The Bible in Basic English BBE
Good News Translation GNT
1 And Solomon, the son of David, made himself strong in his kingdom, and the Lord his God was with him, and made him very great.
1
Solomon, the son of King David, took firm control of the kingdom of Israel, and the Lord his God blessed him and made him very powerful.
2 And Solomon sent word to all Israel, to the captains of thousands and of hundreds and to the judges and to every chief in all Israel, heads of their families.
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King Solomon gave an order to all the officers in charge of units of a thousand men and of a hundred men, all the government officials, all the heads of families, and all the rest of the people,
3 Then Solomon, and all the men of Israel with him, went to the high place at Gibeon, because the Tent of meeting of God, which Moses, the servant of the Lord, had made in the waste land, was there.
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commanding them to go with him to the place of worship at Gibeon. They went there because that was where the Tent of the Lord's presence was located, which Moses, the Lord's servant, had made in the wilderness
4 But the ark of God had been moved by David from Kiriath-jearim to the place which he had made ready for it, for he had put up a tent for it at Jerusalem.
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(The Covenant Box, however, was in Jerusalem, kept in a tent which King David had set up when he brought the Box from Kiriath Jearim.)
5 And the altar of brass which Bezalel, the son of Uri, the son of Hur, had made, was there before the Tent of the Lord; and Solomon and all the people went to give worship there.
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The bronze altar which had been made by Bezalel, the son of Uri and grandson of Hur, was also in Gibeon in front of the Tent of the Lord's presence. King Solomon and all the people worshiped the Lord there.
6 And Solomon went up there to the brass altar before the Lord at the Tent of meeting, offering on it a thousand burned offerings.
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In front of the Tent the king worshiped the Lord by offering sacrifices on the bronze altar; he had a thousand animals killed and burned whole on it.
7 In that night God came to Solomon in a vision, and said to him, Say what I am to give you.
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That night God appeared to Solomon and asked, "What would you like me to give you?"
8 And Solomon said to God, Great was your mercy to David my father, and you have made me king in his place.
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Solomon answered, "You always showed great love for my father David, and now you have let me succeed him as king.
9 Now, O Lord God, let your word to David my father come true; for you have made me king over a people like the dust of the earth in number.
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O Lord God, fulfill the promise you made to my father. You have made me king over a people who are so many that they cannot be counted,
10 Give me now wisdom and knowledge, so that I may go out and come in before this people: for who is able to be the judge of this great people of yours?
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so give me the wisdom and knowledge I need to rule over them. Otherwise, how would I ever be able to rule this great people of yours?"
11 And God said to Solomon, Because this was in your heart, and you did not make request for money, property, or honour, or for the destruction of your haters, or for long life; but you have made request for wisdom and knowledge for yourself, so that you may be the judge of my people over whom I have made you king:
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God replied to Solomon, "You have made the right choice. Instead of asking for wealth or treasure or fame or the death of your enemies or even for long life for yourself, you have asked for wisdom and knowledge so that you can rule my people, over whom I have made you king.
12 Wisdom and knowledge are given to you; and I will give you wealth and honour, such as no king has had before you or ever will have after you.
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I will give you wisdom and knowledge. And in addition, I will give you more wealth, treasure, and fame than any king has ever had before or will ever have again."
13 So Solomon went back from the high place at Gibeon, from before the Tent of meeting, to Jerusalem; and he was king over Israel.
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So Solomon left the place of worship at Gibeon, where the Tent of the Lord's presence was, and returned to Jerusalem. There he ruled over Israel.
14 And Solomon got together war-carriages and horsemen; he had one thousand, four hundred carriages and twelve thousand horsemen, which he kept, some in the carriage-towns and some with the king at Jerusalem.
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He built up a force of fourteen hundred chariots and twelve thousand cavalry horses. Some of them he kept in Jerusalem, and the rest he stationed in various other cities.
15 And the king made silver and gold as common as stones in Jerusalem, and cedar like the sycamore-trees of the lowland in number.
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During his reign silver and gold became as common in Jerusalem as stone, and cedar was as plentiful as ordinary sycamore in the foothills of Judah.
16 And Solomon's horses came out of Egypt; the king's traders got them from Kue at a price.
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The king's agents controlled the export of horses from Musri and Cilicia,
17 A war-carriage might be got from Egypt for six hundred shekels of silver, and a horse for a hundred and fifty: they got them at the same rate for all the kings of the Hittites and the kings of Aram.
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and the export of chariots from Egypt. They supplied the Hittite and Syrian kings with horses and chariots, selling chariots for 600 pieces of silver each and horses for 150 each.
The Bible in Basic English is in the public domain.
Scripture taken from the Good News Translation - Second Edition, Copyright 1992 by American Bible Society. Used by Permission.