2 Chronicles 1:1–17

¹And Sol′o‧mon the son of David continued to get strength in his kingship, and Jehovah his God was with him and kept making him surpassingly great.

²And Sol′o‧mon proceeded to say the word to all Israel, to the chiefs of the thousands and of the hundreds and to the judges and to all the chieftains of all Israel, the heads of the paternal houses.³Then Sol′o‧mon and all the congregation with him went to the high place that was at Gib′e‧on; for there was where the tent of meeting of the [true] God, which Moses the servant of Jehovah had made in the wilderness, happened to be.⁴However, the ark of the [true] God David had brought up from Kir′i‧ath‐je′a‧rim to the place that David had prepared for it, for he had pitched a tent for it in Jerusalem.⁵And the copper altar that Bez′al‧el the son of U′ri the son of Hur had made had been put before the tabernacle of Jehovah; and Sol′o‧mon and the congregation applied as usual to it.⁶Sol′o‧mon now made offerings there before Jehovah upon the copper altar that belonged to the tent of meeting, and he proceeded to offer upon it a thousand burnt offerings.

⁷During that night God appeared to Sol′o‧mon and then said to him: “Ask! What shall I give you?”⁸At that Sol′o‧mon said to God: “You are the One that exercised great loving‐kindness toward David my father and that have made me king in place of him.⁹Now, O Jehovah God, let your promise with David my father prove faithful, for you yourself have made me king over a people as numerous as the dust particles of the earth.¹⁰Give me now wisdom and knowledge that I may go out before this people and that I may come in, for who could judge this great people of yours?”

¹¹Then God said to Sol′o‧mon: “For the reason that this has proved to be close to your heart and you have not asked for wealth, riches and honor or for the soul of those hating you, neither is it even many days that you have asked for, but you ask for wisdom and knowledge for yourself that you may judge my people over whom I have made you king,¹²the wisdom and the knowledge are being given you; also wealth and riches and honor I shall give you such as no kings that were prior to you happened to have, and such as no one after you will come to have.”

¹³So Sol′o‧mon came [from] the high place that was at Gib′e‧on, from before the tent of meeting, to Jerusalem and continued to reign over Israel.¹⁴And Sol′o‧mon kept gathering chariots and steeds so that he came to have a thousand four hundred chariots and twelve thousand steeds, and he kept them stationed in chariot cities and close by the king at Jerusalem.¹⁵And the king came to make the silver and the gold in Jerusalem like the stones; and cedarwood he made like the sycamore trees that are in the She‧phe′lah for great quantity.¹⁶And there was the export of the horses that Sol′o‧mon had from Egypt, and the company of the king’s merchants would themselves take the horse drove for a price.¹⁷And they customarily brought up and exported from Egypt a chariot for six hundred silver pieces and a horse for a hundred and fifty; and that was the way it was for all the kings of the Hit′tites and the kings of Syria. It was by means of them that they did the exporting.