Visit of the Queen of Sheba

9 ^(A)Now when the queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon, she came to Jerusalem to test Solomon with difficult questions. She had a very large retinue, with camels carrying spices and a large amount of gold and precious stones; and when she came to Solomon, she spoke with him about all that was on her heart. ² Solomon ^[a]answered all her questions; nothing was hidden from Solomon which he did not ^[b]explain to her. ³ When the queen of Sheba had seen the wisdom of Solomon, the house which he had built, ⁴ the food at his table, the seating of his servants, the attendance of his ministers and their attire, his cupbearers and their attire, and ^[c]his stairway by which he went up to the house of the Lord, she was breathless. ⁵ Then she said to the king, “It was a true report which I heard in my own land about your words and your wisdom. ⁶ Nevertheless I did not believe their reports until I came and my eyes had seen it. And behold, the half of the greatness of your wisdom was not told me. You surpass the report that I heard. ⁷ How ^[d]blessed are your men, how ^[e]blessed are these your servants who stand before you continually and hear your wisdom. ⁸ Blessed be the Lord your God who delighted in you, ^(B)setting you on His throne as king for the Lord your God; ^(C)because your God loved Israel establishing them forever, therefore He made you king over them, to do justice and righteousness.” ⁹ Then she gave the king one hundred and twenty talents of gold and a very great amount of spices and precious stones; there had never been spice like that which the queen of Sheba gave to King Solomon.

¹⁰ The servants of Huram and the servants of Solomon ^(D)who brought gold from Ophir, also brought algum trees and precious stones. ¹¹ From the algum trees the king made steps for the house of the Lord and for the king’s palace, and lyres and harps for the singers; and none like that was seen before in the land of Judah.

¹² King Solomon gave to the queen of Sheba all her desire which she requested besides a return for what she had brought to the king. Then she turned and went to her own land with her servants.

Solomon’s Wealth and Power

^13 (E)Now the weight of gold which came to Solomon in one year was 666 talents of gold, ¹⁴ besides that which the traders and merchants brought; and all ^(F)the kings of Arabia and the governors of the country brought gold and silver to Solomon. ¹⁵ King Solomon made 200 large shields of beaten gold, ^[f]using 600 shekels of beaten gold on each large shield. ¹⁶ He made 300 shields of beaten gold, ^[g]using three hundred shekels of gold on each shield, and the king put them in the house of the forest of Lebanon.

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

^22 (H)So King Solomon became greater than all the kings of the earth in riches and wisdom. ²³ And all the kings of the earth were seeking the presence of Solomon, to hear his wisdom which God had put in his heart. ^24 (I)They brought every man his gift, articles of silver and gold, garments, weapons, spices, horses and mules, so much year by year.

²⁵ Now Solomon had ^(J)4,000 stalls for horses and chariots and 12,000 horsemen, and he stationed them in the chariot cities and with the king in Jerusalem. ^26 (K)He was the ruler over all the kings from the Euphrates River even to the land of the Philistines, and as far as the border of Egypt. ^27 (L)The king made silver as common as stones in Jerusalem, and he made cedars as plentiful as sycamore trees that are in the ^[l]lowland. ^28 (M)And they were bringing horses for Solomon from Egypt and from all countries.

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

Death of Solomon

³¹ And Solomon slept with his fathers and was buried in ^(Q)the city of his father David; and his son Rehoboam reigned in his place.

Prayer for Protection against Oppressors.

A Prayer of David.

The New Birth

3 Now there was a man of the Pharisees, named ^(A)Nicodemus, a ^(B)ruler of the Jews; ² this man came to Jesus by night and said to Him, “^(C)Rabbi, we know that You have come from God as a teacher; for no one can do these ^[a](D)signs that You do unless ^(E)God is with him.” ³ Jesus answered and said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one ^(F)is born ^[b]again he cannot see ^(G)the kingdom of God.”

⁴ Nicodemus *said to Him, “How can a man be born when he is old? He cannot enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born, can he?” ⁵ Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of ^(H)water and the Spirit he cannot enter into ^(I)the kingdom of God. ^6 (J)That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. ⁷ Do not be amazed that I said to you, ‘You must be born ^[c]again.’ ^8 (K)The wind blows where it wishes and you hear the sound of it, but do not know where it comes from and where it is going; so is everyone who is born of the Spirit.”

⁹ Nicodemus said to Him, “How can these things be?” ¹⁰ Jesus answered and said to him, “Are you ^(L)the teacher of Israel and do not understand these things? ¹¹ Truly, truly, I say to you, ^(M)we speak of what we know and ^(N)testify of what we have seen, and ^(O)you do not accept our testimony. ¹² If I told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things? ^13 (P)No one has ascended into heaven, but ^(Q)He who descended from heaven: ^(R)the Son of Man. ¹⁴ As ^(S)Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must ^(T)the Son of Man ^(U)be lifted up; ¹⁵ so that whoever ^[d]believes will ^(V)in Him have eternal life.

¹⁶ “For God so ^(W)loved the world, that He ^(X)gave His ^[e](Y)only begotten Son, that whoever ^(Z)believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. ¹⁷ For God ^(AA)did not send the Son into the world ^(AB)to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. ^18 (AC)He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of ^(AD)the ^[f]only begotten Son of God. ¹⁹ This is the judgment, that ^(AE)the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for ^(AF)their deeds were evil. ^20 (AG)For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. ²¹ But he who ^(AH)practices the truth comes to the Light, so that his deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in God.”

John’s Last Testimony

²² After these things Jesus and His ^(AI)disciples came into the land of Judea, and there He was spending time with them and ^(AJ)baptizing. ²³ John also was baptizing in Aenon near Salim, because there was much water there; and people were coming and were being baptized— ²⁴ for ^(AK)John had not yet been thrown into prison.

²⁵ Therefore there arose a discussion on the part of John’s disciples with a Jew about ^(AL)purification. ²⁶ And they came to John and said to him, “^(AM)Rabbi, He who was with you ^(AN)beyond the Jordan, to whom you ^(AO)have testified, behold, He is baptizing and all are coming to Him.” ²⁷ John answered and said, “^(AP)A man can receive nothing unless it ^(AQ)has been given him from heaven. ²⁸ You yourselves ^[g]are my witnesses that I said, ‘^(AR)I am not the ^[h]Christ,’ but, ‘I have been sent ahead of Him.’ ²⁹ He who has the bride is ^(AS)the bridegroom; but the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom’s voice. So this ^(AT)joy of mine has been made full. ³⁰ He must increase, but I must decrease.

³¹ “^(AU)He who comes from above is above all, ^(AV)he who is of the earth is from the earth and speaks of the earth. ^(AW)He who comes from heaven is above all. ³² What He has seen and heard, of that He ^(AX)testifies; and ^(AY)no one receives His testimony. ³³ He who has received His testimony ^(AZ)has set his seal to this, that God is true. ³⁴ For He whom God has ^(BA)sent speaks the words of God; ^[i](BB)for He gives the Spirit without measure. ^35 (BC)The Father loves the Son and ^(BD)has given all things into His hand. ³⁶ He who ^(BE)believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who ^(BF)does not ^[j]obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.”