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Solomon was king of all Israel,
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and these were his high officials: The priest: Azariah son of Zadok
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The court secretaries: Elihoreph and Ahijah, sons of Shisha In charge of the records: Jehoshaphat son of Ahilud
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Commander of the army: Benaiah son of Jehoiada Priests: Zadok and Abiathar
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Chief of the district governors: Azariah son of Nathan Royal Adviser: the priest Zabud son of Nathan
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In charge of the palace servants: Ahishar In charge of the forced labor: Adoniram son of Abda
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Solomon appointed twelve men as district governors in Israel. They were to provide food from their districts for the king and his household, each man being responsible for one month out of the year.
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The following are the names of these twelve officers and the districts they were in charge of: Benhur: the hill country of Ephraim
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Bendeker: the cities of Makaz, Shaalbim, Beth Shemesh, Elon, and Beth Hanan
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Benhesed: the cities of Arubboth and Socoh and all the territory of Hepher
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Benabinadab, who was married to Solomon's daughter Taphath: the whole region of Dor
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Baana son of Ahilud: the cities of Taanach, Megiddo, and all the region near Beth Shan, near the town of Zarethan, south of the town of Jezreel, as far as the city of Abel Meholah and the city of Jokmeam
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Bengeber: the city of Ramoth in Gilead, and the villages in Gilead belonging to the clan of Jair, a descendant of Manasseh, and the region of Argob in Bashan, sixty large towns in all, fortified with walls and with bronze bars on the gates
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Ahinadab son of Iddo: the district of Mahanaim
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Ahimaaz, who was married to Basemath, another of Solomon's daughters: the territory of Naphtali
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Baana son of Hushai: the region of Asher and the town of Bealoth
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Jehoshaphat son of Paruah: the territory of Issachar
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Shimei son of Ela: the territory of Benjamin
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Geber son of Uri: the region of Gilead, which had been ruled by King Sihon of the Amorites and King Og of Bashan Besides these twelve, there was one governor over the whole land.
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The people of Judah and Israel were as numerous as the grains of sand on the seashore; they ate and drank, and were happy.
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Solomon's kingdom included all the nations from the Euphrates River to Philistia and the Egyptian border. They paid him taxes and were subject to him all his life.
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The supplies Solomon needed each day were 150 bushels of fine flour and 300 bushels of meal;
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10 stall-fed cattle, 20 pasture-fed cattle, and 100 sheep, besides deer, gazelles, roebucks, and poultry.
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Solomon ruled over all the land west of the Euphrates River, from Tiphsah on the Euphrates as far west as the city of Gaza. All the kings west of the Euphrates were subject to him, and he was at peace with all the neighboring countries.
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As long as he lived, the people throughout Judah and Israel lived in safety, each family with its own grapevines and fig trees.
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Solomon had forty thousand stalls for his chariot horses and twelve thousand cavalry horses.
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His twelve governors, each one in the month assigned to him, supplied the food King Solomon needed for himself and for all who ate in the palace; they always supplied everything needed.
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Each governor also supplied his share of barley and straw, where it was needed, for the chariot horses and the work animals.
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God gave Solomon unusual wisdom and insight, and knowledge too great to be measured.
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Solomon was wiser than the wise men of the East or the wise men of Egypt.
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He was the wisest of all men: wiser than Ethan the Ezrahite, and Heman, Calcol, and Darda, the sons of Mahol, and his fame spread throughout all the neighboring countries.
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He composed three thousand proverbs and more than a thousand songs.
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He spoke of trees and plants, from the Lebanon cedars to the hyssop that grows on walls; he talked about animals, birds, reptiles, and fish.
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Kings all over the world heard of his wisdom and sent people to listen to him.
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King Hiram of Tyre had always been a friend of David's, and when he heard that Solomon had succeeded his father David as king, he sent ambassadors to him.
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Solomon sent back this message to Hiram:
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"You know that because of the constant wars my father David had to fight against the enemy countries all around him, he could not build a temple for the worship of the LORD his God until the LORD had given him victory over all his enemies.
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But now the LORD my God has given me peace on all my borders. I have no enemies, and there is no danger of attack.
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The LORD promised my father David, 'Your son, whom I will make king after you, will build a temple for me.' And I have now decided to build that temple for the worship of the LORD my God.
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So send your men to Lebanon to cut down cedars for me. My men will work with them, and I will pay your men whatever you decide. As you well know, my men don't know how to cut down trees as well as yours do."
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Hiram was extremely pleased when he received Solomon's message, and he said, "Praise the LORD today for giving David such a wise son to succeed him as king of that great nation!"
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Then Hiram sent Solomon the following message: "I have received your message, and I am ready to do what you ask. I will provide the cedars and the pine trees.
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My men will bring the logs down from Lebanon to the sea and will tie them together in rafts to float them down the coast to the place you choose. There my men will untie them, and your men will take charge of them. On your part, I would like you to supply the food for my men."
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So Hiram supplied Solomon with all the cedar and pine logs that he wanted,
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and Solomon provided Hiram with 100,000 bushels of wheat and 110,000 gallons of pure olive oil every year to feed his men.
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The LORD kept his promise and gave Solomon wisdom. There was peace between Hiram and Solomon, and they made a treaty with each other.
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King Solomon drafted 30,000 men as forced labor from all over Israel,
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and put Adoniram in charge of them. He divided them into three groups of 10,000 men, and each group spent one month in Lebanon and two months back home.
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Solomon also had 80,000 stone cutters in the hill country, with 70,000 men to carry the stones,
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and he placed 3,300 foremen in charge of them to supervise their work.
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At King Solomon's command they cut fine large stones for the foundation of the Temple.
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Solomon's and Hiram's workers and men from the city of Byblos prepared the stones and the timber to build the Temple.
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King Solomon decided to build a temple where the LORD would be worshiped, and also to build a palace for himself.
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He put 70,000 men to work transporting materials, and 80,000 to work cutting stone in the hill country. There were 3,600 others responsible for supervising the work.
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Solomon sent a message to King Hiram of Tyre: "Do business with me as you did with my father, King David, when you sold him cedar logs for building his palace.
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I am building a temple to honor the LORD my God. It will be a holy place where my people and I will worship him by burning incense of fragrant spices, where we will present offerings of sacred bread to him continuously, and where we will offer burnt offerings every morning and evening, as well as on Sabbaths, New Moon Festivals, and other holy days honoring the LORD our God. He has commanded Israel to do this forever.
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I intend to build a great temple, because our God is greater than any other god.
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Yet no one can really build a temple for God, because even all the vastness of heaven cannot contain him. How then can I build a temple that would be anything more than a place to burn incense to God?
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Now send me a man with skill in engraving, in working gold, silver, bronze, and iron, and in making blue, purple, and red cloth. He will work with the craftsmen of Judah and Jerusalem whom my father David selected.
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I know how skillful your lumbermen are, so send me cedar, cypress, and juniper logs from Lebanon. I am ready to send my men to assist yours
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in preparing large quantities of timber, because this temple I intend to build will be large and magnificent.
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As provisions for your lumbermen, I will send you 100,000 bushels of wheat, 100,000 bushels of barley, 110,000 gallons of wine, and 110,000 gallons of olive oil."
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King Hiram sent Solomon a letter in reply. He wrote, "Because the LORD loves his people, he has made you their king.
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Praise the LORD God of Israel, Creator of heaven and earth! He has given King David a wise son, full of understanding and skill, who now plans to build a temple for the LORD and a palace for himself.
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I am sending you a wise and skillful master metalworker named Huram.
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His mother was a member of the tribe of Dan and his father was a native of Tyre. He knows how to make things out of gold, silver, bronze, iron, stone, and wood. He can work with blue, purple, and red cloth, and with linen. He can do all sorts of engraving and can follow any design suggested to him. Let him work with your skilled workers and with those who worked for your father, King David.
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So now send us the wheat, barley, wine, and olive oil that you promised.
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In the mountains of Lebanon we will cut down all the cedars you need, tie them together in rafts, and float them by sea as far as Joppa. From there you can take them to Jerusalem."
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King Solomon took a census of all the foreigners living in the land of Israel, similar to the census his father David had taken. There were 153,600 resident foreigners.
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He assigned 70,000 of them to transport materials and 80,000 to cut stones in the mountains, and appointed 3,600 supervisors to make sure the work was done.
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Why are you so far away, O LORD? Why do you hide yourself when we are in trouble?
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The wicked are proud and persecute the poor; catch them in the traps they have made.
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The wicked are proud of their evil desires; the greedy curse and reject the LORD.
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The wicked do not care about the LORD; in their pride they think that God doesn't matter.
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The wicked succeed in everything. They cannot understand God's judgments; they sneer at their enemies.
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They say to themselves, "We will never fail; we will never be in trouble."
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Their speech is filled with curses, lies, and threats; they are quick to speak hateful, evil words.
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They hide themselves in the villages, waiting to murder innocent people. They spy on their helpless victims;
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they wait in their hiding place like lions. They lie in wait for the poor; they catch them in their traps and drag them away.
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The helpless victims lie crushed; brute strength has defeated them.
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The wicked say to themselves, "God doesn't care! He has closed his eyes and will never see me!"
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O LORD, punish those wicked people! Remember those who are suffering!
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How can the wicked despise God and say to themselves, "He will not punish me"?
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But you do see; you take notice of trouble and suffering and are always ready to help. The helpless commit themselves to you; you have always helped the needy.
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Break the power of wicked and evil people; punish them for the wrong they have done until they do it no more.
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The LORD is king forever and ever. Those who worship other gods will vanish from his land.
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You will listen, O LORD, to the prayers of the lowly; you will give them courage.
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You will hear the cries of the oppressed and the orphans; you will judge in their favor, so that mortal men may cause terror no more.
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Finally, our friends, pray for us that the Lord's message may continue to spread rapidly and be received with honor, just as it was among you.
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Pray also that God will rescue us from wicked and evil people; for not everyone believes the message.
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But the Lord is faithful, and he will strengthen you and keep you safe from the Evil One.
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And the Lord gives us confidence in you, and we are sure that you are doing and will continue to do what we tell you.
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May the Lord lead you into a greater understanding of God's love and the endurance that is given by Christ.
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Our friends, we command you in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to keep away from all believers who are living a lazy life and who do not follow the instructions that we gave them.
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You yourselves know very well that you should do just what we did. We were not lazy when we were with you.
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We did not accept anyone's support without paying for it. Instead, we worked and toiled; we kept working day and night so as not to be an expense to any of you.
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We did this, not because we do not have the right to demand our support; we did it to be an example for you to follow.
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While we were with you, we used to tell you, "Whoever refuses to work is not allowed to eat."
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We say this because we hear that there are some people among you who live lazy lives and who do nothing except meddle in other people's business.
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In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ we command these people and warn them to lead orderly lives and work to earn their own living.
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But you, friends, must not become tired of doing good.
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It may be that some there will not obey the message we send you in this letter. If so, take note of them and have nothing to do with them, so that they will be ashamed.
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But do not treat them as enemies; instead, warn them as believers.
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May the Lord himself, who is our source of peace, give you peace at all times and in every way. The Lord be with you all.
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With my own hand I write this: Greetings from Paul.This is the way I sign every letter; this is how I write.
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May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.
