Beginning

The Queen of Sheba Visits Jerusalem^(A)

9 When the queen of Sheba heard about Solomon’s reputation, she traveled to Jerusalem and tested him^[a] with difficult questions. She brought along a large retinue, camels laden with spices, and lots of gold and precious stones. Upon her arrival, she spoke with Solomon about everything that was on her mind.^{[b] 2} Solomon answered all of her questions. Because nothing was hidden from Solomon, he hid nothing from her. ³ When the queen of Sheba had seen Solomon’s wisdom for herself, the palace that he had built, ⁴ the food set at his table, his servants who waited on him, his ministers in attendance and how they were dressed, his personal staff^[c] and how they were dressed, and even his personal stairway by which he went up to the Lord’s Temple, she was breathless!

⁵ “Everything I heard about your wisdom and what you have to say is true!” she gasped, ⁶ “but I didn’t believe it at first! But then I came here and I’ve seen it for myself! It’s amazing! I wasn’t told half of what’s really great about your wisdom. You’re far better in person than what the reports have said about you! ⁷ How blessed are your staff! And how blessed are your employees,^[d] who serve you continually and get to listen to your wisdom! ⁸ Blessed be the Lord your God, who is delighted with you! He set you in place on his throne to be king for the Lord your God. He made you king over them so you could carry out justice and implement righteousness, because your God loves Israel and intends to establish them^[e] forever.”

⁹ Then she gave the king 120 talents^[f] of gold, a vast quantity of spices, and precious stones. There were no spices comparable to those that the queen of Sheba gave to King Solomon. ¹⁰ Hiram’s servants and Solomon’s servants, who brought gold from Ophir,^[g] also presented algum wood^[h] and other precious stones. ¹¹ The king used the algum wood^[i] to have steps made for the Lord’s Temple and for the royal palace, as well as lyres and harps for the choir,^[j] and nothing like that wood^[k] had been seen before in the territory of Judah. ¹² In return, King Solomon gave the queen of Sheba everything she wanted and requested in addition to what she had brought for the king. Afterward, she returned to her own land, accompanied by her servants.

Solomon’s Wealth^(B)

¹³ Solomon received in any given year about 666 talents^[l] of gold, ¹⁴ not including revenue from traders and merchants. In addition, all the kings of Arabia and the governors of the nation brought gold and silver to Solomon. ¹⁵ King Solomon made 200 large shields of beaten gold, overlaying each shield with the gold from 600 gold pieces,^{[m] 16} and 300 shields from beaten gold, overlaying each shield with the gold from 300 gold pieces.^[n] The king put them in his palace in the Lebanon forest. ¹⁷ The king also made a great ivory throne and overlaid it with pure gold. ¹⁸ Six steps led up to the throne. A golden footstool was attached to the throne, which had armrests on each side of the seat and two lions standing on either side of each armrest. ¹⁹ Twelve lions were placed on both sides of the six steps leading to the throne,^[o] and nothing comparable was made for any other^[p] kingdom. ²⁰ All of King Solomon’s drinking vessels were made of^[q] gold, and all the vessels in his palace in the Lebanon forest were made of^[r] pure gold. Silver was never considered to be valuable during the lifetime of Solomon, ²¹ because the king had ships that sailed to Tarshish accompanied by Hiram’s servants. Once every three years ships from Tarshish returned, bringing gold, silver, ivory, apes, and peacocks.

²² As a result, King Solomon became greater than all the kings of the earth in regards to wealth and wisdom. ²³ All the kings of the earth continued to seek audiences with Solomon so they could hear the wise things that God had put in his heart. ²⁴ Everyone kept on bringing gifts on an annual basis, including items made of silver and gold, garments, myrrh, spices, horses, and mules. ²⁵ Solomon had 4,000 stalls for horses and chariots, along with 12,000 cavalry soldiers. He stationed them in various chariot cities and with the king in Jerusalem. ²⁶ King Solomon^[s] ruled over all the kings from the Euphrates^[t] River west^[u] to the land of the Philistines and as far south as the boundary with Egypt.

²⁷ The king made silver as common as^[v] stones in Jerusalem, and made cedar trees as abundant as sycamore trees in the Shephelah.^{[w] 28} They also kept bringing horses to Solomon from Egypt and from all of the surrounding^[x] countries.

The Death of Solomon^(C)

²⁹ Now the rest of Solomon’s accomplishments, from first to last, are written in the records of Nathan the prophet, in the prophecy of Ahijah the Shilonite, and in the visions of Iddo the seer pertaining to Nebat’s son Jeroboam, are they not? ³⁰ Solomon reigned for 40 years in Jerusalem over all of Israel. ³¹ Then Solomon died, as had^[y] his ancestors, and his son Rehoboam reigned in his place.

Rehoboam’s Foolish Choices^(D)

10 Rehoboam traveled to Shechem, because all of Israel went there to install him as king. ² Nebat’s son Jeroboam heard about it in Egypt, where he had fled to get away from Solomon the king. Jeroboam returned from Egypt ³ after being summoned. When Jeroboam and all of Israel arrived, they spoke to Rehoboam, ⁴ “Your father made our burdens unbearable.^[z] Therefore you must lighten your father’s requirements and his heavy burden that he placed on us, and we’ll serve you.”

⁵ “Come back again in three days,” Rehoboam^[aa] told them. So the people left ⁶ while King Rehoboam conferred with his advisors who had worked with his father Solomon during his administration. He asked them, “What is your advice as to what response I should return to these people?”

⁷ In reply, they told him, “If you will be kind to this people, please them, and speak appropriately to them with kind words, they’ll serve you forever.”

⁸ But Rehoboam^[ab] ignored the counsel that his elder advisors had given him. Instead, he consulted the younger men who had grown up with him and worked for^[ac] him. ⁹ As a result, he asked them, “What’s your advice, so we can give an answer to these people who have asked me, ‘Please lighten the burden that your father put on us’?”

¹⁰ “This is what you should tell the people who asked you: ‘Your father made our burden heavy, but you must make it lighter for us!’” the young men who had grown up with Rehoboam^[ad] replied. “Tell them ‘My little finger will be thicker than my father’s whole body!^{[ae] 11} Not only that, but since my father loaded you down heavily, I’m going to add to that burden. If my father disciplined you with whips, I’m going to do so^[af] with scorpions!’”

¹² So Jeroboam and all the people went back to Rehoboam on the third day, just as they had been directed when the king said, “Come back again in three days.” ¹³ But the king answered them strictly and ignored the counsel of his elders. ¹⁴ Instead, Rehoboam^[ag] spoke to them along the lines of what the younger men suggested. He told them, “My father burdened you heavily, but I will add to that burden. If my father disciplined you with whips, I will, too—with scorpions!”

¹⁵ The king would not listen to the people because the turn of events was from God, so that the Lord might fulfill his prediction that he spoke through Nebat’s son Ahijah the Shilonite. ¹⁶ All of Israel—since the king wasn’t going to listen to them—the people responded to the king, “What’s the point in following David? We have no inheritance in the descendants of Jesse. Let’s go home,^[ah] Israel! David, take care of your own household!” So all of Israel left for home.^{[ai] 17} And so Rehoboam ruled over the Israelis who lived in the cities of Judah.

¹⁸ King Rehoboam sent Hadoram, who was in charge of conscripted labor, but the Israelis stoned him to death, and King Rehoboam had to jump in his chariot and flee back in a hurry to Jerusalem. ¹⁹ That’s how Israel came to be in rebellion against David’s dynasty to this day.

Rehoboam Reigns over Judah Only^(E)

11 When Rehoboam returned to Jerusalem, he gathered together 180,000 specially chosen soldiers from the households of Judah and Benjamin to fight against Israel and restore the kingdom to Rehoboam. ² But a message from the Lord came to Shemaiah, a man of God: ³ “Tell Solomon’s son Rehoboam, king of Judah and all of Israel in Judah and Benjamin: ⁴ ‘This is what the Lord says: “You are not to fight or even to approach your relatives in battle. Every soldier is to return to his own home, for this development comes from me.”’” So they listened to what the Lord had to say and called off their attack on Jeroboam.

⁵ Rehoboam continued to live in Jerusalem and built defensive fortification cities throughout Judah, ⁶ including Bethlehem, Etam, Tekoa, ⁷ Beth-zur, Soco, Adullam, ⁸ Gath, Mareshah, Ziph, ⁹ Adoraim, Lachish, Azekah, ¹⁰ Zorah, Aijalon, and Hebron. These were all fortified cities throughout Judah and Benjamin. ¹¹ He also strengthened the fortified cities, assigned officers to them, and stockpiled food, oil, and wine. ¹² He also stockpiled shields and spears in every city and fortified them greatly to secure his rule over Judah and Benjamin.

The Priests and Levites Support Rehoboam^(F)

¹³ The priests and descendants of Levi throughout Israel also supported him in their districts, ¹⁴ because the descendants of Levi left their pasture lands and their property to live in Judah and Jerusalem, since Jeroboam and his sons had excluded them from participating in priestly services to the Lord. ¹⁵ Jeroboam had appointed his own priests to serve at the high places and to serve the satyrs^[aj] and calves that he had made. ¹⁶ As a result, anyone from all of the tribes of Israel who was determined to seek the Lord God of Israel followed the descendants of Levi^[ak] to Jerusalem so they could sacrifice to the Lord God of their ancestors, ¹⁷ and they continued to strengthen the kingdom of Judah, supporting Solomon’s son Rehoboam for three years, by living^[al] the way David and Solomon did for three years.

Rehoboam’s Wives and Children

¹⁸ Rehoboam married Mahalath, the daughter of David’s son Jerimoth, along with Abihail, the daughter of Jesse’s son Eliab, ¹⁹ who bore him these sons: Jeush, Shemariah, and Zaham. ²⁰ After this he married Absalom’s daughter Maacah, who bore him Abijah, Attai, Ziza, and Shelomith. ²¹ Rehoboam loved Absalom’s daughter Maacah more than he did all of his wives and mistresses. (He married eighteen wives and 60 concubines, fathering 28 sons and 60 daughters.) ²² Later, Rehoboam appointed Abijah, his son from Maacah, as senior family leader among his brothers, since he intended to establish Abijah^[am] as king. ²³ Rehoboam^[an] was wise to distribute some of his children throughout all of the territories of Judah and Benjamin, placing them in all of the fortified cities. He allotted them abundant supplies of food and sought many wives for them.^[ao]

Shishak Invades Judah^(G)

12 At the height of his power, after he had consolidated his rule, Rehoboam abandoned the Lord’s Law, along with all of Israel with him. ² Because he had been unfaithful to the Lord, during the fifth year of King Rehoboam’s reign, King Shishak of Egypt attacked Jerusalem ³ with 1,200 chariots and 60,000 cavalry. The Lubim, Sukkiim, and the Ethiopians who invaded from Egypt with Shishak^[ap] were innumerable. ⁴ Shishak^[aq] captured the fortified cities of Judah and invaded as far as Jerusalem.

⁵ Right then, Shemaiah the prophet approached Rehoboam and the princes of Judah who had gathered together in Jerusalem because of Shishak, and he told them, “This is what the Lord says: ‘You abandoned me, so I’ve abandoned you to Shishak.’”

⁶ In response, the princes of Israel and the king humbled themselves and declared, “The Lord is righteous.”

⁷ When the Lord observed that they had humbled themselves, the Lord spoke to Shemaiah, “They have humbled themselves, so I won’t destroy them. Instead, I’ll grant them some deliverance by not pouring out my indignation on Jerusalem, using Shishak to do it. ⁸ Nevertheless, they will become his slaves so they may learn to differentiate between what it means to serve me and to serve the kingdoms of these nations.” ⁹ So King Shishak of Egypt invaded Jerusalem and looted the treasure stores in the Lord’s Temple and in the royal palace. He took everything, including the golden shields that Solomon had made. ¹⁰ After this, King Rehoboam made shields out of bronze to take their place, committing them to the care and custody of the commanders of those who guarded the entrance to the royal palace. ¹¹ As often as the king entered the Lord’s Temple, the guards came and transported the shields^[ar] to the Temple^[as] and then brought them back to the guard’s quarters. ¹² After he had humbled himself, the Lord stopped being angry with him, and did not destroy Rehoboam^[at] completely. Furthermore, conditions became good in Judah.

The Death of Rehoboam^(H)

¹³ King Rehoboam consolidated his reign in Jerusalem. Rehoboam was 41 years old when he began to reign, and he reigned for seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city that that Lord had chosen from all the tribes of Israel in which to establish his name. Rehoboam’s mother was Naamah from Ammon. ¹⁴ He practiced evil by not setting his heart to seek the Lord. ¹⁵ Now Rehoboam’s accomplishments, from first to last, are written in the records of Shemaiah the prophet and of Iddo the seer, enrolled by genealogy, are they not? ¹⁶ Later, Rehoboam died, as had his ancestors, and his son Abijah became king to replace him.