Beginning

Chapter 9

The Queen of Sheba. ^1 (A)The queen of Sheba, having heard a report of Solomon’s fame, came to Jerusalem to test him with subtle questions, accompanied by a very numerous retinue and by camels bearing spices, a large amount of gold, and precious stones. She came to Solomon and spoke to him about everything that she had on her mind. ² Solomon explained to her everything she asked about, and there was nothing so obscure that Solomon could not explain it to her.^(B)

^3 (C)When the queen of Sheba witnessed Solomon’s great wisdom, the house he had built, ⁴ the food at his table, the seating of his ministers, the attendance and dress of his waiters, his cupbearers and their dress, and the burnt offerings he sacrificed in the house of the Lord, it took her breath away. ⁵ “The report I heard in my country about your deeds and your wisdom is true,” she told the king. ⁶ “I did not believe the report until I came and saw with my own eyes that not even the half of your great wisdom had been told me. You have surpassed the report I heard. ⁷ Happy your servants, happy these ministers of yours, who stand before you always and listen to your wisdom. ⁸ Blessed be the Lord, your God, who was pleased to set you on his throne as king for the Lord, your God. In the love your God has for Israel, to establish them forever, he has made you king over them to carry out judgment and justice.” ⁹ Then she gave the king one hundred and twenty gold talents, a very large quantity of spices, and precious stones. Never again did anyone bring such an abundance of spices as the queen of Sheba gave to King Solomon.

¹⁰ The servants of Huram and of Solomon who brought gold from Ophir also brought cabinet wood and precious stones. ¹¹ With the cabinet wood the king made stairs for the house of the Lord and the house of the king, and harps and lyres for the chanters. The like of these had not been seen before in the land of Judah.^(D)

¹² King Solomon gave the queen of Sheba everything she desired and asked for, more than she had brought to the king. Then she returned with her servants to her own country.^(E)

^13 (F)The gold that came to Solomon in one year weighed six hundred and sixty-six gold talents, ¹⁴ in addition to what came from the tolls on travelers and what the merchants brought. All the kings of Arabia also, and the governors of the country, brought gold and silver to Solomon.

¹⁵ King Solomon made two hundred large shields of beaten gold (six hundred shekels of gold went into each shield) ¹⁶ and three hundred bucklers of beaten gold (three hundred shekels of gold went into each buckler); and the king put them in the house of the Forest of Lebanon.

¹⁷ The king made a large ivory throne, and overlaid it with fine gold. ¹⁸ The throne had six steps; a footstool of gold was fastened to the throne, and there was an arm on each side of the seat, with two lions standing next to the arms, ¹⁹ and twelve other lions standing there on the steps, two to a step. Nothing like this was made in any other kingdom. ²⁰ All King Solomon’s drinking vessels were gold, and all the utensils in the house of the Forest of Lebanon were pure gold. There was no silver, for in Solomon’s time silver was reckoned as nothing. ²¹ For the king had ships that went to Tarshish with the servants of Huram. Once every three years the fleet of Tarshish ships would come with a cargo of gold, silver, ivory, apes, and monkeys.

Solomon’s Renown. ²² Thus King Solomon surpassed all the kings of the earth in riches and wisdom.

²³ All the kings of the earth sought audience with Solomon, to hear the wisdom God had put into his heart. ²⁴ They all brought their tribute: vessels of silver and gold, garments, weapons, spices, horses, and mules—what was due each year. ²⁵ Solomon had four thousand stalls for horses, chariots, and twelve thousand horses; these he allocated among the chariot cities and to the king’s service in Jerusalem. ²⁶ He was ruler over all the kings from the River to the land of the Philistines and down to the border of Egypt. ²⁷ The king made silver as common in Jerusalem as stones, and cedars as numerous as the sycamores of the Shephelah. ^28 [a]Solomon’s horses were imported from Egypt and from all the lands.

The Death of Solomon. ^29 (G)The remainder of the acts of Solomon, first and last, are recorded in the acts of Nathan the prophet, in the prophecy of Ahijah the Shilonite, and in the visions of Iddo the seer concerning Jeroboam, son of Nebat. ³⁰ Solomon was king in Jerusalem over all Israel for forty years. ³¹ Solomon rested with his ancestors and was buried in the City of David, his father, and Rehoboam his son succeeded him as king.

II. The Post-Solomonic Monarchy of Judah

Chapter 10

Division of the Kingdom. ^1 (H)Rehoboam went to Shechem, where all Israel^[b] had come to make him king. ² When Jeroboam, son of Nebat, heard about it, he was in Egypt where he had fled from King Solomon; and he returned from Egypt. ³ They sent for him; Jeroboam and all Israel came and said to Rehoboam: ⁴ “Your father put on us a heavy yoke. If you now lighten the harsh servitude and the heavy yoke your father imposed on us, we will be your servants.” ⁵ He answered them, “Come back to me in three days,” and the people went away.

⁶ King Rehoboam asked advice of the elders who had been in his father Solomon’s service while he was still alive, and asked, “How do you advise me to answer this people?” ⁷ They replied, “If you will deal kindly with this people and please them, giving them a favorable reply, they will be your servants forever.” ⁸ But he ignored the advice the elders had given him and asked advice of the young men who had grown up with him and were in his service. ⁹ He said to them, “What answer do you advise us to give this people, who have told me, ‘Lighten the yoke your father imposed on us’?” ¹⁰ The young men who had grown up with him replied: “This is what you must say to this people who have told you, ‘Your father laid a heavy yoke on us; lighten it for us.’ You must say, ‘My little finger is thicker than my father’s loins. ¹¹ My father put a heavy yoke on you; I will make it heavier. My father beat you with whips; I will use scorpions!’”

¹² On the third day, Jeroboam and the whole people came back to King Rehoboam as the king had instructed them: “Come back to me in three days.” ¹³ Ignoring the advice the elders had given him, King Rehoboam gave the people a harsh answer. ¹⁴ He spoke to them as the young men had advised: “My father laid a heavy yoke on you; I will make it heavier. My father beat you with whips; I will use scorpions.” ¹⁵ The king did not listen to the people, for this turn of events was from God: the Lord fulfilled the word he had spoken through Ahijah the Shilonite to Jeroboam, the son of Nebat.^(I)

^16 (J)When all Israel saw that the king did not listen to them, the people answered the king:

So all Israel went off to their tents, ¹⁷ but the Israelites who lived in the cities of Judah had Rehoboam as their king. ¹⁸ King Rehoboam then sent out Hadoram, who was in charge of the forced labor, but the Israelites stoned him to death. King Rehoboam, however, managed to mount his chariot and flee to Jerusalem. ¹⁹ And so Israel has been in rebellion against the house of David to this day.

Chapter 11

^1 (K)On his arrival in Jerusalem, Rehoboam assembled the house of Judah and Benjamin—one hundred and eighty thousand elite warriors—to wage war against Israel and restore the kingdom to Rehoboam. ² However, the word of the Lord came to Shemaiah, a man of God: ³ Say to Rehoboam, son of Solomon, king of Judah, and to all the Israelites in Judah and Benjamin: ⁴ “Thus says the Lord: You must not go out to war against your kinsmen. Return home, each of you, for it is I who have brought this about.” They obeyed the word of the Lord and turned back from going against Jeroboam.

Rehoboam’s Works.^{[c] 5} Rehoboam took up residence in Jerusalem and built fortified cities in Judah. ⁶ He built up Bethlehem, Etam, Tekoa, ⁷ Beth-zur, Soco, Adullam, ⁸ Gath, Mareshah, Ziph, ⁹ Adoraim, Lachish, Azekah, ¹⁰ Zorah, Aijalon, and Hebron; these were fortified cities in Judah and Benjamin. ¹¹ Then he strengthened the fortifications and put commanders in them, along with supplies of food, oil, and wine. ¹² In every city were shields and spears, and he made them very strong. Thus Judah and Benjamin remained his.

Refugees from the North. ¹³ Now the priests and Levites throughout Israel presented themselves to him from all parts of their land, ¹⁴ for the Levites left their assigned pasture lands and their holdings and came to Judah and Jerusalem, because Jeroboam and his sons rejected them as priests of the Lord.^{(L) 15} In their place, he himself appointed priests for the high places as well as for the satyrs and calves he had made.^{(M) 16} After them, all those, of every tribe of Israel, who set their hearts to seek the Lord, the God of Israel, came to Jerusalem to sacrifice to the Lord, the God of their ancestors. ¹⁷ Thus they strengthened the kingdom of Judah and made Rehoboam, son of Solomon, prevail for three years; for they walked in the way of David and Solomon three years.

Rehoboam’s Family. ¹⁸ Rehoboam married Mahalath, daughter of Jerimoth, son of David and of Abihail, daughter of Eliab, son of Jesse. ¹⁹ She bore him sons: Jehush, Shemariah, and Zaham. ²⁰ After her, he married Maacah, daughter of Absalom, who bore him Abijah,^(N) Attai, Ziza, and Shelomith. ²¹ Rehoboam loved Maacah, daughter of Absalom, more than all his other wives and concubines; he had taken eighteen wives and sixty concubines, and he fathered twenty-eight sons and sixty daughters. ²² Rehoboam put Abijah, son of Maacah, first among his brothers, as leader, for he intended to make him king. ²³ He acted prudently, distributing his various sons throughout all the districts of Judah and Benjamin, in all the fortified cities; and he gave them generous provisions and sought an abundance of wives for them.

Chapter 12

Rehoboam’s Apostasy. ¹ Once Rehoboam had established himself as king and was firmly in charge, he abandoned the law of the Lord, and so did all Israel with him.^{(O) 2} So in the fifth year of King Rehoboam, Shishak, king of Egypt, attacked Jerusalem, for they had acted treacherously toward the Lord.^{(P) 3} He had twelve hundred chariots and sixty thousand horsemen, and there was no counting the army that came with him from Egypt—Libyans, Sukkites,^[d] and Ethiopians. ⁴ They captured the fortified cities of Judah and came as far as Jerusalem. ⁵ Then Shemaiah^(Q) the prophet came to Rehoboam and the commanders of Judah who had gathered at Jerusalem because of Shishak, and said to them: “Thus says the Lord: You have abandoned me, and so I have abandoned you to the power of Shishak.”

⁶ Then the commanders of Israel and the king humbled themselves saying, “The Lord is in the right.” ⁷ When the Lord saw that they had humbled themselves, the word of the Lord came to Shemaiah: Because they have humbled themselves, I will not destroy them; I will give them some deliverance, and my wrath shall not be poured out upon Jerusalem through Shishak. ⁸ But they shall be his servants. Then they will know what it is to serve me and what it is to serve the kingdoms of the earth. ^9 (R)Thereupon Shishak, king of Egypt, attacked Jerusalem and took away the treasures of the house of the Lord and the treasures of the house of the king. He took everything, including the gold shields that Solomon had made. ¹⁰ To replace them, King Rehoboam made bronze shields, which he entrusted to the officers of the attendants on duty at the entrance of the king’s house. ¹¹ Whenever the king visited the house of the Lord, the attendants would carry them, and then return them to the guardroom. ¹² Because he had humbled himself, the anger of the Lord turned from him so as not to destroy him completely; in Judah, moreover, there was some good.

¹³ King Rehoboam was firmly in power in Jerusalem and continued to rule. Rehoboam was forty-one years old when he became king, and he reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city in which, out of all the tribes of Israel, the Lord chose to set his name. His mother’s name was Naamah, the Ammonite.^{(S) 14} He did evil, for he had not set his heart to seek the Lord. ^15 (T)The acts of Rehoboam, first and last, are recorded in the history of Shemaiah the prophet and of Iddo the seer (his family record). There were wars between Rehoboam and Jeroboam all their days. ¹⁶ Rehoboam rested with his ancestors; he was buried in the City of David. His son Abijah^[e] succeeded him as king.