And he said,  ¹Men, brothers and fathers, listen. The God of  ²glory appeared to our father Abraham while he was in Mesopotamia, before he dwelt in Haran,

And said to him, “Come out from your land and from your relatives, and come into the land which I will show you.”

Then he came forth from the land of the Chaldeans and dwelt in Haran. And from there, after his father died, He  ¹removed him into this land, in which you now dwell.

Yet He did not give him an inheritance in it, not even a place to set his foot on; and He promised to give it to him for a possession and to his seed after him, while he had no child.

And God spoke in this way that his seed would be a sojourner in a  ¹foreign land, and  ²they would enslave them and mistreat them  ³four hundred years.

“And whatever nation they will serve as slaves I will judge,” said God, “and after these things they will come forth and serve Me as priests in this place.”

And He gave to him a covenant of circumcision; and thus Abraham begot Isaac and circumcised him on the eighth day; and Isaac, Jacob; and Jacob, the twelve patriarchs.

And the patriarchs became jealous of Joseph and sold him into Egypt; yet God was with him

And rescued him out of all his afflictions and granted him favor and wisdom before Pharaoh, king of Egypt; and he appointed him governor over Egypt and over all his house.

And a famine came over all Egypt and Canaan as well as great affliction; and our fathers could find no  ¹sustenance.

But when Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent our fathers out the first time.

And during the second time Joseph was made known to his brothers, and Joseph's race became manifest to Pharaoh.

And Joseph sent word and called for Jacob his father and all his family,  ¹seventy-five souls in all.

And Jacob went down into Egypt; and he ended his days, he and our fathers.

And they were carried over to Shechem and placed in the tomb which Abraham had bought for a sum of silver from the sons of Hamor in Shechem.

But as the time of the promise which God had assured to Abraham drew near, the people grew and were multiplied in Egypt,

Until  ¹another king rose up over Egypt who did not know of Joseph.

This one dealt craftily with our race and mistreated our fathers, so that they threw out their babies in order that they would not be kept alive.

At this time  ¹Moses was born and was  ²lovely to God. And he was nurtured three months in his father's house.

And when he was  ¹thrown out, Pharaoh's daughter took him up and nurtured him as a son for herself.

And Moses was educated in all the  ¹wisdom of the Egyptians, and he was powerful in his words and works.

But when he was approaching forty years of age, it came into his heart to visit his brothers, the sons of Israel.

And when he saw one of them being wronged, he defended him, and he avenged him who was being oppressed by striking the Egyptian dead.

And he supposed that his brothers understood that God through his hand was giving salvation to them; but they did not understand.

And on the following day he appeared to them as they were fighting and tried to reconcile them in peace, saying,  ¹Men, you are brothers. Why are you wronging one another?

But the one who was wronging his neighbor pushed him away, saying, "Who appointed you a ruler and a judge over us?

Do you want to do away with me the same way you did away with the Egyptian yesterday?”

And Moses fled at this word and became a sojourner in the land of Midian, where he begot two sons.

And when forty years had been fulfilled, an  ¹Angel appeared to him in the wilderness of Mount Sinai in the flame of a thornbush fire.

And when Moses saw it, he marveled at the vision; and as he approached to examine it, there came the voice of the  ¹Lord:

“I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob.” And Moses trembled and dared not  ¹examine it.

And the Lord said to him, "Untie the sandals from your feet, for the place on which you stand is holy ground.

 ¹I have surely seen the ill-treatment of My people who are in Egypt and have heard their groaning, and I have come down to rescue them. And now, come, I will send you into Egypt.”

This Moses, whom they refused, saying, Who appointed you a ruler and a judge? this one God has sent as both a ruler and a redeemer, along with the hand of the Angel who  ¹appeared to him in the thornbush.

This man led them out, doing wonders and signs in the land of Egypt and in the Red Sea and in the wilderness for forty years.

This is the Moses who said to the sons of Israel, “A Prophet will God raise up unto you from your brothers, like me.”

This is the one who was in the assembly in the wilderness with the Angel who spoke to him in Mount Sinai and with our fathers, and who received living oracles to give to us.

To him our fathers were not willing to become obedient, but thrust him away and turned in their hearts to Egypt,

Saying to Aaron, “Make gods for us who will go before us; for this Moses, who has led us out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has happened to him.”

And they made a  ¹calf in those days and brought up a sacrifice to the idol and were glad with the works of their hands.

But God turned and delivered them up to  ¹serve the  ²host of heaven, even as it is written in the  ³book of the prophets, "Did you offer slain beasts and sacrifices to Me for forty years in the wilderness, O house of Israel?

And you took up the  ¹tabernacle of Moloch and the star of your god  ²Rompha, the images which you made to worship. And I will carry you away beyond Babylon.”

The tabernacle of Testimony was with our fathers in the wilderness, even as He who spoke to Moses instructed him to make it, according to the pattern which he had seen.

This tabernacle our fathers, having in their turn received, also brought in with Joshua when they took possession of the nations, whom God drove out before the face of our fathers until the days of David,

Who found favor before God and asked to find a habitation for the God of Jacob.

But Solomon built Him a house.

Yet the  ¹Most High does  ²not dwell in that which is made by hands, even as the prophet says,

"Heaven is My throne, and the earth is a footstool for My feet.  ¹What kind of house will you build for Me, says the Lord, or what is the place of My rest?

Has not My hand made all these things?”

You stiff-necked and uncircumcised in hearts and ears, you always  ¹oppose the Holy  ²Spirit; as your fathers did, you also do.

Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who announced beforehand concerning the coming of the righteous One, whose betrayers and murderers you have now become,

You who received the law as  ¹ordinances of angels and did not keep it.

Thus Solomon finished the house of Jehovah and the king's house; and all that had come up in Solomon's heart to do in the house of Jehovah and in his own house he successfully accomplished.

And Jehovah appeared to Solomon in the night and said to him, I have heard your prayer and have chosen this place for Myself as a house of sacrifice.

If I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or if I command the locust to devour the land, or if I send pestilence among My people,

And My people, who are called by My name, humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their evil ways; then I will hear from heaven and forgive their sin and heal their land.

Now My eyes will be open and My ears attentive to the prayer from this place.

For now I have chosen and have sanctified this house, that My name may be there forever; and My eyes and My heart will be there continually.

And as for you, if you walk before Me, as David your father walked, and do according to all that I have commanded you and keep My statutes and My ordinances;

Then I will establish the throne of your kingdom, as I covenanted with David your father, saying, You will not lack a man to be ruler in Israel.

But if you turn away and forsake My statutes and My commandments that I have put before you, and go and serve other gods and worship them;

Then I will pluck them out of My land which I have given them, and this house, which I have sanctified for My name, I will cast out of My sight and make it a proverb and a byword among all the peoples.

And concerning this house, which is so high, everyone who passes by it will be astonished and say, Why has Jehovah done this to this land and to this house?

And they will say, Because they forsook Jehovah, the God of their fathers, who brought them out of the land of Egypt, and laid hold of other gods, and they worshipped them and served them; therefore He has brought all this evil upon them.

And at the end of the twenty years in which Solomon had built the house of Jehovah and his own house,

 ¹He built the cities which Huram had given to  ¹him and settled the children of Israel there.

Then Solomon went to Hamath-zobah and overcame it.

And he built Tadmor in the wilderness and all the storage cities which he built in Hamath.

And he built upper Beth-horon and lower Beth-horon, fortified cities with walls, gates, and bars,

And Baalath and all the storage cities that Solomon had, even all the cities for the chariots, and the cities for the horsemen and all that Solomon desired to build in Jerusalem and in Lebanon and in all the land of his dominion.

All the people who were left of the Hittites and the Amorites and the Perizzites and the Hivites and the Jebusites, who were not of Israel,

From their descendants who were left after them in the land, whom the children of Israel had not destroyed utterly, these Solomon levied as forced labor, as they are unto this day.

But Solomon did not make slaves of the children of Israel for his work, for they were the men of war and the officers over his captains and the officers over his chariots and his horsemen.

And these were the chief of the officers of King Solomon, two hundred fifty, who ruled over the people.

Then Solomon brought up Pharaoh's daughter from the city of David into the house which he had built for her; for he said, My wife shall not dwell in the house of David the king of Israel, for the places where the Ark of Jehovah has entered are holy.

Then Solomon offered up burnt offerings to Jehovah on the altar of Jehovah which he had built before the portico,

Even as required daily, offering them up according to the commandment of Moses, on the Sabbaths and on the new moons and on the appointed feasts three times in a year, at the Feast of Unleavened Bread and at the Feast of Weeks and at the Feast of Tabernacles.

And according to the ordinance of David his father, he appointed the divisions of the priests for their service, and the Levites for their charges to praise and to minister before the priests even as required daily, and the gatekeepers by their divisions at every gate; for thus was the commandment of David the man of God.

And they did not turn aside from the commandment of the king concerning the priests and the Levites concerning any matter and concerning the treasuries.

So all the work of Solomon was carried out, from the day of the foundation of the house of Jehovah even until its completion. Thus the house of Jehovah was finished.

Then Solomon went to Ezion-geber and to Eloth on the shore of the  ¹sea, in the land of Edom.

And Huram sent him ships by his servants, and servants who knew the sea; and they went with the servants of Solomon to Ophir and took four hundred fifty talents of gold from there and brought it to King Solomon.

And the queen of Sheba had heard of Solomon's fame, and she came to Jerusalem with a very large retinue and with camels bearing spices and much gold and precious stones to test Solomon with hard questions. And when she came to Solomon, she spoke with him all that was on her heart.

And Solomon answered every matter of hers, and there was nothing hidden from Solomon that he did not answer her.

And when the queen of Sheba saw the wisdom of Solomon and the house that he had built

And the food of his table and the seating of his servants and the service and apparel of his ministers and his cupbearers and their apparel and his ascent by which he went up to the house of Jehovah, there was no more spirit in her.

And she said to the king, The word that I heard in my land concerning your deeds and your wisdom is true,

But I did not believe their words until I came and my own eyes saw. And indeed the half of the greatness of your wisdom was not told me, and you exceed the report that I heard.

Happy are your men! And happy are these your servants, who stand before you continually and hear your wisdom!

Blessed be Jehovah your God, who has delighted in you and set you upon His throne as king for Jehovah your God. Because your God loves Israel to establish them forever, He has placed you as king over them to execute justice and righteousness.

And she gave the king one hundred twenty talents of gold and a very great store of spices and precious stones, and there had never been spices like those which the queen of Sheba gave to King Solomon.

Moreover Huram's servants and Solomon's servants who brought gold from Ophir brought algum trees and precious stones.

And the king made of the algum trees steps for the house of Jehovah and for the king's house and lyres and harps for the singers; such as these had not been seen before in the land of Judah.

And King Solomon gave to the queen of Sheba all that she desired, whatever she asked for, besides that which she brought to the king. And she turned and went to her own land, she and her servants.

Now the weight of gold that came to Solomon in one year was six hundred sixty-six talents of gold,

Besides that which was brought by the traders and the merchants and by all the kings of Arabia and the governors of the land, who brought gold and silver to Solomon.

And King Solomon made two hundred large shields of beaten gold; he put six hundred shekels of beaten gold upon each large shield.

And he made three hundred smaller shields of beaten gold; he put three hundred shekels of gold upon each smaller shield. And the king put them in the Lebanon Forest House.

And the king made a large ivory throne and overlaid it with pure gold.

And the throne had six steps, and a footstool of gold was attached to the throne, and there were armrests on either side next to the place of the seat, and two lions stood next to the armrests.

And twelve lions stood there upon the six steps on either side. Nothing like it had ever been made in any kingdom.

And all King Solomon's drinking vessels were of gold, and all the vessels of the Lebanon Forest House were of pure gold; silver was considered as nothing in the days of Solomon.

For the king had a fleet which went to Tarshish with Huram's servants. Once every three years the fleet from Tarshish came bearing gold and silver and ivory and apes and peacocks.

And King Solomon excelled all the kings of the earth in wealth and in wisdom.

And all the kings of the earth sought the presence of Solomon, to hear his wisdom, which God had put in his heart.

And they each brought their tribute, vessels of silver and vessels of gold, and robes, weapons and spices, horses and mules, so much year by year.

And Solomon had four thousand stalls for horses and chariots; and twelve thousand horsemen, which he stationed in the chariot cities and with the king at Jerusalem.

And he was the ruler over all the kings from the  ¹River unto the land of the Philistines and unto the border of Egypt.

And the king caused silver to be as plentiful as stones in Jerusalem, and cedars, like the sycamores that are in the lowlands.

And they brought horses for Solomon from Egypt and from all the lands.

And the rest of the acts of Solomon, the first and the last, are they not written in the chronicles of Nathan the prophet and in the prophecy of Ahijah the Shilonite and in the visions of Iddo the seer concerning Jeroboam the son of Nebat?

And Solomon reigned in Jerusalem over all Israel forty years.

And Solomon slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the city of David his father.