And they said, Come, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.
Now Absalom in his lifetime had taken and reared up for himself a pillar, which is in the king’s valley: for he said, I have no son to keep my name in remembrance: and he called the pillar after his own name: and it is called unto this day, Absalom’s pillar.
There is a treaty between me and you, and between my father and your father: behold, I have sent unto you a present of silver and gold; come and break your treaty with Baasha king of Israel, that he may depart from me.
And it came to pass, when Solomon had finished the building of the house of the LORD, and the king’s house, and all Solomon’s desire which he was pleased to do,
Also he built towers in the desert, and dug many wells: for he had many cattle, both in the low country, and in the plains: farmers also, and vine dressers in the mountains, and in Carmel: for he loved the soil.
And Solomon brought up the daughter of Pharaoh out of the city of David unto 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 are holy, to which the ark of the LORD has come.
Their inward thought is, that their houses shall continue forever, and their dwelling places to all generations; they call their lands after their own names.
Let us get up early to the vineyards; let us see if the vine has budded, whether the grape blossoms have opened, and the pomegranates are in bloom: there will I give you my loves.
The king spoke, and said, Is not this great Babylon, that I have built for the house of the kingdom by the might of my power, and for the honor of my majesty?