And they said, Come, let us build us a city and a tower, and its top in the heavens. And let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be scattered upon the face of the whole earth.
And 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 until this day, Absalom's monument.
There is a treaty between you and me, between my father and your father. Behold, I have sent to you a present of silver and gold. Come and break your treaty with Baasha king of Israel, so that he may depart from me.
And he built towers in the desert, and dug many wells. For he had many cattle, both in the low country and in the plains. He also had husbandmen and vinedressers in the mountains, and in Carmel. For he loved the earth.
And Solomon brought up the daughter of Pharaoh out of the city of David to the house which he had built for her. For he said, My wife shall not dwell in the house of David king of Israel, because the places into which the ark of Jehovah has come are holy.
Their inward thought is that their houses shall go on forever, and their dwelling-places to all generations; they call their lands after their own names.
Let us rise up early to the vineyards; let us see if the vine flowers, whether the tender grape appears, and the pomegranates bud forth; there I will give You my loves.
The king spoke and said, Is this not 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?