The Queen of Sheba’s Praise of Solomon^(A)

9 Now ^(B)when the queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon, she came to Jerusalem to test Solomon with hard questions, having a very great retinue, camels that bore spices, gold in abundance, and precious stones; and when she came to Solomon, she spoke with him about all that was in her heart. ² So Solomon answered all her questions; there was nothing so difficult for Solomon that he could not explain it to her. ³ And when the queen of Sheba had seen the wisdom of Solomon, the house that he had built, ⁴ the food on his table, the seating of his servants, the service of his waiters and their apparel, his ^(C)cupbearers and their apparel, and his entryway by which he went up to the house of the Lord, there was no more spirit in her.

⁵ Then she said to the king: “It was a true report which I heard in my own land about your words and your wisdom. ⁶ However I did not believe their words until I came and saw with my own eyes; and indeed the half of the greatness of your wisdom was not told me. You exceed the fame of which I heard. ⁷ Happy are your men and happy are these your servants, who stand continually before you and hear your wisdom! ⁸ Blessed be the Lord your God, who delighted in you, setting you on His throne to be king for the Lord your God! Because your God has ^(D)loved Israel, to establish them forever, therefore He made you king over them, to do justice and righteousness.”

⁹ And she gave the king one hundred and twenty talents of gold, spices in great abundance, and precious stones; there never were any spices such as those the queen of Sheba gave to King Solomon.

¹⁰ Also, the servants of Hiram and the servants of Solomon, ^(E)who brought gold from Ophir, brought ^[a]algum wood and precious stones. ¹¹ And the king made walkways of the ^[b]algum wood for the house of the Lord and for the king’s house, also harps and stringed instruments for singers; and there were none such as these seen before in the land of Judah.

¹² Now King Solomon gave to the queen of Sheba all she desired, whatever she asked, much more than she had brought to the king. So she turned and went to her own country, she and her servants.

Solomon’s Great Wealth^(F)

^13 (G)The weight of gold that came to Solomon yearly was six hundred and sixty-six talents of gold, ¹⁴ besides what the traveling merchants and traders brought. And all the kings of Arabia and governors of the country brought gold and silver to Solomon. ¹⁵ And King Solomon made two hundred large shields of hammered gold; six hundred shekels of hammered gold went into each shield. ¹⁶ He also made three hundred shields of hammered gold; ^[c]three hundred shekels of gold went into each shield. The king put them in the ^(H)House of the Forest of Lebanon.

¹⁷ Moreover the king made a great throne of ivory, and overlaid it with pure gold. ¹⁸ The throne had six steps, with a footstool of gold, which were fastened to the throne; there were ^[d]armrests on either side of the place of the seat, and two lions stood beside the armrests. ¹⁹ Twelve lions stood there, one on each side of the six steps; nothing like this had been made for any other kingdom.

²⁰ All King Solomon’s drinking vessels were gold, and all the vessels of the House of the Forest of Lebanon were pure gold. Not one was silver, for this was accounted as nothing in the days of Solomon. ²¹ For the king’s ships went to ^(I)Tarshish with the servants of ^[e]Hiram. Once every three years the ^[f]merchant ships came, bringing gold, silver, ivory, apes, and ^[g]monkeys.

²² So King Solomon surpassed all the kings of the earth in riches and wisdom. ²³ And all the kings of the earth sought the presence of Solomon to hear his wisdom, which God had put in his heart. ²⁴ Each man brought his present: articles of silver and gold, garments, ^(J)armor, spices, horses, and mules, at a set rate year by year.

²⁵ Solomon ^(K)had four thousand stalls for horses and chariots, and twelve thousand horsemen whom he stationed in the chariot cities and with the king at Jerusalem.

^26 (L)So he reigned over all the kings ^(M)from ^[h]the River to the land of the Philistines, as far as the border of Egypt. ^27 (N)The king made silver as common in Jerusalem as stones, and he made cedar trees ^(O)as abundant as the sycamores which are in the lowland. ^28 (P)And they brought horses to Solomon from Egypt and from all lands.

Death of Solomon^(Q)

^29 (R)Now the rest of the acts of Solomon, first and last, are they not written in the book of Nathan the prophet, in the prophecy of ^(S)Ahijah the Shilonite, and in the visions of ^(T)Iddo the seer concerning Jeroboam the son of Nebat? ^30 (U)Solomon reigned in Jerusalem over all Israel forty years. ³¹ Then Solomon ^[i]rested with his fathers, and was buried in the City of David his father. And Rehoboam his son reigned in his place.

The Revolt Against Rehoboam^(V)

10 And ^(W)Rehoboam went to Shechem, for all Israel had gone to Shechem to make him king. ² So it happened, when Jeroboam the son of Nebat heard it (he was in Egypt, ^(X)where he had fled from the presence of King Solomon), that Jeroboam returned from Egypt. ³ Then they sent for him and called him. And Jeroboam and all Israel came and spoke to Rehoboam, saying, ⁴ “Your father made our yoke heavy; now therefore, lighten the burdensome service of your father and his heavy yoke which he put on us, and we will serve you.”

⁵ So he said to them, “Come back to me after three days.” And the people departed.

⁶ Then King Rehoboam consulted the elders who stood before his father Solomon while he still lived, saying, “How do you advise me to answer these people?”

⁷ And they spoke to him, saying, “If you are kind to these people, and please them, and speak good words to them, they will be your servants forever.”

^8 (Y)But he rejected the advice which the elders had given him, and consulted the young men who had grown up with him, who stood before him. ⁹ And he said to them, “What advice do you give? How should we answer this people who have spoken to me, saying, ‘Lighten the yoke which your father put on us’?”

¹⁰ Then the young men who had grown up with him spoke to him, saying, “Thus you should speak to the people who have spoken to you, saying, ‘Your father made our yoke heavy, but you make it lighter on us’—thus you shall say to them: ‘My little finger shall be thicker than my father’s waist! ¹¹ And now, whereas my father put a heavy yoke on you, I will add to your yoke; my father chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with ^[j]scourges!’ ”

¹² So ^(Z)Jeroboam and all the people came to Rehoboam on the third day, as the king had directed, saying, “Come back to me the third day.” ¹³ Then the king answered them roughly. King Rehoboam rejected the advice of the elders, ¹⁴ and he spoke to them according to the advice of the young men, saying, ^[k]“My father made your yoke heavy, but I will add to it; my father chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with ^[l]scourges!” ¹⁵ So the king did not listen to the people; ^(AA)for the turn of events was from God, that the Lord might fulfill His ^(AB)word, which He had spoken by the hand of Ahijah the Shilonite to Jeroboam the son of Nebat.

¹⁶ Now when all Israel saw that the king did not listen to them, the people answered the king, saying:

So all Israel departed to their tents. ¹⁷ But Rehoboam reigned over the children of Israel who dwelt in the cities of Judah.

¹⁸ Then King Rehoboam sent Hadoram, who was in charge of revenue; but the children of Israel stoned him with stones, and he died. Therefore King Rehoboam mounted his chariot in haste to flee to Jerusalem. ^19 (AC)So Israel has been in rebellion against the house of David to this day.

At Iconium

14 Now it happened in Iconium that they went together to the synagogue of the Jews, and so spoke that a great multitude both of the Jews and of the ^(A)Greeks believed. ² But the unbelieving Jews stirred up the Gentiles and ^[a]poisoned their ^[b]minds against the brethren. ³ Therefore they stayed there a long time, speaking boldly in the Lord, ^(B)who was bearing witness to the word of His grace, granting signs and ^(C)wonders to be done by their hands.

⁴ But the multitude of the city was ^(D)divided: part sided with the Jews, and part with the ^(E)apostles. ⁵ And when a violent attempt was made by both the Gentiles and Jews, with their rulers, ^(F)to abuse and stone them, ⁶ they became aware of it and ^(G)fled to Lystra and Derbe, cities of Lycaonia, and to the surrounding region. ⁷ And they were preaching the gospel there.

Idolatry at Lystra

^8 (H)And in Lystra a certain man without strength in his feet was sitting, a cripple from his mother’s womb, who had never walked. ⁹ This man heard Paul speaking. ^[c]Paul, observing him intently and seeing that he had faith to be healed, ¹⁰ said with a loud voice, ^(I)“Stand up straight on your feet!” And he leaped and walked. ¹¹ Now when the people saw what Paul had done, they raised their voices, saying in the Lycaonian language, ^(J)“The gods have come down to us in the likeness of men!” ¹² And Barnabas they called ^[d]Zeus, and Paul, ^[e]Hermes, because he was the chief speaker. ¹³ Then the priest of Zeus, whose temple was in front of their city, brought oxen and garlands to the gates, ^(K)intending to sacrifice with the multitudes.

¹⁴ But when the apostles Barnabas and Paul heard this, ^(L)they tore their clothes and ran in among the multitude, crying out ¹⁵ and saying, “Men, ^(M)why are you doing these things? ^(N)We also are men with the same nature as you, and preach to you that you should turn from ^(O)these useless things ^(P)to the living God, ^(Q)who made the heaven, the earth, the sea, and all things that are in them, ^16 (R)who in bygone generations allowed all nations to walk in their own ways. ^17 (S)Nevertheless He did not leave Himself without witness, in that He did good, ^(T)gave us rain from heaven and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with ^(U)food and gladness.” ¹⁸ And with these sayings they could scarcely restrain the multitudes from sacrificing to them.

Stoning, Escape to Derbe

^19 (V)Then Jews from Antioch and Iconium came there; and having persuaded the multitudes, ^(W)they stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city, supposing him to be ^(X)dead. ²⁰ However, when the disciples gathered around him, he rose up and went into the city. And the next day he departed with Barnabas to Derbe.

Strengthening the Converts

²¹ And when they had preached the gospel to that city ^(Y)and made many disciples, they returned to Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch, ²² strengthening the souls of the disciples, ^(Z)exhorting them to continue in the faith, and saying, ^(AA)“We must through many tribulations enter the kingdom of God.” ²³ So when they had ^(AB)appointed elders in every church, and prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord in whom they had believed. ²⁴ And after they had passed through Pisidia, they came to Pamphylia. ²⁵ Now when they had preached the word in Perga, they went down to Attalia. ²⁶ From there they sailed to Antioch, where they had been commended to the grace of God for the work which they had completed.

²⁷ Now when they had come and gathered the church together, ^(AC)they reported all that God had done with them, and that He had ^(AD)opened the door of faith to the Gentiles. ²⁸ So they stayed there a long time with the disciples.