Then they said, “Let’s build a city for ourselves and a tower with its top in the sky. Let’s make a name for ourselves so that we won’t become scattered all over the face of the earth.”
(⌞While he was still living,⌟ Absalom had taken a rock and set it up for himself in the king’s valley. He said, “I have no son to keep the memory of my name alive.” He called the rock by his name, and it is still called Absalom’s Monument today.)
He said, “There’s a treaty between you and me ⌞as⌟ there was between your father and my father. I’m sending you a present of silver and gold. Now break your treaty with King Baasha of Israel so that he will leave me alone.”
He built towers in the desert. He dug many cisterns because he had a lot of herds in the foothills and the plains. He had farmers and vineyard workers in the mountains and the fertile fields because he loved the soil.
Solomon brought Pharaoh’s daughter from the City of David to a palace he had built for her. He said, “My wife will not live in the palace of King David of Israel because these places where the Lord’s ark has come are holy.”
Although they named their lands after themselves, their graves have become their homes for ages to come, their dwelling places throughout every generation.
Let’s go to the vineyards early. Let’s see if the vines have budded, if the grape blossoms have opened, if the pomegranates are in bloom. There I will give you my love.