Solomon’s Activities and Accomplishments

8 ^(A)Now it came about at the end of the twenty years in which Solomon had built the house of the Lord and his own house, ² that he built the cities which Huram had given ^[a]him, and settled the sons of Israel there.

³ Then Solomon went to Hamath-zobah and captured it. ⁴ He built Tadmor in the wilderness and all the storage cities which he had built in Hamath. ⁵ He also built upper ^(B)Beth-horon and lower Beth-horon, which were ^(C)fortified cities with walls, gates, and bars; ⁶ and Baalath and all the storage cities that Solomon had, and all the cities for ^[b]his chariots and cities for ^[c]his horsemen, and everything that it pleased Solomon to build in Jerusalem, Lebanon, and all the land ^[d]under his rule.

^7 (D)All of the people who were left of the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, who were not of Israel, ⁸ that is, from their descendants who were left after them in the land, whom the sons of Israel had not destroyed, ^(E)Solomon raised them as forced laborers to this day. ⁹ But Solomon did not make slaves from the sons of Israel for his work; for they were men of war, his chief captains and commanders of his chariots and his horsemen. ¹⁰ These were the chief ^[e]officers of King Solomon, 250 who ruled over the people.

^11 (F)Then Solomon brought Pharaoh’s daughter up from the city of David to the house which he had built for her, for he said, “My wife shall not live in the house of David king of Israel, because ^[f]the places where the ark of the Lord has entered are holy.”

¹² Then Solomon offered burnt offerings to the Lord on ^(G)the altar of the Lord which he had built in front of the porch; ¹³ and ^(H)he did so according to the daily rule, offering them up ^(I)according to the commandment of Moses, for ^(J)the Sabbaths, ^(K)the new moons, and the ^(L)three annual feasts—the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the Feast of Weeks, and the Feast of Booths.

¹⁴ Now according to the ordinance of his father David, he appointed ^(M)the divisions of the priests for their service, and ^(N)the Levites for their duties of praise and ministering before the priests according to the daily rule, and ^(O)the gatekeepers by their divisions at every gate; for this is what ^(P)David, the man of God, had commanded. ¹⁵ And they did not deviate from the commandment of the king to the priests and Levites in any matter or regarding the storehouses.

¹⁶ So all the work of Solomon was carried out ^[g]from the day of the foundation of the house of the Lord, until it was finished. So the house of the Lord was completed.

¹⁷ Then Solomon went to ^(Q)Ezion-geber and to ^(R)Eloth on the seashore in the land of Edom. ¹⁸ And by his servants Huram sent him ships and servants who knew the sea; and they went with Solomon’s servants to Ophir and ^(S)took from there ^[h]450 talents of gold, and brought it to King Solomon.

Visit of the Queen of Sheba

9 ^(T)Now when the queen of Sheba heard about the fame of Solomon, she came to Jerusalem to test Solomon with riddles. She had a very large entourage, with camels carrying balsam oil and a large amount of gold and precious stones; and when she came to Solomon, she spoke with him about everything that was on her heart. ² Solomon ^[i]answered all her questions; nothing was hidden from Solomon which he did not ^[j]explain to her. ³ When the queen of Sheba had seen the wisdom of Solomon, the house which he had built, ⁴ the food at his table, the seating of his servants, the attendance of his ministers and their attire, his cupbearers and their attire, and ^[k]his stairway by which he went up to the house of the Lord, she was breathless. ⁵ Then she said to the king, “It was a true ^[l]story that I heard in my own land about your words and your wisdom. ⁶ But I did not believe their ^[m]stories until I came and my own eyes saw it all. And behold, not even half of the greatness of your wisdom was reported to me. You have surpassed the report that I heard. ⁷ How ^[n]blessed are your men, how ^[o]blessed are these servants of yours, who stand before you continually and hear your wisdom! ⁸ Blessed be the Lord your God who delighted in you, ^(U)setting you on His throne as king for the Lord your God; ^(V)because your God loved Israel, establishing them forever, He made you king over them, to carry out justice and righteousness.” ⁹ Then she gave the king ^[p]120 talents of gold and a very great amount of balsam oil and precious stones; there had never been balsam oil like that which the queen of Sheba gave King Solomon.

¹⁰ The servants of Huram and the servants of Solomon ^(W)who brought gold from Ophir, also brought algum trees and precious stones. ¹¹ From the algum trees the king made steps to the house of the Lord and for the king’s palace, and lyres and harps for the singers; and nothing like them was seen before in the land of Judah.

¹² King Solomon gave the queen of Sheba her every desire, whatever she requested, besides gifts equal to what she had brought to the king. Then she turned and went to her own land with her servants.

Solomon’s Wealth and Power

^13 (X)Now the weight of gold that came to Solomon in one year was ^[q]666 talents of gold, ¹⁴ besides what the traders and merchants brought; and all ^(Y)the kings of Arabia and the governors of the country brought gold and silver to Solomon. ¹⁵ King Solomon made two hundred large shields of beaten gold, ^[r]using six hundred shekels of beaten gold on each large shield. ¹⁶ He made three hundred shields of beaten gold, ^[s]using three hundred shekels of gold on each shield; and the king put them in the house of the forest of Lebanon.

¹⁷ Moreover, the king made a great throne of ivory, and overlaid it with pure gold. ¹⁸ There were six steps to the throne and a footstool in gold attached to the throne, and ^[t]arms ^[u]on each side of the seat, and two lions standing beside the ^[v]arms. ¹⁹ Twelve lions were standing there on the six steps on the one side and on the other; nothing like it was made for any other kingdom. ²⁰ All King Solomon’s drinking vessels were of gold, and all the vessels of the house of the forest of Lebanon were of pure gold; silver was not considered ^[w]valuable in the days of Solomon. ^21 (Z)For the king had ships which went to Tarshish with the servants of Huram; once every three years the ships of Tarshish came bringing gold and silver, ivory, apes, and peacocks.

^22 (AA)So King Solomon became greater than all the kings of the earth in wealth and wisdom. ²³ And all the kings of the earth were seeking the presence of Solomon, to hear his wisdom which God had put in his heart. ^24 (AB)They were bringing, each of them his gift: articles of silver and gold, garments, weapons, balsam oil, horses, and mules, so much year by year.

²⁵ Now Solomon had ^(AC)four thousand stalls for horses and chariots and twelve thousand horsemen, and he stationed them in the chariot cities and with the king in Jerusalem. ^26 (AD)He was ruler over all the kings from the Euphrates River to the land of the Philistines, and as far as the border of Egypt. ^27 (AE)And the king made silver as common as stones in Jerusalem, and he made cedars as plentiful as sycamore trees that are in the ^[x]lowland. ^28 (AF)And they were bringing horses for Solomon from Egypt and from all countries.

^29 (AG)Now the rest of the acts of Solomon, from the first to the last, ^(AH)are they not written in the ^[y]records of Nathan the prophet, in the prophecy of Ahijah the Shilonite, and in the visions of ^[z]Iddo the seer concerning Jeroboam the son of Nebat? ^30 (AI)Solomon reigned in Jerusalem over all Israel for forty years.

Death of Solomon

³¹ And Solomon ^[aa]lay down with his fathers and was buried in ^(AJ)the city of his father David; and his son Rehoboam reigned in his place.

The Preaching of John the Baptist

3 Now ^(A)in those days ^(B)John the Baptist *^[a]came, ^[b]preaching in the ^(C)wilderness of Judea, saying, ² “^(D)Repent, for ^(E)the kingdom of heaven ^[c]is at hand.” ³ For this is the ^(F)one referred to ^[d]by Isaiah the prophet when he said,

⁴ Now John himself had ^[g](I)a garment of camel’s hair and a leather belt around his waist; and his food was ^(J)locusts and wild honey. ⁵ At that time Jerusalem ^(K)was going out to him, and all Judea and all ^(L)the region around the Jordan; ⁶ and they were being ^(M)baptized by him in the Jordan River, as they confessed their sins.

⁷ But when he saw many of the ^(N)Pharisees and ^(O)Sadducees coming for ^[h]baptism, he said to them, “You ^[i](P)offspring of vipers, who warned you to flee from ^(Q)the wrath to come? ^8 (R)Therefore produce fruit ^(S)consistent with repentance; ⁹ and do not assume that you can say to yourselves, ‘^(T)We have Abraham as our father’; for I tell you that God is able, from these stones, to raise up children for Abraham. ¹⁰ And the ^(U)axe is already laid at the root of the trees; therefore, ^(V)every tree that does not bear good fruit is being cut down and thrown into the fire.

¹¹ “As for me, ^(W)I baptize you ^[j]with water for repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, and I am not fit to remove His sandals; ^(X)He will baptize you ^[k]with the Holy Spirit and fire. ¹² His ^(Y)winnowing fork is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clear His threshing floor; and He will ^(Z)gather His wheat into the barn, but He will burn up the ^(AA)chaff with ^(AB)unquenchable fire.”

The Baptism of Jesus

^13 (AC)Then Jesus *arrived ^(AD)from Galilee at the Jordan, coming to John to be baptized by him. ¹⁴ But John tried to prevent Him, saying, “I have the need to be baptized by You, and yet You are coming to me?” ¹⁵ But Jesus, answering, said to him, “Allow it at this time; for in this way it is fitting for us ^(AE)to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he *allowed Him. ¹⁶ After He was baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened, and ^[l](AF)he saw the Spirit of God descending as a dove and ^[m]settling on Him, ¹⁷ and behold, a voice from the heavens said, “^(AG)This is ^[n]My beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”

The Temptation of Jesus

4 ^(AH)Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness ^(AI)to be tempted by the devil. ² And after He had ^(AJ)fasted for forty days and forty nights, He ^[o]then became hungry. ³ And ^(AK)the tempter came and said to Him, “If You are the ^(AL)Son of God, command that these stones become bread.” ⁴ But He answered and said, “It is written: ‘^(AM)Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes out of the mouth of God.’”

⁵ Then the devil *took Him along into ^(AN)the holy city and had Him stand on the pinnacle of the temple, ⁶ and he *said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down; for it is written:

and

⁷ Jesus said to him, “^[p]On the other hand, it is written: ‘^(AP)You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’”

^8 (AQ)Again, the devil *took Him along to a very high mountain and *showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory; ⁹ and he said to Him, “^(AR)All these things I will give You, if You fall down and ^[q]worship me.” ¹⁰ Then Jesus *said to him, “Go away, Satan! For it is written: ‘^(AS)You shall worship the Lord your God, and ^[r]serve Him only.’” ¹¹ Then the devil *left Him; and behold, ^(AT)angels came and began to serve Him.

Jesus Begins His Ministry

¹² Now when Jesus heard that ^(AU)John had been taken into custody, ^(AV)He withdrew into Galilee; ¹³ and leaving Nazareth, He came and ^(AW)settled in Capernaum, which is by the sea, in the region of Zebulun and Naphtali. ¹⁴ This happened so that what was spoken through Isaiah the prophet would be fulfilled:

^17 (AZ)From that time Jesus began to ^[u]preach and say, “^(BA)Repent, for the kingdom of heaven ^[v]is at hand.”

The First Disciples

^18 (BB)Now as Jesus was walking by ^(BC)the Sea of Galilee, He saw two brothers, ^(BD)Simon, who was called Peter, and his brother Andrew, casting a net into the sea; for they were fishermen. ¹⁹ And He *said to them, “^[w]Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of people.” ²⁰ Immediately they left their nets and followed Him. ²¹ Going on from there He saw two other brothers, ^[x](BE)James the son of Zebedee, and his brother ^[y]John, in the boat with their father Zebedee, mending their nets; and He called them. ²² Immediately they left the boat and their father, and followed Him.

Ministry in Galilee

²³ Jesus was going ^(BF)about in all of Galilee, ^(BG)teaching in their synagogues and ^(BH)proclaiming the ^[z]gospel of the kingdom, and ^(BI)healing every disease and every sickness among the people.

²⁴ And the news about Him spread ^(BJ)throughout Syria; and they brought to Him all who were ill, those suffering with various diseases and severe pain, ^(BK)demon-possessed, people with ^(BL)epilepsy, and people who were ^(BM)paralyzed; and He healed them. ²⁵ Large crowds ^(BN)followed Him from Galilee and ^(BO)the Decapolis, and Jerusalem, and Judea, and from ^(BP)beyond the Jordan.