The people were delighted with their donations, for they contributed to the Lord with a willing attitude; King David was also very happy.

For we are resident foreigners and nomads in your presence, like all our ancestors; our days are like a shadow on the earth, without security.

Solomon sat on the Lord’s throne as king in place of his father David; he was successful and all Israel was loyal to him.

He reigned over Israel forty years; he reigned in Hebron seven years and in Jerusalem thirty-three years.

Solomon went up to the bronze altar before the Lord which was at the meeting tent, and he offered up a thousand burnt sacrifices.

Now, Lord God, may your promise to my father David be realized, for you have made me king over a great nation as numerous as the dust of the earth.

In front of the temple he made two pillars which had a combined length of 52½ feet, with each having a plated capital seven and one-half feet high.

He set up the pillars in front of the temple, one on the right side and the other on the left. He named the one on the right Jachin, and the one on the left Boaz.

The poles were so long their ends extending out from the ark were visible from in front of the inner sanctuary, but they could not be seen from beyond that point. They have remained there to this very day.

Then they will honor you by obeying you throughout their lifetimes as they live on the land you gave to our ancestors.

When I close up the sky so that it doesn’t rain, or command locusts to devour the land’s vegetation, or send a plague among my people,

King Solomon made two hundred large shields of hammered gold; 600 measures of hammered gold were used for each shield.

He also made three hundred small shields of hammered gold; 300 measures of gold were used for each of those shields. The king placed them in the Palace of the Lebanon Forest.

There were six steps leading up to the throne, and a gold footstool was attached to the throne. The throne had two armrests with a statue of a lion standing on each side.

There were twelve statues of lions on the six steps, one lion at each end of each step. There was nothing like it in any other kingdom.

Because they were unfaithful to the Lord, in King Rehoboam’s fifth year, King Shishak of Egypt attacked Jerusalem.

King Rehoboam made bronze shields to replace them and assigned them to the officers of the royal guard who protected the entrance to the royal palace.

Don’t you realize that the Lord God of Israel has given David and his dynasty lasting dominion over Israel by a formal agreement?

That day the Israelites were defeated; the men of Judah prevailed because they relied on the Lord God of their ancestors.

In those days no one could travel safely, for total chaos had overtaken all the people of the surrounding lands.