2 *Chronicles 1

₁Solomon, son of David, became king and he made sure that everyone accepted him as king. His God, the Lord, was with him and the Lord made him a very important king. ₂Solomon called all the leaders_of_Israel, the leaders of 1 000 men and the leaders of 100 men, the judges, the family leaders and all the other leaders in Israel. ₃He and all the people of the congregation went to the place_of_sacrifice in the town of Gibeon, because the tent of the Lord was there. It was the tent that Moses, the servant of God, had made in the desert. ₄The covenant box of God was in the place that David had prepared for it. David had taken the covenant box from Kiriath-Jearim long before and he had put up a tent for the box in Jerusalem. ₅But the bronze_altar that Bezalel, son of Uri, son of Hur, had made was in front of the tent of the Lord in Gibeon. So Solomon and the people went there to ask the Lord what they must do. ₆Solomon went to the bronze_altar that was in front of the tent of the Lord and he sacrificed 1 000 burnt-offerings to the Lord on the altar.

₇That night God appeared to Solomon and He said to him: ‘You may ask Me anything and I will give it to you.’

₈Solomon said to God: ‘You were always very good to my father David, and You made me king after him to rule on his throne. ₉Now I ask You, Lord God, please do everything that You promised to my father David, because You have made me king over your people and they are as many as the grains of sand of the earth. ₁₀Please give me wisdom and knowledge so that I can understand everything and lead these people in the right way. No one can rule this special nation that You have chosen if You do not help them.’

₁₁God said to Solomon: ‘You have asked for something good. You did not ask to live for many years, or for money or to have lots of things and to become rich. You also did not ask for people to respect you or to defeat your enemies. No, you asked for wisdom and knowledge so that you can lead my people in the right way. They are my people that you must rule because I have made you king over them. ₁₂That is why I will give you wisdom. I will help you to know things, but I will also make you rich and you will have lots of things, and people will respect you. You will have more than the kings who ruled before you and more than the kings who will come after you.’

₁₃Solomon went away from the place_of_sacrifice in Gibeon, and from the tent of the Lord, and he went back to Jerusalem where he ruled over Israel.

₁₄Solomon started buying horses and war-chariots for his army. He had 1 400 war-chariots and 12 000 horses. He told his men to keep some of the horses in the towns where the war-chariots were and kept some of the horses with him in Jerusalem. ₁₅The king had a lot of gold and silver, as much as the stones in Jerusalem, and he had lots of cedar wood, as much as the sycamore trees in the lowlands. ₁₆Solomon got horses from Egypt and from the land of Kue. The merchants of the king went to Kue to buy the horses there. ₁₇The merchants paid 600 shekels of silver for one war-chariot from Egypt and 150 shekels for a horse and they sold war-chariots and horses to all the kings of the Hittites and the Arameans.