites and the kings of Syria.

2.1 Solomon now gave the order to build a house for Jehovah’s name and a house for his kingdom.
2.2 Solomon enlisted 70,000 men as common laborers, 80,000 men as stonecutters in the mountains, and 3,600 as overseers over them.
2.3 Further, Solomon sent word to Hiram the king of Tyre: “Do for me as you did for David my father when you sent him cedarwood to build a house to live in.
2.4 Now I am building a house for the name of Jehovah my God, to sanctify it to him, to burn perfumed incense before him, and also for the constant layer bread and the burnt offerings, morning and evening, on the Sabbaths, on the new moons, and at the festival seasons of Jehovah our God. This is a lasting obligation for Israel.
2.5 The house that I am building will be great, for our God is greater than all the other gods.
2.6 And who is up to the task of building him a house? For the heavens and the heaven of the heavens cannot contain him, so who am I that I should build him a house except as a place for making sacrifices smoke before him?
2.7 Now send me a craftsman who is skilled in working in gold, silver, copper, iron, purple wool, crimson, and blue thread and who knows how to cut engravings. He will work in Judah and in Jerusalem with my skilled craftsmen, whom David my father has provided.
2.8 And send me timbers of cedar, juniper, and algum from Lebanon, for I well know that your servants are experienced at cutting down the trees of Lebanon. My servants will work along with your servants
2.9 to prepare for me great quantities of timber, for the house that I am to build will be extraordinarily great.
2.10 Now look! I will supply the food for your servants, the woodcutters who cut down the trees: 20,000 cors of wheat, 20,000 cors of barley, 20,000 baths of wine, and 20,000 baths of oil.”
2.11 At that Hiram the king of Tyre sent this written message to Solomon: “Because Jehovah loves his people, he has made you their king.”
2.12 Hiram then said: “May Jehovah the God of Israel be praised, who made the heavens and the earth, because he has given to King David a wise son, endowed with discretion and understanding, who will build a house for Jehovah and a house for his kingdom.
2.13 Now I am sending a skilled craftsman, endowed with understanding, Hiram-abi,
2.14 who is the son of a Danite woman but whose father was a man of Tyre; he has experience in working in gold, silver, copper, iron, stones, timbers, purple wool, blue thread, fine fabric, and crimson. He can do every sort of engraving and make any design he is given. He will work with your own skilled craftsmen and the skilled craftsmen of my lord David your father.
2.15 Now let my lord send the wheat, barley, oil, and wine he has promised to his servants.
2.16 And we will cut down trees from Lebanon, as many as you need, and we will bring them to you as rafts by sea to Joppa; and you will take them up to Jerusalem.”
2.17 Solomon then took a count of all the men who were foreign residents in the land of Israel, after the census taken by David his father, and there were found 153,600.
2.18 So he assigned 70,000 of them as common laborers, 80,000 as stonecutters in the mountains, and 3,600 as overseers for putting the people to work.

3.1 Then Solomon started to build the house of Jehovah in Jerusalem on Mount Moriah, where Jehovah had appeared to his father David, in the place that David had prepared on the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite.
3.2 He started to build on the second day of the second month, in the fourth year of his reign.
3.3 And the foundation that Solomon laid for building the house of the true God was 60 cubits long and 20 cubits wide, according to the former measurement.
3.4 The porch in front was 20 cubits long, corresponding to the width of the house, and its height was 120; and he overlaid it inside with pure gold.
3.5 He paneled the great house with juniper wood, after which he covered it with fine gold, and then he decorated it with palm-tree figures and chains.
3.6 Further, he overlaid the house with beautiful precious stones; and the gold he used was gold from Parvaim.
3.7 He covered the house, the rafters, the thresholds, its walls, and its doors with gold; and he engraved cherubs on the walls.
3.8 He now made the Most Holy compartment; its length matched the width of the house, 20 cubits, and its width was 20 cubits. He covered it with 600 talents of fine gold.
3.9 The weight of the gold for the nails was 50 shekels; and he covered the roof chambers with gold.
3.10 Then he made in the Most Holy compartment two cherub sculptures, and he overlaid them with gold.
3.11 The overall length of the wings of the cherubs was 20 cubits; one wing of the first cherub was five cubits long and touched the wall of the house, and its other wing was five cubits long and touched one of the other cherub’s wings.
3.12 And one wing of the other cherub was five cubits long and touched the other wall of the house, and its other wing was five cubits long and touched one of the first cherub’s wings.
3.13 The wings of these cherubs were spread out 20 cubits; and they stood on their feet, and they faced inward.
3.14 He also made the curtain of blue thread, purple wool, crimson, and fine fabric, and incorporated cherub designs into it.
3.15 Then he made two pillars at the front of the house, 35 cubits in length, and the capital on top of each pillar was five cubits.
3.16 And he made chains, like necklaces, and put them on the tops of the pillars, and he made 100 pomegranates and put them on the chains.
3.17 He set up the pillars in front of the temple, one to the right and one to the left; he named the one on the right Jachin and the one on the left Boaz.