2 Chronicles 2; 2 Chronicles 3; 2 Chronicles 4; 2 Chronicles 5; 2 Chronicles 6; 2 Chronicles 7; 2 Chronicles 8

2 Chronicles 2

1 And Solomon determined to build a house for the name of the LORD and a house for his kingdom.

2 And Solomon counted seventy thousand men to bear burdens and eighty thousand to hew in the mountain, and three thousand six hundred to oversee them.

3 And Solomon sent to Hiram, the king of Tyre, saying, As thou didst deal with David, my father, sending him cedars to build himself a house to dwell in, even so deal with me.

4 Behold, I must build a house unto the name of the LORD my God, to dedicate it to him and to burn aromatic incense before him and for the continual showbread and for the burnt offerings morning and evening on the sabbaths and on the new moons and on the solemn feasts of the LORD our God, which is to be perpetual in Israel.

5 And the house which I must build is great, for great is our God above all gods.

6 But who is so powerful as to build him a house, seeing the heavens and heavens of the heavens cannot contain him? Who am I then that I should build him a house, except to burn incense before him?

7 Send me now, therefore, a wise man who knows how to work in gold and in silver and in brass and in iron and in purple and crimson and blue and that knows how to engrave figures with the craftsmen that are with me in Judah and in Jerusalem, whom David, my father, provided.

8 Send me also cedar trees, fir trees, and pine trees, out of Lebanon, for I know that thy slaves are skillful at cutting timber in Lebanon, and, behold, my slaves shall be with thy slaves

9 to prepare me timber in abundance, for the house which I am about to build shall be great and wonderful.

10 And, behold, I will give to thy slaves, the hewers that cut timber, twenty thousand measures of beaten wheat and twenty thousand measures of barley and twenty thousand baths of wine and twenty thousand baths of oil.

11 Then Hiram, the king of Tyre, answered in writing, which he sent to Solomon, Because the LORD has loved his people, he has placed thee as king over them.

12 Hiram said, moreover, Blessed be the LORD God of Israel, that made the heavens and the earth, who has given to King David a wise son with knowledge, good sense and understanding, that he might build a house for the LORD and a house for his kingdom.

13 And now I have sent a wise man, with knowledge and understanding, of Hiram my father,

14 the son of a woman of the daughters of Dan, and his father was a man of Tyre, skillful to work in gold and in silver, in brass, in iron, in stone, and in timber, in purple, in blue, in fine linen, and in crimson; also to engrave any manner of figure and to invent any design which shall be put to him, with thy craftsmen and with the craftsmen of my lord David, thy father.

15 Now, therefore, let my lord send unto his slaves the wheat and the barley, the oil and the wine, which he has spoken of;

16 and we will cut wood out of Lebanon, as much as thou shalt need, and we will bring it to thee in rafts by sea to Joppa, and thou shalt cause it to be carried up to Jerusalem.

17 And Solomon numbered all the strangers that were in the land of Israel, after David, his father, had already numbered them; and one hundred and fifty-three thousand six hundred were found.

18 And he set seventy thousand of them to be bearers of burdens and eighty thousand to be hewers in the mountain, and three thousand six hundred overseers to make the people work.

2 Chronicles 3

1 Then Solomon began to build the house of the LORD at Jerusalem in the Mount Moriah which had been shown unto David his father, in the place that David had prepared in the threshingfloor of Ornan, the Jebusite.

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

3 Now these are the measurements on which Solomon founded the building of the house of God. The first measurement was the length of sixty cubits and the breadth of twenty cubits.

4 And the porch that was in the front of the length was of twenty cubits, according to the breadth of the house, twenty cubits, and the height was one hundred and twenty; and he overlaid it within with pure gold.

5 And the greater house he covered with fir wood, which he overlaid with fine gold, and set thereon palm trees and chains.

6 And he also covered the house with precious stones for beauty, and the gold was gold of Parvaim.

7 Thus did he cover the house, its beams, its posts, its walls, and its doors, with gold and engraved cherubim on the walls.

8 And he made the house of the holy of holies, its length was twenty cubits, according to the breadth of the house, and its breadth was twenty cubits, and he covered it with fine gold, amounting to six hundred talents.

9 And the weight of the nails was fifty shekels of gold. And he overlaid the upper chambers with gold.

10 And inside the house of the holy of holies he made two cherubim of figured work and overlaid them with gold.

11 And the wings of the cherubim were twenty cubits long; one wing of the one cherub was five cubits, reaching to the wall of the house; and the other wing was likewise five cubits, reaching to the wing of the other cherub.

12 And one wing of the other cherub was five cubits, reaching to the wall of the house; and the other wing was five cubits also, joining to the wing of the other cherub.

13 The wings of these cherubim spread themselves forth twenty cubits, and they stood on their feet, and their faces were inward.

14 And he made the veil of blue and purple and crimson and fine linen and wrought cherubim thereon.

15 Also he made in front of the house two pillars of thirty-five cubits high, and the chapiter that was on the top of each of them was five cubits.

16 And he made chains, as in the oracle, and put them on the heads of the pillars and made one hundred pomegranates and put them on the chains.

17 And he reared up the pillars before the temple, one on the right hand and the other on the left, and called the name of the one on the right hand Jachin, {Heb. The LORD establishes}, and the name of the one on the left Boaz. {Heb. Only in Him is there strength}

2 Chronicles 4

1 Moreover he made an altar of brass, twenty cubits long and twenty cubits wide and ten cubits high.

2 He also made a molten sea of ten cubits from brim to brim, entirely round and five cubits high; and a line of thirty cubits girded it round about.

3 And under it were figures of oxen, which did compass it round about, ten in each cubit, compassing the sea round about. Two orders of oxen were cast, when it was cast.

4 It stood upon twelve oxen, three looking toward the north and three looking toward the west and three looking toward the Negev and three looking toward the east; and the sea was set above upon them, and all their hinder parts were inward.

5 And the thickness of it was a handbreadth and the brim of it like the work of the brim of a cup, with flowers of lilies, and it received and held three thousand baths.

6 He also made ten lavers and put five on the right hand and five on the left, to wash in them; they cleansed the work of the burnt offering in them; but the sea was for the priests to wash in.

7 And he made ten lampstands of gold according to their form, and set them in the temple, five on the right hand, and five on the left.

8 He also made ten tables and placed them in the temple, five on the right hand and five on the left. And he made one hundred basins of gold.

9 Furthermore, he made the court of the priests and the great court and doors for the court and overlaid the doors of them with brass.

10 And he set the sea on the right side towards the east, over against the Negev.

11 And Hiram made the pots and the shovels and the basins. And Hiram finished the work, that he had been making for King Solomon for the house of God,

12 Two pillars and the pommels and the chapiters, which were on the top of the two pillars, and the two networks to cover the two pommels of the chapiters which were on the top of the pillars;

13 four hundred pomegranates on the two networks; two orders of pomegranates on each network, to cover the two pommels of the chapiters which were upon the pillars.

14 He also made the bases upon which he placed the lavers;

15 one sea, and twelve oxen under it;

16 and the pots and the shovels and the fleshhooks and all their vessels, did Hiram, his father, make to King Solomon for the house of the LORD of the purest brass.

17 In the plain of the Jordan did the king cast them, in clay of the ground, between Succoth and Zeredathah.

18 Thus Solomon made all these vessels in great abundance, for the weight of the brass could not be found out.

19 And Solomon made all the vessels that were for the house of God, the golden altar also, and the tables upon which the showbread was set;

20 likewise, the lampstands with their lamps, that they should burn according to the ordinance before the oracle, of pure gold;

21 and the flowers and the lamps and the tongs, he made of gold, of perfect gold;

22 also the snuffers and the basins and the spoons and the censers, of pure gold. Regarding the entry of the house, its inner doors for the most holy place and the doors of the house of the temple, were of gold.

2 Chronicles 5

1 Thus all the work that Solomon made for the house of the LORD was finished, and Solomon brought in all the things that David his father had dedicated; and the silver and the gold and all the vessels, he put among the treasures of the house of God.

2 Then Solomon assembled the elders of Israel and all the heads of the tribes, the princes of the families of the sons of Israel, unto Jerusalem, to bring up the ark of the covenant of the LORD out of the city of David, which is Zion.

3 Therefore, all the men of Israel assembled themselves unto the king in the solemnity which was in the seventh month.

4 And all the elders of Israel came, and the Levites took up the ark.

5 And they brought up the ark and the tabernacle of the testimony and all the vessels of the sanctuary that were in the tabernacle; these did the priests and the Levites bring up.

6 Also King Solomon and all the congregation of Israel that were assembled unto him before the ark sacrificed sheep and oxen, which could not be told nor numbered for multitude.

7 And the priests brought in the ark of the covenant of the LORD unto his place, to the oracle of the house, into the holy of holies, under the wings of the cherubim.

8 For the cherubim spread forth their wings over the place of the ark, and the cherubim covered the ark and its staves from above.

9 And they drew out the staves so that the ends of the staves of the ark could be seen before the oracle, but they could not be seen from outside. And they were there unto this day.

10 There was nothing in the ark except the two tables which Moses put in it at Horeb, with which the LORD had cut a covenant with the sons of Israel when they came out of Egypt.

11 And when the priests came out of the sanctuary (for all the priests that were present were sanctified and did not then wait by course,

12 and the Levite singers, all of those of Asaph, those of Heman, and those of Jeduthun, together with their sons and their brethren, being clothed in white linen, having cymbals and psalteries and harps, stood at the east end of the altar, and with them one hundred and twenty priests sounding with trumpets).

13 And they sounded the trumpets and sang with one voice, all together as one man praising and thanking the LORD, when they lifted up their voice with trumpets and cymbals and instruments of music, when they praised the LORD, saying, For he is good, for his mercy endures for ever; and the house was filled with a cloud, even the house of the LORD,

14 so that the priests could not stand to minister by reason of the cloud, for the glory of the LORD had filled the house of God.

2 Chronicles 6

1 Then Solomon said, The LORD has said that he would dwell in the thick darkness.

2 I, therefore, have built a house of habitation for thee and a place for thy dwelling for ever.

3 And the king turned his face and blessed the whole congregation of Israel, and all the congregation of Israel was standing.

4 And he said, Blessed be the LORD God of Israel, who has with his hand fulfilled that which he spoke with his mouth to my father David, saying,

5 Since the day that I brought forth my people out of the land of Egypt, I chose no city among all the tribes of Israel to build a house in, that my name might be there; neither did I choose any man to be a prince over my people Israel.

6 But I have chosen Jerusalem that my name might be there and have chosen David to be over my people Israel.

7 Now it was in the heart of David, my father, to build a house unto the name of the LORD God of Israel.

8 But the LORD said to David, my father, Forasmuch as it was in thy heart to build a house for my name, thou didst well in that it was in thy heart;

9 notwithstanding, thou shalt not build the house, but thy son which shall come forth out of thy loins, he shall build a house for my name.

10 The LORD, therefore, has performed his word that he has spoken, for I am risen up in the place of David, my father, and am set on the throne of Israel, as the LORD had said, and have built the house unto the name of the LORD God of Israel.

11 And in it I have put the ark, in which is the covenant of the LORD that he made with the sons of Israel.

12 Then he stood before the altar of the LORD in the presence of all the congregation of Israel and spread forth his hands.

13 For Solomon had made a brasen scaffold, five cubits long and five cubits wide and three cubits high, and had set it in the midst of the court; and upon it he stood and knelt down upon his knees before all the congregation of Israel and spread forth his hands toward heaven

14 and said, O LORD God of Israel, there is no God like thee in the heaven nor in the earth who keeps covenant and shows mercy unto thy slaves that walk before thee with all their hearts;

15 who hast kept unto thy slave David, my father, that which thou hast promised him; thou didst say it with thy mouth and hast fulfilled it with thy hand, as it is this day.

16 Now, therefore, O LORD God of Israel, keep with thy slave David, my father, that which thou hast promised him, saying, There shall not fail thee a man in my sight to sit upon the throne of Israel, under the condition that thy sons keep their way, walking in my law, as thou hast walked before me.

17 Now then, O LORD God of Israel, let thy word stand firm, which thou hast spoken unto thy slave David.

18 Is it true that God is to dwell with men on the earth? Behold, heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain thee, how much less this house which I have built!

19 But thou shalt look upon the prayer of thy slave and upon his supplication, O LORD my God, to hearken unto the cry and the prayer with which thy slave prays before thee

20 that thine eyes may be open upon this house day and night, upon the place of which thou hast said, My name shall be there, to hearken unto the prayer which thy slave prays in this place.

21 Hearken, likewise, unto the supplications of thy slave and of thy people Israel when they shall pray in this place; hear thou from the heavens, from thy dwelling place, even hear and forgive.

22 If a man sins against his neighbour and an oath is laid upon him to make him swear, and the oath comes before thy altar in this house,

23 thou shalt hear from heaven and do right unto thy slaves, by requiting the wicked, by recompensing his way upon his own head, and by justifying the righteous, by giving him according to his righteousness.

24 And if thy people Israel should fall before their enemies because they have sinned against thee and if they should convert and confess thy name and pray and make supplication before thee in this house,

25 thou shalt hear from the heavens and forgive the sin of thy people Israel and bring them again unto the land which thou gavest to them and to their fathers.

26 If the heavens should become shut up, that there be no rain because they have sinned against thee; yet if they pray in this place and confess thy name and become converted from their sins when thou dost afflict them,

27 thou shalt hear them from heaven and forgive the sin of thy slaves and of thy people Israel, and thou shalt teach them the good way, that they may walk therein, and send rain upon thy land which thou hast given unto thy people for an inheritance.

28 If there should be famine in the land, or if there should be pestilence, if there should be blasting, or mildew, locusts, or caterpillars; if their enemies besiege them in the cities of their land; whatever affliction or sickness there may be;

29 every prayer and every supplication made of any man, or of all thy people Israel or of anyone who knows his affliction and his grief in his heart, if they shall extend their hands towards this house,

30 thou shalt hear from the heavens, from the place of thy habitation, and forgive and render unto each one according to his ways, having known his heart (for thou only knowest the hearts of the sons of men),

31 that they may fear thee and walk in thy ways all the days that they live in the land which thou gavest unto our fathers.

32 And also unto the stranger, who is not of thy people Israel, but is come from a far country for thy great name’s sake and thy mighty hand and thy stretched out arm, if they come and pray in this house,

33 thou shalt hear from the heavens, from the habitation of thy dwelling place, and do according to all that the stranger calls unto thee for, that all the peoples of the earth may know thy name and fear thee, as do thy people Israel, and let them know that thy name is invoked upon this house which I have built.

34 If thy people go out to war against their enemies by the way that thou shalt send them and they pray unto thee toward this city which thou hast chosen, toward the house which I have built for thy name,

35 thou shalt hear from the heavens their prayer and their supplication and do them judgment.

36 If they sin against thee (for there is no man who does not sin,)and thou art angry with them and deliver them over before their enemies so that those that take them carry them away captives unto an enemy land far off or near,

37 and they come into their right mind in the land where they are carried captive, if they convert and pray unto thee in the land of their captivity, saying, We have sinned, we have done iniquity and have dealt wickedly,

38 if they convert unto thee with all their heart and with all their soul in the land of their captivity, where they have been carried captives and pray toward their land, which thou didst give unto their fathers, and toward the city which thou hast chosen and toward the house which I have built unto thy name,

39 thou shalt hear from the heavens, from the dwelling place of thy habitation, their prayer and their supplications and do their judgment and forgive thy people who have sinned against thee.

40 Now, my God, let, I beseech thee, thine eyes be open and let thine ears be attentive unto the prayer that is made in this place.

41 Now, therefore, arise, O LORD God, to inhabit thy resting place, thou and the ark of thy strength; let thy priests, O LORD God, be clothed with salvation and let thy merciful ones rejoice in goodness.

42 O LORD God, do not turn away the face of thy anointed one; remember the mercies of David, thy slave.

2 Chronicles 7

1 And when Solomon finished praying, the fire came down from the heavens and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices; and the glory of the LORD filled the house.

2 And the priests could not enter into the house of the LORD because the glory of the LORD had filled the LORD’s house.

3 And when all the sons of Israel saw the fire come down and the glory of the LORD upon the house, they fell to the ground upon the pavement upon their faces and worshipped and praised the LORD, saying, For he is good, for his mercy endures for ever.

4 Then the king and all the people offered sacrifices before the LORD.

5 And King Solomon offered in sacrifice twenty-two thousand oxen and one hundred and twenty thousand sheep; and so the king and all the people dedicated the house of God.

6 And the priests were upon their watches, and the Levites with the instruments of music of the LORD, which David the king had made to praise the LORD, because his mercy endures for ever, when David praised by their hand. Likewise, the priests sounded trumpets before them, and all Israel was on their feet.

7 Solomon also sanctified the middle of the court that was before the house of the LORD, for there he offered burnt offerings and the fat of the peace offerings because the brasen altar which Solomon had made was not able to receive the burnt offerings and the present and the fat.

8 Then Solomon kept the feast seven days, and all Israel with him, a very great congregation, from the entering in of Hamath unto the river of Egypt.

9 And in the eighth day they made a solemn assembly, for they had made the dedication of the altar in seven days, and they had celebrated the solemn feast for seven days.

10 And on the twenty-third day of the seventh month he sent the people away into their tents, glad and merry in heart for the goodness that the LORD had showed unto David and to Solomon and to Israel his people.

11 Thus Solomon finished the house of the LORD, and the king’s house; and all that came into Solomon’s heart to make in the house of the LORD and in his own house was prospered.

12 And the LORD appeared to Solomon by night and said unto him, I have heard thy prayer and have chosen this place for myself for a house of sacrifice.

13 If I shut up the heavens that there be no rain or if I command the locusts to devour the land or if I send pestilence among my people;

14 if my people, upon whom my name is invoked, shall humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from the heavens and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.

15 Now my eyes shall be open and my ears attentive unto the prayer that is made in this place;

16 so that now I have chosen and sanctified this house, that my name may be in her for ever; and my eyes and my heart shall be there perpetually.

17 And as for thee, if thou wilt walk before me, as David thy father walked, and do according to all that I have commanded thee and keep my statutes and my rights,

18 I will confirm the throne of thy kingdom, according as I have covenanted with David, thy father, saying, There shall not fail thee a man to be ruler in Israel.

19 But if ye turn away and forsake my statutes and my commandments, which I have set before you, and shall go and serve other gods and worship them,

20 I will pluck them up by the roots out of my land which I have given them; and this house, which I have sanctified for my name, I will cast out of my presence, and will make it to be a proverb and a byword among all peoples.

21 And this house, which is high, shall be an astonishment to every one that passes by it, so that they shall say, Why has the LORD done thus unto this land and unto this house?

22 And it shall be answered, Because they forsook the LORD God of their fathers, who brought them forth out of the land of Egypt, and laid hold on other gods and worshipped them and served them; therefore, he has brought all this evil upon them.

2 Chronicles 8

1 And it came to pass at the end of twenty years, in which Solomon had built the house of the LORD and his own house,

2 that Solomon rebuilt the cities which Hiram had given him and caused the sons of Israel to dwell there.

3 Then Solomon went to Hamathzobah and prevailed against it.

4 And he built Tadmor in the wilderness and all the store cities, which he built in the wilderness.

5 Likewise, he rebuilt Bethhoron the upper and Bethhoron the lower, fenced cities with walls, gates, and bars;

6 and Baalath and all the store cities that Solomon had and all the chariot cities and the cities of the horsemen and all that Solomon desired to build in Jerusalem and in Lebanon and throughout all the land of his dominion.

7 As for all the people that were left of the Hittites and the Amorites and the Perizzites and the Hivites and the Jebusites, which were not of Israel,

8 but of their sons, who were left after them in the land, whom the sons of Israel, did not consume, Solomon made them pay tribute until this day.

9 But of the sons of Israel Solomon did not make slaves for his work, for they were men of war, and his princes and his captains, and princes of his chariots and horsemen.

10 And King Solomon had two hundred and fifty princes of the governors, who presided over the people.

11 And Solomon brought up the daughter of Pharaoh out of the city of David unto the house that he had built for her, for he said, My wife shall not dwell in the house of David, king of Israel, because the places are holy, unto which the ark of the LORD has come.

12 Then Solomon offered burnt offerings unto the LORD on the altar of the LORD, which he had built before the porch,

13 that each thing might be offered in its day, according to the commandment of Moses, on the sabbaths and on the new moons and on the feasts three times in the year, that is in the feast of unleavened bread and in the feast of weeks and in the feast of the tabernacles.

14 And he appointed, according to the order of David his father, the courses of the priests to their service and the Levites to their charges, to praise and minister before the priests, each thing in its day; the porters also by their courses at each gate, for so had David, the man of God, commanded.

15 And they departed not from the commandment of the king unto the priests and Levites concerning any matter or concerning the treasures.

16 Now all the work of Solomon was prepared from the day of the foundation of the house of the LORD and until it was finished. So the house of the LORD was perfected.

17 Then Solomon went to Eziongeber and to Eloth, at the sea side in the land of Edom.

18 For Hiram had sent him ships by the hands of his slaves and slaves that had knowledge of the sea, and they had gone with the slaves of Solomon to Ophir and had taken from there four hundred and fifty talents of gold and brought them to King Solomon.