2 Chronicles 1

This edition follows the Hebrew versification; the traditional number is given in brackets.

Solomon Seeks Wisdom at Gibeon

1Solomon son of David took firm hold of his kingdom, and Yahweh his God was with him and raised him higher and higher. 2Solomon spoke to all Israel — to the officers over thousands and over hundreds, to the judges, to every leader in all Israel, the heads of the ancestral houses — 3and Solomon went, with the whole assembly, to the high place at Gibeon, because God’s tent of meeting was there, the one that Moses the servant of Yahweh had made in the wilderness. 4As for the ark of God, David had brought it up from Kiriath-jearim to the site he had prepared, since he had pitched a tent for it in Jerusalem. 5But the bronze altar that Bezalel son of Uri, son of Hur, had made stood in front of Yahweh’s dwelling, and it was there that Solomon and the assembly sought him. 6Solomon went up there to the bronze altar before Yahweh, at the tent of meeting, and on it he offered up a thousand burnt offerings. 7That night God appeared to Solomon: “Ask for whatever I am to give you,” he said. 8Solomon answered God, “You dealt with my father David in great and faithful love, and you have made me king in his place. 9Now, Yahweh God, let the word you gave my father David stand firm, for you have made me king over a people as numerous as the dust of the earth. 10So give me wisdom and knowledge, that I may lead this people out and bring them in; for who else could govern this great people of yours?” 11God said to Solomon, “Because this is what was in your heart — you did not ask for riches, wealth or honour, nor for the lives of those who hate you, and you did not even ask for long life, but asked for yourself wisdom and knowledge to govern my people, over whom I have made you king — 12wisdom and knowledge are given to you; and riches, wealth and honour I will give you as well, such as no king before you ever had, and none after you will have.” 13So Solomon came back from the high place at Gibeon, from before the tent of meeting, to Jerusalem; and he reigned over Israel.

The King’s Wealth and the Levy for the House

14Solomon amassed chariots and horsemen: he came to have a thousand four hundred chariots and twelve thousand horsemen, and he stationed them in the chariot cities and with the king in Jerusalem. 15The king made silver and gold as common in Jerusalem as stones, and cedar as plentiful as the sycamore-figs of the lowlands. 16Solomon’s horses were imported from Egypt and from Kue; the king’s traders would acquire them from Kue at a fixed price. 17A chariot was brought up out of Egypt for six hundred in silver, and a horse for a hundred and fifty; and through these traders they were exported to all the kings of the Hittites and the kings of Aram. 18[2:1]Solomon gave the word to build a house for the name of Yahweh, and a house for his own kingship.