will not rest with those who do not worship Him alone.

1 Kings ix. 2-9. 2 Chronicles vii. 12-22.

Attent, is attentive.

To become a byword or proverb among men, is to have one's name used to express wretchedness, or a thing despised. The Jews were a byword when the name Jew was used as a term of reproach, or when it was said of persons despised or in trouble, that they were as wretched as Jews.

To hallow, is to make holy; the temple was hallowed when God's presence dwelt there: to hallow a thing also means to count it holy, and to honour it as holy.

Chapter CXLV.

THE WEALTH AND RICHES OF SOLOMON'S KINGDOM.

THE Lord had promised that He would give to Solomon both riches and honour as well as wisdom, because he had chosen an understanding heart, rather than wealth, or greatness, or long life. "He preferred wisdom before sceptres and thrones, and esteemed riches nothing in comparison of her." Therefore God gave him all good things together with wisdom, and innumerable riches.

In the reign of Solomon, there was peace throughout all the land of Israel, from Dan even to Beersheba; and he had dominion over all the kingdoms from the river Euphrates on the east to the land of the Philistines and the great sea on the west, and to the borders of Egypt on the south; all these nations paid him tribute. "And Judah and Israel dwelt safely every man under his vine, and under his fig-tree, all the days of Solomon;" and "they were many as the sand which is by the sea in multitude; eating, drinking, and making merry."

Solomon had possessions of all kinds, above all who had been before him at Jerusalem: he had fourteen hundred chariots and twelve thousand horsemen; and the number of his household was so great, that the provision for each day was thirty Jewish measures, or three hundred bushels, of fine flour, and six hundred bushels of meal, thirty oxen, and one hundred sheep, besides venison and fatted fowls. The officers of his kingdom supplied all things that were needed for his table, and barley also, and straw for his horses and dromedaries, so

that there was no want of anything. And after he had built the temple of the Lord, he built for himself a palace in Jerusalem, larger and more costly than the house of David his father; and in it he made a vast hall where he might receive the people who came to him, and a hall of judgment, in which was the throne on which he sat when he judged his people. The great throne of Solomon was of ivory, overlaid with gold; there were six steps to the throne, with a footstool of gold; and twelve figures of lions were on the steps, six on each side. And all the drinking vessels for his table were of pure gold; for Solomon passed all the kings of the earth in riches. And he built also a palace for his queen, the daughter of the king of Egypt, whom he had married in the beginning of his reign, and planted around it gardens and orchards, with trees of all kinds of fruits, and made pools of water to water the trees.

After Solomon had built his palace in Jerusalem, which was thirteen years in building, he made a causeway or kind of bridge from it to the temple on Mount Moriah, over the deep valley which

was between them, that he might be able to go up to the house of God at all times; this place was called Millo. For Solomon loved the Lord, and walked in the statutes of David his father, and observed all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord according to the law. And he offered burnt offerings according to the commandment of Moses on the sabbaths, and on the new moons, and on the solemn feasts three times a year-on the feast of the passover, the feast of the first fruits, and the feast of tabernacles. And during his reign, the priests ministered day by day in the temple before the Lord according to their courses; and the Levites in their courses praised the Lord with psalms and instruments of music, and ministered before the priests as the duty of every day required, as David, "the man of God," had appointed.

And Solomon built new walls around Jerusalem, and he also built walls around the cities in which he kept his chariots and horses, and the stores of corn, and of other things for his kingdom. And he built several cities in the land

of Israel, and the city of Baalath, or Baalbec in Syria, north of Lebanon, and the great and beautiful city of Tadmor, or Palmyra, in the wilderness between the land of Israel and the river Euphrates.

King Solomon also made a navy of ships at Ezion-geber, on the shore of the Red Sea, in the land of Edom, which was subject to him. And Hiram king of Tyre sent shipmen, who had knowledge of the sea, with the servants of Solomon, and they sailed down the Red Sea, and along the east coast of Africa to Ophir, from whence they brought to Solomon four hundred and twenty talents of gold, (about four hundred and twenty hundred-weight of our measure,) and the sweet-scented wood of the almug tree, and precious stones. And of the almug trees he made pillars, or rails, for the house of the Lord, and harps and psalteries for the singers. And the ships of king Solomon with the shipmen of Tyre also sailed as far as Tarshish, which was on the south coast of Spain, and returned every three years; and from Tarshish, or from the coast of Africa, which was near, they brought gold and silver, and ivory, and apes, and