¹¹ Now Solomon ^(A)brought the daughter of Pharaoh up from the City of David to the house he had built for her, for he said, “My wife shall not dwell in the house of David king of Israel, because the places to which the ark of the Lord has come are holy.”

¹² Then Solomon offered burnt offerings to the Lord on the altar of the Lord which he had built before the vestibule, ¹³ according to the ^(B)daily rate, offering according to the commandment of Moses, for the Sabbaths, the New Moons, and the ^(C)three appointed yearly ^(D)feasts—the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the Feast of Weeks, and the Feast of Tabernacles. ¹⁴ And, according to the ^[a]order of David his father, he appointed the ^(E)divisions of the priests for their service, ^(F)the Levites for their duties (to praise and serve before the priests) as the duty of each day required, and the ^(G)gatekeepers by their divisions at each gate; for so David the man of God had commanded. ¹⁵ They did not depart from the command of the king to the priests and Levites concerning any matter or concerning the ^(H)treasuries.

¹⁶ Now all the work of Solomon was well-ordered ^[b]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 ^(I)Ezion Geber and ^[c]Elath on the seacoast, in the land of Edom. ^18 (J)And Hiram sent him ships by the hand of his servants, and servants who knew the sea. They went with the servants of Solomon to ^(K)Ophir, and acquired four hundred and fifty talents of gold from there, and brought it to King Solomon.

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

9 Now ^(M)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 ^(N)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 ^(O)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, ^(P)who brought gold from Ophir, brought ^[d]algum wood and precious stones. ¹¹ And the king made walkways of the ^[e]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^(Q)

^13 (R)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; ^[f]three hundred shekels of gold went into each shield. The king put them in the ^(S)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 ^[g]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 ^(T)Tarshish with the servants of ^[h]Hiram. Once every three years the ^[i]merchant ships came, bringing gold, silver, ivory, apes, and ^[j]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, ^(U)armor, spices, horses, and mules, at a set rate year by year.

²⁵ Solomon ^(V)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 (W)So he reigned over all the kings ^(X)from ^[k]the River to the land of the Philistines, as far as the border of Egypt. ^27 (Y)The king made silver as common in Jerusalem as stones, and he made cedar trees ^(Z)as abundant as the sycamores which are in the lowland. ^28 (AA)And they brought horses to Solomon from Egypt and from all lands.

Death of Solomon^(AB)

^29 (AC)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 ^(AD)Ahijah the Shilonite, and in the visions of ^(AE)Iddo the seer concerning Jeroboam the son of Nebat? ^30 (AF)Solomon reigned in Jerusalem over all Israel forty years. ³¹ Then Solomon ^[l]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^(AG)

10 And ^(AH)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, ^(AI)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 (AJ)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 ^[m]scourges!’ ”

¹² So ^(AK)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, ^[n]“My father made your yoke heavy, but I will add to it; my father chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with ^[o]scourges!” ¹⁵ So the king did not listen to the people; ^(AL)for the turn of events was from God, that the Lord might fulfill His ^(AM)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 (AN)So Israel has been in rebellion against the house of David to this day.

⁹ But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His. ¹⁰ And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. ¹¹ But if the Spirit of ^(A)Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, ^(B)He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies ^[a]through His Spirit who dwells in you.

Sonship Through the Spirit

^12 (C)Therefore, brethren, we are debtors—not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. ¹³ For ^(D)if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you ^(E)put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. ¹⁴ For ^(F)as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. ¹⁵ For ^(G)you did not receive the spirit of bondage again ^(H)to fear, but you received the ^(I)Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, ^(J)“Abba,^[b] Father.” ^16 (K)The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, ¹⁷ and if children, then ^(L)heirs—heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, ^(M)if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together.

From Suffering to Glory

¹⁸ For I consider that ^(N)the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. ¹⁹ For ^(O)the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God. ²⁰ For ^(P)the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in hope; ²¹ because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of ^[c]corruption into the glorious ^(Q)liberty of the children of God. ²² For we know that the whole creation ^(R)groans and labors with birth pangs together until now. ²³ Not only that, but we also who have ^(S)the firstfruits of the Spirit, ^(T)even we ourselves groan ^(U)within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the ^(V)redemption of our body. ²⁴ For we were saved in this hope, but ^(W)hope that is seen is not hope; for why does one still hope for what he sees? ²⁵ But if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with perseverance.