Solomon had made a bronze platform and had placed it in the middle of the enclosure. It was seven and one-half feet ¹  long, seven and one-half feet ²  wide, and four and one-half feet ³  high. He stood on it and then got down on his knees in front of the entire assembly of Israel. He spread out his hands toward the sky,

He began building on the second day of the second month of the fourth year of his reign. ¹ 

He made the curtain out of violet, purple, crimson, and white fabrics, and embroidered on it decorative cherubim.

He made a bronze altar, 30 feet ¹  long, 30 feet ²  wide, and 15 feet ³  high.

I will not take the whole kingdom from his hand. I will allow him to be ruler for the rest of his life for the sake of my chosen servant David who kept my commandments and rules.

He made framed windows for the temple.

I will humiliate David’s descendants because of this, ¹  but not forever.” ² 

The Lover to His Beloved: Like ¹  a lily among the thorns, ²  so is my darling among the maidens.

His royal court was so large because ¹  he ruled over all the kingdoms west of the Euphrates River from Tiphsah ²  to Gaza; he was at peace with all his neighbors. ³ 

The people ¹  of Nineveh will stand up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, because they repented when Jonah preached to them ²  – and now, ³  something greater than Jonah is here!

He prepared the inner sanctuary inside the temple so that the ark of the covenant of the Lord could be placed there.

In the inner sanctuary he made two cherubs of olive wood; each stood 15 feet ¹  high.

He built high places for all his foreign wives so they could burn incense and make sacrifices to their gods. ¹ 

In the most holy place he made two images of cherubim and plated them with gold.

He ¹  will descend like rain on the mown grass, ²  like showers that drench ³  the earth. ⁴ 

Where are your earlier faithful deeds, ¹  O Lord, ²  the ones performed in accordance with your reliable oath to David? ³ 

When I was a son to my father, ¹  a tender only child ²  before my mother,

The Beloved to Her Lover: ¹  Oh, how I wish you ²  would kiss me passionately! ³  For your lovemaking ⁴  is more delightful ⁵  than wine. ⁶ 

I am taking the kingdom from him ¹  because they have ²  abandoned me and worshiped the Sidonian goddess Astarte, the Moabite god Chemosh, and the Ammonite god Milcom. They have not followed my instructions ³  by doing what I approve and obeying my rules and regulations, like Solomon’s father David did. ⁴ 

All the people followed him up, playing flutes and celebrating so loudly they made the ground shake. ¹