The Bible, Douay-Rheims Part 204

8:62. And the king, and all Israel with him, offered victims before the Lord.

8:63. And Solomon slew victims of peace offerings, which he sacrificed to the Lord, two and twenty thousand oxen, and a hundred and twenty thousand sheep so the king, and all the children of Israel, dedicated the temple of the Lord.

8:64. In that day the king sanctified the middle of the court, that was before the house of the Lord for there he offered the holocaust, and sacrifice, and the fat of the peace offerings: because the brazen altar that was before the Lord, was too little to receive the holocaust, and sacrifice, and the fat of the peace offerings.

8:65. And Solomon made at the same time a solemn feast, and all Israel with him, a great mult.i.tude, from the entrance of Emath to the river of Egypt, before the Lord our G.o.d, seven days and seven days, that is, fourteen days.

8:66. And on the eighth day, he sent away the people: and they blessed the king, and went to their dwellings, rejoicing, and glad in heart, for all the good things that the Lord had done for David, his servant, and for Israel, his people.

3 Kings Chapter 9

The Lord appeareth again to Solomon: he buildeth cities: he sendeth a fleet to Ophir.

9:1. And it came to pa.s.s when Solomon had finished the building of the house of the Lord, and the king's house, and all that he desired and was pleased to do,

9:2. That the Lord appeared to him the second time, as he had appeared to him in Gabaon.

9:3. And the Lord said to him: I have heard thy prayer and thy supplication, which thou hast made before me: I have sanctified this house, which thou hast built, to put my name there for ever; and my eyes, and my heart, shall be there always.

9:4. And if thou wilt walk before me, as thy father walked, in simplicity of heart, and in uprightness: and wilt do all that I have commanded thee, and wilt keep my ordinances, and my judgments,

As thy father walked, in simplicity of heart... That is, in the sincerity and integrity of a single heart, as opposite to all double dealing and deceit.

9:5. I will establish the throne of thy kingdom over Israel for ever, as I promised David, thy father, saying: There shall not fail a man of thy race upon the throne of Israel.

9:6. But if you and your children, revolting, shall turn away from following me, and will not keep my commandments, and my ceremonies, which I have set before you, but will go and wors.h.i.+p strange G.o.ds, and adore them:

9:7. I will take away Israel from the face of the land which I have given them; and the temple which I have sanctified to my name, I will cast out of my sight; and Israel shall be a proverb, and a byword among all people.

9:8. And this house shall be made an example of: every one that shall pa.s.s by it, shall be astonished, and shall hiss, and say: Why hath the Lord done thus to this land, and to this house?

9:9. And they shall answer: Because they forsook the Lord their G.o.d, who brought their fathers out of the land of Egypt, and followed strange G.o.ds, and adored them, and wors.h.i.+pped them: therefore hath the Lord brought upon them all this evil.

9:10. And when twenty years were ended, after Solomon had built the two houses; that is, the house of the Lord, and the house of the king,

9:11. (Hiram, the king of Tyre, furnis.h.i.+ng Solomon with cedar trees, and fir trees, and gold, according to all he had need of) then Solomon gave Hiram twenty cities in the land of Galilee.

9:12. And Hiram came out of Tyre, to see the towns which Solomon had given him, and they pleased him not;

9:13. And he said: Are these the cities which thou hast given me, brother? And he called them the land of Chabul, unto this day.

Chabul... That is, dirty or displeasing.

9:14. And Hiram sent to king Solomon a hundred and twenty talents of gold.

9:15. This is the sum of the expenses, which king Solomon offered to build the house of the Lord, and his own house, and Mello, and the wall of Jerusalem, and Heser, and Mageddo, and Gazer.

9:16. Pharao, the king of Egypt, came up and took Gazer, and burnt it with fire: and slew the Chanaanite that dwelt in the city, and gave it for a dowry to his daughter, Solomon's wife.

9:17. So Solomon built Gazer, and Bethhoron the nether,

9:18. And Baalath, and Palmira, in the land of the wilderness.

9:19. And all the towns that belonged to himself, and were not walled, he fortified; the cities also of the chariots, and the cities of the hors.e.m.e.n, and whatsoever he had a mind to build in Jerusalem, and in Liba.n.u.s, and in all the land of his dominion.

9:20. All the people that were left of the Amorrhites, and Hethites, and Pherezites, and Hevites, and Jebusites, that are not of the children of Israel:

9:21. Their children, that were left in the land; to wit, such as the children of Israel had not been able to destroy, Solomon made tributary unto this day.

9:22. But of the children of Israel, Solomon made not any to be bondmen, but they were warriors, and his servants, and his princes, and captains, and overseers of the chariots and horses.

9:23. And there were five hundred and fifty chief officers set over all the works of Solomon, and they had people under them, and had charge over the appointed works.

9:24. And the daughter of Pharao came up out of the city of David to her house, which Solomon had built for her: then did he build Mello.

9:25. Solomon also offered three times every year holocausts, and victims of peace offerings, upon the altar which he had built to the Lord, and he burnt incense before the Lord: and the temple was finished.

9:26. And king Solomon made a fleet in Asiongaber, which is by Ailath, on the sh.o.r.e of the Red Sea, in the land of Edom.

9:27. And Hiram sent his servants in the fleet, sailors that had knowledge of the sea, with the servants of Solomon.

9:28. And they came to Ophir; and they brought from thence to king Solomon four hundred and twenty talents of gold.

3 Kings Chapter 10

The queen of Saba cometh to king Solomon: his riches and glory.

10:1. And the queen of Saba having heard of the fame of Solomon in the name of the Lord, came to try him with hard questions.

10:2. And entering into Jerusalem with a great train, and riches, and camels that carried spices, and an immense quant.i.ty of gold, and precious stones, she came to king Solomon, and spoke to him all that she had in her heart.

10:3. And Solomon informed her of all the things she proposed to him: there was not any word the king was ignorant of, and which he could not answer her.

10:4. And when the queen of Saba saw all the wisdom of Solomon, and the house which he had built,

10:5. And the meat of his table, and the apartments of his servants, and the order of his ministers, and their apparel, and the cupbearers, and the holocausts, which he offered in the house of the Lord, she had no longer any spirit in her;

10:6. And she said to the king: The report is true, which I heard in my own country,

10:7. Concerning thy words, and concerning thy wisdom. And I did not believe them that told me, till I came myself, and saw with my own eyes, and have found that the half hath not been told me: thy wisdom and thy works exceed the fame which I heard.

10:8. Blessed are thy men, and blessed are thy servants, who stand before thee always, and hear thy wisdom.

10:9. Blessed be the Lord thy G.o.d, whom thou hast pleased, and who hath set thee upon the throne of Israel, because the Lord hath loved Israel for ever, and hath appointed thee king, to do judgment and justice.

10:10. And she gave the king a hundred and twenty talents of gold, and of spices a very great store, and precious stones: there was brought no more such abundance of spices as these which the queen of Saba gave to king Solomon.

10:11. (The navy also of Hiram, which brought gold from Ophir, brought from Ophir great plenty of thyine trees, and precious stones.