2 Chronicles 1

¹ Solomon son of David established himself firmly over his kingdom, and the LORD his God was with him and made him exceedingly great.

² Solomon spoke to all Israel—to the commanders of thousands and of hundreds, to the judges, and to every leader in all Israel, the heads of the ancestral houses.

³ Then Solomon and the whole assembly with him went to the high place at Gibeon, for that is where God's tent of meeting was—the one Moses the servant of the LORD had made in the wilderness.

⁴ But David had brought up the ark of God from Kiriath-jearim to the place David had prepared for it, because he had pitched a tent for it in Jerusalem.

⁵ Moreover, the bronze altar that Bezalel son of Uri, son of Hur, had made was there before the tabernacle of the LORD, and Solomon and the assembly sought him there.

⁶ Solomon went up there before the LORD to the bronze altar that was at the tent of meeting, and he offered a thousand burnt offerings on it.

⁷ That night God appeared to Solomon and said to him, "Ask what I should give you."

⁸ Solomon said to God, "You showed great faithful love to David my father, and you have made me king in his place.

⁹ Now, LORD God, let your promise to David my father be confirmed, for you have made me king over a people as numerous as the dust of the earth.

¹⁰ Give me now wisdom and knowledge so that I may go out and come in before this people, for who can govern this great people of yours?"

¹¹ God said to Solomon, "Because this was in your heart, and you did not ask for wealth, riches, or honor, or the life of those who hate you, and you did not even ask for long life, but you asked for wisdom and knowledge for yourself so that you may govern my people over whom I have made you king—

¹² wisdom and knowledge are granted to you. I will also give you wealth, riches, and honor such as none of the kings before you ever had, nor will any after you have the like."

¹³ So Solomon came from the high place at Gibeon, from before the tent of meeting, to Jerusalem. And he reigned over Israel.

¹⁴ Solomon gathered chariots and horsemen. He had 1,400 chariots and 12,000 horsemen, and he stationed them in the chariot cities and with the king in Jerusalem.

¹⁵ The king made silver and gold as common in Jerusalem as stones, and he made cedar as plentiful as sycamore-fig trees in the Shephelah.

¹⁶ Solomon's horses were imported from Egypt and from Kue; the king's traders acquired them from Kue at the market price.

¹⁷ They imported a chariot from Egypt for six hundred shekels of silver and a horse for a hundred and fifty. Likewise, through them these were exported to all the kings of the Hittites and to the kings of Aram.