Beginning

The Queen of Sheba

10 The Queen of Sheba heard news that Solomon was a great king who served the Lord.^[a] So she came to ask Solomon some difficult questions to see how wise he was. ² She arrived at Jerusalem with a big group of servants. She had many camels that carried spices. They also carried a lot of gold and valuable jewels. When she came to Solomon, she talked to him about everything that was in her mind. ³ Solomon answered all her questions. There was nothing that was too difficult for the king to explain to her. ⁴ The Queen of Sheba saw that Solomon was very wise.^[b] She saw the palace that he had built. ⁵ She saw all the food that he ate in his palace. She saw all his servants and officers and their beautiful clothes. She saw the servants who prepared his food and wine. She saw the burnt offerings that he offered in the Lord's temple. All these things caused her to hold her breath in surprise. ⁶ She said to the king, ‘In my own country I heard news about your wisdom and about all the things that you had done. Everything that I heard was true! ⁷ But I did not believe those things until I came here. Now I have seen everything with my own eyes, and it is true! Really, they told me less than half of what was true! You are even wiser and richer than the report that people told me. ⁸ God has blessed your people and your officers! They are always with you, and they can listen to your wise words. ⁹ So we praise the Lord your God! He is happy with you and he has chosen you to rule Israel. The Lord's love for Israel will continue for ever. So he has made you king to rule in a fair and honest way.’

¹⁰ The Queen of Sheba gave to King Solomon more than 4,000 kilograms of gold, a lot of spices and many valuable jewels. Nobody has ever brought such a big number of spices as she gave to the king.

¹¹ Hiram's ships had brought gold from Ophir. They also brought from there large loads of good wood, and valuable jewels. ¹² The king used the wood to make steps for the Lord's temple and for the king's palace. He also used it to make harps and lyres for the musicians. Nobody has ever seen such valuable wood, even until today.

¹³ So King Solomon gave the Queen of Sheba all the gifts that he chose for her. He gave her everything that she wanted. Then she left Solomon and she returned to her own country with her servants.

Solomon's riches

¹⁴ Solomon received 25 tons of gold each year.

¹⁵ He also received money from traders, from the kings of Arabia and from the rulers of each region in Israel.

¹⁶ King Solomon's workers used gold to make 200 large shields. They hit the gold with hammers to make it flat. They used about four kilograms of gold to cover each shield. ¹⁷ They also made 300 small shields in the same way. They used about 2 kilograms of gold to cover each shield. He put these shields in the Palace of the Forest of Lebanon.^[c]

¹⁸ The king used ivory to make a large throne. He covered it with gold. ¹⁹ There were six steps up to the throne. The back of the throne was a round shape at the top. On both sides of the seat there were places for the king to put his arms. An image of a lion stood on each side of the throne. ²⁰ There were 12 more images of lions on the six steps. There was one lion at each end of every step. There was no throne like it in any other kingdom. ²¹ They used gold to make all King Solomon's cups that he drank from. In the Palace of the Forest of Lebanon, all the dishes and other things were made with gold. They used pure gold. They did not make anything with silver. In Solomon's time, people did not think that silver was very valuable.

²² The king had many large ships that could sail across the seas.^[d] They sailed with King Hiram's ships. Every three years they returned to Solomon with their loads. They brought to him gold, silver and ivory. They also brought apes and monkeys.^[e]

²³ King Solomon was richer and wiser than any other king in the world. ²⁴ People from every nation in the world wanted to talk to Solomon. They wanted to listen to the wisdom that God had given to him. ²⁵ Every year, people who came to visit Solomon brought him gifts. They brought things that were made from silver and gold, as well as clothes, weapons, spices, horses and mules.

²⁶ Solomon brought together many chariots and horses for his soldiers to ride. He had 1,400 chariots and 12,000 horses. He kept some of them in Jerusalem where he lived as king. He put the others in cities that he had chosen for this.

²⁷ While Solomon ruled as king, there was as much silver in Jerusalem as stones! There was as much wood from cedar trees as there were fig trees that grew in the low hills in the west. ²⁸ Solomon brought his horses from Egypt and from Kue. He sent traders to Kue to buy them for him. ²⁹ Each chariot that they bought in Egypt cost 600 pieces of silver. Each horse cost 150 pieces of silver. They also sold chariots and horses to all the kings of the Hittites and to the kings of Syria.

The Lord punishes King Solomon

11 Solomon loved Pharaoh's daughter and many other foreign women. Those women were Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians and Hittites. ² The Lord had warned the Israelites about these nations. He said, ‘You must not marry people from these nations. If you do, they will cause you to worship their own gods.’ But Solomon did love these foreign women and he married them.

³ Solomon had 700 royal wives. He also had 300 slave wives.^[f] His wives caused him to turn away from the Lord. ⁴ When Solomon became old, his wives caused him to serve other gods. Solomon no longer completely loved the Lord his God as his father David had done.

⁵ Solomon worshipped Ashtoreth, the female god of the Sidonian people. He also worshipped Molech, the wicked god of the Ammonite people. ⁶ As a result, Solomon did things that the Lord said were evil. He did not serve the Lord faithfully as his father David had done. ⁷ On a hill east of Jerusalem Solomon built a place to worship false gods. He worshipped Chemosh, the wicked god of the Moabite people, and Molech, the wicked god of the Ammonite people. ⁸ Solomon also built places where his foreign wives could worship their gods. They burned incense and they offered sacrifices to their own gods in these places.

⁹ So the Lord became angry with Solomon. Solomon had turned away from the Lord, Israel's God, who had appeared to Solomon twice. ¹⁰ He had warned Solomon that he must not serve other gods. But Solomon did not obey the Lord's command. ¹¹ So the Lord said to Solomon, ‘I see the things that you have chosen to do. You have not obeyed my covenant and the laws that I commanded you to obey. So I will take the kingdom away from you. One of your servants will rule the kingdom instead of you. ¹² But I will not do this while you are alive, because your father David was faithful to me. Instead, I will take the kingdom away from your son. ¹³ But I will not take away the whole kingdom from him. I will leave one tribe for him to rule as king.^[g] I will do this because King David served me faithfully, and because I have chosen Jerusalem as my special city.’

Solomon's enemies

¹⁴ The Lord brought an enemy to attack Solomon. He was Hadad who came from Edom.^[h] Hadad belonged to the king of Edom's family. ¹⁵ When David was king, he had fought against Edom's people. Joab, the leader of David's army, had gone to Edom to bury the dead Israelite soldiers. At that time, Joab killed all the men in Edom.^{[i] 16} Joab and Israel's army stayed in Edom for six months. During that time, they killed all the men in Edom. ¹⁷ Hadad was a small boy at that time. He escaped from Edom with some of his father's officers. They went towards Egypt. ¹⁸ They went from Midian as far as Paran. They took some men from Paran and they all went to Egypt. They went to Pharaoh, the king of Egypt. Pharaoh gave Hadad a house to live in and food to eat. He also gave Hadad some land. ¹⁹ Pharaoh was very pleased with Hadad, so he gave Hadad a wife. She was the sister of his own wife, Queen Tahpenes. ²⁰ Tahpenes's sister gave birth to Hadad's son, called Genubath. Queen Tahpenes took care of Genubath in the king's palace. Genubath lived there with Pharaoh's own children.

²¹ While Hadad was living in Egypt, he heard the news that King David had died. Joab, the leader of David's army, was also dead by this time. So Hadad said to Pharaoh, ‘Please let me return to my own country.’ ²² Pharaoh asked him, ‘Why do you want to return to your own country? Is there anything that you do not have here?’ Hadad replied, ‘There is nothing wrong, but please let me go.’

²³ God also brought another enemy to attack Solomon. He was Eliada's son Rezon. He had run away from his master, Hadadezer, the king of Zobah. ²⁴ After David had destroyed Hadadezer's army, Rezon became the leader of a group of bad men. Rezon went to Damascus with his men, and Rezon became ruler of the city.^{[j] 25} Rezon was Israel's enemy all the time that Solomon was alive. He caused trouble for Solomon, as Hadad also did. Rezon ruled in Syria and he hated the Israelite people.

²⁶ Nebat's son Jeroboam was one of Solomon's officers. He came from Zeredah in Ephraim.^[k] His mother was a widow. Her name was Zeruah. Jeroboam turned against King Solomon. ²⁷ This is what happened: Solomon had built the Millo. He had also mended the walls of the City of David his father. ²⁸ Jeroboam was a strong young man. Solomon saw that he did his work very well. So he made Jeroboam the leader of the workers who belonged to Joseph's tribe.

²⁹ During that time, Jeroboam travelled out from Jerusalem. A prophet, Ahijah, met him on the road. They were alone in the country. Ahijah came from Shiloh. He was wearing a new coat. ³⁰ Ahijah took off his new coat. He tore it into 12 pieces. ³¹ Then he said to Jeroboam, ‘Take ten pieces for yourself. This is what the Lord, Israel's God, is saying to you: “I will take Solomon's kingdom away from him! I will give you ten tribes to rule over. ³² But Solomon will continue to rule over one tribe. That is because King David served me faithfully, and because I have chosen Jerusalem as my special city. I did not choose a city in any of the other tribes of Israel.

³³ I will take the kingdom away from Solomon because he and his people have turned away from me. They have started to worship Ashtoreth, the female god of the Sidonian people. They also worship Chemosh, the god of the Moabite people, and Molech, the god of the Ammonite people. They have not lived in a way that pleases me. They have not done the things that I say are right. They have not obeyed my rules and my laws. They have not lived in a good way, as Solomon's father David did.

³⁴ But I will not take the whole kingdom away from Solomon. I will let him continue to rule as king while he still lives. I will do that because of my servant David that I chose to be king. David obeyed my commands and my rules. ³⁵ I will take the kingdom away from his son and I will give ten tribes for you to rule. ³⁶ But I will leave one tribe for Solomon's son to rule. Then my servant David will continue to have a descendant who serves me as king in Jerusalem. That is the city where I have chosen for people to worship me.

³⁷ But I will make you, Jeroboam, king of Israel. You will rule over all the land that you want for yourself. ³⁸ But you must do everything that I command you to do. You must live in a way that pleases me. You must do the things that I say are right. You must obey my rules and my commands, as my servant David did. If you do that, I will always be with you. I will cause your descendants to continue to rule Israel. What I have done for David's family, I will also do for your family. The nation of Israel will belong to you.^{[l] 39} Because of Solomon's sins I will punish David's descendants. But I will not punish them for ever.” ’

⁴⁰ Solomon then tried to kill Jeroboam, but Jeroboam escaped to Egypt. Shishak, the king of Egypt, kept Jeroboam safe. Jeroboam stayed in Egypt until Solomon died.

Solomon dies

⁴¹ The other things that happened while Solomon was king are written in a book. The book is called ‘The history of Solomon’. It tells about Solomon's wisdom and everything that he did. ⁴² Solomon ruled over all Israel for 40 years while he lived in Jerusalem. ⁴³ Then he died. They buried him with his ancestors, in the city of his father David. His son Rehoboam became king after him.