Ecclesiastes 2:4

¹Solomon was building his own house thirteen years, and he finished all his house. ²For he built the House of the Forest of Lebanon. Its length was one hundred cubits,^[+] its width fifty cubits, and its height thirty cubits, on four rows of cedar pillars, with cedar beams on the pillars. ³It was covered with cedar above over the forty-five beams that were on the pillars, fifteen in a row. ⁴There were beams in three rows, and window was facing window in three ranks. ⁵All the doors and posts were made square with beams; and window was facing window in three ranks. ⁶He made the hall of pillars. Its length was fifty cubits and its width thirty cubits, with a porch before them, and pillars and a threshold before them. ⁷He made the porch of the throne where he was to judge, even the porch of judgment; and it was covered with cedar from floor to floor. ⁸His house where he was to dwell, the other court within the porch, was of the same construction. He made also a house for Pharaoh’s daughter (whom Solomon had taken as wife), like this porch. ⁹All these were of costly stones, even of stone cut according to measure, sawed with saws, inside and outside, even from the foundation to the coping, and so on the outside to the great court. ¹⁰The foundation was of costly stones, even great stones, stones of ten cubits and stones of eight cubits. ¹¹Above were costly stones, even cut stone, according to measure, and cedar wood. ¹²The great court around had three courses of cut stone with a course of cedar beams, like the inner court of the LORD’s house and the porch of the house.

¹²Let’s go early up to the vineyards. Let’s see whether the vine has budded, its blossom is open, and the pomegranates are in flower. There I will give you my love.

¹When Solomon had finished the building of the LORD’s house, the king’s house, and all Solomon’s desire which he was pleased to do,

¹⁰He built towers in the wilderness, and dug out many cisterns, for he had much livestock, both in the lowlands and in the plains. He had farmers and vineyard keepers in the mountains and in the fruitful fields, for he loved farming.

³⁰The king spoke and said, “Is not this great Babylon, which I have built for the royal dwelling place by the might of my power and for the glory of my majesty?”

¹At the end of twenty years, in which Solomon had built the LORD’s house and his own house, ²Solomon built the cities which Huram had given to Solomon, and caused the children of Israel to dwell there.

³Solomon went to Hamath Zobah, and prevailed against it. ⁴He built Tadmor in the wilderness, and all the storage cities, which he built in Hamath. ⁵Also he built Beth Horon the upper and Beth Horon the lower, fortified cities with walls, gates, and bars; ⁶and Baalath, and all the storage cities that Solomon had, and all the cities for his chariots, the cities for his horsemen, and all that Solomon desired to build for his pleasure in Jerusalem, in Lebanon, and in all the land of his dominion.

¹¹Solomon brought up Pharaoh’s daughter out of David’s city to the house that he had built for her; for he said, “My wife shall not dwell in the house of David king of Israel, because the places where the LORD’s ark has come are holy.”

⁴They said, “Come, let’s build ourselves a city, and a tower whose top reaches to the sky, and let’s make a name for ourselves, lest we be scattered abroad on the surface of the whole earth.”

¹Let me sing for my well beloved a song of my beloved about his vineyard. My beloved had a vineyard on a very fruitful hill.

¹⁸Now Absalom in his lifetime had taken and reared up for himself the pillar which is in the king’s valley, for he said, “I have no son to keep my name in memory.” He called the pillar after his own name. It is called Absalom’s monument, to this day.