Bible in a Year.

On day 144, 1 Kings 2 shows Solomon consolidating his reign with justice and wisdom. 2 Chronicles 2-3 details the beginning of the construction of the temple, emphasizing the glory and holiness of the place of worship. Psalm 62 reinforces trust in God as a safe refuge in the face of difficulties.

1. And the days of David drew nigh that he should die, and he charged his son Solomon, saying:

2. I am going the way of all flesh: take thou courage, and shew thyself a man.

3. And keep the charge of the Lord thy God, to walk in his ways, and observe his ceremonies, and his precepts, and judgments, and testimonies, as it is written in the law of Moses: that thou mayest understand all thou dost, and whithersoever thou shalt turn thyself :

4. That the Lord may confirm his words, which he hath spoken of me, saying: If thy children shall take heed to their ways, and shall walk before me in truth, with all their heart, and with all their soul, there shall not be taken away from thee a man on the throne of Israel.

5. Thou knowest also what Joab the son of Sarvia hath done to me, what he did to the two captains of the army of Israel, to Abner the son of Ner, and to Amasa the son of Jether: whom he slew, and shed the blood of war in peace, and put the blood of war on his girdle that was about his loins, and in his shoes that were on his feet.

6. Do therefore according to thy wisdom, and let not his hoary head go down to hell in peace.

7. But shew kindness to the sons of Berzellai the Galaadite, and let them eat at thy table: t for they met me when I fled from the face of Absalom thy brother.

8. Thou hast also with thee Semei the son of Gera the son of Jemini of Bahurim, who cursed me with a grievous curse, when I went to the camp: but because he came down to meet me when I passed over the Jordan, and I swore to him by the Lord, saying: I will not kill thee with a sword:

9. Do not thou hold him guiltless. But thou art a wise man, and knowest what to do with him, and thou shalt bring down his grey hairs with blood to hell.

10. So David slept with his fathers, and was buried in the city of David.

11. And the days that David reigned in Israel, were forty gears: in Hebron he reigned seven years, in Jerusalem thirty-three.

12. And Solomon sat upon the throne of his father David, and his kingdom was strengthened exceedingly.

13. And Adonias the son of Haggith came to Bethsabee the mother of Solomon. And she said to him: Is thy coming peaceable? he answered: Peaceable.

14. And he added: I have a word to speak with thee. She said to him: Speak. And he said:

15. Thou knowest that the kingdom was nine, and all Israel had preferred me to be their king: but the kingdom is transferred, and is become my brother's: for it was appointed him by the Lord.

16. Now therefore I ask one petition of thee: turn not away my face. And she said to him: Say on.

17. And he said: I pray thee speak to king Solomon (for he cannot deny thee any thing) to give me Abisag the Sunamitess to wife.

18. And Bethsabee said: Well, I will speak for thee to the king.

19. Then Bethsabee came to king Solomon, to speak to him for Adonias: and the king arose to meet her, and bowed to her, and sat down upon his throne: and a throne was set for the king's mother, and she sat on his right hand.

20. And she said to him: I desire one small petition of thee, do not put me to confusion. And the king said to her: My mother, ask: for I must not turn away thy face.

21. And she said: Let Abisag the Sunamitess be given to Adonias thy brother to wife.

22. And king Solomon answered, and said to his mother: Why dost thou ask Abisag the Sunamitess for Adonias? ask for him also the kingdom: for he is my elder brother, and hath Abiathar the priest, and Joab the son of Sarvia.

23. Then king Solomon swore by the Lord, saying: So and so may God do to me, and add more, if Adonias hath not spoken this word against his own life.

24. And now as the Lord liveth, who hath established me, and placed me upon the throne of David my father, and who hath made me a house, as he promised, Adonias shall be put to death this day.

25. And king Solomon sent by the hand of Banaias the son of Joiada, who slew him, and he died.

26. And the king said also to Abiathar the priest: Go to Anathoth to thy lands, for indeed thou art worthy of death: but I will not at this time put thee to death, because thou didst carry the ark of the Lord God before David my father, and hast endured trouble in all the troubles my father endured.

27. So Solomon cast out Abiathar, from being the priest of the Lord, that the word of the Lord might be fulfilled, which he spoke concerning the house of Deli in Silo.

28. And the news came to Joab, because Joab had turned after Adonias, and had not turned after Solomon: and Joab fled into the tabernacle of the Lord and laid hold on the horn of the altar.

29. And it was told king Solomon, that Joab was fled into the tabernacle of the Lord, and was by the altar: and Solomon sent Banaias the son of Joiada, saying: Go, kill him.

30. And Banaias came to the tabernacle of the Lord, and said to him: Thus saith the king: Come forth. And he said: I will not come forth, but here I will die. Banaias brought word back to the king, saying: Thus saith Joab, and thus he answered me.

31. And the king said to him: Do as he hath said: and kill him, and bury him, and thou shalt remove the innocent blood which hath been shed by Joab, from me, and from the house of my father.

32. And the Lord shall return his blood upon his own head, because he murdered two men, just and better than himself: and slew them with the sword, my father David not knowing it, Abner the son of Ner, general of the army of Israel, and Amasa the son of Jether, general of the army of Juda.

33. And their blood shall return the head of Joab, and upon the head of his seed for ever. But to David and his seed and his house, and to his throne be peace for ever from the Lord.

34. So Banaias the son of Joiada went up, and setting upon him slew him, and he was buried in his house in the desert.

35. And the king appointed Banaias the son of Joiada in his room over the army, and Sadoc the priest he put in the place of Abiathar.

36. The king also sent, and called for Semei, and said to him: Build thee a house in Jerusalem, and dwell there: and go not out from thence any whither.

37. For on what day soever thou shalt go out, and shalt pass over the brook Cedron, know that thou shalt be put to death: thy blood shall be upon thy own head:

38. And Semei said to the king: The saying is good : as my lord the king hath said, so will thy servant do. And Semei dwelt in Jerusalem, many days.

39. And it came to pass after three years, that the servants of Semei ran away to Achis the son of Maacha the king of Geth: and it was told Semei that his servants were gone to Geth.

40. And Semei arose, and saddled his ass, and went to Achis to Geth to seek his servants, and he brought them out of Geth.

41. And it was told Solomon that Semei had gone from Jerusalem to Geth, and was come back.

42. And sending he called for him, and said to him: Did I not protest to thee by the Lord, and tell thee before: On what day soever thou shalt go out and walk abroad any whither, know that thou shalt die? And thou answeredst me: The word that I have heard is good.

43. Why then hast thou not kept the oath of the Lord, and the commandment that I laid upon thee?

44. And the king said to Semei: Thou knowest all the evil, of which thy heart is conscious, which thou didst to David my father: the Lord hath returned thy wickedness upon thy own head:

45. And king Solomon shall be blessed, and the throne of David shall be established before the Lord for ever.

46. So the king commanded Banaias the son of Joiada: and he went out and struck him, and he died.

Chapter 2

1. And Solomon determined to build a house to the name of the Lord, and a palace for himself.

2. And he numbered out seventy thousand men to bear burdens, and eighty thousand to hew stones in the mountains, and three thousand six hundred to over- see them.

3. He sent also to Hiram king of Tyre, saying: As thou didst with David my father, and didst send him cedars, to build him a house, in which he dwelt:

4. So do with me that I may build a house to the name of the Lord my God, to dedicate it to burn incense before him, and to perfume with aromatical spices, and for the continual setting forth of bread, and for the holocausts, morning and evening, and on the sabbaths, and on the new moons, and the solemnities of the Lord our God for ever, which are commanded for Israel.

5. For the house which I desire to build, is great: for our God is great above all gods.

6. Who then can be able to build him a worthy house? if heaven, and the heavens of heavens cannot contain him: who am I that I should be able to build him a house? but to this end only, that incense may be burnt before him.

7. Send me therefore a skilful man, that knoweth how to work in gold, and in silver, in brass, and in iron, in purple, in scarlet and in blue, and that hath skill in engraving, with the artificers, which I have with me in Judea and Jerusalem, whom David my father provided.

8. Send me also cedars, and fir trees, and pine trees from Libanus: for I know that thy servants are skilful in cutting timber in Libanus, and my servants shall be with thy servants,

9. To provide me timber in abundance. For the house which I desire to build, is to be exceeding great, and glorious.

10. And I will give thy servants the workmen that are to cut down the trees, for their food twenty thousand cores of wheat, and as many cores of barley, and twenty thousand measures of wine, and twenty thousand measures of oil.

11. And Hiram king of Tyre sent a letter to Solomon, saying: Because the Lord hath loved his people, therefore he hath made thee king over them.

12. And he added, saying: Blessed be the Lord the God of Israel, who made heaven and earth, who hath given to king David a wise and knowing son, endued with understanding and prudence, to build a house to the Lord, and a palace for himself.

13. I therefore have sent thee my father Hiram, a wise and most skilful man,

14. The son of a woman of the daughters of Dan, whose father was a Tyrian, who knoweth how to work in gold, and in silver, in brass, and in iron, and in marble, and in timber, in purple also, and violet, and silk and scarlet: and who knoweth to grave all sort of graving, and to devise ingeniously all that there may be need of in the work with thy artificers, and with the artificers of my lord David thy father.

15. The wheat therefore, and the barley and the oil, and the wine, which thou, my lord, hast promised, send to thy servants.

16. And we will cut down as many trees out of Libanus, as thou shalt want, and will convey them in floats by sea to Joppe: and it will be thy part to bring them thence to Jerusalem.

17. And Solomon numbered all the proselytes in the land of Israel, after the numbering which David his father had made, and they were found a hundred and fifty-three thousand and six hundred.

18. And he set seventy thousand of them to carry burdens on their shoulders, and eighty thousand to hew stones in the mountains: and three thousand and six hundred to be overseers of the work of the people.

Chapter 3

1. And Solomon began to build the house of the Lord in Jerusalem, in mount Moria, which had been shewn to David his father, in the place which David had prepared in the thrashingfloor of Ornan the Jebusite.

2. And he began to build in the second month, in the fourth year of his reign.

3. Now these are the foundations, which Solomon laid, to build the house of God, the length by the first measure sixty cubits, the breadth twenty cubits.

4. And the porch in the front, which was extended in length according to the measure of the breadth of the house, twenty cubits: and the height was a hundred and twenty cubits: and he overlaid it within with pure gold.

5. And the greater house he ceiled with deal boards, and overlaid them with plates of fine gold throughout: and he graved in them palm trees, and like little chains interlaced with one another.

6. He paved also the floor of the temple with most precious marble, of great beauty.

7. And the gold of the plates with which he overlaid the house, and the beams thereof, and the posts, and the walls, and the doors was of the finest: and he graved cherubims on the walls.

8. He made also the house of the holy of holies: the length of it according to the breadth of the temple, twenty cubits, and the breadth of it in like manner twenty cubits: and he overlaid it with plates of gold, amounting to about six hundred talents.

9. He made also nails of gold, and the weight of every nail was fifty sicles: the upper chambers also he overlaid with gold.

10. He made also in the house of the holy of holies two cherubims of image work: and he overlaid them with gold.

11. The wings of the cherubims were extended twenty cubits, so that one wing was five cubits long, and reached to the wall of the house: and the other was also five cubits long, and reached to the wing of the other cherub.

12. In like manner the wing of the other cherub, was five cubits long, and reached to the wall: and his other wing was five cubits long, and touched the wing of the other cherub.

13. So the wings of the two cherubims were spread forth, and were extended twenty cubits: and they stood upright on their feet, and their faces were turned toward the house without.

14. He made also a veil of violet, purple, scarlet, and silk: and wrought in it cherubims.

15. He made also before the doors of the temple two pillars, which were five and thirty cubits high: and their chapiters were five cubits.

16. He made also as it were little chains in the oracle, and he put them on the heads of the pillars: and a hundred pomegranates, which he put between the little chains.

17. These pillars he put at the entrance of the temple, one on the right hand, and the other on the left: that which was on the right hand, he called Jachin: and that on the left hand, Boot.

1. Unto the end, for Idithun, a psalm of David.

2. Shall not my soul be subject to God? for from him is my salvation.

3. For he is my God and my saviour: he is my protector, I shall be moved no more.

4. How long do you rush in upon a man? you all kill, as if you were thrusting down a leaning wall, and a tottering fence.

5. But they have thought to cast away my price; I ran in thirst: they blessed with their mouth, but cursed with their heart.

6. But be thou, O my soul, subject to God: for from him is my patience.

7. For he is my God and my saviour: he is my helper, I shall not be moved.

8. In God is my salvation and my glory: he is the God of my help, and my hope is in God.

9. Trust in him, all ye congregation of people: pour out your hearts before him. God is our helper for ever.

10. But vain are the sons of men, the sons of men are liars in the balances: that by vanity they may together deceive.

11. Trust not in iniquity, and cover not robberies: if riches abound, set not your heart upon them.

12. God hath spoken once, these two things have I heard, that power belongeth to God,

13. and mercy to thee, O Lord; for thou wilt render to every man according to his works.