Beginning

The Queen of Sheba Visits^(A)

9 The queen of Sheba heard a report of Solomon, and she came to Jerusalem with a very impressive retinue—with camels carrying spices, an abundance of gold, and precious stones—to test Solomon with riddles. When she came to Solomon she shared with him everything that was on her heart. ² Solomon declared to her everything that she asked, and there was not any matter concealed from Solomon that he did not declare to her. ³ When the queen of Sheba had observed the wisdom of Solomon, the house that he had built, ⁴ the food on his table, the seating of his officials, and the attendance of his servants, and their clothing, his valets, and their clothing, and his burnt offerings that he offered at the house of the Lord, there was no more spirit left in her.

⁵ Then she said to the king, “True was the report that I heard in my land concerning your words and wisdom. ⁶ But I did not believe their reports until I came and my eyes saw; and indeed, half the greatness of your wisdom was not declared to me. You have exceeded the report that I heard. ⁷ How happy your men must be! How happy these servants, those who are continually before you listening to your wisdom. ⁸ May the Lord your God be blessed, who has delighted in you, to set you as king on the throne of the Lord your God. Your God has loved Israel to establish them continually and has set you as king over them to perform justice and righteousness.”

⁹ Then she gave the king one hundred and twenty talents^[a] of gold and a great abundance of spices and precious stones. And there were no spices like those that the queen of Sheba gave to King Solomon.

¹⁰ Moreover, the servants of Hiram and Solomon who brought gold from Ophir also brought algum wood and precious stones. ¹¹ And the king used the algum wood for steps for the house of the Lord and the palace of the king, even for lyres and harps for the singers. And there had not been anything seen like these in the land of Judah.

¹² And King Solomon gave everything to the queen of Sheba in which she had pleasure, even what she asked for in addition to what she brought to the king. Then she turned and left for her own land with her servants.

The Splendor of Solomon^(B)

¹³ The weight of gold that came to Solomon every year was six hundred and sixty-six talents^[b] of gold. ¹⁴ In addition to what the explorers and merchants brought in, all the kings of Arabia and governors of the land brought in gold and silver to Solomon.

¹⁵ King Solomon made two hundred large shields of hammered gold, and six hundred gold pieces^[c] were used for each large shield. ¹⁶ And he made three hundred shields of hammered gold; three hundred gold pieces^[d] were used for each shield. And the king put them in the House of the Forest of Lebanon.

¹⁷ And the king made a great throne of ivory, and he covered it with fine gold. ¹⁸ And there were six steps and a gold footstool attached to the throne, and on each side at the place of the seat were armrests with two lions standing beside the armrests. ¹⁹ So twelve lions stood there on the six steps, one on each side, and there was nothing like this in any kingdom. ²⁰ Even all the drinking vessels of King Solomon were gold, and all the vessels in the House of the Forest of Lebanon were fine gold. And silver was not thought to be valuable in the days of Solomon. ²¹ The ships of Solomon went to Tarshish with the servants of Hiram. Once every three years the ships of Tarshish returned carrying gold, silver, ivory, apes, and peacocks.

²² So King Solomon was greater than all the kings of the earth in wealth and wisdom. ²³ All the kings of the earth sought out an audience before Solomon to hear his wisdom that God gave to his mind. ²⁴ Every year each man brought his own tribute, vessels of silver and gold, garments, myrrh, spices, horses, and mules.

²⁵ Solomon had four thousand stalls for horses and chariots and twelve thousand horses, and he put them in designated cities and with him in Jerusalem. ²⁶ He ruled over all the kings from the River^[e] to the land of the Philistines and to the border of Egypt. ²⁷ So the king made silver in Jerusalem as abundant as stones and cedar as plentiful as sycamore trees in the lowlands of the Shephelah. ²⁸ The horses of Solomon were imported from Egypt and from all other lands.

The Death of Solomon^(C)

²⁹ And the rest of the acts of Solomon, from beginning to end, are they not written in the annals of Nathan the prophet, and the prophecy of Ahijah the Shilonite, and in the visions of Iddo the seer concerning Jeroboam the son of Nebat? ³⁰ So Solomon reigned in Jerusalem over all Israel for forty years. ³¹ And Solomon slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the City of David his father. And Rehoboam his son then ruled in his place.

Israel Rebels Against Rehoboam^(D)

10 Rehoboam went to Shechem because all Israel journeyed to Shechem to make him king. ² It happened that Jeroboam the son of Nebat heard this—he was in Egypt, where he fled from King Solomon—so he returned from Egypt. ³ So they sent for him and called him. And Jeroboam and all Israel came and spoke to Rehoboam saying, ⁴ “Your father made our yoke heavy. Now therefore, lighten your father’s labor and heavy yoke that he put on us, and we will serve you.”

⁵ He responded, “Return again to me in three days.” So the people left.

⁶ Then King Rehoboam consulted with the elders who stood in the presence of Solomon his father when he was alive saying, “How do you counsel that I should give a response to this people?”

⁷ They said to him, “If you are good to this people and please them and speak well to them, then they will be servants to you all your days.”

⁸ But he abandoned the counsel of the elders that they gave to him. And he consulted the young men who grew up and stood before him. ⁹ Rehoboam said to them, “What do you counsel that we give as a response to this people who have spoken to me, ‘Lighten the yoke that your father placed on us’?”

¹⁰ The young men who had grown up with him said, “So you should speak to the people who have spoken to you saying, ‘Your father made our yoke heavy, but you lighten it from us.’ So you will say to them, ‘My little finger is thicker than my father’s waist! ¹¹ Whereas my father placed a heavy yoke on you, I will add to your yoke. My father chastened you with whips, but I will scourge you with scorpions.’ ”

¹² So Jeroboam and all the people came to Rehoboam on the third day, as the king had ordered saying, “Return to me on the third day.” ¹³ Then the king answered them harshly. King Rehoboam rejected the advice of the elders. ¹⁴ He spoke to them with the advice of the young men, saying, “My father made your yoke heavy, but I will increase it. My father chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions.” ¹⁵ The king did not listen to the people, for the event occurred because of God, that the Lord might establish His word that He spoke through Ahijah the Shilonite to Jeroboam the son of Nebat.

¹⁶ When all Israel saw that the king would not listen to them, the people answered the king saying,

Then all Israel departed to their tents. ¹⁷ The sons of Israel dwelled in the cities of Judah, and Rehoboam reigned over them.

¹⁸ Then King Rehoboam sent Hadoram, who was over the forced labor, and the sons of Israel stoned him to death. And King Rehoboam hurried to mount his chariot and to flee to Jerusalem. ¹⁹ So Israel has rebelled against the house of David until this day.

11 When Rehoboam came to Jerusalem, he called together from the house of Judah and Benjamin one hundred and eighty thousand^[f] choice men to make war and to battle with Israel in order to restore the kingdom to Rehoboam.

² But the word of the Lord came to Shemaiah the man of God saying: ³ Speak to Rehoboam, son of Solomon and king of Judah, and to all Israel in Judah and Benjamin, ⁴ “So says the Lord: You are not to go up and fight against your brothers. Each man must return to his house, for this event is from Me.” So they obeyed the word of the Lord and turned back from attacking Jeroboam.

Rehoboam Secures the Kingdom

⁵ So Rehoboam dwelled in Jerusalem and built siege cities in Judah. ⁶ He built Bethlehem, Etam, Tekoa, ⁷ Beth Zur in the east, Soko, Adullam, ⁸ Gath, Mareshah in the west, Ziph, ⁹ Adoraim, Lachish in the south, Azekah, ¹⁰ Zorah, Aijalon in the northwest, and central Hebron, all of which were fortified cities in Judah and Benjamin. ¹¹ He strengthened the fortresses and set leaders in them with stockpiles of food, oil, and wine. ¹² And in all the cities he placed shields and spears, and he greatly strengthened these places. So he held Judah and Benjamin.

¹³ And the priests and Levites in all Israel came before him from all their territories. ¹⁴ For the Levites left their pasture lands and properties, and they traveled to Judah and Jerusalem because Jeroboam and his sons excluded them from serving as priests to the Lord. ¹⁵ And he set for himself priests for the high places and for the goat and calf idols that he made. ¹⁶ And those who set their hearts to seek the Lord God of Israel followed after them from all the tribes of Israel, and they came to Jerusalem to sacrifice to the Lord God of their fathers. ¹⁷ So they strengthened the kingdom of Judah and supported 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 And Rehoboam took Mahalath for a wife, the daughter of both Jerimoth the son of David and of Abihail the daughter of Eliab the son of Jesse, ¹⁹ and she bore sons to him: Jeush, Shemariah, and Zaham. ²⁰ Then after her he took Maakah the daughter of Absalom. And she bore to him Abijah, Attai, Ziza, and Shelomith. ²¹ And Rehoboam loved Maakah the daughter of Absalom more than his other wives and concubines (for he took eighteen wives and sixty concubines), and he had twenty-eight sons and sixty daughters.

²² And Rehoboam set Abijah the son of Maakah as chief and head over his brothers for he planned to make him king. ²³ And he was discerning and spread out all his sons to all the lands of Judah and Benjamin, even among the fortified cities, and he provided for them an abundance of provisions and wives.

Egypt Attacks Jerusalem^(E)

12 Now when the reign of Rehoboam was established and strong, he, and all of Israel with him, abandoned the law of the Lord. ² And in the fifth year of King Rehoboam, Shishak king of Egypt went up against Jerusalem for they had acted unfaithfully against the Lord, ³ with one thousand two hundred chariots and sixty thousand horses. The people were without number who came with him from Egypt—Libyans, Sukkiktes, and Ethiopians. ⁴ And he captured the fortified cities that were in Judah, and he came even to Jerusalem.

⁵ Then Shemaiah the prophet came to Rehoboam and the rulers of Judah who were assembled in Jerusalem before Shishak, and he said to them, “So the Lord says: You have abandoned Me, so I have abandoned you into the hand of Shishak.”

⁶ Then the king and the rulers of Israel humbled themselves and said, “The Lord is righteous.”

⁷ So when the Lord observed that they had humbled themselves, the word of the Lord came to Shemaiah, “They have humbled themselves, so I will not destroy them. I will let some of them escape, and My anger will not pour out against Jerusalem by the hand of Shishak. ⁸ For they will be slaves to him so that they experience My labor and the labor of the kingdoms of other lands.”

⁹ So Shishak king of Egypt went up against Jerusalem and took away the treasures of the house of the Lord and of the palace of the king. He took everything, even the gold shields that Solomon made. ¹⁰ And King Rehoboam made bronze shields in their place and entrusted them to the hands of the rulers of the guards, those who guarded the entrance to the king’s palace. ¹¹ And it happened that whenever the king came to the house of the Lord, the guards came and carried the shields and then returned them to the guardroom.

¹² And when he humbled himself, the anger of the Lord turned away from him so that there was not a complete annihilation. Moreover, there were some good things in Judah during this time.

The Death of Rehoboam

¹³ So King Rehoboam was strong and reigned in Jerusalem. For Rehoboam was forty-one years old when he became king, and he reigned for seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city that the Lord had chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, to put His name there. His mother’s name was Naamah the Ammonite. ¹⁴ And he acted evil because he did not set his heart to seek out the Lord.

¹⁵ Now, are not the acts of Rehoboam written from beginning to end in the annals of Shemaiah the prophet and Iddo the seer, according to genealogy? And there were battles between Rehoboam and Jeroboam all their days. ¹⁶ And Rehoboam slept with his fathers and was buried in the City of David, and Abijah ruled in his place.