y solemn agreement and showest kindness
to thy servants who serve thee whole-heartedly, who hast kept with thy
servant David my father the promise that thou didst make to him.

"But will God actually dwell on earth? Indeed heaven and the highest
heaven cannot hold thee; how much less this temple that I have built!"

A RULER WHO WRONGED HIS PEOPLE

Solomon was building his palace thirteen years before he finished it. He
also built the throne-hall where he judged the people. This room was
the Hall of Judgment; and it was covered with cedar from floor to
ceiling.

His palace where he lived, in another court farther in from the Hall of
Judgment, was of the same workmanship. He made a palace, too, similar to
this hall, for Pharaoh's daughter whom he had married. All these
buildings were of costly stones, hewn according to measurements, sawed
with saws, both on the inside and outside.

Solomon also gathered together chariots and horsemen; he had one
thousand four hundred chariots and twelve thousand horsemen that he
placed in the chariot cities and with him at Jerusalem. And Solomon had
twelve officers over all Israel who provided food for him and for his
household: each man had to provide food for a month in the year.

When the queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon, she came to test
him with puzzling questions. So she came to Jerusalem with a very large
number of servants, with camels that carried spices and a great amount
of gold and precious stones. As soon as she came to Solomon, she told
him all that was in her mind. And Solomon answered all her questions:
nothing was too difficult for him to answer.

When the queen of Sheba had seen all the wisdom of Solomon, the palace
that he had built, the food on his table, the housing of his officers,
the way his waiters served him, their clothing, his cup-bearers, and the
burnt-offering which he offered at the temple of Jehovah, she was
greatly surprised. She said to Solomon, "What I heard in my own land of
your acts and of your wisdom was true. But I would not believe the words
until I came and saw with my own eyes; but as it is, the half was not
told me; your wisdom and prosperity are even greater than what was
reported to me."

Now Solomon loved women; and he married many foreign wives--Moabites,
Canaanites, Edomites, Sidonians, Hittites, and Ammonites. He had seven
hundred wives of princely birth, and three hundred concubines. When
Solomon was old, his wives i