Why Do You Hide Yourself?
1 wWhy, O Lord, do you stand far away?
Why do you xhide yourself in times of trouble?
2 In arrogance the wicked hotly pursue the poor;
ylet them be caught in the schemes that they have devised.
3 For the wicked boasts of the desires of his soul,
and the one zgreedy for gain curses1 and renounces the Lord.
4 In the pride of his face2 the wicked does not seek him;3
all his thoughts are, a“There is no God.”
5 His ways prosper at all times;
your judgments are on high, out of his sight;
as for all his foes, he puffs at them.
6 He says in his heart, “I shall not be moved;
throughout all generations I shall not meet adversity.”
7 bHis mouth is filled with cursing and deceit and oppression;
under his tongue are mischief and iniquity.
8 He sits in ambush in the villages;
cin hiding places he murders the innocent.
His eyes stealthily watch for the helpless;
9 he lurks in ambush like a lion in his thicket;
he lurks that he may seize the poor;
he seizes the poor when he draws him into his net.
10 The helpless are crushed, sink down,
and fall by his might.
11 He says in his heart, “God has forgotten,
he has hidden his face, dhe will never see it.”
12 Arise, O Lord; O God, lift up your hand;
eforget not the afflicted.
13 Why does the wicked renounce God
and say in his heart, “You will not call to account”?
14 But you do see, for you note mischief and vexation,
that you may take it into your hands;
to you the helpless commits himself;
fyou have been the helper of the fatherless.
15 Break the arm of the wicked and evildoer;
gcall his wickedness to account till you find none.
16 hThe Lord is king forever and ever;
the nations perish from his land.
17 O Lord, you hear the desire of the afflicted;
you will strengthen their heart; you will incline your ear
18 to do ijustice to the fatherless and the joppressed,
kso that man who is of the earth may strike terror no more.
Solomon’s Accomplishments
1 hAt the end of twenty years, in which Solomon had built the ihouse of the Lord and jhis own house, 2 Solomon rebuilt the cities that kHiram had given to him, and settled the people of Israel in them.
3 And Solomon went to Hamath-zobah and took it. 4 He built Tadmor in the wilderness and all the store cities that he built in Hamath. 5 He also built Upper Beth-horon and Lower Beth-horon, fortified cities with lwalls, gates, and bars, 6 and Baalath, and all the store cities that Solomon had and all the cities for his chariots and the cities for his horsemen, and whatever Solomon desired to build in Jerusalem, in Lebanon, and in all the land of his dominion. 7 All the people who were left of mthe Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, who were not of Israel, 8 from their descendants who were left after them in the land, whom the people of Israel had not destroyed—nthese Solomon drafted as forced labor, and so they are to this day. 9 But oof the people of Israel Solomon made no slaves for his work; they were soldiers, and his officers, the commanders of his chariots, and his horsemen. 10 And these were the pchief officers of King Solomon, 250, who exercised authority over the people.
11 Solomon brought qPharaoh’s daughter up from the city of David to the house that he had built for her, for he said, “My wife shall not live in the house of David king of Israel, for the places to which the ark of the Lord has come are holy.”
12 Then Solomon offered up burnt offerings to the Lord on the raltar of the Lord that he had built before the vestibule, 13 as the duty of each day required, offering according to the commandment of Moses sfor the Sabbaths, the tnew moons, and the uthree annual vfeasts—the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the Feast of Weeks, and the Feast of Booths. 14 According to the ruling of David his father, he appointed the wdivisions of the priests for their service, and the Levites for their offices of praise and ministry before the priests as the duty of each day required, and the gatekeepers in their divisions at each gate, for so David the xman of God had commanded. 15 And they did not turn aside from what the king had commanded the priests and Levites concerning any matter and yconcerning the treasuries.
16 Thus was accomplished all the work of Solomon from1 the day the foundation of the house of the Lord was laid until it was finished. So the house of the Lord was completed.
17 Then Solomon went to Ezion-geber and Eloth on the shore of the sea, in the land of Edom. 18 And Hiram sent to him by the hand of his servants ships and servants familiar with the sea, and they went to Ophir together with the servants of Solomon and zbrought from there 450 talents2 of gold and brought it to King Solomon.
