1 Kings 6-18

Modern English Version

Solomon Builds the Temple^(A)

6 In the four hundred and eightieth year after the children of Israel came out of the land of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon’s reign over Israel, in the month Ziv (which is the second month), he began to build the house of the Lord.

² The house which King Solomon built for the Lord had a length of sixty cubits, a width of twenty cubits, and a height of thirty cubits.^{[a] 3} The porch in front of the temple was twenty cubits^[b] in length, the same as the width of the house, and ten cubits^[c] deep in front of the house. ⁴ He made beveled windows for the house. ⁵ He also built a structure against the wall of the house, running around the walls of the house, both of the temple and of the inner sanctuary, and he made side chambers all around. ⁶ The lowest story was five cubits^[d] broad, the middle one was six cubits^[e] broad, and the third was seven cubits^[f] broad. For around the outside of the house, he made offsets on the wall so that the supporting beams should not be inserted into the walls of the house.

⁷ The house was built of stone prepared at the quarry, so that neither hammer nor axe nor any tool of iron was heard in the house while it was being built.

⁸ The door for the middle chamber was in the right side of the house, and it had winding stairs into the middle chamber and out of the middle into the third. ⁹ So he built the house and finished it and covered it with beams and boards of cedar. ¹⁰ Then he built chambers against the whole house, five cubits high, and they rested on the house with timber of cedar.

¹¹ Now the word of the Lord came to Solomon, saying, ¹² “Concerning this house which you are building, if you will walk in My statutes and execute My judgments and keep all My commandments and walk in them, then I will carry out My word with you, which I spoke to David your father, ¹³ and I will dwell among the people of Israel and will not forsake My people Israel.”

¹⁴ So Solomon built the house and finished it. ¹⁵ He built the interior walls of the house with boards of cedar. From the floor of the house to the ceiling, he covered them on the inside with wood; and he covered the floor of the house with planks of fir. ¹⁶ He lined twenty cubits on the sides of the house, both the floor and the walls, with boards of cedar, and he even lined them within, even the inner sanctuary and the Most Holy Place. ¹⁷ The house, that is, the nave in front of the inner sanctuary, was forty cubits^[g] long. ¹⁸ The cedar of the house within had carvings of gourds and open flowers. All was cedar. There was no stone seen.

¹⁹ He prepared the inner sanctuary in the inner part of the house in order to set there the ark of the covenant of the Lord. ²⁰ The inner sanctuary was twenty cubits long, twenty cubits wide, and twenty cubits high. He overlaid it with pure gold. He also overlaid the altar of cedar. ²¹ So Solomon overlaid the interior of the house with pure gold, and he made a partition with gold chains in front of the inner sanctuary, and he overlaid it with gold. ²² He overlaid the whole house with gold as well as the whole altar that was by the inner sanctuary.

²³ Within the inner sanctuary, he made two cherubim from olive wood, each ten cubits high. ²⁴ One wing of the cherub was five cubits, and the other wing was also five cubits. From the furthest part of the one wing to the furthest part of the other was ten cubits. ²⁵ The other cherub was ten cubits. Both the cherubim were the same shape and size. ²⁶ The height of the one cherub was ten cubits, and so was that of the other cherub. ²⁷ He set the cherubim within the inner sanctuary, and they stretched forth the wings of the cherubim, so that the wing of the one touched the one wall and the wing of the other cherub touched the other wall, and their wings touched one another in the middle of the house. ²⁸ He overlaid the cherubim with gold.

²⁹ He carved all the walls of the house with carved figures of cherubim and palm trees and open flowers both inside and out. ³⁰ He overlaid the floor of the house with gold, both inside and out.

³¹ For the entrance to the inner sanctuary, he made doors of olive wood; the lintel and doorposts were five-sided. ³² The two doors were also made of olive wood. He carved on them cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers, overlaid them with gold, and spread gold upon the cherubim and upon the palm trees. ³³ So also he made for the entrance to the nave four-sided posts of olive wood. ³⁴ The two doors were made from fir tree, with two leaves of each door folding. ³⁵ He carved on them cherubim and palm trees and open flowers and covered them with gold fitted upon the carved work.

³⁶ He built the inner court with three rows of hewed stone and a row of cedar beams.

³⁷ In the fourth year, in the month Ziv, the foundation of the house of the Lord was laid, ³⁸ and in the eleventh year, in the month Bul (which is the eighth month), the house was completely finished. All the details and plans were met. So he took seven years to build it.

Solomon’s Palace Built

7 Solomon was building his own house for thirteen years, and he finished all his house. ² He built the House of the Forest of Lebanon. Its length was a hundred cubits, and its width was fifty cubits, and its height was thirty cubits,^[h] built on four rows of cedar pillars with cedar beams upon the pillars. ³ It was covered with cedar over the top of the beams, which sat upon forty-five pillars, fifteen in a row. ⁴ There were window frames in three rows and window opposite window in three tiers. ⁵ All the doors and posts were rectangular with the openings facing each other in three tiers.

⁶ He made a porch of pillars with a length of fifty cubits and a breadth of thirty cubits.^[i] There was a porch in front with pillars, and a canopy in front of them.

⁷ Then he made a porch for the throne, from which he would judge, and called it the Hall of Judgment. It was covered with cedar from one side of the floor to the other. ⁸ His own house where he lived, in the other court back of the hall, was similar in style. Solomon also made a house like this for Pharaoh’s daughter, whom he had taken as a wife.

⁹ All these were built with costly stones, cut to size and sawed with saws on the inside and outside, from the foundation up to the coping, throughout the outside toward the great court. ¹⁰ The foundation was of large, costly stones, stones of ten^[j] and eight^[k] cubits in size. ¹¹ Above were costly stones cut to size, along with cedars. ¹² The great court was enclosed with three rows of hewed stones and a row of cedar beams. So were the inner court of the house of the Lord and the porch of the house.

The Furnishings of the Temple^(B)

¹³ Now King Solomon sent and called Huram out of Tyre. ¹⁴ He was the son of a widow from the tribe of Naphtali, and his father was a man of Tyre who worked in bronze, and he was filled with wisdom and understanding and skill to make all sorts of items in bronze. So he came to King Solomon and performed all his work.

¹⁵ He cast two pillars of bronze eighteen cubits high each and twelve cubits^[l] in circumference. ¹⁶ He made two capitals of cast bronze to set on the tops of the pillars. The height of the one capital was five cubits,^[m] and the height of the other capital was five cubits. ¹⁷ He made lattices of checker work with wreaths of chainwork for the capitals on top of the pillars: seven for one capital and seven for the other. ¹⁸ Likewise he made pomegranates in two rows around the one latticework to cover the capital that was on the top of the pillar, and he did the same for the other capital. ¹⁹ The capitals that were on top of the pillars in the porch were four cubits^[n] high and in the shape of lilies. ²⁰ The capitals on top of the two pillars also had pomegranates above, by the convex surface which was next to the latticework. There were two hundred pomegranates in rows encircling each capital. ²¹ He set up the pillars in the porch of the temple. He set up the right pillar and called it Jakin, and he set up the left pillar and called it Boaz. ²² The tops of the pillars were in the shape of lilies. This completed the work on the pillars.

²³ He made a cast metal sea, ten cubits from one side to the other. It was round and had a height of five cubits, and a line of thirty cubits^[o] encircled it. ²⁴ Under the brim all the way around there were gourds, ten in a cubit. When it was cast, the gourds were placed in two rows going all the way around it.

²⁵ It stood on top of twelve oxen with three facing north, three facing toward the west, three facing toward the south, and three facing toward the east. The sea was set on them, and their hindquarters were turned inward. ²⁶ It was a hand-breadth^[p] thick, and the brim was made similar to the brim of a cup, like a lily blossom. It could hold two thousand baths.^[q]

²⁷ He made ten stands out of bronze, each measuring four cubits long, four cubits wide, and three cubits high.^{[r] 28} The work of the stands looked like this: They had panels, and the panels were set in the frames. ²⁹ And on the panels that were set in the frames were lions, oxen, and cherubim. On the frames both above and below the lions and oxen, there were wreaths of beveled work. ³⁰ Every stand had four bronze wheels and axles of bronze, and at the four corners were supports for a basin. The supports were cast with wreaths at the side of each. ³¹ Its opening was within a crown that projected upward one cubit. Its opening was round, like the work of a pedestal, a cubit and a half deep.^[s] At its opening there were engravings, and its panels were four-sided, not round. ³² Underneath the panels were four wheels, and the axles of the wheels were joined to the stand, and the height of a wheel was a cubit and a half. ³³ The wheels worked like chariot wheels in that their axles and rims and spokes and hubs were all cast metal.

³⁴ There were four supports for the four corners of each stand, and the supports were part of one piece with the stand itself. ³⁵ On the top of the stand, there was a round band half a cubit^[t] high, and on the top of the stand its stays and its panels were of one piece with it. ³⁶ On the surface of its stays and on its panels, he engraved cherubim, lions, and palm trees, according to the space of each, with wreaths all around. ³⁷ In this way he made the ten stands, with them all having the same shape, measure, and size.

³⁸ Then he made ten basins of bronze, with each basin able to hold forty baths,^[u] each being four cubits. Upon every one of the ten stands sat one basin. ³⁹ He put five stands on the right side of the house, and five on the left side of the house. He set the sea on the right side of the house toward the southeast. ⁴⁰ Huram also made the pots, the shovels, and the basins.

So Huram finished all the work in making items for King Solomon for use in the house of the Lord: ⁴¹ the two pillars, the two bowls of the capitals that were on the top of the two pillars, the two latticeworks to cover the two bowls of the capitals that were upon the top of the pillars; ⁴² and the four hundred pomegranates for the two latticeworks, two rows of pomegranates for each latticework, to cover the two bowls of the capitals that were on the pillars; ⁴³ the ten stands and ten basins on the stands; ⁴⁴ one sea and twelve oxen under the sea; ⁴⁵ the pots, the shovels, and the basins.

All these vessels that Huram made for King Solomon for the house of the Lord were of burnished bronze. ⁴⁶ In the plain of the Jordan the king cast them, in the clay ground between Sukkoth and Zarethan. ⁴⁷ Solomon left all the vessels unweighed because there were so many. The weight of the bronze was also never measured.

⁴⁸ Solomon made all the vessels that were needed for the house of the Lord: the altar of gold, the table of gold on which was showbread, ⁴⁹ the candlesticks of pure gold, five on the right side and five on the left before the inner sanctuary; the flowers, the lamps, and the tongs, of gold; ⁵⁰ the cups, snuffers, basins, dishes for incense, fire pans, of pure gold; the sockets for the doors of the innermost part of the house, the Most Holy Place, and for the doors of the nave of the temple, of gold.

⁵¹ All the work that King Solomon made for the house of the Lord was completed. And Solomon brought in the things which David his father had dedicated—the silver, the gold, and the cups—and he put them among the treasures of the house of the Lord.

The Ark Brought to the Temple^(C)

8 Then Solomon assembled the elders of Israel and all the heads of the tribes, the chief of the fathers of the children of Israel, before King Solomon in Jerusalem, so that they could ensure that the ark of the covenant of the Lord would be brought out of the City of David in Zion. ² All the men of Israel assembled themselves before King Solomon at the feast in the month Ethanim, which is the seventh month.

³ All the elders of Israel came, and the priests carried the ark. ⁴ The priests and Levites brought up the ark of the Lord, the tabernacle of the congregation, and all the holy implements that were in the tabernacle. ⁵ King Solomon and all the congregation of Israel who were assembled before him stood together in front of the ark, sacrificing so many sheep and oxen that they could not be told or numbered.

⁶ The priests brought in the ark of the covenant of the Lord to its place in the inner sanctuary of the house, to the Most Holy Place under the wings of the cherubim. ⁷ For the cherubim spread forth their two wings over the place of the ark and covered the ark and the poles from above. ⁸ The poles were so long that the ends of the poles could be seen out in the holy place in front of the inner sanctuary, but they could not be seen from outside, and they are there to this day. ⁹ There was nothing in the ark except for the two tablets of stone that Moses put there at Horeb when the Lord made a covenant with the children of Israel after they had come out of the land of Egypt.

¹⁰ And when the priests came out of the holy place, the cloud filled the house of the Lord, ¹¹ so that the priests could not continue to minister because of the cloud, for the glory of the Lord filled the house of the Lord.

¹² Then Solomon spoke, saying, “The Lord said that He would dwell in the thick darkness. ¹³ I have surely built You a house to dwell in, a settled place for You to abide in forever.”

¹⁴ Then the king turned around and blessed all the congregation of Israel (and all the congregation of Israel stood), ¹⁵ and he said,

“Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, who spoke with His mouth to my father David and has with His hand fulfilled His word, saying, ¹⁶ ‘Since the day that I brought forth My people Israel out of Egypt, I chose no city from any tribe of Israel to build a house where My name might be praised, but I chose David to be over My people Israel.’

¹⁷ “My father David had it in mind to build a house for the name of the Lord God of Israel. ¹⁸ The Lord said to my father David, ‘Whereas it was in your heart to build a house for My name, you had good intentions. ¹⁹ Nevertheless, you shall not build the house, but your son who will come out of your loins, he shall build the house for My name.’

²⁰ “The Lord has fulfilled His word that He spoke, and I have been elevated to the position of my father David, to sit on the throne of Israel as the Lord promised, and have built a house for the name of the Lord God of Israel. ²¹ I have set a place there for the ark, which houses the covenant of the Lord which He made with our fathers when He brought them out of the land of Egypt.”

Solomon’s Prayer of Dedication^(D)

²² Then Solomon stood in front of the altar of the Lord in the presence of all the congregation of Israel and spread his hands toward heaven. ²³ and he said,

“Lord God of Israel, there is no God like You in heaven above or on earth below who keeps covenant and mercy with Your servants who walk before You with all their hearts, ²⁴ who have kept what You promised Your servant David my father. You spoke also with Your mouth and have fulfilled it with Your hand, as it is this day.

²⁵ “Therefore, Lord God of Israel, now keep what You promised Your servant David my father, saying, ‘You will not fail to have a man sit before Me on the throne of Israel, so long as your sons take heed to their way, that they walk before Me as you have walked before Me.’ ²⁶ Now, O God of Israel, let Your word, I pray, be fulfilled, which You spoke to Your servant David my father.

²⁷ “But will God indeed dwell on the earth? See, heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain You. How much less can this house that I have built? ²⁸ Yet give consideration to the prayer of Your servant and to his supplication, O Lord my God; listen to the cry and to the prayer which Your servant prays before You today, ²⁹ that Your eyes may be upon this house night and day, even toward the place of which You have said, ‘My name shall be there,’ that You may listen to the prayer which Your servant shall make toward this place. ³⁰ Please listen to the supplication of Your servant and of Your people Israel when they pray toward this place. May You hear in heaven, Your dwelling place, and when You hear, forgive.

³¹ “If any man sins against his neighbor, and an oath be laid upon him to cause him to swear, and the oath comes before Your altar in this house, ³² then may You hear in heaven and act and judge Your servants, condemning the wicked, bringing his way on his own head, and justifying the righteous, giving him according to his righteousness.

³³ “When Your people Israel are defeated by their enemies, because they have sinned against You, and they turn back to You and call upon Your name and pray and make supplication to You in this house, ³⁴ then may You hear in heaven and forgive the sin of Your people Israel and bring them again to the land which You gave to their fathers.

³⁵ “When heaven is shut up, and there is no rain, because they have sinned against You, if they pray toward this place and call upon Your name and turn from their sin when You afflict them, ³⁶ then may You hear in heaven and forgive the sin of Your servants and Your people Israel, that You may teach them the good way in which they should walk and give rain upon Your land which You have given to Your people as an inheritance.

³⁷ “When there is famine in the land, if there is plague, blight, mildew, locust, or grasshopper; if their enemy besieges them in the land of their cities; whatever plague, whatever sickness there is; ³⁸ whatever prayer, whatever supplication is made by anyone, or by all Your people Israel, each knowing the affliction of his own heart, and spreading his hands toward this house; ³⁹ then hear in heaven Your dwelling place, and forgive, and act, and render to everyone according to all his ways, whose hearts You know—for only You know the hearts of the sons of men— ⁴⁰ so that they may fear You all the days that they live in the land that You gave to our fathers.

⁴¹ “Also concerning the foreigner who is not of Your people Israel and comes from a far country for Your name’s sake ⁴² (for they will hear of Your great name and of Your strong hand and of Your outstretched arm), when he comes and prays toward this house, ⁴³ may You hear in heaven, Your dwelling place, and do all that the foreigner asks of You, so all people of the earth will know Your name, to fear You as Your people Israel do, and that they may know that this house, which I have built, is called by Your name.

⁴⁴ “If Your people go out to battle against their enemy wherever You send them, and they pray to the Lord toward the city which You have chosen and toward the house that I have built for Your name, ⁴⁵ then may You hear their prayer and supplication in heaven and maintain their cause.

⁴⁶ “If they sin against You (for there is no man who does not sin), and You get angry with them and hand them over to the enemy so that they are carried away as captives to the land of the enemy, far or near, ⁴⁷ yet when they come to their senses while in the land where they were carried captives and repent and make supplication to You, saying, ‘We have sinned and have acted perversely and have committed wickedness,’ ⁴⁸ and so return to You with all their hearts and with all their souls in the land of their enemies, who carried them away as captives, and pray to You toward their land, which You gave to their fathers, the city which You have chosen and the house which I have built for Your name, ⁴⁹ then may You hear their prayers and supplications in heaven, Your dwelling place, and maintain their cause, ⁵⁰ and forgive Your people who have sinned against You and all their transgressions which they committed against You and grant them compassion before those who carried them away as captives, so they will have compassion on them. ⁵¹ For they are Your people and Your inheritance whom You brought forth out of Egypt from the midst of the furnace of iron.

⁵² “Let Your eyes be open to the supplication of Your servant and to the supplication of Your people Israel, to listen to them regarding all for which they call upon You. ⁵³ For You did call them out from among all the people of the earth to be Your inheritance, as You spoke by the hand of Moses Your servant when You brought our fathers out of Egypt, O Lord God.”

⁵⁴ Now when Solomon finished praying this prayer and making supplication to the Lord, he arose from before the altar of the Lord, from kneeling on his knees with his hands spread up to heaven. ⁵⁵ He stood up and blessed all the congregation of Israel with a loud voice, saying,

⁵⁶ “Blessed be the Lord who has given rest to His people Israel according to all that He promised. Not one word of His promises which He gave by the hand of Moses His servant has failed. ⁵⁷ The Lord our God be with us, as He was with our fathers. Let Him neither leave us nor forsake us, ⁵⁸ that He may incline our hearts to Him, to walk in all His ways and to keep His commandments, statutes, and judgments, which He commanded our fathers. ⁵⁹ And let these my words, with which I have made supplication before the Lord, be close to the Lord our God day and night, that He will maintain the cause of His servant and the cause of His people Israel at all times as the situation demands, ⁶⁰ so that all the people of the earth may know that the Lord is God and that there is none else. ⁶¹ Let your hearts, therefore, be perfect with the Lord our God, to walk in His statutes and keep His commandments, as at this day.”

The Dedication of the Temple^(E)

⁶² The king and all Israel with him offered sacrifices before the Lord. ⁶³ Solomon offered a sacrifice of peace offerings, which he offered to the Lord, twenty-two thousand oxen and a hundred and twenty thousand sheep. So the king and all the children of Israel dedicated the house of the Lord.

⁶⁴ The same day the king consecrated the middle of the court that was in front of the house of the Lord, for there he offered burnt offerings and meat offerings and the fat of the peace offerings, because the bronze altar that was before the Lord was too little to receive the burnt offerings and meat offerings and the fat of the peace offerings.

⁶⁵ At that time, Solomon held a feast for all Israel, a great congregation, from the entry of Lebo Hamath to the Brook of Egypt, before the Lord our God, seven days and another seven days, a total of fourteen days. ⁶⁶ On the eighth day he sent the people away, and they blessed the king and went to their tents rejoicing in their hearts for all the goodness that the Lord had done for David His servant and for Israel His people.

The Lord Appears to Solomon^(F)

9 When Solomon had finished building the house of the Lord and the king’s house and all else he desired, ² the Lord appeared to Solomon a second time, as He had appeared to him at Gibeon. ³ The Lord said to him,

“I have heard your prayer and supplication, which you made before Me. I have consecrated this house which you built by putting My name there forever. And My eyes and My heart shall be there perpetually.

⁴ “If you will walk before Me, as your father David walked, in integrity of heart and uprightness, so that you are obedient to do all that I have commanded you, and will keep My statutes and My judgments, ⁵ then I will establish the throne of your kingdom upon Israel forever, just as I promised to your father David, saying, ‘You shall not fail to have a man upon the throne of Israel.’

⁶ “But if you and your sons turn in any way from following Me and do not keep My commandments and My statutes which I have set before you, but go and serve other gods and worship them, ⁷ then I will cut Israel out of the land which I have given them, and I will cast this house, which I have consecrated for My name, out of My sight, and Israel shall be a proverb and a byword among all people. ⁸ And everyone who passes by this high house will be astonished and will hiss, and they shall say, ‘Why has the Lord done this to this land, and to this house?’ ⁹ And they will answer, ‘Because they forsook the Lord their God, who brought their fathers out of the land of Egypt, and took hold of other gods and have worshipped and served them. That is why the Lord has brought all this disaster upon them.’ ”

Solomon’s Other Activities^(G)

¹⁰ When twenty years had passed since Solomon had built the two houses, the house of the Lord and the king’s house ¹¹ (now Hiram the king of Tyre had furnished Solomon with cedar and fir trees, along with gold, as he had requested), King Solomon gave Hiram twenty cities in the land of Galilee. ¹² Hiram came out from Tyre to see the cities Solomon had given him, and he was not pleased with them. ¹³ He said, “What cities are these which you have given me, my brother?” And he called them the land of Kabul to this day. ¹⁴ Hiram sent to the king one hundred and twenty talents^[v] of gold.

¹⁵ This is the account of the forced labor which King Solomon conscripted to build the house of the Lord and his own house, Millo, the wall of Jerusalem, Hazor, Megiddo, and Gezer. ¹⁶ For Pharaoh, king of Egypt, had gone up against and conquered Gezer and burned it with fire and slain the Canaanites that lived in the city and given it as a present to his daughter, Solomon’s wife. ¹⁷ Solomon built Gezer and Lower Beth Horon ¹⁸ and Baalath and Tadmor in the wilderness, in the land, ¹⁹ and all the storage cities that Solomon had, cities for his chariots and cities for his horsemen and all that which Solomon desired to build in Jerusalem and in Lebanon and in all the land of his dominion.

²⁰ All the people who were left of the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites, who were not children of Israel, ²¹ the descendants of those who were left in the land and whom the people of Israel were not able to utterly destroy, were conscripted by Solomon for slave labor to this day. ²² But Solomon did not make any children of Israel into slaves, but instead used them as men of war, as his servants, his leaders, his captains, rulers of his chariots, and his horsemen. ²³ These were the chief officers over Solomon’s work, five hundred and fifty, who ruled over the people who did the labor.

²⁴ But Pharaoh’s daughter moved out of the City of David to her house which Solomon had built for her, and he then built Millo.

²⁵ Three times a year Solomon offered burnt offerings and peace offerings on the altar that he built to the Lord, and he burned incense on the altar that was before the Lord. So he finished the house.

²⁶ King Solomon built a fleet of ships in Ezion Geber, which is beside Elath on the shore of the Red Sea in the land of Edom. ²⁷ Hiram sent shipmen who had knowledge of the sea to serve alongside Solomon’s men. ²⁸ They went to Ophir and acquired four hundred and twenty talents^[w] of gold there and brought it to King Solomon.

The Queen of Sheba^(H)

10 Now when the queen of Sheba heard of Solomon’s fame connected to the name of the Lord, she came to test him with hard questions. ² She came to Jerusalem with a very great retinue, with camels bearing spices, and very much gold, and precious stones; and when she came to Solomon, she told him all that was on her mind. ³ Solomon answered all her questions; there was not anything too difficult for the king which he could not answer. ⁴ When the queen of Sheba observed Solomon’s wisdom and the house he had built ⁵ and the meat of his table and the sitting of his servants and the attendance of his ministers and their clothing and his cupbearers and his entryway by which he went up to the house of the Lord, it took her breath away.

⁶ She said to the king, “What I heard in my own land about your acts and your wisdom was true! ⁷ I did not believe it until I came and saw it with my own eyes! In fact, I was not even told half. Your wisdom and prosperity are greater than the stories I heard! ⁸ Happy are your men, and happy are these your servants who stand continually before you and hear your wisdom! ⁹ Blessed be the Lord your God, who delighted in you and set you on the throne of Israel, because the Lord loved Israel forever; therefore He made you king in order to execute judgment and justice.”

¹⁰ She gave the king a hundred and twenty talents^[x] of gold and a great amount of spices and precious stones. No one gave as many spices as the queen of Sheba gave to King Solomon.

¹¹ The ships of Hiram, which brought gold from Ophir, also brought from Ophir a large quantity of almug wood and precious stones. ¹² The king made pillars for the house of the Lord out of the almug trees and harps also and psalteries for singers for the king’s house. Never before had such almug wood been brought, nor has any such been seen to this day.

¹³ King Solomon gave to the queen of Sheba all she desired, no matter what she asked for, in addition to what Solomon gave her from his royal bounty. So she turned and went to her own country, she and her servants.

Solomon’s Wealth^(I)

¹⁴ Now the weight of gold that came to Solomon in one year was six hundred and sixty-six talents^[y] of gold. ¹⁵ In addition, he collected from the merchantmen and the traffic of the spice merchants and from all the kings of Arabia and the governors of the country.

¹⁶ King Solomon made two hundred large shields of beaten gold made of six hundred shekels^[z] of gold each. ¹⁷ He made three hundred shields of beaten gold with three pounds^[aa] of gold in each shield. And the king put them in the House of the Forest of Lebanon.

¹⁸ The king also made a great throne of ivory and overlaid it with the best gold. ¹⁹ The throne had six steps, and the back of the throne was round, and there were armrests on either side of the seat with two lions standing beside the armrests. ²⁰ Twelve lions stood on the sides of the six steps, and there was no other like it in any kingdom. ²¹ All of King Solomon’s drinking cups were made of gold, and all the cups of the House of the Forest of Lebanon were made of pure gold. None were made of silver, for it was not considered valuable in the days of Solomon. ²² For the king had ships at sea at Tarshish with the ships of Hiram. Every three years the ships of Tarshish came bringing gold, silver, ivory, apes, and peacocks.

²³ So King Solomon exceeded all the kings of the earth in terms of riches and wisdom. ²⁴ All the earth came to Solomon to hear his wisdom, which God had put in his heart. ²⁵ Everyone brought an annual tribute in the form of presents, silver and gold cups, garments, armor, spices, horses, and mules.

²⁶ Solomon gathered together chariots and horsemen. He had one thousand four hundred chariots and twelve thousand horsemen whom he stationed in the cities for chariots and with the king at Jerusalem. ²⁷ The king made silver to be in Jerusalem as plentiful as stones, and he made cedars to be as plentiful as sycamore trees in the valley. ²⁸ Solomon had horses brought out of Egypt along with linen yarn. The king’s merchants received the linen yarn at a price. ²⁹ He brought chariots from Egypt at a price of six hundred shekels of silver and a horse for a hundred and fifty.^[ab] And he exported them to all the kings of the Hittites and the kings of Aram, by their means.

Solomon’s Apostasy

11 But King Solomon loved many foreign women in addition to the daughter of Pharaoh, women of the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians, and Hittites, ² from the nations which the Lord warned the children of Israel about, saying, “You shall not go in to them, nor shall they come in to you, for they will surely turn your heart away toward their gods.” Solomon clung to these in love. ³ He had seven hundred wives who were princesses and three hundred concubines, and his wives turned his heart away. ⁴ For when Solomon was old, his wives turned his heart away after other gods, and his heart was not perfect with the Lord his God as the heart of David his father had been. ⁵ For Solomon went after Ashtoreth, the goddess of the Sidonians, and after Molek, the abomination of the Ammonites. ⁶ Solomon did what was evil in the sight of the Lord and did not fully follow the Lord as his father David had done.

⁷ Then Solomon built a high place for Chemosh, the abomination of Moab, in the hill that is close to Jerusalem, and for Molek, the abomination of the children of Ammon. ⁸ He did the same for all his foreign wives, who burned incense and sacrificed to their gods.

⁹ The Lord was angry with Solomon because he turned his heart away from the Lord God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice, ¹⁰ and had warned him about this, that he should not follow other gods, but he was disobedient to the Lord’s command. ¹¹ Therefore the Lord said to Solomon, “Since you have done this and have not kept My covenant and statutes, which I commanded you, I will surely take the kingdom from you and give it to your servant. ¹² I will not do this in your lifetime for your father David’s sake, but I will tear it out of the hand of your son. ¹³ However, I will not take the whole kingdom away, but will preserve one tribe for your son for David My servant’s sake and for the sake of Jerusalem which I chose.”

Solomon’s Adversaries

¹⁴ The Lord stirred up an adversary against Solomon, Hadad the Edomite. He was a prince of Edom. ¹⁵ For when David was in Edom, and Joab the commander of the army had gone to bury the slain, he had killed every male in Edom ¹⁶ (for six months Joab stayed there with his men until he had killed every male in Edom). ¹⁷ But Hadad fled to Egypt, he and some Edomites who served his father, Hadad still being a small child. ¹⁸ They set out from Midian and went to Paran, and they gathered men from Paran and then arrived in Egypt and presented him before Pharaoh king of Egypt, who gave him a house and provisions and land.

¹⁹ Pharaoh had great affection for Hadad, so much so that he gave him his sister-in-law, the sister of Tahpenes the queen, as a wife. ²⁰ Tahpenes’ sister gave birth to his son, Genubath, whom Tahpenes weaned in Pharaoh’s house. Genubath lived in Pharaoh’s house among the sons of Pharaoh.

²¹ When Hadad heard in Egypt that David slept with his fathers and that Joab, the commander of the army, was dead, he said to Pharaoh, “Allow me to depart and go to my own country.”

²² Then Pharaoh said to him, “But what have you lacked with me that you want to go to your own country?”

And he answered, “Nothing, however let me go anyway.”

²³ God stirred up another adversary against him, Rezon the son of Eliada, who fled from his lord Hadadezer, king of Zobah. ²⁴ He gathered a group of men and became leader over a band when David killed the men of Zobah, and they fled to Damascus and lived and reigned there. ²⁵ He was an enemy of Israel all the days of Solomon in addition to the troubles caused by Hadad, and he hated Israel and reigned over Aram.

Jeroboam’s Rebellion

²⁶ Jeroboam the son of Nebat, an Ephraimite of Zeredah, who was Solomon’s servant and whose mother’s name was Zeruah, a widow woman, even he lifted up his hand against the king.

²⁷ This is what led to his rebellion against the king. Solomon built Millo and repaired the wall of the City of David his father. ²⁸ Jeroboam was a mighty man of valor, and when Solomon saw that the young man was industrious, he made him ruler over all the labor force of the house of Joseph.

²⁹ At that time, when Jeroboam went out of Jerusalem, the prophet Ahijah the Shilonite found him along the way, and he had dressed himself in a new garment, and the two of them were alone in the field. ³⁰ Ahijah took off the new garment that he wore and tore it into twelve pieces, ³¹ and he said to Jeroboam: Take ten pieces, for thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, “See, I will tear the kingdom out of the hand of Solomon and will give ten tribes to you ³² (but he shall have one tribe for My servant David’s sake and for the sake of Jerusalem, the city which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel), ³³ because they have forsaken Me and have worshipped Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, Chemosh the god of the Moabites, and Molek the god of the children of Ammon and have not walked in My ways and have not done that which is right in My eyes, to keep My statutes and judgments, as his father David had done.

³⁴ “However, I will not take the whole kingdom out of his hand, but I will make him prince all the days of his life for David My servant’s sake, whom I chose, because he kept My commandments and My statutes. ³⁵ But I will take the kingdom out of his son’s hand and will give ten tribes to you. ³⁶ To his son will I give one tribe, so that My servant David will always have a light before Me in Jerusalem, the city in which I have chosen to put My name. ³⁷ I will take you, and you shall reign according to all that your soul desires and shall be king over Israel. ³⁸ It shall be, if you will listen to all that I command you and will walk in My ways and do what is right in My sight to keep My statutes and My commandments, as David My servant did, I will be with you and build you a sure house, as I built for David, and will give Israel to you. ³⁹ I will thus afflict the seed of David, but not forever.”

⁴⁰ Solomon therefore sought to kill Jeroboam. And Jeroboam arose and fled to Egypt to Shishak, king of Egypt, and he stayed in Egypt until the death of Solomon.

The Death of Solomon^(J)

⁴¹ The rest of the acts of Solomon and all that he did and his wisdom, are they not written in the book of the acts of Solomon? ⁴² And the time that Solomon reigned in Jerusalem over all Israel was forty years. ⁴³ Solomon slept with his fathers and was buried in the City of David his father, and his son Rehoboam reigned after him.

Israel Rebels Against Rehoboam^(K)

12 And Rehoboam went to Shechem, for all Israel had gone to Shechem to make him king. ² When Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who was still in Egypt, heard of it (for he had fled from King Solomon and stayed in Egypt), ³ they called and sent for him. And Jeroboam and all the congregation of Israel came and spoke to Rehoboam, saying, ⁴ “Your father made our yoke unbearable. Now, therefore, make the grievous service to your father and the heavy yoke he put upon us lighter, and we will serve you.”

⁵ He said to them, “Depart for three days, and then come back to me.” And the people departed.

⁶ King Rehoboam consulted with the old men who advised his father Solomon while he was still alive and asked, “How do you advise me to answer the people?”

⁷ And they spoke to him, saying, “If you will be a servant to this people this day and will serve them and answer them and speak kind words to them, they will be your servants forever.”

⁸ But he rejected the advice that the old men gave him and consulted with the young men who grew up with him and who stood before him, ⁹ and he said to them, “What advice do you give on how we should answer this people, who have spoken to me saying, ‘Make the yoke your father put on us lighter’?”

¹⁰ And the young men who grew up with him said, “Thus shall you answer this people who said to you, ‘Your father made our yoke heavy, but make it lighter for us’; thus shall you say to them, ‘My little finger will be thicker than my father’s loins! ¹¹ Whereas my father loaded you with a heavy yoke, I will add to your burden. My father chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions!’ ”

¹² So Jeroboam and all the people came to Rehoboam on the third day, just as the king had appointed, saying, “Come to me again the third day.” ¹³ The king answered the people roughly and forsook the counsel the old men gave him, ¹⁴ and instead spoke to them following the advice of the young men. He said, “My father made your yoke heavy, and I will add to your burden. My father chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions.” ¹⁵ Thus the king did not listen to the people, for the cause was from the Lord, that He might fulfill His saying, which the Lord spoke by Ahijah the Shilonite to Jeroboam the son of Nebat.

¹⁶ So when all Israel saw that the king did not listen to them, the people responded to the king, saying,

So the people of Israel departed to their tents. ¹⁷ But the people of Israel living in the cities of Judah were ruled over by Rehoboam.

¹⁸ Then King Rehoboam sent Adoniram, who was in charge of the forced labor, and all Israel stoned him to death. As a result, King Rehoboam quickly mounted his chariot and fled to Jerusalem. ¹⁹ So Israel rebelled against the house of David, and it remains so even to this day.

²⁰ When all Israel heard that Jeroboam had returned, they sent and called him before the congregation and made him king over all Israel. Only the tribe of Judah followed the house of David.

²¹ When Rehoboam arrived at Jerusalem, he assembled all the house of Judah along with the tribe of Benjamin, a hundred and eighty thousand chosen men who were warriors, to fight against the house of Israel and to bring the kingdom back to Rehoboam the son of Solomon.

²² But the word of God came to Shemaiah the man of God, saying: ²³ Speak to Rehoboam the son of Solomon, king of Judah, and to all the house of Judah and Benjamin and to the remnant of the people, saying, ²⁴ “Thus says the Lord: You shall not go up, nor fight against your brothers the children of Israel. Every man is to return to his house, for this thing is from Me.” They listened therefore to the word of the Lord and turned to depart, according to the word of the Lord.

Jeroboam’s Golden Calves

²⁵ Then Jeroboam built Shechem in Mount Ephraim and lived there and went out from there and built Peniel.

²⁶ Jeroboam said in his heart, “The kingdom will return to the house of David. ²⁷ If this people go up to do sacrifice in the house of the Lord at Jerusalem, then shall the heart of this people turn again to their lord, even to Rehoboam king of Judah, and they shall kill me and go again to Rehoboam king of Judah.”

²⁸ At that point, the king got some advice and made two golden calves and said to the people, “It is too difficult for you to go up to Jerusalem. Here are your gods, O Israel, which brought you up out of the land of Egypt.” ²⁹ He set one in Bethel, and he put the other in Dan. ³⁰ This was a sin, for the people went to worship before the one, even all the way in Dan.

³¹ He also made houses on high places and appointed priests from among all the people who were not Levites. ³² Jeroboam ordained a feast in the eighth month, on the fifteenth day of the month, like the feast in Judah, and he offered sacrifice on the altar. He did this in Bethel, sacrificing to the calves that he had made, and he stationed in Bethel the priests of the high places he had made. ³³ So he made offerings on the altar that he had made in Bethel on the fifteenth day of the eighth month, a holiday he imagined in his own heart, and ordained a feast for the children of Israel, and he sacrificed on the altar and burned incense.

The Man of God From Judah

13 A man of God came out of Judah to Bethel by the word of the Lord while Jeroboam stood by the altar to burn incense. ² He cried against the altar by the word of the Lord and said, “O altar, altar, thus says the Lord: ‘A child named Josiah will be born in the house of David, and he will sacrifice upon you the priests of the high places who burn incense on you, and these men’s bones shall be burned upon you.’ ” ³ He gave a sign the same day, saying, “This is the sign that the Lord has spoken: ‘The altar will be torn apart, and the ashes that are upon it will be poured out.’ ”

⁴ When King Jeroboam heard the saying of the man of God who had cried against the altar in Bethel, he reached out his hand from the altar, saying, “Arrest him!” And the hand that he put forth against him dried up so that he could not pull it back in again. ⁵ The altar also was torn, and the ashes poured out from the altar, just as the man of God had said it would as a sign of the Lord.

⁶ The king answered and said to the man of God, “Seek the face of the Lord your God, and pray for me, that my hand will be healed.” And the man of God interceded with the Lord, and the king’s hand was healed and became as it was before.

⁷ The king said to the man of God, “Come home with me and refresh yourself, and I will give you a reward.”

⁸ The man of God said to the king, “If you were to give me half your house, I would not go with you, nor will I eat bread nor drink water in this place, ⁹ for so I was commanded by the word of the Lord, saying: You shall eat no bread, nor drink water nor return by the same way that you came.” ¹⁰ So he went another way and did not return by the same way he came to Bethel.

¹¹ Now there lived an old prophet in Bethel, and his sons came and told him all that the man of God had done that day in Bethel. They also told their father the words that he had spoken to the king. ¹² Their father said to them, “What way did he go?” For his sons had seen the way the man of God who came from Judah had gone. ¹³ He said to his sons, “Saddle my donkey.” So they saddled the donkey for him, and he rode on it. ¹⁴ He went after the man of God and found him sitting under an oak, and he said to him, “Are you the man of God who came from Judah?”

And he said, “I am.”

¹⁵ Then he said to him, “Come home with me and eat bread.”

¹⁶ He said, “I may not return with you or go in with you, nor will I eat bread nor drink water with you in this place, ¹⁷ for I was commanded by the word of the Lord: You shall eat no bread and drink no water there nor return by the way you came.”

¹⁸ He said to him, “I am a prophet like you, and an angel spoke to me by the word of the Lord, saying, ‘Bring him back with you into your house so that he may eat bread and drink water.’ ” But he had lied to him. ¹⁹ So he went back with him to his house and ate bread and drank water.

²⁰ Then as they sat at the table, the word of the Lord came to the prophet who brought him back, ²¹ and he cried out to the man of God who came from Judah, saying, “Thus says the Lord: Since you have disobeyed the mouth of the Lord and have not kept the commandment that the Lord your God commanded you, ²² but instead came back and have eaten bread and drunk water in the place of which the Lord told you to eat no bread and drink no water, your carcass will not be buried in the tomb of your fathers!”

²³ After he had eaten bread and had drunk, he saddled the donkey for the prophet whom he had brought back. ²⁴ As he was going, a lion met him on the way and killed him, and his body was thrown in the road, and both the donkey and lion stood by it. ²⁵ Some men passed by and saw the body thrown in the road with the lion standing by the body, and they came and told the story in the city where the old prophet lived.

²⁶ When the prophet who brought him back from the way heard about it, he said, “It is the man of God who was disobedient to the word of the Lord, and thus the Lord has delivered him to the lion, which has torn and slain him, according to the word of the Lord that He spoke to him.”

²⁷ He said to his sons, “Saddle my donkey,” and they saddled it. ²⁸ He then went and found his body thrown in the road, and the donkey and the lion were still standing by the body. The lion had not eaten the body nor attacked the donkey. ²⁹ The prophet picked up the body of the man of God and laid it on his donkey and brought it back. The old prophet came to the city to mourn and to bury him. ³⁰ He laid his body in his own tomb, and they mourned over him, saying, “Alas, my brother!”

³¹ And after he had buried him, he said to his sons, “When I am dead, bury me in the grave in which the man of God is buried; lay my bones beside his bones. ³² For the saying that he cried out by the word of the Lord against the altar in Bethel and against all the houses of the high places that are in the cities of Samaria shall surely come to pass.”

³³ After this event Jeroboam did not turn from his evil ways, but made priests for the high places again from among all the people. Any who would, he consecrated to be priests of the high places. ³⁴ This matter became sin to the house of Jeroboam, so as to cut it off and to destroy it from the face of the earth.

Ahijah Prophesies Against Jeroboam

14 At that time, Jeroboam’s son Abijah became sick. ² Jeroboam said to his wife, “Please get up and disguise yourself, so that you will not be recognized as the wife of Jeroboam, and go to Shiloh. There you will find Ahijah the prophet, who told me that I would be king over this people. ³ Take ten loaves, cakes, and a jar of honey, and go to him. He will tell you what will happen to our child.” ⁴ Jeroboam’s wife did so and arose and went to Shiloh, to the house of Ahijah.

But Ahijah could not see, for in his old age he had gone blind. ⁵ The Lord said to Ahijah, “The wife of Jeroboam has come to ask you about her son, for he is sick. You shall say thus and thus to her, for when she comes, she will be disguised as another woman.”

⁶ And so when Ahijah heard the sound of her feet as she came in the door, he said, “Come in, wife of Jeroboam. Why do you disguise yourself as another? I have been sent to you with bad news. ⁷ Go tell Jeroboam, ‘Thus says the Lord God of Israel: I raised you up from among the people and made you prince over My people Israel, ⁸ and took the kingdom away from the house of David and gave it you. Yet you have not been as My servant David, who kept My commandments and who followed Me with all his heart to do only that which was right in My eyes, ⁹ but you have sinned more than all who were before you, for you have gone and made other gods and molded images and provoked Me to anger and have cast Me behind your back.

¹⁰ “ ‘Therefore I will bring disaster upon the house of Jeroboam and will cut off from Jeroboam all males, both slave and free in Israel, and will take away the remnant of the house of Jeroboam, as a man takes away refuse until it is all gone. ¹¹ Descendants of Jeroboam who die in the city will be eaten by dogs, and those who die in the field will be eaten by the birds of the air, for the Lord has spoken it.’

¹² “Arise therefore and go to your own house. When your feet enter the city, the child will die. ¹³ All Israel will mourn for him and bury him, for he alone from the house of Jeroboam will come to the grave, because in him there is found some good thing toward the Lord God of Israel.

¹⁴ “Moreover the Lord will raise up a king over Israel who will destroy the house of Jeroboam this day and from now on. ¹⁵ For the Lord will smite Israel, as a reed is shaken in the water, and He will uproot Israel from this good land, which he gave to their fathers, and will scatter them beyond the river, because they have made their Asherah poles, provoking the Lord to anger. ¹⁶ He shall give Israel up because of the sins of Jeroboam who sinned and who led Israel to sin.”

¹⁷ Jeroboam’s wife arose and departed and came to Tirzah. As she arrived at the threshold of the door, the child died, ¹⁸ and they buried him, and all Israel mourned for him, according to the word of the Lord, which He spoke by the hand of His servant Ahijah the prophet.

¹⁹ The rest of the acts of Jeroboam, how he waged war and how he reigned, are written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel. ²⁰ Jeroboam reigned twenty-two years, and then he slept with his fathers, and Nadab, his son, reigned in his stead.

Rehoboam, King of Judah^(L)

²¹ Rehoboam the son of Solomon reigned in Judah. Rehoboam was forty-one years old when he began to reign, and he reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city which the Lord had chosen out of all the tribes of Israel to put His name there. And his mother’s name was Naamah, an Ammonitess.

²² Judah did evil in the sight of the Lord, and the people provoked Him to jealousy with the sins they committed, even worse than their fathers had done. ²³ For they also built high places and images and Asherah poles on every high hill and under every green tree. ²⁴ There were also male cult prostitutes in the land, and they did according to all the abominations of the nations that the Lord cast out before the children of Israel.

²⁵ In the fifth year of King Rehoboam, Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem. ²⁶ He took away all the treasures of the house of the Lord and the treasures of the king’s house, even all the shields of gold which Solomon had made. ²⁷ King Rehoboam replaced them with bronze shields and committed them to the hands of the chief of the guard who guarded the king’s house. ²⁸ And whenever the king entered the house of the Lord, the guards carried them and brought them back into the guard chamber.

²⁹ Now the rest of the acts of Rehoboam and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? ³⁰ There was war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam all their days. ³¹ Rehoboam slept with his fathers and was buried with his fathers in the City of David. And his mother’s name was Naamah, an Ammonitess. And Abijah his son reigned in his stead.

Abijah, King of Judah^(M)

15 Now in the eighteenth year of King Jeroboam the son of Nebat, Abijah became king over Judah. ² He reigned three years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Maakah, the daughter of Abishalom.

³ He walked in all the sins of his father that he had done before him, and his heart was not wholly devoted to the Lord his God as the heart of his father David had been. ⁴ Nevertheless, for David’s sake, the Lord his God gave him a lamp in Jerusalem, to set up his son after him and to establish Jerusalem, ⁵ because David did that which was right in the eyes of the Lord and did not turn aside from anything that He commanded him all the days of his life, except in the matter involving Uriah the Hittite.

⁶ The war begun between Rehoboam and Jeroboam continued all the days of his life. ⁷ Now the rest of the acts of Abijah and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? And there was war between Abijah and Jeroboam. ⁸ Abijah slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the City of David, and Asa his son reigned in his place.

Asa, King of Judah^(N)

⁹ In the twentieth year of Jeroboam king of Israel, Asa became king over Judah. ¹⁰ He reigned forty-one years in Jerusalem, and his grandmother’s name was Maakah, the daughter of Abishalom.

¹¹ Asa did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, just as his father David had done. ¹² He expelled the male cult prostitutes from the land and removed all the idols that his fathers had made. ¹³ In addition he even deposed his grandmother Maakah as queen, because she had made an idol in a grove. Asa destroyed her idol and burned it by the Kidron brook. ¹⁴ But the high places were not all removed, even though Asa’s heart was wholly devoted to the Lord all his days. ¹⁵ He brought into the house of the Lord the things that both his father and he himself had dedicated, the silver and gold and cups.

¹⁶ There was war between Asa and Baasha king of Israel all their days. ¹⁷ Baasha king of Israel went up against Judah and fortified Ramah so he could prevent anyone from going out or coming in to Asa king of Judah.

¹⁸ Then Asa took all the silver and the gold that were left in the treasures of the house of the Lord, as well as the treasures of the king’s house, and delivered them into the hand of his servants, and he sent them to Ben-Hadad, the son of Tabrimmon, the son of Hezion, king of Aram, who lived at Damascus, saying, ¹⁹ “There is a treaty between me and you and between my father and your father. I have sent to you a present of silver and gold. Come and break your treaty with Baasha king of Israel, so he will depart from me.”

²⁰ So Ben-Hadad listened to King Asa and sent the commanders of his armies against the cities of Israel and conquered Ijon, Dan, Abel Beth Maakah, and all Kinnereth, along with all the land of Naphtali. ²¹ When Baasha heard about it, he halted the fortification of Ramah and moved to Tirzah. ²² Then King Asa made a proclamation throughout all Judah—none was exempted—and they took away the stones of Ramah and the timber with which Baasha had built, and King Asa used them to build Geba of Benjamin as well as Mizpah.

²³ The rest of all the acts of Asa and all his might and all that he did and the cities that he built, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? When he was old, he got a disease in his feet. ²⁴ Asa then slept with his fathers and was buried with them in the city of his father David, and Jehoshaphat his son reigned in his place.

Nadab, King of Israel

²⁵ Nadab the son of Jeroboam began to reign over Israel in the second year of Asa king of Judah and reigned over Israel two years. ²⁶ He did evil in the sight of the Lord and walked in the way of his father and in his sin with which he made Israel to sin.

²⁷ Baasha the son of Ahijah of the house of Issachar conspired against him, and Baasha killed him at Gibbethon, which belonged to the Philistines, for Nadab and all Israel laid siege to Gibbethon. ²⁸ It was in the third year of Asa king of Judah that Baasha killed him and took his throne.

²⁹ When he became king, Baasha killed all the house of Jeroboam. No one from Jeroboam’s family was left breathing. He completely destroyed them, according to the word of the Lord which He spoke by His servant Ahijah the Shilonite, ³⁰ because of the sins of Jeroboam which he sinned and which he made Israel sin, by his provocation with which he provoked the Lord God of Israel to anger.

³¹ Now the rest of the acts of Nadab and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel? ³² And there was war between Asa and Baasha king of Israel all their days.

Baasha, King of Israel

³³ In the third year of Asa king of Judah, Baasha the son of Ahijah began to reign over all Israel in Tirzah, and he did so twenty-four years. ³⁴ He did evil in the sight of the Lord and walked in the way of Jeroboam and in his sin with which he made Israel to sin.

16 Then the word of the Lord came to Jehu the son of Hanani against Baasha, saying, ² “I exalted you out of the dust and made you prince over My people Israel, and you have walked in the way of Jeroboam and have made My people Israel to sin, to provoke Me to anger with their sins. ³ See, I will take away the posterity of Baasha and the posterity of his house and will make your house like the house of Jeroboam the son of Nebat. ⁴ Those from the house of Baasha who die in the city will be eaten by dogs, and those who die in the fields will be eaten by the birds of the air.”

⁵ Now the rest of the acts of Baasha and what he did and his might, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel? ⁶ So Baasha slept with his fathers and was buried in Tirzah, and Elah his son reigned in his place.

⁷ And so it was by the hand of the prophet Jehu the son of Hanani that the word of the Lord came against Baasha and his house, for all the evil that he did in the sight of the Lord in provoking Him to anger with the work of his hands because he acted like the house of Jeroboam and also because he killed it.

Elah, King of Israel

⁸ In the twenty-sixth year of Asa king of Judah, Elah the son of Baasha began to reign over Israel in Tirzah, and he did so two years.

⁹ His servant Zimri, commander of half his chariots, conspired against him, and when he was in Tirzah, drinking himself drunk in the house of Arza, manager of his house in Tirzah, ¹⁰ Zimri went in and smote him and killed him. This took place in the twenty-seventh year of Asa king of Judah, and Zimri reigned in his place.

¹¹ When he began to reign, as soon as he was seated on his throne, he executed all the household of Baasha. He left no males, neither of his relatives nor of his friends. ¹² Thus Zimri destroyed all the house of Baasha, according to the word of the Lord which He spoke against Baasha by Jehu the prophet, ¹³ because of all the sins of Baasha and the sins of Elah his son, by which they sinned and by which they made Israel to sin in provoking the Lord God of Israel to anger with their vanities.

¹⁴ Now the rest of the acts of Elah and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel?

Zimri, King of Israel

¹⁵ In the twenty-seventh year of Asa king of Judah, Zimri reigned seven days in Tirzah. Now the troops were encamped against Gibbethon, which belonged to the Philistines. ¹⁶ The troops who were encamped heard how Zimri had conspired and had slain the king. As a result, all Israel made Omri, the commander of the army, king over Israel that day in the camp. ¹⁷ Omri went up from Gibbethon and all Israel with him, and they besieged Tirzah. ¹⁸ When Zimri saw that the city had fallen, he went into the citadel of the king’s house and burned the king’s house over him with fire, and he died, ¹⁹ because of his sins which he sinned in doing evil in the sight of the Lord, in walking in the way of Jeroboam and in his sin which he did to make Israel to sin.

²⁰ Now the rest of the acts of Zimri and his treason, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel?

Omri, King of Israel

²¹ Then the people of Israel were divided into two parts. Half of the people followed Tibni the son of Ginath to make him king, and half followed Omri. ²² But the people who followed Omri defeated the people who followed Tibni, the son of Ginath. So Tibni died, and Omri reigned.

²³ In the thirty-first year of Asa king of Judah, Omri began to reign over Israel, and he did so twelve years. He reigned six years in Tirzah. ²⁴ He bought the hill of Samaria from Shemer for two talents^[ac] of silver. He fortified the hill and named the city he built after the name of Shemer, owner of the hill, calling it “Samaria.”

²⁵ But Omri did evil in the eyes of the Lord and did worse than all who preceded him, ²⁶ for he walked in all the ways of Jeroboam the son of Nebat and in his sin with which he made Israel to sin to provoke the Lord God of Israel to anger with their vanities.

²⁷ Now the rest of the acts Omri performed and his might that he showed, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel? ²⁸ So Omri slept with his fathers and was buried in Samaria, and Ahab his son reigned in his place.

Ahab Reigns in Israel

²⁹ In the thirty-eighth year of Asa king of Judah, Ahab the son of Omri began to reign over Israel, and Ahab the son of Omri reigned over Israel in Samaria twenty-two years. ³⁰ Ahab the son of Omri did more evil in the sight of the Lord than all who were before him. ³¹ The sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat were seen as minor for him to walk in, for he took Jezebel the daughter of Ethbaal, king of the Sidonians, as his wife and went and served Baal and worshipped him. ³² He raised an altar for Baal in the house of Baal, which he had built in Samaria. ³³ Ahab made an Asherah and did more to provoke the Lord God of Israel to anger than all the kings of Israel who preceded him.

³⁴ In his days, Hiel the Bethelite built Jericho. He laid the foundation at the expense of his firstborn Abiram and set up the gates at the cost of the life of his youngest son Segub, according to the word of the Lord, which He spoke by Joshua the son of Nun.

Elijah’s Prediction of Drought

17 Now Elijah the Tishbite, who was one of the inhabitants of Gilead, said to Ahab, “As the Lord God of Israel lives before whom I stand, there will not be dew or rain these years except by my word.”

² The word of the Lord came to him, saying, ³ “Go from here and turn eastward and hide by the Kerith brook, which is east of the Jordan. ⁴ You shall drink from the brook, and I have commanded the ravens to feed you there.”

⁵ So he went and did according to the word of the Lord, for he went and lived by the Kerith brook, which is east of the Jordan. ⁶ The ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning and bread and meat in the evening, and he drank from the brook.

The Widow of Zarephath

⁷ After some time, the brook dried up because there had been no rain in the land. ⁸ The word of the Lord came to him, saying, ⁹ “Arise, go to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and live there. I have commanded a widow there to provide for you.” ¹⁰ So he got up and went to Zarephath, and when he came to the gate of the city, a widow was there gathering sticks. He called to her and said, “Please get a small cup of water for me to drink.” ¹¹ As she was going to get it, he called to her and said, “Please bring me a morsel of bread in your hand.”

¹² She said, “As the Lord your God lives, I do not have bread, but only a handful of meal in a barrel and a little oil in a jar. I am gathering two sticks, that I can go in and make it for me and my son, so we may eat it and die.”

¹³ Elijah said to her, “Do not fear; go and do as you have said, but make a little cake for me first, and bring it to me, and afterward, make some for your son and you, ¹⁴ for thus says the Lord God of Israel: The barrel of meal will not run out, nor will the jar of oil empty, until the day that the Lord sends rain upon the earth.”

¹⁵ She went and did what Elijah told her to do, and she, he, and her household ate many days. ¹⁶ The barrel of meal did not run out, nor did the jar of oil empty, according to the word of the Lord, which He spoke by Elijah.

¹⁷ Later on, the son of the woman, the mistress of the house, became terribly sick, so much so that he had no breath left in him. ¹⁸ She said to Elijah, “What do I have to do with you, O you man of God? Have you come to remind me of my sin and to kill my son?”

¹⁹ And he said to her, “Give me your son,” and he took him out of her arms and carried him up to a loft where he slept and laid him on his own bed. ²⁰ He cried to the Lord and said, “O Lord, my God, have You brought tragedy upon the widow with whom I live by killing her son?” ²¹ And he stretched himself upon the child three times and cried to the Lord and said, “O Lord, my God, I pray that You let this child’s soul come into him again.”

²² The Lord heard the voice of Elijah, and the soul of the child came into him again, and he was revived. ²³ Elijah took the child and brought him down out of the chamber into the house and returned him to his mother, and Elijah said, “See, your son lives!”

²⁴ The woman said to Elijah, “Now, because of this, I know that you are a man of God, and that the word of the Lord in your mouth is truth!”

Elijah Confronts Ahab

18 After many days, in the third year, the word of the Lord came to Elijah, saying, “Go and present yourself to Ahab, and I will send rain upon the earth.” ² Elijah went to show himself to Ahab.

And there was a great famine in Samaria. ³ Ahab called Obadiah, who was the governor of his house. (Now Obadiah feared the Lord greatly. ⁴ When Jezebel killed the prophets of the Lord, Obadiah took a hundred prophets and hid them in groups of fifty in a cave and fed them with bread and water.) ⁵ And Ahab said to Obadiah, “Go into the land, to all the springs of water and to all the brooks. Perhaps we will find grass to save the horses and mules, so that we do not lose all the beasts.” ⁶ So they divided the land between them to search throughout it. Ahab went one way by himself, and Obadiah went another way by himself.

⁷ As Obadiah was going along, he met Elijah, and he recognized him and fell on his face and said, “Is that you, my lord Elijah?”

⁸ And he answered him, “I am. Go, tell your lord, ‘Elijah is here.’ ”

⁹ He said, “What evil have I done that you would hand your servant into the hand of Ahab to put me to death? ¹⁰ As the Lord your God lives, there is no nation or kingdom where my lord has not looked for you, and when they said, ‘He is not here,’ he made the kingdom and nation swear that they could not find you, ¹¹ and now you say, ‘Go, tell your lord, “Elijah is here!” ’ ¹² As soon as I am gone from you, the Spirit of the Lord will carry you to a place I do not know, and so when I come and tell Ahab and he cannot find you, he will execute me. But I, your servant, have feared the Lord since my youth. ¹³ Were you not told what I did when Jezebel killed the prophets of the Lord, how I hid a hundred men of the Lord’s prophets in groups of fifty in a cave and fed them with bread and water? ¹⁴ And now you say, ‘Go, tell your lord, “Elijah is here,” ’ and he will execute me.”

¹⁵ Elijah said, “As the Lord of Hosts lives, before whom I stand, I will surely show myself to him today.”

Elijah and the Prophets of Baal

¹⁶ So Obadiah went to meet Ahab and told him. And Ahab went to meet Elijah. ¹⁷ When Ahab saw Elijah, Ahab said to him, “Are you he that troubles Israel?”

¹⁸ And he answered, “I have not troubled Israel, but you and your father’s house, in that you have forsaken the commandments of the Lord and you have followed the Baals. ¹⁹ Now send word out and gather for me all Israel on Mount Carmel, along with the four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal and the four hundred prophets of Asherah who eat at Jezebel’s table.”

²⁰ So Ahab called out all the children of Israel and gathered the prophets together on Mount Carmel. ²¹ Elijah came to all the people and said, “How long will you stay between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow Him, but if Baal, then follow him.”

And the people did not say a word.

²² Then Elijah said to the people, “I alone remain a prophet of the Lord, but Baal’s prophets number four hundred and fifty men. ²³ Therefore, let them give us two bulls, and let them choose one bull for themselves and cut it in pieces and lay it on some wood, but do not light a fire under it, and I will prepare the other bull, lay it on some wood, and not light a fire underneath it. ²⁴ And you call on the name of your gods, and I will call on the name of the Lord, and the God that answers by fire, let Him be God.”

And all the people answered and said, “It is well spoken.”

²⁵ Elijah said to the prophets of Baal, “Choose one bull for yourselves and prepare it first, for there are many of you, and call on the name of your god, but do not light a fire underneath.”

²⁶ They took the bull which was given to them, and they prepared it and called on the name of Baal from morning until noon, saying, “O Baal, hear us.” But there was no voice, and no one answered. And they leaped upon the altar which was made.

²⁷ By noon, Elijah mocked them, saying, “Cry out loud, for he is a god. Either he is talking or is gone away or is on a journey, or perhaps he is asleep and needs to be awakened.” ²⁸ They cried out loud and cut themselves with knives and spears according to their custom until the blood gushed out on them. ²⁹ And as midday passed, they prophesied until the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice. But there was no voice. No one answered; no one paid attention.

³⁰ Elijah said to all the people, “Come near to me.” And all the people came near to him. And he repaired the altar of the Lord that was broken down. ³¹ Elijah took twelve stones, according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob, to whom the word of the Lord came saying, “Israel shall be your name,” ³² and he built an altar in the name of the Lord with stones, and he made a trench around the altar, so deep that it could contain two seahs^[ad] of seed. ³³ He arranged the wood and cut the bull in pieces and laid him on the wood and said, “Fill four barrels with water, and pour it on the burnt sacrifice and on the wood.”

³⁴ He said, “Do it a second time,” and they did it a second time.

And he said, “Do it a third time,” and they did it the third time. ³⁵ The water ran all around the altar and also filled the trench with water.

³⁶ At the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice, Elijah the prophet came near and said, “The Lord, God of Abraham, Isaac, and of Israel, let it be known this day that You are God in Israel and that I am Your servant and that I have done all these things at Your word. ³⁷ Hear me, O Lord, hear me, so that this people may know that You are the Lord God and that You have turned their hearts back again.”

³⁸ Then the fire of the Lord fell and consumed the burnt sacrifice and the wood and the stones and the dust and licked up the water that was in the trench.

³⁹ When all the people saw it, they fell on their faces and said, “The Lord, He is God! The Lord, He is God!”

⁴⁰ Elijah said to them, “Arrest the prophets of Baal, and do not let one of them escape.” And they arrested them, and Elijah brought them down to the Kishon brook and executed them there.

End of the Drought

⁴¹ Elijah said to Ahab, “Get up, eat and drink, for there is a sound of a heavy rainfall.” ⁴² So Ahab got up to eat and drink. And Elijah went up to the top of Carmel, and he threw himself down on the ground and put his face between his knees.

⁴³ And he said to his servant, “Go up now, and look toward the sea.”

And he went up and looked and said, “There is nothing.”

And he said, “Go again,” seven times.

⁴⁴ On the seventh time, he said, “A small cloud as small as a man’s hand is rising out of the sea.”

And he said, “Go up and say to Ahab, ‘Mount your chariot and get down, so that the rain does not stop you.’ ”

⁴⁵ In the meantime, the sky turned black with clouds and wind, and there was a great rain. And Ahab rode and went to Jezreel. ⁴⁶ The hand of the Lord was on Elijah, and he girded up his loins and ran ahead of Ahab to the entrance of Jezreel.