He summoned ¹  the officers of the units of hundreds, the nobles, the rulers of the people, and all the people of land, and he then led the king down from the Lord’s temple. They entered the royal palace through the Upper Gate and seated the king on the royal throne.

When the queen of Sheba heard about Solomon, ¹  she came to challenge ²  him ³  with difficult questions. ⁴  She arrived in Jerusalem ⁵  with a great display of pomp, ⁶  bringing with her camels carrying spices, ⁷  a very large quantity of gold, and precious gems. She visited Solomon and discussed with him everything that was on her mind.

After this Manasseh ¹  built up the outer wall of the City of David ²  on the west side of the Gihon in the valley to the entrance of the Fish Gate and all around the terrace; he made it much higher. He placed army officers in all the fortified cities in Judah.

and followed the advice of the younger ones. He said, “My father imposed heavy demands on you; ¹  I will make them even heavier. ²  My father punished you with ordinary whips; I will punish you with whips that really sting your flesh.” ³ 

‘If disaster comes on us in the form of military attack, ¹  judgment, plague, or famine, we will stand in front of this temple before you, for you are present in this temple. ²  We will cry out to you for help in our distress, so that you will ³  hear and deliver us.’

They made disbursements to all the males three years old and up who were listed in the genealogical records – to all who would enter the Lord’s temple to serve on a daily basis and fulfill their duties as assigned to their divisions. ¹ 

God said to Solomon, “Because you desire this, ¹  and did not ask for riches, wealth, and honor, or for vengeance on your enemies, ²  and because you did not ask for long life, ³  but requested wisdom and discernment so you can make judicial decisions for my people over whom I have made you king,

He assembled the priests and Levites and ordered them, “Go out to the cities of Judah and collect the annual quota of silver from all Israel for repairs on the temple of your God. Be quick about it!” But the Levites delayed.

So they sent an edict ¹  throughout Israel from Beer Sheba to Dan, summoning the people ²  to come and observe a Passover for the Lord God of Israel in Jerusalem, for they had not observed it on a nationwide scale as prescribed in the law. ³ 

The king stood by his pillar ¹  and renewed ²  the covenant before the Lord, agreeing to follow ³  the Lord and to obey his commandments, laws, and rules with all his heart and being, ⁴  by carrying out the terms ⁵  of this covenant recorded on this scroll.

The Lord God of their ancestors ¹  continually warned them through his messengers, ²  for he felt compassion for his people and his dwelling place.

the ten ¹  movable stands with their ten ²  basins,

He made ¹  the two pillars, the two bowl-shaped tops of the pillars, the latticework for the bowl-shaped tops of the two pillars,

The combined wingspan of these cherubim was 30 feet. ¹  They stood upright, facing inward. ² 

Abijah ascended Mount Zemaraim, in the Ephraimite hill country, and said: “Listen to me, Jeroboam and all Israel!

Micaiah replied, “Look, you will see in the day when you go into an inner room to hide.”

the four hundred pomegranate-shaped ornaments for the latticework of the two pillars (each latticework had two rows of these ornaments at the bowl-shaped top of the pillar),

“Your father made us work too hard! ¹  Now if you lighten the demands he made and don’t make us work as hard, we will serve you.” ² 

In Jerusalem he made war machines carefully designed to shoot arrows and large stones from the towers and corners of the walls. He became very famous, for he received tremendous support and became powerful. ¹ 

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