Beginning

The Queen of Sheba Visits Solomon

9 The queen of Sheba heard how well Solomon was known in all the lands. So she came to Jerusalem to test him with hard questions. She came with many servants and camels carrying spices and much gold and stones of much worth. When she came to Solomon, she talked with him about all that was on her heart. ² And Solomon answered all her questions. There was nothing hidden from him which he could not make clear to her. ³ Then the queen of Sheba saw the wisdom of Solomon and the house he had built. ⁴ She saw the food at his table, and all his captains sitting there. She saw all those who were bringing in the food, and how they were dressed. She saw those who carried the cups, and their clothing. And she saw the burnt gifts that Solomon gave at the house of the Lord. After that, there was no more spirit in her. ⁵ She said to the king, “The news was true which I heard in my own land about your words and your wisdom. ⁶ But I did not believe the news until I came and saw it with my own eyes. See, half the greatness of your wisdom was not told to me. You are greater than what I had heard. ⁷ Happy are your men! Happy are your servants who stand in front of you all the time hearing your wisdom! ⁸ Praise be to the Lord your God Who was pleased with you! He set you on His throne as king for the Lord your God. Your God loved Israel and would have them last forever. So He made you king over them to do what is fair and right and good.” ⁹ Then she gave the king gold weighing as much as 120 men, a very large amount of spices, and stones of much worth. There had never been spices like what the queen of Sheba gave to King Solomon.

¹⁰ Huram’s servants and Solomon’s servants brought gold from Ophir. They also brought algum trees and stones of much worth. ¹¹ The king used the algum wood to make steps for the house of the Lord and for the king’s house. And he used it to make different kinds of harps for the singers. There were none seen like them before in the land of Judah.

¹² King Solomon gave the queen of Sheba all she asked for, much more than she had brought to him. Then she returned to her own land with her servants.

King Solomon’s Riches

¹³ The gold that came to Solomon in one year weighed as much as 666 men. ¹⁴ Traders and men who buy and sell brought gold also. And all the kings of Arabia and the leaders of the land brought gold and silver to Solomon. ¹⁵ King Solomon made 200 battle-coverings of beaten gold. The beaten gold he used to make each large covering was as much as 600 gold pieces. ¹⁶ And he made 300 battle-coverings of beaten gold, using as much as 300 gold pieces worth of gold for each covering. The king put them in the House of the Trees of Lebanon.

¹⁷ The king made a great throne of ivory and covered it with pure gold. ¹⁸ There were six steps to the throne, and a part made of gold for his feet was joined to the throne. The throne had arms on each side, and two lions standing beside the arms. ¹⁹ Twelve lions were standing on each side of the six steps. Nothing like it had ever been made for the king of any other nation. ²⁰ All King Solomon’s cups were made of gold. And all the cups of the House of the Trees of Lebanon were made of pure gold. Silver was not thought of as having much worth in the days of Solomon. ²¹ For the king had ships which went to Tarshish with Huram’s servants. Once every three years the ships of Tarshish came bringing gold, silver, ivory, apes, and peacocks.

²² So King Solomon became greater than all the kings of the earth in riches and wisdom. ²³ And all the kings of the earth wanted to be with Solomon, to hear his wisdom which God had put into his heart. ²⁴ Every one of them brought his gift. Objects of silver and gold, clothing, objects for battle, spices, horses and donkeys, were brought each year.

²⁵ Solomon had 4,000 rooms for horses and war-wagons, and 12,000 horsemen. He put them in the war-wagon cities and with the king in Jerusalem. ²⁶ He was the ruler over all the kings from the Euphrates River to the land of the Philistines, and as far as the land of Egypt. ²⁷ And the king made silver as easy to find as stones in Jerusalem. He made cedar trees as easy to find as sycamore trees in the valley. ²⁸ And horses were brought in for Solomon from Egypt and from all countries.

Death of Solomon

²⁹ Now the rest of the acts of Solomon, from first to last, are written in the words of Nathan the man of God. They are written in the holy words of Ahijah the Shilonite. And they are written in the special dreams of Iddo, the man who tells what will happen in the future, about Jeroboam the son of Nebat. ³⁰ Solomon ruled forty years in Jerusalem over all Israel. ³¹ When he died he was buried in the city of his father David. And his son Rehoboam ruled in his place.

Rehoboam Rules

10 Then Rehoboam went to Shechem. All Israel had come to Shechem to make him king. ² When Jeroboam the son of Nebat heard about it, he returned from Egypt. For Jeroboam had run to Egypt to get away from King Solomon. ³ And the people sent for him. Jeroboam and all Israel came to Rehoboam and said, ⁴ “Your father gave us a heavy load to carry. So now make our work easier than your father made us work. Do not let our load be as heavy as the one he put on us. And we will work for you.” ⁵ Rehoboam said to them, “Come to me again in three days.” So the people left.

⁶ Then King Rehoboam spoke with the leaders who had served his father Solomon while he was still alive. He said, “Tell me, how do you think I should answer these people?” ⁷ They said to him, “If you will be kind to these people and please them and speak good words to them, they will be your servants forever.” ⁸ But Rehoboam would not listen to the wise words of the leaders. He spoke with the young men who grew up with him and served him. ⁹ He said to them, “Tell me, how do you think I should answer these people who have said to me, ‘Do not let our load be as heavy as the one your father put on us’?” ¹⁰ The young men who grew up with him said to him, “Say this to the people who said to you, ‘Your father made our load heavy, but you make it easier for us.’ Tell them, ‘My little finger is bigger around than my father’s body! ¹¹ My father gave you a heavy load. I will add to your load. My father punished you with whips. But I will punish you with scorpions.’”

¹² So Jeroboam and all the people came to Rehoboam on the third day, as the king had told them, saying, “Return to me on the third day.” ¹³ The king answered them with strong words. King Rehoboam did not listen to the wise words of the leaders. ¹⁴ Instead he listened to the words of the young men. And he said to them, “My father made your load heavy, but I will add to it. My father punished you with whips, but I will punish you with scorpions.” ¹⁵ So the king did not listen to the people. God made this happen so that He might make His Word come true which He spoke through Ahijah the Shilonite to Jeroboam the son of Nebat.

¹⁶ All Israel saw that the king did not listen to them. So the people said to the king, “What share do we have in David? We have no share in the son of Jesse. Every man to your tents, O Israel! Now look to your own house, David!” So all Israel left and went to their tents. ¹⁷ But Rehoboam ruled over the people of Israel who lived in the cities of Judah. ¹⁸ Then King Rehoboam sent Hadoram, the man who made the people work. But the people of Israel killed him with stones. So King Rehoboam got on his war-wagon in a hurry, to go to Jerusalem. ¹⁹ Israel has been against the family of David to this day.

11 When Rehoboam came to Jerusalem, he gathered together the family of Judah and Benjamin. There were 180,000 chosen men of war gathered to fight against Israel to make Rehoboam their king again. ² But the word of the Lord came to Shemaiah the man of God, saying, ³ “Speak to Rehoboam the son of Solomon, king of Judah. And speak to all Israel in Judah and Benjamin. Tell them, ⁴ ‘This is what the Lord says, “You must not go up to fight against your brothers. Every man return to his house. For I have made this happen.”’” So they listened to the word of the Lord and returned. They did not go against Jeroboam.

Rehoboam Makes the Cities Strong

⁵ Rehoboam lived in Jerusalem and built strong cities in Judah. ⁶ He built Bethlehem, Etam, Tekoa, ⁷ Beth-zur, Soco, Adullam, ⁸ Gath, Mareshah, Ziph, ⁹ Adoraim, Lachish, Azekah, ¹⁰ Zorah, Aijalon, and Hebron. These are strong cities with walls, in Judah and in Benjamin. ¹¹ He made the strong places stronger. He put leaders in them, and stores of food, oil, and wine. ¹² And he put battle-coverings and spears in every city and made them very strong. So he kept Judah and Benjamin.

Religious Leaders and Levites Come to Judah

¹³ The religious leaders and the Levites who were in all Israel joined with Rehoboam from all places where they lived. ¹⁴ The Levites left their fields and land and came to Judah and Jerusalem. For Jeroboam and his sons had stopped them from working as religious leaders for the Lord. ¹⁵ He chose religious leaders of his own for the high places, for the goat-gods and for the calves which he had made. ¹⁶ Those from all the families of Israel who set their hearts on following the Lord God of Israel came after them to Jerusalem. They came to give gifts in worship to the Lord God of their fathers. ¹⁷ They made the nation of Judah strong, and gave strength 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 married Mahalath. She was the daughter of Jerimoth the son of David, and of Abihail the daughter of Eliab the son of Jesse. ¹⁹ She gave birth to Rehoboam’s sons: Jeush, Shemariah, and Zaham. ²⁰ After her he married Maacah the daughter of Absalom. She gave birth to his sons: Abijah, Attai, Ziza, and Shelomith. ²¹ Rehoboam loved Maacah the daughter of Absalom more than all his other wives and women who acted as his wives. For he had taken eighteen wives and sixty women who acted as his wives. He was the father of twenty-eight sons and sixty daughters. ²² Rehoboam chose Maacah’s son Abijah to be the head leader among his brothers. For he wanted to make him king. ²³ And he acted with wisdom. He spread some of his sons to every strong city in all the lands of Judah and Benjamin. He gave them much food, and found many wives for them.

Egypt Takes Judah

12 When King Rehoboam’s nation had been made strong, he and all Israel turned away from the Law of the Lord. ² After Rehoboam had been king for five years, King Shishak of Egypt came to fight against Jerusalem. This happened because they had not been faithful to the Lord. ³ Shishak came with 1,200 war-wagons and 60,000 horsemen. And the people who came with him from Egypt were too many to number. There were Libyans, Sukkites, and Ethiopians. ⁴ He took the strong cities of Judah and came as far as Jerusalem. ⁵ Then Shemaiah the man of God came to Rehoboam and the princes of Judah who had gathered at Jerusalem because of Shishak. He said to them, “The Lord says, ‘You have left Me. So I have left you to Shishak.’” ⁶ So the princes of Israel and the king put away their pride and said, “The Lord is right and good.”

⁷ The Lord saw that they had put away their pride. And the word of the Lord came to Shemaiah, saying, “They have put away their pride. I will not destroy them. But I will give them some help. My anger will not be poured out on Jerusalem by the power of Shishak. ⁸ But they will be made to work for him. In this way they may learn the difference between My work and the work of the kings of the countries.”

⁹ So King Shishak of Egypt came and fought against Jerusalem. He took the riches of the Lord’s house and the riches of the king’s house. He took everything. He even took the battle-coverings of gold which Solomon had made. ¹⁰ King Rehoboam made battle-coverings of brass in their place. And he put them in the care of the captains of the soldiers who watched the door of the king’s house. ¹¹ Every time the king went into the house of the Lord, the soldiers came and carried the coverings. Then they returned them to the soldiers’ room. ¹² When Rehoboam put away his pride, the Lord’s anger turned away from him. He was not destroyed. And things were good in Judah.

The End of Rehoboam’s Rule

¹³ So King Rehoboam became strong in Jerusalem and ruled. He was forty-one years old when he began to rule. And he ruled in Jerusalem for seventeen years. This was the city the Lord had chosen from all the families of Israel to put His name there. The name of Rehoboam’s mother was Naamah the Ammonitess. ¹⁴ And he did what was sinful, because he did not follow the Lord with all his heart.

¹⁵ The acts of Rehoboam, from first to last, are written in the writings of Shemaiah the man of God and of Iddo the man who told what would happen in the future. Wars were always being fought between Rehoboam and Jeroboam. ¹⁶ Rehoboam died and was buried in the city of David. His son Abijah became king in his place.