Beginning

The Queen of Sheba

9 ^(A)Now the queen of Sheba heard the report about Solomon. So she came to Jerusalem to test Solomon with riddles. She had a very glorious retinue, with camels carrying spices and a large amount of gold and precious stones. And she came to Solomon and spoke with him about all that was in her heart. ² And Solomon declared to her the answer to all her matters; and not a matter was hidden from Solomon which he did not declare to her. ³ Then the queen of Sheba saw the wisdom of Solomon, the house which he had built, ⁴ the food at his table, the seating of his servants, the disposition of his attendants and their attire, his cupbearers and their attire, and ^[a]his stairway by which he went up to the house of Yahweh, so that there was no more spirit in her. ⁵ Then she said to the king, “The word is true which I heard in my own land about your words and your wisdom. ⁶ Nevertheless I did not believe their words until I came and my eyes had seen it. And behold, the half of the greatness of your wisdom was not declared to me. You exceed the report which I heard. ⁷ How ^[b]blessed are your men, how ^[c]blessed are these your servants who stand before you continually and hear your wisdom. ⁸ Blessed be Yahweh your God who delighted in you, ^(B)to set you on His throne as king for Yahweh your God; ^(C)because your God loved Israel to cause them to stand forever, therefore He gave you as king over them, to do justice and righteousness.” ⁹ Then she gave the king ^[d]120 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 Also, the servants of Huram and the servants of Solomon, ^(D)who brought gold from Ophir, brought algum trees and precious stones. ¹¹ And the king made of the algum trees steps for the house of Yahweh and for the king’s house, and lyres and harps for the singers; and none like that was seen before in the land of Judah.

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

Solomon’s Riches and Wisdom

^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 And King Solomon made 200 large shields of beaten gold, ^[e]using ^[f]600 shekels of beaten gold on each large shield. ¹⁶ And he made 300 shields of beaten gold, ^[g]using ^[h]300 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 And there were six steps to the throne and a footstool in gold attached to the throne, and ^[i]arms ^[j]on each side of the seat, and two lions standing beside the ^[k]arms. ¹⁹ Twelve lions were also standing there on the six steps on the one side and on the other; nothing like it was made for any other kingdom. ²⁰ Now 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 ^[l]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 carrying 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)And they brought every man his present, articles of silver and gold, garments, weapons, spices, horses and mules, a set amount year by year.

²⁵ And 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)And he was the ruler over all the kings from the ^[m]River even to the land of the Philistines, and to the border of Egypt. ^27 (L)The king also made silver as plentiful as stones in Jerusalem, and he made cedars as plentiful as sycamore trees that are in the ^[n]Shephelah. ^28 (M)And they were importing horses for Solomon from Egypt and from all countries.

The Death of Solomon

^29 (N)Now the rest of the acts of Solomon, from first to last, ^(O)are they not written in the ^[o]chronicles of Nathan the prophet, and in the prophecy of Ahijah the Shilonite, and in the visions of ^[p]Iddo the seer concerning Jeroboam the son of Nebat? ^30 (P)Thus Solomon reigned forty years in Jerusalem over all Israel. ³¹ And Solomon slept with his fathers and was buried in ^(Q)the city of his father David; and his son Rehoboam became king in his place.

Rehoboam’s Foolish Reign

10 ^(R)Then Rehoboam went to Shechem, for all Israel had come to Shechem to make him king. ² And it happened, when Jeroboam the son of Nebat heard of it (for ^(S)he was in Egypt where he had fled from the presence of King Solomon), Jeroboam returned from Egypt. ³ Then they sent and called for him. And Jeroboam and all Israel came and spoke to Rehoboam, saying, ⁴ “Your father made our ^(T)yoke harsh; but now, lighten the harsh service of your father and his heavy yoke which he put on us, and we will serve you.” ⁵ Then he said to them, “Return to me again in three days.” So the people went away.

⁶ Then King Rehoboam ^(U)took counsel with the elders who had ^[q]stood before his father Solomon while he was still alive, saying, “How do you counsel me to respond to this people?” ⁷ And they spoke to him, saying, “If you will be good to this people and please them and ^(V)speak good words to them, then they will be your servants forever.” ⁸ But he ^(W)forsook the counsel of the elders which they had counseled him, and took counsel with the young men who grew up with him and ^[r]stood before him. ⁹ So he said to them, “What counsel do you give that we may respond to this people, who have spoken to me, saying, ‘Lighten the yoke which your father put on us’?” ¹⁰ Then the young men who grew up with him spoke with him, saying, “Thus you shall say to the people who spoke to you, saying, ‘Your father made our yoke heavy, but you make it lighter for us.’ Thus you shall say to them, ‘My little finger is thicker than my father’s loins! ¹¹ So now my father loaded you with a heavy yoke, but I will add to your yoke; my father disciplined you with whips, but I will discipline you with scorpions.’”

¹² So Jeroboam and all the people came to Rehoboam on the third day as the king had spoken, saying, “Return to me on the third day.” ¹³ And the king answered them harshly, and King Rehoboam forsook the counsel of the elders, ¹⁴ and he spoke to them according to the counsel of the young men, saying, “^[s]My father made your yoke heavy, but I will add to it; my father disciplined you with whips, but I will discipline you with scorpions.” ¹⁵ So the king did not listen to the people, ^(X)for it was a turn of events from God, ^(Y)that Yahweh might establish His word, which He spoke through Ahijah the Shilonite to Jeroboam the son of Nebat.

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

^(AA)So all Israel went to their tents. ¹⁷ But as for the sons of Israel who lived in the cities of Judah, Rehoboam reigned over them. ¹⁸ Then King Rehoboam sent Hadoram, who was ^(AB)over the forced labor, and the sons of Israel ^[t]stoned him and he died. And King Rehoboam made haste to mount his chariot to flee to Jerusalem. ¹⁹ So ^(AC)Israel has been in rebellion against the house of David to this day.

Rehoboam Builds Cities for Fortification

11 ^(AD)Then Rehoboam came to Jerusalem and assembled the house of Judah and Benjamin, 180,000 chosen men who could wage war, to fight against Israel to return the kingdom to Rehoboam. ² But the word of Yahweh came to ^(AE)Shemaiah the man of God, saying, ³ “Speak to Rehoboam the son of Solomon, king of Judah, and to all Israel in Judah and Benjamin, saying, ⁴ ‘Thus says Yahweh, “You shall not go up and fight against ^(AF)your brothers; return every man to his house, ^(AG)for this thing is from Me.”’” So they listened to the words of Yahweh and returned from going against Jeroboam.

⁵ Rehoboam lived in Jerusalem and ^(AH)built cities for fortifications in Judah. ⁶ Thus he built Bethlehem, Etam, Tekoa, ⁷ Beth-zur, Soco, Adullam, ⁸ Gath, Mareshah, Ziph, ⁹ Adoraim, Lachish, Azekah, ¹⁰ Zorah, Aijalon and Hebron, which are fortified cities in Judah and in Benjamin. ¹¹ He also strengthened the fortresses and put officers in them and stores of food, oil and wine. ¹² And he put large shields and spears in every city and strengthened them greatly. So he held Judah and Benjamin.

¹³ Moreover, the priests and the Levites who were in all Israel took their stand with him from all their territories.

Jeroboam Sets Up His Own Priests

¹⁴ For ^(AI)the Levites left their pasture lands and their possession of land and went to Judah and Jerusalem, for ^(AJ)Jeroboam and his sons had rejected them from ministering as priests to Yahweh— ^15 (AK)And he set up priests of his own for the high places, for the goat demons and for the calves which he had made— ^16 (AL)Now those from all the tribes of Israel who gave their hearts to seek Yahweh, the God of Israel, ^[u]followed them to Jerusalem, to sacrifice to Yahweh, the God of their fathers. ^17 (AM)They strengthened the kingdom of Judah and gave courage to Rehoboam the son of Solomon for three years, for they walked in the way of David and Solomon for three years.

Rehoboam’s Family

¹⁸ Then Rehoboam took as a wife Mahalath the daughter of Jerimoth the son of David and of Abihail the daughter of ^(AN)Eliab the son of Jesse, ¹⁹ and she bore him sons: Jeush, Shemariah, and Zaham. ²⁰ And after her he took ^(AO)Maacah the daughter of ^[v]Absalom, and she bore him Abijah, Attai, Ziza, and Shelomith. ²¹ And Rehoboam loved Maacah the daughter of Absalom more than all his other wives and concubines. For ^(AP)he had taken eighteen wives and sixty concubines and became the father of twenty-eight sons and sixty daughters. ^22 (AQ)And Rehoboam set up Abijah the son of Maacah to be head and ruler among his brothers, for he intended to make him king. ²³ And he acted with discernment and distributed ^[w]some of his sons through all the lands of Judah and Benjamin to all the fortified cities, and he gave them sustenance in abundance. And he sought a multitude of wives for them.

Shishak of Egypt Comes Against Judah

12 ^(AR)Now it happened that when the kingdom of Rehoboam was established and strong, ^(AS)he and all Israel with him forsook the law of Yahweh. ^2 (AT)Now it happened in the fifth year of King Rehoboam, because they had been unfaithful to Yahweh, that ^(AU)Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem ³ with 1,200 chariots and 60,000 horsemen. And the people who came with him from Egypt were without number: ^(AV)the Lubim, the Sukkiim and the Ethiopians. ⁴ And he captured ^(AW)the fortified cities of Judah and came as far as Jerusalem. ⁵ Now ^(AX)Shemaiah the prophet came to Rehoboam and the princes of Judah who had gathered at Jerusalem because of Shishak, and he said to them, “Thus says Yahweh, ‘^(AY)You have forsaken Me, so I also have forsaken you ^[x]to Shishak.’” ⁶ So the princes of Israel and the king humbled themselves and said, “^(AZ)Yahweh is righteous.”

⁷ When Yahweh saw that they humbled themselves, the word of Yahweh came to Shemaiah, saying, “^(BA)They have humbled themselves so I will not bring them to ruin, but I will grant them some measure of escape, and ^(BB)My wrath shall not be poured out on Jerusalem by the hand of Shishak. ⁸ But they will become his slaves so ^(BC)that they may know the difference between My slavery and the slavery of the kingdoms of the countries.”

Shishak Takes from Yahweh’s House

^9 (BD)So Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem, and took the treasures of the house of Yahweh and the treasures of the king’s house. He took everything; ^(BE)he even took the shields of gold which Solomon had made. ¹⁰ Then King Rehoboam made shields of bronze in their place and committed them to the hand of the commanders of the ^[y]guard who kept the door of the king’s house. ¹¹ Now it happened that as often as the king entered the house of Yahweh, the ^[z]guards would come and carry them and then bring them back into the ^[aa]guards’ room. ¹² And ^(BF)when he humbled himself, the anger of Yahweh turned away from him, so as not to ruin him completely; and also conditions ^(BG)were good in Judah.

^13 (BH)So King Rehoboam strengthened himself in Jerusalem and reigned. Now Rehoboam was forty-one years old when he became king, and he reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city which Yahweh had chosen from all the tribes of Israel to put His name there. And his mother’s name was Naamah the Ammonitess. ¹⁴ And he did evil ^(BI)because he did not set his heart to seek Yahweh.

^15 (BJ)Now the acts of Rehoboam, from first to last, are they not written in the ^[ab]records of ^(BK)Shemaiah the prophet and of ^(BL)Iddo the seer, according to genealogical record? Now there were wars between Rehoboam and Jeroboam all their days. ¹⁶ And Rehoboam slept with his fathers and was buried in the city of David; and ^(BM)Abijah his son became king in his place.